Samaritan Aramaic

Samaritan Aramaic
ࠀࠓࠌࠉࠕ Arāmît
Pronunciation[arɑmiθ], [arɑmit],
[ɑrɑmɑjɑ], [ɔrɔmɔjɔ]
RegionIsrael and Palestine, predominantly in Samaria and Holon.
Extinctby 12th century; liturgical use[1]
Early forms
Samaritan alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-2sam
ISO 639-3sam
Glottologsama1314

Samaritan Aramaic was the dialect of Aramaic used by the Samaritans in their sacred and scholarly literature. This should not be confused with Samaritan Hebrew, the language of the Samaritan Pentateuch. Samaritan Aramaic ceased to be a spoken language some time between the 10th and the 12th centuries, with Samaritans switching to Palestinian Arabic as their vernacular.

In form, Samaritan Aramaic resembles the Aramaic of the Targumim, and is written in the Samaritan alphabet. Important works written in it include the translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch, legal, exegetical and liturgical texts.

  1. ^ Samaritan Aramaic at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)