Editing Aramaic language

'''Aramaic''' is a family of languages (traditionally referred to as "dialects") belonging to the [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] family, and more specifically, is a part of the [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest Semitic]] subfamily, which also includes [[Canaanite languages]] such as [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]]. [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic script]] was widely adopted for other languages and is ancestral to both the [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] and [[Hebrew alphabet|modern Hebrew]] [[alphabets]].

During its 3,000-year written history,<sup>[]</sup> Aramaic has served variously as a language of administration of empires and as a language of divine worship. It was the day-to-day language of [[History of ancient Israel and Judah#Second Temple|Israel in the Second Temple period]] (539 BC &ndash; 70 AD), the language that [[Jesus]] [[Aramaic of Jesus|probably used the most]],<sup>[]</sup><sup>[]</sup> the language of large sections of the [[Bible|biblical]] books of [[Book of Daniel|Daniel]] and [[Book of Ezra|Ezra]], and is the main language of the [[Talmud]].<sup>[]</sup> However, [[Judeo-Aramaic language|Jewish Aramaic]] was different from the other forms both in lettering and grammar. Parts of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] are in Jewish Aramaic showing the unique Jewish lettering, related to the unique Hebrew script.

Aramaic's long history and diverse and widespread use has led to the development of many divergent varieties which are sometimes called ''[[dialect]]s'', though they are distinct enough that they are sometimes considered ''[[language]]s''. Therefore, there is not one singular, static Aramaic language; each time and place rather has had its own variation. Aramaic is retained as a [[Sacred language|liturgical language]] by certain Eastern Christian churches, in the form of [[Syriac language|Syriac]], the Aramaic variety by which [[Eastern Christianity]] was diffused, whether or not those communities once spoke it or another form of Aramaic as their [[vernacular]], but have since shifted to another language as their primary community language.

[[Neo-Aramaic languages|Modern Aramaic]] is spoken today as a first language by many scattered, predominantly small, and largely isolated communities of differing [[Christian]], [[Jew]]ish, and [[Mandean]] ethnic groups of [[West Asia]]<sup>[]</sup>—most numerously by the [[Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people|Assyrians]] in the form of [[Assyrian Neo-Aramaic]] and [[Chaldean Neo-Aramaic]] —that have all retained use of the once dominant [[lingua franca]] despite subsequent [[language shift]]s experienced throughout the [[Middle East]]. The Aramaic languages are considered to be [[endangered language|endangered]].<sup>[]</sup>

{{Donate}}