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Do not fill this in! ==Post-Achaemenid Aramaic== [[File:Alexander Aramaic coin.jpg|thumb|Coin of [[Alexander the Great]] bearing an Aramaic language inscription]] [[File:AsokaKandahar.jpg|thumb|The [[Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription]] (Greek and Aramaic) by the [[ancient India|Indian]] king [[Ashoka the Great|Ashoka]], 3rd century BC at [[Kandahar]], [[Afghanistan]]]] [[File:Targum.jpg|right|thumb|11th century [[Hebrew Bible]] with [[Targum]] intercalated between verses of Hebrew text]] The fall of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] ({{circa}} 334–330 BC), and its replacement with the newly created political order, imposed by [[Alexander the Great]] (d. 323 BC) and his [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] successors, 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 introduced [[Greek language]]. By the year 300 BC, all of the main Aramaic-speaking regions came under political rule of the newly created [[Seleucid Empire]] that promoted [[Hellenistic culture]], and favored [[Greek language]] as the main language of public life and administration. During the 3rd century BCE, Greek overtook Aramaic in many spheres of public communication, particularly in highly [[Hellenized]] cities 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.{{sfn|Gzella|2015|pp=212–17}} 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 of [[Hasmonean|Hasmonaean]] Judaea (142–37 BC), alongside [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], which was the language preferred in religious and some other public uses (coinage). It influenced the Biblical Aramaic of the [[Qumran]] texts, and was the main language of non-biblical theological texts of that community. The major [[Targum]]s, translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, were originally composed in Hasmonaean Aramaic. It also appears in quotations in the [[Mishnah]] and [[Tosefta]], 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 of ''written'' Aramaic in the Achaemenid bureaucracy also precipitated the adoption of Aramaic(-derived) scripts to render a number of [[Middle Iranian]] languages. 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 as ''signs'' (i.e. [[logograms]]), much like the symbol '&' is read as "and" in English and the original Latin ''et'' is now no longer obvious. Under the early 3rd-century BC [[Arsacid Empire|Parthian Arsacids]], whose government used Greek but whose native language was [[Parthian language|Parthian]], the Parthian language and its Aramaic-derived writing system both gained prestige. This in turn also led to the adoption of the name '[[Pahlavi scripts|pahlavi]]' (< ''parthawi'', "of the Parthians") for that writing system. The [[Sassanid Empire|Persian 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.{{sfn|Beyer|1986|p=28}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Ancient Persia |pages=118–20 |last1=Wiesehöfer |first1=Josef |translator-last=Azodi |translator-first=Azizeh |isbn=9781860646751 |publisher=I.B. Taurus |year=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFocMaM49SgC |access-date=10 October 2018}}</ref> 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 alphabet in all but [[Middle Persian literature|Zoroastrian 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 these [[vernacular]] dialects 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 on [[Achaemenid Aramaic]], and they also show a clear linguistic diversity between eastern and western regions. ===Targumic=== Babylonian [[Targum]]ic is the later post-Achaemenid dialect found in the [[Targum Onkelos|Targum Onqelos]] and [[Targum 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 mixing of literary Hasmonaean with the dialect of [[Galilee]]. 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 Aramaic]] was the written language of the Arab kingdom of Nabataea, whose capital was [[Petra]]. The kingdom (''c.'' 200 BC – 106 AD) controlled the region to the east of the [[Jordan River]], the [[Negev]], the [[Sinai Peninsula]], and the northern [[Hijaz]], and supported a wide-ranging trade network. The Nabataeans used imperial Aramaic for written communications, rather than their native Arabic. Nabataean Aramaic developed from [[Imperial 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 a [[cursive]] script that was the precursor to the [[Arabic alphabet]]. 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 Aramaic]] is the dialect that was in use in the multicultural<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dPglEAAAQBAJ&dq=%C2%A0palmyra+aramean+arabs+greek&pg=PA60 | title=Palmyra: An Irreplaceable Treasure | isbn=9780226600055 | last1=Veyne | first1=Paul | date=5 October 2018 | publisher=University of Chicago Press }}</ref> city state of [[Palmyra]] in the Syrian Desert from 44 BC to 274 AD. It was written in a rounded script, which later gave way to cursive [[Syriac alphabet|Estrangela]]. Like Nabataean, Palmyrene was influenced by Arabic, but to a much lesser degree. ===Eastern dialects=== {{Main|Eastern Aramaic languages}} [[File:Mandaic.jpg|right|thumb|[[Mandaic language|Mandaic]] [[Incantation bowl|magical "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 the [[Kingdom of Osroene]], founded in 132 BCE and centred in [[Edessa, Mesopotamia|Edessa]] (Urhay), the regional dialect became the official language: Edessan Aramaic (Urhaya), that later came to be known as [[Syriac language|Classical Syriac]]. On the upper reaches of the [[Tigris]], East Mesopotamian Aramaic flourished, with evidence from the regions of [[Hatra]] and [[Assur]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lai8CgAAQBAJ&dq=assyrian+hatran+aramaic&pg=PA126 | title=Semitic Languages in Contact | isbn=9789004300156 | last1=Butts | first1=Aaron | date=29 September 2015 | publisher=BRILL }}</ref> [[Tatian|Tatian the Assyrian]] (or Syrian), the author of the gospel harmony the [[Diatessaron]] came from [[Adiabene]] (Syr. ''Beth-Hadiab''),<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A09WDwAAQBAJ&dq=tatian+from+adiabene&pg=PA14 | title=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity | isbn=978-0-19-256246-3 | last1=Nicholson | first1=Oliver | date=19 April 2018 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref> 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 of [[Mandaic language|Mandaic]], the language of [[Mandaeism]], was descended from the Arsacid chancery script.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Häberl |first=Charles G. |title=Iranian Scripts for Aramaic Languages: The Origin of the Mandaic Script |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |issue=341 |date=February 2006 |pages=53–62 |jstor=25066933 |doi=10.7282/T37D2SGZ}}</ref> ===Western dialects=== {{Main|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 displacing [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] in the first century BC and [[Hebrew language#Displacement by Aramaic|Hebrew]] around 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 of [[Caesarea Philippi]]. This is the dialect of the oldest manuscript of the [[Book 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 the [[Talmud]] and receipts from [[Qumran]]. [[Josephus]]' first, non-extant edition of his ''[[The Jewish War]]'' was 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 (see [[Peshitta]]). ===Languages during Jesus' lifetime=== {{Further|Language of Jesus}} {{unreferenced section|date=April 2017}} It is generally believed by Christian scholars that in the first century, Jews in [[Judea (Roman province)|Judea]] primarily spoke Aramaic with a decreasing number using [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] as their first language, though many learned Hebrew as a liturgical language. Additionally, [[Koine Greek]] was 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 on [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean]] and Babylonian, there were a number of colloquial Aramaic dialects. Seven [[Western Aramaic languages|Western Aramaic varieties]] were spoken in the vicinity of Judea in [[Jesus]]' time. They were probably distinctive yet mutually intelligible. Old Judean was the prominent dialect of [[Jerusalem]] and Judaea. The region of [[Ein Gedi]] spoke the Southeast Judaean dialect. [[Samaria]] had its distinctive [[Samaritan Aramaic language|Samaritan Aramaic]], where the consonants "[[he (letter)|he]]", "{{Transliteration|sem|[[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: [[diphthong]]s are never simplified into monophthongs. East of the Jordan, the various dialects of East Jordanian were spoken. In the region of [[Damascus]] and the [[Anti-Lebanon Mountains]], Damascene Aramaic was spoken (deduced mostly from Modern Western Aramaic). Finally, as far north as [[Aleppo]], the western dialect of Orontes Aramaic was spoken. The three languages, especially Hebrew and Aramaic, influenced one another through [[loanword]]s and [[semantic loans]]. Hebrew words entered Jewish Aramaic. Most were mostly technical religious words, but a few were everyday words like עץ ''{{transliteration|sem|ʿēṣ}}'' "wood". Conversely, Aramaic words, such as ''māmmôn'' "wealth", were borrowed into Hebrew, and Hebrew words acquired additional senses from Aramaic. For instance, Hebrew ראוי ''rā'ûi'' "seen" borrowed the sense "worthy, seemly" from the Aramaic ''{{Transliteration|sem|ḥzî}}'' meaning "seen" and "worthy". The Greek of the [[New Testament]] preserves some semiticisms, including transliterations of [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] words. Some are Aramaic,{{sfn|Fitzmyer|1980|pp=5–21}} like ''talitha'' (ταλιθα), which represents the noun טליתא ''{{Transliteration|sem|ṭalīṯā}}'',<ref name="Bibleverse|Mark|5:41|KJV">{{Bibleverse|Mark|5:41|KJV}}</ref> and others may be either Hebrew or Aramaic like רבוני ''Rabbounei'' (Ραββουνει), which means "my master/great one/teacher" in both languages.<ref>{{Bibleverse|John|20:16|KJV}}</ref> Other examples: * "Talitha kumi" (טליתא קומי)<ref name="Bibleverse|Mark|5:41|KJV"/> * "Ephphatha" (אתפתח)<ref>{{Bibleverse|Mark|7:34|KJV}}</ref> * "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (?אלי, אלי, למה שבקתני)<ref>{{Bibleverse|Mark|15:34|KJV}}</ref> The 2004 film ''[[The Passion of the Christ]]'' used 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.<ref>{{cite news |title=What's up with Aramaic? |date=25 February 2004 |url=http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/special_packages/passion_of_christ/8038021.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 April 2004 |access-date=10 October 2018 |work=Miami Herald |last=Darling |first=Cary |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040403223353/http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/special_packages/passion_of_christ/8038021.htm}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). 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