Aramaic (Noun)
Meaning 1
A Semitic language originally of the ancient Arameans but still spoken by other people in southwestern Asia.
Classification
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents.
Examples
- The village's inhabitants spoke Aramaic as their native language, passed down through generations.
- Many scholars believe that Jesus and his disciples spoke Aramaic as their everyday language.
- Aramaic is a Semitic language that has been in use for over three thousand years.
- The Assyrian Christians living in Iraq still use Aramaic in their liturgical services.
- The language of the ancient Arameans, Aramaic, had a significant influence on the development of other languages in the region.
Hyponyms
Related Words
Meaning 2
An alphabetical (or perhaps syllabic) script used since the 9th century BC to write the Aramaic language; many other scripts were subsequently derived from it.
Classification
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents.
Examples
- The Aramaic alphabet was used to write a number of different languages, including Hebrew and Arabic.
- The development of the Brahmi script in ancient India is closely tied to the Aramaic alphabet.
- The Kharosthi script, used to write ancient Gandhari, was also derived from the Aramaic alphabet.
- Over time, the Aramaic alphabet gave rise to a number of different scripts, including the Pahlavi script used to write Middle Persian.
- The modern Hebrew alphabet is also ultimately derived from the Aramaic alphabet, which was used to write Hebrew from around the 3rd century BC.