Aramaic language

Name	Aramaic
Nativename	Arāmît
Pronunciation
States	Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Palestine
Region	Throughout the Middle East, Europe and America.
Speakers	~ 500,000|familycolor = Afro-Asiatic
Fam1	Afroasiatic
Fam2	Semitic
Fam3	Central Semitic
Fam4	Northwest Semitic
Script	Aramaic abjad, Syriac abjad, Hebrew abjad, Mandaic alphabet, Arabic Abjad(vernacular} with a handful of inscriptions found in Demotic and Chinese
Lc1	arc|ld1=Imperial and Official Aramaic (700-300 BCE)|ll1=Official Aramaic language
Lc2	oar|ld2=Old Aramaic (before 700 BCE)|ll2=Old Aramaic language
Lc3	aii|ld3=Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
Lc4	aij|ld4=Lishanid Noshan
Lc5	amw|ld5=Western Neo-Aramaic
Lc6	bhn|ld6=Bohtan Neo-Aramaic
Lc7	bjf|ld7=Barzani Jewish Neo-Aramaic
Lc8	cld|ld8=Chaldean Neo-Aramaic
Lc9	hrt|ld9=Hértevin|ll9=Hértevin language
Lc10	huy|ld10=Hulaulá|ll10=Hulaulá language
Lc11	jpa|ld11=Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
Lc12	kqd|ld12=Koy Sanjaq Surat
Lc13	lhs|ld13=Mlahsô|ll13=Mlahsô language
Lc14	lsd|ld14=Lishana Deni
Lc15	mid|ld15=Modern Mandaic|ll15=Mandaic language
Lc16	myz|ld16=Classical Mandaic|ll16=Mandaic language
Lc17	sam|ld17=Samaritan Aramaic
Lc18	syc|ld18=Syriac (classical)|ll18=Syriac language
Lc19	syn|ld19=Senaya|ll19=Senaya language
Lc20	tmr|ld20=Jewish Babylonian Aramaic
Lc21	trg|ld21=Lishán Didán
Lc22	tru|ld22=Turoyo|ll22=Turoyo language
Lingua	12-AAA

Aramaic is a Semitic language belonging to the Afroasiatic language family. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic subfamily, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic group of languages, which also includes Canaanite languages such as Hebrew and Phoenician. Aramaic script was widely adopted for other languages and is ancestral to both the Arabic and modern Hebrew alphabets.

During its 3,000-year written history, Aramaic has served variously as a language of administration of empires and as a language of divine worship. It was the day-to-day language of Israel in the Second Temple period (539 BCE – 70 CE), was the original language of large sections of the biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, was the language spoken by Jesus, and is the main language of the Talmud.

Aramaic's long history and diverse and widespread use has led to the development of many divergent varieties which are sometimes treated as dialects. Therefore, there is no one singular Aramaic language, but each time and place 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—most numerously by the Assyrians (also known as Chaldo-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 considered to be endangered.

Geographic distribution

During the Neo-Assyrian and the Neo-Babylonian period, Aramaeans, the native speakers of Aramaic, began to settle in greater numbers in Upper Mesopotamia (modern-day northern Iraq, northeast Syria, northwest Iran, and south eastern Turkey). From the late 7th century CE onwards, 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 Assyrian Christians, Jews, Mandaeans and some Syriac/Aramean Christians, and is still spoken by small isolated communities throughout its original area of influence, predominantly in northwest Iraq, northeast Syria, southeast Turkey and northern Iran, with diaspora communities in Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and southern Russia. 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 sizeable Assyrian towns in northern Iraq such as Alqosh, Bakhdida, Bartella, Tel Esqof and Tel Keppe, where Aramaic is still the main spoken language.

Aramaic languages and dialects

Traditionally, Aramaic is considered a single language. However, it could equally well be considered a group of closely related languages, rather than a single monolithic language—something which it has never been. 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 ethnic communities in Iraq, southeastern Turkey northern Syria and northwest Iran. Most dialects can be described as either "Eastern"' or "Western", the dividing line being roughly the Euphrates, or slightly west of it. A kind of high Aramaic Standard Aramaic survived till the 9th century. 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 script. 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 (one of the varieties of the Syriac alphabet, Serto, is shown to the left). 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 an adapted Latin alphabet.

History

{| border="0" cellpadding="5" style="float:right; background:#ffffd9; margin-left:10px;" |- | style="background:#ffffd9;"| ImageSize = width:320 height:700 PlotArea = right:40 top:10 left:40 bottom:10 DateFormat = yyyy TimeAxis = orientation:vertical order:reverse Period = from:-1200 till:2005 AlignBars = early ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:200 start:-1200 Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(1,1,0.85) BackgroundColors = canvas:canvas PlotData = width:15 color:red bar:test from:-1200 till:200 # Old Aramaic PlotData = width:15 color:orange bar:test from:200 till:1200 # Middle Aramaic PlotData = width:15 color:yellow bar:test from:1200 till:2005 # Modern Aramaic PlotData = bar:test at:-1200 mark:(line,white) at:-1200 shift:(10,0) text:12th c. BCE Aramaeans settle in Aram bar:test at:-1000 mark:(line,white) at:-1000 shift:(10,0) text:10th c. BCE early written Aramaic bar:test at:-740 mark:(line,white) at:-740 shift:(10,0) text:740s BCE Aramaic official in Assyria bar:test at:-500 mark:(line,white) at:-500 shift:(10,0) text:c.500 BCE Darius I makes Aramaic official bar:test at:-425 mark:(line,white) at:-425 shift:(10,0) text:5th c. BCE Elephantine papyri composed bar:test at:-330 mark:(line,white) at:-331 shift:(10,0) text:331 BCE Greek ascendancy bar:test at:-246 mark:(line,white) at:-246 shift:(10,0) text:247 BCE Aramaic official in Arsacid Empire bar:test at:-169 mark:(line,white) at:-169 shift:(10,5) text:c. 170 BCE Book of Daniel probably composed bar:test at:-141 mark:(line,white) at:-141 shift:(10,0) text:142 BCE Aramaic official in Hasmonaean Judah bar:test at:-49 mark:(line,white) at:-40 shift:(10,0) text:1st c. BCE Aramaic Palmyra, Petra & Osrhoene bar:test at:45 mark:(line,white) at:45 shift:(10,0) text:1st c. New Testament records some Aramaic bar:test at:135 mark:(line,white) at:135 shift:(10,4) text:135 Galilean Aramaic becomes prominent bar:test at:172 mark:(line,white) at:172 shift:(10,1) text:172 Tatian's Diatessaron produced bar:test at:200 mark:(line,white) at:200 shift:(10,-3) text:3rd c. Targum composition bar:test at:224 mark:(line,white) at:224 shift:(10,-8) text:224 Classical Mandaic emerges bar:test at:306 mark:(line,white) at:306 shift:(10,-1) text:c. 306 Ephrem born, Syriac golden age bar:test at:431 mark:(line,white) at:431 shift:(10,0) text:431 Nestorian schism of Aramaic Christians bar:test at:435 mark:(line,white) at:435 shift:(10,-9) text:c. 435 Peshitta Syriac Bible produced bar:test at:637 mark:(line,white) at:637 shift:(10,0) text:637 Arabic ascendancy bar:test at:700 mark:(line,white) at:700 shift:(10,0) text:700 Talmud completed bar:test at:1258 mark:(line,black) at:1258 shift:(10,0) text:1258 Mongols sack Baghdad bar:test at:1290 mark:(line,black) at:1290 shift:(10,-5) text:13th c. Zohar published in Spain bar:test at:1650 mark:(line,black) at:1650 shift:(10,0) text:17th c. School of Alqosh flourishes bar:test at:1836 mark:(line,black) at:1836 shift:(10,0) text:1836 Assyrian Neo-Aramaic first in print bar:test at:1915 mark:(line,black) at:1915 shift:(10,4) text:1915 Persecution in Turkey bar:test at:1951 mark:(line,black) at:1951 shift:(10,2) text:1951 Aramaic Jews move to Israel bar:test at:1998 mark:(line,black) at:1998 shift:(10,0) text:1998 last speakers of Mlahsô & Bijil die |}

The history of Aramaic is broken down into three broad periods:

Old Aramaic (1100 BCE–200 CE), including:

* The Biblical Aramaic of the Hebrew Bible.

* The Aramaic of Jesus.

Middle Aramaic (200–1200), including:

* Literary Syriac.

* The Aramaic of the Talmuds, Targumim, and Midrashim.

* Mandaic.

Modern Aramaic (1200–present), including:

* Various modern vernaculars.

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 CE), 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 BCE). 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.

(modern Zincirli)]] There are inscriptions that evidence the earliest use of the language, dating from the 10th 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. 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 Neo Assyrian Empire 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 BCE, 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 so that the common people would not understand. Around 600 BCE, Adon, a Canaanite king, used Aramaic to write to the Egyptian Pharaoh.

‘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 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 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". 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. 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 BCE), 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.

One of the largest collections of Imperial Aramaic texts is that of the Persepolis fortification tablets, which number about five hundred. 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 BCE Achaemenid administration of Bactria and Sogdiana.

Post-Achaemenid Aramaic

bearing an Aramaic language inscription.]] , 3rd century BCE]] with Targum]] 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 BCE can be found right up to the early 2nd century BCE. The Seleucids imposed Greek in the administration of Syria and Mesopotamia from the start of their rule. In the 3rd century BCE, 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 BCE) 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. 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. 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.

Under the category of post-Achaemenid is Hasmonaean Aramaic, the official language of Hasmonaean Judaea (142–37 BCE). 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 CE. 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 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 11th 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 3rd century CE 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 BCE–106 CE) 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 CE 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 BCE to 274 CE. 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 BCE – 224 CE), 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.

Late Old Eastern Aramaic

magical 'demon trap']] 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 BCE. 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.

In the kingdom of Osroene, centred on Edessa and founded in 132 BCE, 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 CE) 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 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 completely displacing Phoenician in the 1st century BCE and Hebrew around the turn of the 4th century CE.

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 BCE). The next distinct phase of the language is called Old Judaean into the 2nd century CE. 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 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).

Languages during Jesus' lifetime

It is generally believed that in the 1st century CE, Jews in Judaea primarily spoke Aramaic with a dwindling number using Hebrew as a native language. Many learned Hebrew as a liturgical language. 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. Latin was spoken in the Roman army, but 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', '' 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 mutually influenced each other, especially Hebrew and Aramaic. Hebrew words entered Jewish Aramaic (mostly technical religious words but also everyday words like '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 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 (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 is notable for its use of much dialogue in Aramaic only, specially reconstructed by a scholar, but not an Aramaic specialist, William Fulco. 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 CE 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

Estrangela manuscript of John Chrysostom's Homily on the Gospel of John]]

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 and Syriac Orthodox churches. It originated in Sassanid Assyria (Assuristan). 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, 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 CE. 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.

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 Yešû` 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 by religious adherence; Christians, Jews, Mandaeans and a tiny number of 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 comprehension of one another than perhaps they have ever been. The last 200 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 Assyrian 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, Greek genocide) who were the subjects of the genocide that marked the end of the Ottoman Empire. 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 Jewish Modern 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 ethnic and 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 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. 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.

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', ). It usually has a back counterpart ('long' a, like the a in 'father', , or even tending to the vowel in 'caught', ), and a front counterpart ('short' e, like the vowel in 'head', ). 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', ). It has a slightly more open counterpart, the 'long' e, as in the final vowel of 'café' (). 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', ). It has a more open counterpart, the 'long' o, like the vowel in 'low' (). 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

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 velarisation. Using their alphabetic names, these emphatics are: , a voiceless pharyngeal fricative, , , a pharyngealized t, , (or in some dialects), a pharyngealized glottal stop (sometimes considered to be a voiced pharyngeal approximant), or , , a pharyngealized s, , , an uvular k (a voiceless uvular plosive), .

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 and from the emphatic set, and add (a glottal stop) and (as the English 'h').

Aramaic classically has a set of four sibilants (Ancient Aramaic may have had six): (as in English 'sea'), (as in English 'zero'), (as in English 'ship'), (the emphatic 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 – This 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 , using instead; other dialects (for instance, standard Assyrian Neo-Aramaic) have lost and and replaced them with and . In most dialects of Modern Syriac, and become 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 – This is the main 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 in Hebrew is 'šālôš', but '' in Aramaic). Dental/sibilant shifts are still happening in the modern dialects. # New phonetic inventory – Modern dialects have borrowed sounds from the surrounding, dominant languages. The usual inventory is (as the first consonant in 'azure'), (as in 'jam') and (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: , handwriting, inscription, script, book. , the Scriptures. , secretary, scribe. , I wrote. , 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, , '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, , '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, , '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 a virtual rarity 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 only agree in state if attributive. Predicative adjectives are in the absolute state regardless of the state of their noun (a copula can, but need 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 — king[emph.] good[emph.]. In comparison, the predicative adjective, as in the phrase 'the king is good', is written in the absolute state — good[abs.] king[emph.].

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: # — the oldest construction: the possessed object(kṯāḇâ, 'handwriting') is in the construct state (kṯāḇaṯ); the possessor (malkâ, 'queen') is in the emphatic state (malkṯâ) # — both words are in the emphatic state and the relative particle d[î]- is used to mark the relationship # — 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.

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, means ‘he killed’, whereas 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, means ‘he went astray’, whereas 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.

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

Background

Afro-Asiatic languages

Aram (biblical region)

Aramaeans

Semitic languages

Writing systems

Arabic alphabet

Aramaic alphabet

Hebrew alphabet

Mandaic alphabet

Phoenician alphabet

Syriac alphabet

Historical forms

Old Aramaic language

Aramaic of Hatra

Aramaic of Jesus

Biblical Aramaic

Mandaic language

Syriac language

Literature

Book of Daniel

Book of Ezra

Ephrem the Syrian

Midrash

Peshitta

Talmud

Targum

The Gospel of Matthew

Notes

References

External links

Ethnologue report for Aramaic

Omniglot written Aramaic/Proto-Hebrew outline

Jewish Language Research Website: Jewish Aramaic

Dictionary of Judeo-Aramaic

Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon (including editions of Targums) – at the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati

Aramaic Designs – website offering various designs based on historical Aramaic scripts.

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

Aramaic Dictionary - search the online dictionary using English or Aramaic words, including many other options.

Ancient Aramaic Audio Files: contains audio recordings of scripture.

Aramaico Brasil Semitisches Tonarchiv: Dokumentgruppe "Aramäisch"  – recordings of modern Aramaic cursodearameo.com.ar Free course of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic in Spanish

Category:Afro-Asiatic languages Category:Assyria Category:Central Semitic languages Category:Endangered Afro-Asiatic languages Category:Hebrew Bible topics Category:Jewish languages Category:Languages of Armenia Category:Languages of Iraq Category:Languages of Iran Category:Languages of Israel Category:Languages of Turkey