[kosta50]

BTW, Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, and since both men were devout Jews, it is more likely that Jesus and Nic were conversing in Hebrew

Hebrew was not a spoken language of Palestine in the 1st century, any more than KJV English is today a spoken language. Nevertheless, the same impossibility of a pun, or Nicodemus' misunderstanding, applies to Hebrew.

In order for him to misunderstand "form above" as (remotely meaning) "again" would have required them to converse in sophistated Greek.

[kosta50]

form=from

[jjotto]

Hebrew was not a spoken language of Palestine in the 1st century

Latest findings indicate Hebrew was commonly spoken in the 1st century. Because an area has a dominant language does not mean it isn't multilingual. This would especially be true in the case of Hebrew. Apart from religious significance, many Jews were never exiled.

I don't recall the source, but there is also a theory that Jesus may have spoken mainly Hebrew.

[MHGinTN]

Hebrew was not a spoken language of Palestine in the 1st century? That would come as quite a shock to Pontius Pilate who recruited Hebrew speaking Centurions (investigators, in a religion sense not a police force sense) to go among the Jews and learn what their religious beliefs were, to better understand the culture over which he had been assigned!