Palmyrene Aramaic was a primarily Western Aramaic dialect, exhibiting Eastern Aramaic grammatical features and hence often regarded as a dialect continuum between the Eastern and Western Aramaic branches. It was primarily documented in Palmyra itself, but also found in the western parts of the Roman Empire, extending as far as Britannia. Dated inscriptions range from 44 BCE to 274 CE, with over 4,000 known inscriptions, mostly comprising honorific, dedicatory, and funerary texts. The dialect still retains echoes of earlier Imperial Aramaic. The lexicon bears influences from both Koine Greek and, to some extent, Arabic.
| Palmyrene Aramaic | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Region | Syrian Desert |
| Extinct | 1st millennium |
Early forms | |
| Palmyrene alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
qhy-pal | |
| Glottolog | None |
The dual had disappeared from it.
The written Palmyrene language was composed in a rounded script that later exhibited resemblances to the Syriac Estrangela script.
See also
References
Further reading
- Daniels, Peter T. (1988). ""Shewing of Hard Sentences and Dissolving of Doubts": The First Decipherment". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 108 (3): 419–436. doi:10.2307/603863. JSTOR 603863.
- Hillers, Delbert R.; Cussini, Eleonora (1996). Palmyrene Aramaic Texts. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-5278-7.
- Hans H. Spoer (1904). "Palmyrene Inscriptions found at Palmyra in April 1904". Journal of the American Oriental Society.
- John Swinton (1753). "An Explication of All the Inscriptions in the Palmyrene Language and Character Hitherto Publish'd. In Five Letters from the Reverend Mr John Swinton, M. A. of Christ-Church, Oxford, and F. R. S. to the Reverend Thomas Birch, D. D. Secret. R. S.". Philosophical Transactions. 48: 690. Bibcode:1753RSPT...48..690S.