MORE ON THE ARAMAIC AND LATIN in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. (If you're wondering why I keep repeating that phrase, it's to make it easier to find all the references in the search engine.) Three professors from Andrews University Seminary in Michigan comment on this and related matters in "'The Passion of the Christ' brings dead languages back to life" (St. Joseph Herald Palladium, MI). Excerpt:

Roy Gane is an assistant professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Eastern Languages and associate editor of the Andrews University Seminary Studies magazine. Robert Johnston is professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, while Jon Paulien is professor of New Testament Interpretation and New Testament department chairman at the Andrews University Seminary.
Their hope is that the movie will spark interest in learning more about languages that most people are likely to be hearing for the first time.

"The Aramaic in the movie was extremely well done," Johnston said as the three professors sat down for an interview on the Berrien Springs campus last week. "For the actors to be able to learn their lines in an ancient language was an amazing thing. They tried to reproduce the accents of the first century as much as they were able. The Italianate Latin was not as accurate."

All three questioned why Latin was used at all, because the language of administration at the time was usually Greek. It was Greek that would likely have been the language used when the Jewish leaders spoke with Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator who condemned Jesus to be crucified.

Gane noted that the use of Latin in a scene between Jesus and Pilate was probably not accurate. "The use of Latin in that scene was a little strange," he said. "Pilate says 'What is truth?' using the word 'veritas'. It was a nice bridge to the next scene where Pilate is speaking with his wife about truth or veritas, but it's not likely that Jesus knew Latin."

"As far as the Aramaic, it sounded very authentic," Gane said. "We really don't know today how it was pronounced, but for me it was fabulous and wonderful to be able to follow the language."

Gane has first-hand experience in trying to communicate in Aramaic, which is still spoken by an estimated half million people, mainly in the Middle East and in Arab conclaves in cities such as Detroit. He spent time in northern Iraq in 1989 on an archaeological dig near Mosul and tried to speak in Aramaic to the local people because it's their native language.

"I went to a Seventh-day Adventist church there and the people were speaking Aramaic," he said. "I tried to join the discussion speaking old Aramaic and they didn't understand it."

They also think there was too much flogging. But overall, they liked the movie.