07 introductory lessons in aramaic

7/25/2019 07 Introductory Lessons in Aramaic

1/134

Introductory Lessons n Aramaic: ntroduction

IntroductionThe ollowing pages re ntended or any ndividual who is interested n learningthe basics f Biblical Aramaic. t is based n essons created or an ntroductoryclass n Aramaic at he Jniversity f Michigan, where teach. t should econsidered work n progress.

Part of the unding or the online version f the essons as provided y a grantfrom he Lecturers' rofessional evelopment und.

Although here are many grammars hat provide an ntroduction o BiblicalAramaic, nly one of these urports o be an ntroduction hat presumes o priorknowledge f another Semitic anguage. his grammar, ranzRosenthal's,4Grammar .fBiblicalAramaic, s useful, specially or the graduate tudent.

However, Rosenthal's rammar epends oo much on a reader eing amiliar withtechnical honological nd grammatical rinciples o serve s a helpfulintroduction o the student r reader who has ittle familiarity with other anguages,especially emitic anguages. For example, ithin he irst l0 pages f thegrirmmar roper, here are several eferences o spirantization, hough nodescription f what his s.) Furthermore, osenthal's rammar oes ot ncludeany exercises. hose ramma rshat do nclude exercises or students ll presumethat he student as a prior knowledge f Biblical Hebrew see, or example,Andrew E. Steinmann's undamental iblicol Aramaic,Frederick .Greenspahn's n Introduction o Aramaic, and Alger F. Johns's Short Grammorof BiblicalAramaic).

I have ried o render he sometimes bscure escriptions s comprehensible spossible o readers ith little experience ith grammar nd inguistics. or hisreason, he explanations ay seem edundant or those with a knowledge flinguistics nd/or ther anguages. his s especially rue or the descriptions f thepronunciation f Aramaic. t is hoped hat after having gone hrough he followinglessons, he student ill, should e or she so desire, move on to more sophisticatedgrammars, ike Rosenthal's, r linguistic ummaries ike Stuart Creason's n The

Cambridge Encyclopedia f the World's Ancient Languages.

One other caveat: he ast several essons ely on the student o learn vocabulary nhis or her own, by reading assages nd ooking up words n the glossary. hismimics he situation hat one will be aced with when sittins down with the Bibleand an Aramaic dictionarv.

Introductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond


2/134

Some Preliminaries:The alphabet hat s used o represent he western ramaic anguage ncontemporary ublications s one hat s identical o the alphabet sed o representHebrew, oth classical nd modern. he origins of this alphabet re nteresting,though o describe hese rigins would ake oo much space ere. Suffice t to saythat he alphabet n its origin s Aramaic, nd s often described s Aramaic Block

Script. For his eason, will simply efer o the alphabet s he Aramaic alphabet.

This alphabet, ike any writing system, an be represented ith Roman etters thatis, the alphabet hat we use o write English). his process f turning he Aramaicalphabet nto Roman etters s called ransliteration. hus, or example, he BiblicalAramaic word or king s represented n the Aramaic alphabet s l?F, *d in theRoman lphabet smelek. Aod, of course, he Roman lphabet s not special nthis; he Aramaic alphabet an also epresent ny other writing system. o, heEnglish word king can be hansliterated nto he Aramaic alphabet: lj?.)

This act of transliteration s an advantage ecause t allows us o more easilyrepresent ramaic words n word-processing rograms nd n email messages. talso helps o indicatewhat he pronunciation f the word would be. And, especiallyimportant or a grammar, t forces he student o choose etweenmultiple possiblepronunciations, nd hus o demonstrate ow much of the grammar heor he hasabsorbed.

Transliteration oes not aim o represent xplicitlyhow he word should epronounced. t operates y a series f conventions hat have o be earned.Sometimes he ransliteration f a word will represent arks hat are graphicallypresent n the Aramaic word, but are not pronounced. or example, n the Aramaicword hat corresponds o the English phrase he et you know, :JV-'l.l;'T 6*,{e'ek,the superscript in the ransliteration s not pronounced ut ndicates he presenceof what can be described s a vowel-marker.

Representations f pronunciation an be made n several ays. will representpronunciations ith recognizable oman etters within slash marks: /. This s forthe sake of making he pronunciations eadily comprehensible or the beginner.more scientificmethod s to use he nternational honetic lphabet; with its manycurious ymbols nd signs his s sometimes onfusing or non-specialists.



3/134

l cs

3mp3fp

2mp2fp

Abbreviations

For Perfect and mperfect Verbal Forms3ms third person masculine ingular3fs third person eminine ingular

2ms second erson masculine ingular2fs second erson eminine ingular

first person ommon ingular

third person masculine luralthird person eminine lural

second erson masculine luralsecond erson eminine lural

first person ommon lural

For mperatives ndParticiplesm.s. masculine ingularf.s. feminine inzular

m.p. masculine lural

f.p. ferninine lural

For Nounssing. singularpl. plural

lcp

Introductory Lessons n Aramqic by Eric D. Reymond


4/134

Bibliography

Bartelt, Andrew H. and Andrew E. Steinmann. undamental Biblical HebrewFundamental Biblical Aramaic. St. Louis: Concordia, 20A4.

Bauer, Hans and Pontus Leander. Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramciischen.Halle:Max Niemeyer, 1927

Biblia Hebroica Stuttgartensia.3'o dition. Eds. A. Alt, et al. Stuttgart: DeutscheBibelgesellschaft, 987

Brown, Francis and S.R. Driver and Charles A. Briggs. The Brown-Driver-BriggsHebrew and English Lexicon: With an Appendix Containing the BiblicalAramaic. Houghton, Mifflin, 1906.

Creason, Stuart. Aramaic In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World'sAncient Languages. d. Roger D. Woodard. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity, 2004, 391-426

Greenspahn, rederick E. An Introduction o Aramaic.2no Edition. Atlanta: Societyof Biblical Literature. 003.

Johns, Alger F. A Short Grammar of Biblical Aranaic. Berrien Springs, Mich.:Andrews University, 197 .

Rosenthal,Franz. Grammar of Biblical Aramaic. Th Edition. Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz,2006.

Stevenson, William B. Gramntar of Palestinian ewish Aramaic. Oxford: OxfordUniversity,1924.

Waltke, Bruce and Michael O'Connor. An Introduction o Biblical Hebrew Swfiax.Wionona Lake. nd.: Eisenbrauns. 990.



5/134

Lesson : Consonants

The consonants f Aramaic are given here, ogether with their transliterated orm,name, nd approximate and conventional) ronunciation:

N ' 'aleph pronounced ike the pause etween yllables n theCockney ronunciation f "sweater" r "better" lswe'erl,lbe'erlConventionallyt is not pronounced y English peakers.

f b beth lbl (or vl, see esson )) g gimmel lgl (or lghl,butthe wo sounds re not

conventionally istingui hed)'1 d doleth ld/ (or ldh/, he sound of th in the pronunciation

of the Englishword "that")

nhheth l''l w wow lwl or /v/ Some people pronounce his etter lke lwl,others ike vl. A student hould ecidewhichpronounciation heor he s comfortable ith andpronounce verywaw n the same way.

I z zayin lzln h het lcW, as n the German ronunciation f "Bach" or as n

the pronounciation f the Yiddishword "Chutzpah" or,"Hutzpah").

fl t tet emphatic , though onventionally o distinction smade n pronunciation etween his and he ow,listedbelow.

' y yodh lyl: k kaph lW (or ch/, see Lesson ), I lomed l\ln m mem lml) n nun lnl

D s samekh lsllJ ' 'ayin no approximate ound n English, some say ike

the sound ust before omiting, ome ay ike thesound f a camel getting p, both of which seem oreflecta bias against his phoneme.Conventionally, t is not pronounced.



6/134

I s sadeh emphatic : pronounced onventionally lke ltzl

? q qoph emphatic : pronounced onventionallyike kaph-l r reslt lrltD 3 sin /s/, pronounced onventionally ike samekhU 3 shin /sU as n the Englishword shine

n t tuw ltl (or lthl, he sound f th in "these" compare othe pronunciation f dqlethas dhl listedabovel;see esson )

Some f these etters, ike beth, have wo different ronunciations, swill beexplained n Lesson . Despite his, hey are always ransliterated ith the sameRoman etter. Thus, even n cases here is pronounced ike vl,I is stilltransliterated ith the Roman etter b.

In addition o these etter orms, ive letters ave orms hat occuronly at the endof a word:

:T k kaph Note he wo dots hat are always written with the finalkaph.)

Emmem'J n nun.'l p peh

Y s sadeh

Note he similarities etween ertain orms. The beth 3) and koph ) letters ooksimilar.Thesin (tlJ) ndshin W) etters redistinguished y a single dot abovethem. And, he inal mem D) looks lke samekh O).

Exercise: a.Practice ransliteratinghe ollowingwords.For example, l Jn -- mlk. (Note hatthe ransliterated ord n the Roman lphabet s written and ead rom eft to right

[m+l+k], although he Aramaic script s written and ead rom right to leftt-l , +-nl.)

Introductory essons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond


7/134

N: tb("the king")

I'Pnj ' 'Pn("strong" n the singular nd n the plural)F. t r lt t . j

Nn'lr r t F tl i r J

N'nl("house," "the house," houses," and "the houses")

J I i - J

) t - j l i J

("he wrote" and she wtote")

-INN'l-lnN

("he said" and they said")

-\ F\rtr

i r t q F - t r tI l J l l JI

("he writes" and "they write")

Exercise: b.Now try putting hese ransliterated ords nto Aramaic script. Remember hat youmust everse he order of the etters. hus, b' is rendered n Aramaic criptN:-.l.

ktbkrbt("he wrote" and she wrote")

k'n("now")

'1

("over," "above")



8/134

'dyn

("then")

ptgm'

("message")

mdh("tribute")

5lm("peace," well-being")

,r ,t r ' '

("land" and "the land")

Exercise: c.Try transliterating his full Aramaic entence iom the book of Ezra 4:20):

E)ut-r' u ttn l ' 'pn l ' :)n

N-ln: -tlIJ ):: j'b')tDl

lrn) n'nn bnr ): ntnr

"Strong ingswere over Jerusalemand they had) authority n all Abar-Nahara'and ribute, ax, and oll was given o them."

Exercise: d.Now try transliterating his sentence rom Ena 5:4 (slightlyaltered or the sake ofconsistency ndcoherency):

j'rn) l-lnNNn:: j"]$

'i ' :l N: ' : : n:"1J N"ll: nilnu'i ' r:N]bIntroductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond 8


9/134

"Then, accordingly, hey said o them,'What are he names f the men who are building his structure literally:who, hisstructure, re building)?"'

Exercise: e.Now, write n Aramaic script he ollowing ransliterated assage rom Ezra 5:5(again lightlyaltered or consistency):

w'yn 'lhhn hwt 'l Sby hwdy'

wl' btlw hmw

"The eye of their God was over he elders f the Judaeansand hey i.e., he elders) id not stop hem i.e., hebuilders)."

Exercise: f.N.B. //o/a Jene: Notewell):The doubling f a consonant s indicated hrough dot placed n the center f theletter.Thus, : b, but : bb; n: : ktb, but Fll : kttb.

Transliterate elow he ollowing assage rom Ena 5 6 and 5:17, oting wherethe doubled onsonants re:

Nf )n lD''ln"'t 'Tls ... ' :Fln n)u- n-l

Nn-lr$ ltD-l

"A copy of the letter hat Tattenai sent . . to Darius he king."

)::: '-Ti'TnnN:)n 'J N:T:ln'll -tr)fn'

"Let a search e made n the house f records f the king there n Babylon."

Introductory essons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond


10/134

Lesson : Vowels

Vowels are ndicated hrough certain consonants swell as signs hat appear boveand below he etters. Therefore, omeconsonants ay serve either as a trueconsonant, r as he marker f a vowel. Usuallywhen consonants reused o markvowels, he vowels hey are markingare long vowels."But, not every long

vowel" is represented ith such a consonant. onsonants hat mark vowels helpmake he pronunciation f a word more obvious o a reader nd hese onsonantsare, herefore, alled matres ectionis, atin or "mothers f reading."

In order o distinguish rue consonants rom motres-consonants,t is helpful orepresent he matres-consonants s superscript etters n transcription.

Although he vowelsare abeled ither long" or "short," his nomenclature oesnot describe he ength f their pronunciation. hevowels n BiblicalAramaic renot distinguished y the ength of time t takes o pronounce hem,but rather ytheir distinctsounds. hus,we will speak f a "short a/" and his describes sounddistinct rom "long a/",but both would have had he same uantity, .e., ength ofpronunciation.

Like the Aramaic onsonants, he vowelsmay be ransliterated nto he Romanalphabet. ong vowelsare distinguished rom shortvowelsby a macron, .e., a lineover hem short al : a;long al : a) .

Part :

Below are he vowel signsand he consonallts hat sometimes ccompany hem. nthis ist, he vowel signsa"reepresented eneath r above he etter beth; heirtransliterated orms, and heir approximate, onventional ronunciation ollow.

I a marks short al, conventionally ronounced ike the a in theEnglishword "mat."

I A marks ong al, conventionally ronounced ike the a in the

English olloquialword "pa," or "father." Sometimes, specially tthe end of a word, t is also epresented s 'Tl or Nl (ban ba ).The same vmbol also marks a short o/: see below.

: e marks he short e/ sound, onventionally ronounced ike the ein the English ame Ed," or n the word less."

Introductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond l 0


11/134

-1

-l

r- l

e, e marks a short or long /e/ sound. n either case, he vowel isconventionally ronounced ike the ay in say, or like the ey n convey.Sometimes t is also epresented s'l eY,EY; l e', e', and JJ eh,eh.Distinguishing between he short and ong e is often difficult. For thebeginning student, t will be helpful to transliterate his symbol with euniversally and subsequently o learn hose places where he symbolrepresents .

- wo

marks he short i/ sound, onventionally ronounced ike the I in"pit."

marks he ong ii sound, onventionally ronounced ike the e inthe name Pete," or like the in the word "latrine"and saline".Notethe extra odh. This confirms hat he -vowel s long.

marks he short o/ vowel, conventionally ronounced ike theawof the word "paw." Note hat his vowel s very close o the a. Whenthese owel symbolswere nvented ndapplied o the consonantaltext, here might not have been a distinction etween he o and asounds. ll the same, t is conventional o distinguish wo vowels ntransliteration ndpronunciation. earningwhere , represents andwhere t represents is not easy. have ried o disambiguate efweenthe wo vowels n transliteration.

marks he ong o/ vowel, conventionally ronounced ike theoaof "coat,"or ike he o of "rote." t is sometimes lsowrittenwithout he wawcomplement: : o.

marks he short u/ vowel, conventionally ronounced ike the ooof "cook."

marks he ong u/ vowel, conventionally ronounced ike the oo

of"noon,"

or the u of "fune."This s the shewa ymbol and marks a mufinured owel,conventionally ronounced ike thea in "above."The shewa ymbolalso marks he absence f a vowel. Determining hich of these woalternatives he shewa epresents ill sometimes rove difficult.

l '

- J Ot

j u

- wu -'l

l - r- v

i'r

11ntroductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond


12/134

$FrNdNd

i r t

: -

These hree symbols epresent ltra-short owels, essentially ike themunnured owel n nature, ut each avinga slightly distinctquality.

Typically hese owels appear nderguttural

onsonantsi.e.,

N, J, JJ,and 'l; sometimes lsobefore or after and p and sometimes efore),), andl). Unlike he shewa, hich onlysometimes hould epronounced, hese hree symbols lways epresent he presence f apronounced owel.

ay Occasionally, ne inds a vowel and consonant hat are pronouncedtogether. he most common n Biblical Aramaic s the short a/ +yodh, which s pronounced ike the Englishword "eye."Note hat n

this case he shewa ymbol marks he absence f a vowel.

Note hat when a kaph appears ast n a word t has his orm: -l , it is conventionalto write his with a shewa ymbol l), though his shewa ymbol does notrepresent vowel sound.

Also mportant o understanding ow Armaic wordswere pronounced, sunderstanding here he stress alls.Usually, t fallson he ast syllable f a word.Occasionally t falls on the next-to-last yllable, n which case he stressed yllableis indicated y an accentmark . ): :lll-lf

Exercise a.Now, try transliterating he ollowingwords ncluding heirvowels and ranslatingthe wordsnot ranslated or you. Determining hich etters re rue consonants ndwhich arematre,s-consonants ill becomemuch clearer s you begin o understandthe forms of nouns and verbs.

-j?b --' melek "king")-'la: ("silver") Because he shewa s the irst vowel of the word, t ispronounced.)

Ftr-tl l -

t t F tl r r JI r

Introductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond I2


13/134

- F -J I I J- :

1-j\ rJ- :

n)ul:. )tJ tn i' 'i?nj'f )D

n;il :l ):: 'i 'E')u1l ' t ;]7 ; 'T'nn 1?n] ' ' l7t;] ' ln:lI i " : : | - - : - : T '

Part2As mentioned bove, istinguishing etween he shewa hat epresents murmuredvowel,and he shewa hat epresents he absence f a vowel s sometimes atherdifficult. n general, hen a short owel lal _ ,lel .. ,lil ., lol , , lul ... comesbeforea shewa, he shewa epresents he absence f a vowel;when a long vowel(/il , , l1l , hl ' . ,loll ,lil 1) comes efore shewa, he shewa epresentsmunnured owel. For example, ecause denotes short owel, he shewafollowing t in N ?D (",tl. king") epresents he absence f a vowel. Similarlywith the short il in lt.-l:l ("he writes").On he other hand, n lIJ"li;1 ("he et youknow") he represents ong voweland hus he shewa ollowing t ispronounced. There reexceptions, ut his holds rue,by-andJarge or mostwords.)

Exercise b.Distinguish he shewas hat epresent urmured-vowels rom hose hat epresentthe absence f vowelsby transliteratinghese words.N?Ol ("the silver")

:l|]'f n ("he et you know" or "he caused ou o know")

lf n | ("you" for masculine luralentities)

j'-lnS ("thosewho are saying") The , symbol epresents here.)

'i]l ("building")

n]l? ("The one who s building") The , symbol epresents here, asdoes l,.)

Introductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond 13


14/134

Remember:The ultra-short owels $ A, f d, S d) are always ronounced.

Exercise c.

This s the beginning f a etter, mbedded n the biblicalbookof Ena (a:11).Transcribe t:

'ni) rn?u "TNf-t.i*ltD-lgT:"7i1?iTl-11 D;s T'Ju - N??D nluurnr_i-l$'-'tN"ll;t] ":t R?)* N'lil) '-1] nlJj:l

"This (is) a copy of the etter hat hey sent o him:'To: Artaxerxes, he king -- (From:)your servants, he people f Avar-Naharah.

Now, et it be known o the king that he Jews/Judaeans ho . . ."'

Part3: Syllabification ndVowelsEach syllable eginswith a consonant. syllable everbeginswith a vowel.Thereare wo kinds of syllables, hose hat have only a consonant a vowel called"open" syllables) nd hose yllables hat have a consonant a vowel + aconsonant called closed" syllables).

In the word:j{l'f n (h6*-de-'ak) "he et you know") he irst syllable sconsidered open"because t begins ith a consonant, ut does ot haveconsonant t ts end, ather t ends with the ong d vowel. The second yllable salso an open syllable.However, he ast syllable s a closed yllable ecause tbegins nd ends with a consonant.

Short owels _, . . , . , . , and, [when t represents ]) ypically ccur n onlytwo placeswithin a word:

1) n a closed yllable,ar 2) in an accented yllable either he ast syllable f a word or in a syllable

with an accentmark ' ): lfi )

Long owels ' . . , ' , i , ' '1 , and , [whent represents] )mos t f ten ccur nopen syllables, ut can also occur n closed yllables, o matter he position f thestress. This, ncidentally, istinguishes he vowelpatterns n Aramaic rom hosein BiblicalHebrew,where ong vowels appear nly n open syllables r in stressed

Introductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond I 4


15/134

closed yllables; .e., n Hebrew, ong vowelsdo NOT occur n closed, nstressedsyllables, ut hey DO in Aramaic.)

Givena form ike :l{'1li'.T, t is impossible or a beginning tudent o know whetheror not he irst syllable s closed r open, whether t should e pronounced sathree-syllable ord hd-de-'ak/ r as a two syllable word *hod-'-ak/. he correctpronunciation s, n fact,difficult o know with certainty. t is easiest f beginningstudents implyassume hat all long vowelsare n open syllables, nless therwiseindicated. his assumption esults n the ransliteration o*de'ak.

Thewords bove, t??B ,N??:,'ilt'i 13,and'i] 1, each egin with a closed

syllable. achof these losed yllables ontains short owel.

m r r - l t q iThewords JfTli1, T"''lF$,andN')l beginwith an open yllable. ach f theseopen syllables ontains ong vowel.This means hat he ollowingshewa n eachword represents murmured owel.

Another haracteristic f Aramaic yllabifications that when wo shewas ccurside-by-side, uchas n the word lln:l , the irst represents he absence f avowelwhile he second epresents murmured owel.

Remember hat many Aramaicwords have a shewa n their irst syllable. n almosteverycase, he shewa hat appears n the irst syllable f a word representsmurmured owel and should e pronounced.

Exercise d.Transliterate he following passage ased onEzra (5:4):

lin) r:F$ NFi:il'tlr

T:l?N:':l ;111l $illl nirFurftr D

Then, hus, hey asked hem:"What are he names f the men who are building his building lit.,who hisbuildingare building)."

t5ntroductorv Lessons n Aramaic bv Eric D. Revmond


16/134

Exercise e.Transcribe he ollowing fromEna 5.5) nto Aramaicscript:

wo'eYndldhdhdnhdwdt al SdbEvehu*dayc'

wela' baltilu*himm6*

"The eye of their God was over he elders f the Judaeansand hey i.e., he elders) id not stop hem i.e., hebuilders)."

Vocabulary:Prepositions:2 :"to" or "for"

TD "from"I - .)9_ "to" or "against" r "over" or "according o"

Adverbs:N, : thisparticle egates erbstrllt: "also"

Shortwords:

]]llt: "then"

tit$ : "there s"Nl;'l: "he"Nti.T "she"'l : "and" or "but"

t'l] : "known"N]il? : "let it be" Qrlotehat he irst syllable ontains short el vowelin an opensyllable. his s the exception o the ule pointed ut above. he ultra-short owelbeneath he heh s secondarv: he older orm of the word would have been leh-w e ' t . l

Introductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond l6


17/134

=

Lesson : Further Nicetiesof the Writins Svstem. Pronouns

Part 1.A further distinction s made n the conventional ronunciation f the consonants,such hat he beth,gimmel, aleth, aph, eh, and aw have wo pronounced orms:a hard and a soft pronunciation. hus,beth s pronounced ike b (l), or as v (l)

This distinction n pronunciation s marked y a dot n the middleof the Aramaicletter,or a ine beneath he Roman etter:

t

"l

bb (pronounced ike v)

o

g (conventionally, o distinction is made n pronunciation)

'':T d'l d (pronouncedike he h n"that," r no distinctions made)

t t; ) K

: k (pronounced ike the ch in"Chutzpah," dentical o I-l)

5p5 p (pronouncedikeph n "phone")

f l tn (pronounced ike the h in"thick" or "these")

In otherwords, he etterwith the dot s pronounced ard,while he etterwithoutis pronounced oft.Thisprocess y which a "hard pronunciation"s turned oft scalled spirantization. he "soft consonants" re eferred o as ricatives, pirants, rspirantized onsonants, hile the "hard consonants" an be referred o as stops orunspirantized onsonants.

Collectively, he consonants re called begadkephal etters or bgdkpt etters.

Whether r not a etter s pronounced ard or soft depends, n part, on he place ofthe etter within a word or within a sentence. n general, f a vowel precedesbegadkephat etter t is soft, f a consonant recedes t then t is hard. For example,the word or son s bar, or lJ. However, t may also be pronounced varl,or ll

Introductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond 1 7


18/134

when t is preceded y a prefix,such as a preposition r in this case conjunction:'l]:l ("and-a-son"). lthough 1:l is pronounced ike /tvar/ it is transliterated yconvention i*bar.Sometimes vena preceding ord hat ends n a vowelcanaffect he next word's begadkephal onsonant, aking t soft.

For he sake of consistencv. n the vocabularv ists. n the exercises. ndwhendiscussing ndividual words, have endered all begadkephat onsonants hat standfirst n a word as stops.

Being cognizant f whether a begadkephat etter s pronounced ard or soft simportant ecause t will often but not always) evealwhether preceding hewarepresents he absence f a vowelor a murmured owel.Thus, n the case f$?Ol the hard eh x:,ggestshat he shewa nder he samekh epresents heabsence f a vowel, which also means hat he word beginswith a closed yllable.If the shewa epresented murmured owel, hen hat would esult n a softpeh

and he absence f a dot n thepeh, Another xample s provided y Nf"lfN ; inthis case, he shewa eneath he esh must epresent he absence f a vowel sinceamunnured owelwould esult n a soft aw. Consider lso he masculine luralabsolute articiple 'l|l? ; the shewa must epresent murmured owel since hebeth s soft.

Part2.A complication o this system f distinguishing ard rom softhegadkephatconsonants s that he samemark can also ndicate hat a consonant, nyconsonant

aside rom gutturals N, J, n, JJ) nd (l), is doubled. orexample, Firepresents his problemwell. The irst dot, nside he koph, ndicates hat heconsonant s to be pronounced hard" (since t occurs irst n the word),while hesecond ot, nside he aw, ndrcates hat he consonant s doubled and hus alsopronounced hard") We would ransliterate FlJ as katteh.

Note he wo rules:l) Whenever consonant ppears wice n a row, with no intervening owel,

it is always ronounced ard.

2) A murmured owelnever occurs efore a doubled onsonant.

Introductory essons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond l 8


19/134

Exercise a.Transliteratehe ollowing assage rom Ezr:a .6,5.17:

N?)F Dllll)y .':nDn2us '-TNFlll\ lu-19

l 'qq ' . . rq q ' .F \ )b 'T NrT)I n ' lr - l ir fn . '/ J J J ' t I t { ; J t s1 ? : ' t _ I : - T - : ' . ' : ' - - :

Part 3.The pronouns n Aramaic ave he ollowing orms:

Sinzular Plurallcs "f" ;']iN lcp "we" if;nl$2ms you" ffl$ 2mp you" El:lt| l''lfl)|2fs vou" tnl$ 2fp"you" ]DlS3ms he" ll:1;1 3mp they" 'l:l)N+ (E.: lnn / D.: J]bil)

3fs "she" $tiJ 3fp they" I'lN

Theyare used n many espects ike English ronouns. otice, owever, hatAramaic, nlikeEnglish, istinguishes etweenmasculine nd eminine enders nthe 2nd nd3'dpersons. hese ender istinctions or the 2nd nd3'dpersons illalso be ound n the verb orms.

Exercise b.Based on what you know of Aramaic orthography nd syllabification, ransliteratethe pronouns rom the preceding hart:

Singular Plural1 s "I " lcp "we"

2ms "you" 'ant(Both hewasn this orm epresent heabsence f avowel.)

2mp you"

2fs "you"2fp

"you"

3ms he" 3mp they"

3fs she" 3fp "they"

t 9ntroductory Lessons n Arqmaic by Eric D. Reymond


20/134

Part 4.Syntax f NominalExpressionsIn many anguages, ncludingAramaic, ne does ot always eed he verb "to be"when creating entences f the sort: The king s good." n cases f this sortAramaic implyuxtaposes he noun N?)D) with he adjective lp), sometimeswith the adjective a predicate djective, o be precise) omingbefore he noun.

S? BP

This sentence an be distinguished rom he phrase the goodking" by the wordorderand he state f the adjective absolute, hat s, without he t , - ending). nthe phrase the goodking" the adjective lways ollows he noun and agrees iththe noun n its gender, umber ncl tate.

rf'rr. rr:hnl ' - iu l - - ) / l )t t T : -

Sometimes, sentence ill juxtapose wo nouns, such as n the sentence I am heking," which if translated word-for-word from Aramaic would be "I king." In thesecases, he word that functions as he subject of the clause usually comes irst. Theword that follows is considered he predicate even hough n Aramaic t is not averb).

Here "the king" is technically he predicate of the phrase and comes second.Sometimes, owever he predicate an come irst and he subject second and hiscan ead o confusion. For example, one can magine a sentence f the type belowin which either noun could function as he subject or predicate. n these cases,context s the only guide as o which should be considered he subject and whichthe predicate.

-T)F il:tt : A lion s a kingor A king s a ion.

In cases here he predicate s a prepositional hrase, he prepositional hraseusuallyappears econd, receded y the subject.

N]?F ;'Ut_t I am he king.

N )b Eg ;1:N I am with he kine.



21/134

Exercise c.Translate he ollowingsentences nto Aramaic, tilizing he vocabulary hatfollows he exercise:

1.He s the king.2.He s n hehouse.3. We are n the house.4. They are before he king.5. Accordingly, ll are here.6. Before hey were here, we were before he king.

Vocabulary:Prepositions. (or ) : "in" or "by"

(or ) : "aS"or "like"trlP : before referring o place)

nElP ]n / nD-li?n : before referring o time)

Adverbs:] , NFi "thus"or "accordingly"ilFn : "there"

Conjunction:I , t'l, -''l "and","or", "but". The single onjunction an be ranslated n a number

of ways based n he context f a passage. ometimes he conjunction oesnot need o be ranslated.Its pronunciation aries ccording o a number f variables utlined elow:

When t is followed by /1, EE, and D it becomes l ;when t is followedby a consonant*murmured owel, t also urns o:l ;when t is followedbv the vodh oses ts shewa nd he etters

together rewritten. i. ;

when t is followed by an ultra-short owel, he corresponding ullvowel eplaces t (e.g., N+'] : -NJ. nd $ +'] : -qql)

Nouns:nll|i : "letter" Nqf-UN "the etter") .ntl : "house" n:l : "thehouse";wo syllables ay- a') .

[ntroductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond 2 l


22/134

) : "all" (kol)(also pelled l, kol;

T?n : "king" N??D "the ing")m.'iltDlP: "copy"m.

N.B.

The Aramaicexpressionthe house,"Nf:], contains vowel-consonant

combination alleda dipthong, n this case ay- (pronounced ike the commonword "eye"); his dipthong ffects he ollowingbegadkephat etter as f it weresimplya vowel, making he pronunciation f taw soft.



23/134

Lesson : The Noun

Each Aramaic word s associated ith a three consonant oot. Due o the fact hatmost Aramaicwords have only hree consonants, dentifiiing he oot consonants soften ather asy. hus, .g., he word1)n has he oot

l ?n. eeing able orecognize he oot of a word s important ecause t (usually) llowsyou ounderstand he basic semantic ield of the word and allows you to predict how theword's pronunciation ill change hen suffixes readded o it. Additionally tallowsyou o look he word up n a dictionary, ince ome ictionaries reorganized ccording o root.

For our purposes e will consider he our most basic ypes of roots:1. strong having hree solid" onsonantsi.e.,N, , l,

-T,;'J, , n, 13, ,),D,),D,JJ,5, , r , 1,lD,D, ).2. firstweak having "weak" ''1, ,:, N) consonant s he irstconsonant.3. middle weak havinga "weak" (.1,') consonant s he second onsonant.4. finalweak havinga "weak" (''1, , N) consonant s he hird consonant.

Notice hat alepftis relatively table n the middleof a root, and hat, similarly,nun s stable n the middle nd at he end of a root.

Identifoing trong ootswill not be difficult. dentifuing he weak ones willsometimes rove ricky.

Typically, he weak consonants ill disappear ndverbs derived rom hese ootswill have slightlydifferent orms han hose of the strong oots.Therefore, henwe describe he verbs,we will need o describe he morphology f these ootsseparately.

Part 1: SimplerNouns and AdjectivesIn many Semitic anguages, ramaicamong hem, nouns nd adjectives reverysimilar,sometimes verlappingn form and unction.So, e.g., adjectives ftencan

be used ike nouns and have he same morpholo icalpatterns s nouns.

Nouns and adectives ave wo genders: aleand emale.They have wo numbers: ingular ndplural.They have hree states: bsolute the basic orm of the noun/adj.), he constructstate a shortened orm, common o the Semitic anguages), od he emphatic rdetermined tate. hese re best explained hrough xample:

Introductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond Z J


24/134

The absolute orm marks he basic orm of the word, he one isted n dictionaries.

The construct tatemarksa connection o afollowingword. So, e.g., lFD in the

construct tate might be ollowedby the word I )n "krng" o give he expression

l'F lED : "abook of a king",or "aking's book".Such connection etweenwords can be called a genetive elationship based n analogous onstructions romIndo-European anguages). he emphatic/determined tatemarks a noun with adegree f specificity, ike the Englishword "the".

When a word n the construct tate recedes nother ord n the absolute tate,both words ack specificity nd can be ranslated ith the English"a" or "an".

When a word n the construct tate precedes notherword n theemphatic/determined tate, oth words carry his nuance f specificity nd bothcan be ranslated ith he Englishword the". Thus,

-lrn :ED : "abook of a king" ar "aking's book"N?)D : F : "the bookof the king",or "the king's book".

You will note hat n the above ist the onns of the absolute ndconstruct tate reidentical or this word, but his s not always he case. .g., consider he word- - L u ,

;f?:D (queen, feminine oun):

absolute:construct:emphatic/determined:

absolute:construct:emphatic/determined:

lFD : book-i D : bookof;NJ?D : thebook

t l ) / ( ) : O U eenI

r r b qI r) /Q : queen oIt r r h q . 1Nl rJ )E: Tne OUeen

T : : -



25/134

Nouns and adjectives re nflected ccording o the ollowingparadigm, llustratedhere by the adjective l'llIJ ("ready", destined"):

singularabs. :

const.:

emph./det.:

pluralabs. :

const.:

emph./det.:

singularabs. :

const.:

emph./det.:

pluralabs..

const.:

emph.idet.:

masc.-.l ri ?l

I t l ) J

-?r Fl ltt l t J

r$-?.l n ?tt \ | ) t ,t ' - i

masc.l r - F r ? tI t t t t /I

t -,r Fr ttI t D /

N:-T'f i jT - - l

masc.

N-]'rl

masc.l t F t t

t t I i l , vt - 'I

i I l i ) /

Nt I'nIl

The distinctive eatures of each of these orms are ndicated n the followine chart:

fem.ilJ'nP

F - | n l tt t t t t , /- ' - i

$F"l' nIJ (' a-1ly{-ta')(Note he long vowel ftl in a closed,unaccented yllable.)

fem. - . t F f tI r r | ,J I

t- t-r F ltt t t t t ,

Nn'l'nl

fem.;'1

"l'n

:

fem.i r r r YIl T

fl ,t'nu

Nn-'l'iu

tlt l

t \ t I

Introductory Lessons n Arqmaic by Eric D. Reymond 2 5


26/134

Noun/adj.abs./cstr. i

emph./det. pl. emph.idet

P'n ("old")

p ("good",

root: 3 I ll)The : -a.- t t a i . - v

1 ' y l z a - e ' r

1"liitie")'f :1 ('Judgment",

. t a - \root: i t)l:ll ("mountain.")

Et l_'l ("wise")

. r . i L , . ,jp r ("ton$ue )

("voice"; root:/ l ? )

The : a.

lltU ("remnant")The : -a.

Exercise a: Fill in the ollowi chafi or masculine ouns/adi ctlves:

Notice that the two words with waw as a)p;, harre imilar orms.

middle consonant f their root (lF and

Exercise 4b :Fill in the followin chart or feminienouns/adi trves:

cstr. slng.

NijP'F

il-1t

1"good",root: 1 lf)

"little"

Introductory Lessons n Arqmqic by Eric D. Reymond 26


27/134

nJ'n("animal";root: lil 11)

Nn.lt? :

-l'\r -1F?t ' -

("wise");1i?-'i3("charity")

Ntli?'ls(sidqatd')

r?.:i slppar("bird")

N-IEgt :

It should be apparent hat here are certain onsistencies etween hese words. E.g.,thewords i?'F ,;1?'ll-1 and;l?'i?n allhave he same ocalic attern.Similarly,hewords 1]i'iil ,;1'l'tJi and;'T?l:n have imilar orms, hough helong middle vowel of each s different. Recognizing hese patterns elps o make

the acquisition f new words easier.

The exception o these consistencies s that n the emphatic orms when theadjective has a long-E hen he following tsw has no dot and s pronounced oft,whereas f the vowel is a long-[, long-a, or long-r vowel then he taw rspronounced ard.

Note that some eminine words do not bear he characteristic 'l , ending, wordslike -lET (Sippar). heir nflection s identical o that of masculine ouns.

Note also hat he pronunciation of the feminine adjective n the absolute tate sidentical o that of the masculine adjective n the emphatic/determined tate. Theonly difference n these orms above are he endings, J , - on the feminineadjective the typical marker of femininity) and N , - on the emphatic/determinedmasculine noun. Because he pronunciation of these wo morphemes s so similar,they were often confused; t is common o find feminine nouns with the ending N ,- and masculine emphaticidetermined ouns with the ending 'T, - . For thepurposes f pedagogy, will consistently ender he feminine absolute nding withheh, and he masculine emphaticidetermined orm with an 'aleph.

Par12. More Complex Nouns and AdjectivesMany nouns and adjectives n Aramaic witness more complex changes n theirinflection. A good, basic example of these changes s seen with the masculine wordfor money or silver, 1Q , and he feminine word for a letter or missive, 1]lN



28/134

singularabs. :

const.:

emph./det.:

pluralabs. :

const.:

emph./det.:

masc.nn-1

t - :

E1n=tt - :

N?O(kaspa')

masc.' ?r5n-l| + - rJ t I t ) / t )

3ms "hij' ;':1 ;:Tn-llN" T :

- r- r r- h>rt ' t t I t ) / t - )

3fs "her" ;':1 ;:Tn-llN - - r q h r rt ' l t l l ) , / l )

lcp "our" R; - Nin-lrN $ F. l ' t - i t \t \ l t I t J , / t - Jt - t : : -

2mp your" tr E:n-llN a b rr-nr- h>rl J J t l t ) , / t ): t : : _

2fo your" ]l , 'i:r-1llN a r -F\r - hrrl J t t t ) / t )| " : I : : -

3mp their" tril Ei'ln-llN ac rr-nr-r lr>ru f r f f t J / t )i f i i -

3fp'1heir"'liT 'iiln?lN

auThe shewa n this word represents murmured owel since he preceding owelis ong. .g., iggoratokOm.oThe suffixcould also be l-'The suffix ould lso e i;1-



47/134

Masculine luralnouns ake slightlydifferent uffixes, ut n essentially he sameway. A yodh appears spart of each uffix, except or in the 3ms suffix.Thisyodhis pronounced nly n the 1cs suffixas part of the dipthong ayl; it is notpronounced n the other orms. n an earlier stage f Aramaic t was pronounced,but now t simplyhelps o graphically ifferentiatehese uffixes rom hose sed

lar and in the sinzular and eminine plur'al nouns

mp nounl r - ' l h nI r':Y

mp nounr. . t t i \const./emph. orm . ' :U, / R::U,lcs "my" r -1Eln a . ':lD)2ms you" :l', Tt -lEll-l a b. l r . J l J - r r r r i h. t t t l l )

2fs you" n '. . l ' lr -lEln- t - v. . . : '

a b c r - r i r r i l r) )uJ ./3ms his" 'iT'l ' n i i lo a d r - i r r r i h| | l )V J . /' t '3fs "her"

ir r;:l'-llo a b . r r r l r i ht ' l )UJ .2

Icp "our" N; ' N : ' - ] O a b c $:':tDt2mp vour" E ' E:'-l5D " b n - r . n i hL)J t\Lt- ,/

" T '

2fp your" l:'. l-l.r-lEln a bl - t - v| " " : T

' r - r ' r t t i ll ) / u t /I ' -

3mp their" EiT' E|'T': Q " b = - r r r r i hLtt I tVJ )3fp their' lil' '?:1r lErn a bj ' . 1 . , r + =

r r r r r r i hI t l t W /

oThe shewa n this form is pronounced.

o The yodh of the suffix is not prounced.'The accent s over he next-to-last yllable.o Note he strange orm of the 3ms pronoun.

As might be obvious, eminine nouns hat follow a masculine aradigm n theural, take the suffixa nouns as f the word were a masculine noun

fs nounilnN

fp noun' l 'bsconst./emph. orm r]EN /NNNN 'EN / $rnNlcs "my" 'nn$ a nnN2ms you" 1m|.\ 1'F|J2fs "you" ' :naN

t " : 1 .

' : 'nN3ms his" ;.:TNEN

" : r .

'il ' 'lnN3fs "her" ;.:TNEN ;:l'bN

Introductory essons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond 47


48/134

lcp "our" $)NEN N:'6N2mp "your" E:NEN

i - . .E: 'bN

2fo"your" .I:NEN .i: 'EN3mp "their" ENNEN

: - 4 .E;'T'EN

3ft "their" 'lnnD|3 lil 'n$uBecause he mem n this word s doubled as ndicated y the dot), he shewamust epresent murrnured owel.

Exercise d.Consider he ollowingexamples nd hen write he wordsbeneath hese nAramaic:

i / - - b a l \n l s s l ave r ' l l : )t , - - - .

Ilef SOll ( r'l iii ) - : .

our ings NJ'lbD)their ingdom ;fnl: )n)hiswords ii n;rny etter 'FI-UN)your masc. ing.) ation lplt ;

- - | ' r r t L r r ryou r ( rem. pr. ) cnmes l J i i )1 - t_ ) ) .

l. my slaves2. our sons remember he unpredictable lural o thisword)

3.your fem sing.) ing4. their masc.) ingdoms5. her word6. your masc. ing.) etter7. our nations remember he unpredictable lural)8. my crimes9. his llumination10. heir fem greatnessI l. your fem pl.) udges

12.hisneeds

Introductory Lessons n Arqmaic by Eric D. Reymond 48


49/134

or

Part3:Syntax f J.

In Aramaic, ne can express genetive elationship etween wo words hroughthe construct tate, salready iscussed bove. n addition, ne can expressgenetive elationship hrough he particle,']1, which mightbe ranslated of in thefollowing ases. hus, he expression the sonof the king" mightbe expressedwith either

the article'T. l?D '-TNJJ

Quite often n Aramaic one encounters n expanded ersion of this secondconstruction, n which the irst word has a 3'operson ossessive uffix on it ,agreeing n number and gender with the word that ollows he':T. This seemsredundant o the English reader, but makes good Aramaic. This allows a third wayto express he same hrase the son of the king":

N?rD J i"l-'ll

Here, he 3ms suffixon -ll agrees n number nd genderwith the word "king".Note hat although he more iteral ranslation s "his son of the king"', his s notidiomatic n English and so his Aramaic onstruction hould everbe ranslatedthisway. Rather, our ranslation hould lways e n idiomatic, omprehensibleEnglish.

Consider he plural orms of the same xpression:

a. "the sons/children f the kins":N? D ;l

N??B :Tt1:l, . rnI mJt - J l I ninnL/ l ) t I6 I [ ' t v J

t '

- t l t - t l tI rlLr Of i illJ

- r r- r r i rr- rri- t

8 - ' r ' tl ' \El| | , J l - J t I - r h hI l / l - J l I" f ;

9 - l c r l i -t | JU J | ' I t t t t F) JU J t ' l

10q -t it . r t t

I I lvit/T : --rilt rr

Part 3:NumbersCardinal umbers -10

One curiosity hat Aramaic hares ith other Semitic anguages s that he numbers3-10 hat are masculine n.fornrmodify eminine ouns ndnumbers hat arefeminine n.form, modifymasculine ouns. Thus, o express seven ings" onewouldwrite: ' ?F illftD or llliD j':?F (thenumeral ancome ither eforeor after he noun t modifies). But, o express seven ueens" ne wouldwrite:]?)n JJltlJ r IJIU'i?)8. Although he cardinal umbers re ike adjectives,nthat hey modifynouns, hey do not occur n the emphatic/determined tate ndonly rarelyappear n the construct tate efore he noun.

The "teens" do not occur n Biblical Aramaic, ut we may conjecture he ollowingforms, ogether ith he multiples f ten,whichhave nlya single orm or bothmasculine nd eminine ouns.CardinalNumbers l-70

Used with masc. nouns Used with fem. nouns1 l - i t t t a - -t w v i l |- i - - f f t l l F r -F tI I t Y J l l t | i l l" : Tl2 - t f t t l t r- tnI Y J ) / D I13 - r i l r r r - - h -tui)J t [ | , / t ' l

- i :

- - r i r r r - h -t t t u J ) / t t . / t ' l

20 i | - f n t t| . t Y 123 (literally,20 nd3) - h n r r r - r i l r r t| | . /\ r'r I tuJ)J30 r r - h nI | | , / l ' l40 ' l 'llllt50 '? llllt Ft60 t t F r i t tI l : lv



65/134

64 JJf l$'l t r F i r iI l ' l \ 4 J70 r r i t t t i t tI 1+uJ80 t r r / \ n| / r J ) |90 'r r t t i t iFf| ) /v J i ' l100 nNn200 'l'nNn (This s a dual orm.)277 o00 and70 and 7) ' itiND300 n$b n)n1000 1?r\To express what corresponds o English "first", "second", third", "fourth", "fifth",etc., one uses ordinalnumbers. n Aramaic hese ave he "gentilic ending" -ayl,except he word for "second". Like for the cardinal numbers, here are differentforms

formasculine

andeminine nouns.

Usually hese appear afterhe noun they

modifir, ike ordinary adjectives. Also like adjectives, he ordinal numbers appearin an absolute nd emphatic/determined tate. urthermore, ike other adjectives,these can be used alone as nouns and can appear n plural forms, o mean the firstones", the second ones", etc. (Due to the ack of evidence, many of these ormsare educated uesses.)

Notice hat ike gentilicnouns, here are cases here he original odh of the ormhas been eplaced y 'aleph.

Exercise a.Write n Aramaic he ollowingphrases. Remember hat he shorter orm of of thenumbers -10 modifiesmasculine ouns, he onger orm modifies emininenouns).

one booktwo letters rom two kingsthree ecords rom our scribes

OrdinalNumbers -5Used with masc. nouns Usedwith em. nouns

I

2aJ 'n ')F / N'n')Fl or N'ri ')Fl45



66/134

five years n six countries i.e., ands)seven alaces or eightkingdomsthese ine slaves or ten citieseleven men rom twelve nationsthirteen ouses

the irst sonthe irst kingdomthe second itythe hird manthe fourth animal

Exercise b.Read he ollowing augmented ersion f Daniel7.1-7. The ext s augmented nseveral ays. t includes n parentheses ords hat are not n the originalbiblical

manuscripts, ut whichhelpmake ense f the Aramaic. ome onfusing ordshave been eliminated, hich are ndicated ith ellipses. urthermore, raphicinconsistenciesn the representation recorrected.) onsult he glossary t the endof the essons or wordsyou do not know. There ou will find verbs isted underthe G-3rns erfect orm and adjectivesisted n the n.s. bs. tate.

2., l

Nnr')-np .'lTn n''];'T'TTnlbNt )*t::t |'T:IJ: ' : I ; ' - _ : . . T - T : . ' . t . ' Tr t t- srr. \ r r rrrD NrnU rn:l-) JJi- lN l- lp1\ J _ r r \ r J _ , / l t , r , 1 , I _ : i _

3 .Nl-jnNJ 'iq NF:ln p)q l?rt-t l'n rrt-'tr '

4;-T?lql-'-Ti'lJ] ill-lts:NflFfP;-T'EJllf'-JF-'--Tlll n'l;] ;''lT[

|.i ':T7.;J. lD:N -t:l nn.-;-t r, 'j-.u= , , ,,,4t4,,:1,\,Jlf?ll-)p1 s{-rq-'in 'irll



67/134

5lr) illFl illllri.'-:R$nJ'n -r$l: . : i t i t t= :?t j , tEr: r i f ' l l t t - tn : Ftrt . i : - -n--rai : , . \ rt ' t 7 Y J | ; l I ' l t ) = J ) , t , / ) / | l , / t l - t t l l ) l / l I r l l I L J Y J / |

N'llL_'-lql)lt-\ 'D'lP;-T?l'-rD$ ll

6 .-ln: '-lnN :l-lNlri'''li'l ''lTn ::T nN:: ' ' T i T - i - " _ i " T T : - t: r = : t - f t : n i f r - i ? l l : - l r D ] . F i : t h t, , =4 /- l , - l l J J I - I | ] '51 iTzrn) :'nf iF)q1Nf1'i1)i'ulr-t rgt-tr3ll r : r ;1

N.').') 'ttnl n'']i'lnTn l):T lrtI n'li't nTn l):T tnNl: " - i " t Y i - T

N-'l'i:l'N 'irnl ':nb'N] il)'nl ;'T'IJ':-] 'Tl'n :N'l, |

' - : ' T : " : r : t T ' : T '.

ilDTnl 't):*'ll-ll-t

a) h-E-'-.1l'iul

, T r - T : r I r : : - - ' : - . | . - . :

N J.'n-r?-'inllqnx'irl 1?5: -r'?ilrN?$rDt;':T-lUiJ i':-lD'];:T'nlD :1

Considerhe ollowr*'In the irst ine of ,r"rrl I , the ast word, lT,[, is the G-3msperfect rom he ootilTfl("to see") nd s franslated he saw."In the second ine of verse the ast word, iT [i-]l), is a D-3mp mperfect, romthe oot )n'l 1"to righten").The inal etter s a pronoun uffix, ndicating heobjectof the verb;here t is a 3ms pronoun, him", referring o Daniel.

In the irst ine of verse , thepredicate s made up of a participle if [) and a G-1csperfect orm of "to be" (f'l'liT), esultingn the ranslation I saw"or, "I waswatching." his combination f participle lusa perfect orm of "to be" is rathercommon n this passage nd ndicates continuous ction n the past.In the second ine of verse , note he vowel under he waw conjunction.

In the irst ine of verse , there are wo clauses, oth ack a verbal predicate.hepredicate s, n each ase, prepositional hrase.

In the second ine of verse , the verb lE'-lD is a G-stem assive erfect,3mp.In the hird ine of verse , the verb n?'Pl is a G-stem assive erfect, fs,whilethe verb i:T] s a G-stem assive erfect, ms.The noun lf ?ll is "dual" n form.In otherwords, t is not a singular oun, nor a plural,but ndicates omething hatappears s a pair. This orm s used with several ouns hat come n pairs.Originallyevery noun would have had a dual orm, though his was no longer he

Introductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond ( ) /


68/134


69/134


70/134

G-passive art. D-passive art. H-passive art.and A-pass. art.- r , = ' : l - t E l - n q n - - Z i - | ? - t . l

l l l : J a t J J , t J t ) - t t J t t t ) J l r J i - J

t.s. i'j?'n ;r?iifn n?i:i:iln il?Flfp

m.p. l'l 'n ]'lFfn l. 'lF;ilF'i'ln:D

fp l?'n: l?n:n l?F:iln l?iunIt should e obvious hat hese orms producemany ambiguities. or example, heG-f.s. assive articiple s dentical o the G-3fppassive erfect. imilarly,he .s.,m.p.,and .p.,passive articiples n the D- and H-stems re dentical n form otheir activecounterparts. nlycontext an distinguish hese orms.

Now, notice some f the salient haracteristics f the passive orms n relation otheir active ounterparts. hile he G- active perfect as an a-vowelafter hesecond oot-consonant li ), the G-passive erfect ndparticiple avean -vowelafter he second oot-consonantspecifically long-r owel). ust heopposite attern s observed etween he D-, FVA-active orms and he D-, FVA-passive orms. Thus,while he D- and H/A-active erfect nd mperfect ave an e-vowelafter he second oot-consonant:li , :i=il] and Flfi_l, lnf'_.1:), he D-,H/A-passive erfect ndparticiples lways avean a-vowel.

Part2.Each of the stems as a corresponding eflexive tem,which, as ts name suggests,can connote eflexivity,or sometimes abitual, epeated ction.More often,however, t represents assivity. hus, his s yet another ay o represent assivityin Aramaic.

The G or Hithpe'et 1)llnn;The D or Hithpa"al ) Ellll)The H or Hithhaph'al x tJlilri;'t)

However, only the G and D stems re attested or BA and herefore merit ourattention.

These eflexive tems re characterized y their hi1- or, n the mperfect, i1-, i1-,'it-,nit-)prefixes.

The stems aveperfect, mperfect, mperative, articiple, nd nfinitive orms,though ot all of these re attested n BiblicalAramaic.



71/134

Exercise b.Fill out he spaces eft blank n the ollowingchart and answer he ollowing

uestr ns.tG-Perfect tD-Perfect tG-Imnerfect tD-Imoerfect

3ms3fs

2ms2fs

lc s

3mp3fp

2mpzfp

l cp

.Jt tiJ) il I' . : :F q F q F +

i tJ t t ;J t t r i

Ft:n ni']r - - t i - - r

i ' t - J i t ; J t l r I' : : :

h t F t F tI l - J l l J l l r I

r - i - n rl J i l J l l r I- q r i q n -r l- , li tJl lr

I t F r r F - r F - t

l ' ly r - r. . r J r. r. iI F - E q F

1 i ' l J il J l l i I

\ s t r r F - F -t \ , J - J t t i J t l t I

f i ' i i

- J l ' l i J l l l ,

F q F - I F Fi t - J t ' t J t t r I

- l h t F q

l ' l J l ' l ; J l l r I

Jt tJt I" t Ir l ' l i l l I

- - l

l. What are he distinctions n the vowelpatterns etween he G-perfect nd hoseof the G-perfect?2.In an unvocalized ext, how many different orms couldn:nf,nil represent?What are hey?3. There are no tG- or tD-imperatives n Biblical Aramaic.But, given he mperfectformsyou've writtendown n the above hart, what would he mperative orms ofthe G and D look ike, f they did occur?4. There re G- or tD- participles n BiblicalAramaic. f the masc. ing. orms are,respectively:i nD and FiJl'iB, whatdo he other orms ook ike?

One wrinkle to this rather straightforward aradigm s found with roots hat have asibilantas a first-consonantD, T,B, lD, D). f the rst consonant s a D, T,D, or Uthe sibilant and he prefix l switchplaces: :ntUR is the m.s. D-participle rom

Introductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond 7 l


72/134

J=tA("to consider"). f the irst root consonant s a 3, then he consonants witchplaces, ut he -l becomes Ll : 9]ts$i] is the m.s. D-participle rom 9:g ("to bewet").

Exercise c.Translate his slightly simplified version of Daniel 7:8-10:

8 .

l;f i'i rr12)clJ'IJi '--l[$]-rp )*: *'.1-rp3i'']ir tnun t - :n'DJi?-lnrJl?lni:Tll?rizNitrp-ln ?nrl;1::l )\aa tr :lNJ-Nlrpt plt\ ll t l.I r)*

9r a r r r . - t . . i . i . - . .

J f l l l J l l ) r ' l ) J I l { J l l l l J l J' l l ) / i l l t I l l l l l: | | ' . - : ' : l T r : T . . - i . ' r

NP-ilF

nuN-tltjul -llrl

t?n: ;'lu:)l)l

-'t':l:;ri)l)l -lt .-Tl'l':tD i':T:D-r?

l0'iliDJP-IFPEjl

-T)j lr:-'1 -1[i

lrnrp''ilin:rpjl:-: rr-:1I :lubrp:I'E)r 1)*

:ln..E: 'i.-lrr.)l lri. N:.-.Jr r . r - I l = Y l .

Consider he ollowing:In the irst ine o verse , notice hat he eminineword "horn" (jlP) is modifiedby two feminine djectives.In the second ine o verse , notice he wo distinct, ut similar, words: headjective/cardinal umber'F''liz and he preposition Ji?.In the hird ine o verse , notice he ast word s a genericword or "great hings."

In the irse ine o verse , notice hat he verb s 'l'F:, a 3mp G-passive erfect f;'Tn-l "to throw, et up"). The subject s "thrones." lso, he phrasel.'bl' p'Fi is

usually ranslated Ancientof Days," and ndicates singledivine ndividual. Theverb l'l' is not a G-passive erfect, ut a simple G-perfect, ith an lilvowel,instead f an al vowel n its second yllable.In the second ine of verse , both clauses ontain non-verbal redicate.In the hird ine of verse , both clauses ontain non-verbal redicate.

Introductory Lessons n Aramqic by Eric D. Reymond 72


73/134

In the second ine of verse 10,notice he wo similar expressions thousand fthousands" nd ten-thousand f ten-thousands,"dioms expressing reatnumbers.Also,note he object suffix(3ms) on he mperfect erb UDU n verse 10.In the hird ine of verse 10,notice hat he word or ustice and udgment, N]'T,seems o ndicate he court tself. Unless-his s a misreadins fN):T- the wordfor udge.)

Introductory Lessons n Arqmqic by Eric D. Reymond I -)


74/134

Lesson 10: Weak Verbs : First-nlrn. First-'a/erft. First-yodft

Thereare hree basic arieties f weak verbs, hose aving a weak irst, second, rthird consonant. here are mainly wo weak consonants, ctwand odh. When'olephappea$ t he beginning r end of a root t is considered eak and cancreate npredictable orms. Only when nun appears t he beginning f a root can t

be considered eak, especially n the conjugated orms of the verbs.

Part 1.First-nun erbsThe simplest f these weak verbs s the ast, irst-nun erbs. n fact, not all first-nun verbs behave trangely t all, some have patterns dentical o the strong verbs.These nclude erbs ike pT H: "to injure", n: G : "to give".

Those hat do show weak" characteristicsnclude: nl G: "to descend". l: C

: "to fall", P : G : "to come orth", )S: H : "to rescue", NU: G : "to carq/".

We have already earned some of these n an earlier esson, but because we onlylearned hem n their participial orms, hey did not exhibit their "weak"characteristics. n fact, the weak characteristics re not even apparent n the perfectof any stem. But, in the G- and H-imperfect he weak frst-nun verbs behavesomewhat npredictably but are normal n the D-imperfect). n essence, henevera prefix is applied o the root and his results n nun as he final consonant f asyllable, he nun blends n with the following consonant; t assimilates. hus, n the

perfect, without a prefix, we have ) , the expected orm, analogous o the ormof verbs with strong oots. But in the mperfect, with the addition of the prefixyi-the nun becomes syllable-final consonant yin-pel, and t subsequently lends orassimilates ith the ollowingpeh, esulting nyippel. (Notice hat he hemevowel of this root, as ndicated earlier, s lel [ ] The theme vowels of first-nttnverbs differ.)

Assimilation s a common inguistic phenomenon. What is described ere ssimilar o the kind of assimilation hat has aken place n Latin in the very word

assimilate, rom ad+

similis---

assimildre:"to

assimilate".



75/134

Q.{otehat due o difficultieswith my word-processing ro$am, he dot hat shouldin the sadeh n the follow ng tbrms does not

G.Imperfect

G.Imperative

H-Perfect H-Imperfect H-Imperative

3ms3fs

2ms2fs

l c s

3mp3fp

2mp2fp

lcp

)2' yippet)ln

)Enr r anl ' :

)lN

n la.t ta.l r :

ir)lt1

r \an| / - a II T :

)r:

)s')6

r)sil)5

L . . - , ,/5r | fiASSl

n?sil

ri)xi:'n) il

n s;T

r liln n

r. . n l. . t r-l ' l l ' l , / 5 r I

r - l . r r -I ' l , / 5 r I| " : " -

*:)tn

L . r - . , t.rj5r_l yan0sSelbgi:r-r

l - a t - - ,, z S i l i ' l

I

r r l - c t - F| . / 5 r l l ' l

,TgnN

r r L r r - rl ' t / 5 t Ir l . r r- , .I . /5 t Il t : - :

r r l . r r - - tl

' t , /5 t [ ' l

t l . t r - - 'I . / 5 t l l ' lt r : - :

)sn:

)sil'xil

r) ln S;'r

fi

Note hat he mperatives lsoattest nexpected orms,based n he act hat heyare nfluenced y the orm of the mperfect.

The H-stemparticiple ndG- and H-stem nfinitives are quitepredictable, iventhe pattern bove.

H-participte:ts[b or )SE , n?S[F otnf$E, etc.G-Infinitirr.,FnH-Infinitive:'T?+A

rntroductory Lessons n Arqmqic by Eric D. Reymond 75


76/134

As observed bove, n each f these orms he nun has assimilated nto hefollowingconsonant, esulting n a doubled onsonant. hus, yinpel -+ ippel.This s a relatively imple ransformation, ndderiving he oot rom hese orms srelatively traightforward.dentifuing hese orms becomes roblematic hen oneconsiders he otherweak verbs hat have orms similar o these.

Par|2.First-'aleph erbs.Rootswith an N as heir irst consonant aveverbal orms hat are only slightlydistinct rom hose of the strons erb.

As with ftst-nun roots, he differences ppear rimarilywhen prefixes readded othe oot. For he G-stem, he esult s that he egular hort il of theprefixtransforms nto el ( ).

So he 3ms orm of -lbN in the perfect s lB$, but n the mperfect t is -lDNl.

The 2mp orm n the perfect s'ilfl"lBN,but n the mperfect t is llfDNi:l.Notice hat he 'aleph in the prefixed orms does ot have a shewa r any vowelbeneath t.

Exercise 0a.Based on the two examples bove, you should be able o predict he followingforms. Fill in the blanks of the chart -lDlt for the G-Imperfect nd'fDN):

G-Imoerfect G-Imperative3ms ln$' XXXXXXXX3fs XXXXXXXX

2ms rEs2fs '_'lEts

l c s -rE$ XXXXXXXX

3mp XXXXXXXX

3fp XXXXXXXX

2mp 11EX

zfp ;''T'rn$

l co XX)O(XXXX



77/134

Notice hat he cs form would have been -lFN$ , but because f the edundancyof two 'alephs"this shortens o the orm FN

The D-stem hows o major nsonsistencies ith the basicparadigm e.g., -lp| l

*d*j'--lDltFl---

the al theme owel s due o the nfluence f the resh),but heH-stem oes how significant eviation rom he basic paradigm. he orms offirst-'aleph oots n the H-stemmustbe earned ndividuallyor each oot.

Part 3.First-yodh erbs.Roots with a' as he irst root-consonant re ike the otherverbalpatterns tudiedin this esson, n thatpeculiaritiesn their orms emerge nly with he applicationof prefixes o their oot. The G- and D-stem erfect o these erbs are, herefore,analogous o strong erbs.

For he G-imperfect, here are wo basic patterns, epending n the specificverb/root; or the H-imperfect, here s a single pattern. hese re llustrated n thechart elow. D-stem mperfects re oo rare o warrant iscussion.)

G-Impf lJ-lr G-Impf. l'l G-Imvs. H-Perf. H-lmpef.3ms f t :? : - t E t i u t | t rj-l'1;''Tn3fs l)'l)l'l l l ) J l r l r IJ-]"t;'tF]2ms ) J ' l r l ' l - i t ' | l ' I l l - ? i - rFu ' t I J t ' l i ' t ) / | l i i Ir-1't;'t:'i2fs ?r f'r=il':1 j - J r . r r . 'lji /':l''i 'nljl'];'l ? r : l - r - nI J . l i l i l . ll c s tJ:T:N tF[{ t t ) J t ; t t 9'1''ri"itt3mp ' l l t ' tt ' r i ' t j l ' 1 . r J-li;''l ? t f t - t - ri ' - , ' "

"fp I ' t?. r ?-t | :1r i''uj-j'1;1 l ) / r l t I2mp 1 ' l v ' l i ' l j ' i J i ' r i ' r rri / 1:r.l t i F l t - t -I ' l i ' l Y I l r t I t t - r t -I ' l ) / | l r i ' l2fp l r ' r r r ' l l J r ' D ' r i'lgi / n:rr t E t t a i tl i ' l I l r I t t a i r Fl I l r l ' ll cp t t ? t I N)lJ-]'1;'1

The G-stem mperfect f IJ'l' mimics he pattern f a root whose irst rootconsonant s a nun, one hat does ot assimilate. he G-stem mperfect f ll'i'mimics he pattern f a rootwhose irst root consonant s anun that doesassimilate.

The H-stem f lln shows n al vowelwherewe expect el (. ); this s due o theinfluence f the guttural ayin.Thus we have ']'f if instead f l'lii'l. One oot



78/134

deviates rom his and makes he H-stemwith a prefixed 'iJ, the oot )l', whichappears n the H-3msperfectur h';'1.

One of the side effects f these imilarities etween oots s that t is sometimesdifficult,when eading BiblicalAramaic, o recognize he oot rorn which a givenverb orm derives. his, n turn, makes t difficult o look up the meaning f theverb.

Exercise 0b.List the possible oots I?om which these verbal orms might derive and ook up thecorrect oot in the Answers Appendix.

1 t{tDL . - l l

J . ' l t ) =

4.v15.'Tlii']r'i

Exercise 10c.Translate his slightly implified ersion f Daniel7:11-1411 .t?)nn flrp ':TNll:rt NlIn i?-inl]inr n''tiTrTr.lN ]'n n?'bP.'J t n' ' l iTrTIirryNli?') nl';r'" 'TFUIlllil'l

l2r { r r r r L . r i r r - r r -il 'lltr)VJ )- -lJJ;l Nn''l 'n -lNlL'lI= t . 'a"ra 'r--7 .

' ,- i-i I-: .- . ' rr: -r= ---rirl ' l ) J l l f J l l y l J l r l , / i l J t l I ' l l J t t J t t \ l

l T : l - : - : - : | - ; T ; - ;

13.Nl)') . '1inin' ' l i t ;TTF;lliTln$ ulN 11 N'.DID'l -tr -r$l. r r i r r r r r i r t r;rrt-rj?i_l'i:TrnlP'lirpnNiF]'p'F -'t l

14 .ttrtl'] -'lil'l '?rr7ilJl';'l' ;'.'T7']- / t / | \ , / | t u

irn)rin: llirylolntN'.nnp:rIntroductory Lessons n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond '78


79/134

' ' a r t t t l L . . i r . q l . . . i-= flr tf - -r? Ft' ' ) t r \ / ' | / ) J t L ) ) W I ' t ) L ) / V

?lEnnN?-'-Ti:r::n''

Consider he following:In the third line of verse 11, note he forms of 'T R : G-stem to perish", n the H-

stemto

destroy", n the Hp-stemto

be destroyed"Hp-perf. l:lil)

In the irst line of verse 12,the verb ':TJJi'l s an H-3mp perfect of i'l-lJJ: to takeaway." The lelvowel under he heh (instead of an al vowel) is the result of thefollowing guttural consonant. nstead of translating, the rest of the beasts ookaway heir dominion," t is likely that his verb s intended o have an mpersonalsubject, and should herefore be translated nto the English passive. The first nounphrase s marking he topic of the sentence, est ranslated As for the rest of thebeasts, heir dominion was aken away."In the second ine of verse 12, note he curious phrases o mark ime at the end.

In the second ine of verse 13, note he phrase like a son of man," meaning ike ahuman being. We might expect a'T to precede his phrase, o make one ike ahuman being".In tlre hird ine of verse 13, note he object suffix (3ms) on the H-3mp perfect off-lP The addition of the suffix results n the reduction of the short lilbeneath heresh inthe regular orm of the H-3mp perfect: l-lPil Notice that here here s noclear subject, and so one must assume n mpersonal ubject, and ranslate with an

English passive:He

was brought near"instead

f"they

brought hirn near").

In the third line of verse 14, he verb |'T:TJJ' s a G-3ms mperfect of il'lJ) "to passaway " Compare he H-stem of this verb, as t appears n verse 12.

Introductory Lessorts n Aramaic by Eric D. Reymond 79


80/134

Lesson 1:Weak Verbs I: Second nd Third-Weak Roots

Part 1.Second-yodh nd waw verbs.Originallyyodh andwaw unctioned sdiscrepant oot consonants, ndependent feach ther. However, sAramaicdeveloped, he wo consonants, specially s hey

appeared n the middleor at the end of a root, merged ogether, o hat now t isoftendifficult o discern hether roothad a wawas ts original econd onsonant,or a yodh. n general, he G-perfect f these oots has a long -a/ n the irst syllable(FP), while he G-imperfect as a murmured owel after he prefixed - or t- and along t/ in the second yllable trlP]) It is a consistent eature f verbs of this ypeto carry a murrnllred owel or half-vowel eneath nyprefixedelement.

The D-stemhas usuallya yodh as he second onsonant, hich neverdisappears.The orm of these erbs n the D-stem s identical o that of the strong erb.

The H-stem refix o the perfect s 'l. The vowel of the second yllable s either 7or ll( .. (E'i?il or E'i?iT).The prefixelement o the H-stern mperfect suallycarries ust a murmured owel, as n the G-stem. he H-imperfect s distinguishedfrom he G-imperfect hrough he vowel of the second yllable,which s fil (E'p').Occasionally, ther orms of the H-imperfect ppear, aving he pattern f E'i?i'l'and ts Aphel variantE'P]

Because heverbal orms of this ype of root are characterizedby ong vowels, he

paradigms re somewhat redictable. ote hat he next-to-last yllable ftencarries he stress n these orms.

G-Perfect G-[mperfect H-Perfect H-lmperfect3ms 4 l ) a) ' t l ) I l l t _

F . - t F r - - r , F r - lr l z . t r ? t J . / r 1 , ,

3fs , i l ) l ) u 1l . r l ' i t r ) l 2 t I - a t Fu lrt ' r / etc.2ms FnP (qamta) a ' t l ) t " l ErX\rit-t r) l / / t I

- i r -

l r '1 , ,1 ' l / e tg .

2fs 'FIni?(qamtrt) i E ' t ? t ' l rnnri:r, . r / l / t _ t' i 'E'pFt/ etc.

l cs F l t \ -, r - l / ErPS -h r i t -t r ) l / t _ l Erp$ / etc.3mp ; l'\it . I lll il"I t t - t l / I l1'r -:? ' l:lb'p' / etc.3fp -t'\:tI t t - l / ltJ1l.) I l l ) l .2 t_ i

'if,'p' / etc2mp llnni? (qomtiln) 1: t '\: -l 'lti r ) t l / / . l : F t t \ t j ' 1 -I t , r ) l . / t - l

'JlE'i?Filetc.2fp 'lnFi?(qomtEn) I t \:t i-l Fl I Flf ' \ t - -I t- .r / l / / | _l l?'PF I etcl cp $inp l ' t P ) N:_n'i?il - t t t ,r e ) /e rc .



81/134

The G-participles ometimes ave odh, sometimes alephas he middleconsonant:

G-stem G-stem assive H-stem Haphel)m.s. trNi? E'i2fs i]?lP ;]F'P

m.p. I'DIP I'D'i?rp lPli? jQ'P

F - t i r F r t - ? l t / F r - t ' iI l4 t l t t ) l / t r t t ) / t ) l / t )- ' . \r - t r| | ) l , / t )

T ' ' :

'? ttr i-lllI ' ,4 l


82/134

Exercise laTranslate his slightly simplified version of Ena 5:6-10; he first verse ou havealready seen before.

6R-lil:--ll n[P ':F]i n?u-'ll Ntj-llNlu-]Px?)n u]lll )g N'liTi--l l '-l nl;p-l $ ;=TiJJ:t

'ni)p :ln?u ?lnBn:ll3 'n3 il:-r:]

- : : t : ' :

Ntf Nn)iDNl)n u'] '-t 't?

8

Nqi"tbr:r;r'b

xl)l$-'-l*?)n) xln? 'r:N+]N,l?N 'ltt l

. )) l]lR N;f nD N:li] ']r : | r i " | : ' :Ei't'llf l[xi]nr irJllnn Nj"rFo$11N|J'T'lll

9< l . t l

NN: T'N N ]U) N:)NU ] ' - INr " : l " ' T - T : r : " : | - r :

E;r NJ-IE$N:rn) ;r:r Nn'r trtJi3:) EU-]ntl\=tts\h:rii:-ru*r' : ' '-

10 .1;r4in) n;r)Nl)nuHrnT?urps1| " t : i f i " | : TE;t'uN:l ":t Nil:l-Et :tj::. "1

Consider he ollowing:In the irst ine of verse , the name of the governor s'tFlfl .In the second ine of verse , the word Nl?QlE$ appears o be a gentilicword,due o the characteristic luralemphatic/determined nding or this ype of word.However, t is understood sa common word, meaning officials".

In the he second ine of verse the objectof the verb l )UJprecedes he verb.This word order Object+ Verb + Subject) s typicalof BiblicalAramaic.Thephrase ll: is made up of a preposition ) plus he demonstrative ronoun

[ntroductory Lessons n Aramqic by Eric D. Reymond 82


83/134

(i'lj'l: "this").The phrase s translated ariously as ollows" n the NRSV andNew Jerusalem ible,and as "thus" n the KJV. The phrase mplies hat whatfollows in the hird ine of verse 7) is a quotation f the etter tself.In the hird ine of verse the closing wo words are he salutation o Darius.

In the irst ine of verse , "l:li'J') s the preposition plus he place ame l:li'l'.

In the hird ine of verse , the phrase f4 i:lt is a nounphrase hat ndicates hematerial out of'which the emple was built.

In the ourth ine of verse , the phrase |?=rU\ is made up of the prepositionplus he Shaphel nfinitive f i)= fh. Siraph.l'i, arareconjugationn BiblicalAramaic, ssentially ike the Haphel or, Aphel), ndicating ausation.

In the irst ine of verse 0, he phrase lfillf i;f , is made p of the preposition

plus he Haphel nfinitiveof JJJ' plus he 2ms object suffltx,you". When aninfinitive s in construct ith a followineword or when t is followed bv a suffix ttakes he ll- endins.

Part2.Third-yodh, aw, and'aleph erbs.Roots hat originallyendedwith either odh, waw, or 'alephhave a variety offormsdue o the act hat he original odh, waw, or 'alephwas no ongerpronounced. ypically, n the G-3msperfect, he verb orms rom roots with an

original odh or waw end n il in BiblicalAramaic nd ater dialects, r sometimesN (since he wo consonsonants ere oftenused nterchangably). nd for thisreason, he ootsare often isted n dictionaries ith 'l as heir inalconsonant, ndare sometimes eferred o as "third-heh oots";nevertheless,mperfect orms hatlack suffix ypicallyend with an N: Nll' . Roots hat originallyendedwith an'alephare istedwith this oot consonant n the dictionaries nd his consonantoftendoes appear n the G-3ms perfect nd mperfect orms. All the same, manyforms of these erbs do not attest J or an N. The esult s that earning heparadigm f theseweak verbs s essential.

The ypical oot used o illustrate his paradigm s the one ndicating building":;1:1. In the G-stem, he perfect, mperfect, mperative, nd passive erfect ave hefollowing orms.



84/134

G-Perfect G-Imoerfect G-Imperat ive G-Passive erfect3ms I i J J It)l' t .1.,:l

3fs i l,r;J $irFr ?2ms f'l? (banayle) nllFt r, , l:1 ?2fs 'nlii (banayflY) I , r -+ l . r ?

l c s - . t : r $tlN ?3mp r t : r ?i t - r.3fp F t : * )2mp j ' [ | l j J I l r - l t ' l

t :

'1I -'l 72fp ] r. . r _+ t ' - t F lL i i , '

,) ?l cp $) ' ) N)t) ?

Because he corpus f BiblicalAramaic s so small,many orms do not occur. But,the above hart llustrates ome f the peculiarities f this ype of verb.Theyodhlwaw hat has disappeared n the G-3msperfect orm appears niformlyas ayoclh n the G-2ms, fs perfect orms, as well as n the G-3fp,2fp mperfect orms.

The masculine lural orms n the perfect, mperfect, nd mperative re allcharacterizedbyhe inal - 1or,'ii-) ndingThiswill help ou o distinguishrootswith an original odhlwaw sa third root-consonant nd oots with ayodhlwaw sa second oot-consonant;ompare nP (G-3mp erf.), :ln:lP' (G-3mp mperf.), lD:lp(G-m.s. mperative).

For he G-passive erfect, ote hat here are only wo forms attested. he 3msform s dentical o the G-m.s. mperative. s will be seen n the ollowing hart,the ending f this orrn,' -, bears similarity o the endingof D-3ms perfect ndthe D-m.s. mperative. heG-passive mp perfect lsobears n ending, ' . , that ssimilar o the ending n the D- and H-3mpperfects.



85/134

D-Perfect D-Imoerfect D-Imperative3ms IrDl3fs Flt r-r * NllFl2ms t t t J N lF't2fs 'n 'h ? r : ' l - l h *I J-+r. rlcs n r t : Nt:tl3mp '1'f3 r i i : rI t t +3fp i'r l *2mp l ' [ | l l l l l f r ' lzfp I - t : : rl r . . r + t t l-'l F o

l cp N) ' l l N):)

Notice hat although he D-3rnpperfect nds n ''l' .-, he D-m.p. mperative nds ni- , and he D-3mp, mp mperfect nd n'ii-

The H-stem as manyof the same ndines s he D-stem,

The participles, specially or the G-stem, lsoofferproblems ue o theiridiosyncracies.

G-Participle G-Passive art. D-Part./Pass. art. H-Part./Pass. art.m.s. n + irll NllF / ' lD * Nl3[n 'llln nf.s. nll? nllf nl ]tr ;11 ?ilb

r r i r l . i : t . i : n . ? r i - t : t t tm . P. I J J { , J l . t ) ( ) | r - r r - J t ' - r l . z = i ' ' - = - ' t . - : - :t r n ? r : - ' 1 . ? r : . : l l r l - l t l l ? i . l - - t l \L . V. | . - l a - | t J t ) | , l - , t t t - ). f r ; r l r : - l T i - | | r : : - ;


H-Perfect H-Imperfect H-Imperative H-Pass. Perfect,from the root iJl]ll

3ms nll ; l $l:nr or Nll' ?3fs - l ' l r - ' & N):ilFl or N)lFl l l l l r l2ms N)li_1F1tc . o

2fs 'n.'):i-1 l r t - r - F r *I /_ r -r . r ,)l c s n')lil Iti:;'1N ?3mp '1')l;l l i t r l3fp l ' l l r - t * IZmp l i F i i i rI ' i l I r J t l i l J - J l _ l i ' l

,l

zfp I | , J -J t_ l l - r + r _ l i ' l ? )l cp N:'):i'l It):i]) ?


86/134

The only distinction etweenG-f.s., .p. participles nd he G-f.s., .p. passiveparticiples ppears n the irst vowel, , versusThe only distinction etween he D-participles nd he D-passive articiplewouldappear n the m.s. orm, hough he D-m.s.passive articiple oes ot occur.As inthe paradigm or the regular oot lf'lf the other orms of the D-participle areidentical. he same olds rue or the distinction etween he H-participles nd heH-passive articiples. he H-participles ay also appear ithout he heh, .e., asA-participles Aphel-participles)flt f D, etc.

The nfinitives are somewhat orepredictable.

G-stem nfinitive D-stem nfinitive H-stem nfinitiveNlfn nll nllfil

Exercise lbTranslate his slightly implified ersion f Ezra5.l l-13; several f the verses ouhave already een efore.

11 .-rDNF)Xli:'rriTN?in NFi:r$lJ'rtsl :.D|Drf*-'r 'iliit ib;rNJnllr

'is'luJ'i 'ltDnl:T D'TizDllr illiT-':Tfll ]li;l

12.N"FU-T?Nlr_lit?rTi-tilr-1b ir?N:Trp:;+-:1)n rglltrtl ]t iE;] il:L - - L - L . - - h r . - - b - - - r - - - - - -/ J - . / / ) t t t t { j J y t t ' t t i i t J l t , I t l | i J l

13.I 'u'ri:) nrn n:ul E:ll l 'T N )n iN:rn)n1rnry)lr-n;: pnnqN?iB u-ri:

Consider he ollowing:In the irst ine of verse I, the word NJll'nil is the H-3mpperfect f J"lll, with alcp object suffix, to us".

Introductory Lessons n Arqmaic by Eric D. Reymond


87/134

In the hird ine of verse 12,the word;=l-l.nQs the G-3ms erfect f -lllD plus he3ms object suffix,"it".

Part 3.Verbs whose econd nd hird root-consonants re he same onsonant.Some oots, ite )hJ ("to enter"), ave he same etter or their second nd hirdconsonants. hisproduces erbal orms hat one wouldnot expect, specially orthe G- and H-stems. The D-stem or these ypes of roots s regular.)

The characteristic eature f this ype of root s that when a prefix s added, he irstof the wo dentical onsonants ssimilateso the irst consonant f the oot. notherwords, n the case f ))lS,the first amed s assimilatednto he preceding'ayin;we could epresent he G-3ms mperfect n transliteration: e"ol. This ormis derived rom an earlier orm *ye'lolo. bbpl *. Similarly, he H-3ms erfectcouldbe represented a"el and he H-3ms mperfect eha"el, hough n an earliersfage f Aramaic hey would have been, espectively, ha'lel and *yeha'lelf\Jyl* and )111*;

Sometimes, he doubling f a consonant, s n the double ayinof ha"el, isreplaced y the sequence un*gsnsonant, o hat we have han'el, nstead f ha..el.Scholars ispute mongst hemselves hether r not thisnun was actuallypronounced, nd, f so, why it appears n some orms and not others. or hebeginning tudent, t is easiest o assume hat t was pronounced nd so opronounce he nun when he or she comes across ucha form.

G-Perfect G-lmperfect H-Perfect H-Imperfect3ms tt ft )i' (ye"ol) h r r - r r h r r r -/ ) J t t L / ) J ) t l h l r - r / h r l r/ t t t t | , / ) J3fs t | ?)J / v t - l n)$r /nttj)il h t t - E / h r a F/ Y t l t ' t | / Y t ' l2ms F t L l i I t / v t ' l - L r l - ,\ ' l , t V r I / E I C . t l a - h)Yt l t ' l / e tc .2fs r F ) 1 1 S l , t 1r -' 'r l':r 'r-1)iJi'] t h t t F \

| / ) J t t r ' l

l c s t | ?)J )il$ n)ilr )9il$3mp t t t r t r rI | / t - . . r)JJil r : Lrr r- r3fp l I 7)J t i / Y t i | , / ) / l IZmp r r F h h r rt ' l t ' t ) )Y i' t ,/ Jr ' l ' t t ' t / ) J t I

r q L r l t q -t ' t / v t t t ' l

Zfp lr ' t , ) / )J | , / ) J r ' I ) r ' 1 , / ) J t I | / Y t t t ' ll cp N)) ) t $lrgil

Introductory Lessons n Arqmaic by Eric D. Reymond 8'l


88/134

Based n what you have ust learned, he mperatives, articiples, nd nfinitivesare not difficult o understand.

Participles

G-stem G-stem assive H-stern Haphel) H-passivems \)p i')p tuiln )plnrs iltV n?;ip

nipirn niiinm.p. 'i '?V i,) '\n i ':oro .r..rp i?v 'i?'Ip i?p,-to

ImperativesG-stemL'..m.s . )y

fs. . ' t 'S. L' .1m.p . 1 )y

n r L'r iI . p . r | ) 9

H-stem Haphel))pir

')it;r

r)pln pn

Infinitive )yn - l. rr -l | , / ) J t IT T -

Exercise lc.Given what you have earned about he verbal orms, vocalize he following two-consonant erbal orm according o the various parsings. Check your list againstthe one n the Answers Appendix:

t l -?

1.as a G-3mp erfect rom'i'T (G: "to udge")2. as a G-3mp perfect rom he maginary oot *;'T:'rt

3. as a G-..p. imperative rom he maginary oot *;'l:T4. as a G-m.p. mperative rom he maginary oot *'f1) (G-3ms

imperfect' l-ll)

5. as a G-m.p. mperative rom he maginary oot *'iT' (G-3ms



89/134

imperfect: lTll)

6. as a G-3mp perfect rom he maginary oot fj)T

7 as a G-m.p. mperative rom he maginary oot *'i)T (G-3msimperfect' j-T:)

Exercise ld.Translate his slightly implified ersion f F.na 5:14-17;the ast verse ou havealready een efore.

t4 .N?? 'l N+,ITIl f{T?N-n'l-"lN::NF ll3lD)Ut-1't -'lN :';r-'10 Elrl ''lB:-T:l::r):; '-t N?:'iT nn ):'n1):+ '-t N?:'ij-'inN?)nuli: itrilpplilnnq lFP 1 . . -rBlw) ll';l'l

15.n)u:': '-'[N):'nr inn nnil-)itrNUNi)$?;-T-tnts-r nl NT?N 'l'l

)* n)--rn*t

16.nlip'r-r': .:rNT?}3'l-':T NiitJt\ill ;Tttt-\Jr :sltDtD]l'lNn')u *f1*;rnnl -r ] 1lin-'ibr17 .rp N?)A-\vl;r ti:l)=?l':T TFiN?)D.'r lMn'tn?u:': '-.'tNT?lS'l Nlfn) npp;rlr-)p ?)n nrrr'1rN:')IJ u"

u-r'r -]F-.'.:1'i:l 'Nil

Consider he ollowing:In the ifth line of verse 14, he ast word, TFP, s the G-3msperfect f EnlDwiththe 3ms object uffix, him" (i.e.,Sheshbazzar).Thesubject fEnU s Coresh.)

t l2 J t I

tr'tDN rnt : -



90/134

This means hat n order o create n diomaticEnglish ranslation ne musttranslate J with the Englishword "whom".

In the irst ine of verse 15, he word )$ is the near demonstrative, these". n thissame ine, he hree wordsni:]il-)]N NU are hree mperatives. he irst

imperativeoes

with the wordshat precede t. The other wo are understood

together nd go with the words hat ollow. The ast of these mperatives, 'lfli_l,sfrom he root lflJ "to so down" and s here n the H-stem.

In the ifth line of verse 17, he verb l?U: .*presses he hope of the writer, andmav be ranslated Mav he . ."

Introductory Lessons n Arqmqic by Eric D. Reymond 90


91/134

A Last Note: Verbs with Obiect Suffixes

The verbal forms you have earned can also carry suffixes that represent he objectof the verb. In Biblical Aramaic there are only a few verbal forms that are attestedwith such suffixes. The application of suffixes n general ollows the expectedrules of vowel reduction, so that when a 3ms suffix ;':T is added o a G-3ms

perfect verb, e.g. -'In?, the result s i:TlllQ This form recalls he earlier orm of theG-3ms perfect, *satara. The same applies o other orms of the verb as well.

With the imperfect one commonly inds between he verbal orm and he suffix anextra syllable: -inn--. So, e.g., when he 3ms suffix;':T is added o an H-1cs' a - r t r i - rimperfect, J'l.l 'lS, we find ;':T: 'Tl;l$

When suffixes reapplied o the nfinitives n the D-, H-, tG, and D-stems, hefinal 'T

,-- ending s replaced ith an 'l:l-ending. hus, when he 2ms suffix -T

,--

is appended o the H-infinitive, -TJJ-'liil,e find the orm:.[illJJl'f T


92/134

Glossarv

l| : "father",m. (Pl.with cp suffix: t?fif?| : "our athers" -- see essonfor this word and ts strange orms.)

]f$ : G-stem to perish"; H-stem to destroy";Hp-stem to be destroyed"/ - t t - \( l ; ' l i l )

'ill3 : "stone",.;fliN : "letter" . (sing.emphatic F-fIN )'i]:lt : "then"ifilJ:lN "wall" (pl. emphaticN;'tp:lN)) N- : G-stem to go"'-l[$ : f. sing. adi ) "another" 'oh6rT]')':f n'N : "terifying" adj.)'itli : "there

s" or"it

is") $ : "to eat"n ?N "God"m.I IX : "these",m.p. demonstrative ronoun

l)$ : "thousand", .1pl.] ' )$;ilptt : "nation" . (pl.l'Elt)-fE$ : G-stem to say"Ninl$ : "\ry",ndependent ronoun

U;tt : "person" r "human",m.Nl-lED$ : "thoroughly", diligently", adv.)Fllt : "also"'?D-l $ : "official", fi .9-l-l| : "four",used with feminine ouns:lJN : "1o"or "behold", houghoften t may be eft untranslated. t functions o

draw attention o a shift n topic.il]-llt : "lion",m.

-Tt-t$ "propef" adj.)n?l* : "lengthening", .l:l$ : land in he emph./det.: l$)nq* : "fire", .*'ilWS: "wa11", .(determined/emphaticorm:$l-rPS)nnN : G-stem to come"



93/134

-fn \ : "place",m. (sing. mph./det.. fl$ )

I "in" or "by"

l:Jtil : "then" (made p of il':$ ["then"]+ ["in"] )-lnN? : "after" (made p of -1i$ ["place"]+ ["in"] )

):? : "Babylon"'ltl : "between"l'l'. : "house",m. (Nf: : "thehouse"; wo syllables ay-tanJl : G-stem to build";Gp-stem to be built"; tG-stem to be built"tlJJ+ "request" .\YA : "master"m.-fi2l : D-stem to seek"Jl : "son",m. (in the emph.ldet.:t]3 , in the pluralabs.

i' 3)

E:l : "nevertheless"adv.)-ltp= : "flesh",m.

U : "back",m (pl J'll)-lll : "man",m. (pl. t-l:l)']l : "middle", midst", m.Il:ll : H-stem to stirup" (H-part., .s., 1[']D );f]il : "decree", . (in the cnstr.: ]]l)

)l\l : "wheel", .n?l : H-stem to take nto exile")2tr: "rolled"adj.)T:l : "treasure",m. (pl. i.'lll) In its context, nEzra, he oyal "house f treasures"

seems o be refering o where ecords nddocuments ere iled and kept.Fll : "wing", . (pl j'5t)EUI : "body",m. (withsuffix:nDUl)

NT : "this", .s. demonstrative ronoun]-l : "bear", m.fill : "gold",m. (sing. mph./det.: lilT )tJ : "of', "who", "whose", whom", "which","that", an ndicator hat what

follows s a quotation'itJ : "judgment", court",m.

Introductory Lessons n Aramqic by Eric D. Reymond


94/134

]iI'Judge",m.

)n.r : "to fear", G-f.s. ass. art. 1?'n:l : "frightful")

JT : "this" f.s. demonstrative ronounj-l:l : "record",m. (dokran) pl. emph./det.: ]i']l]t)

?21: G-stem to burn"

;181 : G-stem to be ike"nJl : "this" m.s. demonstrative ronoun

PPf : G-stem: to be shattered", -stem to crush" H-part.PTi]n)

N:liJ "he";l]iJ : "to be" ("I was" ntl.iT)Nti'J "she") ';f : "palace", temple"m. (sing. mph./det.: ?:';'f )

ibi:l : "them", ndependent ronounliT: "if'

'' : "and" "or", "but" Sometimes he conjunction oes ot need o be ranslated.When t is followed y /1, 58, and D it becomes l ;when t is followed y a consonant*munnured owel, t also urns o:l ;when t is followedbv n the voclhoses ts shewa nd he etters

togetherar. .irr.n' 'i ;when t is followed by an ultra-short owel, he coffesponding ull

vowel eplacesit e.g., N + I becomes N'.J.nd B +'lbecomes l-\l)

lEi : "time", '

nIil : "crime",.)l[t : D-stem to destroy", D-stem to be destroyed"

-ll_'l: "one", usedwith masculine ounsifln : "on",used wi

07 introductory lessons in aramaic

Documents