Monday, March 01, 2004

USEFUL ARAMAIC PHRASES. Reader Carl Mosser points me to this Guardian article, What's popcorn in Aramaic?, which provides some Aramaic phrases that may come in handy when you're watching Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. A few selections:

B-kheeruut re'yaaneyh laa kaaley tsuuraathaa khteepaathaa, ellaa Zaynaa Mqatlaanaa Trayaanaa laytaw!
It may be uncompromising in its liberal use of graphic violence, but Lethal Weapon II it ain't.

Aykaa beyt tadkeetha? Zaadeq lee d-asheeg eeday men perdey devshaanaayey haaleyn!
Where is the loo? I need to wash my hands of this popcorn.

Ktaabaa taab hwaa meneyh.
It's not as good as the book.

Etheeth l-khubeh 'almeenaayaa d-Maaran Yeshu Msheekhaa, ella faasheth metool Moneeqaa Belluushee!
I came for the everlasting love of our Lord Jesus Christ, but I stayed for Monica Bellucci.

D-tetbuun deyn men yameen u-men semaal, la hwaat deel l-metal, ellaa l-ayleyn da-mtaybaa.
To sit at my right or my left is not for me to grant; it is for those to whom it has already been assigned.

Tev attuun men qdaamaa!
Down in front!

Peletaa kuullaah da-Qraabay Kawkbey.
It's all an allegory of Star Wars.

Looks more like Syriac to me than first-century Galilean Aramaic. The fifth one quoted above is almost identical to the Peshitta of Matthew 20:23b. And I'm afraid I can't vouch for the word for "popcorn."

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