Aramaic
[ar-uh-mey-ik]
- Also Aramean, Aramaean. a northwest Semitic language that from c300 b.c.–a.d. 650 was a lingua franca for nearly all of SW Asia and was the everyday speech of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Palestine. Compare Biblical Aramaic.
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- pertaining to Aram, or to the languages spoken there.
- noting or pertaining to the alphabetical, or perhaps syllabic, script used for the writing of Aramaic from about the ninth century b.c. and from which were derived the Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian, Pahlavi, Uighor, and many other scripts, probably including Brahmi.
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Origin of Aramaic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Aramaic
- an ancient language of the Middle East, still spoken in parts of Syria and the Lebanon, belonging to the NW Semitic subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family. Originally the speech of Aram, in the 5th century bc it spread to become the lingua franca of the Persian empireSee also Biblical Aramaic
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- of, relating to, or using this language
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for aramaic
Aramaic
northern branch of Semitic language group, 1834, from biblical land of Aram, roughly corresponding to modern Syria; probably related to Hebrew and Aramaic rum "to be high," thus originally "highland."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper