>>OK, I'll hold my breath and wait for one of the scholars to comment
;->
I think the situation is this:
A centurion, who may well have thought in Latin but spoke in Greek, said
something to Jesus in Greek, perhaps using a common Latin term DIC VERBO
that could be used in numerous languages (like gasuntheit - is that how
it's spelt?). He could also have been using a translator to talk with
Jesus. But the people who recalled these events and later wrote them
down would have remembered the incident in Aramaic/Hebrew, and then
written them down in Greek.
If you're as confused as I am, don't worry. We just may have a diffusion
of a common expression into other languages and back again. It makes for
messy philology!
Regards,
George Athas (University of Sydney)
< gathas@mail.usyd.edu.au >
(Visit the Tel Dan & Bytyhwh Ostracon sites at)
(http://www-personal.usyd.edu.au/~gathas/TelDan.htm)