The Aramaic Alphabet

Q: What is the Aramaic language?

Classical and Imperial Aramaic (ISO 639-3: arc) is an ancient Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic family, originally spoken in the ancient Near East [1] . Imperial Aramaic served as the administrative lingua franca of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 BCE), used from Egypt to the borders of India. It is one of the most historically important languages ever spoken. Aramaic gave rise to a large family of descendant dialects and languages — including Syriac, Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic, Mandaic, and the modern Neo-Aramaic languages still spoken today by Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac Christian communities [2] .

Q: What script does Aramaic use?

Classical Aramaic is written in a 22-letter consonantal abjad written right to left [1] . The Syriac Estrangela script — shown on this page — is the oldest monumental form of the Syriac alphabet, which itself developed from the Imperial Aramaic script. Estrangela is characterised by its rounded, formal letterforms and was used for early Christian inscriptions and manuscripts from Edessa (modern Urfa, Turkey). The Aramaic abjad encodes only consonants; short vowels are omitted in the unvocalised consonantal text and must be inferred from context [2] . In scholarly and liturgical texts, vowel points are added above or below the letters to aid pronunciation.

Q: Where was Aramaic spoken in antiquity?

Aramaic was spoken across a vast geographic range spanning the ancient Near East — from Egypt and the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Jordan) eastward through Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), Persia (modern Iran), and into Central Asia [2] . During the Achaemenid Persian Empire, Imperial Aramaic became the common administrative language across this entire territory. After the Macedonian conquest (330 BCE) and the subsequent spread of Greek, Aramaic gradually gave way to Greek as the prestige language of the Near East [1] . However, Aramaic continued as a spoken and literary language for many centuries, particularly in Mesopotamia and Syria, and survives in various Neo-Aramaic forms to the present day.

Q: Is Aramaic related to Arabic and Hebrew?

Yes — Aramaic, Arabic, and Hebrew all belong to the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family [2] . They share a common ancestor (Proto-Semitic), trilateral root morphology (most words built on three-consonant roots), and common phonological features. They are linguistically related much as French, Spanish, and Italian are related within the Romance family. Aramaic is particularly closely related to Hebrew — both belong to the Northwest Semitic sub-branch [1] . The Aramaic abjad is directly ancestral to the Hebrew square script: Jewish scribes adopted the Aramaic letter forms during the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE), replacing the earlier Paleo-Hebrew script.

Q: What is the Syriac Estrangela script?

Estrangela (from Greek strongyle, "rounded") is the oldest and most monumental form of the Syriac alphabet — itself a regional development of the Imperial Aramaic script [1] . Estrangela was the primary script of the Syriac Christian literary tradition centred in Edessa (modern Urfa, Turkey) from the 1st century CE through the early medieval period. Two later forms of the Syriac script developed from Estrangela: the East Syriac (Madnhaya/Assyrian) script, used by the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church; and the West Syriac (Serto) script, used by Syriac Orthodox and Maronite Christians [2] . Estrangela remains in liturgical use and is the script of choice for scholarly and classical Syriac texts.

Q: Did Jesus speak Aramaic?

The scholarly consensus holds that Jesus of Nazareth spoke Galilean Aramaic as his primary language — a dialect of the Western Aramaic group [2] . The Gospels preserve a number of Aramaic words and phrases attributed to Jesus directly: Abba (Father), Talitha qumi (Little girl, arise), and the crucifixion cry Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me). Aramaic was the everyday spoken language of Jewish communities in first-century Palestine alongside Hebrew (used in religious contexts) and Greek (used in wider commerce and administration) [1] . The Aramaic Peshitta — the classical Syriac translation of the Bible — became the standard Scripture of the Syriac Christian churches.

Q: What is the bgadkpat rule in Aramaic?

The bgadkpat rule (named from the six letters ב ג ד כ פ ת — B, G, D, K, P, T in Hebrew letters) refers to six Aramaic consonants that historically had two pronunciations — a "hard" (plosive) pronunciation at the beginning of syllables, and a "soft" (fricative) pronunciation elsewhere [2] . In Syriac script, the qushaya diacritic marks hard pronunciation and the rukkakha marks soft pronunciation. This alternation — for example, /b/ vs. /v/, /k/ vs. /x/, /p/ vs. /f/ — is a feature inherited from Proto-Semitic and shared with Biblical Hebrew [1] . In modern Neo-Aramaic languages, the bgadkpat alternation has been partly simplified through historical sound change.

Q: What are the major varieties of Aramaic?

Aramaic is not a single language but a language family spanning three millennia. Major historical varieties include: Old Aramaic (9th–7th century BCE); Imperial Aramaic (6th–4th century BCE — the standardised Achaemenid administrative form); Middle Aramaic varieties including Syriac, Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, and Samaritan Aramaic (1st–7th century CE); and Late Aramaic including Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic and Classical Mandaic [2] . Modern Neo-Aramaic languages spoken today include Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Western Neo-Aramaic (Maaloula, Syria), Turoyo, and Mandaic — all descended from ancient Aramaic but as distinct from it as Italian is from Latin [1] .

Q: What is the ISO code for Classical Aramaic?

The ISO 639-3 code for Classical/Imperial Aramaic is arc [1] . Individual Aramaic varieties have their own codes: Syriac is syr ; Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is aii ; Western Neo-Aramaic is amw ; Turoyo is tru ; Mandaic is mid . Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute and the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge are among the leading academic centres for Classical Aramaic and Syriac studies.

Q: What is the historical significance of the Aramaic abjad?

The Aramaic abjad is one of the most historically consequential writing systems ever created [2] . It descends from the Phoenician alphabet (itself from Proto-Sinaitic) and gave rise — directly or indirectly — to the Hebrew square script, the Arabic alphabet (via Nabataean), the Syriac alphabet, the Sogdian alphabet (ancestor of Mongolian and Manchu), the Brahmi script (ancestor of most South Asian writing systems), the Kharosthi script, and the Pahlavi scripts of Persia. This means that the Aramaic writing tradition has, through various branches, influenced writing systems used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide — from Hindi and Bengali (via Brahmi) to Arabic and Urdu [1] . The Aramaic abjad stands as one of the great pivots of human writing history.

Classical Aramaic Language at a Glance

Classical and Imperial Aramaic (ISO 639-3: arc) was the lingua franca of the ancient Near East from roughly the 8th century BCE to the 3rd century CE — serving as the administrative language of the Achaemenid Persian Empire and a major language of Jewish, Christian, and Mandaean religious literature ^[1]
Aramaic is written in a 22-letter consonantal abjad (right to left), representing consonants only; short vowels are conveyed by context or by optional diacritical marks called vocalization points (syame/qushaya/rukkakha) ^[2]
The Syriac Estrangela script — the oldest monumental form of the Syriac alphabet — developed from the Imperial Aramaic abjad and was used in early Christian literature of Edessa (modern Urfa, Turkey) from the 1st century CE ^[1]
Biblical Aramaic appears in the books of Daniel (chapters 2–7) and Ezra (chapters 4–7) in the Hebrew Bible; Jesus of Nazareth is believed to have spoken a Galilean dialect of Aramaic ^[2]
The Aramaic abjad is ancestral to the Hebrew square script, Arabic alphabet, and numerous other writing systems across the Middle East, South Asia, and Central Asia — making it one of the most historically significant scripts in human history ^[1]
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute and the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge are leading centres for Classical Aramaic and Syriac studies internationally ^[2]

Aramaic Consonants (22-letter Abjad in Syriac Estrangela):

[alep]

[beth]

[gamal]

[dalath]

[he]

[waw]

[zayn]

[heth]

[teth]

[yodh]

[kap]

[lamadh]

[mim]

[nun]

[semkath]

[ayin]

[pe]

[sadhe]

[qop]

[rish]

[shin]

[taw]

[alep]

Alep — the first letter of the Aramaic alphabet; represents a glottal stop or vowel carrier; cognate with Hebrew aleph, Arabic alif, and Greek alpha

[beth]

Beth — the second letter; represents the bilabial consonant b (or fricative v in some positions); cognate with Hebrew bet, Arabic ba, and the English letter B

[gamal]

Gamal — the third letter; represents voiced velar stop g (or fricative in lenition); cognate with Hebrew gimel, Arabic jeem, and Greek gamma

[dalath]

Dalath — the fourth letter; represents voiced alveolar stop d (or fricative th in lenition); cognate with Hebrew daleth, Arabic dal, and Greek delta

[he]

He — the fifth letter; represents the voiceless glottal fricative h; cognate with Hebrew he, Arabic ha, and Greek epsilon

[waw]

Waw — the sixth letter; represents both the consonant w and functions as a mater lectionis (long vowel u); cognate with Hebrew waw, Arabic waw, and the ancestor of Latin V/U/W/F/Y

[zayn]

Zayn — the seventh letter; represents voiced alveolar fricative z; cognate with Hebrew zayin, Arabic zayn, and Greek zeta

[heth]

Heth — the eighth letter; represents the voiceless pharyngeal fricative h (a heavy H produced deep in the throat); cognate with Hebrew het, Arabic ha (ح), a sound absent in most European languages

[teth]

Teth — the ninth letter; represents an emphatic (pharyngealised) alveolar stop; cognate with Hebrew tet, Arabic ṭa (ط); the emphatic counterpart of dalath/ܕ

[yodh]

Yodh — the tenth letter; represents the palatal approximant y and functions as a mater lectionis for the long vowel i; the smallest letter; cognate with Hebrew yod, Arabic ya, and Greek iota

[kap]

Kap — the eleventh letter; represents voiceless velar stop k (or fricative kh in lenition); cognate with Hebrew kaf, Arabic kaf, and Greek kappa

[lamadh]

Lamadh — the twelfth letter; represents voiced alveolar lateral l; cognate with Hebrew lamed, Arabic lam, and Greek lambda

[mim]

Mim — the thirteenth letter; represents bilabial nasal m; cognate with Hebrew mem, Arabic mim, and Greek mu

[nun]

Nun — the fourteenth letter; represents alveolar nasal n; cognate with Hebrew nun, Arabic nun, and Greek nu

[semkath]

Semkath — the fifteenth letter; represents voiceless alveolar fricative s; cognate with Hebrew samekh, Arabic seen; the plain sibilant of the Aramaic alphabet

[ayin]

Ayin — the sixteenth letter; represents the voiced pharyngeal fricative — a constriction of the pharynx producing a unique Semitic sound; cognate with Hebrew ayin, Arabic ain (ع); absent in most European languages

[pe]

Pe — the seventeenth letter; represents bilabial stop p (or fricative f in lenition); cognate with Hebrew pe, Arabic fa, and Greek pi

[sadhe]

Sadhe — the eighteenth letter; represents an emphatic sibilant (pharyngealised s); cognate with Hebrew tsade, Arabic sad (ص); the emphatic counterpart of semkath

[qop]

Qop — the nineteenth letter; represents voiceless uvular stop q; cognate with Hebrew qoph, Arabic qaf; produced further back than k

[rish]

Rish — the twentieth letter; represents alveolar trill or flap r; cognate with Hebrew resh, Arabic ra, and Greek rho

[shin]

Shin — the twenty-first letter; represents voiceless postalveolar fricative sh; cognate with Hebrew shin, Arabic shin (ش); the sh sound

[taw]

Taw — the twenty-second and final letter; represents voiceless alveolar stop t (or fricative th in lenition); cognate with Hebrew tav, Arabic ta, and Greek tau

Aramaic Vowel Representations:

[a]

[u / w]

[i / y]

[a]

[i]

[u]

[e]

[a]

Alep — glottal stop or vowel carrier; the first letter of the Aramaic alphabet; used as a mater lectionis for the vowels a and e at the beginning of words

[u / w]

Waw — serves as the consonant w and as a mater lectionis (long vowel marker) for the vowel u; one of the three Semitic matres lectionis

[i / y]

Yodh — serves as the consonant y and as a mater lectionis for the vowel i; the smallest letter of the Aramaic alphabet

[a]

Pthaha — Syriac vowel diacritic for the short vowel a; placed below the consonant in Syriac liturgical texts

[i]

Hbasa — Syriac vowel diacritic for the vowel i; used in Syriac liturgical pointing tradition

[u]

Esasa — Syriac vowel diacritic for the vowel u; used in full vowelling of Syriac and Aramaic liturgical manuscripts

[e]

Rbasa — Syriac vowel diacritic for the vowel e; part of the Syriac pointing system developed for liturgical reading

[.]

[,]

[;]

[-]

[:]

[.]

Syriac supralinear full stop — punctuation mark placed above the line in Syriac script to indicate the end of a sentence

[.]

Syriac sublinear full stop — an alternative punctuation mark placed below the line in Syriac script

[,]

Syriac supralinear colon — used as a comma or clause separator in Syriac manuscripts

[;]

Syriac sublinear colon — used as punctuation in Syriac script texts

[-]

Syriac horizontal colon — used as a punctuation separator in Syriac manuscripts

[:]

Syriac colon skewed left — a punctuation marker in Syriac manuscript tradition

[:]

Syriac colon skewed right — used in Syriac literary texts as a verse or section marker

ܚܕ

[had]

ܬܪܝܢ

[tren]

ܬܠܬܐ

[tlata]

ܐܪܒܥܐ

[arba]

ܚܡܫܐ

[hamsha]

ܫܬܐ

[shta]

ܫܒܥܐ

[shba]

ܬܡܢܝܐ

[tmanya]

ܬܫܥܐ

[tesʿa]

ܥܣܪܐ

[asra]

ܚܕ

[had]

One in Aramaic: had; cognate with Hebrew echad and Arabic wahid via Proto-Semitic

ܬܪܝܢ

[tren]

Two in Aramaic: tren (masc.) / tartin (fem.); cognate with Hebrew shnayim and Arabic ithnan

ܬܠܬܐ

[tlata]

Three in Aramaic: tlata; cognate with Hebrew shalosh and Arabic thalatha

ܐܪܒܥܐ

[arba]

Four in Aramaic: arba; cognate with Hebrew arbaʿ and Arabic arbaʿa

ܚܡܫܐ

[hamsha]

Five in Aramaic: hamsha; cognate with Hebrew chamesh and Arabic khamsa

ܫܬܐ

[shta]

Six in Aramaic: shta; cognate with Hebrew shesh and Arabic sitta

ܫܒܥܐ

[shba]

Seven in Aramaic: shba; cognate with Hebrew sheva and Arabic sabʿa

ܬܡܢܝܐ

[tmanya]

Eight in Aramaic: tmanya; cognate with Hebrew shmonah and Arabic thamaniya

ܬܫܥܐ

[tesʿa]

Nine in Aramaic: tesʿa; cognate with Hebrew teshaʿ and Arabic tisʿa

ܥܣܪܐ

[asra]

Ten in Aramaic: ʿasra; cognate with Hebrew ʿeser and Arabic ʿashara

[alep]

[beth]

[gamal]

[dalath]

[he]

[waw]

[zayn]

[heth]

[teth]

[yodh]

[kap]

[lamadh]

[mim]

[nun]

[semkath]

[ayin]

[pe]

[sadhe]

[qop]

[rish]

[shin]

[taw]

[alep]

Alep — glottal stop or vowel carrier; the first letter; ancestor of Greek alpha, Latin A

[beth]

Beth — bilabial stop b; ancestor of Greek beta, Latin B

[gamal]

Gamal — velar stop g; ancestor of Greek gamma, Latin C/G

[dalath]

Dalath — alveolar stop d; ancestor of Greek delta, Latin D

[he]

He — glottal fricative h; ancestor of Greek epsilon, Latin E

[waw]

Waw — bilabial approximant w; ancestor of Latin V, U, W, F

[zayn]

Zayn — alveolar fricative z; ancestor of Greek zeta, Latin Z

[heth]

Heth — pharyngeal fricative h; no equivalent in Latin script

[teth]

Teth — emphatic alveolar stop; ancestor of Greek theta

[yodh]

Yodh — palatal approximant y; smallest letter; ancestor of Greek iota, Latin I/J

[kap]

Kap — velar stop k; ancestor of Greek kappa, Latin K

[lamadh]

Lamadh — lateral l; ancestor of Greek lambda, Latin L

[mim]

Mim — bilabial nasal m; ancestor of Greek mu, Latin M

[nun]

Nun — alveolar nasal n; ancestor of Greek nu, Latin N

[semkath]

Semkath — alveolar fricative s; ancestor of Greek xi/sigma, Latin S

[ayin]

Ayin — pharyngeal fricative; ancestor of Greek omicron, Latin O

[pe]

Pe — bilabial stop p; ancestor of Greek pi, Latin P

[sadhe]

Sadhe — emphatic sibilant; no direct Latin equivalent

[qop]

Qop — uvular stop q; ancestor of Latin Q

[rish]

Rish — alveolar trill r; ancestor of Greek rho, Latin R

[shin]

Shin — postalveolar fricative sh; ancestor of Greek sigma (via some paths), Latin W

[taw]

Taw — alveolar stop t; the final letter; ancestor of Greek tau, Latin T

Expand All Collapse All

What is the Aramaic language?

What script does Aramaic use?

Where was Aramaic spoken in antiquity?

Is Aramaic related to Arabic and Hebrew?

What is the Syriac Estrangela script?

Did Jesus speak Aramaic?

What is the bgadkpat rule in Aramaic?

What are the major varieties of Aramaic?

What is the ISO code for Classical Aramaic?

What is the historical significance of the Aramaic abjad?

References:

[1] Beth Mardutho — The Syriac Institute. "Classical Aramaic and the Syriac Writing Tradition — Beth Mardutho" — Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute is a leading academic institution for the study of Classical Aramaic, Imperial Aramaic, and the Syriac literary tradition. Classical/Imperial Aramaic (ISO 639-3: arc) was the lingua franca of the ancient Near East from the 8th century BCE to the 3rd century CE, serving as the administrative language of the Achaemenid Persian Empire and the medium of Aramaic-language scriptures including the Biblical Aramaic sections of Daniel and Ezra. The Syriac Estrangela script — a development of the Imperial Aramaic abjad — is the oldest and most monumental form of the Syriac alphabet, used for early Christian literature of Edessa (modern Urfa). Estrangela is a 22-letter right-to-left abjad representing consonants only. Retrieved from Beth Mardutho — The Syriac Institute
[2] Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge. "Aramaic and Syriac Studies — University of Cambridge" — The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge is a major centre for the study of Classical Aramaic, Syriac language, and Semitic linguistics. Cambridge research covers Imperial Aramaic (the standardised form of Aramaic used in the Achaemenid Empire), Biblical Aramaic, and the Syriac literary tradition from Edessa and the Church of the East. The 22-letter Aramaic/Syriac consonantal alphabet — written right to left — descends from Phoenician and is ancestral to Hebrew, Arabic, and numerous other Semitic writing systems. The Estrangela, Serto, and East Syriac (Madnhaya) forms of the Syriac script are all developments of the classical Aramaic abjad. Retrieved from University of Cambridge — Faculty of AMES