Aramaic and Hebrew: A linguistic comparison

The first part provides some context around Hebrew and Aramaic. The second part contains a linguistic comparison between these languages.

Hebrew and Aramaic: Some context

Hebrew and Aramaic in the Bible

The Hebrew Bible is mostly written in Hebrew, but it also includes parts written in Biblical Aramaic, for instance in the books of Daniel and Ezra.

Though only about 1% of the Hebrew Bible is written in Aramaic, those are some important passages.

Hebrew and Aramaic in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Hebrew and Aramaic are also languages used in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of nearly a thousand manuscripts discovered in caves in the Judaean Desert during the middle of the 20th century.

About 80% of the Dead Sea Scrolls are written in Hebrew, and about 17% of them are written in Aramaic. There are also a few which are written in Greek.

Hebrew and Aramaic in history

The Aramaic language is connected to a historical region named Aram where the Arameans lived. One of the main kingdoms in the region, Aram-Damascus was centered around the city of Damascus which is now the capital of Syria.

When the region of Aram was conquered by the Assyrians around the 8th century BC, resettlements caused the Aramaic language to spread. This led Aramaic to gradually become an international language, spoken in many parts of the near east.

Today, there are still some forms of Aramaic that are spoken in parts of the middle east. But these modern varieties of Aramaic are considered to be endangered languages because they are not widely spoken.

In contrast, Hebrew (which for a period had become mainly a liturgical language) underwent a revival and is now spoken daily by millions of people in Israel.

Aramaic and Hebrew both belong to the northwestern branch of the Semitic language family.

The Canaanite shift is the origin of some of the differences between Hebrew and Aramaic

The Canaanite shift is a vowel shift from ā to ō which occurred in Hebrew and other Canaanite languages. Since Aramaic is not a Canaanite language, it was not affected by the Canaanite shift. This resulted in some differences between Hebrew and Aramaic.

• For example, the words « שְׁלָמָא » (shlāmā) in Aramaic vs « שָׁלוֹם » (shalóm) in Hebrew, which both mean “peace”, illustrate the Canaanite shift.
• The Aramaic adjective « טָב » (ṭāḇ) which means “good” and the Hebrew adjective « טוֹב » (tov) which also means “good” have different vowels because of the Canaanite shift.
• Another example of the Canaanite shift is the words « לָא » (lā) in Aramaic and « לֹא » (lo) in Hebrew which mean “not” or “no”.
• Another example is the difference between the Aramaic word « עָלְמָא‎ » (ʿāləmā) and the Hebrew word « עוֹלָם » ('olám). Both these words mean “world”.
• The Aramaic word « לשנא » (liššānā) which means “language” and the Hebrew word « לָשׁוֹן » (lashón) which also means "language" are another example of the Canaanite vowel shift.
• The Aramaic pronoun « אֲנָא » (ʾănā) which means “I” and the biblical Hebrew pronoun « אָנֹכִי » (anokhí) which also means “I” illustrate the Canaanite vowel shift.
• Another example of the Canaanite vowel shift is the difference between the Aramaic word « אֲתָנָא » (ʾăṯānā) and the Hebrew word « אָתוֹן » ('atón) which both mean “female donkey”.

Some Patterns in the differences between Hebrew and Aramaic

Pattern 1: Some Hebrew words have the letter Zayin (ז) where the corresponding Aramaic word has the letter Dalet (ד).

One pattern in the differences between Hebrew and Aramaic is a sound change where a Hebrew word may have the letter Zayin (ז) whereas the corresponding Aramaic word may have the letter Dalet (ד) instead.

For example:

• “gold” is « דהבא » in Aramaic and « זָהָב » in Hebrew
• “beard” is « דִּקְנָא » in Aramaic and « זָקָן » in Hebrew
• “male” is « דכרא » in Aramaic and « זָכָר » in Hebrew

Pattern 2: Some Hebrew words have the letter Shin (שׁ) where the corresponding Aramaic word has the letter Tav (ת).

Another difference between Hebrew and Aramaic is a sound change where some Hebrew words have the letter Shin (שׁ) and the corresponding Aramaic word has the letter Tav (ת) instead. Here are some examples of such pairs of words:

• The Aramaic word « תעלא » and the Hebrew word « שׁוּעָל » (shuál) both mean “fox”.
• The Aramaic word « שת » which means “six” and the Hebrew word « שֵׁשׁ » (shésh) which means “six” (feminine form).
• The Aramaic word « תּוּב » (tūḇ) and the Hebrew word « שׁוּב » (shúv) which both mean “again”
• The Aramaic verb « תקל » and the Hebrew verb « שָׁקַל » which both mean “to weigh”.
• The Aramaic word « תדא » and the Hebrew word « שָׁד » (shad) which both mean “breast”.

Pattern 3: Some Hebrew words have the letter Tsadi (צ) where the corresponding Aramaic word has the letter Tet (ט).

Another sound change difference occurs in some pairs of words where the Hebrew word has the letter Tsadi (צ) whereas the Aramaic word has the letter Tet (ט) instead. Here are some examples of such pairs of vocabulary words:

• The Aramaic word « טוּרָא » (ṭūrā) “mountain”, “hill” is related to the Hebrew word « צוּר » (tsúr) which means a “cliff” or a “rock”.
• The Aramaic word « קֵיטָא » (qēṭā) and the Hebrew word « קַיִץ » (káyits) both mean “summer”
• The Aramaic word « טהרא » means “noon” and is related to the Hebrew word «  צָהֳרַיִם » which also means “noon”
• The Aramaic word « טַבְיָא » (ṭaḇyā) is related to the Hebrew word « צְבִי » (ts'ví). Both these words mean “gazelle”

Pattern 4: Some Hebrew words have the letter Tsadi (צ) where the corresponding Aramaic word has the letter Ayin (ע).

Here are some examples of pairs of words that illustrate this 4th pattern of sound differences between Hebrew and Aramaic:

• The Aramaic word « חמע » and the Hebrew word « חָמֵץ » (khaméts) which mean “to ferment”
• The Aramaic word « אָעָא » (ʾāʿā) which means “wood” and the Hebrew word « עֵץ » which means “tree” or “wood”

Pattern 5: Some Hebrew words have the letter Shin (שׂ) where the corresponding Aramaic word has the letter Samekh (ס).

Here are some examples of pairs of words that illustrate this 5th pattern of sound differences between Hebrew and Aramaic:

• The Aramaic word « סקא » and the Hebrew word « שַׂק » which both mean “sack” or “bag”.
• The Aramaic word « סִיפְתָּא » (sip̄tā) and the Hebrew word « שָׂפָה » (safá) which both mean “lip”