(By Felicia Trecek / June 6, 2008 - updated December 21, 2009)
Aramaic is known as a Jewish language, but Aramaic is not another name for the Hebrew language. Aramaic is a close sister of Hebrew, and it is akin to and a derivative of the Phoenician alphabet/language. The (older) ancient Paleo-Hebrew is closer in form to that of the Phoenician alphabet. In other words, both languages - Hebrew and Aramaic - are descendants from the Phoenician language. Ironically, the Greek alphabet, is also a descendant of Phoenician, but the script was modified to represent vowel phonemes.
The alphabet of the two languages (Hebrew and Aramaic) look almost identical. And, all of the Aramaic letters represent consonants as like the Hebrew letters do. (Please see attached chart on the right.)
For a comparison: The English language is actually a Germanic language; however, English and German are not the same language. Although, German and English are sisters. And, I can use English letters to write a German sentence. For example: "Hallo, wie geht es Ihnen?" means, "Hi, how are you?".
Aramaic and Hebrew languages are not the same language, but are sisters. And, the Aramaic language can be written using the Hebrew alphabet just as I can write something in German using the English letters/alphabet.
I e-mailed and asked a man by the name of Fred P. Miller - one of the many translators of the Dead Sea Scrolls - why the name "Joshua", the son of Nun, was written differently in Nehemiah 8:17 than in any other place in the bible. Fred told me he thought it was due to the Aramaic language influence since the Jews who returned from Babylon spoke and wrote Aramaic. Some words are similar, but others are not. Fred wrote me some examples. One example is ABIB/AVIV. He said that ABIB/AVIV is the Hebrew name of the first month, but NISAN is the Aramaic name for the first month. (I think most people know this one already.)
For another example, Fred wrote me this: "Every quotation of Jesus like "Talitha qumi" or "Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani" that Jesus is cited as saying is the Aramaic language and not the Hebrew." (Ref: Mark 5:41, Mark 15:34 and Matthew 27:46)
Biblical Aramaic, Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects and the Aramaic language of the Talmud are written in the Hebrew alphabet. Syriac and Christian Neo-Aramaic dialects are written in the Syriac alphabet.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
MIDDLE ARAMAIC (200 BC - 200 AD). After Alexander the Great had conquered the Near East and the Greek language had spread widely, various local dialects of Aramaic developed. From this period comes the Aramaic of the New Testament, of some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, of the Bar Cochba texts, of the Nabateans and of the Palmyreneans.
LATE ARAMAIC (AD 200-700). In this era the western branch of Aramaic included Samaritan, and Christian Palestinian Aramaic; the eastern branch included Syriac, Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic and Mandaic. Many words in the New Testament are transliterations from the Aramaic. The following are some examples, minus the example that I already gave of Christ's words on the cross. Peter's name Cephas is from 'kepha' (rock); Thomas is from 'toma' (twin). 'Bar' the Aramaic word for (son) occurs in such names as Bartholomew, Bar- Jonas, Barabbas and Bartimaeus. (The Hebrew word for son is 'ben' ). Golgotha is from 'golgolta' (skull); and Maranatha comes from 'maran' (our Lord) and 'eta' (come).
Some time after the exile of the Jews to Babylon, Aramaic translations and paraphrases of the Hebrew Scriptures, called TARGUMS, were made for those who understood the Aramaic language better than the Hebrew language. We have targums (translations) for all of the Old Testament books except Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. The earliest extant targums are from Qumran on the Dead Sea. An extensive targum on portions of Job came from one cave and dates from 150-100 BC. (Before Christ!)
OLD TESTAMENT PROOF
For those of you that want an explicit scripture that demonstrates that the Israelites were not speaking Hebrew when they returned from Babylon and thereafter, please read Nehemiah 8. The people - at that time - were ignorant of the law - and Nehemiah and Ezra read the book of the law to them. HOWEVER, they had to translate the Hebrew language (v:7-8) to the people so that they could understand the teaching.
CONCLUSION
Based upon the above facts, Aramaic is it's own distinct language, and it can be written with the Hebrew letters. And, during the time of Christ - the first century - the common Jewish people were not speaking Hebrew nor was Christ. They spoke Aramaic.
