The study of biblical Aramaic, an ancient Semitic language from which the Hebrew alphabet was derived, is necessary for understanding texts written during certain periods of early Jewish and Christian history and is especially important for the study of the books of Daniel and Ezra. This new textbook is a thorough guide to learning to read and translate biblical Aramaic and includes an introduction to the language, examples of texts for practice translations, and helpful comparison charts.
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Yes, you can access An Introduction to Biblical Aramaic by Andreas Schuele in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Theology & Religion & Biblical Reference. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
One of the best-preserved Aramaic texts is the inscription of King Zakkur of Hamat (today’s Afis in Syria) from the 8th century BCE. It represents the linguistic stage that preceded Imperial Aramaic. This inscription provides us with some important data about the development of the Aramaic language, especially with regard to Aramaic phonology and grammar. The following transcription includes most of stele I.93
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
….
(5)
… (9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
(13)
(14)
General Comments
The inscription predates the shift from interdentals to dentals. In line 1 the relative pronoun is written
(dî), not
, as in Imperial Aramaic; the same is the case in line 13:
“Do not fear!” would be written
in later Aramaic.
The inscription also shows that at this earlier stage in the development of the Aramaic script matres lectionis were used at the end of a word but not in the middle: “man” is written
rather than
, and the plural ending of masculine nouns (abs.) shows only the final
without the additional
(
-) (line 12:
“prophets” instead of
).94
Finally, the Zakkur inscription seems to use the waw imperfect (impf. consecutive) in line 11 (“and I lifted up,” “and he answered me”).95
