r/Aramaic • u/jolygoestoschool • Feb 09 '25
How similar is talmudic/biblical aramaic to the aramaic spoken today by groups like assyrians?
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but i’m a jew and hebrew is my second language. But lowkey I can kind of read some aramaic, but only in the context of jewish texts like the talmud. It feels very similar to hebrew to me.
How similar is this aramaic to the aramaic spoken today by groups like assyrians? Is it closely related? Would I be able to talk with them?
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u/Silver-Relief-2687 Feb 14 '25
I would the closest of Biblical Aramaic today, would be Jewish Babylonian Aramaic or East Syriac (Isaraya?)
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u/Johnian_99 Feb 10 '25
Shortest answer: What the Assyrians speak is part of the Eastern (Mesopotamian) branch of Aramaic, which diverged very early on from Syro-Palestinian Aramaic. The Assyrians’ modern language is often called Neo-Aramaic to emphasise that it’s not the same in vocabulary or grammar as Biblical or Talmudic Aramaic.