What does Aramaic mean?

Answer 1

Aramaic is the name of a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew. Aramaic spread throughout the Near East, but has been found as far afield as India, China, and North Africa, thanks to its role as the lingua franca of the Persian Empire (as the dialect known as Imperial Aramaic). It's enjoyed a bit of a revival of interest lately, thanks largely to Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, which served to point out to much of the world that Aramaic was the language most likely spoken by Jesus of Nazareth. Aramaic is also of interest to Buddhists and a few other religions due to ancient evangelizing efforts during the Persian Empire which led to translations of Buddhist texts into Imperial Aramaic.

Today Aramaic is spoken in many places, although the numerous dialects are often mutually unintelligible and under threat from wars and attrition. The largest extant Aramaic speaking community is the Syriac Orthodox Church which uses Classical Syriac, a form of Aramaic, as its liturgical language. Incidentally, the Syriac Orthodox Church was long of the opinion that the New Testament was initially written in Aramaic, a point of scholarly debate these days.

Ancient and Biblical dialects of Aramaic exist mostly in the offices of scholars of a few very rarefied fields. Translations are not readily available since most of these scholars have no interest in working on the projects of others. There is one known commercial translator of ancient, Biblical and Syriac dialects of Aramaic, and no known pro bono translators.
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Aramaic Designs (http://aramaicdesigns.rogueleaf.com/)

Answer 2

Aramaic is the name of a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew. Aramaic spread throughout the Near East, but has been found as far afield as India, China, and North Africa, thanks to its role as the lingua franca of the Persian Empire (as the dialect known as Imperial Aramaic). It's enjoyed a bit of a revival of interest lately, thanks largely to Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, which served to point out to much of the world that Aramaic was the language most likely spoken by Jesus of Nazareth. Aramaic is also of interest to Buddhists and a few other religions due to ancient evangelizing efforts during the Persian Empire which led to translations of Buddhist texts into Imperial Aramaic.

Today Aramaic is spoken in many places, although the numerous dialects are often mutually unintelligible and under threat from wars and attrition. The largest extant Aramaic speaking community is the Syriac Orthodox Church which uses Classical Syriac, a form of Aramaic, as its liturgical language. Incidentally, the Syriac Orthodox Church was long of the opinion that the New Testament was initially written in Aramaic, a point of scholarly debate these days.

Ancient and Biblical dialects of Aramaic exist mostly in the offices of scholars of a few very rarefied fields. Translations are not readily available since most of these scholars have no interest in working on the projects of others. There is one known commercial translator of ancient, Biblical and Syriac dialects of Aramaic, and no known pro bono translators.
--
Aramaic Designs (http://aramaicdesigns.rogueleaf.com/)