I vaguely remember German from middle and high school. Sadly, I took four years and about the most I can remember is that Ich bin ein Berliner means “I am a jelly doughnut” not “I am one from Berlin.” Still, it’s good to know I won’t go hungry in Germany.
German ended junior year when I transfer to a school with minimal language programs and decided to load my schedule with APs rather than take on another language. Oh, if only I had known.
Four years latter I found myself studying one of the most difficult languages in the world: Arabic. Arabic is an evil, spiteful language for the linguistically challenged. There’s Modern Standard Arabic, spoken predominately in media outlets, and its literary counterpart fuṣḥā. But Arabic is not really a written language and there are dialects (Egyptian, Iraqi, Levantine, etc.), as well as sub-languages like Moroccan, with a blend of French and Berber just for kicks. But the killers are the case endings. Arabic maintains a full set of case endings (which I believe is eight). Now whether or not they are pronounced varies from dialect to dialect…
Like I said, it’s evil. Combine all of this with my 19-year old very timid self and mix it into an Arabic class with native speakers. Add the fact that I just do NOT remember high school English. Stir for three years. Final result = disaster.
All of this to say that since then, I’ve been terrified and intimidated by languages. But the research that I’d like to do someday will require that I learn at least two other languages, and go back and learn Qur’anic Arabic. (Yes, that's a whole 'nuther ballgame.)
So I plunged in and started Hebrew just eight weeks ago. And I love it. Like LOVE it, love it. Like don’t know if I can do my future research because why would anyone want to learn Greek when there is Hebrew? Granted, I’m sure my years of that not-so-friendly Semitic language made Hebrew a tad easier. Ok, it helped significantly. But Hebrew is just cool.
Which brings me indirectly to Luther. Contrary to popular belief, Luther actually knew what he was writing when he penned “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” In his second verse, the forth line is often translated as: Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same. But the German reads “Der Herr Zebaoth,” and translating this as Sabaoth implies that Luther’s understanding of his native tongue was so poor, he did not know the German word for Sabbath (Sabbat). In fact, Luther knew Hebrew. Zebaoth was his transliteration of צבאות which means hosts, i.e., heavenly hosts.
And that is your Hebrew lesson for the day.
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5 comments:
And here I took comfort in the overtly Sabbatarian reference all these years. Oh, well.
I'm glad you love Hebrew!
Ryan:
What a great post. Hebrew really is a cool language. And, of course, having the Arabic background will help loads.
Unlike Greek and the NT, there's SO much one can pick up in the OT from knowing Hebrew that doesn't come through in a lot of English translations (not to imply that I do know Hebrew, but speaking from the little retain).
So you're in seminary at Reformed? Which Reformed?
Hi Mr. D! Glad you stopped by.
Hebrew really has helped me appreciate the complex, intricately woven tapestry of the OT. It also helps that my prof is amazing, and that he takes the time to point things out (like the Luther bit here).
I'm at Reformed Theological Seminary. Their original campus is in Jackson, MS, but they have a satellite campus here.
How is your program going? Linguistics, right? If there is one thing studying languages has taught me, it's that I didn't pay nearly enough attention in high school English!
I found your blog through a friend...just wanted to agree with you that Biblical Hebrew is amazing.
לשון חכמים תיטיב דעת
(Proverbs 15:2a)
Jeff - thanks for stopping by. And yes, Hebrew rocks. But I'm still having trouble finding the motivation to study it over break! :)
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