Aramaic

===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>