Editing Language of Jesus (section)

==Aramaic place names in the New Testament==
===Gethsemane (Γεθσημανῆ)===
[[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 26:36
: ''Then Jesus went with them to a place called [[Gethsemane]].''
[[Gospel of Mark|Mark]] 14:32
: ''And they went to a place that has the name [[Gethsemane]].''

The place where Jesus takes his disciples to pray before his arrest is given the Greek transliteration Γεθσημανῆ (Gethsēmanē). It represents the Aramaic ''Gath-Šmānē'', meaning 'the oil press' or 'oil vat' (referring to olive oil).

In Aramaic, it could be ܓܕܣܡܢ. This place name is more properly an Aramaized version of an original Hebrew place name. ''Gath'' גת is a normal word for press in Hebrew, generally used for a wine press not an olive press though; and ''shemanei'' שמני is the Hebrew word ''shemanim'' שמנים meaning "oils", the plural form of the word ''shemen'' שמן, the primary Hebrew word for oil, just in a construct form (''-ei'' instead of the ordinary plural suffix ''-im''). The word in Aramaic for "oil" is more properly ''mišḥa'' (משחא), as also attested in [[Jewish]] writings in Aramaic from the [[Galilee]] (see Caspar Levias, A Grammar of Galilean Aramaic, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1986).

===Golgotha (Γολγοθᾶ)===
[[Gospel of Mark|Mark]] 15:22
: ''And they took him up to the place [[Golgotha]], which is translated Place of the Skull.''
[[Gospel of John|John]] 19:17
: ''And carrying his cross by himself, he went out to the so-called Place of the Skull, which is called in 'Hebrew' [[Golgotha]].''

''Gagūltā'' Aramaic, means 'skull'. The name appears in all of the gospels except Luke, which calls the place simply ''Kranion'' (Κρανίον)  'the Skull' in Greek, with no Semitic counterpart. The name '[[Calvary]]' is taken from the Latin [[Vulgate]] translation, Calvaria.

In Aramaic, it could be ܓܓܘܠܬܐ. Though this word has the Aramaic final form ''-ta'' / ''-tha'', it is otherwise also closer to the [[Hebrew]] word for skull, ''gulgolet'' גולגולת, than to the Aramaic form.

===Gabbatha (Γαββαθᾶ)===
[[Gospel of John|John]] 19:13
: ''When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge's bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew, Gabbatha.''

The place name appears to be Aramaic.  According to Josephus, ''War'', V.ii.1, #51, the word ''Gabath'' means ''high place'', or ''elevated place'', so perhaps a raised flat area near the temple.  The final "א" could then represent the emphatic state of the noun.

In Aramaic, it could be גבהתא.

===Akeldama (Ἀκελδαμά) <!-- This section is linked from [[Judas Iscariot]] -->===
[[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] 1:19
: ''And this became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that field was called, in their own dialect, [[Akeldama]], that is Field of Blood.''

The place of [[Judas Iscariot]]'s death is clearly named Field of Blood in Greek. However, the manuscript tradition gives a number of different spellings of the Aramaic. The [[Majority Text]] reads Ἀκελδαμά (''Akeldama''); other manuscript versions give Ἀχελδαμάχ (''Acheldamach''), Ἁκελδαμά (''Hakeldama''), Ἁχελδαμά (''Hacheldama'') and Ἁκελδαμάχ (''Hakeldamach''). Despite these variant spellings the Aramaic is most probably ''ḥqēl dmā'', 'field of blood'. While the seemingly gratuitous Greek sound of ''kh'' {{IPA|[x]}} at the end of the word is difficult to explain, the Septuagint similarly adds this sound to the end of the Semitic name [[Ben Sira]] to form the Greek name for the Book of ''Sirakh'' ({{langx|la|Sirach}}). The sound may be a dialectic feature of either the Greek speakers or the original Semitic language speakers.

In Aramaic, it could be חקל דמא.

===Pool of Bethesda (Βηθεσδά)===
[[Gospel of John|John]] 5:2
: ''Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called [[Pool of Bethesda|Bethesda]] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.''

''Bethesda'' was originally the name of a pool in [[Jerusalem]], on the path of the Beth Zeta Valley, and is also known as the ''Sheep Pool''. Its name in Aramaic means "House of Grace". It is associated with [[healing]]. In [[John 5]], [[Jesus]] was reported healing a man at the pool.

For other Aramaic place names in the New Testament beginning with ''beth'' ("house of"), see  [[Bethabara]], [[Bethany (biblical village)|Bethany]], [[Bethphage]] and [[Bethsaida]] and [[Bethlehem]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S5GJaakRvPgC&pg=PA51|title=The Uttermost Part of the Earth: A Guide to Places in the Bible|last=Losch|first=Richard R.|date=2005|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-2805-7|language=en}}</ref>

In Aramaic, "Bethesda" could be spelled בית חסדא.