Aramaic

== History ==
[[File:This clay tablet represents a classroom experiment; a teacher imposed a challenging writing exercise on pupils who spoke both languages. The pupils had to use traditional syllabic signs to express the sounds of the Aramaic alphabet.jpg|thumb|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. {{Circa|500 BC}}. From Iraq]]
Historically and originally, Aramaic was the language of the [[Arameans]], a Semitic-speaking people of the region between the northern [[Levant]] and the northern [[Tigris]] valley. By around 1000 BC, the Arameans had a string of kingdoms in what is now part of [[Syria]], [[Lebanon]], [[Jordan]], [[Turkey]], and the fringes of southern [[Mesopotamia]] ([[Iraq]]). Aramaic rose to prominence under the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (911–605 BC), under whose influence Aramaic became a prestige language after being adopted as a [[lingua franca]] of the empire by [[Assyria]]n kings, and its use was spread throughout [[Mesopotamia]], the [[Levant]] and parts of [[Asia Minor]], [[Arabian Peninsula]], and [[Ancient Iran]] under Assyrian rule. At its height, Aramaic was spoken in what is now [[Iraq]], [[Syria]], [[Lebanon]], [[Israel]], [[Jordan]], [[Kuwait]], parts of southeast and south central [[Turkey]], northern parts of the [[Arabian Peninsula]] and parts of northwest [[Iran]], as well as the southern [[Caucasus]], having gradually replaced several other related Semitic languages.{{sfn|Lipiński|2000|p=}}{{sfn|Khan|2007|pp=95–114}}{{sfn|Gzella|2015|p=}} 

According to the [[Babylonian Talmud]] ([[Sanhedrin (tractate)|Sanhedrin]] 38b), the language spoken by {{nowrap|Adam{{tsp}}{{mdash}}}}{{tsp}}the Bible's first {{nowrap| human{{tsp}}{{mdash}}}}{{tsp}}was Aramaic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.38b|title=Sanhedrin 38b|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>

Aramaic was the [[language of Jesus]],{{sfn|Ruzer|2014|pp=182–205}}{{sfn|Buth|2014|pp=395–421}}{{sfn|Gzella|2015|p=237}} who spoke the [[Galilean dialect]] during his public ministry, as well as the language of several sections of the [[Hebrew Bible]], including parts of the books of [[Book of Daniel|Daniel]] and [[Book of Ezra|Ezra]], and also the language of the [[Targum]], the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible.{{sfn|Kitchen|1965|pp=31–79}}{{sfn|Rosenthal|2006|p=}}{{sfn|Gzella|2015|pp=304–10}} It is also the language of the [[Jerusalem Talmud]], [[Babylonian Talmud]], and [[Zohar]].

The scribes of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian]] bureaucracy also used Aramaic, and this practice was subsequently inherited by the succeeding [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (605–539 BC) and later by the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (539–330 BC).{{sfn|Folmer|2012|pp=587–98}} Mediated by scribes that had been trained in the language, highly standardized written Aramaic, named by scholars [[Imperial Aramaic]], progressively also became the [[lingua franca]] of public life, trade and commerce throughout Achaemenid territories.{{sfn|Bae|2004|pp=1–20}} Wide use of written Aramaic subsequently led to the adoption of the Aramaic alphabet and, as [[logogram]]s, some Aramaic vocabulary in the [[Pahlavi scripts]], which were used by several [[Middle Iranian languages]], including [[Parthian language|Parthian]], [[Middle Persian]], [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]], and [[Khwarazmian language|Khwarazmian]].{{sfn|Green|1992|p=45}}
 
Some variants of Aramaic are also retained as [[sacred languages]] by certain religious communities. Most notable among them is [[Syriac language|Classical Syriac]], the liturgical language of [[Syriac Christianity]]. It is used by several communities, including the [[Assyrian Church of the East]], the [[Ancient Church of the East]], the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]], the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]], the [[Syriac Catholic Church]], the [[Maronite Church]], and also the [[Saint Thomas Christians]], [[Syriac Christianity|Syriac Christians]] of [[Kerala]], [[India]].{{sfn|Beyer|1986|pp=38–43}}{{sfn|Casey|1999|pp=83–93}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Turek|first=Przemysław|date=2011-11-05|title=Syriac Heritage of the Saint Thomas Christians: Language and Liturgical Tradition Saint Thomas Christians – origins, language and liturgy|journal=Orientalia Christiana Cracoviensia|volume=3|pages=115–130|doi=10.15633/ochc.1038|issn=2081-1330|doi-access=free}}</ref> One of the liturgical dialects was [[Mandaic language|Mandaic]],{{sfn|Burtea|2012|pp=670–85}} which besides becoming a vernacular, [[Neo-Mandaic]], also remained the liturgical language of [[Mandaeism]].{{sfn|Häberl|2012|pp=725–37}} Syriac was also the liturgical language of several now-extinct [[gnosticism|gnostic]] faiths, such as [[Manichaeism]].

[[Neo-Aramaic languages]] are still spoken in the 21st century as a [[first language]] by many communities of [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], [[Mizrahi Jews]] (in particular, the [[Jews of Kurdistan]]/[[Iraqi Jews]]), and [[Mandaeans]] of the [[Near East]],{{sfn|Heinrichs|1990|pp=xi–xv}}{{sfn|Beyer|1986|p=53}} and with numbers of fluent speakers ranging approximately from 1 to 2 million, with the main Neo-Aramaic languages being [[Suret language|Suret]] (~240,000 speakers) and [[Turoyo language|Turoyo]] (~250,000 speakers).<ref name="DYK">{{cite web | url=https://userblogs.fu-berlin.de/saop/didyouknow/ | title=Did you know |website=Surayt-Aramaic Online Project |publisher=Free University of Berlin}}</ref> [[Western Neo-Aramaic]] (~3,000)<ref>{{cite journal | last=Duntsov | first=Alexey | last2=Häberl | first2=Charles | last3=Loesov | first3=Sergey | title=A Modern Western Aramaic Account of the Syrian Civil War | journal=WORD | volume=68 | issue=4 |year=2022| doi=10.1080/00437956.2022.2084663 | pages=359–394}}</ref> persists in only two villages in the [[Anti-Lebanon Mountains]] in western [[Syria]].<ref>Brock, [http://meti.byu.edu/Brock_Introduction.pdf An Introduction to Syriac Studies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518214139/http://meti.byu.edu/Brock_Introduction.pdf |date=2013-05-18 }}</ref> They have retained use of the once-dominant lingua franca despite subsequent [[language shift]]s experienced throughout the Middle East.