28 STEPIIEN .'.

I,IEBERMAN

trasts are lhose between Early and Judean Hebrcw, including as they do
phonological clanges, morphotogical diff€rcnces (including th€ forms ol
nronounJ irs $ell as pronominal sulfixet' and synlaclic contrasts'
I cJnnol oulline lhere contrasls her€. but hoPe thal my suPg€slion that
the continuum be divided into Errly, Judean, Scholastic, and Isra€ti H€brew
ARAMAIC AND ITS DIALECTS
may stimulale a reconsideration of thc whole issuc.
Jonas C. Greenfield
Hebtew Unitetsity

A cultural trait that has beefl noted by obs€rvers of the Jewish sccne, past
and pr€sefit. is the ability oftheJcws to adapt cultural €temen ts thrl were io_
ilially inimicaland to makethem theirown in thecourseol(ime. This is true
of many of the languagcs that have comc to be classifi€d as Jewish.
t-oremost among (hese languages is Aramaic. Yet ifw€ tollow the lhread of
relationships belween th€ Aramaeans ofl the one side and the lsraelites and
Jews on the other. we lind that lhese w€re not smooth from the beginning.
The Aramaeans wcre. .tccording to lhe Biblical narrat'v€, a kindred tribe-
the family ofNahor, Bethuel, and Laban-from whom one look one'swives
and from whom on€ separated as soon as Possible to return 10 the land ol
Canaan. Th€ pattern of mistrust is project€d back into the Patriarchal
p€riod. ln the limc of thc Judg€s and lhc Monarchy, th€ Arameans-if we
disrcgard those rare timcs when circumstances led to alliance-were usually
s€eking tcrritorial aggrandizemcnt at thc cxpcnse of Isra€l or Judah. Later,
in thc Roman period, when Aramaean political powcr had long sincc ceased
to exist, lhc term 'br* '4lami was uscd to designale a pagan and had tl
derogatory lone (cl P.T. San.3,6,21b, whcrc thc conv^st yehidi: arunn iis
clear).
Yet Aramaic is the chief riva I of Hebrew for the title "Jewbh language.
Thc carlicst recorded forcign wotds in lhe Biblc are rnl.no 1r')egdt l'.irAdn-
rit, which were used by Laban for Jacob s 19lr 8dl ed (Gen. I li47). Aramaic
was to become a serious rival ol Hebrew firsl as a vernacular and lhcn as.r
lit€rary language, and at a later date would €clipse llebr€w in both sphercs
tor some lime- The literary works written in Aramaic. be they parts ot the
Bible-Dlniel and Ezra-be they the various Targums, the Palestinian
Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud, the Aramaic Midrashim, Ceonic
works. or such mcdieval compositions as th€ Zohar, are an ess€nlial part ol
rhe Jewish literary heritage. Jewish l€gal documents have bccn drawn up in
Aramaic for over lwo thousandyears utilizing ancienl tormulas. Thc lwo es-
s€ntial legal instruments for the polarities of lamily lite-the &etrr6a'mar-
age contr:rct'and the 8er'djvorce decree'-are still wri(en in Aramxic
29
l0 JoNAs c, GREENFIELD ARAM IC AND ITS DIALECTS 3I

Even if by tradition the minist€ring angels do not understand any language father, Panamu, in Samallian Aramaic: but his own inscriptions, in shich hc
-I
bcsides Hebrer. wc still insist on using Aramaic for thc qdddii and oth.r not€d thc fact lhal hc was a vassal of iglath-Pileser, were in Mesopotanian
prayers. Aramaic. Somc ol the distinctions betweeo these two dialects may bc noted
In (his p.rper I will not l;mit mysell to the Jewish Ammai€ dialects, here: (l) Samallian Aramai€ knows only the absolute lornr ol the nour-
ahhough thcy will be treated in greater d€tail than the others. but will try lo masculinc plurals have -t for the nominative and -i tor the obliquc cascs, a
outline rhc history and scope of Aramaic dialecis in general. ln my othcr featur€ not known clse{her€ in Aranraic: the olhcr dialec(s have -,ir lbr thc
prper, deating with the languages of Pal€stine from 200 B.c E to 200 c.E., absolute and 'dryd for the delermined, and in the feminine t serves.rs.r
alrention will be paid to the period when Aramaic and Hebrew were in marker tor the ptural in all cases. (2) ln tbe 'Mesopotamirn diale€t. two
closcst contact and confronlalion. Some material which night hav€ been in- emphatic coosonants are not found in the safle word: lhus, Standnrd
cluded herc will be discuss€d th€re. Aramaic grl 'to kill is wrhlcn &r/ (this is written qtl in Sam al and in the
The earliest stages ofAramaic are not as well known as thoseofHebrew Sefirc inscription, which has some Samallian llalur€s), and the word lor
Wc do not possess a corpus of ancienl literature and are dependcnt on in" 'summei is spelled ly''ralher than g/f (Later Aramaic 4J,l ). Th€ literary
scriptions for our elrli€st documentation. lt is self-cvident that both lhc elcment in these inscriptions is often similar in idion, phraseology, and
preservalion .rnd the discovery of thesc inscriPtions d€pcnd on chancc; thc struclure to that known from conlemporary Biblical Hebrcw.
nunber ofsuch texls and their diffusion must be used with great care as in- With the spre,rd ofthe Assyrian Empire, Aramaic achieved an inporlnnt
dicators ofcultural development and influences. Ammaic was sur€ly spoken place as the li gua Jianca in the weslern pa( of this realnr. Ther€ wcre a
rs a dislinct languag€ in the second mill€nnium, and ih.rc is no need to havc vari€ty of factors lor this; important among them were: (l) the elhnic-lhe
recourse ro a vague undifferentintcd "Norlhwest semitic" lor lhat period. Aramreans and Chaldaeans were significant sectors ofthe population iD As'
lhc eartiest inscriptions lhat we have ar€ lrom the ninlh century B c.E; lhe syria and Babylonir and had assumed n terding rolc in alllcvels olsociclyi
number increases in lhe eighth century. The inscriptions €ome primarily und (2) thc r€lative ers€ in writing Aramaic in comparison rvith thc ororc
tron prcsent-day Syria and southern Turkcy. They are, as I have tried to cumbcrsome cunciform. The use oltwo scrib€s, Assyrian a0d Aramaic, lbr
show elscwhere, in a literary langurge and revcal elemcnts ofrhetorical style counting spoils, etc., is att€sted to by reliel sculplures. That Aramaic was
and literrry slruclure. The Aramaic wall inscriptions (on plast€r) from Deir understood and used outside the Aramrean area is shot\'n by the wcll-
'All:r ((o be published by J. Hoftijzer) arc in a similar languag€, it would known passage in ll Kings 18:26 (and lsaiah 16: I l) in which the Assyri.rn
scem. The place oforigin of this "Ancient Aramaic" cannot be pinPointed, envoy, who spokc Hebrew (called /ernd,l 'the language ofJudah ), wrs re-
but the courts ol the petly kingdoms of Syria may in all likelihood have quested by Herckiah\ officials to speak Aramaic, which lhey understood,
served this purpose. ralher than Hebrew. The use olHebrcw would haveenabled the popuhce to
one may detect in rhe Aramaic inscriplions ol the eighth and seventh appr€ciatc the Assyrian thrcat. The Assyrian envoy underslrndably con'
ccnturies cerrain featurcs that set the language ofsomc of these aparl from tinued in tlebrew. The so-callcd Assur ostracon. writt€n in Babylonia-tbe
others, and there is no need to wait for much later pcriods to make dialect earlicst cxample of Eastern Aramaic-attesls to the use oI Aramaic for of-
distincrions in th€ language. The most archaic featurcs ol Aramaic are Iicial communications in the seventh century within thc Assyri n-
preserved in a small group of inscriptions from a sitc called in antiquity Babylonian area proper. 8y the late sixlh century Aramaic had sprc:rd 10
Sama'al or Y'DY, and Zincirli loday. The sccond and largesl Sroup is in Egypt as tbe language ol diplomacy. A lelter found a1 Saqqara, sent by a
what may be call€d "standard early Aramaic'(the literary dialecl ref€rred ruler ol one of lhc cities ol the Philistine coast lo Pharaoh (exact datc ar)d
lo above). Thes€ inscriptions-Zakur, Bar Hadad, Sefire, etc.-display ceF provenience ar€ a matter ol dhpute), is written neilher in Egyptirn nor in
tain gener,rl Aramaic features in vocabulary and morphology. ln the late the dialect used in Philistia but in Aramaic. Jeremiah s m€ssag€ deprccating
eighrh century a third dialect emerged in th. ar€a of Aram-N.haraim, along foreiSn gods is also quoted in Aramaic (Jer. I0rl l)-
the banks oflhe Habur and Balikh rivers, an are. that had been conquer€d After Assyria was conquered by the Medes and the Babylonians, rnost
by the Assyrians at an early p€riod. At times one and lhe same person used of Assyrian territory in thc West came under Babylonian control. the
dillbrent dialects in the inscriptions thal he crectcd. Thus Bar-Rakib of Aramaic used in Babylonia, an Eastcrn dialecl, gradually replaced thc
Srma at set up a memorial inscription outtining the accomplishments ofhis dialect used earli€r-in all likelihood lhat used by thc Aramacans ofAssyrid
12 loNAs c. GREENFIELT) ARAMAIC AND TTS DIAI,ECTS :ll

( Mesopotamian" Aramaic). when the Persians came to power in the Near straightforward Aramaic. Ihe Proverbs olAhiqar aflord the scholar lbe op-
East. it wastatural that this Eastern Aramaic should achi€ve a dominanl po(unity to examine and describe stillother typesofAramaic. Abiqarwas,
role .rs the language used for official correspondence and proclamations succinctly stated, the wise man at the courts of Sennacherib and Es.rrh:rd_
from th€ southern borders of Egypt to lndia in the East, and into the far doni he sullered because oI the machiorlions of his nephev, 1lhom he had
reach€s ol the Persian Empire in the Caucasus and Central Asia. There is brought to the court as his successor, and was later reslored to his rigbtlul
e!idenc€ lor the use ofAramaic not only for official purposes but also lor all position. Ahiqar had sought both to educale rnd later lo admonish his
sorts ol judicial and conlm€rcial purposes. Long after lranian hegemony nephew by means of prov€rbs. following an ancient traditional genre. l'arts
ovcr these areas had disappeared, th€ use of Aramaic endured. of the liamework story and of the proverbs have been preserved. The
There isa tendency among scholars to ref€r to ihe A ramaic ol this p€r'od f.amework story is written in Official Aramaic while the proverbs are wril
as Official Arama;c" (or "lmperial Aramaic," based on the Cerman term rcn in Western Aramaic. A Western f€ature sbared by H€rmopolis and the
R"ichsarunAisch\ and to describe it simply as one language. Indeed, since Ahiqar prov€rbs is the pr€fixing ol all infinitive forms with ,r-. ln Official
the najority ol texts have been discovered in Egypt, a land particularly Aramaic ,nd io the later Eastern dialects, only th€ rrr'd! inlinitive has tbis
hospitable 10 the preservation of papyrus and t€ather, lhe term "Egyptian prefix. Still oth€r distinctive leatures bave been notcd lbr these texts. Thus, a
Aramaic bas been used. But here too, closernalysis ofthe t€xts proves lhal vffiety ot Aramaic dialects were used in Egypt and €lse*h€re throughoul
therc were m:rny dialects of Aramaic in use at this time. Among the earliest the Achaemenirn Empire. The choice of scribe {nd lhe materirl being writ-
n lcrial .rre the l€tters lrom the end of the sixth century lound at Hermopolis ten or copicd determin€d the dialect. 11 is also worth noting that in Palestine
in Egypt, writlen by memb€rs of an Aramaean family to each other. They during this period, Aramaic was also widely used for otticidl nnd judicial
were lound in ajar, wher€ they were collected for some reason! and were ap- purposes. The ostraca lound at Arad, Beersheba, and elsewhere are in
pxrently nev€r opened since their seals were found intact. These letters ar€ Aramaic, as are the as yet unpublished documents from Wadi Daliyeh
written in a W€stern dialect ofAramaic and, according to my analysis, con- There can be no doubt that Aramaic was the means by which numerous
tain no lranian loanwords or personal names-the names are all either Akkadian words reached morewesterly areas. Thes€ were then to enter bolh
Ar maic (or Aramaicized Akkadian) or Egyptian, since these lamilies in(eF Hebrew and, at a later date, Arabic. To quot€ some well-known exrmples
m.lrricd with local Egyptians. These texts deal mostly with lamily business from the the documentary sphere: r:./,t/ 'docum en t from Akkadian ialnlu
or personal matters: the most comtnon requests being io send some castor g?1, g4ld documena from Akkadian gtrr (in turn from Sumerian gidila [a
oil, lo buy beans, to sell wool, etc. One letter contains the noving remark, 'l longl document'), used eventually primarily lor 'divor€e decree in J€wish
sas bittcn by a snake and was between lite and death, and you did not€ven usage; and i?gd'rd (Heb. iggeret) frcrr. Akkadian egilr,'lett€r'. Aramaic
writc lo ask about my welfare. ' The letters of Arsbam, satrap ol Egypt duF rar'.t is replac€d in the East by rdrd lrom Akkadian bdba; its use in the namc
irg the late fifth century, written while he was at home in Babylon and Susa, ol several Talmudic lractat€s is well known, and in Arabic ,.i6 is the o.
were found in a leather pouch somewhere in Egypt. These deal with ad- dinary word for'gate . The later books olthe Bible are character,zed by lhe
ministrative malters, are written in the Eastern dialect, and, aswould be ex- occurrence of lranian te.ms. we have noted their occurrence in th€ Arsham
p€cled, are replele with Iranian terms and usages. The besi-known material letters; in the Elephantine documenls, there are also quite a lew ad'
lron Egypt was found at Elephantine (near Aswan) and was part of the minislrative rnd commercial terms drdwn from this source. Thus, inslead ol
drchives ot various Jewish families who served in the garrison there The Aramaic tdbrd'partner' or.i-r./l.tpd (borrowed from Akkadian), the combin.r-
languag€ of the legal and judicial documents is highly conservative and, tion hngyt ehnbgis vsed. These Iranian terms indicat€ thejoint ownership of
although written in Official Aramaic, often contains western (and perhaps movable property lhamsai|a, and real property (hanhasa). ln litet
Jewish) usages and preserves divers;fied legal terminology. Tbere are per- Aramaic, dgii for communally owned Iand and gdlld lor cattle (= Hcb. rri'
sonal letters on papyri and ostraca wrilten by trained scribes who also Llse a qre) are known. Sinc€ Aramaic and various stages ol thc Iranian dinlects
standard Aramaic, while the official correspondenc€ ot the Elephantine were in close proximity, it is a matt€r of linguistic discernment for the slu-
communi!y is in Otficial Aramaic. The lragmenlary Bisitun inscriplion is dent of malters Aramaic and lranian to sort out (he lines of innuence and
also in Olficial Aramaic, bul it is probably a translation and th€refore not in development in this area. But th€re can be no doubt that words lhat are part
34 toN^s c. GREENFTELD ARAMAIC AND ITS DIALECTS ]5

and pirrcel of Aramaic, such as gir:it 'ireasure', girbAni lganrabarc\ dialcct can be perceived best in Daniel, for alrhough rhis book was com-
'(re.rsureC, rdzd 'secref, and piearnA (tntigana, 'word. lhing', wer. ab- posed during thc early pa.t ofthe second century B.c.E, it contains mareri:rl
sorbed at an early stage of this contact with lranian. from earlier limes in both prose and poetry. The language ofthese texls h.rs
An intcr€lling cultural phenomenon should be noled here. Although, as becn modernized aod the th€mes nad€ more topical by the pre-Hrsmollean
s(llted above, different Aramaic dialects wcre used, a remarkabl€ uniformity editor. During the lat€ Achaemenirn and the llellenisric periods, Srandard
prevailcd throughout the Achaemenian Empire as to thc script in use. A Literary Aramaic was in wide use in the West to judge from conremporrry
single script type lor Aramaic was dominant; it had developed at an early and later sources. Our only Aramaic lext from the Easr for this period is the
dalc lrom the Phoenician script, with monumenlal and cursive forms, and Uruk Incantl]tion lext written cuneilbrm scripr on a chy tablet, lhough
its d€vclopment cun be traccd from the eighth century through the fourth. lhe language is Eastern Aramaic-
'n The various literary works tound ar
As a qu.rsi-officialscript (hroughout thc Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Qumran are, in my opinion. in this dialect (i.€., Srandard Lirerary Aramaic),
Empires. it was widely uscd on papyrus, leather, and ostracon; and it even though there are slight linguisti€ distinctions among rhem. Thesc rang€
diverged from the Hebrew-Phoenician lype and acquired an image ol its fro
frorn Tobil, in all lik€lihood th€ lare fou(h c€ntury, lo Enoch ,rnd rhe
own. With the breakup otthc Achaemenian Empire, due to theconqucslsol Ccnesis Apocryphon, etc., from the third-sccond cenrurics, ro thc Job
Alej(:lnder the Creat, local nalional scripts b€gan to em€rgc. In th€ Wcst, Targum from lhe lirst century B.c.t. It should be noted that none of the
th€ Jewish "square" script is a product of rhe Aramaean script, and its Aramaic material from Qumran is of necessiry [ssene (or Essenoid) jn
dev€lopnent can now be traced in detail thanks to the Qumran linds and origin.
other rcc€nt rrcheological discoveries. lt took th€ place ofthe pal€o-Hebrew 11 wrs in Standard Literary Aramaic rhat the Targunim to rhc l,en
script and came lo be used lor both Aramaic and llebrew. The Nabatcan tateuch and lhc Prophers, known asOnqelosand Jonathan. were contporcd.
scripl also developed from Aramaic cursive, and il is now possible to charr Thes€ Targumirn were not intended solely for local consumprion but h.rd.
this dcvclopm€nt in great€r detail and also rhat of the Arabic script, which according to Talmudic tradition, th€ stamp ot approval of lcuding
evolved from it. Wecan further distinguish the Eastern Aramaic scripts th|t authorities and were intended tor use rhroughout the Ar.rmaic spcaking
consisl of thc closely relaled Syriac, Palmyrene, and "pagan" scripts (lrom Jewish diaspora. lt is because rhey were nor writen in an idcntilirhle
shich lhe Manichaean script evolved); various epigraphic varieties in Plleslinian Ardmaic th.rr scholars have disputcd the geoSraphic oriSin ol'
no(hcrn and southern Mcsopotamia (from which the Mandaic script these-Iargu im; but the fact that Stsndard Lilcrary Aranraic wa$. sofie
stems); and the scripts used tor Parthian. Pahlavi, and some other Middle ccnturies earlier, of Easlern origin is no reason toassume rhat rheTargumim
lranian languages. lt should be noted that in th€ course ofrimc these various werc produced in Babylon- These Targumim were rransmiltcd and
scripls (based on lhe Achaemenian Aranaic typ€) and th€ir descendants cultivated primarily in the Babylonian academies and rherelbre conlain cer-
radiatcd 1() all parts ol the Wcslern world and reached as lar Easl as India, tain morphological f€atures (ypical ol Easlern Aramaic, and cerrain phrases
Chin€se Turkestan, and Mongolia. and usages thal may also poinr in that direcrion. lt became rhe rrndirionrl
Abngside thc Otficial Aramaic of the Achaemcnian period, a literary mode ofsludy in the acadeni€s, perhaps alr€ady by rhe second century c !.
dial€ct emerged which may be called "Standard Literary Aramaic." This to rerd the weekly portion ol lhe Torah oDr Jn$ x1?b a':', lnaf in t iqra
developm€nl is reminiscent ofthe emergence olOld Babyloni,rn as the st.rn- we ehad taryu 'twice in llebrew and once in Aramaic . I his prrclicc wlls
dard Ianguage of most literary compositions and royal inscriptions of the adopled by all those under Babylonian innuencc. lhe siSniticdnce ot rhis
Neo-Assyrian period, to citc an examplc from the ancientworld, and of the custon was thrl ther€ spread lhroughour rhe Je\rish world an acrivc. con,
emergence ofa dialect ofLondon as Standard English. The framework story scious us€ of this Aram:)ic text-rhe lrrguft Onqctos-and it wrs inevit ble
of thc Prov€rbs of Ahiqar, referr€d to above, and perhaps the Bar Punesh that its languaSe set a standard tor wriring "corrocr Ararnaic. Atter the
fragmcnt (CAP 7l ) are the earliest o(amples of Standard Literary Aramaic. Targum Onqclos one must rurn to ttle Megi at Zi? dri for anothcr
Thc two lnrge segm€nts ol Biblical Aramaic preservcd in Ezra and Dani€l authoritrtive text in Standard Lirerary Aramaic. Ar a nuch laler dare, rhe
conl.rin elemenls of both Ollicial Aramaic and Standard Lit€rary Aramaic. Megillat Antiochus was concocted in it !o g've the work an air ofanriquity
The lcltcrs and documents in Ezra ar€ ir Official Aramaic while the naF and ver,rcity.
rative is in Standard Literary Aramaic. The va.i.ty and scope ol this latter One may dctect in Standard Liter:rry Aramaic the geographic origin ot
16 ,oNAs c. GREENFIELD ARAMAIC AND DIALECTS 31
'IS
this dialect ol Aramaic. For example, in Biblical Aramaic the third person and the so'called Neoliti fdrgror. Samarilan Aramaic is represented by th€
plural masculine perfert of final weak verbs is simply -d as in lnx l!:, Tlrgum to the P€ntateuch, the Aramaic hymns preserv€d in the liturgy, and
whereas in Palestinian Aramaic one finds forms in _d, nnx ltl' probably by such works as the Metnar Matqa and the ,{r4ril. Christian Palestinidn
analogy with imperfect forms like nt:'. ln Qumran Aramaic we have lt: Aramaic is represented by some epigraphic finds but is besl known trom
Int (ri r€rd /€ctio), which would not m€ao that Qumrtln Aramaic is a tran- material translated from Creek-this includes the Bibl€ as well as the
;itional dinlect, as some scholars believe, but that the scribe used "collo- Melchile liturgy and other religious texts.ll has becomecle r in r€cent years
quial forms. The same is true for the use ol th€ later lD) l,trr 'how' that Judea was the cent€r of Chrislian Palestinian Ara0raic speak€rs, rnd
alongside xDr &r,'ib, lrrl,, the earlier forms, in the Genesis Apocryphon. there is reason to believe that many of these were ol Jewish origin lt is
which lype ol Arrmaic was actually spoken in Palestine during this period'? th€relore not surprising to {ind in this dial€ct tr.rces ol Mishnaic Hebre$ in'
Sonrc scholars have thoughl that lhe Qumran texls bring us closer to the fluence.
vcrnaculnr in use, and nol only (o the literary language They have assumed The elemenls that are common lo these Aranrdic dialccls are nrore
that this is the sort ol Aramaic that stands behind the Greek o[€ertain New numerous than are those that distinguish them lrorn each other. I hree dil_
Toslament books. Others have claimed that Qumran not\rithstanding' one ferent scripts w€re used-the Jewish for J€wish Aramaic; Samariian,,r con_
must (urn to later Palestinian Aramaic for evidenc€ ofthis. The la(er posi' tinuation ot the paleo-Hebrew, for Samaritan; and a modificrtion ol the
tion seems mor€ plausible lo me at present, since my view is that Qumran Syriac script tor Christian Palestinian Aramaic. The last menlioned is more
Aramaic ir Standard Literary Aramaic. Howev€r, if the Proposed Aranaic conservative in orthography, since it fotlows its Syriac model, and may also
proto-Gospel, if it ever existed, waa in Literary Aramaic, then there is no be ullimately influenc€d by Standard Literary Aramaic Jewish Aranraic
ieason why Qumran Aramaic may not be us€d for reconstructing it. But the was also bound by orthographic tradition--that of the Hebrew and
itsissima vefia of a Galilean ought best to be recovered by use of later Aramaic lexts read and studied: but il is closer to the colloquial than is
Calilean Aramaic. Christian Patestinian orthography, while Samaritan Aramaic bas the laxest
ln thc periodization ot Aramaic dialecls prevalenl among scholars to' orthographic practices.
day, the period bet\teen 200 B.c.E and 200 c.E. is called "Middle Aramaic " Eastern Aramaic may be discuss€d in terms of the literary langulges
Beside the texts in Olficial Aramaic and Standard Literarv Aramaic,lhere Syriac, Mandaic, and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. Following the usualclas-
rre a number ofepigraphic dialecls tron this period. Thev will be discussed sification, Syriac is included here. Although it does sbare many of the
brietly in my other prper in this collection. ln the opinion of many students Eastern features to be noted below, it belongs, in my opinion, both lrom the
ol the subje€t, it is first during th€ following period-lh.rt of Late geographic and linguistic poinls ol view, in an intermcdiate posilion
Ardmric"-that positive distinctions between West€rn and Eastern b€tween East and West. It is the besl docum€nted ol the Aramnic dialects,
Arxmaic can be made. lt is a period with abundant material, which w€ shall with a large literature in both poetry and prose, primarily ol a religious
brielly discuss and consider at this point. nature. Syriac was used lor the preaching ol Chrislianity in lhe Arabidn
west€rn Aramaic consists primarity of material known from Palestine. Peninsuld, in Ethiopia, and also in Iran, Cenlral Asia, lndia, and the liar
Its three dialecls are Jewish Aramaic, Christian Palestinian Ararnaic East. Mandaic is the liturgical language used by the Mandreans, r gnostic
(sometimes called Palestinian Syriac), and Samaritan Aramaic Although sect whose place of origin in antiquity remains a matter Ibr schohrly dis-
lhe designalion "Galilean Aramaic" for the Jewish Aramaic dialecl may be pute. They may have originated in Pal€stine, seltled tor a lime in upper
justified, since nrost of the material comes from the Galilee, this may be too Mesopotamia around Harran. and then rnoved to soulhern lraq and Ir.rn
restrictive. The material in Jewish Aramaic consists ol a varielv of The Mandaic language and religion have drawn elements fron all ol thes€
dedicatory and memorial inscriplions lound throughout the country;but it areas. The earliest Mandaic texts kno$n are from the lourth_sixth cenluries
is best known from literary works, such as the Palestinian Talmud' the c.E., and their major literary works may also have be€n written then. Rem-
Afunraic parts ol G€,resis Rabba Leeiticus Rdrbd and other Midrashim nantsofthiscommunity arestill found in lraq and lran, and a lbrm olcoUo'
^nd and G€niza tragmenls), and from th€
(lhese in the better MS manuscripls quial Mandaic has been recorded. Since Mandaic scrib€s use the ,ltdtl€r 1".-
Pal€stinian Targums, as besl represented by texts lrom the Cairo Geniza trorrr with great lreedom and were not constrained by trnditional
38 ,oNAs c, GREENFTELD ARAMAIC AND ITS DIAI-ECTS

orthography, Mandaic has b€€n of prime imporrance in esrablishing rhe true for Jewish Aramaic. The pal€slinian Talmud (Ber_ 2. Z 4d) reporrs rhar
phonology of East€.n Aramaic and the details of rnorphology usually hid- residents of rhree cities-Haifa, Tib.on, and Beitshean_were not allowcd
den by more €onservatively written consonantal texts. to l€ad the prayer service since the) pronouncrd lp, Lte rp and ayr, Lke
Babylonian Jewish Aramaic is known primarily from the Babylonian ,tu1-A recentl) discotered mosaic inscriprion on rhe floor ot s)nagogueJr
Talmud. This typ€ of Aramaic is also found in legal documenrs and for- Beit-Shcan prove" rh rhe Ialmudic reporr $irs a(curJre. ror in a bti*ing
nuhe used down to the present day. Aramaic was spoken by Jews and to' lherrli\ n $homrdelhis$ur[ rheqordlbr mrLle.r:rr rs spt ,.Lt cnri
olhers alter the ldamic conquest and lived on, at l€ast in rhe villages, inlo rectly with an dltr, but'work'nn?:N is with an d/r,/ tbr lhe .drrr. And irin
the eleventh century. Hai caon, who compos€d mosr of his works in 'Ihi\'hn, r rpr tor lhe finatrc. Olher inscriprions
trom rhe Beir-Sh<rn vJ (y
Arabic, refers to Aramaic as "our language," and the C€onim composed displry rhe same orlhographic I he drrtccr in $hich lhe t!\\
many of their works in Babylonian Aramaic-rhe Letter of Shrira caon. of the guuurals is mosr pronounced'dioslnc,Jcie\.
is rhe Samariran. ln the rradirional
Hai s father, being a prime example. The Book of Commandments ot A,nan, Samaritan pronunciation, all the gu(urals are reduced ro zero. and in
the early Karaite leader, was also written in this dialect. Naturally, recourse wriling real confusion reigns; thus, rDn wrilren rby, ctc. ln th€ Erst, it is
must be had lo Bood manuscripts, Geniza fragmenrs, etc., for the proper Syriac which seens to be most conservdtive,'s for ir has a ser onhography es_
study of Babylonian Aramaic. A large number of"incantation" or "magic" tablished at an early period and maintained tor the ctassical language
bowls have been found in lraq (in the Nippur region) and in lran (in despite phonological changes that may have laken place. Jewish Babyt-onia-n
Khuzistan). These bowls, whose purpose was to ward olfevil, are found nor Aramaic and Mandaic have tost the gutrurals; rhis is less appareni in the
only in Jewish script and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, bur also in the Syriac orthography ofthe Jewish lexts. since scribat pracrice was intiuenced by the
and Mandaic scripts and languages, as well as in the "pagan" script referred conlinuous reruurse to Biblic.rt ind targumic \nur€es. Bur the pJli\liIi:r,r\
Jr
to above. Although some ofthe bowls are distinctly Mandaean or Christian trmes lurlled rhcir Brbllonidn co ergues in d wa) $hich mdke\ cte , rh.rl
(those in Syriac) in content. they represent an interesiing cultural lhe Bahtlo iJn no longcr dislinguished rhe \ariou\ gu urlt,.
phenomenon since they share many common elements across religious TI€re was a tendency in Easrern Aramaic to inle;chnnge / .lnd ,,. Ihis
boundaries. Tb€ dialect and script were determin€d by thecommunity ofthe may be seen in rhf develupmenl ot rhe pr€fix ot rhe rhrrd perion rnrpcr !er.r rrr
person lor whose protection the bowl was written. Most ofthe Jewish bowls Syr iac, rnd plrr'all) in Mandric and Jeu ish Baby lonran rrr.,mric, trer. r >
were intended tor pagans, and some ofrhe Mandaic and "pagan" bowls are r (!ee bclos,. ln Jesish Aramaic rhrs change
is tound in r \ariely" ot \crbs
Jewish in content but were written for non-Jews. and nouns: e.9., lqt rolakehotdot became nq. Nbn tahtna bciome
xlrr
The differences between Eastern and Western Aramaic are found in the nahna. Not the ironic remark: rDn: n, ibit:;'ix] rti@rD,Ntt: r)ir ,those
areas of vocabulary, phonology, morphology, and synrax. foolish Babylonians who ear bread with bread. (8.T. Besa t6a). tn rhe
l. Vocabulaty. Lists otwords typi€al ofthe Western dialecr, in contrast Babylonian dial€cts rhere was also a lendency for finat / r r,, ro be drop,
to those of the East, could easily be drawn up. A simple criterion lrom the ped.
earliest periods may be lbund in rhe word for'to see'-in standard Aramaic L Strra\ a d Motpholog.
.belween {a) An rmportanr s}nracric di\rrncrion
trom the e,rrliest periods and in the Easrern Aramaic dial€cls it is lz),; in the hastern and w€srern diatecls is in qord order. tn t-artr Aramric
Western Aramaic dialects, t,'U. There are naturally more Creek and Latin and Wesrern Aramdic the order i\ usu3lty trrh.,tthy,r.ohje,i. *htc in
loanwords in the Wesl, and more borrowed from Akkadian and Iranian in Eastern Ararnaic-and this feature is alreaay appareni in clIiciat
the East. Aramaic-the word much treer and the objecl ofre; preccded rhe verb.
2. Phonologt. In all rhe Aramaic dialecrs, th€ gulrurals-the laryngeals Th€se points become 's
clear when the same tale is told jn bolh rhe paleslinjan
and pharyngeals-r€main a subjecl for study, for there can b€ nodoubt that and Babylonian Talrnuds or wheo a palestinian Aramaic text is quoled in irs
th€y have been affected in all rh€ dialecrs; but rhe degr€e ro which rhis hap- more or less original form in lhe Babltonian latrnud. (b, Ihe rrre,tcrn
pened is nol readily ascertainable everywhcre. The Western dialect most dialects maint:rin€d lhe di\tinction berween rhe absotule rnd rhc dclerminrd
conservative in ils orthography is Christian P;lestinian Aramaic, but even lorms ol r hc noun: /.rra/, / ka'pd geba t gabft . etc. I hr\ disrincrion haJ been
/
here there are indications rhar thegutturals have been contus€d. Th€ same is losl in Lhe La.tern dialecrs, and the delermined forn $as in generat use, $ irh
40 ioNAs c, cREENrjtEt,D ARAMAIC AND ITS DIAI,ECTS 4t

th€ absolute forms reserved for the pr€dicate adjeclive and tor dislribu.ive and the countries under the of rhe Babytonian rcddcnies durioC
repctitions. l t was thus ne.essat y lo s y gab.A had ot had gab fi f or' n]an'. the Geonic period; these wer€'nlluence
to becom€ rhe common properly ol nll rites.
^
l he wesrern dialects preserved the distinction betw.f,n nalkin and nalkary,a During the Early Middle Ages, ir was quire poputar for lirurgisrs ro compose
'kings : the kings', nnlkdn: nalkafi 'queens: the queens'; but Easl€rD in Aramaic alongside the more usual Hebrew. A good example would be rhe
Aramaic koew only ,ralke tolkdtd.Ihe m^sculine plural -a is another 'aqdantut nti in rccited on Shavuor in rhe Ashkenrzic rituat. Aramaic was
distinctive lealure ol Eastern ^nd Aramaic. lt may be the result ol phonetic used by som€ of the poets ot rhe Spanish Cotden Age,when they wanted to
development or it may be due to the influence of Akkadian, for the use of-i wrile complimentary poems to one another in as elusive langunge rs possi-
as masculine plural suffix was widespr€ad during the first millennium B.c.E. ble to test thc recipienl s scholarship and erudirion. A good €xarnple ot rhis
(c) the western dialects use the common Semitic prefix J'- tor the third is the noem rhar Shlomo ibn cabirol $role in hono' ot Jonrh ibn Cr Jh
p€rson imperlect. In the East this prefix isalways 1- or r- (the lattcr always in a poem which has attracted scholarly att€ntion and {cumen in reccnt years.
Syriac), which has been traced back to the influence of the Akkadian It goes without saying that the language ol lhese poems, borh Ashkcn.rzic
precativ€ /iplrr form. Thus in th€ Western dialects .tanar 'he will say' is the and Sefardic, is artifici{l since the aurhor made use of the grcat vnriery ol
tor , while in the East it is lena. ot cnw \^Ad in Jewish Babylonian texts ol all periods available ro him. the most imporlanr nredievat tirer ry
Arnnr.ric /e d :rnd na,,.i). work in Aramaic is, ol course, the Zohar. writlcn in Sprin in the thirrccnth
ln the .rbove we have discuss€d only salient features. Many olhers could century by Moses de Leon. He created with great ingenuily an artiljcirl
be added. Certain Tractates ot the Babylonian Talmud use a type of Aramaic dialect which rnade use of borh l,alestinian ard Babylonian
Aramaic that app€ars at firsl glanc€ to be closer to the language otOnqelos; linguislic traditions. lt has been poinred out that alongside his own skilllul
the Talmud quoles a variety of legal formulae, magical formulae, tolk say- inventions, he otlen used idiomaric expressions currenl in the Spanish
ings. €(c. Thes€ ar€ worthy of further study not only for their contents but spoken in his day. A good exampte ol rhis is ra:'.r'Dtb:) /ard.$1irra d/ir.i .ro
also for the linguistic information they contaio. mitigat€ thejudgment', literally 'ro sweet€n rhejudgm€nr', based on Spanish
Ihe Babylonian Talmud was to become, for various historical and srd[/:dr 'to sweeren, soften, mirigate; in turn this has entered Hebrew as
culturat reasons, th€ main item in the curriculum of Jewish studies lor a l'5n A8. ?'nhn lehantiq et hadin. From th€ Zohar, prayers such as the -ftl
thousand y€ars. lt is, therefore, not at allsurprising thatJewish speech in lhe n'Do bri& nre,h entered theritual.ln thesi)(teenth century. R.tbbi lsaacL ri.r
many languages that Je*s made their own was spiced wilh words and (the Ari) of Safed composed hymns tor the Sabbath merh in Aramric; and
phrases from Babylonian Aramai€ (the constant use of the OnqelosTargum the popular TDr n'Jrd rrbrdr, which has become par( ol (he Sabbath "rable
may also have been influential in this r€eard). Such interrogative expres- servic€," was wrilten by lsra€l NajAra. The "rabbinic sryle ' popular among
sions as xDro'xD ,di la rrd'why?', ntrD niTtr rxDt lenai nalqa ntinnah'whal rabb;s and s€holars of a traditiondl cast conrains a he.rlth) dose ol Aranlric
difference does it make?'. 'bb \n nt..) min ah lale ,ril/e how does one phraseotogy-
know? were wid€spread (the translations are functional rather than lileral). Aramaic is still spoken in various parts ot the N€ar East. A descendrnr
A ll€brew speaker today, innocent ofAramaic, may be heard using lhe ex- of W€stern Aramaic is still us€d by Chrisrian villagers in Ma.tuta and Jub,
pression Nfinir! benihuta '.almly , quietly' or F!'1t baFminan 'cotpse, b adin near Damascus. The Eastern Modern Aramaic dial€cls, usually crl
recently deceas€d' (an apotropaic expression meaning lit€rally 'away from led Modern Syriac, were spok€n by Chrislians and Jews in an are.r rhnt ex-
us ). He might refer to a bitch ol the human species as a *n!t) k/avra (the tended lrom thc Jezira in norrhern Syria through rhe Lake van area ot
canine would always be Hebrew kalba) or to a 'whore' as a t(?D nalqa €astern Turkey, Soviet Azerbaijan, norrhern Iraq, and trrn. Many of these
(although the Hebrew equivalent /a,i'aril is more lrequ€ntly used). A few Christians have emigrated to orher counrri€s, p.imarily thc Unilcd Sl,rres. A
generalions ago an accepted version of'Gesundheit' (atter sneezing) was literary revival developed under the aegis of I'roleslanr missionaries during
NhrEr. rrrra'health' (in Yiddish ar"rr), a word whose history bespeaks the the last century, and there was a similar r€vivat tosrereil by nativc Carhotic
compl€xity of the material studi€d here, for 'arrrd is borrowed from Akka- priests. -lhe term "Assyriani' was used lo. rhe first group, while
dian arrlu. an abslract formed from orf'healer', which in lurn is based on "Chaldeans is usual for rhe second. Borh use the Ncslorian type ofslrjrc
Sumerian a.:r'he who knows the water (urine)'. script. Periodicals in this language, as well as books rnd pamphlers, are
A variely of Aramaic prayers were in use among lhe Jews of Babylon r€gularly published in lran. The Jews who liv€d in rhe mounrains ot Kur-
42 JONAS C. CREENFIELD ARAMAIC AND ITS DIALECTS 43

disl:rn llnd adjacent areasspcak similar dialects, but th€ inlluence ofH€brcw tor 'uni-' or 'mono-' in compounds like tdd_8ori 'monotonous ' had-stlti
and the classic Jewish Aramaic dial€cts has bccn noted in thcir language. 'onc-etay', had-ntfiagi 'single'patty (Political)' etc. Aramaic r/ar 'lhree'
They have nn extensive oral literature consisting of liturgical poems, serv€s the same function tor'tri- (A model lo. this use was found in such
folklales, and a traditional oral translation ofsome Biblical texts. They had rarc forms as Mishnaic Hebrew fllyl$l drpatfryin Janus-faced ' and /u.
also develop€d a written litcrature in llebr.w script. Most of the Aramaic- borrowed from Gr€€k dlo, functions for'two or'bi_, di' as in dtjtalr
speaki'rg Kurdish Jews, except for somc living in lran, have migrated lo 'diltogue'.) So too ldr, bascd on Babylonian Aramaic, is'subr (alongsidc d/
lsr.rrl. It is worth noting that words that are in common usage in Modern 'supcr-').
Ar,rrn,ric occur rs varianl rcadings preserved in som€ oI the manuscripts or By having becomc thc second JeBish language in Jewish history'
in Syrirc lexic.rl lists. Thc spoken Aramaic of thc Kurdish Jews residcnl in Aramaic has in turn gained as much as il hasgiven and hrs bccome nrcrged
lsracl has absorbed many Hebrew wo.ds and phrases, and one can he:rr or fused wilh Hebrew.
such nrixtures of the old and the ne\r as .rdppd r/i4la 'a new sofa'. But there
can be no dor,st that Hebrew will replace Aramaic among the Kurdish lews
in lhc course of the next Benerarion or two-
Ar.rmaic has had a direct influencc on thc vocabulary of Hebrcw
tbrouShout lne long period ofcontacl between thc two languages. Scholars
havc pointed out loanwords and calqu€s in Biblical Hebrew and Mishnaic
Hebrcw. This process continued through the mcdicval period, *hen neither
langu.rge was spoken by most Jews. Modcrn llcbrew has been greatly
enriched by Arar .aic-this was evident already at the b€ginning ot its
rebirth .rs ,t literary languagel the proc€ss became more intense with th€
rcvival of Hebrcw as a spoken language. since many of those who wer€ in-
vollcd in this revival brought with rhem tradilional iraining in lheclassical
sourccs. I his is :in ongoinS process in the contemporary langurge. The close
an.rlysis ol a page of modcrn text in Isra€li H€brcw will revcal the absorp-
tion and adoption ofmany Aramaic roots into curr€nt Hebrew-the natural
result ofan extcnded linguistic symbiosis. The verb root rql, noted above in
discussing the phonology of Babylonian Aramaic, may serve as an example.
ll enlered the tlebrew of the Babylonian Amoraim lrom Aramaic, was
widely used in the phrase rr, b?r naqat k2lal 'to ta ke as a rulc and in other
exprcssions. ln Modern Hebrcw it is used in phras.s such as 1'r ElrrDr Dp!
toqat enrya itn ,lrged 'he took measures against', etc. The word lor an
'airpl.rne laking ofl is np'bl ncriqd bascd on a putative Aramaic root
lbl. At
limcs new phrases are formed by replacinS part of an Aramaic crpression
with the equivalent Hebrew; thus, Talmudic tD'p.',irv iilh| deqayd'the end
ol su'rmei b€comes ii/le haqayis: lh. A..amaic qayfi is reta'ned in xlD!?
qattotta, used for a'sumnrer program for childr€n'. Still another way in
which llebrew hus used Aramaic is in the formation oInumerical and other
prefixes: 1l1 ray''one', familiar to Hebrcw studcnts from fi had beddd
'i-tfi of lhe com-
'uniqu€ in the generation' or *r)n lD tn lad rrin habfttA'one
prny , not ro speak of r|.rfi had gadfi frcm tie Passover Hagada, is used