Episode
Did St. Paul Speak Latin? and, The Forms You Really Need to Know: Souter and Mahoney (Ad Navseam, Episode 197)
- Podcast
- Ad Navseam
- Published
- Oct 14, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 4208
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://adnavseam.podbean.com/e/ad-navseam-episode-197/
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Summary
Dave and Jeff this week tackle two fascinating articles in a portmanteau of Classical learning (Sahoney-Mahouter). First up, it's the 1911 article by famed philologist and New Testament scholar Alexander Souter. Examining the evidence, and building a cumulative argument, Souter argues that the Apostle Paul in all probability could speak the language of Rome's seven hills. But how strong is his case, and where might it be vulnerable to pushback? Then after halftime, Anne Mahoney (Tufts Univ.) leads the show back on to the gridiron for some computer-aided analysis of what Greek and Latin forms are indispensable as to frequency, and which are more of a purple unicorn that can safely be shelved until the third or fourth semester. For language gurus, you won't want to miss the surprises here: vocative outranks dative? Present and perfect tense verbs constitute almost 75% of all Latin verb forms? Quid rei est? And, be sure to send in your own audio clips for episode 200 to join the fun.