Aramaic language

Aramaic
Aramaic
ܐܪܡܝܐ‎, ארמיא; Arāmāyā
Geographic; distribution:	Levant, Fertile Crescent, Eastern Arabia
Linguistic classification:	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Aramaic; ; ; ; ;
Subdivisions:	Eastern Aramaic Western Aramaic

Aramaic is a Semitic language. It has been written for 3,100 years^[1] and has been spoken for longer than that.^[2] It is one of the Northwest Semitic languages. Other Semitic languages include Amharic, Hebrew, Arabic and many other languages. Aramaic words are written with the 22 characters of the Aramaic alphabet,^[3] which was widely adopted for other languages and is an ancestor to the Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic alphabets.

Arāmāyā in Syriac Esṭrangelā script

History

Aramaic is the language of the two biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, it is the language of the Jewish Talmud. In the 12th century BC, the first speakers of Aramaic started to live in what is now Syria, Iraq and eastern Turkey. As the bureaucratic language of the Achaemenid Empire, it became the most important language in the Middle East. Jewish speakers took the language with them to North Africa and Europe. Christian speakers took the language with them to Persia, India and even China.

In the 7th century AD, Aramaic stopped being the most important language in the Middle East. The Arabic language became the new important language. Aramaic is still spoken by scattered communities of Jews, Mandaeans and Christian communities, such as Assyrians.^[4] Small groups of people still speak Aramaic in different parts of the Middle East. The wars of the last two centuries have made many speakers leave their homes to live in different places around the world. Today, between 500,000 and 850,000 people speak Aramaic languages.

Dialects

Aramaic is not an unchanged language. Because different groups used it throughout history, there are many different types of Aramaic languages,^[5] called dialects, but some of them are so different that they are like different languages. The different dialects make two groups: an Eastern group and a Western group. The division between them is around the River Euphrates.

The dialects are divided also by time. Old Aramaic is the name of the oldest dialects, which only scholars learn. Middle Aramaic is the group of dialects, which are used not every day but for special things like writing and religion. Modern Aramaic is the group of dialects that is used every day by some groups.

Alphabet

Letter name	Aramaic written using				IPA	Phoneme	Equivalent letter in
	Imperial Aramaic		Syriac script				Hebrew	Maalouli	Nabataean	Parthian	Arabic	South Arabian	Geʽez	Proto-Sinaitic	Phoenician	Greek	Latin	Cyrillic	Brahmi	Kharosthi	Turkic
	Image	Text	Image	Text			Hebrew	Maalouli	Nabataean	Parthian	Arabic	South Arabian	Geʽez	Proto-Sinaitic	Phoenician	Greek	Latin	Cyrillic	Brahmi	Kharosthi	Turkic
Ālaph		𐡀		Template:Script/Syriac	/ʔ/; /aː/, /eː/	ʾ	א			𐭀	ا	𐩱	አ		𐤀‎	Αα	Aa	Аа	𑀅, 𑀆	𐨀	𐰁
Bēth		𐡁		Template:Script/Syriac	/b/, /v/	b	ב			𐭁	ب	𐩨	በ		𐤁‎	Ββ	Bb	Бб, Вв	𑀩, 𑀪	𐨦	𐰉 𐰋
Gāmal		𐡂		Template:Script/Syriac	/ɡ/, /ɣ/	g	ג			𐭂	ج	𐩴	ገ		𐤂‎	Γγ	Cc, Gg	Гг, Ґґ	𑀕	𐨒	𐰲 𐰱
Dālath		𐡃		Template:Script/Syriac	/d/, /ð/	d	ד			𐭃	د ذ	𐩵	ደ		𐤃‎	Δδ	Dd	Дд	𑀤, 𑀥, 𑀟, 𑀠	𐨢	𐰓
Hē		𐡄		Template:Script/Syriac	/h/	h	ה			𐭄	ه	𐩠	ሀ		𐤄‎	Εε	Ee	Ее, Ёё, Єє, Ээ	𑀳	𐨱
Waw		𐡅		Template:Script/Syriac	/w/; /oː/, /uː/	w	ו			𐭅	و	𐩥	ወ		𐤅‎	(Ϝϝcode: grc is deprecated ), Υυ	Ff, Uu, Vv, Ww, Yy	Ѵѵ, Уу, Ўў	𑀯, 𑀉, 𑀊, 𑀒, 𑀑	𐨬	𐰈 𐰆
Zayn		𐡆		Template:Script/Syriac	/z/	z	ז			𐭆	ز	𐩸			𐤆‎	Ζζ	Zz	Зз	𑀚	𐨗	𐰕
Ḥēth		𐡇		Template:Script/Syriac	/ħ/	ḥ	ח			𐭇	ح خ	𐩢	ሐ		𐤇‎	Ηη	Hh	Ии, Йй	𑀖	𐨓
Ṭēth		𐡈		Template:Script/Syriac	/tˤ/	ṭ	ט			𐭈	ط ظ	𐩷	ጠ		𐤈‎	Θθ		Ѳѳ	𑀣, 𑀝, 𑀞	𐨠	𐱃
Yodh		𐡉		Template:Script/Syriac	/j/; /iː/, /eː/	y	י			𐭉	ي	𐩺	የ		𐤉‎	Ιι	Ιi, Jj	Іі, Її, Јј	𑀬	𐨩	𐰘 𐰃 𐰖
Kāph		𐡊		Template:Script/Syriac	/k/, /x/	k	כ ך			𐭊	ك	𐩫	ከ		𐤊‎	Κκ	Kk	Кк	𑀓	𐨐	𐰚 𐰜
Lāmadh		𐡋		Template:Script/Syriac	/l/	l	ל			𐭋	ل	𐩡	ለ		𐤋‎	Λλ	Ll	Лл	𑀮	𐨫	𐰞 𐰠
Mim		𐡌		Template:Script/Syriac	/m/	m	מ ם			𐭌	م	𐩣	መ		𐤌‎	Μμ	Mm	Мм	𑀫	𐨨	𐰢
Nun		𐡍		Template:Script/Syriac	/n/	n	נ ן			𐭍	ن	𐩬	ነ		𐤍‎	Νν	Nn	Нн	𑀦	𐨣	𐰤 𐰣
Semkath		𐡎		Template:Script/Syriac	/s/	s	ס			𐭎	س	𐩯			𐤎‎	Ξξ		Ѯѯ	𑀱	𐨭	𐰾
ʿAyn		𐡏		Template:Script/Syriac	/ʕ/	ʿ	ע			𐭏	ع غ	𐩲	ዐ		𐤏‎	Οο, Ωω	Oo	Оо, Ѡѡ	𑀏, 𑀐, 𑀇, 𑀈	𐨀𐨅	𐰏 𐰍
Pē		𐡐		Template:Script/Syriac	/p/, /f/	p	פ ף			𐭐	ف	𐩰	ፈ		𐤐‎	Ππ	Pp	Пп	𑀧, 𑀨	𐨤	𐰯
Ṣādhē	,	𐡑		Template:Script/Syriac	/sˤ/	ṣ	צ ץ			𐭑	ص ض	𐩮	ጸ		𐤑‎	(Ϻϻcode: grc is deprecated )		Цц, Чч, Џџ	𑀲	𐨯	𐰽
Qoph		𐡒		Template:Script/Syriac	/q/	q	ק			𐭒	ق	𐩤	ቀ		𐤒‎	(Ϙϙ), Φφcode: grc is deprecated	Qq	Ҁҁ, Фф	𑀔	𐨑	𐰴 𐰸
Rēš		𐡓		Template:Script/Syriac	/r/	r	ר			𐭓	ر	𐩧	ረ		𐤓‎	Ρρ	Rr	Рр	𑀭	𐨪	𐰺 𐰼
Šin		𐡔		Template:Script/Syriac	/ʃ/	š	ש			𐭔	ش	𐩦	ሠ		𐤔‎	Σσς	Ss	Сс, Шш, Щщ	𑀰	𐨮	𐱂 𐱁
Taw		𐡕		Template:Script/Syriac	/t/, /θ/	t	ת			𐭕	ت ث	𐩩	ተ		𐤕‎	Ττ	Tt	Тт	𑀢	𐨟	𐱅

Aramaic Language Media

Aramaic alphabet. Aramaic was the mother tongue of Eesho Mshiha (Jesus Christ).
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 alphabet. c. 500 BC. From Iraq
The Carpentras Stele was the first ancient inscription ever identified as "Aramaic". Although it was first published in 1704, it was not identified as Aramaic until 1821, when Ulrich Friedrich Kopp complained that previous scholars had left everything "to the Phoenicians and nothing to the Arameans, as if they could not have written at all".
Syriac inscription at the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church's Major Archbishop's House in Kerala, India
Late Syriac text, written in Madnhāyā script, from Thrissur, Kerala, India (1799)
11th century book in Syriac Serto
One of the Bar-Rakib inscriptions from Sam'al. The inscription is in the Samalian language (also considered a dialect).
Coin of Alexander the Great bearing an Aramaic language inscription
The Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by the Indian king Ashoka, 3rd century BC at Kandahar, Afghanistan
11th century Hebrew Bible with Targum intercalated between verses of Hebrew text

References

↑ Beyer (1986: 11) suggests that written Aramaic probably dates from the 11th century BC, as it is established by the 10th century, to which he dates the oldest inscriptions of northern Syria (Beyer, Klaus 1986. The Aramaic language: its distribution and subdivisions. Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. ISBN 3-525-53573-2). Heinrichs (1990: x) uses the less controversial date of the 9th century, for which there is clear and widespread attestation. (Heinrichs, Wolfhart, ed. 1990. Studies in Neo-Aramaic. Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press. ISBN 1-55540-430-8)
↑ Royal Aramaic inscriptions from the Aramean city-states date from 10th century BC, making Aramaic one of the world's oldest recorded living languages. Richard, Suzanne 2003. Near Eastern Archaeology: a reader. Eisenbrauns, p. 69. ISBN 978-1-57506-083-5
↑ Languages from the World of the Bible, ed. Holger Gzella (Berlin; Boston: Walter de De Gruyter, Inc., 2011), p. 131
↑ Sam Adams (25 January 2013). "Race to save the language of Jesus: Aramaic in danger of becoming extinct as number of speakers of ancient tongue plummets". Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers, Inc. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
↑ Jean Sibille (2011). "Modern Aramaic languages". SOROSORO. Retrieved 15 July 2016.

[1] Beyer (1986: 11) suggests that written Aramaic probably dates from the 11th century BC, as it is established by the 10th century, to which he dates the oldest inscriptions of northern Syria (Beyer, Klaus 1986. The Aramaic language: its distribution and subdivisions. Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. ISBN 3-525-53573-2). Heinrichs (1990: x) uses the less controversial date of the 9th century, for which there is clear and widespread attestation. (Heinrichs, Wolfhart, ed. 1990. Studies in Neo-Aramaic. Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press. ISBN 1-55540-430-8)

[2] Royal Aramaic inscriptions from the Aramean city-states date from 10th century BC, making Aramaic one of the world's oldest recorded living languages. Richard, Suzanne 2003. Near Eastern Archaeology: a reader. Eisenbrauns, p. 69. ISBN 978-1-57506-083-5

[3] Languages from the World of the Bible, ed. Holger Gzella (Berlin; Boston: Walter de De Gruyter, Inc., 2011), p. 131

[4] Sam Adams (25 January 2013). "Race to save the language of Jesus: Aramaic in danger of becoming extinct as number of speakers of ancient tongue plummets". Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers, Inc. Retrieved 15 July 2016.

[5] Jean Sibille (2011). "Modern Aramaic languages". SOROSORO. Retrieved 15 July 2016.

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Aramaic
ܐܪܡܝܐcode: arc is deprecated ‎, ארמיאcode: he is deprecated Arāmāyā
Geographic distribution:	Levant, Fertile Crescent, Eastern Arabia
Linguistic classification:	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Aramaic
Subdivisions:	Eastern Aramaic Western Aramaic