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| I feel very stupid, but could someone explain the reason why Greek is considered to be the "original language"? Greek is not the origin of all the languages in Wikipedia, it's not even the origin of English. Ancient Greece is the origin of much of the western culture, but much of it is still older or coming from differnt parts of the world. Or am I totally on the wrong leg here, and is it just a play on the word Wikipedia? Anyway, the choice of Greek as the original language in this comic could use some explaining. --[[User:Pbb|Pbb]] ([[User talk:Pbb|talk]]) 18:39, 30 June 2019 (UTC) | | I feel very stupid, but could someone explain the reason why Greek is considered to be the "original language"? Greek is not the origin of all the languages in Wikipedia, it's not even the origin of English. Ancient Greece is the origin of much of the western culture, but much of it is still older or coming from differnt parts of the world. Or am I totally on the wrong leg here, and is it just a play on the word Wikipedia? Anyway, the choice of Greek as the original language in this comic could use some explaining. --[[User:Pbb|Pbb]] ([[User talk:Pbb|talk]]) 18:39, 30 June 2019 (UTC) |
− | :Encyclopedias (the concept, the word, and the root that lends itself to "Wikipedia") have Greek origins, so Cueball is declaring that since PART of the word is Greek, that this is the original language of Wikipedia. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:38, 7 July 2019 (UTC)
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− | Just a random comment, but I think there is another important reason why one may wants to read the original Greek version of something. That is, when you’re interested in poems. For anyone who actually reads Greek poems even a little, it is VERY obvious that they are “musical” so to speak (this is NOT a pedantic opinion, it’s quite intuitive, you can feel it): the pitch accents of the language and rhythms of the verses (e.g. hexameter of Homer) automatically create “melodies”, and these melodies go magically well with the meaning of the verses — e.g. a furious melody when the phrase is furious, a light-hearted melody when the phrase is light-hearted, and so on. The effect (music-meaning combination) is so overwhelming and fascinating that probably it is untranslatable.
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− | As for the New Testament, I agree that it’s not a good example here, which might cause unnecessary religious wars too, when this xkcd piece is not related to religions at all. That said, just fyi, there are quite a few places where you understand the Greek NT better if you know Aramaic. E.g. “wind” and “spirit” are the same word in Aramaic; knowing that, John 20:22, Acts 2:2-4, etc. suddenly make sense. Also some phrases of the Greek NT are actually written in Aramaic: e.g. in Mark 5:14 Jesus says, in Aramaic, ܛܠܝܬܐ ܩܘܡܝ
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− | which might sound mystic, but actually it’s just a normal, daily sentence that simply means “Girl, stand up!”
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− | Also in 1Cor 16:22, they say “Our lord, come!” in Aramaic. (I’m not a religious person, just studying Syriac as a hobby. Sorry if this is boring for you.) Incidentally, the word “Holy Spirit” is feminine in Aramaic. When Jesus or John talked about it, they meant “she”. This piece of trivia might interest you.
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− | PS: Another commentator said that Koine and the “normal” Greek (Attic) were different; which is true, but they are not so different. Usually one can use the same Greek-English dictionary when they read whichever (Attic, Koine, and also Homeric Greek). — [[User:Yosei|Yosei]] ([[User talk:Yosei|talk]]) 01:52, 6 July 2019 (UTC)
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