Aramaic (
Classical Syriac:
ܐܪܡܝܐ Aramaya) is a family of languages or dialects, belonging to the
Semitic family. More specifically, it is a part of the
Northwest Semitic subfamily, which also includes
Canaanite languages such as
Hebrew and
Phoenician. The
Aramaic script was widely adopted for other languages and is ancestral to both the
Arabic and
modern Hebrew alphabets.
During its approximately 3,100 years of written history,
[2] Aramaic has served variously as a language of administration of empires and as a language of divine worship. It was the
lingua franca of the
Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-605 BC),
Neo-Babylonian Empire (605-539 BC) and
Achaemenid Empire (539-323 BC), of the
Neo-Assyrian states of
Assur,
Adiabene,
Osroene and
Hatra, the
Aramean state of
Palmyra, and the day-to-day language of
Yehud Medinata and of
Judaea (539 BC – 70 AD), the language that
Jesus probably used the most,
[3][4][5] the language of large sections of the
biblical books of
Daniel and
Ezra, and is the main language of the
Talmud and
Syriac Christianity, in particular the
Assyrian Church of the East, the
Nestorian Church, the
Chaldean Catholic Church, the
Ancient Church of the East, the
Saint Thomas Christian Churches in
India, the
Syriac Orthodox Church, the
Assyrian Pentecostal Church, and the
Maronite Church.
[6] It is also the language of the
Mandeans and their
Gnostic religion,
Mandeanism, as well as the language of the once widespread but now extinct
Manichaean religion.
However,
Jewish Aramaic was different from the other forms both in lettering and grammar. Parts of the
Dead Sea Scrolls
are in Jewish Aramaic showing the Jewish lettering, related to the
Hebrew script. Aramaic was also the original language of the
Bahrani people of
Eastern Arabia.
[7]
Aramaic's long history and diverse and widespread use has led to the
development of many divergent varieties, which are sometimes considered
dialects, though they are distinct enough that they are sometimes considered
languages.
Therefore, there is not one singular, static Aramaic language; each
time and place rather has had its own variation. Aramaic is retained as a
liturgical language by certain Eastern Christian churches, in the form of
Syriac, the Aramaic variety by which
Eastern Christianity was diffused, whether or not those communities once spoke it or another form of Aramaic as their
vernacular, but have since shifted to another language as their primary community language.
Modern Aramaic is spoken today as a first language by many scattered, predominantly small, and largely isolated communities of differing
Christian,
Jewish, and
Mandean ethnic groups of
West Asia[8]—most numerously by the
Assyrians in the form of
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic—that have all retained use of the once dominant lingua franca despite subsequent
language shifts experienced throughout the
Middle East. The Aramaic languages are now considered
endangered.
[9]
Etymology
The term Aramaic in English is derived from the Biblical Hebrew term "
aramit" (אֲרָמִ֔ית), used in the
Hebrew Bible. In the Koine Greek
New Testament, the word Aramaic is not used, although some uses of the word "Hebrew" are translated as "Aramaic".
Geographic distribution
During the
Neo-Assyrian and the
Neo-Babylonian period,
Aramaeans, the native speakers of Aramaic, began to settle in greater numbers, at first in
Babylonia, and later in
Assyria (Upper
Mesopotamia; modern-day northern
Iraq, northeast
Syria, northwest
Iran, and south eastern
Turkey).
[10] The influx eventually resulted in the
Neo Assyrian Empire (911-605 BC) adopting an
Akkadian-influenced
Imperial Aramaic as the
Lingua Franca of its empire.
[11] This policy was continued by the short-lived
Neo-Babylonian Empire and
Median Empire, and all three empires became operationally bilingual in written sources, with Aramaic used alongside
Akkadian. The
Persian Empire (539-323 BC) continued this tradition, and the extensive influence of these empires led to Aramaic gradually becoming the
lingua franca of most of
Western Asia, the
Arabian Peninsula,
Asia Minor,
The Caucasus and
Egypt.
[10] Aramaic writing has been found as far north as
Hadrians Wall in
Ancient Britain, in the form of inscriptions in Aramaic, made by
Assyrian and
Aramean soldiers serving in the
Roman Legions in northern England during the 2nd century AD.
[12]
From the late 7th century AD to the 14th century AD, Aramaic was gradually replaced as the lingua franca of the
Middle East by
Arabic. However, Aramaic remains a spoken, literary and liturgical language among indigenous
Assyrians, and
Jews. It is spoken by the
Assyrians of
Iraq, northeast
Syria, southeast
Turkey and northwest
Iran, with diaspora communities in
Armenia,
Georgia,
Azerbaijan and southern
Russia.
Mandaeans also continue to use Aramaic as a liturgical language, as
most are now Arabic-speakers. There are still also a small number of
native speakers of
Western Aramaic in isolated villages in western
Syria. The turbulence of the last two centuries (particularly the
Assyrian Genocide)
has seen speakers of first-language and literary Aramaic dispersed
throughout the world. However, there are a number of sizable
Assyrian towns in northern Iraq such as
Alqosh,
Bakhdida,
Bartella,
Tel Esqof and
Tel Keppe,
together with numerous small villages, where Aramaic is still the main
spoken language, and many large cities in this region also have Assyrian
Aramaic-speaking communities, particularly
Mosul,
Irbil,
Kirkuk,
Dohuk and
Hasakah.
Aramaic languages and dialects
Isho or Eesho, the Aramaic name of
Jesus
Aramaic is often spoken of as a single language. However, it is in
reality a group of related languages, rather than a single monolithic
language—something which it has never been. Some Aramaic languages are
more different from each other than the Romance languages are among
themselves. Its long history, extensive literature, and use by different
religious communities are all factors in the diversification of the
language. Some Aramaic dialects are mutually intelligible, whereas
others are not, not unlike the situation with modern
Arabic. Some Aramaic languages are known under different names; for example,
Syriac is particularly used to describe the
Eastern Aramaic of indigenous
Christian ethnic communities of
Assyrians (aka
Chaldo-Assyrians) in Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria, northwest Iran and
Saint Thomas Christians in India. Most dialects can be described as either "Eastern"' or "Western", the dividing line being roughly the
Euphrates,
or slightly west of it. It is also helpful to draw a distinction
between those Aramaic languages that are modern living languages (often
called
Neo-Aramaic), those that are still in use as literary
languages, and those that are extinct and are only of interest to
scholars. Although there are some exceptions to this rule, this
classification gives "Modern", "Middle" and "Old" periods, alongside
"Eastern" and "Western" areas, to distinguish between the various
languages and dialects that are Aramaic.
Writing system
The earliest Aramaic alphabet was based on the
Phoenician alphabet. In time, Aramaic developed its distinctive "square" style. The ancient Israelites and other peoples of
Canaan adopted this alphabet for writing their own languages. Thus, it is better known as the
Hebrew alphabet today. This is the writing system used in
Biblical Aramaic
and other Jewish writing in Aramaic. The other main writing system used
for Aramaic was developed by Christian communities: a cursive form
known as the
Syriac alphabet. A highly modified form of the Aramaic alphabet, the
Mandaic alphabet, is used by the
Mandaeans.
In addition to these writing systems, certain derivatives of the
Aramaic alphabet were used in ancient times by particular groups:
Nabataean in
Petra, for instance and
Palmyrenean in
Palmyra. In modern times,
Turoyo (see
below) has sometimes been written in a
Latin alphabet.
History
The history of Aramaic is broken down into three broad periods:
This classification is based on that used by Klaus Beyer
*.
Old Aramaic
The term "Old Aramaic" is used to describe the varieties of the
language from its first known use until the point roughly marked by the
rise of the
Sasanian Empire
(224 AD), dominating the influential, eastern dialect region. As such,
the term covers over thirteen centuries of the development of Aramaic.
This vast time span includes all Aramaic that is now effectively
extinct.
The central phase in the development of Old Aramaic was its official use by the
Achaemenid Empire
(500–330 BC). The period before this, dubbed "Ancient Aramaic", saw the
development of the language from being spoken in Aramaean city-states
to become a major means of communication in diplomacy and trade
throughout
Mesopotamia, the
Levant and
Egypt.
After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, local vernaculars became
increasingly prominent, fanning the divergence of an Aramaic
dialect continuum and the development of differing written standards.
Ancient Aramaic
"Ancient Aramaic" refers to the earliest known period of the language, from its origin until it becomes the
lingua franca of the
Fertile Crescent. It was the language of the
Aramaean city-states of
Damascus,
Hamath and
Arpad.
There are inscriptions that evidence the earliest use of the
language, dating from the 10th century BC. These inscriptions are mostly
diplomatic documents between Aramaean city-states. The alphabet of
Aramaic at this early period seems to be based on
Phoenician,
and there is a unity in the written language. It seems that, in time, a
more refined alphabet, suited to the needs of the language, began to
develop from this in the eastern regions of Aram. Oddly, the dominance
of the
Neo-Assyrian Empire under
Tiglath-Pileser III over
Aram in the middle of the 8th century led to the establishment of Aramaic as a
lingua franca of the empire, rather than it being eclipsed by
Akkadian.
From 700 BC, the language began to spread in all directions, but lost much of its
homogeneity. Different dialects emerged in
Assyria,
Babylonia, the
Levant and
Egypt. However, the
Akkadian-influenced Aramaic of Assyria, and then
Babylon, started to come to the fore. As described in
2 Kings 18:26,
Hezekiah, king of
Judah,
negotiates with Assyrian ambassadors in Aramaic, the author claiming
this was so that the common people would not understand. Around 600 BC,
Adon, a
Canaanite king, used Aramaic to write to an Egyptian
Pharaoh.
[14]
"Chaldee" or "Chaldean Aramaic" used to be common terms for the Aramaic of the Chaldean dynasty of
Babylonia. It was used to describe
Biblical Aramaic, which was, however, written in a later style. It is not to be confused with the modern language
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic.
Imperial Aramaic
Around 500 BC, following the
Achaemenid conquest of Mesopotamia under
Darius I,
Aramaic (as had been used in that region) was adopted by the conquerors
as the "vehicle for written communication between the different regions
of the vast empire with its different peoples and languages. The use of
a single official language, which modern scholarship has dubbed
Official Aramaic or
Imperial Aramaic,
can be assumed to have greatly contributed to the astonishing success
of the Achaemenids in holding their far-flung empire together for as
long as they did".
[15]
In 1955, Richard Frye questioned the classification of Imperial Aramaic
as an "official language", noting that no surviving edict expressly and
unambiguously accorded that status to any particular language.
[16] Frye reclassifies Imperial Aramaic as the
lingua franca
of the Achaemenid territories, suggesting then that the Achaemenid-era
use of Aramaic was more pervasive than generally thought.
Imperial Aramaic was highly standardised; its orthography was based
more on historical roots than any spoken dialect, and the inevitable
influence of
Persian
gave the language a new clarity and robust flexibility. For centuries
after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire (in 331 BC), Imperial Aramaic –
or near enough for it to be recognisable – would remain an influence on
the various native
Iranian languages. Aramaic script and – as ideograms – Aramaic vocabulary would survive as the essential characteristics of the
Pahlavi writing system.
[17]
One of the largest collections of Imperial Aramaic texts is that of the
Persepolis fortification tablets, which number about five hundred.
[18] Many of the extant documents witnessing to this form of Aramaic come from
Egypt, and
Elephantine in particular (see
Elephantine papyri). Of them, the best known is the
Wisdom of Ahiqar, a book of instructive aphorisms quite similar in style to the biblical
book of Proverbs.
Achaemenid Aramaic is sufficiently uniform that it is often difficult
to know where any particular example of the language was written. Only
careful examination reveals the occasional loan word from a local
language.
A group of thirty Aramaic documents from
Bactria
have been discovered, and an analysis was published in November 2006.
The texts, which were rendered on leather, reflect the use of Aramaic in
the 4th century BC Achaemenid administration of Bactria and
Sogdiana.
[19]
Post-Achaemenid Aramaic
The conquest by
Alexander the Great
did not destroy the unity of Aramaic language and literature
immediately. Aramaic that bears a relatively close resemblance to that
of the 5th century BC can be found right up to the early 2nd century BC.
The
Seleucids imposed
Greek in the administration of
Syria and
Mesopotamia
from the start of their rule. In the 3rd century BC, Greek overtook
Aramaic as the common language in Egypt and Syria. However, a
post-Achaemenid Aramaic continued to flourish from
Judaea, Assyria, Mesopotamia, through the Syrian Desert and into northern
Arabia and
Parthia.
Biblical Aramaic is the Aramaic found in four discrete sections of the
Hebrew Bible:
- Ezra
4:8–6:18 and 7:12–26 – documents from the Achaemenid period (5th
century BC) concerning the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem.
- Daniel 2:4b–7:28 – five subversive tales and an apocalyptic vision.
- Jeremiah 10:11 – a single sentence in the middle of a Hebrew text denouncing idolatry.
- Genesis 31:47 – translation of a Hebrew place-name.
Biblical Aramaic is a somewhat hybrid dialect. It is theorized that
some Biblical Aramaic material originated in both Babylonia and Judaea
before the fall of the Achaemenid dynasty. According to
historical criticism, defiant Jewish propaganda shaped Aramaic
Daniel during
Seleucid
rule. These stories might have existed as oral traditions at their
earliest stage. This might be one factor that led to differing
collections of Daniel in the
Greek Septuagint and the
Masoretic Text, which presents a lightly
Hebrew-influenced Aramaic.
Under the category of post-Achaemenid is Hasmonaean Aramaic, the official language of
Hasmonaean Judaea (142–37 BC). It influenced the Biblical Aramaic of the
Qumran texts, and was the main language of non-biblical theological texts of that community. The major
Targums,
translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, were originally composed
in Hasmonaean. Hasmonaean also appears in quotations in the
Mishnah and
Tosefta,
although smoothed into its later context. It is written quite
differently from Achaemenid Aramaic; there is an emphasis on writing as
words are pronounced rather than using etymological forms.
Babylonian
Targumic is the later post-Achaemenid dialect found in the
Targum Onqelos and
Targum Jonathan,
the "official" targums. The original, Hasmonaean targums had reached
Babylon sometime in the 2nd or 3rd century AD. They were then reworked
according to the contemporary dialect of Babylon to create the language
of the standard targums. This combination formed the basis of Babylonian
Jewish literature for centuries to follow.
Galilean Targumic is similar to Babylonian Targumic. It is the mixing of literary Hasmonaean with the dialect of
Galilee.
The Hasmonaean targums reached Galilee in the 2nd century AD, and were
reworked into this Galilean dialect for local use. The Galilean Targum
was not considered an authoritative work by other communities, and
documentary evidence shows that its text was amended. From the 11th
century AD onwards, once the Babylonian Targum had become normative, the
Galilean version became heavily influenced by it.
Babylonian Documentary Aramaic is a dialect in use from the 3rd
century AD onwards. It is the dialect of Babylonian private documents,
and, from the 12th century, all Jewish private documents are in Aramaic.
It is based on Hasmonaean with very few changes. This was perhaps
because many of the documents in BDA are legal documents, the language
in them had to be sensible throughout the Jewish community from the
start, and Hasmonaean was the old standard.
Nabataean Aramaic is the language of the Arameo-Arab kingdom of
Petra. The kingdom (
c. 200 BC–106 AD) covered the east bank of the
Jordan River, the
Sinai Peninsula
and northern Arabia. Perhaps because of the importance of the caravan
trade, the Nabataeans began to use Aramaic in preference to
Old North Arabic.
The dialect is based on Achaemenid with a little influence from Arabic:
"l" is often turned into "n", and there are a few Arabic loan words.
Some Nabataean Aramaic inscriptions exist from the early days of the
kingdom, but most are from the first four centuries AD The language is
written in a
cursive script that is the precursor to the modern
Arabic alphabet. The number of Arabic loan words increases through the centuries, until, in the 4th century, Nabataean merges seamlessly with
Arabic.
Palmyrene Aramaic is the dialect that was in use in the
Syriac city state of
Palmyra in the Syrian Desert from 44 BC to 274 AD. It was written in a rounded script, which later gave way to cursive
Estrangela. Like Nabataean, Palmyrene was influenced by Arabic, but to a much lesser degree.
Arsacid Aramaic, that in use during the
Arsacid empire
(247 BC – 224 AD), represents a continuation of Achaemenid Aramaic,
widely spoken throughout the west of the empire. Aramaic continued as
the scribal basis for
Pahlavi as it developed for the needs of
Parthian: using an Aramaic-derived script and incorporating many
heterograms,
or Aramaic words meant to be read as Parthian ones. The Arsacids saw
themselves as a continuation of Achaemenid rule, and so Arsacid Aramaic,
more than any other post-Achaemenid dialect, continued the tradition of
the chancery of
Darius I. Over time, however, it came under the influence of contemporary, spoken Aramaic,
Georgian and
Persian. After the conquest of the Parthians by the Persian-speaking
Sasanids, Arsacid Pahlavi and Aramaic were influential on Sasanian language use.
[20]
Late Old Eastern Aramaic
The dialects mentioned in the last section were all descended from
Achaemenid Imperial Aramaic. However, the diverse regional dialects of
Late Ancient Aramaic continued alongside these, often as simple, spoken
languages. Early evidence for these spoken dialects is known only
through their influence on words and names in a more standard dialect.
However, these regional dialects became written languages in the 2nd
century BC. These dialects reflect a stream of Aramaic that is not
dependent on Imperial Aramaic, and shows a clear division between the
regions of Mesopotamia, Babylon and the east, and Judah, Syria, and the
west.
In the East, the dialects of Palmyrene and Arsacid Aramaic merged
with the regional languages to create languages with a foot in Imperial
and a foot in regional Aramaic. The written form of
Mandaic, the language of the
Mandaean religion, was descended from the Arsacid chancery script.
[21]
In the kingdom of
Osroene, centred on
Edessa and founded in 132 BC, the regional dialect became the official language: Old
Syriac. On the upper reaches of the
Tigris, East Mesopotamian Aramaic flourished, with evidence from
Hatra,
Assur and the
Tur Abdin.
Tatian, the author of the gospel harmony the
Diatessaron
came from Assyria, and perhaps wrote his work (172 AD) in East
Mesopotamian rather than Syriac or Greek. In Babylonia, the regional
dialect was used by the Jewish community, Jewish Old Babylonian (from
c. 70 AD). This everyday language increasingly came under the influence of Biblical Aramaic and Babylonian Targumic.
Late Old Western Aramaic
The western regional dialects of Aramaic followed a similar course to
those of the east. They are quite distinct from the eastern dialects
and Imperial Aramaic. Aramaic came to coexist with Canaanite dialects,
eventually completely displacing
Phoenician in the 1st century BC and
Hebrew around the turn of the 4th century AD.
The form of Late Old Western Aramaic used by the Jewish community is
best attested, and is usually referred to as Jewish Old Palestinian. Its
oldest form is Old East Jordanian, which probably comes from the region
of
Caesarea Philippi. This is the dialect of the oldest manuscript of
Enoch (
c.
170 BC). The next distinct phase of the language is called Old Judaean
into the 2nd century AD. Old Judaean literature can be found in various
inscriptions and personal letters, preserved quotations in the
Talmud and receipts from
Qumran.
Josephus' first, non-extant edition of his
Jewish War was written in Old Judaean.
The Old East Jordanian dialect continued to be used into the 1st
century AD by pagan communities living to the east of the Jordan. Their
dialect is often then called Pagan Old Palestinian, and it was written
in a cursive script somewhat similar to that used for Old Syriac. A
Christian Old Palestinian dialect may have arisen from the pagan one,
and this dialect may be behind some of the Western Aramaic tendencies
found in the otherwise eastern Old Syriac gospels (see
Peshitta).
Languages during Jesus' lifetime
It is generally believed that in the 1st century AD, Jews in
Judaea primarily spoke Aramaic with a decreasing number using
Hebrew as a native language. Many learned Hebrew as a liturgical language. Additionally,
Koine Greek
was the lingua franca or international language of the Middle East in
trade, among the Hellenized classes, like French in the 18th,19th and
20th centuries in Europe, and in the Roman administration.
Latin, the language of the Roman army and higher levels of administration, had almost no impact on the linguistic landscape.
In addition to the formal, literary dialects of Aramaic based on
Hasmonaean and Babylonian there were a number of colloquial Aramaic dialects. Seven dialects of
Western Aramaic were spoken in the vicinity of Judaea in
Jesus' time. They were probably distinctive yet mutually intelligible. Old Judaean was the prominent dialect of
Jerusalem and Judaea. The region of
Engedi had the South-east Judaean dialect.
Samaria had its distinctive Samaritan Aramaic, where the consonants "
he", "
heth" and "
‘ayin" all became pronounced as "
aleph".
Galilean Aramaic, the dialect of Jesus' home region, is only known from
a few place names, the influences on Galilean Targumic, some rabbinic
literature and a few private letters. It seems to have a number of
distinctive features:
diphthongs
are never simplified into monophthongs. East of the Jordan, the various
dialects of East Jordanian were spoken. In the region of
Damascus and the
Anti-Lebanon mountains, Damascene Aramaic was spoken (deduced mostly from Modern Western Aramaic). Finally, as far north as
Aleppo, the western dialect of Orontes Aramaic was spoken.
The three languages influenced one another, especially Hebrew and
Aramaic. Hebrew words entered Jewish Aramaic (mostly technical religious
words but also everyday words like
‘ēṣ "wood"). Vice versa, Aramaic words entered Hebrew (not only Aramaic words like
māmmôn "wealth" but Aramaic ways of using words like making Hebrew
rā’ûi, "seen" mean "worthy" in the sense of "seemly", which is a loan translation of Aramaic
ḥāzê meaning "seen" and "worthy").
The Greek of the
New Testament often preserves non-Greek
semiticisms, including transliterations of
Semitic words:
- Some are Aramaic like talitha (ταλιθα) that can represent the noun ṭalyĕṯā (Mark 5:41).
- Others can be either Hebrew or Aramaic like Rabbounei (Ραββουνει), which stands for "my master/great one/teacher" in both languages (John 20:16).
The 2004 film
The Passion of the Christ
used Aramaic for much of its dialogue, specially reconstructed by a
scholar, William Fulco, S.J. Where the appropriate words (in 1st century
Aramaic) were no longer known, he used the Aramaic of Daniel,
4th-century Syriac and Hebrew as the basis for his work.
Middle Aramaic
The 3rd century AD is taken as the threshold between Old and Middle
Aramaic. During that century, the nature of the various Aramaic
languages and dialects begins to change. The descendants of Imperial
Aramaic ceased to be living languages, and the eastern and western
regional languages began to form vital, new literatures. Unlike many of
the dialects of Old Aramaic, much is known about the vocabulary and
grammar of Middle Aramaic.
Eastern Middle Aramaic
Only two of the Old Eastern Aramaic languages continued into this
period. In the north of the region, Old Syriac moved into Middle Syriac.
In the south, Jewish Old Babylonian became Jewish Middle Babylonian.
The post-Achaemenid, Arsacid dialect became the background of the new
Mandaic language.
Syriac
Syriac (also "Middle Syriac") is the classical, literary, liturgical and often spoken language of
Syriac Christians to this day, particularly the
Assyrian church of the East,
Chaldean Catholic Church,
Ancient Church of the East,
Syriac Orthodox and
Saint Thomas Christian
churches. It originated in Northern Mesopotamia. Its golden age was the
4th to 6th centuries. This period began with the translation of the
Bible into the language: the
Peshitta and the masterful prose and poetry of
Ephrem the Syrian. Middle Syriac, unlike its forebear, is a thoroughly Christian language,
[clarification needed] although in time it became the language of those opposed to the
Byzantine leadership of the
Church of the East. Missionary activity by Assyrian and
Nestorian Christians led to the spread of Syriac from Mesopotamia through
Persia and into
Central Asia,
India and
China.
Jewish Middle Babylonian Aramaic
Jewish Middle Babylonian is the language employed by Jewish writers
in Babylonia between the 4th century and the 11th century AD. It is most
commonly identified with the language of the Babylonian
Talmud (which was completed in the 7th century) and of post-Talmudic (
Geonic)
literature, which are the most important cultural products of
Babylonian Jewry. The most important epigraphic sources for the dialect
are the hundreds of Aramaic
magic bowls written in the Jewish script.
Mandaic
Mandaic, spoken by the
Mandeans of
Iraq,
is a sister dialect to Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, though it is both
linguistically and culturally distinct. Classical Mandaic is the
language in which the Mandaean's
Gnostic religious literature was composed. It is characterized by a highly phonetic orthography.
Western Middle Aramaic
The dialects of Old Western Aramaic continued with Jewish Middle Palestinian (in
Hebrew "square script"), Samaritan Aramaic (in the
old Hebrew script) and Christian Palestinian (in cursive
Syriac script). Of these three, only Jewish Middle Palestinian continued as a written language.
[clarification needed]
Jewish Middle Palestinian Aramaic
In 135, after the
Bar Kokhba revolt, many
Jewish leaders, expelled from
Jerusalem, moved to
Galilee.
The Galilean dialect thus rose from obscurity to become the standard
among Jews in the west. This dialect was spoken not only in Galilee, but
also in the surrounding parts. It is the linguistic setting for the
Jerusalem Talmud (completed in the 5th century), Palestinian
targumim (Jewish Aramaic versions of scripture), and
midrashim (biblical commentaries and teaching). The standard
vowel pointing for the
Hebrew Bible,
the Tiberian system (7th century), was developed by speakers of the
Galilean dialect of Jewish Middle Palestinian. Classical Hebrew
vocalisation, therefore, in representing the Hebrew of this period,
probably reflects the contemporary pronunciation of this Aramaic
dialect.
Middle Judaean, the descendant of
Old Judaean,
is no longer the dominant dialect, and was used only in southern Judaea
(the variant Engedi dialect continued throughout this period).
Likewise,
Middle East Jordanian continues as a minor dialect from
Old East Jordanian. The inscriptions in the synagogue at
Dura-Europos are either in Middle East Jordanian or Middle Judaean.
Samaritan Aramaic
The Aramaic dialect of the
Samaritan
community is earliest attested by a documentary tradition that can be
dated back to the 4th century. Its modern pronunciation is based on the
form used in the 10th century.
Christian Palestinian Aramaic
The language of Western-Aramaic-speaking Christians is evidenced from
the 6th century, but probably existed two centuries earlier. The
language itself comes from Christian Old Palestinian, but its writing
conventions were based on early
Middle Syriac, and it was heavily influenced by
Greek. For example, the name Jesus, although
Išo in Aramaic, is written
Yesûs in Christian Palestinian.
Modern Aramaic
Over 400,000 people of various communities from across the
Middle East, and recent
emigrants who have moved out of these communities, speak one of several varieties of Modern Aramaic (also called
Neo-Aramaic) natively, including
Christians,
Jews,
Mandaeans and
Muslims.
Having lived in remote areas as insulated communities, the remaining
modern speakers of Aramaic dialects escaped the linguistic pressures
experienced by others during the large-scale
language shifts that saw the proliferation of other tongues among those who previously did not speak them, most recently the
Arabization of the Middle East and North Africa by
Muslim Arabians, during their spread of
Islam.
Most of the people of that region who converted to Islam, and many from
the remaining unconverted population, also adopted Arabic as their
first language. The Aramaic-speaking peoples such as Assyrians have
preserved their traditions with schools, printing presses and now with
electronic media.
The Neo-Aramaic languages are now farther apart in their mutual
intelligibility than perhaps they have ever been. Instability throughout
the Middle East over the past century has led to a worldwide diaspora
of Aramaic-speakers. For Aramaic-speaking Jews, 1950 is a watershed
year: the founding of the state of
Israel and consequent
Jewish exodus from Arab lands, including
Iraq,
led most Iraqi Jews, both Aramaic-speaking and Arabic-speaking Iraqi
Jews, to emigrate to Israel. However, immigration to Israel has led to
the Jewish Neo-Aramaic (and Jewish Iraqi Arabic) being replaced by
Modern Hebrew (
Ivrit) among children of the migrants. The practical extinction of many Jewish dialects seems imminent.
Modern Eastern Aramaic
Modern Eastern Aramaic exists in a wide variety of dialects and
languages. There is significant difference between the Aramaic spoken by
Jews,
Chaldo-Assyrian Christians, and
Mandaeans.
The Christian languages are often called Modern
Syriac
(or Neo-Syriac, particularly when referring to their literature), being
deeply influenced by the literary and liturgical language of Middle
Syriac. However, they also have roots in numerous, previously unwritten,
local Aramaic varieties, and are not purely the direct descendants of
the language of
Ephrem the Syrian. The varieties are not all mutually intelligible. The principal Christian varieties are
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic used by the ethnic Assyrians of Iraq, south east Turkey, Iran and north east Syria.
The
Judeo-Aramaic languages are now mostly spoken in
Israel, and most are facing extinction. The Jewish varieties that have come from communities that once lived between
Lake Urmia and
Mosul are not all mutually intelligible. In some places, for example
Urmia, Christians and Jews speak mutually unintelligible varieties of Modern Eastern Aramaic in the same place. In others, the
Nineveh Plains around Mosul for example, the varieties of the two faith communities are similar enough to allow conversation.
Modern Western Syriac (also called Central Neo-Aramaic, being in
between Western Neo-Aramaic and Eastern Neo-Syriac) is generally
represented by
Turoyo, the language of the
Tur Abdin. A related language,
Mlahsô, has recently become extinct.
Mandaeans, living in the
Khūzestān Province of
Iran and scattered throughout
Iraq, speak Modern
Mandaic. It is quite distinct from any other Aramaic variety.
Modern Central Aramaic
Central Neo-Aramaic consists of
Turoyo and the recently extinct
Mlahsô.
Modern Western Aramaic
Very little remains of Western Aramaic. It is still spoken in the villages of
Ma'loula,
Bakh`a and
Jubb`adin on
Syria's side of the
Anti-Lebanon mountains, as well as by some people who migrated from these villages, to
Damascus
and other larger towns of Syria. All these speakers of Modern Western
Aramaic are fluent in Arabic, which has now become the main language in
these villages.
Sounds
Each dialect of Aramaic has its own distinctive pronunciation, and it
would not be feasible here to go into all these properties. Aramaic has
a phonological palette of 25 to 40 distinct phonemes. Some modern
Aramaic pronunciations lack the series of "emphatic" consonants, and
some have borrowed from the inventories of surrounding languages,
particularly
Arabic,
Azerbaijani,
Kurdish,
Persian and
Turkish.
Vowels
|
Front |
Back |
| Close |
i |
u |
| Close-mid |
e |
o |
| Open-mid |
ɛ |
(ɔ) |
| Open |
a |
(ɑ) |
As with most Semitic languages, Aramaic can be thought of as having three basic sets of vowels:
- Open a-vowels
- Close front i-vowels
- Close back u-vowels
These vowel groups are relatively stable, but the exact articulation
of any individual is most dependent on its consonantal setting.
The cardinal open vowel is an open near-front unrounded vowel ("short"
a, somewhat like the first vowel in the English "batter",
[a]). It usually has a back counterpart ("long"
a, like the
a in "father",
[ɑ], or even tending to the vowel in "caught",
[ɔ]), and a front counterpart ("short"
e, like the vowel in "head",
[ɛ]).
There is much correspondence between these vowels between dialects.
There is some evidence that Middle Babylonian dialects did not
distinguish between the short
a and short
e. In West Syriac dialects, and possibly Middle Galilean, the long
a became the
o sound. The open
e and back
a are often indicated in writing by the use of the letters "alaph" (a
glottal stop) or "he" (like the English
h).
The cardinal close front vowel is the "long"
i (like the vowel in "need",
[i]). It has a slightly more open counterpart, the "long"
e, as in the final vowel of "café" (
[e]). Both of these have shorter counterparts, which tend to be pronounced slightly more open. Thus, the short close
e corresponds with the open
e in some dialects. The close front vowels usually use the consonant
y as a
mater lectionis.
The cardinal close back vowel is the "long"
u (like the vowel in "school",
[u]). It has a more open counterpart, the "long"
o, like the vowel in "low" (
[o]). There are shorter, and thus more open, counterparts to each of these, with the short close
o sometimes corresponding with the long open
a. The close back vowels often use the consonant
w to indicate their quality.
Two basic
diphthongs exist: an open vowel followed by
y (
ay), and an open vowel followed by
w (
aw). These were originally full diphthongs, but many dialects have converted them to
e and
o respectively.
The so-called "emphatic" consonants (see the next section) cause all vowels to become mid-centralised.
Consonants
|
Labial |
Interdental |
Alveolar |
Palatal |
Velar |
Uvular |
Pharyngeal |
Glottal |
| Plain |
Emphatic |
| Nasal |
m |
|
n |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Stop |
Voiceless |
p |
|
t |
tˤ |
|
k |
q |
|
ʔ |
| Voiced |
b |
|
d |
|
|
ɡ |
|
|
|
| Fricative |
Voiceless |
f |
θ |
s |
sˤ |
ʃ |
x |
|
ħ |
h |
| Voiced |
v |
ð |
z |
|
|
ɣ |
|
ʕ |
|
| Trill |
|
|
r |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Approximant |
|
|
l |
|
j |
w |
|
|
|
The various alphabets used for writing Aramaic languages have
twenty-two letters (all of which are consonants). Some of these letters,
though, can stand for two or three different sounds (usually a
plosive and a
fricative at the same point of articulation). Aramaic classically uses a series of lightly contrasted plosives and fricatives:
- Labial set: p/f and b/v,
- Dental set: t/θ and d/ð,
- Velar set: k/x and g/ɣ.
Each member of a certain pair is written with the same letter of the alphabet in most writing systems (that is,
p and
f are written with the same letter), and are near
allophones.
A distinguishing feature of Aramaic phonology (and that of Semitic
languages in general) is the presence of "emphatic" consonants. These
are consonants that are pronounced with the root of the tongue
retracted, with varying degrees of
pharyngealization and
velarization. Using their alphabetic names, these emphatics are:
- Ḥêṯ, a voiceless pharyngeal fricative, /ħ/,
- Ṭêṯ, a pharyngealized t, /tˤ/,
- ʽAyin (or ʽE in some dialects), a pharyngealized glottal stop (sometimes considered to be a voiced pharyngeal approximant), [ʕ] or [ʔˤ],
- Ṣāḏê, a pharyngealized s, /sˤ/,
- Qôp, a voiceless uvular plosive, /q/.
Ancient Aramaic may have had a larger series of emphatics, and some
Neo-Aramaic languages definitely do. Not all dialects of Aramaic give
these consonants their historic values.
Overlapping with the set of emphatics are the "guttural" consonants. They include
Ḥêṯ and
ʽAyn from the emphatic set, and add
ʼĀlap̄ (a
glottal stop) and
Hê (as the English "h").
Aramaic classically has a set of four
sibilants (Ancient Aramaic may have had six):
- /s/ (as in English "sea"),
- /z/ (as in English "zero"),
- /ʃ/ (as in English "ship"),
- /sˤ/ (the emphatic Ṣāḏê listed above).
In addition to these sets, Aramaic has the
nasal consonants m and
n, and the
approximants r (usually an
alveolar trill),
l,
y and
w.
Historical sound changes
Six broad features of sound change can be seen as dialect differentials:
- Vowel change occurs almost too frequently to document fully, but is a major distinctive feature of different dialects.
- Plosive/fricative pair reduction. Originally, Aramaic, like Tiberian Hebrew, had fricatives as conditioned allophones
for each plosive. In the wake of vowel changes, the distinction
eventually became phonemic; still later, it was often lost in certain
dialects. For example, Turoyo has mostly lost /p/, using /f/ instead; other dialects (for instance, standard Assyrian Neo-Aramaic) have lost /θ/ and /ð/ and replaced them with /t/ and /d/. In most dialects of Modern Syriac, /f/ and /v/ become /w/ after a vowel.
- Loss of emphatics. Some dialects have replaced emphatic consonants with non-emphatic counterparts, while those spoken in the Caucasus often have glottalized rather than pharyngealized emphatics.
- Guttural assimilation is the main distinctive feature of Samaritan pronunciation, also found in the Samaritan Hebrew language: all the gutturals are reduced to a simple glottal stop. Some Modern Aramaic dialects do not pronounce h in all words (the third person masculine pronoun hu becomes ow).
- Proto-Semitic */θ/ */ð/ are reflected in Aramaic as */t/, */d/, whereas they became sibilants in Hebrew (the number three is šālôš in Hebrew but tlāṯ in Aramaic). Dental/sibilant shifts are still happening in the modern dialects.
- New phonetic inventory. Modern dialects have borrowed sounds from the dominant surrounding languages. The most frequent borrowings are [ʒ] (as the first consonant in "azure"), [d͡ʒ] (as in "jam") and [t͡ʃ] (as in "church"). The Syriac alphabet has been adapted for writing these new sounds.
Grammar
As with other Semitic languages, Aramaic
morphology (the way words are formed) is based on the
triliteral root. The root consists of three consonants and has a basic meaning, for example,
k-t-b
has the meaning of 'writing'. This is then modified by the addition of
vowels and other consonants to create different nuances of the basic
meaning:
- Kṯāḇâ, handwriting, inscription, script, book.
- Kṯāḇê, the Scriptures.
- Kāṯûḇâ, secretary, scribe.
- Kṯāḇeṯ, I wrote.
- Eḵtûḇ, I shall write.
Nouns and adjectives
Aramaic nouns and adjectives are inflected to show gender, number and state. The latter somewhat akin to case in
Indo-European languages.
Aramaic has two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine. The feminine absolute singular is usually marked by the ending
-â, which is usually written with an
aleph. Jewish varieties, however, often use
he instead, following Hebrew orthography.
Nouns can be either singular or plural, but an additional "dual"
number exists for nouns that usually come in pairs. The dual number
gradually disappeared from Aramaic over time and has little influence in
Middle and Modern Aramaic.
Aramaic nouns and adjectives can exist in one of three states; these
states correspond in part to the role of cases in other languages.
- The absolute state is the basic form of a noun (for example, kṯâḇâ,
"handwriting"). The absolute state can be used in most syntactical
roles. However, by the Middle Aramaic period, its use for nouns, but not
adjectives, had been widely replaced by the emphatic state.
- The construct state is a form of the noun used to make possessive phrases (for example, kṯāḇaṯ malkṯâ,
'the handwriting of the queen). In the masculine singular it is often
the same as the absolute, but may undergo vowel reduction in longer
words. The feminine construct and masculine construct plural are marked
by suffixes. Unlike a genitive case, which marks the possessor, the construct state is marked on the possessed. This is mainly due to Aramaic word order: possessed[const.] possessor[abs./emph.]
are treated as a speech unit, with the first unit (possessed) employing
the construct state to link it to the following word. In Middle
Aramaic, the use of the construct state for all but stock phrases (like bar-nāšâ, "son of man") begins to disappear.
- The emphatic or determined state is an extended form of the noun that functions a bit like a definite article (which Aramaic lacks; for example, kṯāḇtâ,
"the handwriting"). It is marked with a suffix. Although its original
grammatical function seems to have been to mark definiteness, it is used
already in Imperial Aramaic to mark all important nouns, even if they
should be considered technically indefinite. This practice developed to
the extent that the absolute state became extraordinarily rare in later
varieties of Aramaic.
Whereas other
Northwest Semitic languages, like Hebrew, have the absolute and construct states, the emphatic/determined state is a unique feature to Aramaic.
Case endings, as in
Ugaritic,
probably existed in a very early stage of the language, and glimpses of
them can be seen in a few compounded proper names. However, as most
were short final vowels, they were never written, and the few
characteristic long vowels of the masculine plural accusative and
genitive are not clearly evidenced in inscriptions. Often, the
direct object is marked by a prefixed
l- (the
preposition "to") if it is definite.
Adjectives agree with their nouns in number and gender but agree in
state only if attributive. Predicative adjectives are in the absolute
state regardless of the state of their noun (a
copula
may or may not be written). Thus, an attributive adjective to an
emphatic noun, as in the phrase "the good king", is written also in the
emphatic state
malkâ ṭāḇâ—king[emph.]
good[emph.]. In comparison, the predicative adjective, as in the phrase
"the king is good", is written in the absolute state
ṭāḇ malkâ—good[abs.] king[emph.].
| "good" |
masc. sg. |
fem. sg. |
masc. pl. |
fem. pl. |
| abs. |
ṭāḇ |
ṭāḇâ |
ṭāḇîn |
ṭāḇān |
| const. |
ṭāḇ |
ṭāḇaṯ |
ṭāḇê |
ṭāḇāṯ |
| det./emph. |
ṭāḇâ |
ṭāḇtâ |
ṭāḇayyâ |
ṭāḇāṯâ |
The final
-â in a number of these suffixes is written with the letter
aleph. However, some Jewish Aramaic texts employ the letter
he for the feminine absolute singular. Likewise, some Jewish Aramaic texts employ the Hebrew masculine absolute singular suffix
-îm instead of
-în. The masculine determined plural suffix,
-ayyâ, has an alternative version,
-ê. The alternative is sometimes called the "gentilic plural" for its prominent use in ethnonyms (
yəhûḏāyê, 'the Jews', for example). This alternative plural is written with the letter
aleph,
and came to be the only plural for nouns and adjectives of this type in
Syriac and some other varieties of Aramaic. The masculine construct
plural,
-ê, is written with
yodh. In Syriac and some other variants this ending is
diphthongized to
-ai.
Possessive phrases in Aramaic can either be made with the construct state or by linking two nouns with the relative particle
d[î]-.
As use of the construct state almost disappears from the Middle Aramaic
period on, the latter method became the main way of making possessive
phrases.
For example, the various forms of possessive phrases (for "the handwriting of the queen") are:
- Kṯāḇaṯ malkṯâ – the oldest
construction: the possessed object(kṯāḇâ, "handwriting") is in the
construct state (kṯāḇaṯ); the possessor (malkâ, "queen") is in the
emphatic state (malkṯâ)
- Kṯāḇtâ d(î)-malkṯâ – both words are in the emphatic state and the relative particle d[î]- is used to mark the relationship
- Kṯāḇtāh d(î)-malkṯâ – both words
are in the emphatic state, and the relative particle is used, but the
possessed is given an anticipatory, pronominal ending (kṯāḇt[â]-āh,
"handwriting-her"; literally, "her writing, that (of) the queen").
In Modern Aramaic, the last form is by far the most common. In Biblical Aramaic, the last form is virtually absent.
Verbs
The Aramaic verb has gradually evolved in time and place, varying between varieties of the language. Verb forms are marked for
person (first, second or third),
number (singular or plural),
gender (masculine or feminine),
tense (perfect or imperfect),
mood (indicative, imperative, jussive or infinitive) and
voice (active, reflexive or passive). Aramaic also employs a system of
conjugations, or verbal stems, to mark intensive and extensive developments in the lexical meaning of verbs.
Aspectual tense
Aramaic has two proper
tenses:
perfect and
imperfect. These were originally
aspectual, but developed into something more like a
preterite and
future. The perfect is
unmarked, while the imperfect uses various
preformatives
that vary according to person, number and gender. In both tenses the
third-person singular masculine is the unmarked form from which others
are derived by addition of
afformatives
(and preformatives in the imperfect). In the chart below (on the root
K-T-B, meaning "to write"), the first form given is the usual form in
Imperial Aramaic, while the second is
Classical Syriac.
| Person & gender |
Perfect |
Imperfect |
| Singular |
Plural |
Singular |
Plural |
| 3rd m. |
kəṯaḇ ↔ kəṯaḇ |
kəṯaḇû ↔ kəṯaḇ(w)/kəṯabbûn |
yiḵtuḇ ↔ neḵtoḇ |
yiḵtəḇûn ↔ neḵtəḇûn |
| 3rd f. |
kiṯbaṯ ↔ keṯbaṯ |
kəṯaḇâ ↔ kəṯaḇ(y)/kəṯabbên |
tiḵtuḇ ↔ teḵtoḇ |
yiḵtəḇān ↔ neḵtəḇān |
| 2nd m. |
kəṯaḇt ↔ kəṯaḇt |
kəṯaḇtûn ↔ kəṯaḇton |
tiḵtuḇ ↔ teḵtoḇ |
tiḵtəḇûn ↔ teḵtəḇûn |
| 2nd f. |
kəṯaḇtî ↔ kəṯaḇt(y) |
kəṯaḇtēn ↔ kəṯaḇtên |
tiḵtuḇîn ↔ teḵtuḇîn |
tiḵtəḇān ↔ teḵtəḇān |
| 1st m./f. |
kiṯḇēṯ ↔ keṯḇeṯ |
kəṯaḇnâ ↔ kəṯaḇn |
eḵtuḇ ↔ eḵtoḇ |
niḵtuḇ ↔ neḵtoḇ |
Conjugations or verbal stems
Like other Semitic languages, Aramaic employs a number of
conjugations, or verbal stems, to extend the lexical coverage of verbs.
The basic conjugation of the verb is called the
ground stem, or
G-stem.
Following the tradition of mediaeval Arabic grammarians, it is more
often called the Pə‘al (also written Pe‘al), using the form of the
triliteral root P-‘-L, meaning "to do". This stem carries the basic lexical meaning of the verb.
By doubling of the second radical, or root letter, the D-stem or
Pa‘‘el is formed. This is often an intensive development of the basic
lexical meaning. For example,
qəṭal means "he killed", whereas
qaṭṭel means "he slew". The precise relationship in meaning between the two stems differs for every verb.
A
preformative, which can be
ha-,
a- or
ša-,
creates the C-stem or variously the Hap̄‘el, Ap̄‘el or Šap̄‘el (also
spelt Haph‘el, Aph‘el and Shaph‘el). This is often an extensive or
causative development of the basic lexical meaning. For example,
ṭə‘â means "he went astray", whereas
aṭ‘î means "he deceived". The Šap̄‘el is the least common variant of the C-stem. Because this variant is standard in
Akkadian, it is possible that its use in Aramaic represents
loanwords from that language. The difference between the variants Hap̄‘el and Ap̄‘el appears to be the gradual dropping of the initial
h sound in later Old Aramaic. This is noted by the respelling of the older
he preformative with
aleph.
These three conjugations are supplemented with three derived conjugations, produced by the preformative
hiṯ- or
eṯ-. The loss of the initial
h
sound occurs similarly to that in the form above. These three derived
stems are the Gt-stem, Hiṯpə‘el or Eṯpə‘el (also written Hithpe‘el or
Ethpe‘el), the Dt-stem, Hiṯpa‘‘al or Eṯpa‘‘al (also written Hithpa‘‘al
or Ethpa‘‘al), and the Ct-stem, Hiṯhap̄‘al, Ettap̄‘al, Hištap̄‘al or
Eštap̄‘al (also written Hithhaph‘al, Ettaph‘al, Hishtaph‘al or
Eshtaph‘al). Their meaning is usually
reflexive, but later became
passive. However, as with other conjugations, actual meaning differs from verb to verb.
Not all verbs utilise all of these conjugations, and, in some, the
G-stem is not used. In the chart below (on the root K-T-B, meaning "to
write"), the first form given is the usual form in Imperial Aramaic,
while the second is
Classical Syriac.
| Stem |
Perfect active |
Imperfect active |
Perfect passive |
Imperfect passive |
| Pə‘al (G-stem) |
kəṯaḇ ↔ kəṯaḇ |
yiḵtuḇ ↔ neḵtoḇ |
kəṯîḇ |
|
| Hiṯpə‘ēl/Eṯpə‘el (Gt-stem) |
hiṯkəṯēḇ ↔ eṯkəṯeḇ |
yiṯkəṯēḇ ↔ neṯkəṯeḇ |
|
|
| Pa‘‘ēl/Pa‘‘el (D-stem) |
kattēḇ ↔ katteḇ |
yəḵattēḇ ↔ nəkatteḇ |
kuttaḇ |
|
| Hiṯpa‘‘al/Eṯpa‘‘al (Dt-stem) |
hiṯkattaḇ ↔ eṯkattaḇ |
yiṯkattaḇ ↔ neṯkattaḇ |
|
|
| Hap̄‘ēl/Ap̄‘el (C-stem) |
haḵtēḇ ↔ aḵteḇ |
yəhaḵtēḇ ↔ naḵteḇ |
huḵtaḇ |
|
| Hiṯhap̄‘al/Ettap̄‘al (Ct-stem) |
hiṯhaḵtaḇ ↔ ettaḵtaḇ |
yiṯhaḵtaḇ ↔ nettaḵtaḇ |
|
|
Aramaic also has two proper
tenses: the perfect and the imperfect. In Imperial Aramaic, the
participle began to be used for a
historical present.
Perhaps under influence from other languages, Middle Aramaic developed a
system of composite tenses (combinations of forms of the verb with
pronouns or an
auxiliary verb),
allowing for narrative that is more vivid. The syntax of Aramaic (the
way sentences are put together) usually follows the order
verb–subject–object (VSO). Imperial (Persian) Aramaic, however, tended
to follow a S-O-V pattern (similar to Akkadian), which was the result of
Persian syntactic influence.
Aramaic word processors
The World's first Aramaic language
word processing software was developed in 1986–1987 in
Kuwait by a young information technology professional named
Sunil Sivanand,
who is now Managing Director and Chief Technology Architect at Acette.
Sunil Sivanand did most of the character generation and programming work
on a first generation, twin disk drive
IBM Personal Computer. The project was sponsored by
Daniel Benjamin, who was a patron of a group of individuals working worldwide to preserve and revive the Aramaic language.
See also
Notes
- Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Aramaic". Glottolog 2.2. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
- Aramaic appears
somewhere between 11th and 9th centuries BC. Beyer (1986: 11) suggests
that written Aramaic probably dates from the 11th century BC, as it is
established by the 10th century, to which he dates the oldest
inscriptions of northern Syria. Heinrichs (1990: x) uses the less
controversial date of 9th century, for which there is clear and
widespread attestation.
- Allen C. Myers, ed. (1987). "Aramaic". The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans. p. 72. ISBN 0-8028-2402-1.
It
is generally agreed that Aramaic was the common language of Israel in
the first century AD. Jesus and his disciples spoke the Galilean
dialect, which was distinguished from that of Jerusalem (Matt. 26:73).
- Aramaic language - Encyclopedia Britannica
- "What Language Did Jesus Speak?". Markdroberts.com. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
- Beyer 1986: 38–43; Casey 1998: 83–6, 88, 89–93; Eerdmans 1975: 72.
- "Tradition and Modernity in Arabic Language And Literature". J R Smart, J. R. Smart. 2013.
- Heinrichs 1990: xi–xv; Beyer 1986: 53.
- Naby, Eden. "From Lingua Franca to Endangered Language". Assyrian International News Agency.
- Richard, 2003, p. 69.
- Ancient and Modern Assyrians: A Scientific Analysis, page 88
- http://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2009/oct/13/hadrians-wall
- "Panammuwa II and Bar-Rakib: Two Structural Analyses, K. Lawson Younger, Jr., University of Sheffield" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-03-20.
- Klaus Beyer, The Aramaic Language, Its Distribution and Subdivisions, (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Gottingen, 1986), 14.
- Shaked, Saul (1987). "Aramaic". Encyclopædia Iranica 2. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 250–261. p. 251
- Frye, Richard N.; Driver, G. R. (1955). "Review of G. R. Driver's "Aramaic Documents of the Fifth Century B. C."". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 18 (3/4): 456–461. doi:10.2307/2718444. JSTOR 2718444. p. 457.
- Geiger, Wilhelm; Kuhn, Ernst (2002). "Grundriss der iranischen Philologie: Band I. Abteilung 1". Boston: Adamant. pp. 249ff.
- Stolper, John A. Matthew (2007). "What are the Persepolis Fortification Tablets?". The Oriental Studies News & Notes (winter): 6–9. Archived from the original on 14 February 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-13.
- Naveh, Joseph; Shaked, Shaul (2006). Joseph Naveh, ed. Ancient Aramaic Documents from Bactria. Studies in the Khalili Collection. Oxford: Khalili Collections. ISBN 1-874780-74-9.
- Beyer. p. 28 n. 27; Wiesehöfer, Josef; Azodi, Azizeh. Ancient Persia. pp. 118–20.
- "Iranian Scripts for Aramaic Languages," in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 341 (2006), pp. 53-62.
References
- Beyer, Klaus (1986). The Aramaic language: its distribution and subdivisions. Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. ISBN 3-525-53573-2.
- Casey, Maurice (1998). Aramaic sources of Mark's Gospel. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-63314-1.
- "Aramaic". The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA: William B Eerdmans. 1975. ISBN 0-8028-2402-1.
- Frank, Yitzchak (2003). Grammar for Gemara & Targum Onkelos ((expanded edition) ed.). Feldheim Publishers / Ariel Institute. ISBN 1-58330-606-4.
- Heinrichs, Wolfhart, ed. (1990). Studies in Neo-Aramaic. Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press. ISBN 1-55540-430-8.
- Nöldeke, Theodor (2001). Compendious Syriac Grammar. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 1-57506-050-7.
- Richard, Suzanne (2003). Near Eastern Archaeology: A Reader (Illustrated ed.). EISENBRAUNS. ISBN 978-1-57506-083-5.
- Rosenthal, Franz (1995). A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic (6th, revised ed.). Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. ISBN 3-447-03590-0.
- Sabar, Yona (2002). A Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dictionary. Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-04557-5.
- Sokoloff, Michael (2002). A Dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan UP; Johns Hopkins UP. ISBN 965-226-260-9.
- Sokoloff, Michael (2002). A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic (2nd ed.). Bar-Ilan UP; Johns Hopkins UP. ISBN 965-226-101-7.
- Stevenson, William B. (1962). Grammar of Palestinian Jewish Aramaic (2nd ed.). Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-815419-4.
External links
- Ancient Aramaic Audio Files: contains audio recordings of scripture.
- Aramaic Designs – website offering various designs based on historical Aramaic scripts.
- Aramaic Dictionary – search the online dictionary using English or Aramaic words, including many other options.
- Aramaic Language
″Christians in Palestine eventually rendered portions of Christian
Scripture into their dialect of Aramaic; these translations and related
writings constitute "Christian Palestinian Aramaic". A much larger body
of Christian Aramaic is known as Syriac. Indeed, Syriac writings surpass
in quantity all other Aramaic combined.″
- The Aramaic Language and Its Classification – Efrem Yildiz, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies
- Aramaic Peshitta Bible Repository – Many free Syriac Aramaic language research tools and the Syriac Peshitta Bible
- Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon (including editions of Targums) – at the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati
- Dictionary of Judeo-Aramaic
- Jewish Language Research Website: Jewish Aramaic
- ″An Introduction to Syriac Studies″ by Sebastian Brock. Reproduced, with permission, from J. H. Eaton, ed., Horizons in Semitic Studies: Articles for the Student (Semitics Study Aids 8; Birmingham: Dept. of Theology, University of Birmingham, 1980), pp. 1–33.
- Omniglot written Aramaic/Proto-Hebrew outline
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