Jewish Palestinian Aramaic
| Jewish Palestinian Aramaic | |
|---|---|
| Region | Palestine |
| Era | 200 - 1200 AD |
|
Afro-Asiatic
| |
| Hebrew alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
jpa |
| Glottolog |
pale1261[1] |
Jewish Palestinian Aramaic was a Western Aramaic language spoken by the Jews in Roman and Byzantine Palestine in the early first millennium. The language is notable for being that spoken by Jesus (see Language of Jesus).[2]
There were some differences in dialect between Judaea and Galilee, and most surviving texts are in the Galilean dialect: Michael Sokoloff has published separate dictionaries of the two dialects.
After the defeat of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 AD, the center of Jewish learning in the land of Israel moved to Galilee. With the Arab conquest of the country in the 7th century, Arabic gradually replaced this language.
The most notable text in this dialect's corpus is the Jerusalem Talmud, which is still studied in Jewish religious schools and academically, although not as widely as the Babylonian Talmud, most of which is written in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. There are some older texts in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, notably the Megillat Taanit: the Babylonian Talmud contains occasional quotations from these.
Many extant manuscripts in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic have been corrupted over the years of their transmission by Eastern Aramaic-speaking scribes freely correcting "errors" they came across (these "errors" actually being genuine Jewish Palestinian Aramaic features). To date, all formal grammars of the dialect fall victim to these corruptions, and there is still no published syntax.
Grammar
Verbal patterns
There are six major verb stems or verbal patterns (binyanim) in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic. The form pe‘al (פְּעַל) “to do”, the form Aph'el (אַפְעֵל) “let do”, and the form Pa'el (פַּעֵל) “like to do”, are all in the active voice. But the form Itpe'el (אִתְפְּעֵל), the form Itaph'al (אִתַפְעַל) and the form Itpa'al (אִתְפַּעַל) are essentially reflexive and have usually function in a passive sense.
| Aramaic binyan | Hebrew binyan | Aramaic example | Hebrew parallel | English translation |
| פְּעַל Pe'al | קַל Qal/Pa'al | כְּתַב | כָּתַב | he wrote |
| אִתְפְּעֵל ithpe'el[3] | נִפְעַל Niphal | אִתְכְּתֵיב | נִכְּתַב | it was written |
| אַפְעֵל Aph'el | הִפְעִיל Hiphil | אַפְקֵד | הִפְקִיד | he deposited |
| אִתַפְעַל Ittaph'al[4] | הָפְעַל Hophal | אִתַפְקַד | הָפְקַד | it was deposited |
| פַּעֵל Pa'el | פִּעֵל Pi'el | קַדֵיש | קִדֵש | he sanctifed |
| אִתְפַּעַל Ithpa'al[5] | נִתְפַּעַל Nitpa'al | וְיִתְקַדַּשׁ | נִתְקַדַּשׁ | it was sanctifed |
- Past tense
| Hebrew past tense | Aramaic past tense | Romanization of aramaic | English translation |
| (אני) קטלתי | קטלית | qatlet | I killed |
| (אתה) קטלת | קטלת | qtalt | you killed |
| (הוא) קטל | קטל | qtal | he killed |
| (אנחנו) קטלנו | קטלנן | qtalnan | we killed |
| (אתם) קטלתם | קטלתון | qtalton | you killed |
| (הם) קטלו | קטלו | qtalu | they killed |
- Present tense
| Hebrew present tense | Aramaic present tense | Romanization of aramaic | English translation |
| קוטל | קטל | qatel | (he) kills |
| קוטלת | קטלה | qatla | (she) kills |
| קוטלים | קטלין | qatlin | (they) kill |
| קוטלות | קטלן | qatlan | (they) (f.) kill |
- Future tense
| Hebrew future tense | Aramaic future tense | Romanization of aramaic | English translation |
| (אני) אקטול | נקטול | neqtol | I will kill |
| (אתה) תקטול | תקטול | teqtol | you will kill |
| (הוא) יקטול | יקטול | yeqtol | he will kill |
| (אנחנו) נקטול | נקטול | neqtol | we will kill |
| (אתם) תקטלו | תקטלון | teqtelun | you will kill |
| (הם) יקטלו | יקטלו | yeqtelu | they will kill |
Bibliography
- Gustaf Dalman: Grammatik des jüdisch-palästinischen Aramäisch, 2nd ed. Leipzig 1905
- Sokoloff, Michael, A Dictionary of Judean Aramaic: Bar Ilan 2003 ISBN 9652262617
- Sokoloff, Michael, A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period, 2nd ed.: Johns Hopkins 2002/3 and Ramat Gan 2002 ISBN 0801872340
- Caspar Levias (1986). A Grammar of Galilean Aramaic. The Jewish Theological Seminary of America. ISBN 0-87334-030-2.
References
- ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Palestinian Jewish Aramaic". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
- ↑ "'Passion' Stirs Interest in Aramaic". National Public Radio. 25 February 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
Jesus would have spoken the local dialect, referred to by scholars as Palestinian Jewish Aramaic, which was the form common to that region, Amar says.
- ↑ Gustaf Dalman: Grammatik des jüdisch-palästinischen Aramäisch, 2nd ed. Leipzig 1905, p. 402.
- ↑ Gustaf Dalman: Grammatik des jüdisch-palästinischen Aramäisch, 2nd ed. Leipzig 1905, p. 402.
- ↑ Gustaf Dalman: Grammatik des jüdisch-palästinischen Aramäisch, 2nd ed. Leipzig 1905, p. 402.
See also
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