Aramaic was the
language of the
Semitic peoples throughout the
ancient Near East. It was the language of the
Hebrew,
Chaldean,
Assyrian and
Syrian peoples. Because
Aram-
Damascus and
Israel sprang from the same stock, the
Hebrew patriarchs, of Aramaic origin, married with the tribes of
Aram, keeping their Aramaic names and speaking Aramaic.
The word
Aramaic comes from
Aram, who was the 5th son of
Shem, who in turn was the firstborn of
Noah. (cf. Gen. 10:22]. The children of Aram lived in the fertile valley called
Padan-aram or
Beth Nahreen. The language remained pure in Padan-aram and became the
lingua franca for the Semitic clans. By the 8th century B.C. Aramaic was the major language from
Egypt to
Asia Minor to
Pakistan. The empires of
Assyria and
Babylon used it as did the
Persian (
Iranian)
government in their western
provinces. The language of the Jews in their
ancient homeland shifted from
Hebrew to Aramaic between 721-500 B.C.
It is thought that Aramaic has gone through these changes:
- Old Aramaic 975-700 B.C.
- Standard Aramaic 700-200 B.C.
- Middle Aramaic 200 B.C.-200 A.D.
- Late Aramaic 200-700 A.D.
The language became the
official language of the
Mesopotamian
imperial government and was in general use until the spread of
Greek (331 B.C.). Still the language continued to be used in the
East until it was replaced by
Arabic in the 7th century. However, the
Christians of
Iraq,
Iran,
Syria,
Turkey and
Lebanon continued to use Aramaic at
home and in the
church.