Christian Palestinian Aramaic

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Christian Palestinian Aramaic
RegionPalestine, Transjordan, Sinai
Eraca. 400–1200
Afro-Asiatic
  • Proto-Afroasiatic
    • Proto-Semitic
Christian Palestinian Aramaic Alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottologchri1239

Christian Palestinian Aramaic was a

Samaritan Aramaic (SA).[6][7][1] CPA shows a specific vocabulary that is often not paralleled in the adjacent Western Aramaic dialects.[6]

Name

No source gives CPA a name as a distinct dialect or language and all such names are modern scholarly suggestions. Names like "Palestinian Syriac" and "Syro-Palestinian Aramaic" based on the modified Estrangela script.[7] Additionally, in later Rabbinic literature, Aramaic was recognized as Syriac.[8] Egeria, in the account of her pilgrimage to Palestine at the end of the 4th century, refers to Syriac,[9] which was probably what is now Christian Palestinian Aramaic.[10]

The term syrica Hierosolymitana was introduced by

J. D. Michaelis based on the appearance of the Arabic name of Jerusalem, al-Quds,[b] in the colophon of a Gospel lectionary of 1030 AD (today Vat. sir. 19).[12] It was also used in the first edition by Miniscalchi Erizzo.[13]

The terms "Christian Palestinian Aramaic" and "Melkite Aramaic"[c] and refers to the Christian group in Palestine deploying this dialect for their written sources.

History

CPA is preserved in inscriptions, manuscripts, mostly palimpsests in the early period, and amulets. The history of CPA writing can be divided into three periods: early (5th–7th/8th centuries), middle (8th–9th) and late (10th–13th). The existence of a middle period has only recently been suggested.[3]

Only inscriptions, fragmentary manuscripts and the underwriting of palimpsests survive from the early period. Of the inscriptions, only one can be dated with any precision. The fragments are both

liturgical in nature.[15][7]

CPA declined as a spoken language because of persecution and gradual Arabization following the early Muslim conquests. From the tenth century onwards it was mainly a liturgical language in the Melkite churches; the Melkite community mostly spoke Arabic.[1][7] Even as a written language, it went extinct around the fourteenth century and was only identified or rediscovered as a distinct variety of Aramaic in the nineteenth century.[16]

Corpus

Deuteronomy 11:7–10 from the Lewis lectionary, 11th century (Westminster College, Cambridge)

The only surviving original texts in CPA are inscriptions in mosaics and rock caves (lavras),[17][18] magical silver amulets[19][20][21] and a single short magical booklet.[22] All other surviving manuscript compositions are translations of Greek originals.[23]

Many of the palimpsests come from

Transitus Mariae;[27][28][29] the hitherto unknown martyrdom of Patriklos of Caesarea, one of the eleven followers of Pamphilus of Caesarea;[29][30] and a missing quire of Codex Climaci Rescriptus[29][31][32]), or offer valuable readings for the textual criticism of the Septuagint.[33]

Inscriptions have been found in Palestine at ʿEn Suweinit,

Hippos at Uyun el-Umm[38] in Galilee, and at Khirbet Qastra near Haifa.[39] In the Transjordan, inscriptions have been found on Mount Nebo (ʿAyūn Mūsa), in the vicinity of Amman (Khayyān el-Mushrif)[17] and on tombstones in Khirbet es-Samra.[18]

The manuscripts include a short letter on

hagiographic (mostly martyrs' lives) or apocryphal (e.g., the Transitus Mariae). There are only three dated manuscripts, the Gospel lectionaries of 1030, 1104, and 1118.[14]

Features

CPA can be distinguished from JPA and SA by the lack of direct influence from Hebrew and new Hebrew loanwords, its Hebrew loanwords being retained from an earlier symbiosis of Hebrew and Aramaic.[23] It is also distinguished by the presence of Greek syntax (by partial retention in translation).[1] Also, unlike JPA and SA, CPA is attested only in primary texts (mostly in palimpsests). There was no transmission of manuscripts after the language itself went out use as liturgical language. In comparison with its counterparts, therefore, the CPA corpus represents an older, more intact example of Western Aramaic from when the dialects were still living, spoken languages.

Editions of texts

Manuscripts

Inscriptions

  • M. Halloun and R. Rubin, "Palestinian Syriac Inscription from ‘En Suweinit," Liber Annuus 31, 1981, pp. 291–298, pls. 59–62.

Notes

  1. ^ This period may be described as Middle Aramaic or Late Aramaic.[3][4]
  2. ^ This itself was a correction of adquds by the editors Assemani.[11]
  3. ^ The term "Melkite Aramaic" was coined by Alain Desreumaux.[3]
  4. ^ Today in the Taylor-Schechter Collection, University Library of Cambridge; Bodleian Library, Oxford; and Museum of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

References

  1. ^ a b c d Friedrich Schulthess, Grammatik des christlich-palästinischen-Aramäisch (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1924), pp. 1–2.
  2. . For the Aramaic-speaking Christian communities of Sinai, Palestine or Trans-Jordan, Christian Palestinian Aramaic was the dominant language in local churches; for Syria and Mesopotamia, it was rather Syriac.…
  3. ^ a b c Christa Müller-Kessler, "Christian Palestinian Aramaic and Its Significance to the Western Aramaic Dialect Group" (review article), Journal of the American Oriental Society 119, 4 (1999), pp. 631–636.
  4. ^ J. A. Fitzmyer, "The Phases of the Aramaic Language," in The Wandering Aramean(Chico, California, 1979), pp. 57–84.
  5. ^ Alain Desreumaux apud Philothée du Sinaï, Nouveaux manuscrits syriaques du Sinai (Athens, 2008)
  6. ^ a b Christa Müller-Kessler, Grammatik des Christlich-Palästinisch-Aramäischen. Teil 1: Schriftlehre, Lautlehre, Morphologie (Texte und Studien zur Orientalistik 6; Hildesheim, 1991), p. 6.
  7. ^ a b c d Matthew Morgenstern, "Christian Palestinian Aramaic", in Stefan Weninger (ed.), The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook (De Gruyter Mouton, 2011), pp. 628–37.
  8. ^ Contours in the Text. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 64. …Suristi, "Syria", and "Syrian" – the Greek names for Aram, Aramaean or Aramaic. Aramaic was also known as 'Syriac' in later Rabbinic literature…
  9. ^ J. Wilkinson, Egeria's Travels (Oxford, 1963), p. 163.
  10. ^ W. Telfer, Cyril of Jerusalem and Nemesius of Emesa (London, 1955), p. 35.
  11. ^ F. Rosenthal, "Das Christlich-Palestinensische", in Die aramaistische Forschung seit Th. Nöldelke’s Veröffentlichungen (Leiden, 1939), pp. 144–146.
  12. ^ J. D. Michaelis and J. D. G. Adler, Novi Testamenti versiones syricae Simplex, Philoxeniana et Hierosolymitana (Copenhagen, 1798), p. 140.
  13. ^ F. Miniscalchi Erizzo, Evangeliarum Hierosolymitanum (Verona, 1861).
  14. ^ a b Smith Lewis, Agnes and Dunlop Gibson, Margaret (1899). The Palestinian Syriac lectionary of the Gospels, re-edited from two Sinai MSS, and from P. de Lagarde's edition of the "Evangeliarium Hierosolymitanum". Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner. p. ix.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. , in Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz and Lucas Van Rompay (eds.), Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition (Gorgias Press, 2011 [print]; Beth Mardutho, 2018 [online]).
  16. ^ Theodor Nöldeke, "Über den christlich-palästinischen Dialect", Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 22 (1868), pp. 443–527.
  17. ^ a b Émile Puech, "Notes d’épigraphie christo-palestinniene de Jordanie", in C. Dauphin and B. Harmaneh (eds.), In Memoriam Fr. Michele Piccirillo, OFM (1944–2008) (BAR International Series 248; Oxford, 2011), pp. 75–94, figs. 205–236.
  18. ^ a b Jean-Baptiste Humbert and Alain Desreumaux, Khirbet es-samra I Jordanie (Bibliothèque de l'anquité tardive; Turnhout, 1998), pp. 435–521 (script samples).
  19. ^ J. Naveh and S. Shaked, Magic Spells and Formulae (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1993), pp. 107–109, pl. 17.
  20. ^ E. Puech, "Deux amulettes palestiniennes une en grec et une bilingue en grec-christo-palestinien," in H. Gasche and B. Hrouda (eds.), Collectanea orientalia. Histoire, arts de l’espace et industrie de la terre. Etudes offertes en hommage à Agnès Spycket (CPOA 3; Neuchâtel, 1996), pp. 299–310.
  21. ^ K. Beyer, Die Texte vom Toten Meer, Vol. 1–2, Supplement (Göttingen, 1984, 1994, 2004).
  22. ^ M. Baillet, "Un Livret Magique en Christo-Palestinien à L'Université de Louvain", Le Muséon 78 , 1963, pp. 375–401.
  23. ^ a b Christa Müller-Kessler, Grammatik des Christlich-Palästinisch-Aramäischen. Teil 1: Schriftlehre, Lautlehre, Morphologie (Texte und Studien zur Orientalistik 6; Hildesheim, 1991), p. 8.
  24. ^ .
  25. ^ M. Sokoloff and J. Yahalom, "Christian Palimpsests from the Cairo Geniza", Revue d’Histoire des Textes 8, 1978, pp. 109–132.
  26. ^ F. Schulthess, Christlich-Palästinische Fragmente aus der Omajjaden-Moschee zu Damaskus (Berlin, 1905).
  27. .
  28. .
  29. ^ a b c "Research Site | Sinai Palimpsests Project". sinai.library.ucla.edu.
  30. .
  31. Agnes Smith Lewis
    , The Codex Climaci Rescriptus (Horae Semiticae VIII; Cambridge, 1909).
  32. Sebastian P. Brock
    , "The Syriac ‘New Finds’ at St. Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai and Their Significance", The Harp 27 (2011), pp. 39–52.
  33. ^ Christa Müller-Kessler, "1.4.9 Christian Palestinian Aramaic Translation", in Armin Lange and Emanuel Tov (eds.), The Hebrew Bible, Vol. 1A (Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. 447–456.
  34. ^ M. Halloun, and R. Rubin, "Palestinian Syriac Inscription from ʿEn Suweinit," Liber Annuus 31 (1981), 291–298, Tf. 59–62
  35. ^ J. T. Milik, "Inscription araméenne christo-palestinienne de ʿAbûd," Liber Annuus 10, 1959–60, pp. 197–204.
  36. ^ R. A. Macalister, "A Byzantine Church at Umm er Rûs," PEFQS 31, 1899, pp. 200–204.
  37. ^ F. Macler, "L’inscription syriaque de Ste. Anne à Jérusalem," in Mosaïque orientale (Paris, 1907), pp. 16–21.
  38. ^ Estēe Dvorjetski, Christa Müller-Kessler, Michael Eisenberg, Adam Pažout, Mechael Osband, “Christian Palestinian Aramaic Inscription from the Rural Territory of Sussita-Antiochia Hippos”, ARAM 34, 2022, pp. 138–151
  39. ^ L. Segni and J. Naveh, "A Bilingual Greek – Aramaic Inscription from Ḥ. Qastra, near Haifa," ‘Atiqot 29, 1996, pp. 77–78.
  40. ^ J. T. Milik, "The Archaeological Remains at el-Mird in the Wilderness of Judaea, Appendix: The Monastery of Kastellion," Biblica 42, 1961, pp. 21–27.
  41. ^ M.-H. Rutschowscaya and A. Desreumaux, "Une peinture copte sur un bois inscrit en araméen christo-paestinien au Musée du Louvre," Compte rendue de séances l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres 1992, pp. 83–92.

Further reading