Aramaic

For other uses, seeAramaic (disambiguation).

This article is about the sub-group of the Semitic languages native to Mesopotamia and the Levant. Not to be confused withAmharic,the Semitic language spoken inEthiopia.

Aramaic
ארמית,ܐܪܡܐܝܬ Arāmāiṯ
Region	Fertile Crescent(Levant,Mesopotamia,SinaiandSoutheastern Anatolia),eastern Arabia
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Proto-Aramoid Aramaic
Early forms	Proto-Afroasiatic Proto-Semitic Old Aramaic Imperial Aramaic Middle Aramaic
Dialects	Eastern Aramaic Western Aramaic Armazic†
Writing system	Syriac Alpha bet(Christian) Mandaic(Mandaean) Hebrew Alpha bet(Jewish) HistoricallyPhoenician Alpha bet,Aramaic Alpha bet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: arc–Imperial Aramaic syc–Classical Syriac myz–Classical Mandaic xrm–Armazic language bjf–Barzani Neo-Aramaic bhn–Bohtan Neo-Aramaic hrt–Hertevin Neo-Aramaic aij–Inter-Zab Neo-Aramaic tmr–Jewish Babylonian Aramaic jpa–Jewish Palestinian Aramaic kqd–Koy Sanjaq Neo-Aramaic lhs–Mlaḥsô language mid–Modern Mandaic oar–Old Aramaic sam–Samaritan Aramaic language syn–Senaya Neo-Aramaic syr–Suret language huy–Trans-Zab Neo-Aramaic tru–Turoyo language trg–Urmia Neo-Aramaic amw–Western Neo-Aramaic
Glottolog	aram1259
Linguasphere	12-AAA

Ārāmāyāin Syriac Esṭrangelā script

Syriac-Aramaic Alpha bet

Aramaic(Jewish Babylonian Aramaic:ארמית,romanized:ˀərāmiṯ;Classical Syriac:ܐܪܡܐܝܬ,romanized:arāmāˀiṯ) is aNorthwest Semitic languagethat originated in the ancientregion of Syriaand quickly spread toMesopotamia,thesouthern Levant,southeastern Anatolia,Eastern Arabiaand theSinai Peninsula,where it has been continually written and spoken in differentvarietiesfor over three thousand years.

Aramaic served as a language of public life and administration of ancient kingdoms and empires, and also as a language of divine worship and religious study. Several modern varieties, theNeo-Aramaic languages,are still spoken by theAssyrians,Mandeans,Mizrahi Jewsand by theArameans (Syriacs)in the towns ofMaaloulaand nearbyJubb'adininSyria.Classical varieties are used as liturgical and literary languages in several West Asian churches,as well as inJudaism,Samaritanism,andMandaeism.

Aramaic belongs to the Northwest group of theSemitic language family,which also includes the mutually intelligibleCanaanite languagessuch asHebrew,Edomite,Moabite,Ekronite,Sutean,andPhoenician,as well asAmoriteandUgaritic.Aramaic languages are written in theAramaic Alpha bet,a descendant of thePhoenician Alpha bet,and the most prominent Alpha bet variant is theSyriac Alpha bet.The Aramaic Alpha bet also became a base for the creation and adaptation of specific writing systems in some other Semitic languages ofWest Asia,such as theHebrew Alpha betand theArabic Alpha bet.

The Aramaic languages are now consideredendangered,with several varieties used mainly by the older generations.Researchers are working to record and analyze all of the remaining varieties of Neo-Aramaic languages before or in case they become extinct.Aramaic dialects today form the mother tongues of theArameans (Syriacs)in theQalamoun mountains,AssyriansandMandaeans,as well as someMizrahi Jews.

EarlyAramaic inscriptionsdate from 11th century BC, placing it among theearliest languages to be written down.AramaicistHolger Gzellanotes, "The linguistic history of Aramaic prior to the appearance of the first textual sources in the ninth century BC remains unknown."Aramaic is also believed by most historians and scholars to have been the primarylanguagespoken byJesus of Nazarethboth for preaching and in everyday life.

History

This clay tablet represents a classroom experiment; a teacher imposed a challenging writing exercise on pupils who spoke both Babylonian-Akkadian and Aramaic. The pupils had to use traditional syllabic signs to express the sounds of the Aramaic Alpha bet.c. 500 BC.From Iraq

Historically and originally, Aramaic was the language of theArameans,a Semitic-speaking people of the region between the northernLevantand the northernTigrisvalley. By around 1000 BC, the Arameans had a string of kingdoms in what is now part ofSyria,Lebanon,Jordan,Turkey,and the fringes of southernMesopotamia(Iraq). Aramaic rose to prominence under theNeo-Assyrian Empire(911–605 BC), under whose influence Aramaic became a prestige language after being adopted as alingua francaof the empire byAssyriankings, and its use was spread throughoutMesopotamia,theLevantand parts ofAsia Minor,Arabian Peninsula,andAncient Iranunder Assyrian rule. At its height, Aramaic was spoken in what is nowIraq,Syria,Lebanon,Israel,Jordan,Kuwait,parts of southeast and south centralTurkey,northern parts of theArabian Peninsulaand parts of northwestIran,as well as the southernCaucasus,having gradually replaced several other related Semitic languages.

According to theBabylonian Talmud(Sanhedrin38b), the language spoken by Adam – the Bible's first human – was Aramaic.

Aramaic was thelanguage of Jesus,who spoke theGalilean dialectduring his public ministry, as well as the language of several sections of theHebrew Bible,including parts of the books ofDanielandEzra,and also the language of theTargum,the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible.It is also the language of theJerusalem Talmud,Babylonian Talmud,andZohar.

The scribes of theNeo-Assyrianbureaucracy also used Aramaic, and this practice was subsequently inherited by the succeedingNeo-Babylonian Empire(605–539 BC) and later by theAchaemenid Empire(539–330 BC).Mediated by scribes that had been trained in the language, highly standardized written Aramaic, named by scholarsImperial Aramaic,progressively also became thelingua francaof public life, trade and commerce throughout Achaemenid territories.Wide use of written Aramaic subsequently led to the adoption of the Aramaic Alpha bet and, aslogograms,some Aramaic vocabulary in thePahlavi scripts,which were used by severalMiddle Iranian languages,includingParthian,Middle Persian,Sogdian,andKhwarezmian.

Some variants of Aramaic are also retained assacred languagesby certain religious communities. Most notable among them isClassical Syriac,the liturgical language ofSyriac Christianity.It is used by several communities, including theAssyrian Church of the East,theAncient Church of the East,theChaldean Catholic Church,theSyriac Orthodox Church,theSyriac Catholic Church,theMaronite Church,and also theSaint Thomas Christians,Syriac ChristiansofKerala,India.One of the liturgical dialects wasMandaic,which besides becoming a vernacular,Neo-Mandaic,also remained the liturgical language ofMandaeism.Syriac was also the liturgical language of several now-extinctgnosticfaiths, such asManichaeism.

Neo-Aramaic languagesare still spoken in the 21st century as afirst languageby many communities ofAssyrians,Mizrahi Jews(in particular, theJews of Kurdistan/Iraqi Jews), andMandaeansof theNear East,with the main Neo-Aramaic languages beingSuret(~240,000 speakers) andTuroyo(~250,000 speakers).Western Neo-Aramaic(~3,000)persists in only two villages in theAnti-Lebanon Mountainsin westernSyria.They have retained use of the once-dominant lingua franca despite subsequentlanguage shiftsexperienced throughout the Middle East.

Name

TheCarpentras Stelewas the firstancient inscription ever identified as "Aramaic".Although it was first published in 1704, it was not identified as Aramaic until 1821, whenUlrich Friedrich Koppcomplained that previous scholars had left everything "to the Phoenicians and nothing to the Arameans, as if they could not have written at all".

The connection between Chaldean, Syriac, and Samaritan as "Aramaic" was first identified in 1679 by German theologianJohann Wilhelm Hilliger.In 1819–21Ulrich Friedrich Kopppublished hisBilder und Schriften der Vorzeit( "Images and Inscriptions of the Past" ), in which he established the basis of thepaleographicaldevelopment of the Northwest Semitic scripts.Kopp criticisedJean-Jacques Barthélemyand other scholars who had characterized all thethen-known inscriptions and coinsas Phoenician, with "everything left to the Phoenicians and nothing to the Arameans, as if they could not have written at all".Kopp noted that some of the words on theCarpentras Stelecorresponded to the Aramaic in theBook of Daniel,and in theBook of Ruth.

JosephusandStrabo(the latter citingPosidonius) both stated that the "Syrians" called themselves "Arameans".TheSeptuagint,the earliest extant full copy of the Hebrew Bible, a Greek translation, used the termsSyriaandSyrianwhere theMasoretic Text,the earliest extant Hebrew copy of the Bible, uses the termsArameanandAramaic;numerous later bibles followed the Septuagint's usage, including theKing James Version.This connection between the names Syrian and Aramaic was discussed in 1835 byÉtienne Marc Quatremère.

In historical sources, Aramaic language is designated by two distinctive groups of terms, first of them represented byendonymic(native) names, and the other one represented by variousexonymic(foreign in origin) names. Native (endonymic) terms for Aramaic language were derived from the sameword rootas the name of its original speakers, the ancientArameans.Endonymic forms were also adopted in some other languages, like ancientHebrew.In theTorah(Hebrew Bible), "Aram" is used as a proper name of several people including descendants of Shem,Nahor,and Jacob.AncientAram,bordering northern Israel and what is now called Syria, is considered the linguistic center of Aramaic, the language of the Arameans who settled the area during theBronze Agec. 3500 BC.The language is often mistakenly considered to have originated within Assyria (Iraq). In fact, Arameans carried their language and writing into Mesopotamia by voluntary migration, by forced exile of conquering armies, and by nomadicChaldeaninvasions of Babylonia during the period from 1200 to 1000 BC.

Unlike in Hebrew, designations for Aramaic language in some other ancient languages were mostly exonymic. Inancient Greek,Aramaic language was most commonly known as the "Syrian language",in relation to the native (non-Greek) inhabitants of the historicalregion of Syria.Since thename of Syriaitself emerged as a variant of Assyria,the biblicalAshur,and Akkadian Ashuru,a complex set ofsemanticphenomena was created, becoming a subject of interest both among ancient writers and modern scholars.

TheKoine GreekwordἙβραϊστί(Hebraïstí) has been translated as "Aramaic" in some versions of the ChristianNew Testament,as Aramaic was at that time the language commonly spoken by theJews.However,Ἑβραϊστίis consistently used in Koine Greek at this time to mean Hebrew andΣυριστί(Syristi) is used to mean Aramaic.In Biblical scholarship, the term "Chaldean" was for many years used as a synonym of Aramaic, due to its use in the book of Daniel and subsequent interpretation byJerome.

Geographic distribution

Syriacinscription at theSyro-Malabar Catholic Church's Major Archbishop's House inKerala,India

Late Syriac text, written inMadnhāyāscript, fromThrissur,Kerala,India(1799)

During the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires,Arameans,the native speakers of Aramaic, began to settle in greater numbers inBabylonia,and later in the heartland ofAssyria,also known as the "Arbela triangle" (Assur,Nineveh,andArbela).The influx eventually resulted in the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC) adopting anAkkadian-influenced Imperial Aramaic as the lingua franca of its empire.This policy was continued by the short-lived Neo-Babylonian Empire and theMedes,and all three empires became operationally bilingual in written sources, with Aramaic used alongside Akkadian.The Achaemenid Empire (539–323 BC) continued this tradition, and the extensive influence of these empires led to Aramaic gradually becoming the lingua franca of most of western Asia,Anatolia,theCaucasus,andEgypt.

Beginning with the rise of theRashidun Caliphateand theearly Muslim conquestsin the late seventh century, Arabic gradually replaced Aramaic as the lingua franca of theNear East.However, Aramaic remains a spoken, literary, and liturgical language for local Christians and also some Jews. Aramaic also continues to be spoken by the Assyrians of northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and northwest Iran, with diaspora communities inArmenia,Georgia,Azerbaijan,and southernRussia.The Mandaeans also continue to use Classical Mandaic as a liturgical language, although most now speak Arabic as their first language.There are still also a small number of first-language speakers of Western Aramaic varieties in isolated villages in western Syria.

Being in contact with other regional languages, some Neo-Aramaic dialects were often engaged in the mutual exchange of influences, particularly with Arabic,Iranian,and Kurdish.

The turbulence of the last two centuries (particularly theAssyrian genocide,also known asSeyfo"Sword" in Syriac, has seen speakers of first-language and literary Aramaic dispersed throughout the world. However, there are several sizable Assyrian towns in northern Iraq, such asAlqosh,Bakhdida,Bartella,Tesqopa,andTel Keppe,and numerous small villages, where Aramaic is still the main spoken language, and many large cities in this region also have Suret-speaking communities, particularlyMosul,Erbil,Kirkuk,Dohuk,andal-Hasakah.In modern Israel, the only native Aramaic-speaking population are theJews of Kurdistan,although the language is dying out.However, Aramaic is also experiencing a revival amongMaronites in IsraelinJish.

Aramaic languages and dialects

Aramaic is often spoken of as a single language but is actually a group of related languages.Some languages differ more from each other than theRomance languagesdo among themselves. Its long history, extensive literature, and use by different religious communities are all factors in the diversification of the language. Some Aramaic dialects are mutually intelligible, whereas others are not, similar to the situation with modernvarieties of Arabic.

Some Aramaic languages are known under different names; for example, Syriac is particularly used to describe the Eastern Aramaic variety spoken bySyriac Christian communitiesin northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria, and northwestern Iran, and the Saint Thomas Christians inKerala,India. Most dialects can be described as either "Eastern" or "Western", the dividing line being roughly theEuphrates,or slightly west of it.

It is also helpful to distinguish modern living languages, or Neo-Aramaics, and those that are still in use as literary or liturgical languages or are only of interest to scholars. Although there are some exceptions to this rule, this classification gives "Old", "Middle", and "Modern" periods alongside "Eastern" and "Western" areas to distinguish between the various languages and dialects that are Aramaic.

Writing system

11th century book inSyriac Serto

Main article:Aramaic Alpha bet

The earliest Aramaic Alpha bet was based on thePhoenician Alpha bet.In time, Aramaic developed its distinctive "square" style. The ancient Israelites and other peoples ofCanaanadopted this Alpha bet for writing their own languages. Thus, it is better known as theHebrew Alpha bet.This is the writing system used inBiblical Aramaicand other Jewish writing in Aramaic. The other main writing system used for Aramaic was developed by Christian communities: a cursive form known as theSyriac Alpha bet.A highly modified form of the Aramaic Alpha bet, theMandaic Alpha bet,is used by theMandaeans.

In addition to these writing systems, certain derivatives of the Aramaic Alpha bet were used in ancient times by particular groups: theNabataean Alpha betinPetraand thePalmyrene Alpha betinPalmyra.In modern times,Turoyo(seebelow) has sometimes been written in aLatin script.

Periodization

Periodizationof historical development of Aramaic language has been the subject of particular interest for scholars, who proposed several types of periodization, based on linguistic, chronological and territorial criteria. Overlapping terminology, used in different periodizations, led to the creation of severalpolysemicterms, that are used differently among scholars. Terms like: Old Aramaic, Ancient Aramaic, Early Aramaic, Middle Aramaic, Late Aramaic (and some others, like Paleo-Aramaic), were used in various meanings, thus referring (in scope or substance) to different stages in historical development of Aramaic language.

Most commonly used types of periodization are those of Klaus Beyer and Joseph Fitzmyer.

Periodization of Klaus Beyer (1929–2014):

• Old Aramaic,from the earliest records, toc.200 AD
• Middle Aramaic,fromc.200 AD, toc.1200 AD
• Modern Aramaic,fromc.1200 AD, up to the modern times

Periodization ofJoseph Fitzmyer(1920–2016):

• Old Aramaic,from the earliest records, to regional prominencec.700 BC
• Official Aramaic,fromc.700 BC, toc.200 BC
• Middle Aramaic,fromc.200 BC, toc.200 AD
• Late Aramaic,fromc.200 AD, toc.700 AD
• Modern Aramaic,fromc.700 AD, up to the modern times

Recent periodization of Aaron Butts:

• Old Aramaic,from the earliest records, toc.538 BC
• Achaemenid Aramaic,fromc.538 BC, toc.333 BC
• Middle Aramaic,fromc.333 BC, toc.200 AD
• Late Aramaic,fromc.200 AD, toc.1200 AD
• Neo-Aramaic,fromc.1200 AD, up to the modern times

Old Aramaic

One of theBar-Rakib inscriptionsfromSam'al.The inscription is in theSamalian language(also considered a dialect).

Main article:Old Aramaic

Aramaic's long history and diverse and widespread use has led to the development of many divergent varieties, which are sometimes considereddialects,though they have become distinct enough over time that they are now sometimes considered separatelanguages.Therefore, there is not one singular, static Aramaic language; each time and place rather has had its own variation. The more widely spokenEastern Aramaic languagesare largely restricted toAssyrian,MandeanandMizrahi Jewishcommunities inIraq,northeasternSyria,northwesternIran,and southeasternTurkey,whilst the severely endangeredWestern Neo-Aramaiclanguage is spoken by small Christian and Muslim communities in theAnti-Lebanon mountains,and closely related western varieties of Aramaicpersisted inMount Lebanonuntil as late as the 17th century. 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 theSasanian Empire(224 AD), dominating the influential, eastern dialect region. As such, the term covers over thirteen centuries of the development of Aramaic. This vast time span includes all Aramaic that is now effectively extinct. Regarding the earliest forms, Beyer suggests that written Aramaic probably dates from the 11th century BCE,as it is established by the 10th century, to which he dates the oldest inscriptions of northern Syria. Heinrichs uses the less controversial date of the 9th century,for which there is clear and widespread attestation.

The central phase in the development of Old Aramaic was its official use by theNeo-Assyrian Empire(911–608 BC),Neo-Babylonian Empire(620–539 BC), andAchaemenid Empire(500–330 BC). The period before this, dubbed "Ancient Aramaic", saw the development of the language from being spoken in Aramaean city-states to become a major means of communication in diplomacy and trade throughoutMesopotamia,theLevant,andEgypt.After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, local vernaculars became increasingly prominent, fanning the divergence of an Aramaicdialect continuumand the development of differing written standards.

Ancient Aramaic

See also:Samalian language

"Ancient Aramaic" refers to the earliest known period of the language, from its origin until it becomes the lingua franca of theFertile Crescent.It was the language of the Aramean city-states ofDamascus,Hamath,andArpad.

There are inscriptions that evidence the earliest use of the language, dating from the 10th century BC. These inscriptions are mostly diplomatic documents between Aramaean city-states. The Alpha bet of Aramaic at this early period seems to be based on thePhoenician Alpha bet,and there is a unity in the written language. It seems that, in time, a more refined Alpha bet, suited to the needs of the language, began to develop from this in the eastern regions of Aram. Due to increasing Aramean migration eastward, the Western periphery of Assyria became bilingual in Akkadian and Aramean at least as early as the mid-9th century BC. As theNeo-Assyrian Empireconquered Aramean lands west of theEuphrates,Tiglath-Pileser IIImade Aramaic the Empire's second official language, and it eventually supplanted Akkadian completely.

From 700 BC, the language began to spread in all directions, but lost much of its unity. Different dialects emerged in Assyria, Babylonia, theLevantandEgypt.Around 600 BC, Adon, aCanaaniteking, used Aramaic to write to an EgyptianPharaoh.

Imperial Aramaic

Main article:Imperial Aramaic

Around 500 BC, following theAchaemenid(Persian) conquest of Mesopotamia underDarius 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 orImperial 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 ofPersiangave the language a new clarity and robust flexibility. For centuries after the fall of the Achaemenid Empire (in 330 BC), Imperial Aramaic – or a version thereof near enough for it to be recognisable – would remain an influence on the various nativeIranian languages.Aramaic script and – as ideograms – Aramaic vocabulary would survive as the essential characteristics of thePahlavi scripts.

One of the largest collections of Imperial Aramaic texts is that of thePersepolis Administrative Archives,found atPersepolis,which number about five hundred.Many of the extant documents witnessing to this form of Aramaic come fromEgypt,andElephantinein particular (seeElephantine papyri). Of them, the best known is theStory of Ahikar,a book of instructive aphorisms quite similar in style to the biblicalBook of Proverbs.Consensus as of 2022regards the Aramaic portion of the Biblical book of Daniel (i.e., 2:4b–7:28) as an example of Imperial (Official) Aramaic.

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 fromBactriahave been discovered, and an analysis was published in November 2006. The texts, which were rendered on leather, reflect the use of Aramaic in the 4th century BC Achaemenid administration of Bactria andSogdia.

Biblical Aramaic

Biblical Aramaicis the Aramaic found in four discrete sections of theBible:

• Ezra– documents from the Achaemenid period (5th century BC) concerning the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem.
• Daniel– five tales and an apocalyptic vision.
• Jeremiah 10:11– a single sentence in the middle of a Hebrew text denouncing idolatry.
• Genesis– translation of a Hebrew place-name.

Biblical Aramaic is a somewhat hybrid dialect. It is theorized that some Biblical Aramaic material originated in both Babylonia and Judaea before the fall of the Achaemenid dynasty.

Biblical Aramaic presented various challenges for writers who were engaged in earlyBiblical studies.Since the time ofJerome of Stridon(d. 420), Aramaic of theBiblewas named as "Chaldean" (Chaldaic, Chaldee).That label remained common in earlyAramaic studies,and persisted up into the nineteenth century. The "Chaldean misnomer"was eventually abandoned, when modern scholarly analyses showed that Aramaic dialect used in Hebrew Bible was not related toancient Chaldeansand their language.

Post-Achaemenid Aramaic

Coin ofAlexander the Greatbearing an Aramaic language inscription

TheKandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription(Greek and Aramaic) by theIndiankingAshoka,3rd century BC atKandahar,Afghanistan

11th centuryHebrew BiblewithTargumintercalated between verses of Hebrew text

The fall of theAchaemenid Empire(c.334–330 BC), and its replacement with the newly created political order, imposed byAlexander the Great(d. 323 BC) and hisHellenisticsuccessors, marked an important turning point in the history of Aramaic language. During the early stages of the post-Achaemenid era, public use of Aramaic language was continued, but shared with the newly introducedGreek language.By the year 300 BC, all of the main Aramaic-speaking regions came under political rule of the newly createdSeleucid Empirethat promotedHellenistic culture,and favoredGreek languageas the main language of public life and administration. During the 3rd century BCE, Greek overtook Aramaic in many spheres of public communication, particularly in highlyHellenizedcities throughout the Seleucid domains. However, Aramaic continued to be used, in its post-Achaemenid form, among upper and literate classes of native Aramaic-speaking communities, and also by local authorities (along with the newly introduced Greek). Post-Achaemenid Aramaic, that bears a relatively close resemblance to that of the Achaemenid period, continued to be used up to the 2nd century BCE.

By the end of the 2nd century BC, several variants of Post-Achaemenid Aramaic emerged, bearing regional characteristics. One of them was Hasmonaean Aramaic, the official administrative language ofHasmonaeanJudaea (142–37 BC), alongsideHebrew,which was the language preferred in religious and some other public uses (coinage). It influenced the Biblical Aramaic of theQumrantexts, and was the main language of non-biblical theological texts of that community. The majorTargums,translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, were originally composed in Hasmonaean Aramaic. It also appears in quotations in theMishnahandTosefta,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.

The use ofwrittenAramaic in the Achaemenid bureaucracy also precipitated the adoption of Aramaic(-derived) scripts to render a number ofMiddle Iranianlanguages. Moreover, many common words, including even pronouns, particles, numerals, and auxiliaries, continued to written as Aramaic "words" even when writing Middle Iranian languages. In time, in Iranian usage, these Aramaic "words" became disassociated from the Aramaic language and came to be understood assigns(i.e.logograms), much like the symbol '&' is read as "and" in English and the original Latinetis now no longer obvious. Under the early 3rd-century BCParthian Arsacids,whose government used Greek but whose native language wasParthian,the Parthian language and its Aramaic-derived writing system both gained prestige. This in turn also led to the adoption of the name 'pahlavi' (<parthawi,"of the Parthians" ) for that writing system. ThePersian Sassanids,who succeeded the Parthian Arsacids in the mid-3rd century AD, subsequently inherited/adopted the Parthian-mediated Aramaic-derived writing system for their own Middle Iranian ethnolect as well.That particular Middle Iranian dialect,Middle Persian,i.e. the language of Persia proper, subsequently also became a prestige language. Following the conquest of the Sassanids by the Arabs in the 7th-century, the Aramaic-derived writing system was replaced by the Arabic Alpha bet in all butZoroastrian usage,which continued to use the name 'pahlavi' for the Aramaic-derived writing system and went on to create the bulk of all Middle Iranian literature in that writing system.

Other regional dialects continued to exist alongside these, often as simple, spoken variants of Aramaic. Early evidence for thesevernaculardialects is known only through their influence on words and names in a more standard dialect. However, some of those regional dialects became written languages by the 2nd century BC. These dialects reflect a stream of Aramaic that is not directly dependent onAchaemenid Aramaic,and they also show a clear linguistic diversity between eastern and western regions.

Targumic

BabylonianTargumicis the later post-Achaemenid dialect found in theTargum OnqelosandTargum Jonathan,the "official" targums. The original, Hasmonaean targums had reached Babylon sometime in the 2nd or 3rd century AD. They were then reworked according to the contemporary dialect of Babylon to create the language of the standard targums. This combination formed the basis of Babylonian Jewish literature for centuries to follow.

Galilean Targumic is similar to Babylonian Targumic. It is the mi xing of literary Hasmonaean with the dialect ofGalilee.The Hasmonaean targums reached Galilee in the 2nd century AD, and were reworked into this Galilean dialect for local use. The Galilean Targum was not considered an authoritative work by other communities, and documentary evidence shows that its text was amended. From the 11th century AD onwards, once the Babylonian Targum had become normative, the Galilean version became heavily influenced by it.

Babylonian Documentary Aramaic

Babylonian Documentary Aramaic is a dialect in use from the 3rd century AD onwards. It is the dialect of Babylonian private documents, and, from the 12th century, all Jewish private documents are in Aramaic. It is based on Hasmonaean with very few changes. This was perhaps because many of the documents in BDA are legal documents, the language in them had to be sensible throughout the Jewish community from the start, and Hasmonaean was the old standard.

Nabataean

Nabataean Aramaicwas the written language of the Arab kingdom of Nabataea, whose capital wasPetra.The kingdom (c.200 BC – 106 AD) controlled the region to the east of theJordan River,theNegev,theSinai Peninsula,and the northernHijaz,and supported a wide-ranging trade network. The Nabataeans used imperial Aramaic for written communications, rather than their native Arabic. Nabataean Aramaic developed fromImperial Aramaic,with some influence from Arabic: "l" is often turned into "n", and there are some Arabic loanwords. Arabic influence on Nabataean Aramaic increased over time. Some Nabataean Aramaic inscriptions date from the early days of the kingdom, but most datable inscriptions are from the first four centuries AD. The language is written in acursivescript that was the precursor to theArabic Alpha bet.After annexation by the Romans in 106 AD, most of Nabataea was subsumed into the province of Arabia Petraea, the Nabataeans turned to Greek for written communications, and the use of Aramaic declined.

Palmyrene

Palmyrene Aramaicis the dialect that was in use in the multiculturalcity state ofPalmyrain the Syrian Desert from 44 BC to 274 AD. It was written in a rounded script, which later gave way to cursiveEstrangela.Like Nabataean, Palmyrene was influenced by Arabic, but to a much lesser degree.

Eastern dialects

Main article:Eastern Aramaic languages

Mandaicmagical "demon trap"

In the eastern regions (from Mesopotamia to Persia), dialects like Palmyrene Aramaic and Arsacid Aramaic gradually merged with the regional vernacular dialects, thus creating languages with a foot in Achaemenid and a foot in regional Aramaic.

In theKingdom of Osroene,founded in 132 BCE and centred inEdessa(Urhay), the regional dialect became the official language: Edessan Aramaic (Urhaya), that later came to be known asClassical Syriac.On the upper reaches of theTigris,East Mesopotamian Aramaic flourished, with evidence from the regions ofHatraandAssur.

Tatian the Assyrian(or Syrian), the author of the gospel harmony theDiatessaroncame fromAdiabene(Syr.Beth-Hadiab),and perhaps wrote his work (172 AD) in East Mesopotamian rather than Classical Syriac or Greek. In Babylonia, the regional dialect was used by the Jewish community, Jewish Old Babylonian (from c. 70 AD). This everyday language increasingly came under the influence of Biblical Aramaic and Babylonian Targumic.

The written form ofMandaic,the language ofMandaeism,was descended from the Arsacid chancery script.

Western dialects

Main article:Western Aramaic languages

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 displacingPhoenicianin the first century BC andHebrewaround the turn of the fourth century AD.

The form of Late Old Western Aramaic used by the Jewish community is best attested, and is usually referred to as Jewish Old Palestinian. Its oldest form is Old East Jordanian, which probably comes from the region ofCaesarea Philippi.This is the dialect of the oldest manuscript of theBook of Enoch(c.170 BC). The next distinct phase of the language is called Old Judaean lasting into the second century AD. Old Judean literature can be found in various inscriptions and personal letters, preserved quotations in theTalmudand receipts fromQumran.Josephus' first, non-extant edition of hisThe Jewish Warwas written in Old Judean.

The Old East Jordanian dialect continued to be used into the first century AD by pagan communities living to the east of the Jordan. Their dialect is often then called Pagan Old Palestinian, and it was written in a cursive script somewhat similar to that used for Old Syriac. A Christian Old Palestinian dialect may have arisen from the pagan one, and this dialect may be behind some of the Western Aramaic tendencies found in the otherwise eastern Old Syriac gospels (seePeshitta).

Languages during Jesus' lifetime

Further information:Language of Jesus

It is generally believed by Christian scholars that in the first century, Jews inJudeaprimarily spoke Aramaic with a decreasing number usingHebrewas their first language, though many learned Hebrew as a liturgical language. Additionally,Koine Greekwas the lingua franca of the Near East in trade, among the Hellenized classes (much like French in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries in Europe), and in the Roman administration.Latin,the language of the Roman army and higher levels of administration, had almost no impact on the linguistic landscape.

In addition to the formal, literary dialects of Aramaic based onHasmoneanand Babylonian, there were a number of colloquial Aramaic dialects. SevenWestern Aramaic varietieswere spoken in the vicinity of Judea inJesus' time. They were probably distinctive yet mutually intelligible. Old Judean was the prominent dialect ofJerusalemand Judaea. The region ofEin Gedispoke the Southeast Judaean dialect.Samariahad its distinctiveSamaritan Aramaic,where the consonants "he","heth",and" 'ayin"all became pronounced as"aleph".Galilean Aramaic, the dialect of Jesus' home region, is only known from a few place names, the influences on Galilean Targumic, some rabbinic literature and a few private letters. It seems to have a number of distinctive features:diphthongsare never simplified into monophthongs. East of the Jordan, the various dialects of East Jordanian were spoken. In the region ofDamascusand theAnti-Lebanon Mountains,Damascene Aramaic was spoken (deduced mostly from Modern Western Aramaic). Finally, as far north asAleppo,the western dialect of Orontes Aramaic was spoken.

The three languages, especially Hebrew and Aramaic, influenced one another throughloanwordsandsemantic loans.Hebrew words entered Jewish Aramaic. Most were mostly technical religious words, but a few were everyday words like עץʿēṣ"wood". Conversely, Aramaic words, such asmāmmôn"wealth", were borrowed into Hebrew, and Hebrew words acquired additional senses from Aramaic. For instance, Hebrew ראויrā'ûi"seen" borrowed the sense "worthy, seemly" from the Aramaicḥzîmeaning "seen" and "worthy".

The Greek of theNew Testamentpreserves some semiticisms, including transliterations ofSemiticwords. Some are Aramaic,liketalitha(ταλιθα), which represents the noun טליתאṭalīṯā,and others may be either Hebrew or Aramaic like רבוניRabbounei(Ραββουνει), which means "my master/great one/teacher" in both languages.Other examples:

• "Talitha kumi" (טליתא קומי)
• "Ephphatha" (אתפתח)
• "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (?אלי, אלי, למה שבקתני)

The 2004 filmThe Passion of the Christused Aramaic for much of its dialogue, specially reconstructed by a scholar,William Fulco,S.J. Where the appropriate words (in first-century Aramaic) were no longer known, he used the Aramaic of Daniel and fourth-century Syriac and Hebrew as the basis for his work.

Middle Aramaic

During the Late Middle Aramaic period, spanning from 300 B.C.E. to 200 C.E., Aramaic diverged into its eastern and western branches. During this time, the nature of various Aramaic dialects began to change. The descendants of Imperial Aramaic ceased to be living languages, and the eastern and western regional dialects started to develop significant new literatures. Unlike many dialects of Old Aramaic, much is known about the vocabulary and grammar of Middle Aramaic.

Eastern Middle Aramaic

The dialects of Old Eastern Aramaic continued in ancientAssyria,Babylon,and theAchaemenid Empireas written languages using variousAramaic scripts.Eastern Middle Aramaic comprisesClassical Mandaic,Hatran,Jewish Babylonian Aramaicdialects, andClassical Syriac

Syriac Aramaic

Main article:Syriac language

9th centurySyriacEstrangelamanuscript ofJohn Chrysostom'sHomily on theGospel of John

Syriac Aramaic (also "Classical Syriac" ) is the literary, liturgical and often spoken language ofSyriac Christianity.It originated by the first century AD in the region ofOsroene,centered inEdessa,but its golden age was the fourth to eight centuries. This period began with the translation of the Bible into the language: thePeshitta,and the masterful prose and poetry ofEphrem the Syrian.Classical Syriac became the language of theAssyrian Church of the East,and theSyriac Orthodox Churchand later theNestorian Church.Missionary activity led to the spread of Syriac from Mesopotamia andPersia,intoCentral Asia,India,andChina.

Jewish Babylonian Aramaic

Main article:Jewish Babylonian Aramaic

Jewish Middle Babylonian is the language employed by Jewish writers in Babylonia between the fourth and the eleventh century. It is most commonly identified with the language of the BabylonianTalmud(which was completed in the seventh century) and of post-TalmudicGeonicliterature, which are the most important cultural products of Babylonian Judaism. The most important epigraphic sources for the dialect are the hundreds ofincantation bowlswritten in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic.

Mandaic Aramaic

Main article:Mandaic language

Classical Mandaic,used as a liturgical language by theMandaeansofIraqandIran,is a sister dialect to Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, though it is both linguistically and culturally distinct. It is the language in which the Mandaeans'gnosticreligious literaturewas composed. It is characterized by a highly phonetic orthography and does not make use of vowel diacritics.

Western Middle Aramaic

The dialects of Old Western Aramaic continued withNabataean,Jewish Palestinian (inHebrew "square script"), Samaritan Aramaic (in theOld Hebrew script), and Christian Palestinian (inSyriac Estrangela script).Of these four, only Jewish Palestinian continued as a written language.

Samaritan Aramaic

Main article:Samaritan Aramaic language

TheSamaritan Aramaicis earliest attested by the documentary tradition of theSamaritansthat can be dated back to the fourth century. Its modern pronunciation is based on the form used in the tenth century.

Jewish Palestinian Aramaic

Hebrew (left) and Aramaic (right) in parallel in a 1299 Hebrew Bible held by theBodleian Library

Main article:Jewish Palestinian Aramaic

In 135, after theBar Kokhba revolt,manyJewishleaders, expelled fromJerusalem,moved toGalilee.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 theJerusalem Talmud(completed in the 5th century), Palestiniantargumim(Jewish Aramaic versions of scripture), andmidrashim(biblical commentaries and teaching). The standardvowel pointingfor theHebrew 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 Aramaic, the descendant of Old Judaean Aramaic, was no longer the dominant dialect, and was used only in southern Judaea (the variant Engedi dialect continued throughout this period). Likewise, Middle East Jordanian Aramaic continued as a minor dialect from Old East Jordanian Aramaic. The inscriptions in the synagogue atDura-Europosare either in Middle East Jordanian or Middle Judaean.

Christian Palestinian Aramaic

Main article:Christian Palestinian Aramaic

This was the language of the ChristianMelkite(Chalcedonian) community, predominantly ofJewishdescent, inPalestine,TransjordanandSinaifrom the 5th to the 8th century.As a liturgical language, it was used up to the 13th century. It is also been called "Melkite Aramaic", "Syro-Palestinian" and "Palestinian Syriac".The language itself comes from Old Western Aramaic, but its writing conventions were based on theAramaicdialect ofEdessa,and it was heavily influenced byGreek.For example, the name Jesus, Syriacīšū‘,is writtenīsūs,a transliteration of the Greek form, in Christian Palestinian.

Modern Aramaic

Territorial distribution ofNeo-Aramaic languagesin theNear East

Main article:Neo-Aramaic languages

As theWestern Aramaic dialectsof theLevanthave become nearly extinct in non-liturgical usage, the most prolific speakers of Neo-Aramaic languages in the 21st century areEastern Aramaicspeakers, the most numerous being theCentral Neo-AramaicandNortheastern Neo-Aramaic(NENA) speakers ofMesopotamia.This includes speakers of the Assyrian (235,000 speakers) and Chaldean (216,000 speakers) varieties ofSuret,andTuroyo(112,000 to 450,000 speakers). Having largely lived in remote areas as insulated communities for over a millennium, the remaining speakers of modern Aramaic dialects, such as the Arameans of theQalamoun Mountains,Assyrians,MandaeansandMizrahi Jews,escaped the linguistic pressures experienced by others during the large-scalelanguage shiftsthat saw the proliferation of other tongues among those who previously did not speak them, most recently theArabizationof the Middle East and North Africa byArabsbeginning with theearly Muslim conquestsof the seventh century.

Modern Eastern Aramaic

Amen inEastern Syriac

Main articles:Central Neo-Aramaic,Northeastern Neo-Aramaic,andNeo-Mandaic

Modern Eastern Aramaic exists in a wide variety of dialects and languages.There is significant difference between the Aramaic spoken byAssyrians,Mizrahi Jews,and Mandaeans, with mutually unintelligible variations within each of these groups.

The Christian varieties of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) are often called "Assyrian", "Chaldean" or "Eastern Syriac", and are spoken by theAssyriansin northern Iraq, northeast Syria, southeast Turkey, northwest Iran, and in thediaspora.However, they also have roots in numerous previously unwritten local Aramaic varieties and, in some cases, even containAkkadianinfluences. These varieties are not purely the direct descendants of the language ofEphrem the Syrian,which wasClassical Syriac.

TheJudeo-Aramaic languagesare now mostly spoken inIsrael,and most are facing extinction. The Jewish varieties that have come from communities that once lived betweenLake UrmiaandMosulare not all mutually intelligible. In some places, for exampleUrmia,Christian Assyrians and Mizrahi Jews speak mutually unintelligible varieties of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic in the same place. In others, theNineveh Plainsaround Mosul for example, the varieties of these two ethnicities are similar enough to allow conversation.

ModernCentral Neo-Aramaic,being in between Western Neo-Aramaic and Northeastern Neo-Aramaic, is generally represented by Turoyo, the language of the Assyrians/Syriacs ofTur Abdin.A related Neo-Aramaic language,Mlaḥsô,has recently become extinct.

Mandaeansliving in theKhuzestan provinceof Iran and scattered throughout Iraq, speakNeo-Mandaic.It is quite distinct from any other Aramaic variety. Mandaeans number some 50,000–75,000 people, but it is believed Neo-Mandaic may now be spoken fluently by as few as 5,000 people, with other Mandaeans having varying degrees of knowledge.

Modern Western Aramaic

Main article:Western Neo-Aramaic

Very little remains of Western Aramaic. Its only remaining vernacular isWestern Neo-Aramaic,which is still spoken in the Aramean villages ofMaaloulaandJubb'adinonSyria's side of theAnti-Lebanon Mountains,as well as by some people who migrated from these villages, toDamascusand other larger towns of Syria.Bakh'awas completely destroyed during theSyrian civil warand all the survivors fled to other parts of Syria or to Lebanon.All these speakers of modern Western Aramaic are fluent in Arabic as well.Other Western Aramaic languages, likeJewish Palestinian AramaicandSamaritan Aramaic,are preserved only in liturgical and literary usage.

Sample texts

Matthew 2,verses 1-4, in Classical Syriac (Eastern accent), Christian Palestinian Aramaic and Suret (Swadaya):

English (KJV):	[1] Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, [2] Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. [3] When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. [4] And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
Classical Syriac(Eastern accent):	[1]Ḵaḏ dēyn eṯīleḏ Īšōʕ b-Ḇēṯlḥem d-Īhūḏā b-yawmay Herodes malkā eṯaw mġōšē min maḏnḥā l-Ōrešlem. [2]W-Āmrīn: Aykaw malkā d-īhūḏāyē d-eṯīleḏ? Ḥzayn gēr kawkḇēh b-maḏnḥā w-eṯayn l-mesgaḏ lēh. [3]Šmaʕ dēyn Herodes malkā w-ettzīʕ w-ḵullāh Ōrešlem ʕammēh. [4]W-ḵanneš ḵulhōn rabbay kāhnē w-sāprē d-ʕammā wa-mšayel-wālhōn d-aykā meṯīleḏ mšīḥā.
Christian Palestinian Aramaic:	[1]Ḵaḏ eṯileḏ mōro Yesūs b-Beṯlḥem d-Yuḏō b-yawmay d-Herodes malkō w-hō mġušōya min maḏnḥō eṯaw l-Irušlem. [2]Ōmrin: Hōn hū deyn d-eṯileḏ? Ḥmaynan ger kawkḇeh b-maḏnḥō w-eṯaynan d-nesguḏ leh. [3]W-ḵaḏ šmaʕ malkō Herodes eṯʕabaḇ w-ḵuloh Irušlem ʕameh. [4]W-ḵaneš ḵulhun rišay koḥnōya w-soprawi d-qahlo wa-hwo mšayel lhun hōn mšiḥō meṯileḏ.
Suret(Swadaya):	[1]Min baṯar d-pišleh iliḏe Išo go Beṯlkham d-Ihuḏa b-yomane d-Herodes malka ṯelon mġoše min maḏnkha l-Orešlim. [2]W-buqrehon: Eykeleh haw d-pišleh iliḏe malka d-ihuḏāye? Sabab khzelan l-kawkhḇeh b-maḏnkha w-telan d-saġdakh eleh. [3]Iman d-šmayeleh Herodes malka aha pišleh šġhiše w-kulaha Orešlim ʔammeh. [4]W-qraeleh kuleh gurane d-kahne w-sapre d-ʔamma w-buqrehmennay eyka bit paiš va iliḏe mšikha.

Matthew 28,verse 16, in Classical Syriac (Eastern accent), Western Neo-Aramaic, Turoyo and Suret (Swadaya):

English (KJV):	[16] Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
Classical Syriac (Eastern accent)	[16]Talmīḏē dēyn ḥḏaʕesre āzalū l-Glīlā l-ṭūrā aykā d-waʕad ennūn Īšōʕ.
Western Neo-Aramaic:	[16]Bes aḥḥadaʕsar tilmit̲ zallun l-Galila l-ṭūra ti amerlun maʕleh Yešūʕ.
Turoyo:	[16]Wa-ḥḏaḥsar talmiḏe azzinnewa lu Ġlilo lu ṭūro ayko d-moʕadleh Yešūʕ.
Suret (Swadaya):	[16]Ina talmiḏe khadissar azzillun l-Glila l-ṭūra eyka d-bit khwaʔda ʔammeh Išo.

Phonology

Each dialect of Aramaic has its own distinctive pronunciation, and it would not be feasible here to go into all these properties. Aramaic has a phonological palette of 25 to 40 distinct phonemes. Some modern Aramaic pronunciations lack the series of "emphatic" consonants, and some have borrowed from the inventories of surrounding languages, particularlyArabic,Azerbaijani,Kurdish,Persian,andTurkish.

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Close-mid	e	o
Open-mid	ɛ	(ɔ)
Open	a	(ɑ)

As with most Semitic languages, Aramaic can be thought of as having three basic sets of vowels:

• Opena-vowels
• Close fronti-vowels
• Close backu-vowels

These vowel groups are relatively stable, but the exact articulation of any individual is most dependent on its consonantal setting.

The open vowel is an open near-front unrounded vowel ( "short"a,somewhat like the first vowel in the English "batter",[a]). It usually has a back counterpart ( "long"a,like theain "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 shortaand shorte.In West Syriac dialects, and possibly Middle Galilean, the longabecame theosound. The openeand backaare often indicated in writing by the use of the letters א "alaph" (aglottal stop) or ה "he" (like the Englishh).

The 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 closeecorresponds with the openein some dialects. The close front vowels usually use the consonant יyas amater lectionis.

The 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 "show" ([o]). There are shorter, and thus more open, counterparts to each of these, with the short closeosometimes corresponding with the long opena.The close back vowels often use the consonant וwto indicate their quality.

Two basicdiphthongsexist: an open vowel followed by יy(ay), and an open vowel followed by וw(aw). These were originally full diphthongs, but many dialects have converted them toeandorespectively.

The so-called "emphatic" consonants (see the next section) cause all vowels to become mid-centralised.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar	Uvular/ Pharyngeal	Glottal
				plain	emp.
Nasal		m		n
Stop	voiceless	p		t	tˤ		k	q	ʔ
	voiced	b		d			ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ	s	sˤ	ʃ	x	ħ	h
	voiced	v	ð	z			ɣ	ʕ
Approximant				l		j	w
Trill				r

The various Alpha bets 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 astopand africativeat the same point of articulation). Aramaic classically uses a series of lightly contrasted plosives and fricatives:

• Labial set:פּ\פp/fandבּ\בb/v,
• Dental set:תּ\תt/θandדּ\דd/ð,
• Velar set:כּ\כk/xandגּ\גɡ/ɣ.

Each member of a certain pair is written with the same letter of the Alpha bet in most writing systems (that is,pandfare written with the same letter), and are nearallophones.

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 ofpharyngealizationandvelarization.Using their Alpha betic names, these emphatics are:

• ח Ḥêṯ, avoiceless pharyngeal fricative,/ħ/,
• ט Ṭêṯ, a pharyngealizedt,/tˤ/,
• ע ʽAyin (or ʽE in some dialects), a pharyngealizedglottal stop(sometimes considered to be avoiced pharyngeal approximant),[ʕ]or[ʔˤ],
• צ Ṣāḏê, a pharyngealizeds,/sˤ/,
• ק Qôp, avoiceless uvular stop,/q/.

Ancient Aramaic may have had a larger series of emphatics, and some Neo-Aramaic languages definitely do. Not all dialects of Aramaic give these consonants their historic values.

Overlapping with the set of emphatics are the "guttural" consonants. They include ח Ḥêṯ and ע ʽAyn from the emphatic set, and add א ʼĀlap̄ (aglottal stop) and ה Hê (as the English "h" ).

Aramaic classically has a set of foursibilants(ancient Aramaic may have had six):

• ס, שׂ/s/(as in English "sea" ),
• ז/z/(as in English "zero" ),
• שׁ/ʃ/(as in English "ship" ),
• צ/sˤ/(the emphatic Ṣāḏê listed above).

In addition to these sets, Aramaic has thenasal consonantsמmand נn,and theapproximantsרr(usually analveolar trill), לl,יyand וw.

Historical sound changes

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

• Vowel changeoccurs almost too frequently to document fully, but is a major distinctive feature of different dialects.
• Plosive/fricative pair reduction.Originally, Aramaic, likeTiberian Hebrew,had fricatives as conditionedallophonesfor each plosive. In the wake of vowel changes, the distinction eventually became phonemic; still later, it was often lost in certain dialects. For example,Turoyohas mostly lost/p/,using/f/instead, like Arabic; other dialects (for instance, standardAssyrian Neo-Aramaic) have lost/θ/and/ð/and replaced them with/t/and/d/,as with Modern Hebrew. In most dialects of Modern Syriac,/f/and/v/are realized as[w]after a vowel.
• Loss of emphatics.Some dialects have replaced emphatic consonants with non-emphatic counterparts, while those spoken in theCaucasusoften haveglottalizedrather thanpharyngealizedemphatics.
• Guttural assimilationis the main distinctive feature of Samaritan pronunciation, also found inSamaritan Hebrew:all the gutturals are reduced to a simple glottal stop. Some Modern Aramaic dialects do not pronouncehin all words (the third person masculine pronounhubecomesow).
• Proto-Semitic */θ/ */ð/ are reflected in Aramaic as */t/, */d/, whereas they became sibilants in Hebrew (the number three is שלושšālôšin Hebrew but תלתtlāṯin Aramaic, the word gold is זהב zahavin Hebrew but דהב dehavin Aramaic). Dental/sibilant shifts are still happening in the modern dialects.
• New phonetic inventory.Modern dialects have borrowed sounds from the dominant surrounding languages. The most frequent borrowings are[ʒ](as the first consonant in "azure" ),[d͡ʒ](as in "jam" ), and[t͡ʃ](as in "church" ). TheSyriac Alpha bethas been adapted for writing these new sounds.

Grammar

As in other Semitic languages, Aramaicmorphology(the way words are formed) is based on the consonantalroot.The root generally consists of two or three consonants and has a basic meaning, for example, כת״בk-t-bhas the meaning of 'writing'. This is then modified by the addition of vowels and other consonants to create different nuances of the basic meaning:

• כתבהkṯāḇâ,handwriting, inscription, script, book.
• כתביkṯāḇê,books, the Scriptures.
• כתובהkāṯûḇâ,secretary, scribe.
• כתבתkiṯḇeṯ,I wrote.
• אכתב 'eḵtûḇ,I shall write.

Nouns and adjectives

Aramaic nouns and adjectives are inflected to showgender,numberandstate.

Aramaic has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. The feminine absolute singular is often marked by the ending ה--â.

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. To a certain extent, these states correspond to the role of articles and cases in theIndo-European languages:

1. Theabsolutestate is the basic form of a noun. In early forms of Aramaic, the absolute state expresses indefiniteness, comparable to the English indefinite article a(n) (for example, כתבהkṯāḇâ,"ahandwriting "), and can be used in most syntactic roles. However, by the Middle Aramaic period, its use for nouns (but not adjectives) had been widely replaced by the emphatic state.
2. Theconstructstate is a form of the noun used to make possessive constructions (for example,כתבתמלכתאkṯāḇatmalkṯâ,"the handwriting of the queen" ). In the masculine singular, the form of the construct is often the same as the absolute, but it may undergo vowel reduction in longer words. The feminine construct and masculine construct plural are marked by suffixes. Unlike agenitive 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 בר נשאbar nāšâ,"son of man" ) begins to disappear.
3. Theemphaticordeterminedstate is an extended form of the noun that functions similarly to thedefinite article.It is marked with a suffix (for example, כתבתאkṯāḇtâ,"thehandwriting "). Although its original grammatical function seems to have been to mark definiteness, it is used already in Imperial Aramaic to mark all important nouns, even if they should be considered technically indefinite. This practice developed to the extent that the absolute state became extraordinarily rare in later varieties of Aramaic.

Whereas otherNorthwest Semitic languages,like Hebrew, have the absolute and construct states, the emphatic/determined state is a unique feature to Aramaic.Case endings,as inUgaritic,probably existed in a very early stage of the language, and glimpses of them can be seen in a few compound proper names. However, as most of those cases were expressed by 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, thedirect objectis marked by a prefixed -לl-(thepreposition"to" ) if it is definite.

Adjectives agree with their nouns in number and gender but agree in state only if used attributively. Predicative adjectives are in the absolute state regardless of the state of their noun (acopulamay or may not be written). Thus, an attributive adjective to an emphatic noun, as in the phrase "the good king", is written also in the emphatic state מלכא טבאmalkâ ṭāḇâ– king[emph.] good[emph.]. In comparison, the predicative adjective, as in the phrase "the king is good", is written in the absolute state מלכא טבmalkâ ṭāḇ– king[emph.] good[abs.].

"good"	masc. sg.	fem. sg.	masc. pl.	fem. pl.
abs.	טב ṭāḇ	טבה ṭāḇâ	טבין ṭāḇîn	טבן ṭāḇān
const.		טבת ṭāḇaṯ	טבי ṭāḇê	טבת ṭāḇāṯ
det./emph.	טבא ṭāḇâ	טבתא ṭāḇtâ	טביא ṭāḇayyâ	טבתא ṭāḇāṯâ

The final א--âin a number of these suffixes is written with the letteraleph.However, some Jewish Aramaic texts employ the letterhefor the feminine absolute singular. Likewise, some Jewish Aramaic texts employ the Hebrew masculine absolute singular suffix ים--îminstead of ין--în.The masculine determined plural suffix, יא--ayyâ,has an alternative version,-ê.The alternative is sometimes called the "gentilic plural" for its prominent use in ethnonyms (יהודיאyəhûḏāyê,'the Jews', for example). This alternative plural is written with the letteraleph,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 withyodh.In Syriac and some other variants this ending isdiphthongizedto-ai.

Possessive phrases in Aramaic can either be made with the construct state or by linking two nouns with the relative particle -[ד[יd[î]-.As the 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:

1. כתבת מלכתאkṯāḇaṯ malkṯâ– the oldest construction, also known as סמיכות səmîḵûṯ: the possessed object (כתבה kṯābâ, "handwriting" ) is in the construct state (כתבת kṯāḇaṯ); the possessor (מלכה malkâ, "queen" ) is in the emphatic state (מלכתא malkṯâ)
2. כתבתא דמלכתאkṯāḇtâ d(î)-malkṯâ– both words are in the emphatic state and the relative particle -[ד[יd[î]-is used to mark the relationship
3. כתבתה דמלכתאkṯāḇtāh 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 (כתבתה kṯāḇtā-h, "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 forperson(first, second or third),number(singular or plural),gender(masculine or feminine),tense(perfect or imperfect),mood(indicative, imperative, jussive, or infinitive), andvoice(active, reflexive, or passive). Aramaic also employs a system ofconjugations,or verbal stems, to mark intensive and extensive developments in the lexical meaning of verbs.

Aspectual tense

Aramaic has two propertenses:perfectandimperfect.These were originallyaspectual,but developed into something more like apreteriteandfuture.The perfect isunmarked,while the imperfect uses variouspreformativesthat 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 ofafformatives(and preformatives in the imperfect). In the chart below (on the root כת״ב K-T-B, meaning "to write" ), the first form given is the usual form in Imperial Aramaic, while the second isClassical Syriac.

Person & gender	Perfect		Imperfect
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
3rd m.	כתב kəṯaḇ ↔ kəṯaḇ	כתבו ↔ כתב(ו)\כתבון kəṯaḇû ↔ kəṯaḇ(w)/kəṯabbûn	יכתוב ↔ נכתוב yiḵtuḇ ↔ neḵtoḇ	יכתבון ↔ נכתבון yiḵtəḇûn ↔ neḵtəḇûn
3rd f.	כתבת kiṯbaṯ ↔ keṯbaṯ	כתבת ↔ כתב(י)\כתבן kəṯaḇâ ↔ kəṯaḇ(y)/kəṯabbên	תכתב tiḵtuḇ ↔ teḵtoḇ	יכתבן ↔ נכתבן yiḵtəḇān ↔ neḵtəḇān
2nd m.	כתבת kəṯaḇt ↔ kəṯaḇt	כתבתון kəṯaḇtûn ↔ kəṯaḇton	תכתב tiḵtuḇ ↔ teḵtoḇ	תכתבון tiḵtəḇûn ↔ teḵtəḇûn
2nd f.	(כתבתי ↔ כתבת(י kəṯaḇtî ↔ kəṯaḇt(y)	כתבתן kəṯaḇtēn ↔ kəṯaḇtên	תכתבין tiḵtuḇîn ↔ teḵtuḇîn	תכתבן tiḵtəḇān ↔ teḵtəḇān
1st m./f.	כתבת kiṯḇēṯ ↔ keṯḇeṯ	כתבנא ↔ כתבן kəṯaḇnâ ↔ kəṯaḇn	אכתב eḵtuḇ ↔ eḵtoḇ	נכתב niḵtuḇ ↔ neḵtoḇ

Conjugations or verbal stems

Like other Semitic languages, Aramaic employs a number ofderived verb stems,to extend the lexical coverage of verbs. The basic form of the verb is called theground stem,orG-stem.Following the tradition of mediaeval Arabic grammarians, it is more often called the Pə‘al פעל (also written Pe‘al), using the form of theSemitic rootפע״ל 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 פעל Pa‘‘el is formed. This is often an intensive development of the basic lexical meaning. For example,qəṭalmeans "he killed", whereasqaṭṭelmeans "he slew". The precise relationship in meaning between the two stems differs for every verb.

Apreformative,which can be -הha-,-אa-,or -שša-,creates the C-stem or variously the Hap̄‘el, Ap̄‘el or Šap̄‘el (also spelt הפעל Haph‘el, אפעל Aph‘el, and שפעל Shaph‘el). This is often an extensive or causative development of the basic lexical meaning. For example, טעהṭə‘âmeans "he went astray", whereas אטעיaṭ‘îmeans "he deceived". The Šap̄‘el שפעל 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 הפעל Hap̄‘el and אפעל Ap̄‘el appears to be the gradual dropping of the initial הhsound in later Old Aramaic. This is noted by the respelling of the olderhepreformative with אaleph.

These three conjugations are supplemented with three further derived stems, produced by the preformative -התhiṯ-or -אתeṯ-.The loss of the initial הhsound occurs similarly to that in the form above. These three derived stems are the Gt-stem, התפעל Hiṯpə‘el or אתפעל Eṯpə‘el (also written Hithpe‘el or Ethpe‘el), the Dt-stem, התפעּל Hiṯpa‘‘al or אתפעּל Eṯpa‘‘al (also written Hithpa‘‘al or Ethpa‘‘al), and the Ct-stem, התהפעל Hiṯhap̄‘al, אתּפעל Ettap̄‘al, השתפעל Hištap̄‘al or אשתפעל Eštap̄‘al (also written Hithhaph‘al, Ettaph‘al, Hishtaph‘al, or Eshtaph‘al). Their meaning is usuallyreflexive,but later becamepassive.However, as with other stems, actual meaning differs from verb to verb.

Not all verbs use all of these conjugations, and, in some, the G-stem is not used. In the chart below (on the root כת״ב K-T-B, meaning "to write" ), the first form given is the usual form in Imperial Aramaic, while the second isClassical Syriac.

Stem	Perfect active	Imperfect active	Perfect passive	Imperfect passive
פעל Pə‘al (G-stem)	כתב kəṯaḇ ↔ kəṯaḇ	יכתב ↔ נכתב yiḵtuḇ ↔ neḵtoḇ	כתיב kəṯîḇ
התפעל\אתפעל Hiṯpə‘ēl/Eṯpə‘el (Gt-stem)	התכתב ↔ אתכתב hiṯkəṯēḇ ↔ eṯkəṯeḇ	יתכתב ↔ נתכתב yiṯkəṯēḇ ↔ neṯkəṯeḇ
פעּל Pa‘‘ēl/Pa‘‘el (D-stem)	כתּב kattēḇ ↔ katteḇ	יכתּב ↔ נכתּב yəḵattēḇ ↔ nəkatteḇ	כֻתּב kuttaḇ
התפעל\אתפעל Hiṯpa‘‘al/Eṯpa‘‘al (Dt-stem)	התכתּב ↔ אתכתּב hiṯkəttēḇ ↔ eṯkətteḇ	יתכתּב ↔ נתכתּב yiṯkəttēḇ ↔ neṯkətteḇ
הפעל\אפעל Hap̄‘ēl/Ap̄‘el (C-stem)	הכתב ↔ אכתב haḵtēḇ ↔ aḵteḇ	יהכתב↔ נכתב yəhaḵtēḇ ↔ naḵteḇ	הֻכתב huḵtaḇ
התהפעל\אתּפעל Hiṯhap̄‘al/Ettap̄‘al (Ct-stem)	התהכתב ↔ אתּכתב hiṯhaḵtaḇ ↔ ettaḵtaḇ	יתהכתב ↔ נתּכתב yiṯhaḵtaḇ ↔ nettaḵtaḇ

In Imperial Aramaic, theparticiplebegan to be used for ahistorical present.Perhaps under influence from other languages, Middle Aramaic developed a system of composite tenses (combinations of forms of the verb with pronouns or anauxiliary verb), allowing for narrative that is more vivid. Aramaicsyntaxusually 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.

See also

• Talmud
• Arameans
• Aramaic studies
• Arabic Alpha bet
• Aramaic of Hatra
• Ephrem the Syrian
• Hebrew Alpha bet
• Gospel of Matthew
• Peshitta
• List of Aramaic-language television channels
• List of loanwords in modern Aramaic
• Romanization of Syriac

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External links

• Ancient Aramaic Audio Files:Contains audio recordings of scripture.
• The Aramaic Language and Its Classification – Efrem Yildiz, Journal of Assyrian Academic StudiesArchived2008-09-09 at theWayback Machine
• Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon(including editions ofTargums) at the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati
• Dictionary of Judeo-Aramaic
• Jewish Language Research Website: Jewish AramaicArchived2008-05-11 at theWayback Machine