Jewish Babylonian Aramaic was the form of Middle Aramaic employed by writers in Lower Mesopotamia between the fourth and eleventh centuries. It is most commonly identified with the language of the

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cent ...

(which was completed in the seventh century) and of post-Talmudic (

Gaonic ''Geonim'' ( he, גאונים; ; also transliterated Gaonim, singular Gaon) were the presidents of the two great Babylonian Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of ...

) literature, which are the most important cultural products of Babylonian Jews. The most important epigraphic sources for the dialect are the hundreds of inscriptions on

incantation bowl An incantation bowl, also known as a demon bowl, devil-trap bowl, or magic bowl, is a form of early protective magic found in what is now Iraq and Iran. Produced in the Middle East during late antiquity from the sixth to eighth centuries, particu ...

Classification and type

The language was closely related to other Eastern Aramaic dialects such as Mandaic. Its original pronunciation is uncertain, and has to be reconstructed with the help of these kindred dialects and of the reading tradition of the

Yemenite Jews Yemenite Jews or Yemeni Jews or Teimanim (from ''Yehudei Teman''; ar, اليهود اليمنيون) are those Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Is ...

, and where available those of the Iraqi, Syrian and

Egyptian Jews Egyptian Jews constitute both one of the oldest and youngest Jewish communities in the world. The historic core of the Jewish community in Egypt consisted mainly of Egyptian Arabic speaking Rabbanites and Karaites. Though Egypt had its own com ...

. The value of the Yemenite reading tradition has been challenged by

Matthew Morgenstern Matthew Morgenstern, also known as Moshe Morgenstern ( he, משה מורגנשטרן; born 1968 in London, United Kingdom), is an Israeli linguist and religious studies scholar known for his work on Eastern Aramaic languages, especially Mandaic. H ...

. (The vocalized Aramaic texts with which Jews are familiar, from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

and the

prayer book A prayer book is a book containing prayers and perhaps devotional readings, for private or communal use, or in some cases, outlining the liturgy of religious services. Books containing mainly orders of religious services, or readings for them are ...

, are of limited usefulness for this purpose, as they are in different dialects.) Talmudic Aramaic bears all the marks of being a specialist language of study and legal argumentation, like

Law French Law French ( nrf, Louai Français, enm, Lawe Frensch) is an archaic language originally based on Old Norman and Anglo-Norman, but increasingly influenced by Parisian French and, later, English. It was used in the law courts of England, be ...

, rather than a vernacular mother tongue, and continued in use for these purposes long after

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

had become the language of daily life. It has developed a battery of technical logical terms, such as (conclusive refutation) and (undecidable moot point), which are still used in Jewish legal writings, including those in other languages, and have influenced

modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew ( he, עברית חדשה, ''ʿivrít ḥadašá ', , '' lit.'' "Modern Hebrew" or "New Hebrew"), also known as Israeli Hebrew or Israeli, and generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew ( ), is the standard form of the H ...

. Like the other

Judeo-Aramaic languages Judaeo-Aramaic languages represent a group of Hebrew-influenced Aramaic and Neo-Aramaic languages. Early use Aramaic, like Hebrew, is a Northwest Semitic language, and the two share many features. From the 7th century BCE, Aramaic became the ...

, it was written in the

Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet ( he, אָלֶף־בֵּית עִבְרִי, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is an abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewi ...

Grammar

Pronouns

Independent nominative pronouns

Copulative pronouns

Genitive pronominal suffixes

Demonstrative pronoun

Accusative pronominal suffixes

Six major verbal patterns

There are six major verb stems or verbal patterns (binyanim) in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. The form ''pe‘al'' (פְּעַל) “to do”, the form ''Aph'el'' (אַפְעֵל) “let do”, and the form ''Pa'el'' (פַּעֵל) “like to do”, are all in the active voice. But the form ''Itpe'el'' (אִתְפְּעֵל), the form ''Itaph'al'' (אִתַפְעַל) and the form ''Itpa'al'' (אִתְפַּעַל) are essentially reflexive and have usually function in a passive sense.

Verbal pattern (binyan): ''pe‘al'' (פְּעַל) Basic Verb - Active

; past tense

; Participle The Aramaic verb has two

participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

s: an active participle with suffix and a passive participle with suffix: ; active participles with suffix

; passive participle with suffix

; infinitive /gerund

; Future tense

Verbal pattern (binyan): '' Itpe'el '' (אִתְפְּעֵל) Basic Verb - Passive

; past tense

; future tense

Verbal pattern (binyan): ''pa‘el'' (פַּעֵל)
Frequentative In grammar, a frequentative form ( abbreviated or ) of a word is one that indicates repeated action but is not to be confused with iterative aspect. The frequentative form can be considered a separate but not completely independent word called a ...
- Active

The verbal pattern (binyan) ''pa‘el'' are frequentative verbs showing repeated or intense action. The verbal pattern ''pa'el'' is

Active Active may refer to: Music * ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea * Active Records, a record label Ships * ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name * HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Royal ...

Frequentative In grammar, a frequentative form ( abbreviated or ) of a word is one that indicates repeated action but is not to be confused with iterative aspect. The frequentative form can be considered a separate but not completely independent word called a ...

. ; past tense

; future tense

Verbal pattern (binyan): ''Itpa'al'' (אִתְפַּעַל)
Frequentative In grammar, a frequentative form ( abbreviated or ) of a word is one that indicates repeated action but is not to be confused with iterative aspect. The frequentative form can be considered a separate but not completely independent word called a ...
- Passive

The verbal pattern ''itpa'al'' is

Passive Passive may refer to: * Passive voice, a grammatical voice common in many languages, see also Pseudopassive * Passive language, a language from which an interpreter works * Passivity (behavior), the condition of submitting to the influence of o ...

Verbal pattern (binyan): ''aph‘el'' () Causative - Active

The verbal pattern ''aphel'' is

Causative. ; past tense

; Participle

; Future tense

Verbal pattern (binyan): ''itaphal'' (אִתַפְעַל) Causative - Passive voice

The verbal pattern ''itaphal'' is

Causative.

Noun: singular/plural

List of verbs

Idiom

Modern study

The language has received considerable scholarly attention, as shown in the Bibliography below. However, the majority of those who are familiar with it, namely

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

students of Talmud, are given no systematic instruction in the language, and are expected to "sink or swim" in the course of Talmudic studies, with the help of some informal pointers showing similarities and differences with Hebrew.Jay Bushinsky, "The passion of Aramaic-Kurdish Jews brought Aramaic to Israel"
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References

Bibliography

* Bar-Asher Siegal, Elitzur A.
Introduction to the Grammar of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic
Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, 2013 * J. N. Epstein, ''Diqduq Aramit Bavlit'' ("Grammar of Babylonian Aramaic"), 1960 (Hebrew) * Frank, Yitzhak, ''Grammar for Gemara: An Introduction to Babylonian Aramaic'': Jerusalem, Ariel Institute, 2000 * Jastrow, Marcus, ''A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature'' (reprinted many times) * Kara, Yehiel, ''Babylonian Aramaic in the Yemenite Manuscripts of the Talmud: Orthography, Phonology and Morphology of the Verb'': Jerusalem 1983 * Klein, Hyman, ''An Introduction to the Aramaic of the Babylonian Talmud'': London 1943 * Kutscher, Eduard Yechezkel, ''Hebrew and Aramaic Studies'', ed. Z. Ben-Hayyim, A. Dotan, and G. Sarfatti: Jerusalem, The Magnes Press / The Hebrew University, 1977 * Levias, Caspar, ''A grammar of the Aramaic idiom contained in the Babylonian Talmud'': 1900 (reprints available) * Marcus, David, ''A Manual of Babylonian Jewish Aramaic'': University Press of America, Paperback * Margolis, Max Leopold, ''A manual of the Aramaic language of the Babylonian Talmud; grammar chrestomathy & glossaries'': Munich 1910 (reprints available) * Melamed, Ezra Zion, ''Dictionary of the Babylonian Talmud'', Feldheim 2005 * (in Hebrew) * * {{incubator, code=tmr Languages attested from the 4th century Languages extinct in the 11th century Eastern Aramaic languages History of Mesopotamia Jewish languages Judeo-Aramaic languages Extinct languages of Asia Languages of Iraq Sacred languages