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Friends,
This Sunday, May 24, we celebrate Pentecost. Pentecost has often been referred to as the “birthday” of the Church. The story of Pentecost is told by Luke in Acts 2:1-21. Luke tells us that a “violent” wind rushed across the Apostles and the crowd gathered in Jerusalem. This crowd was made up of people from all the “known” world: “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs” (Acts 2:9-11). These persons hear what the Apostles are saying in “their own native language.”
I have often wondered what the native language of these gathered folks was. What did Medes or Elamites speak? Or people from Pontus? Or people from Pamphylia? To figure this out I typed into Google what were the languages of the people mentioned in Acts 2. The variety of languages is smaller than the number of regions/countries of the world named and some of the languages still exist and others have long since disappeared. After learning what the various languages were, I typed into Google how do you say “love” in Aramaic, Parthian, Old Persian, Hebrew, etc. I asked this question because the poem I have included at the end of my reflection on Pentecost concludes: “Whose mother tongue is Love in every nation.”
The residents of Judea primarily spoke Aramaic, which was also the language of the Apostles. The word for love in Aramaic: ܪܚܡܬܐ / ܪܚܡܐ. This word refers to tender love, deep affection, or compassionate mercy. It is rooted in the word for “womb” reflecting the nurturing, fiercely protective bond of a mother. The Medes spoke a version of old Persian. The word for love in old Persian: Dauštā (𐎭𐎢𐏁𐎫𐎠). The meaning is “friend” or “lover.” The Parthians spoke Parthian, which is an ancient Northwestern Iranian language. The word for love in Parthian: dōšarm. The root of this word comes from the Proto-Iranian root daus, meaning to “like” or “to care for”. The peoples from Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia spoke Koine Greek. The Koine Greek word for the type of love most often spoken of in the New Testament: Agape (ἀγάπη). The word refers to unconditional love. The Egyptians spoke Coptic. The Coptic word for love: \ⲙⲉⲓ (mei). The people from Libya and Cyrene spoke an early form of the Berber language. The Berber word for love: Tayri. Two more peoples mentioned in the text and their languages. The Arabic word for love: Hubb (حُبّ). The root word means enduring love. It shares its etymological root with the Arabic word for “seed” symbolizing love’s potential to grow and blossom. Finally, the Elamites spoke Elamite, which is an extinct language from ancient Iran. Scholars believe the Elamite word for love to be: hani-; examples ha-ni-es; ha-ni-ik; ha-ni-in; ha-ni-me.
Pentecost
by Malcolm Guite
Today we feel the wind beneath our wings
Today the hidden fountain flows and plays
Today the church draws breath at last and sings
As every flame becomes a Tongue of praise.
This is the feast of fire, air, and water
Poured out and breathed and kindled into earth.
The earth herself awakens to her maker
And is translated out of death to birth.
The right words come today in their right order
And every word spells freedom and release
Today the gospel crosses every border
All tongues are loosened by the Prince of Peace
Today the lost are found in His translation.
Whose mother tongue is Love in every nation.
Peace,
Rev. Tim
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