Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-s22k5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-30T13:25:41.522Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Hebrew and Aramaic in the Persian period

from THE PERSIAN PERIOD

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
Joseph Naveh  and
Jonas C. Greenfield
Edited by
W. D. Davies  and
Louis Finkelstein
Joseph Naveh
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jonas C. Greenfield
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Get access

Summary

Hebrew and Aramaic were the two main languages in use among the Jews during the Persian period. They are both north-west Semitic languages but while Hebrew belongs, together with Phoenician, Moabite and Ammonite, to the Canaanite branch, Aramaic forms a branch apart. Hebrew was the native tongue of both Judah and Israel during the monarchic period, although there were dialect distinctions between the north and the south. Among the Canaanite dialects, Moabite seems to be particularly close to Hebrew, but our documentation for these dialects is relatively meagre. After the dissolution of the northern kingdom, speakers of other languages were introduced into various parts of the country to replace exiled Israelites.

Aramaic was the language solely of the Arameans gathered at first in tribal units and then in city-states and petty kingdoms in Syria and Mesopotamia. In the eighth century it became the lingua franca of the Assyrian empire, especially in the provinces ‘Beyond the River’ (Euphrates). The complicated cuneiform writing system of the Assyrians was replaced by the relatively simpler alphabetic Aramaic script, at first in those provinces where alphabetic writing was already in use and then in Assyria proper. Aramaic was introduced for commercial and administrative purposes and Aramaic scribes were employed alongside Assyrian ones, since expansion to the west brought about the absorption of many Aramaic speakers into Assyria proper. Aramaic was used for diplomatic purposes in lands outside the Assyrian empire (see, for example, 2 Kings 18: 26, Isa. 36: 11) and subsequently also for communication within the Assyro-Babylonian area (KAI 233).

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Judaism , pp. 115 - 129
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aharoni, Y. ‘Horvat Dorban’, Israel Exploration Journal, 13 (1963).Google Scholar
Aharoni, Y.Excavations at Ramat Rahel (1959–1960). Rome, 1962.Google Scholar
Aharoni, Y.Excavations at Ramat Rahel (1961–1962). Rome, 1964.Google Scholar
Aharoni, Y.The Excavations at Kamat Kahel. Seasons 1959–1960: Rome, 1962; Seasons 1961–1962: Rome, 1964.Google Scholar
Aimé-Giron, N. ‘Adversaria Semitica nos. 113–121’, Bulletin de l’institut français d'archéologie orientale, 38 (1939).Google Scholar
Aimé-Giron, N. ‘Adversaria Semitica nos. 122–124’, Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Egypte, 39 (1939).Google Scholar
Aimé-Giron, N.Textes araméens d'Égypte. Cairo, 1931.Google Scholar
Albright, W. F. ‘A Biblical Fragment from the Maccabaean Age: the Nash Papyrus’, Journal of Biblical Literature, 56 (1937).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altheim, F. and Stiehl, R.Die aramäische Sprache unterden Achämeniden, I. Frankfurt, 1963.Google Scholar
Avigad, N. ‘A New Class of Yehud Stamps’, Israel Exploration Journal, 7 (1957).Google Scholar
Avigad, N. ‘Bullae and Seals from a Post-Exilic Judean Archive’, Qedem, 4. Jerusalem, 1976.Google Scholar
Avigad, N. ‘New Light on the MSH Seal Impressions’, Israel Exploration Journal, 8 (1958).Google Scholar
Avigad, N. ‘Seals of the Exiles’, Israel Exploration Journal, 15 (1965).Google Scholar
Avigad, N. ‘The Palaeography of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Documents’, in Aspects of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Studia Hellenistica, 4. Jerusalem, 1958.Google Scholar
Avigad, N.Bullae and Seals from a post-exilic Judaean Archive, Qedem 4. Jerusalem, 1976.Google Scholar
Bauer, H. and Leander, P.Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen. Halle, 1927.Google Scholar
Ben-David, A.Biblical Hebrew and Mishnaic Hebrew (in Hebrew). 2 vols. Tel Aviv, 1967, 1971.Google Scholar
Ben-Hayyim, Z.Studies in the Traditions of the Hebrew Language. Madrid–Barcelona, 1954.Google Scholar
Benveniste, E. ‘Elements perses en araméen d'Égypte’, Journal Asiatique, 242 (1954).Google Scholar
Benveniste, E. ‘Termes et noms achémenides. en araméen’, Journal Asiatique, 225 (1934).Google Scholar
Bowman, R. A.Aramaic Ritual Texts from Persepolis. Chicago, 1970. Cf. the review article by Naveh, J. and Shaked, S. , ‘Ritual Texts or Treasury Documents?’, Orientalia (Rome), n.s., 42 (1973)Google Scholar
Bresciani, E. ‘Papiri aramaici egiziani di epoca persiana presso il Museo Civico di Padova’, Rivista degli studi orientali, 35 (1960).Google Scholar
Bresciani, E. ‘Papiri aramaici egiziani…di Padova’, Rivista degli studi orientali 35 (1960).Google Scholar
Bresciani, E. and Kamil, M.Le lettere aramaiche de Hermopoli. Rome, 1966. Most recent bibliography in Porten, B. and Greenfield, J. C. , ‘Hermopolis Letter 6’, Israel Oriental Studies, 4 (1974).Google Scholar
Couroyer, B. ‘Termes égyptiens dans les papyri araméens du Musee de Brooklyn’, KB, 61 (1954).Google Scholar
Cowley, A. E.Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C.Oxford, 1923.Google Scholar
Cross, F. M. Jr. ‘An Ostracon from Nebi Yunis’, Israel Exploration Journal, 14 (1964).Google Scholar
Cross, F. M. Jr. ‘Judaean Stamps’, Eretz-lsrael, 9 (1969).Google Scholar
Cross, F. M. Jr. ‘Papyri of the Fourth Century B.C. from Daliyeh’, in New Directions in Biblical Archaeology, ed. Freedman, D. N. and Greenfield, J. C. . Garden City, New York, 1969.Google Scholar
Cross, F. M. Jr. ‘The Development of the Jewish Scripts’, in The Bible and the Ancient Near East, ed. Wright, G. E. . Garden City, New York, 1961.Google Scholar
Degen, R. ‘Zum Ostrakon Corpus inscriptionum semiticarum II 138’, Neue Ephemeris für Semitische Epigraphik, 1 (1972). A list of the Aramaic ostraca is provided.Google Scholar
Degen, R.Altaramäische Grammatik der Inschriften des 10–8 Jh.v.Ch. Wiesbaden, 1969.Google Scholar
Delaporte, L. Épigraphes araméens. Paris, 1912.Google Scholar
Donner, H. and Röllig, W.Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften I–III. 2nd edn. Wiesbaden, 1968.Google Scholar
Driver, G. R.Aramaic Documents of the Fifth Century B.C. Abridged and revised, Oxford, 1965.Google Scholar
Driver, S. R.An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament. Repr. New York, 1956.Google Scholar
Dupont-Sommer, A. ‘La stèle trilingue récemment découverte au Lêtôon de Xanthos: le texte araméen’, Comptes rendus de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres (1974).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eilers, W.Iranische Beamtennamen in der keilschriftliche überlieferung. Leipzig, 1940.Google Scholar
Fitzmyer, J. A. ‘The Contribution of Qumran Aramaic to the study of the New Testament’, New Testament Studies, 20 (1974).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzmyer, J. A. ‘The Language of Palestine in the First Century A.D.’, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 32 (1970).Google Scholar
Fitzmyer, J. A. ‘The Padua Aramaic Papyrus Letters’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 21 (1962).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzmyer, J. A.The Genesis Apocryphon of Qumran Cave 1. A Commentary. 2nd rev. edn. Rome, 1971.Google Scholar
Garbini, G.Le lingue semitiche, studi di storia linguistica. Napoli, 1972.Google Scholar
Gibson, J. C. L.Text Book of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions, vol. 2: Aramaic Inscriptions. Oxford, 1975.Google Scholar
Ginsberg, H. L.Studies in Daniel. New York, 1948. Studies in Koheleth. New York, 1960.Google Scholar
Goshen-Gottstein, M. H. ‘Linguistic Structure and Tradition in the Qumran Documents’ in Aspects of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Studia Hellenistica, 4 (1958).Google Scholar
Greenfield, J. C. ‘Dialect Traits in Early Aramaic’, Lešnénu, 32 (1968) (in Hebrew). English translation: ‘The Dialects of Ancient Aramaic’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 37 (1978).Google Scholar
Greenfield, J. C. ‘Standard Literary Aramaic’, Actes du Premier Congrès International de Linguistique sémitique et chamito-sémitique. The Hague, 1974.Google Scholar
Hanson, R. S. ‘Aramaic Funerary and Boundary Inscriptions from Asia Minor’, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 192 (1968).Google Scholar
Hanson, R. S. ‘Palaeo-Hebrew Scripts in the Hasmonaean Age’, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 175 (1964).Google Scholar
Henning, W. B. ‘Ein persischer Titel im Altaramäischen’, in Gedenkband Kahle, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 103, Berlin, 1968.Google Scholar
Henning, W. B. ‘Mitteliranisch’, in Iranistik, Handbuchder Orientalistik, I:4:1. Leiden, 1958.Google Scholar
Hinz, W.Neue Wege im Altpersischen. Wiesbaden, 1973.Google Scholar
Hurwitz, A. ‘The Date of the Prose-Tale of Job Linguistically Reconsidered’, Harvard Theological Review, 67 (1971).Google Scholar
Hurwitz, A.The Transition Period in Biblical Hebrew (in Hebrew). Jerusalem, 1972.Google Scholar
Jean, C. and Hoftijzer, J.Dictionnaire des inscriptions sémitiques de l'ouest. Leiden, 1965.Google Scholar
Jeselsohn, D. ‘A New Coin Type with Hebrew Inscription’, Israel Exploration Journal, 24 (1974).Google Scholar
Kaplan, J. ‘Excavations at Tell Abu Zeitun’, Bulletin of the Israel Exploration Society, 22 (1958) (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Kaufman, S. A.The Akkadian Influences in Aramaic, Assyriological Studies 19. Chicago, 1974.Google Scholar
Kent, R. G.Old Persian Grammar, Texts, Lexicon. 2nd edn. New Haven, 1953.Google Scholar
Kindler, A. ‘Silver Coins Bearing the Name of Judea from the Early Hellenistic Period’, Israel Exploration Journal, 24 (1974).Google Scholar
Koopmans, J. J.Aramäische Chrestomathie. Leiden, 1962.Google Scholar
Kornfeld, W. ‘Jüdisch-aramäische Grabinschriften aus Edfu’, Anzeiger der phil.-hist. Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaft 110. Vienna, 1973.Google Scholar
Kraeling, E. G.The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic Papyri. New Haven, 1953.Google Scholar
Kutscher, E. Y. ‘Aramaic’, in Current Trends in Linguistics, 6. The Hague, 1971.Google Scholar
Kutscher, E. Y. ‘PHW and its Cognates’, Tarbiz, 30 (1961).Google Scholar
Kutscher, E. Y. ‘The Hermopolis Papyri’, Israel Oriental Studies, 1 (1971).Google Scholar
Kutscher, E. Y. ‘The language of the Genesis Apocryphon – a preliminary study’ in Aspects of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Studia Hellenistica, 4 (1958).Google Scholar
Kutscher, E. Y. ‘The Languages of the Hebrew and Aramaic Letters of Bar Cochba and his Contemporaries’, Lešnénu, 25 (1961); 26 (1962) (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Kutscher, E. Y.A History of Aramaic, part 1 (in Hebrew). Jerusalem, 1972.Google Scholar
Kutscher, E. Y.The Language and Linguistic Background of the Isaiah Scroll (IQIsaa). Leiden, 1974.Google Scholar
Leander, P.Laut- und Formenlehre des Agyptisch-Aramäischen. Göteborg, 1928.Google Scholar
Leibovitch, J. ‘Quelques égyptianismes contenus dans les textes araméens d'Égypte’, Bulletin de l'lnstitut d'Egypte, 18 (1935–1936).Google Scholar
Lewy, J. ‘The Problems inherent in Section 70 of the Bisutun Inscription’, Hebrew Union College Annual, 25 (1954).Google Scholar
Lipiński, E.Studies in Aramaic Inscriptions and Onomastics, I. Louvain, 1975.Google Scholar
Mazar, B. ‘Archaeological Excavations near the Temple Mount’, in Jerusalem Revealed, ed. Yadin, Y. . Jerusalem, 1975.Google Scholar
Menasce, J. ‘Mots d'emprunt en noms propres iraniens dans les nouveaux documents araméens’, Bibliotheca orientalis, 1 (1954).Google Scholar
Meshorer, Y.Jewish Coins of the Second Temple Period. Tel Aviv, 1967.Google Scholar
Morag, S.The Vocalisation Systems of Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic.The Hague, 1962.Google Scholar
Moscati, S. (ed.). An Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages: Phonology and Morphology. Wiesbaden, 1964.Google Scholar
Muffs, Y.Studies in the Aramaic Legal Papyri from Elephantine. New York, 1969.Google Scholar
Naveh, J. , ‘Aramaic Inscriptions from Arad,’ in Arad Inscriptions, ed. Aharoni, Y. (Jerusalem, 1981)Google Scholar
Naveh, J. , The Development of the Aramaic Script (Jerusalem, 1970),Google Scholar
Naveh, J. ‘An Aramaic Ostracon from Ashdod’, Ashdod II–III, Atiqot, 9–10 (1971).Google Scholar
Naveh, J. ‘An Aramaic Tomb Inscription written in Palaeo-Hebrew Script’, Israel Exploration Journal, 23 (1973).Google Scholar
Naveh, J. ‘Aramaic Inscriptions from Arad’, in Ketobot ‘Arad, ed. Aharoni, Y. (in Hebrew). Jerusalem, 1975.Google Scholar
Naveh, J. ‘Hebrew Texts in the Aramaic Script in the Persian Period?’, BASOK, 203 (1971).Google Scholar
Naveh, J. ‘The Aramaic Ostraca from Tel Beer Sheba (Seasons 1971-1976)’, Tel Aviv, 6 (1979).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naveh, J. ‘The Aramaic Ostraca’, in Beer-Sheba I, ed. Aharoni, Y. . Tel Aviv, 1973.Google Scholar
Naveh, J. ‘The Palaeography of the Hermopolis Papyri’, Israel Oriental Studies, 1 (1971).Google Scholar
Naveh, J. ‘The Scripts of Two Ostraca from Elath’, BASOK, 183 (1966).Google Scholar
Naveh, J. ‘Two Aramaic Ostraca from the Persian Period’, in Bible and Jewish Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Jacob Liver, ed. Uffenheimer, B. (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv, 1972.Google Scholar
Nylander, C. ‘Assyria Grammata, Remarks on the 21st Letter of Themistokles’, Opuscula Atheniensia, 8 (1968).Google Scholar
Paper, H. H. ‘The Old Persian /L/ Phoneme’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 76 (1956).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peckham, J. B. ‘An Inscribed Jar from Bat-Yam’, Israel Exploration Journal, 16 (1966).Google Scholar
Polotsky, H. J. ‘Aramäisch prŝ und das Huzvaresch’, Le Muséon, 45 (1932).Google Scholar
Porten, B.Archives from Elephantine. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968.Google Scholar
Porten, B. and Greenfield, J. C.Jews of Elephantine, Aramaeans of Syene: 50 Aramaic Texts from Egypt. Jerusalem, 1974.Google Scholar
Purvis, J. D.The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Origin of the Samaritan Sect. Cambridge, 1968.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rabin, C. ‘Hebrew’, in Current Trends in Linguistics 6. The Hague, 1970.Google Scholar
Rabin, C. ‘Historical Background of Qumran Hebrew’, in Aspects of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Studia Hellenistica, 4 (1958).Google Scholar
Rahmani, L. Y. ‘Silver Coins of the Fourth Century B.C. from Tel Gamma’, Israel Exploration Journal, 21 (1971), pl. 31.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, E. S. ‘The Giv'at ha-Mivtar Inscription’, Israel Exploration Journal, 23 (1973).Google Scholar
Rosenthal, F.A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic. 2nd rev. edn. Wiesbaden, 1962.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, F.An Aramaic Handbook. Wiesbaden, 1967.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, F.Diearamaistische Forschungseit Th. Nöldeke's Veröffentlichungen. Leiden, 1939.Google Scholar
Rosenthaler, M. ‘A Palaeo-Hebrew Ossuary Inscription’, Israel Exploration Journal, 25 (1975).Google Scholar
Schaeder, H. H.Iraniscbe Beiträge. Halle, 1930.Google Scholar
Segal, J. B. ‘The Aramaic Papyri (from Saqqara)’, in Proceedings of the 14th Congress of Papyrologists. London, 1975.Google Scholar
Segal, M. H. ‘Mishnaic Hebrew and its relation to Biblical Hebrew and to Aramaic’, Jewish Quarterly Review, o.s., 20 (1908).Google Scholar
Segert, S.Altaramäische Grammatik. Leipzig, 1975.Google Scholar
Vinnikov, I. M.Slovar arameyskikh nadpisey, in Palestinskiy Sbornik. Leningrad.
Vogt, E.Lexicon linguae Aramaicae Veteris Testamenti Documentis Antiquis Illustratum. Rome, 1971.Google Scholar
von Soden, W. ‘Aramäische Wörter in neuassyrischen und neu- und spätbabylonischen Texten’, Orientalia (Rome), 35 (1966); 37 (1968).Google Scholar
Wagner, M.Die lexikalischen und grammatikalischen Aramäismen in alttestamentlichen Hebräisch, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 96. Berlin, 1966.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yaron, R.Introduction to the Law of the Aramaic Papyri. Oxford, 1961.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×