In the previous post I linked to Targum Onqelos. This gives me a good excuse to blog about the similarity between the two languages, something I've wanted to do for a long time. Hebrew and Aramaic are very closely related, so much that Hebrew speakers who study the Talmud (which is mostly written in Aramaic) are expected to jump in with no formal language training. For the most part, they are expected to pick up Aramaic as they go along. Let's compare a passage from the Bible with its Aramaic translation from Onqelos. Here's the Hebrew:
וּלְכָל חַיַּת הָאָרֶץ וּלְכָל עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם
וּלְכֹל רוֹמֵשׂ עַל הָאָרֶץ
אֲשֶׁר בּוֹ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה
אֶת כָּל יֶרֶק עֵשֶׂב
לְאָכְלָה
וַיְהִי כֵן
Ul'khol hayat ha'ares ul'khol `of hashamayim
Ul'khol romes `al ha'ares asher bo nefesh haya
Et kol yereq `esev l'okhla
Vayhi khen
And for all animals of the land and for all birds of the heavens
And for all things that crawl on the earth that have a living soul
[I have given]
All herb greens for eating
And it was thus
Here's the Aramaic translation:
וּלְכָל חַיַּת אַרְעָא וּלְכָל עוֹפָא דִּשְׁמַיָּא
וּלְכֹל דְּרָחֵישׁ עַל אַרְעָא דְּבֵיהּ נַפְשָׁא חַיְתָא
יָת כָּל יָרוֹק עִסְבָּא לְמֵיכַל
וַהֲוָה כֵין
Ul'khol hayat ar`a ul'khol `ofa dishmaya
Ul'khol d'raheysh `al ar`a d'veyh nafsha hayta
Yat kol yaroq `isba limeykhal
Vahava kheyn
Now, let's compare them. The following is a chart of all the morphemes in both the Hebrew and the Aramaic, in order of appearance in the Hebrew. (Repeats not included.) For Semitic roots I'll use the conventions of this chart.
| Hebrew | Hebrew Trans. | Aramaic | Aramaic Trans. | Comments |
| וּ | u- | וּ | u- | 'and' in both languages. In both languages 'and' is usually v'-, but it is u- before labials and letters followed by sh'va'. |
| לְ | l' | לְ | l' | 'to', 'for' in both languages |
| כָּל | kol | כָּל | kol | 'all', 'every' in both languages |
| חַיַּת | hayat | חַיַּת | hayat | 'animal of-' (form for first word of compounds) |
| הָ | ha- | 'the' in Hebrew, Aramaic of this period doesn't distinguish between definite and indefinite | ||
| אָרֶץ | ares | אַרְעָא | ar`a | 'land' in both languages. Semitic root: '-r-x, in Hebrew x > s, in Aramaic x > `. Final -a in Aramaic is written with an alef (ָא), this is just an orthographic convention, like the final he (ָה) in Hebrew, it does not signify a glottal stop. |
| עוֹף | `of | עוֹפָא | `ofa | 'bird' in both languages. From root `-w-f, 'fly'. |
| דִּ | di- | 'of' or 'that' in Aramaic. The Hebrew uses a compound in this case, while the Aramaic uses 'of'. | ||
| שָּׁמַיִם | shamayim | שְׁמַיָּא | sh'maya | 'heavens' in both languages. -ayim is the dual ending in Hebrew, and -aya is a plural ending in Aramaic. |
| רוֹמֵשׂ | romes | רָחֵישׁ | raheysh | 'crawl' in both languages. |
| עַל | `al | עַל | `al | 'on' in both languages. |
| אֲשֶׁר | asher | דְּ | d'- | 'that' in both languages |
| בּוֹ | bo | בֵּיהּ | beyh | 'in him', 'in it' in both languages |
| נֶפֶשׁ | nefesh | נַפְשָׁא | nafsha | 'soul' in both languages |
| חַיָּה | haya | חַיְתָא | hayta | 'living' in both languages |
| אֶת | et | יָת | yat | object marker in both languages. |
| יֶרֶק | yereq | יָרוֹק | yaroq | 'green thing', 'vegetable' in both languages |
| עֵשֶׂב | `esev | עִסְבָּא | `isba |
'herb' in both languages. Semitic root: `-x-b. In Aramaic x > s. In Hebrew the same thing happened, at a later date (hence my transcription as 's'). In both languages the rule for b/v is: b > v after vowels when not doubled. |
| אָכְלָה | okhla | מֵיכַל | meykhal | 'eating' in both languages. I think the root in both languages is '-k-l (it definitely is in Hebrew). |
| יְהִי | y'hi | הֲוָה | hava | 'be' - command form of the verb 'to be' in both languages. Semitic root: h-y-y or h-w-y (not clear). |
| כֵּן | ken | כֵּין | keyn | 'thus' or 'so' in both languages. |
I think it should be clear from this just how similar the two languages are. Notice that there is only one content word in which the two languages use words from different roots: romes/raheysh. However, even in this case, the root used in Aramaic is also found in Hebrew as a synonym of romes (the word in Hebrew is rohesh).
Posted by David Boxenhorn at February 6, 2005 08:55 PMI studied talmud at a modern Orthodox day school.
I found your page only a few days ago, as a result of the Israeli blog awards.
Your translations and explanations mean so much to me in such a short time. Your page is now a daily priority check for me.
No one seems to comment on these translations/explanations of yours, so I just wanted to say, they are wonderful. "Best of the net" in my book.
Posted by: miki (female) at February 7, 2005 10:35 AM PermalinkThanks for the comparison. I was baffled when I tried reading the Aramaic part of the Book of Daniel. It seem far less like Hebrew than I expected, probably due to the fact that I knew less about both languages at that time. Your mention of the Onqelos made me wonder, is there a Hebrew translation of the Aramaic part of Daniel? Since then, I dabbled in several textbooks for Aramaic and Syriac (Syrian Christian dialect of Aramaic) to figure out which ones were worth getting my own copies of. Their Aramaic seemed much more like Hebrew than my blurred recollection of Aramaic Daniel. Several years ago I took a look at a targum, probably an addition of the Onqelos. It had a different system for marking vowels. The marks weren't dots or lines like in Hebrew, they looked like little forked twigs over the consonants. I found a reference book which explained them. They are much simpler than Hebrew vowel marks. From my sketchy notes, I think the other form of vowel marks was called Babylonian pointing.
Posted by: Bryan Ashcroft at February 10, 2005 06:45 AM Permalink