625 Aramaic Language 626 the famous Murashû archive illustrate (ibid.: 296– maic owned at least 29 consonantal phonems: , , 306). b, d, dß, dø, g, g˙, h, hø, h˚, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, sø, s´ , sˇ, t, øt, e) In Iran, hundreds of tablets from Persepolis ßt, w, y, z, zø. were found which are still to be edited. In addition, Other conservative features, which are some- there are administrative notations written with ink times blurred by the use of the Phoenician orthog- on 163 ritual vessels (ibid.: 337–57). raphy or lost in later dialects, are the preservation f) Finally, in Egypt hundreds of letters, eco- of n before a consonant which at least in some dia- nomic texts like accounts and lists, dedicatory, fu- lects was still realized phonetically as n or as an nerary, and others types of inscriptions were pre- nasalization of the following consonant, the dis- served which are written on ostraca and other tinction of roots III-w and III-y even in verbal forms objects (ibid.: 150–87). From these, the literary (yqth :: yqty), and the use of a Gt-stem (with infixed texts written on the walls of a burial cave near t) in opposite to tG (with prefixed t). Sheikh-Fadl deserve mentioning as a specimen of The features which distinguish Aramaic from an Aramaic adaption of Egyptian literature. Northwest Semitic languages and from most others After the end of the Persian Empire, Aramaic Central Semitic Languages like Arabic and Ugaritic was still used throughout the ancient Near East as are the use of a postponed article, in older texts a common language, although at this time the dif- written with , and the absence of a reflexive-pas- ferent local dialects began to influence heavily the sive stem built with n (cf. e.g., Heb. Niphal). written language. These later inscriptions, which Since all these features of Aramaic can be found are now found even in regions east of Iran (e.g., in Ancient South Arabic languages like Old Sabaic ibid.: Asok: 1–6), show different local dialects and which probably also belong to Central Semitic thus are taken to be inscriptions of the different (Voigt), the common presumed close connection of groups (cf. esp. “Haran,” “Nabateans,” “Palmy- Aramaic with the Northwest Semitic branch should rene Inscriptions”). be questioned. Aramaic should be deemed instead Bibliography: ■ J. Dusˇek, Les manuscrits araméens du Wadi as an independent Central Semitic language with Daliyeh et la Samarie vers 450–332 av. J.-C. (CHANE 30; Leiden affinities to the southern branch of this group (or 2007). ■ J. C. L. Gibson, Textbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions South Semitic Languages based on areal influen- II (Oxford 1975). ■ W. W. Hallo (ed.), The Context of Scrip- ces). And since Aramaic shares the postponed arti- ture, 3 vols. (Leiden 1997/2000/2002). ■ J. A. Fitzmyer/S. A. cle and the missing of an N-stem with the southern Kaufman, Old, Official, and Biblical Aramaic, vol. 1 of id., An languages, these features do belong to a Proto Ara- ■ I. Aramaic Bibliography (Baltimore, Md./London 1992). maic stratum and are no later inner Aramaic devel- Kottsieper,“The Tel Dan Inscription (KAI 310) and the Po- opments, thus excluding the dialects of Samal/Ya- litical Relations between Aram-Damascus and Israel in the First Half of the First Millennium B.C.E.,” in Ahab Agonistes udi and of the Deir Alla Inscription from being (ed. L. L. Grabbe; LHB/OTS 421; London 2007) 104–34. ■ I. considered genuine Aramaic (Kottsieper 2009). Kottsieper, “Aramaic Literature,” in Literatures of the Ancient Beside the already mentioned features, the old- Near East (ed. C. S. Ehrlich; Lanham, Md. 2009) 393–444. est known Aramaic can be characterized by the fol- ■ D. Schwiderski, Texte und Bibliographie (FoSub 2; 2004), vol. lowing: 2 of id., Die alt- und reichsaramäischen Inschriften (FoSub 2 and a) There is no shift from a¯ < *a¯ to o¯ as, e.g., in He- 4; Berlin/New York 2004–8). ■ D. Schwiderski, Konkordanz (FoSub 4; 2008), vol. 1 of id., Die alt- und reichsaramäischen brew. Inschriften (FoSub 2 and 4; Berlin/New York 2004–8). ■ W. b) Aramaic contains three main stems (G *qatvl Röllig, “Aramäer und Assyrer,” in Essays on Syria in the Iron *yaqtvl[u], D *qattil *yaqattil[u], H *haqtil *y[a]haq- Age (ed. G. Bunnens; ANES.S 7; Louvain 2000) 177–86. ■ J. til[u]) of which the H-stem is always written Tropper, Die Inschriften von Zincirli (ALASP 6; Münster with h in the older texts. All three stems own a 1993). passive variant which is expressed only by Ingo Kottsieper changes of vocalization (Gp *qatı¯ l *yuqtal[u], Dp / See also Arameans *quttal *yuqattal[u], Hp *huqtal *y[a]huqtal[u]). Thus, Participle passive of the G-stem also fol- lows the qatı¯ l pattern and not, as in Hebrew, Aramaic Language qatu¯ l. Probably all three stems also had a t-vari- 1. Linguistic Characterization. Aramaic belongs ant with reflexive-passive meaning, but D and to the group of Central Semitic languages and is H obviously used a prefixed form (tD *atqattal commonly taken as a member of its Northwest Se- *yatqattal[u], tH *athaqtil *yathaqtil[u]) in con- mitic branch. This impression is fostered by the trast to G which originally had an infixed t (Gt fact that the Aramaic script is an offshoot of the *aqtatal *yaqtatal[u]). Phoenician script and thus includes only 22 graph- c) There is one suffix conjugation and two prefix emes, giving Aramaic texts the appearance of being conjugations: a short form (sg. *yáqtul, pl. *yaq- Northwest Semitic. But the phonetic developments túlu¯ ) originally used for acts which happened shown by orthographic changes and Aramaic texts or will/should happen in connection with the written in other scripts reveal that, initially, Ara- present situation of the speaker or of the told Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 2 Authenticated | [email protected] © Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York, 2009 Download Date | 12/4/18 12:52 AM Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception 2 (© Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2009) 627 Aramaic Language 628 context, and a long form (sg. *yaqtúlu, pl. *yaq- rial Aramaic. Even on the language of the Targu- túlu¯ n) just describing an act (Kottsieper 1999). mim, which came into use after Hebrew had ceased d) Broken plurals are not common. as a common spoken language even in Judah, Im- e) The plural forms in the status absolutus ends on perial Aramaic influence is detectable. n:-ı¯ n (masculine), -a¯ n (feminine). The later Middle Aramaic texts of the Jewish f) *bar “son” and *tßir- “two” appear, as in Modern tradition, the Oriental churches and the Mandae- South Arabic dialects, with r as last consonant ans particularly show the dialectal diversity of Ara- and not with n as in other Semitic languages. maic, whose dialects can be assigned to two main 2. History of Aramaic. Aramaic was the language groups. To Western Aramaic, the dialects of the Jews of a semi-nomadic group which appears at the end and Christians in Palestine belong, together with of the 2nd millennium BCE in the vicinity of Gˇebel the dialect of the Samaritans. Even the inscriptions Bisˇri. Given that the linguistic connections to An- from the synagogue in Dura-Europos are influ- cient South Arabic are not by chance, this group enced by such a Western dialect, although in this probably came from an area south of the Syrian area an Eastern Aramaic dialect was commonly spo- Desert (Kottsieper 2009). ken, as it was throughout Syria and Mesopotamia. In the 1st half of the 1st millennium BCE, Ara- There, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, Syriac, and maic spread throughout the whole Neo-Assyrian Mandaic are the main known Eastern Aramaic dia- Empire, its western neighbors, and Babylonia and lects for which we posses written sources. One gained the status of a lingua franca. Thus in Syria should not be misled by the traditional labeling of but also in eastern and northern territories outside those dialects according to religious groups. Espe- of Mesopotamia, it became a common language of cially non-standard texts like magical bowls reveal inscriptions (Old Aramaic; cf. Aramaic Inscrip- that regionalism was also an important aspect for tions). Though surely different local dialects did ex- the evolution of different dialects. ist, this lingua franca used as a kind of standard lit- Early forms of Eastern Aramaic can be found in erary Aramaic was based on a western dialect of the Palmyrene inscriptions, early Syriac inscrip- Aramaic which obviously was influenced by the tions and Aramaic inscriptions from eastern Meso- neighboring Northwest Semitic languages. Thus, potamia mainly discovered in Hatra and Asshur. Aramaic started to reduce its high number of pho- Aramaic is still spoken today. Western Aramaic nemes and also changed rapidly its verbal system is used in the dialects of Malu¯ la, Baxa und to the well known later one using the suffix conju- Gˇubbadı¯ n, three villages some 60 km northwest of gation for the past, the participle for the present, Damascus. Eastern Aramaic is still found in many and (finally) only one prefix conjugation for the fu- different dialects of non-Islamic groups from ture tense, as an extemporalis, or for modal express- south-eastern Turkey (esp. T u¯ ro¯ yo in the T u¯ r Ab- sions. dı¯ n), Iraq (beside others also Modern Mandaic) and After the decline of the Neo-Assyrian and the Iran. These modern dialects show a strong develop- Neo-Babylonian empires, the rising Persian Empire ment in contrast to the literary Aramaic dialects took over Aramaic as the official language used in still used in the religious literature of those groups.