Biblical Aramaic

Biblical Aramaic is the form of the Aramaic language that is used in the books of Daniel, Ezra and a few other places in the Hebrew Bible and should not be confused with the later Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible known as targumim . For the use of Aramaic in the Christian Bible, see the article on the Aramaic of Jesus.

Biblical Aramaic and Imperial Aramaic

Biblical Aramaic's affinity to other types of Aramaic has been hotly debated largely due to its implications on dating the book of Daniel. Scholars fall into three camps. In 1929, Rowley argued that Biblical Aramaic must come from later than the sixth century BCE and was more similar to the Targums than the imperial Aramaic documents available at his time.^[1] Conversely, others have argued that Biblical Aramaic most closely resembles the 5th Century Elephantine papyri and is therefore a good representative of typical Imperial Aramaic. K. A. Kitchen takes a middle position noting that Biblical Aramaic is most similar to Imperial Aramaic between 600-330BC but that in no way means it could not have been written as late as 170BC. Thus, the nature of Biblical Aramaic has no impact on dating.^[2]

Aramaic and Hebrew

Hebrew is the main language of the Hebrew Bible. Aramaic only accounts for about 250 verses out of a total of over 23,000. Biblical Aramaic is closely related to Hebrew being that both are in the Northwest Semitic language family. Some obvious similarities and differences are listed below.^[3]

Similarities

• Same Aramaic square script.
• Verb systems are based on triconsonantal roots.
• Similar functions of the verbal conjugations.
• Nouns have three states: the absolute, construct, and emphatic.

Differences

• Aramaic attaches the definite article at the end of a substantive.
• He and alef are interchangeable for the article.
• Aramaic uses different letters to represent the same sounds.
• Aramaic is not a Canaanite language and thus did not experience the Canaanite vowel shift from a to o.
• The preposition dalet functions as a conjunction and is often used instead of the construct to indicate the genitive relationship.

Phonology

History

During the eighth century BCE, Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Near East.^[4] Before that period, it had been the native language of the Aramaean city-states to the east. In 701 BCE, King Hezekiah of Judah negotiated with King Sennacherib of Assyria, as his army besieged Jerusalem. The account in 2 Kings 18:26 sets the meeting of the ambassadors of both camps just outside the city walls. Hezekiah's envoys pleaded that the Assyrians make terms in Aramaic so that the people listening could not understand. Thus, Aramaic had become the language of international dialogue, but not of the common people. In 586 BCE, King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and exiled many of the people of Judah to the east. During the exile, Aramaic became the language of necessity for the Israelites and the Aramaic square script replaced the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet.^[5] After the Persian Empire's capture of Babylon, it became the language of culture and learning. King Darius I declared^[6] that Aramaic was to be the official language of the western half of his empire in 500 BCE, and it is this Imperial Aramaic language that forms the basis of Biblical Aramaic.^[4]

Aramaic in the Hebrew Bible

Undisputed Occurrences

• Ezra 4:8–6:18 and 7:12–26 – quotations of documents from the 5th century BCE concerning the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem.
• Daniel 2:4b–7:28 – five tales about Daniel and his colleagues, and an apocalyptic vision.
• Jeremiah 10:11 – a single sentence denouncing idolatry occurs in the middle of a Hebrew text.
• Genesis 31:47 – translation of a Hebrew place-name.

Other suggested occurrences

• Genesis 15:1 – the word במחזה (ba-maħaze, "in a vision"). According to the Zohar (I:88b), this word is Aramaic, as the usual Hebrew word would be במראה (ba-mar’e).

• Numbers 23:10 – the word רבע (rôḇa‘, usually translated as "stock" or "fourth part"). Rabbi J.H. Hertz, in his commentary on this verse, cites an unnamed scholar's claim that this is an Aramaic word meaning "dust."

• Job 36:2a – Rashi, in his commentary on this verse, states that this phrase is in Aramaic.

Notes