Hebrew Hebrew & Aramaic What Are The Differences?

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Diamond_Jester Tuesday 04th of April 2006 01:01:28 AM
Hebrew & Aramaic - I know that Jesus spoke in Aramaic, (I think), but are the two languages, Hebrew and Aramaic related at all? If anyone knows much about this I would appreciate your time to give an explanation. Thanks, DJ
:)

Stheno Sunday 23rd of April 2006 09:22:40 PM
- Well my opinion is not an experts opinion. But for what i know Hebrew and Aramaic are related. The hebrew is much more ancient than the Aramaic, and when I was exploring some Syriac aramaic booklets that I had, I noticed that, when written in capital letters, Aramaic is very similar to the hebrew.
I don\'t think that any of these two languages gave birth to the other, but that\'s unlikely.
In addition, before the Arab expansion outside the arab peninsula, Aramaic was the \"international language\" sort of like english nowadays, and hebrew people certainly spoke aramaic (as a majority) which must have certainly led to the dynamic exchange between the two languages which braught them closer.

Diamond_Jester Tuesday 25th of April 2006 09:02:24 PM
- Thanks Stheno, it is interesting to hear that aramaic was sort of the international language, like english now. I have often wondered why people spoke aramaic during the time of Jesus, in Judea, now it seems to make sense. I appreciate you taking time to write.

Thanks
DJ :)

ioan Tuesday 18th of July 2006 01:44:19 AM
- I read some Aramaic, also to learn the \"avinu shebashamayim\"/\"abdun dibshmiya\" and somehow I don\'t like the sound of Aramaic so much. A friend of mine, which has studied both languages, told me that Aramaic is somehow Hebrew, but without any grammar rules ;)

BTW, did you know that parts of the Tanach where written in Aramaic?

roeeh Tuesday 18th of July 2006 04:52:24 PM
- You can compair the relations between Hebrew and Aramaic to the relations between English and German, or French.
The two languages belong to the same language family - the Semitic languages (which also include Arabic, Ugaritic, Asyrian, Acadian and other lannguagen originated in Mesopotamia). The origin of Aramaic is in the kingdom of Aram (modern days Syria), but it developed and became like an \"international language\" and helped in relations between diferent cultures.
Over the years a lot of Aramaic words, roots and phrases enterd Hebrew and became an integral part of it (even today).
The diference between the two languages is not very big, and if you speak resonably good Hebrew you would be able to understand a great part of a text in Aramaic (but not the other way around, because Aramaic is a \"dead\" lnaguage and Hebrew nowadays is much more complexed, developed and rich).
I don\'t know for sure what was Jesus\'s native language, but I think there is a good chance, since he was jewish, that it was Hebrew. This time was actually the end of the era of Aramaic as an international language and Greek was quickly taking it\'s place as such. The New Testament, for example, was writen mainly in Greek and only a small part of it was writen in Hebrew and Aramaic.

As ioan wrote, there are some parts of the Bible that are wtiten in Aramaic, although they are not very big. Only one book in the Bible is writen entirely in Aramaic - the book of Daniel.

ioan Wednesday 19th of July 2006 12:26:02 AM
- A funny thing: Once I was at a Hebrew course in my university and one of the partipicians, totally new to Hebrew, was asked to make the plural of \"dugma\" and he answered \"dugmaoth\" - although he didn\'t know this word at all, just how to make plural in Hebrew, and it was written in the new Hebrew orthography with דוגמה; \"dugmaoth\" is the Aramaic plural. Do people in Israel actually say דוגמות or do they stick with דוגמאות? I just know Hadag Nachash singing \"dugmaoth\" in one song.

In christian circles, we where told that, though Jesus knew Hebrew, Aramaic was widely spoken by the people in this time. This movie from Mel Gibson has been done in Aramaic and Latin, mainly. But I didn\'t like it too much, not enough to make it till the end ;) Did I miss anything?

roeeh Wednesday 19th of July 2006 03:22:33 PM
- \'dugma\' (=example) and \'kufsa\' (=box) are two of the Aramaic words which are deeply rooted in Hebrew (I chose \'kufsa\' to give you another example that has the same structure...). In Aramaic they are writen with א at the end and this is a very common ending in Aramaic. The Hebrew \"version\" of these words end with ה (the pronounciation stays the same).
דוגמא <-> דוגמה - dugma
קופסא <-> קופסה - kufsa

Because there are two versions in the singular form, there are also two plural versions (Aramaic and Hebrew):
דוגמא -> דוגמאות - dugma -> dugma\'ot
קופסא -> קופסאות - kufsa -> kufsa\'ot

דוגמה -> דוגמות - dugma -> dugmot
קופסה -> קופסות - kufsa -> kufsot

The \"Academy for the Hebrew Language\" (the body regulating modern Hebrew) says that only the Hebrew versions should be used by Hebrew speakers, but in reality both versions are used.
In the singular form they are equally common and many people (even me) are not consistant about which version they use.
In the plural form, however, the Aramaic version (dugma\'ot) is far more common than the Hebrew one and you\'ll find very few people actually saying \"dugmot\" or \"kufsot\".
So, if you say \"dugmot\" you will be right, but people will look at you in a funny way... :)

jewman93 Tuesday 14th of November 2006 07:15:15 PM
aramiac - actually aramiac is way more ancient then hebrew
there the same in a way very similar hebrew is more slang.
aramiac was introduced by a couple of rabis in the era of crist

morethancool Sunday 19th of November 2006 04:36:41 AM
hello there - I have just read the topic here, have to agree with most things roeeh except one about how widely dugmot or kufsot is used... perhaps it differs in different parts of the country but here it is VERY uncommon to say kufsa\'ot or dugma\'ot I\'d even dare to say that most people would even correct you about it.

I think it may change also when it comes to older or younger generation... Here(in the centre-big city) we have many youngsters who learnt that if they write dugma\'ot in a test they would be corrected or even get a point or two down for that so we just use it that way...

The big change about it was made something like 8-9 years ago at schools so it\'s just changes slowly...

And I have to confess that the lessons of Talmud(the spoken bible) were hell mainly because of aramic... it is indeed close to hebrew but still somewhat hard and strange...

Shatzy Tuesday 19th of December 2006 06:50:47 AM
- Hi everyone,

I have a little question so I just attach it in this thread.

Could you tell me what the prefix \"Ash\" in Hebrew and Aramaic means?

Thanks for your help!

ea5677 Monday 25th of December 2006 01:28:22 AM
- Aramaic wasn t ancient language It was a spoken language in Babylon
Persian is very closed language to Aramaic
The jewish Talmud which was written In Bayblon was in Aramaic
The Talmus which was written in Jerusalem at that time it was written in hebrew
The word pita for examle came from Aramaic

Phrasebase Archive
	Diamond_Jester	Tuesday 04th of April 2006 01:01:28 AM
	Hebrew & Aramaic - I know that Jesus spoke in Aramaic, (I think), but are the two languages, Hebrew and Aramaic related at all? If anyone knows much about this I would appreciate your time to give an explanation. Thanks, DJ :)
	Stheno	Sunday 23rd of April 2006 09:22:40 PM
	- Well my opinion is not an experts opinion. But for what i know Hebrew and Aramaic are related. The hebrew is much more ancient than the Aramaic, and when I was exploring some Syriac aramaic booklets that I had, I noticed that, when written in capital letters, Aramaic is very similar to the hebrew. I don\'t think that any of these two languages gave birth to the other, but that\'s unlikely. In addition, before the Arab expansion outside the arab peninsula, Aramaic was the \"international language\" sort of like english nowadays, and hebrew people certainly spoke aramaic (as a majority) which must have certainly led to the dynamic exchange between the two languages which braught them closer.
	Diamond_Jester	Tuesday 25th of April 2006 09:02:24 PM
	- Thanks Stheno, it is interesting to hear that aramaic was sort of the international language, like english now. I have often wondered why people spoke aramaic during the time of Jesus, in Judea, now it seems to make sense. I appreciate you taking time to write. Thanks DJ :)
	ioan	Tuesday 18th of July 2006 01:44:19 AM
	- I read some Aramaic, also to learn the \"avinu shebashamayim\"/\"abdun dibshmiya\" and somehow I don\'t like the sound of Aramaic so much. A friend of mine, which has studied both languages, told me that Aramaic is somehow Hebrew, but without any grammar rules ;) BTW, did you know that parts of the Tanach where written in Aramaic?
	roeeh	Tuesday 18th of July 2006 04:52:24 PM
	- You can compair the relations between Hebrew and Aramaic to the relations between English and German, or French. The two languages belong to the same language family - the Semitic languages (which also include Arabic, Ugaritic, Asyrian, Acadian and other lannguagen originated in Mesopotamia). The origin of Aramaic is in the kingdom of Aram (modern days Syria), but it developed and became like an \"international language\" and helped in relations between diferent cultures. Over the years a lot of Aramaic words, roots and phrases enterd Hebrew and became an integral part of it (even today). The diference between the two languages is not very big, and if you speak resonably good Hebrew you would be able to understand a great part of a text in Aramaic (but not the other way around, because Aramaic is a \"dead\" lnaguage and Hebrew nowadays is much more complexed, developed and rich). I don\'t know for sure what was Jesus\'s native language, but I think there is a good chance, since he was jewish, that it was Hebrew. This time was actually the end of the era of Aramaic as an international language and Greek was quickly taking it\'s place as such. The New Testament, for example, was writen mainly in Greek and only a small part of it was writen in Hebrew and Aramaic. As ioan wrote, there are some parts of the Bible that are wtiten in Aramaic, although they are not very big. Only one book in the Bible is writen entirely in Aramaic - the book of Daniel.
	ioan	Wednesday 19th of July 2006 12:26:02 AM
	- A funny thing: Once I was at a Hebrew course in my university and one of the partipicians, totally new to Hebrew, was asked to make the plural of \"dugma\" and he answered \"dugmaoth\" - although he didn\'t know this word at all, just how to make plural in Hebrew, and it was written in the new Hebrew orthography with דוגמה; \"dugmaoth\" is the Aramaic plural. Do people in Israel actually say דוגמות or do they stick with דוגמאות? I just know Hadag Nachash singing \"dugmaoth\" in one song. In christian circles, we where told that, though Jesus knew Hebrew, Aramaic was widely spoken by the people in this time. This movie from Mel Gibson has been done in Aramaic and Latin, mainly. But I didn\'t like it too much, not enough to make it till the end ;) Did I miss anything?
	roeeh	Wednesday 19th of July 2006 03:22:33 PM
	- \'dugma\' (=example) and \'kufsa\' (=box) are two of the Aramaic words which are deeply rooted in Hebrew (I chose \'kufsa\' to give you another example that has the same structure...). In Aramaic they are writen with א at the end and this is a very common ending in Aramaic. The Hebrew \"version\" of these words end with ה (the pronounciation stays the same). דוגמא <-> דוגמה - dugma קופסא <-> קופסה - kufsa Because there are two versions in the singular form, there are also two plural versions (Aramaic and Hebrew): דוגמא -> דוגמאות - dugma -> dugma\'ot קופסא -> קופסאות - kufsa -> kufsa\'ot דוגמה -> דוגמות - dugma -> dugmot קופסה -> קופסות - kufsa -> kufsot The \"Academy for the Hebrew Language\" (the body regulating modern Hebrew) says that only the Hebrew versions should be used by Hebrew speakers, but in reality both versions are used. In the singular form they are equally common and many people (even me) are not consistant about which version they use. In the plural form, however, the Aramaic version (dugma\'ot) is far more common than the Hebrew one and you\'ll find very few people actually saying \"dugmot\" or \"kufsot\". So, if you say \"dugmot\" you will be right, but people will look at you in a funny way... :)
	jewman93	Tuesday 14th of November 2006 07:15:15 PM
	aramiac - actually aramiac is way more ancient then hebrew there the same in a way very similar hebrew is more slang. aramiac was introduced by a couple of rabis in the era of crist
	morethancool	Sunday 19th of November 2006 04:36:41 AM
	hello there - I have just read the topic here, have to agree with most things roeeh except one about how widely dugmot or kufsot is used... perhaps it differs in different parts of the country but here it is VERY uncommon to say kufsa\'ot or dugma\'ot I\'d even dare to say that most people would even correct you about it. I think it may change also when it comes to older or younger generation... Here(in the centre-big city) we have many youngsters who learnt that if they write dugma\'ot in a test they would be corrected or even get a point or two down for that so we just use it that way... The big change about it was made something like 8-9 years ago at schools so it\'s just changes slowly... And I have to confess that the lessons of Talmud(the spoken bible) were hell mainly because of aramic... it is indeed close to hebrew but still somewhat hard and strange...
	Shatzy	Tuesday 19th of December 2006 06:50:47 AM
	- Hi everyone, I have a little question so I just attach it in this thread. Could you tell me what the prefix \"Ash\" in Hebrew and Aramaic means? Thanks for your help!
	ea5677	Monday 25th of December 2006 01:28:22 AM
	- Aramaic wasn t ancient language It was a spoken language in Babylon Persian is very closed language to Aramaic The jewish Talmud which was written In Bayblon was in Aramaic The Talmus which was written in Jerusalem at that time it was written in hebrew The word pita for examle came from Aramaic