Aramaic

Alternative Spellings

Aramayic

Definitions

• Judeo-Aramaic, a northern Semitic language related to Hebrew.

Example Sentences

• "Many of the prayers we do in synagogue are actually in Aramaic, not Hebrew."

Languages of Origin

Aramaic, English

Etymology

Aramaic ארם aram 'Aram' plus English -aic adjectival suffix.

Who Uses This

Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education

Regions

North America

Dictionaries

Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001)

Notes

"It was the everyday language spoken in ancient times in Palestine, Mesopotamia, and Syria, and by Jews who returned to Palestine after the Babylonian exile (536 B.C.E.) until the end of the talmudic period. It is the language of the Talmud; Jewish documents, such as the ketubbah and the get, as well as some important prayers, including the Kaddish and Kol Nidrei, are written in Aramaic" (JPS).