One of the largest collections of texts in Aramaic, Achaemenid, numbering about 500, is that the fortifications of Persepolis tablets ^, .

Aramaic was the "lingua franca" of that time, the language of education and trade spoken around the world .. In the 8th century BC, Aramaic was spoken fluently by Egypt to Asia Major, to Pakistan, and was the main language of the great empires of Assyria, Babylon, and more later the Chaldean Empire and the imperial government of Mesopotamia. Aramaic has also spread to Palestine, supplanting Hebrew as the language most commonly spoken between 721 and 500 BC noted that much of Jewish law was created, debated and transmitted in Aramaic and it is also the language the basis of the Talmud.

Jesus would have spoken and written what is known today as Western Aramaic, the dialect of the Jews of that time. After the death of Christ, early Christians wrote some scripture in Aramaic, chronicling the life of Jesus and spread his word in that language in many countries.

Language historically used to express religious ideas, Aramaic is a link between Judaism and Christianity. Professor Franz Rosenthal wrote in his book Journal of Near Eastern Studies (unofficial translation): "In my opinion, the history of Aramaic represents the triumph, pure and simple, of the human spirit embodied in the language ( which is the most direct expression of the spirit) ... Group

The three dialect groups are present:

• the Western neo-Aramaic (Syriac West), spoken by a few thousand speakers from three villages in Syria of the Anti-Lebanon (which Maaloula ), and probably by some families of the diaspora in the Syrian cities and Lebanese and America;
• the neo-Aramaic East (neo-Syriac, Syriac vulgaris), which has hundreds of thousands of people particularly in northern Iraq called " Sureth "in the Caucasus and in the Diaspora ( Europe , Americas , Australia ) members of various Eastern Christian churches (see Assyria ), Jewish Targum (or Kurdish Jews, see Lishan Didan and Judo-Aramaic language ) or Mandaeans.
• the central neo-Aramaic spoken by a few thousand speakers of the villages of Tur Abdin dialect Turoyo Propagation

  The Aramaic papyri of Elephantine , witnesses of the life of a Jewish community in Egypt to the Achaemenid era , is another important body of texts.

  Jewish Community

  Main article: Judeo-Aramaic.

  The Book of Daniel and the Book of Ezra are written partly in Aramaic.

  Among the manuscripts of Qumran , one hundred is made up of texts written in Aramaic, including translations of the Bible ( Targums ) .

  The Targum Onkelos , traditionally attributed to the proselyte Onkelos , is the official translation of the Torah used by the Jewish community in Babylon. Aramaic was also the language used by the rabbis who participated in the writing of the Babylonian Talmud. Language in which the two Talmud were written in full. Only the Mishna is written in Hebrew. Thus, a yeshiva student worthy of this name often has better knowledge of Hebrew in modern Aramaic.

  Time of Jesus

  Aramaic was the common language of Palestine in the time of Jesus of Nazareth and remained throughout the region since Mani preached in Aramaic.

  It is estimated that Jesus of Nazareth preached in Aramaic .

  A phrase attributed to Jesus, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? "Is reported by a different transcription in the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Matthew.

  The text of Westcott-Hort makes this quote as follows:

  • In Matthew 27:46: " ("Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani).
  • In Mark 15:34, " "(" Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani).

  The Codex Bezae , versions of Stephanus New Testament (1550) and Scrivener New Testament (1894) give a different version of Matthew 27:46: " ("Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani). The transcript of the passage in Greek of Matthew , is closer to the Hebrew official time.

  The NIV puts note on two verses it is a quotation from Psalm 22:2 in Aramaic (Hebrew, ? Eli, Eli, lama chvaktani). The Bible puts a note on the verse from Mark 15:34: "Jesus had to speak in Aramaic, Elahi, transcribed Eloi, perhaps under the influence of the Hebrew Elohim." These two translations transcribe Eli (Eli ) to Matthew, and Eloi (Eloi) for Mark.

  Middle Ages

  The Zohar , a book written in esoteric Jewish Spain in the ^thirteenth century , was written in Aramaic.

  Today

  Word processing

  The first word processing software in Aramaic was developed in 1986-1987 in Kuwait by Sunil Sivanand, a young professional information technology is now general manager and chief engineer aceti, a company based in Dubai. The project was sponsored by Daniel Benjamin, who was head of a group of people who strive to preserve and revive the Aramaic language.

  Notes

  1. This language was known by several names over the centuries. According to the encyclopedia or dictionary of the sciences, arts and crafts , "the Syriac language, called at various time, Chaldean or Babylonian language, Aramaic, Assyrian, Hebrew was still appointed, not to be confused with the ancient Hebrew but because it was become the vernacular of the Jews since their return from the Babylonian captivity, and she was still in the time of Jesus - Christ. "
  2. "Aramaic language" in the Encyclopaedia Britannica , searchable online version at November 4, 2009.
  3. John A. Matthew Stolper, What Are The Persepolis Fortification Tablets?, The Oriental Studies News & Notes, Winter 2007, pp. 6-9, transcribed on the site Persepolis Archive Project , accessed February 12, 2007
  4. These texts were edited by RA Bowman as the Aramaic Ritual Texts from Persepolis, Oriental Institute Publications, Volume XCI, University of Chicago Press, 1970 ( ISBN 0-226-62194-4 )
  5. Ursula Schattner-Rieser, Aramaic texts of the Dead Sea. Bilingual edition, with commentary and vocalized, Safran, Brussels, 2005 ( ISBN 2-87457-001-X ) presented the editor , accessed February 14, 2007
  6. Black, M. , An Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts. 3rd Ed, Hendrickson Publishers, 1967. Burney, CF , The Aramaic Origin Of The Fourth Gospel, Oxford At The Clarendon Press, 1922. Casey, M., The Aramaic Sources of Marks' Gospel, Cambridge University Press, 1998. Casey, M., An Aramaic Approach to Q, Cambridge University Press, 2002. Zimmermann, F., The Aramaic Origin of the Four Gospels, Ktav Publishing House, 1979.
  7. Matthew 27:46 on BibleGateway.com
  8. Mark 15:34 on BibleGateway.com
  9. Matthew 27:46 from the Stephanus New Testament and New Testament Scrivener on BibleGateway.com

  Bibliography

  • Ursula Schattner-Rieser, Aramaic texts of the Dead Sea. Bilingual edition, with commentary and vocalized, et al. Languages and ancient cultures 5, ed. Safran, Brussels, 2005, ( ISBN 2-87457-001-X )

  Filmography

  • Robert Alaux, Latest Assyrians , Paris , 2003 (52-minute documentary film evoking the origin of languages Aramaic and Syriac)

  See also

  Aramaic.
  • Language
    • language list
      • Languages by family
        • Afro-Asian
          • Semitic languages

  External link

  • (En) Syriac Institute of Belgium
  • (En) The Aramaic language, information and bibliography

  • Language portal