Rome and the Eastlarge, since both Latin (in certain specific contexts) and—much more gen-
erally—Greek functioned as the languages of the dominant power, we are
dealing with the transmission of Latin and Greek words and concepts into
Semitic languages rather than the other way round. The material need not be
surveyed again here.^6 But it is relevant to note that transliterations of Latin
military and administrative terms into Semitic languages were generally de-
rived not directly from Latin but indirectly through their Hellenised forms.Solegiobecomesλεγεώνin the New Testament (Mk. :) and (see below)
LGYWN’ in Palmyrene, whilecenturioappears as QṬRYWN’ in Palmyrene or
QNṬRYN’ in Nabataean.^7 More significantly, a large range of Roman official
terms reappear in Semitic texts not as transliterated via Greek, but as trans-
literations of the corresponding Greek translations. A number of examples
will be given below.
The reverse process, the appearance of Semitic terms in Greek and Latin,
is far less common and is indeed largely confined to names: of places, persons,
and deities. Without using Semitic names in Latin and Greek transliteration
it would have been quite impossible for either society or government to have
functioned in this region at all. In that limited sense Semitic terminology
pervades the entire written material—literary texts, perishable documents,
and inscriptions—from the Roman Near East; detailed examples do not need
to be given. But it should perhaps be stressed that while the re-naming of
cities with Greek, or Latino-Greek names (‘‘Maximianopolis’’) was a process
which was continuous from Alexander into the late Empire, the overwhelm-
ing mass of villages retained their Semitic names; and a significant proportion
of these names have been retained continuously until today.^8
In two specific contexts, however, Latin could be deployed in inscriptions
in a way which was not significantly different from that in which it func-
tioned in other regions of the Empire. One was the Latin ‘‘island’’ formed. D. Kennedy and D. Riley,Rome’sDesertFrontierfromtheAir(). Note also J. Wagner,
Die Römer an Euphrat und Tigris(Antike Welt, Sondernummer, );Dizionario Epigra-
ficoIV, (), s.v. ‘‘Limes’’: –/ (Mesopotamia, Osrhoene, Syria, Judaea, Arabia);
A. Lewin, ‘‘Dall’Eufrate al Mar Rosso: Diocleziano, l’esercitoeiconfini tardo-antichi,’’Athe-
naeum (): . See M. G. Angeli Bertinelli,Nomenclatura pubblica e sacra di Roma nelle
epigrafi semitiche(); Schürer, Vermes, and Millar,HistoryII, ff. (Greek and Latin loan-
words in Hebrew and Aramaic); M. G. Angeli Bertinelli, ‘‘I Semiti e Roma: appunti di una
lettura di fonti semitiche,’’ inSerta Historia AntiquaI (), .
. See Angeli Bertinelli,Nomenclatura, s.v. ‘‘centurio’’ (Palmyrene);CISII, no. (Naba-
taean).
. See, e.g., E. Frézouls, ‘‘La toponymie de l’Orient syrien et l’apport des éléments macé-
doniens,’’ inLa toponymie antique. Actes du colloque de Strasbourg (), .