What language did Christ speak – Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, or Latin?
It is widely believed that Jesus’ everyday language was Aramaic. Jews learned this language during their Babylonian captivity. Ancient inscriptions in Aramaic have been found over a vast area extending from Egypt to China. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible tells us, “The dialect daily spoken by Jesus and the disciples was Galilean Aramaic, which, as is noted in Matt. 26:73, was recognizably different from the southern dialect spoken in and around Jerusalem. It was in this same Galilean dialect that the Aramaic of the Palestinian Talmud and the older Midrashim was written” (article “Aramaic,” Vol. 1, p. 186). Some scholars claim that Greek was the common language of Jesus’ day. It hard to be absolutely certain about what was the common tongue of an ancient civilization. The writings that archeologist’s find may not represent what was normally used by the common man.
His mother tongue would have been aramaic, but he must have spoken hebrew and greek al well. But there’s a whole theory about the “aramaic myth” Translated from this website: http://www.teologia.nl/artikelen/aramese… The myth claims that Jesus spoke Aramaic because all the people in Galilee spoke Aramaic then. But then how is it possible that Peter spoke to about 120 Galilean and said:” …and it became known to all living in Jerusalem, so that this piece of land was called “Akeldama” in their own language, that means blood ground…” Here Peter is not referring to the language of Judea or Galilee, but to the language of the people living in Jerusalem. In this language (Hebrew) the Aramaic loanword “Akeldama” fitted well. Peter couldn’t have said it like this, if the Galilean people who heard him, spoke Aramaic daily, as is generally believed.Peter translated it for this 120 Galilean people: “that means blood ground”. As if a translation would have been necessary if they spoke Aramaic.
He spoke Aramaic as a native speaker, and most probably Hebrew from reading the Torah. He probably also knew some Greek, and very few Latin. 1) “Aramaic is a member of the ancient Semitic family of languages, which includes Hebrew and Arabic (although the names are similar, Aramaic and Arabic are not the same). The Aramaic alphabet consists of 22 letters, written from right to left. Originally the language of the Arameans who inhabited northwestern Mesopotamia/Syria, the various dialects of Aramaic were eventually widely used over a vast area, from Greece to India, which included Galilee in northern Israel. Aramaic was the everyday language of Jesus Christ, along with Hebrew and Greek.” Source and further information: http://www.keyway.ca/htm2003/20031108.htm 2) “Jesus’ spoke Aramaic, the common language of Galilee during his lifetime.” “One text from the biblical gospels strongly suggests that Jesus had learned Hebrew as a second language. In Luke 4 Jesus went to the synagogue on the
