Aramaic is a group of Semitic languages with a 3,000-year history. The Aramaeans (also Arameans) ( Aramaic / Syriac: ܐܪܡܝܐ, Ārāmāye' were a Semitic (West Semitic language group The Aramean-Syriac people ( Syriac: arc [[arcܣܘܪܝܝܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ ܐܪܡܝܐ]]) are an Ethnic group who are widely The Aramaic alphabet is an Abjad, a Consonantal Alphabet, used for writing Aramaic. The Aramaean kingdoms were many The following were Aram-Naharaim Aram Maacha Aram Geschur Aram-Naharaim or "Aram of Two Rivers" is a region that is mentioned five times in the Hebrew Bible. Aram maacha was an Aramaean kingdom Referenced Aram Ceschur was an Aramaean kingdom located in houran Referenced Aram Damascus was an Aramaean state centered around Damascus in Syria, from the late 12th century BCE to 734 BCE Paddan Aram was an early Aramean kingdom in Mesopotamia. Paddan Aram in Aramaic mean the field of Aram Aram Rehob was an early Aramaean kingdom of which the chief city was Rehob or Beth-Rehob associated with Aram- Zobah as hostile to King David. Zobah or Aram-Zobah (Hebrew ארם צובא or ארם צובה was the capital of an early Aramean state in southern Syria, at one time of considerable Osroene (also spelled Osrohene, Osrhoene; Syriac:ܡܠܟܘܬܐ ܕܒܝܬ ܥܣܪܐ ܥܝܢܐ Malkuṯā d-Bēt ʿŌsrā ʿĪnē The Aramaean kings were many and many of them are mentioned in the Bible. For the other historical kings Abgar of Osroene see Osroene. Abgar V or Abgarus V of Edessa (4 BC - AD 7 and AD 13 - 50 Reson was an Aramaean king Hezjon was an Aramaean king Tabrimmon, also as Tabrimon, was an Aramaean king, but there is little we know about him Ben Hadad means Son of Hadad in Hebrew, and may refer to Any king of Aram Damascus. Hadadezer (" Hadad is my help" also known as Adad-Idri ( Assyr Bar-Hadad III ( Aram) or Ben-Hadad III ( Heb) was the son of Hazael, and succeeded him after his death as king of Aram Damascus. Hazael ( Hebrew Hazael meaning " God has seen" was a court official and later an Aramean king who appeared in the Bible Hadadezer (" Hadad is my help" also known as Adad-Idri ( Assyr The Semitic languages are a Language family whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, Aramaic is a Semitic language with It has been the language of administration of empires and the language of divine worship. It is the original language of large sections of the biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, and is the main language of the Babylonian Talmud. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin The Book of Daniel (דניאל, originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic, is a Book in both the Hebrew Bible ( Tanakh) and the Christian The Book of Ezra is a book of the Bible in the Old Testament and Hebrew Tanakh. The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history Aramaic was the native language of Jesus (see Aramaic of Jesus). A first language (also mother tongue, native language, arterial language, or L1) is the language a human being learns from birth Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) Most scholars believe that historical '''Jesus''' primarily spoke Aramaic, with some Hebrew and Greek, although there ^[3] Modern Aramaic is spoken today as a first language by numerous, scattered communities, most significantly by the Assyrians. Neo-Aramaic, or Modern Aramaic, languages are varieties of Aramaic that are spoken as a Mother tongue in the modern era. The Assyrians are an Ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. The language is considered to be endangered. An endangered language is a Language that it is at risk of falling out of use generally because it has few surviving speakers ^[4]

Aramaic belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family. The Afro-Asiatic languages constitute a Language family with about 375 languages ( SIL estimate and more than 300 million speakers spread throughout North Africa List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family Within that diverse family, it belongs to the Semitic subfamily. The Semitic languages are a Language family whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, Aramaic is a part of the Northwest Semitic group of languages, which also includes the Canaanite languages (such as Hebrew). The Northwest Semitic languages form a medium-level division of the Semitic language family. The Canaanite languages or Hebraic languages are a subfamily of the Semitic languages, which were spoken by the ancient peoples of the Canaan region It is also related to Arabic, being part of the more diverse Central Semitic languages; one possible source for the Arabic alphabet is Nabataean Aramaic script. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language The Central Semitic languages are an intermediate group of Semitic languages, comprising Arabic and Northwest Semitic (including Canaanite The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa such as Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. The Nabataeans ( Arabic: الأنباط, Al-Anbāṭ) were an ancient Semitic people Arabs of southern Jordan, Canaan

Geographic distribution

During the twelfth century BCE, Aramaeans, the native speakers of Aramaic, began to settle in great numbers in modern-day Syria, Iraq and eastern Turkey. The Aramaeans (also Arameans) ( Aramaic / Syriac: ܐܪܡܝܐ, Ārāmāye' were a Semitic (West Semitic language group Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches As the language grew in importance, it came to be spoken throughout the Mediterranean coastal area of the Levant, and spread east of the Tigris. See also Names of the Levant The Levant (lə'vænt is a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia, roughly bounded on the north by the The Tigris is the eastern member of the two great Rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of southeastern Jewish settlers took the language with them into North Africa and Europe, and Christian missionaries brought it into Persia, India and even China. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National From the seventh century CE onwards, Aramaic was replaced as the lingua franca of the Middle East by Arabic. The 7th century is the period from 601 to 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. A lingua franca (from Italian, literally meaning Frankish language, see etymology under Sabir and Italian below is any Language widely The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language However, Aramaic remains a literary and liturgical language among Jews, Mandaeans and some Christians, and is still spoken by small isolated communities throughout its original area of influence. Mandaeism or Mandaeanism ( Mandaic: Mandaiuta, مندائية Mandā'iyya) is a Monotheistic Religion with a strongly The turbulence of the last two centuries has seen speakers of first-language and literary Aramaic dispersed throughout the world.

Aramaic languages and dialects

Aramaic is really a group of related languages, rather than a single monolithic language. 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. Some Aramaic languages are known under different names; for example, Syriac is particularly used to describe the Eastern Aramaic of Christian communities. See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language Most dialects can be described as either "Eastern"' or "Western," the dividing line being roughly the Euphrates, or slightly west of it. The Euphrates ( ( Arabic: ar نهر الفرات; Turkish: tr Fırat Syriac: syr ܦܪܬ; Hebrew: he פרת 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

Main article: Aramaic alphabet

11th century book in Syriac Serto. The Aramaic alphabet is an Abjad, a Consonantal Alphabet, used for writing Aramaic. The Syriac alphabet is a Writing system used to write the Syriac language from around the 2nd century BC.

The earliest Aramaic alphabet was based on the Phoenician script. The Phoenician alphabet is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, by convention taken to originate around 1050 BC In time, Aramaic developed its distinctive 'square' style. The ancient Israelites and other peoples of Canaan adopted this alphabet for writing their own languages. Canaanites redirects here For the 1940s social and political movement in Israel, see Canaanites (movement. Thus, it is better known as the Hebrew alphabet today. The Hebrew alphabet (אָלֶף-בֵּית עִבְרִי alephbet ’ivri) consists of 22 letters used for writing the Hebrew language. This is the writing system used in Biblical Aramaic and other Jewish writing in Aramaic. Biblical Aramaic is the form of the Aramaic language that is used in the books of Daniel, Ezra and a few other places in the Hebrew Bible.

The other main writing system used for Aramaic was developed by Christian communities: a cursive form known as the Syriac alphabet (one of the varieties of the Syriac alphabet, Serto, is shown to the left). The Syriac alphabet is a Writing system used to write the Syriac language from around the 2nd century BC.

A highly modified form of the Aramaic alphabet, the Mandaic alphabet, is used by the Mandaeans. The Mandaic alphabet is based on the Aramaic alphabet, and is used for writing the Mandaic language. Mandaeism or Mandaeanism ( Mandaic: Mandaiuta, مندائية Mandā'iyya) is a Monotheistic Religion with a strongly

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, or Palmyrenean in Palmyra. Petra (from "petra" rock in Greek; Arabic: البتراء Al-Batrāʾ) is an archaeological site in the Arabah Palmyrene or Palmyrenean was a West Aramaic dialect spoken in the city of Palmyra, Syria, in the early centuries AD Palmyra ( Arabic: تدمر Tadmor) was in ancient times an important city of central Syria, located in an Oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus In modern times, Turoyo (see below) has sometimes been written in an adapted Latin alphabet. Turoyo is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic.

History

Here follows a comprehensive history of Aramaic. The history is broken down into three broad periods:

• Old Aramaic (1100 BCE–200 CE), including:
  • The Biblical Aramaic of the Hebrew Bible. Biblical Aramaic is the form of the Aramaic language that is used in the books of Daniel, Ezra and a few other places in the Hebrew Bible. The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written in Biblical Hebrew (and the related Biblical Aramaic
  • The Aramaic of Jesus. Most scholars believe that historical '''Jesus''' primarily spoke Aramaic, with some Hebrew and Greek, although there
• Middle Aramaic (200–1200), including:
  • Literary Syriac. See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language
  • The Aramaic of the Talmuds, Targumim, and Midrashim. The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history A targum ( Hebrew: תרגום plural targumim, lit "translation interpretation" is an Aramaic Translation of the Hebrew Midrash ( Hebrew: מדרש plural midrashim, lit "to repeat" is a Hebrew term referring to the not exact but comparative ( homiletic
• Modern Aramaic (1200–present), including:
  • Various modern vernaculars.

This classification is based on that used by Klaus Beyer*.

Old Aramaic

Old Aramaic covers over thirteen centuries of the language. This vast time span is chosen as it includes all Aramaic that is now effectively extinct. The main turning point for Old Aramaic is around 500 BCE, when the Ancient Aramaic (the language of Aramaeans) moves into Imperial Aramaic (the language of powerful empires). The various spoken dialects of Old Aramaic come to prominence when Greek replaces Aramaic as the language of power in the region. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly

Ancient Aramaic

Ancient Aramaic refers to the Aramaic of the Aramaeans from its origin until it becomes the official 'lingua franca' of the Fertile Crescent. The Aramaeans (also Arameans) ( Aramaic / Syriac: ܐܪܡܝܐ, Ārāmāye' were a Semitic (West Semitic language group The Fertile Crescent is a Crescent -shaped region in the Middle East, originally incorporating the Levant and Ancient Mesopotamia, and often It was the language of the city-states of Damascus, Hamath and Arpad. Damascus ( دمشق,, also commonly known as الشام ash-Shām) is the capital and largest city of Syria. Hama (ancient Hamath; Arabic: حماة meaning fortress is a city on the banks of the Orontes river in central Syria north of Arpad (modern Tell Rif'at, Syria) was an ancient Aramaean city located in north-western Syria

Early Ancient Aramaic

There are quite extensive inscriptions that evidence the earliest use of the language, dating from the tenth century BCE. These inscriptions are mostly diplomatic documents between Aramaean city-states. The orthography of Aramaic at this early period seems to be based on Phoenician, and there is a unity in the written language. The Phoenician alphabet is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, by convention taken to originate around 1050 BC It seems that, in time, a more refined orthography, suited to the needs of the language, began to develop from this in the eastern regions of Aram. Oddly, the dominance of Assyrian Empire of Tiglath-Pileser III over Aram in the middle of the eighth century led to the establishment of Aramaic as a lingua franca. Early history The most Neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna, the center of the Hassuna culture Tiglath-Pileser III (from the Hebraic form of Akkadian: Tukultī-apil-Ešarra, "my trust is in the son of Esharra" was a prominent king A lingua franca (from Italian, literally meaning Frankish language, see etymology under Sabir and Italian below is any Language widely

Late Ancient Aramaic

Silver ingot of Bar-Rakib son of Panammu, king of Sam'al (modern Zincirli)

From 700 BCE, the language began to spread in all directions, but lost much of its homogeneity. Different dialects emerged in Mesopotamia, Babylonia, the Levant and Egypt. Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding Babylonia was an Amorite state in lower Mesopotamia (modern southern Iraq) with Babylon as its capital See also Names of the Levant The Levant (lə'vænt is a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia, roughly bounded on the north by the This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. However, the Akkadian-influenced Aramaic of Assyria, and then Babylon, started to come to the fore. Babylon was a City-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which can be found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq As described in 2 Kings 18:26, Hezekiah, king of Judah, negotiates with Assyrian ambassadors in Aramaic so that the common people would not understand. The Books of Kings ( Sefer Melachim, ספר מלכים are a part of Judaism 's Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. Hezekiah (or Ezekias) ( Hebrew: Ḥizqiyyāhu Khizkiyahu or Yəḥizqiyyāhu Y'khizkiyahu " the {{LORD}} has strengthened" compare Judea is a term used for the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel. Around 600 BCE, Adon, a Canaanite king, uses Aramaic to write to the Egyptian Pharaoh. Canaanites redirects here For the 1940s social and political movement in Israel, see Canaanites (movement. Pharaoh is the title given in modern parlance to the ancient Egyptian kings of all periods

'Chaldee' or 'Chaldean Aramaic' used to be common terms for the Aramaic of the Chaldean dynasty of Babylonia. Babylonia was an Amorite state in lower Mesopotamia (modern southern Iraq) with Babylon as its capital It was used to describe Biblical Aramaic, which was, however, written in a later style. Biblical Aramaic is the form of the Aramaic language that is used in the books of Daniel, Ezra and a few other places in the Hebrew Bible. It is not to be confused with the modern language Chaldean Neo-Aramaic. Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is a Northeastern Neo-Aramaic language Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is spoken on the Plain of Mosul in northern Iraq, as well as by the

Imperial Aramaic

Around 500 BCE, 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 Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire ( haχɒmaneʃijɒn (558–330 BC was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over significant portions of Darius I the Great (c 549 BC&ndash486 BC 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 Dārayavahuš: "Possessing goodness" Having ascended to power amidst controversy and bloodshed 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". ^[5] 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. ^[6] 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. A lingua franca (from Italian, literally meaning Frankish language, see etymology under Sabir and Italian below is any Language widely

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 BCE), Imperial Aramaic — or near enough for it to be recognisable — would remain an influence on the various native Iranian languages. The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily Indo-Iranian. Aramaic script and — as ideograms — Aramaic vocabulary would survive as the essential characteristics of the Pahlavi writing system. ^[7]

One of the largest collections of Imperial Aramaic texts is that of the Persepolis fortification tablets, which number about five hundred. Persepolis ( Old Persian: Pārsa, Modern Persian: تخت جمشید/پارسه Takht-e Jamshid or Chehel Minar) was the ceremonial ^[8] Many of the extant documents witnessing to this form of Aramaic come from Egypt, and Elephantine in particular. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Elephantine (جزيرة الفنتين is an Island in the River Nile, located just downstream of the First Cataract at at the southern border of 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. The Book of Proverbs is one of the books of the Ketuvim of the Tanakh, and thus also one of the books of the Old Testament. 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 recently discovered. "Bactrian" redirects here For the camel see Bactrian camel. An analysis was published in November 2006. The texts, which were rendered on leather, reflect the use of Aramaic in the fourth-century-BCE Achaemenid administration of Bactria and Sogdiana. ^[9]

Post-Achaemenid Aramaic

Coin of Alexander bearing an Aramaic language inscription.

The conquest by Alexander the Great did not destroy the unity of Aramaic language and literature immediately. Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' Aramaic that bears a relatively close resemblance to that of the fifth century BCE can be found right up to the early second century BCE. The 5th century BC started the first day of 500 BC and ended the last day of 401 BC. The 2nd century BC started the first day of 200 BC and ended the last day of 101 BC. The Seleucids imposed Greek in the administration of Syria and Mesopotamia from the start of their rule. The Seleucid Empire /sə'lusɪd/ ( 312 - 63 BC) was a Hellenistic empire i Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding In the third century BCE, Greek overtook Aramaic as the common language in Egypt and Syria. The 3rd century BC started the first day of 300 BC and ended the last day of 201 BC However, a post-Achaemenid Aramaic continued to flourish from Judaea, through the Syrian Desert, and into Arabia and Parthia. Kingdom of Judea redirects here For the 10th-6th century BCE kingdom see Kingdom of Judah Iudaea ( Hebrew: יהודה Standard The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) Parthia ( Middle Persian: اشکانیان Ashkâniân) was an Iranian civilization situated in the northeastern part of modern Iran

Bilingual inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by the Indian king Ashoka, 3rd century BCE. Ashoka ( Devanāgarī: अशोकः IAST: Aśokaḥ, aɕoːkə(hə Prakrit Imperial title Devanampriya Priyadarsi

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 (fifth century BCE) concerning the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem. Biblical Aramaic is the form of the Aramaic language that is used in the books of Daniel, Ezra and a few other places in the Hebrew Bible. The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written in Biblical Hebrew (and the related Biblical Aramaic The Book of Ezra is a book of the Bible in the Old Testament and Hebrew Tanakh. The 5th century BC started the first day of 500 BC and ended the last day of 401 BC.
• Daniel 2:4b–7:28 — five subversive tales and an apocalyptic vision. The Book of Daniel (דניאל, originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic, is a Book in both the Hebrew Bible ( Tanakh) and the Christian
• Jeremiah 10:11 — a single sentence in the middle of a Hebrew text denouncing idolatry. The Book of Jeremiah, or Jeremiah ( יִרְמְיָהוּ Yirməyāhū in Hebrew) is part of the Hebrew Bible, Judaism
• Genesis 31:47 — translation of a Hebrew place-name.

Biblical Aramaic is a somewhat hybrid dialect. Some Biblical Aramaic material probably originated in both Babylonia and Judaea before the fall of the Achaemenid dynasty. During Seleucid rule, defiant Jewish propaganda shaped Aramaic Daniel. The Seleucid Empire /sə'lusɪd/ ( 312 - 63 BC) was a Hellenistic empire i The Book of Daniel (דניאל, originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic, is a Book in both the Hebrew Bible ( Tanakh) and the Christian These stories probably 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. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly The Septuagint (ˈsɛptuədʒɪnt or simply " LXX " is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the The Masoretic Text ( MT) is the Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible ( Tanakh)

Under the category of post-Achaemenid is Hasmonaean Aramaic, the official language of Hasmonaean Judaea (142–37 BCE). The Hasmoneans (/hæzməˡniən/ חשמונאים Hashmonaiym, Audio were the ruling dynasty of the Hasmonean Kingdom ( 140 &ndash 37 BCE It influenced the Biblical Aramaic of the Qumran texts, and was the main language of non-biblical theological texts of that community. For the country that features in Yes Minister, see here. Qumran (خربة قمران חירבת קומראן Khirbet Qumran The major Targums, translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, were originally composed in Hasmonaean. A targum ( Hebrew: תרגום plural targumim, lit "translation interpretation" is an Aramaic Translation of the Hebrew Hasmonaean also appears in quotations in the Mishnah and Tosefta, although smoothed into its later context. The Mishnah or Mishna (he משנה "repetition" from the verb shanah he שנה or "to study and review" is a major work of Rabbinic Judaism The Tosefta ( Aramaic: תוספתא is a secondary compilation of the Jewish oral law from the period of the Mishnah. 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. A targum ( Hebrew: תרגום plural targumim, lit "translation interpretation" is an Aramaic Translation of the Hebrew Targum Onkelos (or Unkelus) is the official eastern ( Babylonian) Targum to the Torah. Targum Jonathan (תרגום יונתן בן עוזיאל - otherwise referred to as Targum Yonasan/Yonatan is the official eastern ( Babylonian) Targum The original, Hasmonaean targum had reached Babylon sometime in the second or third centuries CE. The 2nd century is the period from 101 to 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. The 3rd century is the period from 201 to 300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. 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.

11th century Hebrew Bible with Targum. The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written in Biblical Hebrew (and the related Biblical Aramaic A targum ( Hebrew: תרגום plural targumim, lit "translation interpretation" is an Aramaic Translation of the Hebrew

Galilean Targumic is similar to Babylonian Targumic. It is the mixing of literary Hasmonaean with the dialect of Galilee. "Galil" redirects here For the weapon see IMI Galil. Galilee (הגליל ha-Galil, lit the province, The Hasmonaean targum reached Galilee in the second century CE, 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 eleventh century CE 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 third century CE onwards. It is the dialect of Babylonian private documents, and, from the twelfth century, all Jewish private documents in Aramaic. It is based on Hasmonaean with very few changes. This was perhaps due to the fact that 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 Arab kingdom of Petra. The Nabataeans ( Arabic: الأنباط, Al-Anbāṭ) were an ancient Semitic people Arabs of southern Jordan, Canaan Petra (from "petra" rock in Greek; Arabic: البتراء Al-Batrāʾ) is an archaeological site in the Arabah The kingdom (c. 200 BCE–106 CE covered the east bank of the Jordan River, the Sinai Peninsula and northern Arabia. This article is about the Jordan River and its valley in western Asia The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai ( Coptic: sina; Egyptian Arabic: sina سينا Arabic, sina'a سيناء 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 CE. The language is written in a cursive script that is the precursor to the modern Arabic alphabet. For the indie rock band see Cursive (band. Cursive is any style of handwriting that is designed for writing down notes and The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa such as Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. The number of Arabic loan words increases through the centuries, until, in the fourth century, Nabataean merges seamlessly with Arabic. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini / Common era) was that Century Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language

Palmyrene Aramaic is the dialect that was in use in the city of Palmyra in the Syrian Desert from 44 BCE to 274 CE. Palmyra ( Arabic: تدمر Tadmor) was in ancient times an important city of central Syria, located in an Oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus It was written in a rounded script, which later gave way to cursive Estrangela. The Syriac alphabet is a Writing system used to write the Syriac language from around the 2nd century BC. Like Nabataean, Palmyrene was influenced by Arabic, but to a lesser degree.

Arsacid Aramaic was the official language of the Parthian Empire (247 BCE–224 CE). It, more than any other post-Achaemenid dialect, continues the tradition of Darius I. Darius I the Great (c 549 BC&ndash486 BC 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 Dārayavahuš: "Possessing goodness" Having ascended to power amidst controversy and bloodshed Over time, however, it came under the influence of contemporary, spoken Aramaic, Georgian and Persian. Georgian (ka ქართული ენა kartuli ena) is the Official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus. After the conquest of the Parthians by the Persian-speaking Sassanids, Arsacid exerted considerable influence on the new official language. The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty or Sassanian Dynasty (ساسانیان) is the name used for the third Iranian dynasty and the second Persian empire

Late Old Eastern Aramaic

Mandaic magical 'demon trap'

The dialects mentioned in the last section were all descended from Achaemenid Imperial Aramaic. The Mandaic language is the Liturgical language of the Mandaean religion 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 second century BCE. The 2nd century BC started the first day of 200 BC and ended the last day of 101 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. Much later, Arsacid became the liturgical language of the Mandaean religion, Mandaic. Mandaeism or Mandaeanism ( Mandaic: Mandaiuta, مندائية Mandā'iyya) is a Monotheistic Religion with a strongly The Mandaic language is the Liturgical language of the Mandaean religion

In the kingdom of Osrhoene, centred on Edessa and founded in 132 BCE, the regional dialect became the official language: Old Syriac. Osroene (also spelled Osrohene, Osrhoene; Syriac:ܡܠܟܘܬܐ ܕܒܝܬ ܥܣܪܐ ܥܝܢܐ Malkuṯā d-Bēt ʿŌsrā ʿĪnē Edessa ( Greek:) is the historical name of a Syriac town in northern Mesopotamia, refounded on an ancient site by Seleucus I Nicator See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language On the upper reaches of the Tigris, East Mesopotamian Aramaic flourished, with evidence from Hatra, Assur and the Tur Abdin. The Tigris is the eastern member of the two great Rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of southeastern Hatra (الحضر) is an ancient ruined city in the Ninawa Governorate and al-Jazira region of Iraq. Assur also spelled Ashur, from Assyrian Aššur, was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. Tur Abdin ( Syriac:ܛܘܪ ܥܒܕܝܢ is a hilly region of south east Turkey incorporating the eastern half of Mardin Province, and Tatian, the author of the gospel harmony the Diatessaron came from Assyria, and perhaps wrote his work (172 CE) in East Mesopotamian rather than Syriac or Greek. Tatian the Assyrian was an early Christian writer and theologian of the second century. The Diatessaron ( c 150 - 160 is the most prominent Gospel harmony. In Babylonia, the regional dialect was used by the Jewish community, Jewish Old Babylonian (from c. 70 CE). 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 displacing Phoenician in the 1st century BCE and Hebrew around the turn of the 4th century CE. Phoenician was a language originally spoken in the coastal region then called Pūt in Ancient Egyptian Canaan in Phoenician, Hebrew, and

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. Caesarea Philippi was an ancient city located at the southern end of Mount Hermon. This is the dialect of the oldest manuscript of Enoch (c. The Book of Enoch is any of several works that attribute themselves to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah and son of Jared ( 170 BCE). The next distinct phase of the language is called Old Judaean into the second century CE. Old Judaean literature can be found in various inscriptions and personal letters, preserved quotations in the Talmud and receipts from Qumran. The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history For the country that features in Yes Minister, see here. Qumran (خربة قمران חירבת קומראן Khirbet Qumran Josephus' first, non-extant edition of his Jewish War was written in Old Judaean. Josephus (AD 37 – c 100 also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu (Joseph son of Matthias and after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus The Wars of the Jews (or The History of the

The Old East Jordanian dialect continued to be used into the first century CE 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). The name 'Peshitta' The name 'Peshitta' is derived from the Syriac mappaqtâ pšîṭtâ (ܡܦܩܬܐ ܦܫܝܛܬܐ literally meaning 'simple version'

Languages during Jesus' lifetime

Further information: Aramaic of Jesus

During Jesus' lifetime, in the first century CE of Israel's Roman Period, Jews are believed to have spoken Hebrew and Aramaic. Most scholars believe that historical '''Jesus''' primarily spoke Aramaic, with some Hebrew and Greek, although there Additionally, Koine Greek was an international language of the Roman administration and trade, and was widely understood by those in the urban spheres of influence. Koine Greek (Κοινὴ Ἑλληνική, "common Greek" or, ciˈni ðiˈale̞kto̞s "the common dialect" is the popular form of Greek which emerged in Latin was spoken in the Roman army, but had almost no impact on the linguistic landscape. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome.

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 the land of Israel in Jesus' time. Aramaic is a Semitic language with Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) They were probably distinctive yet mutually intelligible. Old Judaean was the prominent dialect of Jerusalem and Judaea. Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the The region of Engedi had the South-east Judaean dialect. Ein Gedi (עין גדי lit Kid Spring (as in young goat KJV Bible Engedi) is an Oasis located west of the Dead Sea, close Samaria had its distinctive Samaritan Aramaic, where the consonants 'he', 'ḥeth' and '‘ayin' all became pronounced as 'aleph'. Samaria, or the Shomron ( שֹׁמְרוֹן, Standard Šoməron Tiberian Šōmərôn He is the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac ܗ and Arabic or H̱et (also spelled Khet, Kheth, Chet, Cheth, Het, or Heth) is the reconstructed name of the eighth letter For the village in Azerbaijan see Əyin. or is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician is the reconstructed name of the first letter of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, continued in descended Semitic alphabets as Phoenician 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. In Phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (from Greek grc δίφθογγος "diphthongos" literally "with two sounds" or "with East of the Jordan, the various dialects of East Jordanian were spoken. In the region of Damascus and the mountain range of Anti-Lebanon, Damascene Aramaic was spoken (deduced mostly from Modern Western Aramaic). Damascus ( دمشق,, also commonly known as الشام ash-Shām) is the capital and largest city of Syria. The Anti-Lebanon mountains, is the Western name for the Eastern Lebanon Mountain Range ( Arabic: جبال لبنان الشرقية)which are a northeast-trending Finally, as far north as Aleppo, the western dialect of Orontes Aramaic was spoken. For other meanings see Aleppo (disambiguation. Halab redirects here for other meanings see Halab (disambiguation.

The three languages mutually influenced each other, 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). In Linguistics and Ethnology, Semitic (from the Biblical " Shem " Hebrew שם translated as "name" Arabic: ساميّ
• 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 is notable for its use of much dialogue in Aramaic only, specially reconstructed by a scholar, but not an Aramaic specialist, William Fulco. The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 film co-written co-produced and directed by Mel Gibson. The Reverend William J Fulco (born February 24, 1936) is a Jesuit Priest and National Endowment for the Humanities Professor However, rather than basing his reconstruction on what is known of first-century Aramaic, he used the Aramaic of Daniel, fourth-century Syriac and Hebrew as the basis for his work. ^[10] Modern Aramaic speakers found the language stilted and unfamiliar.

Middle Aramaic

The third century CE is taken as the threshold between Old and Middle Aramaic. The 3rd century is the period from 201 to 300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. 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. The Mandaic language is the Liturgical language of the Mandaean religion

Middle Syriac

Main article: Syriac language

9th century Syriac Estrangela manuscript of John Chrysostom's Homily on the Gospel of John

Middle Syriac is the classical, literary and liturgical language of Syriac Christians to this day. See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language The Syriac alphabet is a Writing system used to write the Syriac language from around the 2nd century BC. This article refers to the Christian saint For other uses of the name see Chrysostomos. The Gospel of John (literally According to John; Greek, Κατὰ Ἰωάννην Kata Iōannēn) is the fourth Gospel in the canon Syriac Christianity is a culturally and linguistically distinctive community within Eastern Christianity. Its golden age was the fourth to sixth centuries. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini / Common era) was that Century The 6th century is the period from 501 to 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. This period began with the translation of the Bible into the language: the Peshitta and the masterful prose and poetry of Ephrem the Syrian. The name 'Peshitta' The name 'Peshitta' is derived from the Syriac mappaqtâ pšîṭtâ (ܡܦܩܬܐ ܦܫܝܛܬܐ literally meaning 'simple version' Ephrem the Syrian ( Syriac: ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ Mor Afrêm Sûryāyâ; Greek:; Latin Middle Syriac, unlike its forebear, is a thoroughly Christian language, although in time it became the language of those opposed to the Byzantine leadership of the church in the east. Missionary activity led to the spread of Syriac through Persia and into India and China. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National

Abun dbashmayo

The Lord's Prayer, Abun dbashmayo, sung in Syriac

Problems listening to the file? See media help. The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater noster, is probably the best-known Prayer in Christianity. See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language

Jewish Middle Babylonian Aramaic

Main article: Jewish Babylonian Aramaic

Jewish Middle Babylonian is the language employed by Jewish writers in Babylonia between the 4th century and the 11th century CE. Jewish Babylonian Aramaic is the form of Middle Aramaic employed by Jewish writers in Babylonia between the 4th century and the 11th century CE It is most commonly identified with the language of the Babylonian Talmud (which was completed in the seventh century) and of post-Talmudic (Geonic) literature, which are the most important cultural products of Babylonian Jewry. The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history The 7th century is the period from 601 to 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Geonim ( Hebrew: גאונים also transliterated Gaonim) were the presidents of the two great rabbinical colleges of Sura The most important epigraphic sources for the dialect are the hundreds of Aramaic magic bowls written in the Jewish script.

Mandaic

Main article: Mandaic language

Mandaic is a sister dialect to Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, though it is both linguistically and culturally distinct. The Mandaic language is the Liturgical language of the Mandaean religion Classical Mandaic is the language in which the Mandaean's 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). The Hebrew alphabet (אָלֶף-בֵּית עִבְרִי alephbet ’ivri) consists of 22 letters used for writing the Hebrew language. The Phoenician alphabet is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, by convention taken to originate around 1050 BC The Syriac alphabet is a Writing system used to write the Syriac language from around the 2nd century BC. Of these three, only Jewish Middle Palestinian continued as a written language.

Jewish Middle Palestinian Aramaic

In 135, after Bar Kokhba's revolt, many Jewish leaders, expelled from Jerusalem, moved to Galilee. Background After the failed Great Jewish Revolt in the year 70 the Roman authorities took measures to suppress the rebellious province PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the "Galil" redirects here For the weapon see IMI Galil. Galilee (הגליל ha-Galil, lit the province, 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 fifth century), Palestinian targumim (Jewish Aramaic versions of scripture), and midrashim (biblical commentaries and teaching). The Jerusalem Talmud or Talmud Yerushalmi (תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשָׁלְמִי often the Yerushalmi for short is a collection The 5th century is the period from 401 to 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in Anno Domini / Common Era. A targum ( Hebrew: תרגום plural targumim, lit "translation interpretation" is an Aramaic Translation of the Hebrew Midrash ( Hebrew: מדרש plural midrashim, lit "to repeat" is a Hebrew term referring to the not exact but comparative ( homiletic The standard vowel pointing for the Hebrew Bible, the Tiberian system (seventh century), was developed by speakers of the Galilean dialect of Jewish Middle Palestinian. In Hebrew Orthography, niqqud or nikkud ( is the system of Diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written in Biblical Hebrew (and the related Biblical Aramaic The 7th century is the period from 601 to 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. 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. Dura-Europos ("Fort Europos" was a Hellenistic, Parthian and Roman border City built on an Escarpment ninety meters above

Samaritan Aramaic

Main article: Samaritan Aramaic language

The Aramaic dialect of the Samaritan community is earliest attested by a documentary tradition that can be dated back to the fourth century. Samaritan Aramaic, or Samaritan, is the dialect of Aramaic used by the Samaritans in their sacred and scholarly literature Its modern pronunciation is based on the form used in the tenth century.

Christian Palestinian Aramaic

The language of Western-Aramaic-speaking Christians is evidenced from the sixth 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. The name Jesus, although Yešû` in Aramaic, is written Yesûs in Christian Palestinian.

Modern Aramaic

Main article: Neo-Aramaic languages

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 by religious adherence; Christians, Jews, Mandaeans and Muslims. Neo-Aramaic, or Modern Aramaic, languages are varieties of Aramaic that are spoken as a Mother tongue in the modern era. The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. "Emigrant" redirects here For the Butterflies, see Catopsilia. A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Mandaeism or Mandaeanism ( Mandaic: Mandaiuta, مندائية Mandā'iyya) is a Monotheistic Religion with a strongly A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion 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. Language shift, sometimes referred to as language transfer or language replacement or assimilation, is the progressive process whereby a speech community Arabization ( Arabic: تعريب) describes a growing cultural influence on a non-Arab area that gradually changes into one that speaks Arabic and/or A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. 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 speakers have preserved their traditions with printing presses and now with electronic media.

The Neo-Aramaic languages are now farther apart in their comprehension of one another than perhaps they have ever been. The last two-hundred years have not been good to Aramaic speakers. Instability throughout the Middle East has led to a worldwide diaspora of Aramaic-speakers. The year 1915 is especially prominent for Aramaic-speaking Christians who experienced the Assyrian Genocide (Sayfo or Saypā; literally meaning sword in Syriac), and all Christian groups living in eastern Turkey in general (see also Armenian Genocide, Pontic Greek Genocide) who were the subjects of the genocide that marked the end of the Ottoman Empire. The Assyrian Genocide (also known as Sayfo or Seyfo; Aramaic: ܩܛܠܐ ܕܥܡܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ or ܣܝܦܐ See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches During World War I and its aftermath (1914-1923 the The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish 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. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Antisemitism in the Arab world|Islam and Antisemitism The Jewish exodus from Arab lands refers to the 20th century expulsion or mass departure of Jews primarily of Sephardi For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. However, immigration to Israel has led to the Jewish Neo-Aramaic (and Jewish Iraqi Arabic) being replaced by Modern Hebrew 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, Christians, and Mandaeans. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Mandaeism or Mandaeanism ( Mandaic: Mandaiuta, مندائية Mandā'iyya) is a Monotheistic Religion with a strongly

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. See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language However, they also have roots in numerous, previously unwritten, local Aramaic dialects, and are not purely the direct descendants of the language of Ephrem the Syrian. Ephrem the Syrian ( Syriac: ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ Mor Afrêm Sûryāyâ; Greek:; Latin

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. Turoyo is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. Tur Abdin ( Syriac:ܛܘܪ ܥܒܕܝܢ is a hilly region of south east Turkey incorporating the eastern half of Mardin Province, and A related language, Mlahsô, has recently become extinct. Mlahsô is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic.

The eastern Christian languages (Modern Eastern Syriac or Eastern Neo-Aramaic) are often called Sureth or Suret, from a native name. They are also sometimes called Assyrian or Chaldean, but these names are not accepted by all speakers. Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is a Northeastern Neo-Aramaic language Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is spoken on the Plain of Mosul in northern Iraq, as well as by the The dialects are not all mutually intelligible. East Syriac communities are usually members of either the Chaldean Catholic Church or Assyrian Church of the East. The Chaldean Catholic Church or the Chaldean Church of Babylon (الكنيسة الكلدانية) is an Eastern particular church of the The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East (ܥܕܬܐ ܩܕܝܫܬܐ ܘܫܠܝܚܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ ܕܐܬܘܪ̈ܝܐ ‘Ittā Qaddishtā wa-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi

The Jewish Modern Aramaic languages are now mostly spoken in Israel, and most are facing extinction (older speakers are not passing the language to younger generations). Judæo-Aramaic is a collective term used to describe several Hebrew -influenced Aramaic and Neo-Aramaic Languages History For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. The Jewish dialects that have come from communities that once lived between Lake Urmia and Mosul are not all mutually intelligible. Lake Urmia ( Daryacheh-ye Orumieh; ارومیه گولو, ارومیه گولی ancient name Lake Matiene) is a Salt lake in northwestern Iran For the village in Azerbaijan see Mosul Azerbaijan. Mosul (الموصل Al Mūṣul, Kurdish: Mosul/Ninawa, Musul In some places, for example Urmia, Christians and Jews speak unintelligible dialects of Modern Eastern Aramaic in the same place. In others, the plain of Mosul for example, the dialects of the two faith communities are similar enough to allow conversation.

A few Mandaeans living in the province of Khuzestan in Iran speak Modern Mandaic. Khūzestān (خوزستان is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. The Mandaic language is the Liturgical language of the Mandaean religion It is quite distinct from any other Aramaic dialect.

Modern Western Aramaic

Main article: Western Neo-Aramaic

Very little remains of Western Aramaic. Western Neo-Aramaic is a Modern Aramaic language. Today it is spoken in three villages in the Anti-Lebanon mountains of western Syria. It is still spoken in the Christian village of Ma`loula in Syria and the Muslim villages of Bakh`a and Jubb`adin in Syria's side of Anti-Lebanon, as well as by some people who migrated from these villages to Damascus and other larger towns of Syria. Ma'loula ( معلولا, Ma‘lūlā, from the Aramaic word ܡܥܠܐ, ma‘lā, meaning 'entrance' is a Aramean-Syriac Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية The Anti-Lebanon mountains, is the Western name for the Eastern Lebanon Mountain Range ( Arabic: جبال لبنان الشرقية)which are a northeast-trending Damascus ( دمشق,, also commonly known as الشام ash-Shām) is the capital and largest city 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. In general, older dialects tended to have a richer phonology than more modern ones. In particular, some modern Jewish Aramaic pronunciations lack the series of 'emphatic' consonants. Other dialects have borrowed from the inventories of surrounding languages, particularly Arabic, Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Persian and Turkish. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language The Kurdish language (Kurdish Kurdî or کوردی is a term used for the language spoken by Kurds. Turkish ( tr Türkçe IPA) is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages.

Vowels

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', IPA: [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). This article is about the sound in spoken language For the letter see Glottal stop (letter.

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. In the spelling of Hebrew and some other Semitic languages, Matres lectionis ( Latin "mothers of reading" singular form 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). In Phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (from Greek grc δίφθογγος "diphthongos" literally "with two sounds" or "with 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

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). A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together 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. In Phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar speech sounds ( Phones that belong to the same Phoneme.

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 velarisation. Pharyngealization is a Secondary articulation of Consonants or Vowels by which the Pharynx or Epiglottis is constricted during the articulation Using their alphabetic names, these emphatics are:

• Ḥêṯ, a voiceless pharyngeal fricative, /ħ/ (like the sound made breathing on glass),
• Ṭêṯ, a pharyngealized t, /tˁ/,
• ʽAyin (or ʽE in some dialects), a pharyngealized glottal stop (sometimes considered to be a voiced pharyngeal fricative), [ʕ]/ or [ʔˁ],
• Ṣāḏê, a pharyngealized ts, /sˁ/,
• Qôp, an uvular k (a voiceless uvular plosive), /q/. The voiceless pharyngeal fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet This article is about the sound in spoken language For the letter see Glottal stop (letter. The voiced pharyngeal approximant/fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet Uvulars are Consonants articulated with the back of the Tongue against or near the uvula, that is further back in the mouth than Velar consonants The voiceless uvular plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages It is pronounced like, except that the tongue makes contact not

The emphatic consonants of Aramaic

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Ancient Aramaic may have had a larger series of emphatics. 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'). This article is about the sound in spoken language For the letter see Glottal stop (letter.

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'),
• /sˁ/ (the emphatic Ṣāḏê listed above). A sibilant is a type of Fricative or Affricate Consonant, made by directing a jet of air through a narrow channel in the Vocal tract towards

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. A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the Approximants are speech sounds ( Phonemes) that could be regarded as intermediate between Vowels and typical Consonants In the articulation of approximants The alveolar trill is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental

Historical sound changes

Six broad features of sound change can be seen as dialect differentials:

1. Vowel change — This occurs almost too frequently to document fully, but is a major distinctive feature of different dialects.
2. Plosive/fricative pair reduction — Originally, Aramaic, like Tiberian Hebrew, had fricatives as conditioned allophones for each plosive. Tiberian Hebrew is an extinct (yet very well documented Oral tradition of pronunciation for ancient Hebrew, especially the Hebrew of the Tanakh, that was In Phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar speech sounds ( Phones that belong to the same Phoneme. 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/. Turoyo is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. In most dialects of Modern Syriac, /f/ and /v/ become /w/ after a vowel.
3. 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. The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East Glottal consonants are Consonants articulated with the Glottis. Pharyngealization is a Secondary articulation of Consonants or Vowels by which the Pharynx or Epiglottis is constricted during the articulation
4. Guttural assimilation — This is the main feature of Samaritan pronunciation, also found in Samaritan Hebrew: all the gutturals are reduced to a simple glottal stop. The Samaritan Hebrew language is a descendant of Biblical Hebrew as pronounced and written by the Samaritans It is used in the reading tradition of the Samaritan Some Modern Aramaic dialects do not pronounce h in all words (the third person masculine pronoun 'hu' becomes 'ow').
5. Proto-Semitic */θ/ */ð/ are reflected in Aramaic as */t/, */d/, whereas they became sibilants in Hebrew (the number three in Hebrew is 'šālôš', but 'tlāṯ' in Aramaic). Dental/sibilant shifts are still happening in the modern dialects.
6. New phonetic inventory — Modern dialects have borrowed sounds from the surrounding, dominant languages. The usual inventory is /ʒ/ (as the first consonant in 'azure'), /ʤ/ (as in 'jam') and /ʧ/ (as in 'church'). The Syriac alphabet has been adapted for writing these new sounds. The Syriac alphabet is a Writing system used to write the Syriac language from around the 2nd century BC.

Grammar

As with other Semitic languages, Aramaic morphology (the way words are put together) is based on the triliteral root. Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words In the terminology used to discuss the grammar of the Semitic languages and some other Afro-Asiatic languages, a triliteral ( Arabic: جذر ثلاثي 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.

Aramaic words based on the triliteral root k-t-b

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Aramaic has two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine. 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 'construct' state is a truncated form of the noun used to make possessive phrases (for example, kṯāḇaṯ malkṯâ, 'the handwriting of the queen). 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'). In time, the construct state began to be replaced by other possessive phrases, and the emphatic state became the norm in most dialects. Most dialects of Modern Aramaic use only the emphatic state.

The various forms of possessive phrases (for 'the handwriting of the queen') are:

1. Kṯāḇaṯ malkṯâ — The oldest construction: the possessed object is in the construct state.
2. Kṯāḇtâ d(î)-malkṯâ — Both words are in the emphatic state and the relative particle d(î)- is used to mark the relationship.
3. 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 (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.

Different variations of the possessive construction in Aramaic

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The Aramaic verb has six 'conjugations' or stems: alterations to the verbal root that can mark the passive voice (eṯkṯeḇ, 'it was written'), intensive (katteḇ, 'he decreed (in writing)'), the extensive (aḵteḇ, 'he composed') or a combination of these. In Grammar, the voice (also called gender or diathesis of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state that the verb expresses and the participants identified Aramaic also has two proper tenses: the perfect and the imperfect. Grammatical tense is a temporal linguistic quality expressing the time at during or over which a state or action denoted by a verb occurs In Imperial Aramaic, the participle began to be used for a historic present. In Linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium, a Calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking" is a derivative of a non-finite In Linguistics and Rhetoric, the historical present refers to the employment of the Present tense when narrating past events 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. In Linguistics, an auxiliary (also called helping verb, helper verb, auxiliary verb, or verbal auxiliary) is a Verb functioning

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. The State of Kuwait ( دولة الكويت IPA [dawlatt̪ alkuwajt̪]) is a sovereign Arab Emirate on the coast of the Persian Gulf, enclosed Acette is an Information Technology System Integrator, Software Engineering and Consulting firm headquartered in Dubai Internet City Sunil Sivanand did most of the character generation and programming work on a first generation twin disk drive IBM PC. 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

Background

• Afro-Asiatic languages
• Semitic languages
• Aram
• Aramaean

Writing systems

• Aramaic alphabet
• Hebrew alphabet
• Mandaic alphabet
• Phoenician alphabet
• Syriac alphabet

Historical forms

• Biblical Aramaic
• Aramaic of Hatra
• Aramaic of Jesus
• Syriac language
• Mandaic language

Literature

• Book of Ezra
• Book of Daniel
• Targum
• Midrash
• Talmud
• Peshitta
• Ephrem the Syrian

Modern Aramaic languages

References

External links

• Ethnologue report for Aramaic
• Omniglot written Aramaic/Proto-Hebrew outline
• (German) Semitisches Tonarchiv: Dokumentgruppe "Aramäisch" — recordings of modern Aramaic
• Jewish Language Research Website: Jewish Aramaic
• Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon — at the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati
• Aramaic Peshitta Bible Repository — Many free Aramaic language research tools and the Aramaic Peshitta Bible
• Aramaic Designs — website offering various designs based on historical Aramaic scripts. The name 'Peshitta' The name 'Peshitta' is derived from the Syriac mappaqtâ pšîṭtâ (ܡܦܩܬܐ ܦܫܝܛܬܐ literally meaning 'simple version'
• The Aramaic Language and Its Classification - Efrem Yildiz, Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies
• (Portuguese) Aramaico Brasil