Apr
12
Aramaic: The Language of Jesus (Yeshua)
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Steve Caruso
The Aramaic Language
You may know Aramaic as the language of Jesus, but did you know that Aramaic is actually a 3,000 year old language that evolved in the Middle East alongside Hebrew?
Aramaic has been the lingua franca of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, has been the language not only of books of the Old Testament/Tanakh and the New Testament, but Buddhist epistles and even written out in Chinese characters! We can even thank Aramaic for the Hebrew alphabet, which was originally written in Phoenician characters, but adopted the Aramaic writing system during the Babylonian exile. There are even numerous modern dialects of Aramaic still spoken today, but needless to say, your average 1st century BCE Aramean wouldn’t understand a word the modern speaker was saying.
However, if we’re going to talk about Aramaic, the first question to ask is: which one?
The Aramaic of Jesus 1st Century Galilean
Thanks to Mel Gibson, it’s now common knowledge that Jesus, or Yeshua in his native tongue, spoke Aramaic, specifically 1st Century Galilean Aramaic. “Spoke” is a little modest: Jesus had a remarkable way with words. Did you know that most of his dialogues from the New Testament rhyme in the Aramaic? Did you know that he was fond of puns?
What do we know today about Jesus’ brand of Aramaic? We know that, according to the Talmud, the Pharisees wanted 1st Century Galilean Aramaic speakers banned from praying in the Temple! Was this a deliberate move against Jesus? Apparently not. Galilean Aramaic was so distinctive a dialect that concerned busybodies feared their prayers sounded like curses.
The Aramaic Language
You may know Aramaic as the language of Jesus, but did you know that Aramaic is actually a 3,000 year old language that evolved in the Middle East alongside Hebrew?
Aramaic has been the lingua franca of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, has been the language not only of books of the Old Testament/Tanakh and the New Testament, but Buddhist epistles and even written out in Chinese characters! We can even thank Aramaic for the Hebrew alphabet, which was originally written in Phoenician characters, but adopted the Aramaic writing system during the Babylonian exile. There are even numerous modern dialects of Aramaic still spoken today, but needless to say, your average 1st century BCE Aramean wouldn’t understand a word the modern speaker was saying.
However, if we’re going to talk about Aramaic, the first question to ask is: which one?
The Aramaic of Jesus 1st Century Galilean
Thanks to Mel Gibson, it’s now common knowledge that Jesus, or Yeshua in his native tongue, spoke Aramaic, specifically 1st Century Galilean Aramaic. “Spoke” is a little modest: Jesus had a remarkable way with words. Did you know that most of his dialogues from the New Testament rhyme in the Aramaic? Did you know that he was fond of puns?
What do we know today about Jesus’ brand of Aramaic? We know that, according to the Talmud, the Pharisees wanted 1st Century Galilean Aramaic speakers banned from praying in the Temple! Was this a deliberate move against Jesus? Apparently not. Galilean Aramaic was so distinctive a dialect that concerned busybodies feared their prayers sounded like curses.
The Assyrian and Babylonian Empire Imperial Aramaic
Under the Assyrian and Babylonian kings, Aramaic enjoyed its widest influence, reaching from Egypt to India. During this period, we have the Babylonian Exile of the Jewish people, and it would be during that time that they adopted Aramaic as their writing system. Many Jewish texts coming out of the Exile were written in Aramaic, including several stories in the Mishna (which was compiled around the 2nd century CE even if the stories were older). To this day, some branches of Jewish learning are still written in a dialect of Aramaic. You can read up on the Mishna and its history in the following Wikipedia article, the editors of which know their stuff.
The Aramaic Language
You may know Aramaic as the language of Jesus, but did you know that Aramaic is actually a 3,000 year old language that evolved in the Middle East alongside Hebrew?
Aramaic has been the lingua franca of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, has been the language not only of books of the Old Testament/Tanakh and the New Testament, but Buddhist epistles and even written out in Chinese characters! We can even thank Aramaic for the Hebrew alphabet, which was originally written in Phoenician characters, but adopted the Aramaic writing system during the Babylonian exile. There are even numerous modern dialects of Aramaic still spoken today, but needless to say, your average 1st century BCE Aramean wouldn’t understand a word the modern speaker was saying.
However, if we’re going to talk about Aramaic, the first question to ask is: which one?
The Aramaic of Jesus 1st Century Galilean
Thanks to Mel Gibson, it’s now common knowledge that Jesus, or Yeshua in his native tongue, spoke Aramaic, specifically 1st Century Galilean Aramaic. “Spoke” is a little modest: Jesus had a remarkable way with words. Did you know that most of his dialogues from the New Testament rhyme in the Aramaic? Did you know that he was fond of puns?
What do we know today about Jesus’ brand of Aramaic? We know that, according to the Talmud, the Pharisees wanted 1st Century Galilean Aramaic speakers banned from praying in the Temple! Was this a deliberate move against Jesus? Apparently not. Galilean Aramaic was so distinctive a dialect that concerned busybodies feared their prayers sounded like curses.
The Aramaic Language
You may know Aramaic as the language of Jesus, but did you know that Aramaic is actually a 3,000 year old language that evolved in the Middle East alongside Hebrew?
Aramaic has been the lingua franca of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, has been the language not only of books of the Old Testament/Tanakh and the New Testament, but Buddhist epistles and even written out in Chinese characters! We can even thank Aramaic for the Hebrew alphabet, which was originally written in Phoenician characters, but adopted the Aramaic writing system during the Babylonian exile. There are even numerous modern dialects of Aramaic still spoken today, but needless to say, your average 1st century BCE Aramean wouldn’t understand a word the modern speaker was saying.
However, if we’re going to talk about Aramaic, the first question to ask is: which one?
The Aramaic of Jesus 1st Century Galilean
Thanks to Mel Gibson, it’s now common knowledge that Jesus, or Yeshua in his native tongue, spoke Aramaic, specifically 1st Century Galilean Aramaic. “Spoke” is a little modest: Jesus had a remarkable way with words. Did you know that most of his dialogues from the New Testament rhyme in the Aramaic? Did you know that he was fond of puns?
What do we know today about Jesus’ brand of Aramaic? We know that, according to the Talmud, the Pharisees wanted 1st Century Galilean Aramaic speakers banned from praying in the Temple! Was this a deliberate move against Jesus? Apparently not. Galilean Aramaic was so distinctive a dialect that concerned busybodies feared their prayers sounded like curses.
The Assyrian and Babylonian Empire Imperial Aramaic
Under the Assyrian and Babylonian kings, Aramaic enjoyed its widest influence, reaching from Egypt to India. During this period, we have the Babylonian Exile of the Jewish people, and it would be during that time that they adopted Aramaic as their writing system. Many Jewish texts coming out of the Exile were written in Aramaic, including several stories in the Mishna (which was compiled around the 2nd century CE even if the stories were older). To this day, some branches of Jewish learning are still written in a dialect of Aramaic. You can read up on the Mishna and its history in the following Wikipedia article, the editors of which know their stuff.