From xtr08@DIAL.PIPEX.COM Wed Nov 26 11:36:25 1997
Date: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 16:51:19 -0000
From: Muhammed Suleiman 
To: ANCIEN-L@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU
Subject: Re: Aramaic

Aramaic is a North-West Semitic language,quite closely related to Hebrew, but not as ancient. It is divided into two types :

(1) West Aramaic : the language of the Old Aramaic inscriptions, the oldest of which come from northern Syria and date from the beginning of the eighth century B.C. West Aramaic also includes : Nabatean (100 B.C. to 100 A.D.), Palmyrean (100 B.cC. to 300 A.D.) Sinaitic (1st-4th cents. A.D.); Biblical Aramaic, the language of certain parts of the Old Testament, and the very closely allied language of the Aramaic Papyri and fragments from Egypt ; Judeo-Aramaic of the Targum and the Palestinian Talmud (ca. 2nd-5th cent. A.D.); Samaritan, the language of the Samaritan translation of the Pentateuch, which continued to be used into the Middle Ages as a literary tongue ; Christian Palestinian Aramaic, the language of the Melkite Christians of Palestine (from 5th-8th cent.) and finally New Aramaic, a modern language spoken in the village of Ma'lulah in Syria (as well as in two smaller neighbouring villages).

(2) East Aramaic : Judeo-Aramaic of the Babylonian Talmud (4th-6th cents.), Mandean, the language of the gnostic sect of the same name (from the 4th cent. on) ;Syriac, a very important language, used as a literary language, especially in the northern city of Edessa, the oldest inscriptions date back to the first century A.D., it was later used as a liturgical language by the Syrian Church in both its Jacobite and Nestorian forms ; the modern New Aramaic dialects of Iraq (in Mosul and Tur Abdin) and Armenia (including what was Soviet Armenia), including the modern literary dialect of Urmia.

I could make suggestions as to which books to use , but as you can see from the above, I would need to know which variety you were interested in, and perhaps why.

I hope this is useful, please don't hesitate to contact me if you need to know more.

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