Judeo-Aramaic languages

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Judaeo-Aramaic languages represent a group of

Aramaic, like Hebrew, is a Northwest Semitic language, and the two share many features. From the 7th century BCE, Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Middle East. It became the language of diplomacy and trade, but it was not yet used by ordinary Hebrews. As described in 2 Kings 18:26, the messengers of Hezekiah, king of Judah, demand to negotiate with ambassadors in Aramaic rather than Hebrew (yehudit, literally "Judean" or "Judahite") so that the common people would not understand.

Gradual adoption

During the 6th century BCE, the

1. Hebrew is used as first language and in society; other similar Canaanite languages are known and understood.
2. Aramaic is used in international diplomacy and foreign trade.
3. Aramaic is used for communication between subjects and in the imperial administration.
4. Aramaic gradually becomes the language of outer life (in the marketplace, for example).
5. Aramaic gradually replaces Hebrew in the home, and the latter is used only in religious activity.

The phases took place over a protracted period, and the rate of change varied depending on the place and social class in question: the use of one or other language was probably a social, political, and religious barometer.

From Greek conquest to Diaspora

The conquest of the Middle East by Alexander the Great in the years from 331 BCE overturned centuries of Mesopotamian dominance and led to the ascendancy of Greek, which became the dominant language throughout the Seleucid Empire, but significant pockets of Aramaic-speaking resistance continued.

Different strata of Aramaic began to appear during the Hasmonaean period, and legal, religious, and personal documents show different shades of hebraism and colloquialism. The dialect of Babylon, the basis for Standard Aramaic under the Persians, continued to be regarded as normative, and the writings of Jews in the east were held in higher regard because of it. The division between western and eastern dialects of Aramaic is clear among different Jewish communities. Targumim, translations of the Jewish scriptures into Aramaic, became more important since the general population ceased to understand the original. Perhaps beginning as simple interpretive retellings, gradually 'official' standard Targums were written and promulgated, notably Targum Onkelos and Targum Jonathan: they were originally in a Palestinian dialect but were to some extent normalised to follow Babylonian usage. Eventually, the Targums became standard in Judaea and Galilee also. Liturgical Aramaic, as used in the Kaddish and a few other prayers, was a mixed dialect, to some extent influenced by Biblical Aramaic and the Targums. Among religious scholars, Hebrew continued to be understood, but Aramaic appeared in even the most sectarian of writings. Aramaic was used extensively in the writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and to some extent in the Mishnah and the Tosefta alongside Hebrew.

Diaspora

The

As the Jewish diaspora was spread more thinly, Aramaic began to give way to other languages as the first language of widespread Jewish communities. Like Hebrew before it, Aramaic eventually became the language of religious scholars. The 13th-century Zohar, published in Spain, and the popular 16th-century Passover song Chad Gadya, published in Bohemia, testify to the continued importance of the language of the Talmud long after it had ceased to be the language of the people.

20th century

Aramaic continued to be the first language of the Jewish communities that remained in Aramaic-speaking areas throughout Mesopotamia. At the beginning of the 20th century, dozens of small Aramaic-speaking Jewish communities were scattered over a wide area extending between Lake Urmia and the Plain of Mosul, and as far east as Sanandaj. Throughout the same region l, there were also many Aramaic-speaking Christian populations. In some places, Zakho for instance, the Jewish and Christian communities easily understood each other's Aramaic. In others, like Sanandaj, Jews and Christians who spoke different forms of Aramaic could not understand each other. Among the different Jewish dialects, mutual comprehension became quite sporadic.

In the middle of the 20th century, the founding of the State of Israel led to the disruption of centuries-old Aramaic-speaking communities. Today, most first-language speakers of Jewish Aramaic live in Israel, but their distinct languages are gradually being replaced by Modern Hebrew.

Modern dialects

Modern Jewish Aramaic languages are still known by their geographical location before the return to Israel.

These include:

• Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialect of Zakho – originally spoken in Kurdistan Region of Northern Iraq and Southeastern Turkey
• Iranian Azerbaijan and Lake Van area in Turkey
• Arbil
• Trans-Zab Jewish Neo-Aramaic  – originally spoken in Iranian Kurdistan
• Aqrah in Iraq
• Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialect of Betanure – or Lishan Huddaye originally from the village Bar Tanura in Iraq

Judeo-Aramaic studies

Judeo-Aramaic studies are well established as a distinctive

• Jewish Babylonian Aramaic
• Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
• Galilean dialect
• Israelian Hebrew
• Semitic languages
• Aramaic studies
• Assyrian Jews

References