Aramaic

===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]]).