Yes - It's one of the reasons I think the NT was originally Hebrew - If one is sensitive to it, there are many places where the term is ambiguous in the text, where a Greek origination would not have needed to be ambiguous - another word could have been applied. For instance:
Act 11:27 And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.
Act 11:28 And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Act 11:29 Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:
Act 11:30 Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
(e-Sword:KJV)
This passage doesn't make sense - If the whole world was going to have a famine, why send money to Judea? But if the 'whole world' was a mistranslated 'Eretz' it could have just as easily meant 'the whole land' (of Judea or Israel), in which case, having drawn the meaning by way of the context of the sentence, the passage would make better sense, as the men of Antioch are not under the famine, and can afford to send money to those who are.
>>>This passage doesn’t make sense - If the whole world was going to have a famine, why send money to Judea? But if the ‘whole world’ was a mistranslated ‘Eretz’ it could have just as easily meant ‘the whole land’ (of Judea or Israel), in which case, having drawn the meaning by way of the context of the sentence, the passage would make better sense, as the men of Antioch are not under the famine, and can afford to send money to those who are.<<<
That is a good point. The famine in Judea happened about 41 AD. Josephus wrote about it in Antiquities Book XX, 2 and 5
Philip