Aramaic letter. Its features and branches

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

The Aramaic script was used to write the text in the Aramaic language, in which trade transactions were conducted in the Middle East from about 1000 BC. e. and up to 1000 AD. e. It comes from the Phoenician script. Since the evolution from one to the other has been a continuous process for about 2000 years, it is difficult to separate them into separate Phoenician and Aramaic blocks. However, scholars agree that the divergence between them began around the 8th century BC. The script used in Western Europe and the Mediterranean is called Phoenician, and the one used in the Middle East, Central and South Asia is called Aramaic.

Persian Empire Language

Aramaic was the official language of the Achaemenid Empire from the 5th to the 3rd century BC. e. It was used in the territory of modern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Macedonia, Iraq, northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria and some partsEgypt. The Aramaic script was so common that it survived the collapse of the Persian Empire and continued to be used until the 2nd century AD. By the end of the 3rd century, other forms emerged from this alphabet, which formed the basis of the Syriac, Nabataean and Pamir scripts.

The least changed form of Persian Aramaic is now used in Hebrew. The cursive Hebrew variant developed in the first centuries CE. e., but it was used only in a narrow circle. In contrast, cursive, developed from the Nabataean alphabet during the same period, soon became the standard and was used in the developing Arabic script. This happened during the early spread of Islam.

Aramaic script and features of its writing

Aramaic was written from right to left, with spaces between words. The abjad system was used: each of the twenty-two letters represented a consonant. Since the interpretation of some words was ambiguous when vowels were not written in, Aramaic scribes began to use some of the existing consonants to indicate long vowels (first at the end of words, then inside). Letters that have this double consonant/vowel function are called matres lectionis. The letters waw and yudh can represent respectively the consonants [w] and [j] or the long vowels [u/o], [i/e], respectively. Similarly, the letter "alaf" represents a consonant [ʔ] at the beginning of a word, or a long vowel [a/e] elsewhere.

Another feature of Aramaicletters is the presence of a section sign to indicate thematic headings in texts. Aramaic orthography was very systematic. Often the spelling of words more accurately reflected their etymology than their pronunciation.

The above is a photo of an Aramaic script. This is a rare manuscript, namely an ancient Syriac manuscript about Rikin Al Kiddas (holy power). It also has a postscript written in Arabic and a note that this manuscript was purchased by Abraham Ben Jacob.

Aramaic offshoots

The Aramaic script serves as the basis for various alphabets that eventually came to be used by many peoples in the Middle East. One example is the square Hebrew script.

Another important offshoot of Aramaic is Nabataean, which eventually evolved into Arabic script, replacing older Arabian scripts such as South Arabic and Thamudic.

In addition, it is the Aramaic script that is believed to have influenced the development of scripts in India. Many of the characters in the Kharosty and Brahmi scripts bear some resemblance to the letters in the Aramaic alphabet. It is not clear what the exact relationship between Indian and Aramaic is, but the latter was certainly known in northwestern India, and to some extent influenced the development of writing in South Asia.

Another important branch of Aramaic writing was the Pahlavi script, which in turn developed Avestan and Sogdian. Sogdian letter,which is used in Central Asia has branched into the Uighur, Mongolian and Manchu alphabets.

As you can see, the Aramaic language was a kind of base in the history of the development of writing in Asia. It spawned systems of notation used by many countries in vastly different geographic locations.

Modern Aramaic

Today, biblical texts, including the Talmud, are written in Hebrew. Syriac and Neo-Aramaic dialects are written using the Syriac alphabet.

Due to the almost complete identity of the Aramaic and the classical Hebrew alphabet, the Aramaic text in the scientific literature is mainly typed in standard Hebrew.

Dreidel letters

Dreidel is the spinning top used for games during the Hanukkah festival. It has four Hebrew/Aramaic letters on it: shin, hey, gimel, nun/gamal, heh, noon, pe.

The custom of playing dreidel is based on the legend that in the time of the Maccabees, when Jewish children were forbidden to study the Torah, they still bypassed the ban and studied. When the Greek official approached, they put away their books and twirled their tops, claiming they were just playing games.

The letters on the dreidel are the first letters in the Hebrew phrase, meaning "a great miracle happened there", that is, in the land of Israel. In Israel, the letter "pe" (for the Hebrew word "po", meaning "here") replaces the letter shin to describe "the great miracle that happened here."