Are we a bit short on Aramaic grammars ?

[Λύχνις Δαν]

Hi ya,

 

  The sale that is on currently offers a number of Hebrew grammars which interest me as I'm going to be ready for them in a while God willing. But I at the same time noticed that there is only one Aramaic grammar on sale. This prompted me to check the website for others and I found none. I realise there is not much Aramaic in amongst the OT Hebrew text (comparatively speaking) but I am wondering if a single grammar is enough to work on that material (of course there are Targums too). So I am prompted to ask if there are more Aramaic grammars coming or have I missed others that Oaktree already offers. I have no particular candidates in mind but there appear to be quite a few available such as :

 

Basics of Biblical Aramaic: Complete Grammar, Lexicon, and Annotated Text
Jun 12, 2011
by Miles V. Van Pelt

An Introduction to Biblical Aramaic
Sep 3, 2012
by Andreas Schuele

A Short Grammar of Biblical Aramaic (Andrews University Monographs)
Jan 8, 1972
by Alger F. Johns

A grammar of Biblical Aramaic (Porta linguarum orientalium. Neue Serie)
1963
by Franz Rosenthal

 

An Introduction to Aramaic, Second Edition (Resources for Biblical Study)Aug 1, 2003
by Frederick E. Greenspahn

 

  I realize I may be overthinking the necessity for such works if really the passages are not that challenging, and as is no doubt obvious I have no immediate need, but I thought I would ask while I thought of it. Perhaps there are simply very few takers for such resources, which I could certainly understand.

 

Thx

D

[Peter Brylov Christensen]

What you're saying is very true, Daniel. Generally speaking, Aramaic does not have a very big audience nor a lot of resources compared to Hebrew - and most of the resources concentrate on Biblical Aramaic anyway. Considering that Accordance has two modules containing Aramaic inscriptions, Northwest Semitic Inscriptions (INSNWS) and Textbook of Aramaic Documents from Ancient Egypt (TAD), they'd also eventually need resources that cover the older dialects. A real challenge, to say the least.

 

I remember that back when I was learning Aramaic we used Franz Rosenthal's grammar paired with HALOT for Biblical Aramaic. As for the older dialects such as Imperial and Ancient Aramaic, we used Stanislav Segert's Altaramäische Grammatik and the glossaries in An Aramaic Handbook also by Franz Rosenthal. And that's another issue: Segert's grammar is the only one out there that deals with the older dialects, at least from what I can tell.

 

And there is no dictionary that covers the Aramaic language in its entirety either. But I do know that Michael Sokoloff has made a few over the years, A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period, A Dictionary of Judean Aramaic as well as A dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic of the Talmudic and Geonic periods. There's also the very new Dictionary of Qumran Aramaic by Edward Cook published this year. That one would go well with Takamitsu Muraoka's A Qumran Aramaic Grammar from 2011.

 

But I suspect that getting licenses for all these resources, including the ones you mentioned, will be an extremely difficult task - not to mention e-texting them. If Accordance has any plans of expanding in this field, they sure have their work cut out for them.

 

With kind regards

 

Peter

[Timothy Jenney]

We are in the process of trying to license several Aramaic grammars, but have nothing concrete to report yet.

[Λύχνις Δαν]

Good to hear Tim.

 

Thx

D

[Mike Thigpen]

The most comprehensive Aramaic lexical work is the CAL project out of Hebrew Union College.  It was begun by Stephen Kaufman and the dictionaries that Sokoloff published were related to this project.  Joseph Fitzmyer was also involved.  You can access the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon (CAL) online here:  http://cal1.cn.huc.edu.  CAL covers Aramaic from the 9th C BCE to 13th C CE.  It is not complete yet, but I find it quite helpful when working in Aramaic texts.

[Peter Brylov Christensen]

Wow, very cool! It reminds me a bit of the Electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary, also an unfinished project. While it arguably may be the best Sumerian dictionary available, it hasn't been updated since 2006, sadly. But this project seems a lot more "alive" to say the least. I'll have to examine it more closely one of these days. So little time..

 

Anyway, thanks for bringing this resource to our attention, Mike!

 

With kind regards

 

Peter

[Nick Laurence]

I would love to see more Aramaic grammars, and a proper lexicon in Accordance. I wonder if there would be any possibility of a collaboration between Accordance and CAL to develop something; if done correctly, this could benefit both sides.

 

I agree that the audience for such tools is rather limited. However, only in my 3rd year of studying Aramaic (and rather part-time at that), I am well beyond the resources currently offered, and I do wonder if the development/acquisition of such tools might promote Accordance amongst all budding/fledgling Aramaists, which would provide a significant number some of whom might be influential with others.