Aramaic | |
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ארמית, ܐܪܡܐܝܬ Arāmāiṯ | |
Region | Fertile Crescent (Levant, Mesopotamia, Sinai and Southeastern Anatolia), eastern Arabia[1] |
Afro-Asiatic
| |
Early forms | |
Dialects | |
Syriac alphabet (Christian) Mandaic alphabet (Mandaean) Hebrew alphabet (Jewish) Historically Phoenician alphabet, Aramaic alphabet | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Variously:arc – Imperial Aramaicsyc – Classical Syriacmyz – Classical Mandaicxrm – Armazicbjf – Barzani Neo-Aramaicbhn – Bohtan Neo-Aramaichrt – Hertevin Neo-Aramaicaij – Inter-Zab Neo-Aramaictmr – Jewish Babylonian Aramaicjpa – Jewish Palestinian Aramaickqd – Koy Sanjaq Neo-Aramaiclhs – Mlaḥsômid – Modern Mandaicoar – Old Aramaicsam – Samaritan Aramaicsyn – Senaya Neo-Aramaicsyr – Surethuy – Trans-Zab Neo-Aramaictru – Turoyotrg – Urmia Neo-Aramaicamw – Western Neo-Aramaic |
Glottolog | aram1259 |
Linguasphere | 12-AAA |
Aramaic (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: ארמית, romanized: ˀərāmiṯ; Classical Syriac: ܐܪܡܐܝܬ, romanized: arāmāˀiṯ[a]) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, southeastern Anatolia, Eastern Arabia[3][4] and the Sinai Peninsula, where it has been continually written and spoken in different varieties[5] for over three thousand years.[citation needed]
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. Western Aramaic is still spoken by the Christian and Muslim Arameans (Syriacs) in the towns of Maaloula and nearby Jubb'adin in Syria.[6] Other modern varieties include Neo-Aramaic languages spoken by the Assyrians, Mandeans, Mizrahi Jews.[7][8][9][10] Classical varieties are used as liturgical and literary languages in several West Asian churches,[11][12] as well as in Judaism,[13][14] Samaritanism,[15] and Mandaeism.[16]
Aramaic belongs to the Northwest group of the Semitic language family, which also includes the mutually intelligible Canaanite languages such as Hebrew, Edomite, Moabite, Ekronite, Sutean, and Phoenician, as well as Amorite and Ugaritic.[17][18] Aramaic languages are written in the Aramaic alphabet, a descendant of the Phoenician alphabet, and the most prominent alphabet variant is the Syriac alphabet.[19] The Aramaic alphabet also became a base for the creation and adaptation of specific writing systems in some other Semitic languages of West Asia, such as the Hebrew alphabet and the Arabic alphabet.[20]
The Aramaic languages are now considered endangered, with several varieties used mainly by the older generations.[21] Researchers are working to record and analyze all of the remaining varieties of Neo-Aramaic languages before or in case they become extinct.[22][23] Aramaic dialects today form the mother tongues of the Arameans (Syriacs) in the Qalamoun mountains, Assyrians and Mandaeans, as well as some Mizrahi Jews.
Early Aramaic inscriptions date from 11th century BC, placing it among the earliest languages to be written down.[5] Aramaicist Holger Gzella notes, "The linguistic history of Aramaic prior to the appearance of the first textual sources in the ninth century BC remains unknown."[24] Aramaic is also believed by most historians and scholars to have been the primary language spoken by Jesus of Nazareth both for preaching and in everyday life.[25][26]
The Syriac writers of Qatar themselves produced some of the best and most sophisticated writing to be found in all Syriac literature of the seventh century, but they have not received the scholarly attention that they deserve in the last half century. This volume seeks to redress this underdevelopment by setting the standard for further research in the sub-field of Beth Qatraye studies.
The Persian location and character of the Metropolitan proved to be a source of friction between the Syriac-speaking Christians of Beth Qatraye who naturally looked to their co-linguists back in Mesopotamia.
He was born in the region of Beth Qatraye in Eastern Arabia, a mixed Syriac- and Arabic Speaking region…
Ich kenne das Dorf nicht, doch gehört habe ich davon. Was ist mit Malula?‹ fragte der festgehaltene Derwisch. >Das letzte Dorf der Aramäer< lachte einer der…
The fact that nearly all Arabic loans in Ma'lula originate from the period before the change from the rural dialect to the city dialect of Damascus shows that the contact between the Aramaeans and the Arabs was intimate…
Aramäer von Ǧubbˁadīn
Die arabischen Dialekte der Aramäer
Die Kontakte zwischen den drei Aramäer-dörfern sind nicht besonders stark.
Aramäern in Ma'lūla
Viele Aramäer arbeiten heute in Damaskus, Beirut oder in den Golfstaaten und verbringen nur die Sommermonate im Dorf.
Aramaic itself consists of a great number of language forms (and indeed languages), spoken and written in many different scripts over a period of 3000 years.
It is generally agreed that Aramaic was the common language of Israel in the first century AD. Jesus and his disciples spoke the Galilean dialect, which was distinguished from that of Jerusalem (Matt. 26:73)
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