Aramaic history may refer to:
In 1912, W. Andrae published some inscriptions from the site of Hatra, which were studied by S. Ronzevalle and P. Jensen. The excavations undertaken by the Iraqi Department of Antiquities brought to light more than 100 new texts, the publication of which was undertaken by F. Safar in the journal Sumer. The first four series were the subject of reviews in the journal Syria. The texts range in date from the 2nd or 3rd century BCE to the destruction of the city ca. 240 CE; the earliest dated text provides a date of 98 BCE.
For the most part, these inscriptions are short commemorative graffiti with minimal text. The longest of the engraved inscriptions does not have more than 13 lines. It is therefore difficult at the moment to identify more than a few features of the Aramaic dialect of Hatra which, all things considered, shows the greatest affinity to Syriac.
The stone inscriptions bear witness to an effort to establish a monumental script. This script is little different from that of the Aramaic inscriptions of Assur (possessing the same triangular š, and the use of the same means to avoid confusion between m, s, and q). The ds and the rs are not distinguished from one another, and it is sometimes difficult not to confuse w and y.
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The dialect of Hatra is no more consistent than that of Palmyra in its use of matres lectiones to indicate the long vowels ō and ī; the pronominal suffix of the 3rd person plural is written indiscriminantly, and in the same inscription one finds hwn and hn, the quantifier kwl and kl "all", the relative pronoun dy and d, and the word byš and bš "evil".
The following features are attested:
A weakening of the laryngeal ‘ayn; in one inscription, the masculine singular demonstrative adjective is written ‘dyn (‘dyn ktb’ "this inscription") which corresponds to Mandaic and Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic hādēn. Similar demonstratives, ‘adī and ‘adā, are attested in Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic.
The divine name Nergal, written nrgl, appears in three inscriptions. The pronunciation nergōl is also attested in the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin, 63b) where it rhymes with tarnəgōl, "cock."
The Hatran b-yld corresponds to the Syriac bēt yaldā "anniversary". The apocope of the final consonant of the substantive bt in the construct state is not attested in either Old Aramaic or Syriac; it is, however, attested in other dialects such as Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic and Western Jewish Aramaic.
The distinction between the three states is apparent. As in Syriac, the masculine plural form of the emphatic state has the inflection -ē, written -’. The confusion of this form with that of the construct state may explain the constructions bn’ šmšbrk "sons of Š." and bn’ ddhwn "their cousins." The absolute state is scarcely used: klbn "dogs" and dkyrn "(that they may be) remembered."
The ancient Semitic construction, according to which the counted noun, in the plural, is preceded by a numeral in the construct state, with an inversion of genders, is attested by one inscription: tltt klbn "three dogs." This same construction has been discovered in Nabataean: tltt qysrym "the three Caesars."
As in Syriac, the analytical construction of the noun complement is common. The use of the construct state appears to be limited to kinship terms and some adjectives: bryk’ ch’. In the analytical construction, the definite noun is either in the emphatic state followed by d(y) (e.g. lm’ dy... "statue of...", spr’ dy brmryn’ "the scribe of (the god) Barmarēn") or is marked by the anticipatory pronominal suffix (e.g. qnh dy rc’ "creator of the earth," cl yyhy d ... ’yhy "for the life of his brother," cl zmth dy mn dy... "against the hair (Syriac zemtā) of whomever..."). The complement of the object of the verb is also rendered analytically: ...l’ ldkrhy lnšr qb "do not make mention of N.", mn dy lqrhy lcdyn ktb’ "whoever reads this inscription."
Likewise, the particle d(y) can have a simple declarative meaning: ...l’ lmr dy dkyr lb "(a curse against whomever) does not say, 'may he be well remembered'" which can be compared with l’ lmr dy dkyr.
Practically all of the known Hatran words are found in Syriac, including words of Akkadian origin, such as ’rdkl’ "architect" (Syriac ’ardiklā), and Parthian professional nouns such as pšgryb’ / pzgryb’ "inheritor of the throne" (Syriac pgryb’); three new nouns, which appear to denote some religious functions, are presumably of Iranian origin: hdrp’ (which Safar compares with the Pahlavi hylpt’ hērbed "teacher-priest"), and the enigmatic terms brpdmrk’ and qwtgd/ry’.
Many "irregularities" revealed by the texts of Hatra (e.g. the use of the emphatic state in place of the construct state, use of the construct state before the particle dy, inconsistent use of the matres lectiones, etc.) are found systematically in other Aramaic inscriptions throughout the duration of the Arsacid era, between the 3rd c. BCE and the 3rd c. CE (previously, in part, at Kandahar, but primarily at Nisa, Avromân, Armazi, Tang-i Sarvak, etc.). We could therefore legitimately ask ourselves if, instead of speaking of "irregularities," which would be due, following each instance, to "scribal negligence," " archaisms of the language," and "orthographic indecision," etc., we should rather speak of the characteristics of these Aramaic dialects in their progressive developments (varying according to each region), which one could label "vernacular Aramaic" to distinguish them from "classical Aramaic."
Most scholars believe that the historical Jesus primarily spoke Aramaic,[1] with some Hebrew and Greek, although there is some debate in academia as to what degree.[2] The towns of Nazareth and Capernaum, where Jesus lived, were primarily Aramaic-speaking communities, though Greek was widely spoken in the eastern Roman Empire. Jesus may have also known enough Hebrew to discuss the Hebrew Bible, and he may have known Koine Greek through commerce as a carpenter in nearby Sepphoris.
Aramaic, a Semitic language related to Hebrew, was a common language of the Eastern Mediterranean during and after the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and Achaemenid Empires (722 BC – 330 BC). Despite the subsequent Greek (331 BC) and Roman (63 BC) invasions, it is generally agreed that Aramaic was still a common language of Israel in the first century A.D., but the situation is more complex than non-specialists realize. Jesus and his disciples spoke a Galilean dialect which was clearly distinguishable from that of Jerusalem.[3] In the same time period, the Mishnah was recorded in Hebrew, Josephus wrote in Aramaic, and Philo and Paul of Tarsus wrote in Greek. In addition, if he was knowledgeable of the Hebrew Bible, the implication is knowledge of Biblical Hebrew unless he had access to Aramaic Targums in written or oral form, and if he was a carpenter, he may have known some Koine Greek through commerce because Greek was the lingua franca of the eastern part of the Mediterranean Basin, displacing Aramaic, since the conquests of Alexander the Great (336 BC – 323 BC) and the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires, see also Hellenistic Judaism and Septuagint.
Most of the apostles from the Galilee region also spoke Aramaic. The message of Christianity spread (primarily among Jewish Aramaic-speaking enclaves) throughout Canaan, Syria and Mesopotamia, and even to Kerala, India in Aramaic (or Syriac; Aram is the Hebrew word for Syria).[4]
It is generally accepted that Jesus was born a Jew, and grew up in a Jewish family in Galilee. For over a half-millennium, one language for Jews was Aramaic, stemming from the Neo-Assyrian Empire's invasion of the Northern Kingdom (722 BC) and the Babylonian captivity of the Kingdom of Judah (586 BC). This became a western-Aramaic dialect, a version of standard Aramaic (which had originally been the language of Damascus), and a number of Hebrew words and some Hebrew-inspired grammar were often mixed into Jewish usage. However, for some Jews, Hebrew remained a primary colloquial language, until the 3rd century AD.[5] Nearly all of the Hebrew Bible was written in Biblical Hebrew including books throughout the Second Temple Period, and non-canonical books like BenSira and First Maccabees as well, making it probable that most literate Jews knew the Jewish scriptures in Hebrew (especially as Hebrew and Aramaic are fairly cognate, even some parts of the Hebrew Bible are written in Biblical Aramaic and the square-script was originally Aramaic, artifacts of the classical period (during the period of the First Temple) such as the Siloam inscription and Lachish ostraca being written in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet). There were also the Targums, Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible, though scholars debate how widely these were circulated in the first century in Israel, possibly only in specialized circumstances. Qumran may only know of the Targum to Job, an especially problematic book of the Hebrew Bible where the Greek translation also used the Targum (LXX Job 42:17ff.), though other Aramaic texts were found there. The use of Targums in the synagogue did not become customary until the end of the 2nd century CE, after the use of spoken Hebrew declined in the aftermath of the catastrophic Bar Kochba Revolt.
From the 2nd century BC, Judea had been heavily influenced by the Hellenistic civilization, and Koine Greek rapidly became the international language of the eastern Mediterranean, displacing Aramaic, and so became the language of travelling merchants. It is thus possible that Jesus knew at least market Greek. The canonical New Testament of today was originally written in Koine Greek, including many quotations from the Septuagint, but see also Jewish-Christian Gospels.
When Jesus is described by the New Testament as quoting from the Hebrew Bible, the quotations that are given most closely correlate with the Septuagint. Most scholars suggest that the New Testament authors most likely used an edition of the Septuagint, rather than translate a Hebrew (or Aramaic) source. However, among the Dead Sea Scrolls, in addition to various Hebrew versions of the Bible that resemble the much later Masoretic text, there are also Hebrew versions that more closely resemble the Greek Septuagint version (in similar fashion to the Samaritan Pentateuch) and some maverick texts[6].
Because of the influence of Greek in the east of the Mediterranean, even the officials of the Roman Empire did not really use Latin in the region, and so only a few words of Latin would have been known to most Jews, mostly confined to various symbols of Roman rule (such as the 'denarius' coin). See also Pontius Pilate for speculation on what language he spoke. See also INRI and Iudaea province.
The Greek New Testament transliterates a few words and phrases, some Hebrew, some Aramaic and some either. These are mainly words attributed to Jesus by Mark, and perhaps had a special significance because of this.
A very small minority believe that most or all of the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic. This position, called Aramaic primacy, has been rejected by most scholars. The consensus among scholarship is that the New Testament was compiled in the Greek language. However, many consider it probable that there was a Hebrew and/or Aramaic layer beneath the Greek sources to the gospels (see also Logia), parts of Acts and possibly in a few, limited other locations within the New Testament.
Mark 5:41
This verse gives an Aramaic phrase, attributed to Jesus bringing the girl back to life, with a transliteration into Greek, as ταλιθα κουμ.
A few Greek manuscripts (Codex Sinaiticus, Vaticanus) of Mark's Gospel have this form of the text, but others (Codex Alexandrinus, the Majority Text and the Vulgate) write κουμι (koumi) instead. The latter became the Textus Receptus, and is the version that appears in the Authorised Version.
The Aramaic is ţlīthā qūm. The word ţlīthā is the feminine form of the word ţlē, meaning "young". Qūm is the Aramaic verb 'to rise, stand, get up'. In the feminine singular imperative, it was originally 'qūmī'. However, there is evidence that in speech the final -ī was dropped so that the imperative did not distinguish between masculine and feminine genders. The older manuscripts, therefore, used a Greek spelling that reflected pronunciation, whereas the addition of an 'ι' was perhaps due to a bookish copyist.
In written Aramaic, it could be טליתא קומי or טלתא קומי(read right to left).
Mark 7:34
Once again, the Aramaic word is given with the transliteration, only this time the word to be transliterated is more complicated. In Greek, the Aramaic is written εφφαθα. This could be from the Aramaic 'ethpthaḥ', the passive imperative of the verb 'pthaḥ', 'to open', since the 'th' could assimilate in western Aramaic. The guttural 'ḥ' was often omitted in Greek transcriptions in the Septuagint and was also softened in Galilean speech,[7]. The form is closer to Hebrew nif`al הפתח, but because this is recorded by Mark, who uses Aramaic in another healing section, it is probable that this was intended to be colloquial Aramaic and so cited according to Mark's literary purposes.
In Aramaic, it could be אתפתח or אפתח. In Hebrew הפתח.
Mark 14:36
Abba, an Aramaic Hebrew word (written Αββα in Greek, and 'abbā in Aramaic), is immediately followed by the Greek equivalent (Πατηρ) with no explicit mention of it being a translation. The phrase Abba, Father is repeated in Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6.
In Aramaic, it would be אבא. This word was also used in colloquial Hebrew.
Note, the name Barabbas is a Hellenization of the Aramaic Bar Abba (בר אבא), literally, "Son of the Father".
Matthew 5:22
Raca, or Raka, in the Aramaic of the Talmud means empty one, fool, empty head.
In Aramaic, it could be ריקא or ריקה, which is also its form in Hebrew.
Gospel of Matthew 6:24
Luke 16:9-13
In Aramaic and Hebrew, it could be ממון.
In the New Testament the word — Mamōnâs — is declined like a Greek word, whereas many of the other Aramaic and Hebrew words are treated as indeclinable foreign words.
Also in Mark 10:51. Hebrew form rabbi used as title of Jesus in Matthew 26:25,49; Mark 9:5, 11:21, 14:45; John 1:49, 4:31, 6:25, 9:2, 11:8.
In both Aramaic and Hebrew, it would have been רבוני. The Hebrew form of this word is attested in Codex Kaufman to the Mishnah.
Didache 10 (Prayer after Communion)
1 Corinthians 16:22
In Aramaic (מרנא תא) it means Lord, come! or Our Lord, come!
Matthew 27:46
Mark 15:34
This phrase, shouted by Jesus from the cross, is given to us in these two versions. The Matthean version of the phrase is transliterated in Greek as ηλει ηλει λεμα σαβαχθανει. The Markan version is similar, but begins ελωι ελωι (elōi rather than ēlei). Matthew is citing a probable Hebrew version, Mark a probable Aramaic version.
This seems to quote the first line of Psalm 22. Jesus is not quoting the canonical Hebrew version (êlî êlî lâmâ `azabtânî), however, but is using an Hebraic midrash (Matthew) or Aramaic translation of it (Mark).
In the following verse, in both accounts, some who hear Jesus' cry imagine that he is calling for help from Elijah (Eliyyâ). This is perhaps to underline the incomprehension of the bystanders about what is happening.
Almost all ancient Greek manuscripts show signs of trying to normalise this text. For instance, the peculiar Codex Bezae renders both versions with ηλι ηλι λαμα ζαφθανι (ēli ēli lama zaphthani). The Alexandrian, Western and Caesarean textual families all reflect harmonization of the texts between Matthew and Mark. Only the Byzantine textual tradition preserves a distinction.
The Aramaic/mishnaic Hebrew word švaqtanî is based on the verb švaq, 'to allow, to permit, to forgive, and to forsake', with the perfect tense ending -t (2nd person singular: 'you'), and the object suffix -anî (1st person singular: 'me').
This phrase is treated in more depth at Last sayings of Jesus.
In Aramaic, it could be אלהי אלהי למא שבקתני. In Hebrew אלי אלי למה שבקתני
Matthew 5:18
The quotation uses them as an example of extremely minor details. In the Greek original translated as English jot and tittle is found iota and keraia. Iota is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet (ι), but since only capitals were used at the time the Greek New Testament was written (Ι), it probably represents the Aramaic yodh (י) which is the smallest letter of the Aramaic alphabet. Keraia is a hook or serif, possibly accents in Greek but more likely hooks on Aramaic letters, (ב) versus (כ), or additional marks such as crowns (as Vulgate apex) found in Jewish Bibles. The standard reference for NT Greek is A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, Bauer, Gingrich, Danker, et al. (commonly known as the Bauer lexicon. Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon for keraia is here: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2356669. See also the article on the antithesis of the Law. The English word "tittle" is a cognate of tilde and title and refers to the dot on top of a lowercase i.
Matthew 27:6
In Aramaic (קרבנא) it refers to the treasury in the Temple in Jerusalem, derived from the Hebrew Korban (קרבן), found in Mark 7:11 and the Septuagint (in Greek transliteration), meaning religious gift.
The Greek is declined as a Greek noun. Greeks regularly added endings to Semitic and Hebrew words when transliterating Hebrew words in the Septuagint.
Luke 1:15
Note that this word is used in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. This word entered Jewish Greek from Hebrew שכר, and like many cases in the Greek translation of Hebrew Bible, it adopted a more Aramaic sounding form (שכרא). Thus, the use of σικερα does not specifically testify to either Aramaic or Hebrew. It means barley beer, from the Akkadian shikaru.
Mark 11:9
According to the Bauer lexicon, see references at end, this word is derived from Aramaic [sic](הושע נא) from [Biblical] Hebrew (הושיעה נא). But actually הושע is the correct form of the Hebrew imperative. הושיעה is a special long form that was sometimes quoted from the Hebrew Bible. הושע נא is most correctly viewed as colloquial Hebrew, both words being primarily Hebrew. If someone insists on calling it 'Aramaic' then it should be called a loan word.
Personal names in the New Testament come from a number of languages, Hebrew and Greek are most common. However, there are a good few Aramaic names as well. The most prominent feature in Aramaic names is 'bar' (Greek transliteration βαρ, Aramaic bar), meaning 'son of', a common patronym prefix. Its Hebrew equivalent, 'ben', is conspicuous by its absence. However, in documents and graffiti of the time, names with 'bar' and 'ben' were used in both Aramaic and Hebrew and are not considered reliable indicators of language use by specialists. Some examples are:
Mark 3:17
Jesus surnames the brothers James and John to reflect their impetuosity. The Greek rendition of their name is Βοανηργες (Boanērges).
There has been much speculation about this name. Given the Greek translation that comes with it ('Sons of Thunder'), it seems that the first element of the name is 'bnê', 'sons of' (the plural of 'bar'), Aramaic (בני). This is represented by βοανη (boanê), giving two vowels in the first syllable where one would be sufficient. It could be inferred from this that the Greek transliteration may not be a good one. The second part of the name is often reckoned to be 'rğaš' ('tumult') Aramaic (רגיש), or 'rğaz' ('anger') Aramaic (רגז). Maurice Casey, however, argues that it is a simple misreading of the word for thunder, 'r`am' (due to the similarity of s to the final m). This is supported by one Syriac translation of the name as 'bnay ra`mâ'. The Peshitta reads 'bnay rğešy' which would fit with a later composition for it, based on a Byzantine reading of the original Greek.
John 1:42
1 Corinthians 1:12
In these passages, 'Cephas' is given as the nickname of the apostle better known as Simon Peter. The Greek word is transliterated (Kēphâs).
The apostle's given name appears to be Simon, and he is given the Aramaic nickname, kêfâ, meaning 'rock'. The final sigma (s) is added in Greek to make the name masculine rather than feminine. That the meaning of the name was more important than the name itself is evidenced by the universal acceptance of the Greek translation, (Petros). It is not known why Paul uses the Aramaic name rather than the Greek name for Simon Peter when he writes to the churches in Galatia and Corinth.[8] He may have been writing at a time before Cephas came to be popularly known as Peter. According to some Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius, there were two people named Cephas: one was Apostle Simon Peter, and the other was one of Jesus' Seventy Apostles. Clement goes further to say it was Cephas of the Seventy who was condemned by Paul in Galatians 2 for not eating with the Gentiles.
In Aramaic, it could be כיפא.
John 11:16
Thomas () is listed among the disciples of Jesus in all four gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. However, it is only in John's Gospel that more information is given. In three places (John 11:16, 20:24 and 21:2) he is given the name Didymus (), the Greek word for a twin. In fact, "the Twin" is not just a surname, it is a translation of "Thomas". The Greek — Thōmâs — comes from the Aramaic tômâ, "twin". Therefore, rather than two personal names, Thomas Didymus, there is a single nickname, the Twin. Christian tradition gives him the personal name Judas, and he was perhaps named Thomas to distinguish him from others of the same name.
In Aramaic, it could be תאומא.
Acts 9:36
The disciple's name is given both in Aramaic (Ταβειθα) and Greek (Δορκας). The Aramaic name is a transliteration of Ţvîthâ the female form of (Ţavyâ).[9] Both names mean 'gazelle'.
It may be just coincidence that Peter's words to her in verse 40, "Tabitha, get up!" (), are similar to the "talitha kum" phrase used by Jesus.
In Aramaic, it could be טביתא.
Matthew 26:36
Mark 14:32
The place where Jesus takes his disciples to pray before his arrest is given the Greek transliteration Γεθσημανει (Gethsēmani). It represents the Aramaic 'Gath-Šmânê', meaning 'the oil press' or 'oil vat' (referring to olive oil).
In Aramaic, it could be גת שמני or גיא ש.
Mark 15:22
John 19:17
This is clearly Aramaic rather than Hebrew. 'Gûlgaltâ' is the Aramaic for 'skull'. The name appears in all of the gospels except Luke, which calls the place simply Kranion 'the Skull', with no Aramaic. The name 'Calvary' is taken from the Latin Vulgate translation, Calvaria.
In Aramaic, it could be גלגלתא.
John 19:13
The place name appears to be Aramaic. According to Josephus, War, V.ii.1, #51, the word Gabath means high place, or elevated place, so perhaps a raised flat area near the temple. The final "א" could then represent the emphatic state of the noun.
In Aramaic, it could be גבהתא.
Acts 1:19
The place of Judas Iscariot's death is clearly named Field of Blood in Greek. However, the manuscript tradition gives a number of different spellings of the Aramaic. The Majority Text reads Ακελδαμα ([H]akeldama); other manuscript versions give Αχελδαμα ([H]acheldama), Ακελδαιμα ([H]akeldaima), Ακελδαμακ ([H]akeldamak) and Ακελδαμαχ ([H]akeldamach). Despite these variant spellings the Aramaic is most probably 'ḥqêl dmâ', 'field of blood'. While the seemingly gratuitous Greek sound of "kh" at the end of the word is difficult to explain, the Septuagint similarly adds this sound to the end of the Semitic name Ben Sira to form the Greek name for the Book of "Sirakh" (Latin: Sirach). The sound may be a dialectic feature of either the Greek speakers or the original Semitic language speakers.
In Aramaic, it could be חקל דמא.
Bethesda was originally the name of a pool in Jerusalem, on the path of the Beth Zeta Valley, and is also known as the Sheep Pool. It is associated with healing. In John 5, Jesus was reported healing a man at the pool.
According to Syriac-English Dictionary by Louis Costaz and A Compendious Syriac Dictionary by J. Payne Smith, the word hesdo in Syriac (or hesda in older Aramaic) has two opposite meanings: 'grace' and 'disgrace'. Hence, Bethesda was both a house of disgrace, as many invalids gathered there, and a house of grace, as they were granted healing.
All Aramaic words are from A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Bauer-Arndt-Gingrinch-Danker (ISBN 978-0226039336). Though primarily a Koine Greek Lexicon (it is the standard reference for NT Greek), it includes Aramaic words in the Aramaic "square-script" alphabet.
ko:예수와 아람어 id:Bahasa Aram Yesus ms:Bahasa Aramia Jesus pl:Talita (imię) wo:Bowanerses