Samaritan Aramaic was the dialect of

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

used by the

Samaritan Samaritans (; ; ; ), are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East. They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah that ...

s in their sacred and scholarly literature. This should not be confused with

Samaritan Hebrew Samaritan Hebrew () is a reading tradition used liturgically by the Samaritans for reading the Biblical Hebrew, Ancient Hebrew language of the Samaritan Pentateuch. For the Samaritans, Ancient Hebrew ceased to be a spoken everyday language. It ...

, the language of the

Samaritan Pentateuch The Samaritan Pentateuch, also called the Samaritan Torah (Samaritan Hebrew: , ), is the Religious text, sacred scripture of the Samaritans. Written in the Samaritan script, it dates back to one of the ancient versions of the Torah that existe ...

. Samaritan Aramaic ceased to be a spoken language some time between the 10th and the 12th centuries, with Samaritans switching to

Palestinian Arabic Palestinian Arabic (also known as simply Palestinian) is part of a dialect continuum comprising various mutually intelligible varieties of Levantine Arabic spoken by Palestinians in Palestine, which includes the State of Palestine, Israel, and t ...

as their vernacular. In form, Samaritan Aramaic resembles the Aramaic of the

Targum A targum (, ''interpretation'', ''translation'', ''version''; plural: targumim) was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ) that a professional translator ( ''mǝṯurgǝmān'') would give in the common language o ...

im, and is written in the

Samaritan alphabet The Samaritan Hebrew script, or simply Samaritan script, is used by the Samaritans for religious writings, including the Samaritan Pentateuch, writings in Samaritan Hebrew, and for commentaries and translations in Samaritan Aramaic and occasion ...

. Important works written in it include the translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch, legal, exegetical and liturgical texts.

Sample

Exodus XX.1-6: # # # # # # Notice the similarities with

Judeo-Aramaic The Judaeo-Aramaic languages are those varieties of Aramaic and Neo-Aramaic languages used by Jewish communities. Early use Aramaic, like Hebrew, is a Northwest Semitic language, and the two share many features. From the 7th century BCE, Ara ...

as found in Targum Onqelos to this same passage (some expressions below are paraphrased, not literally translated): # ''Umalleil Adonai yat kol pitgamayya ha'illein lemeimar''
# ''Ana Adonai elahach de'appeiktach me'ar'a deMiṣrayim mibbeit avduta''
# ''La yihvei lach elah achoran, bar minni''
# ''La ta'aveid lach ṣeilam vechol demu devišmayya mille'eila vediv'ar'a millera vedivmayya millera le'ar'a''
# ''La tisgod lehon vela tiflechinnin arei ana adonai elahach el kanna mas'ar chovei avahan al benin maradin al dar telitai ve'al dar revi'ai lesane'ai kad mašlemin benayya lemichtei batar avahatehon''
# ''Ve'aveid teivu le'alfei darin lerachamai ulenaterei pikkodai''

Bibliography

*J. Rosenberg, , A. Hartleben's Verlag: Wien, Pest, Leipzig. *Nicholls, G. F. ''A Grammar of the Samaritan Language with Extracts and Vocabulary''. London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1858. *Tal, Abraham, ''A Dictionary of Samaritan Aramaic'': Brill 2000

References

External links

Samaritan Aramaic Targum
- Aramaic text of Samaritan Targum with English translation
The Samaritan prayers services and liturgy
Samaritan culture and history Aramaic languages Extinct languages Extinct languages of Asia Languages of Palestine Western Aramaic languages {{Semitic-lang-stub

Sample

See also

Bibliography

References

External links