Samaritan Aramaic

"Samaritan language" redirects here. For the Hebrew language, see Samaritan Hebrew.

Samaritan Aramaic
ארמית Arāmît
Pronunciation	[arɑmiθ], [arɑmit], [ɑrɑmɑjɑ], [ɔrɔmɔjɔ]
Region	Israel and Palestine, predominantly in Samaria and Holon.
Extinct	by 12th century; liturgical use
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Aramaic Western Samaritan Aramaic
Writing system	Samaritan alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-2	sam
ISO 639-3	sam
Glottolog	sama1314

Samaritan Aramaic, or Samaritan, was the dialect of Aramaic used by the Samaritans in their sacred and scholarly literature. This should not be confused with the Samaritan Hebrew language of the Scriptures. Samaritan Aramaic ceased to be a spoken language some time between the 10th and the 12th centuries.

In form it resembles the Aramaic of the Targumim, and is written in the Samaritan alphabet.

Important works written in Samaritan include the translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch in the form of the targum paraphrased version. There are also legal, exegetical and liturgical texts, though later works of the same kind were often written in Arabic.

Sample

Exodus XX.1-6:

1. Umellel Elâ'e yet kel milleyya aalen elmimar.
2. Ana Šema Eluek deppiqtek men ara Mişrem mibbet awadem.
3. La ya'i lak ela'en uranem al eppi.
4. La tewed lak efsel ukel demu debšumeyya millel wedbaraa millera wedbameyya millera laraa.
5. La tisgad lon ula tešememminon ala anaki Šema elaak el qana fuqed ob awaan al banem wel telitaem wel rewi'a'em elsenai.
6. Wabed esed lalafem elra'emi welnateri fiqqudi.

Notice the similarities with Judeo-Aramaic as found in Targum Onqelos to this same passage (some expressions below are paraphrased, not literally translated):

Bibliography

• J. Rosenberg, Lehrbuch der samaritanischen Sprache und Literatur, A. Hartleben's Verlag: Wien, Pest, Leipzig.
• Nicholls, G. F. A Grammar of the Samaritan Language with Extracts and Vocabulary. London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1858.
• Tal, Abraham, A Dictionary of Samaritan Aramaic: Brill 2000 ISBN 90-04-11645-1

External links

• Samaritan Aramaic Targum - Aramaic text of Samaritan Targum with English translation.