From the 6th century BCE, Aramaic was the lingua franca of the Near East, and was, alongside Hebrew, the most important language of Judaism (Alef Bet). With the emergence of Islam and the spread of Arabic, Aramaic fell into disuse as a living language in almost all Jewish communities. Not until the beginning of the modern era was it rediscovered by representatives of the Jewish Enlightenment as an important …
Aramaic(2,481 words)
Cite this page
Yochanan Breuer, Jerusalem, “Aramaic”, in: Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture Online, Original German Language Edition: Enzyklopädie Jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur. Im Auftrag der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig herausgegeben von Dan Diner. © J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart/Springer-Verlag GmbH Deutschland 2011–2017. Consulted online on 07 December 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-8894_ejhc_COM_0044>
First published online: 2017
First print edition: 20170409
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