Palmyrene Aramaic

Palmyrene Aramaic was a Middle Aramaic dialect, exhibiting both Eastern and Western Aramaic grammatical features, and is therefore often regarded as a dialect continuum between the two 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
Palmyrean
Limestone funerary slab
Region	Syrian Desert
Extinct	1st millennium
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Aramaic Eastern Aramaic Palmyrene Aramaic
Early forms	Proto-Afroasiatic Proto-Semitic Old Aramaic Middle Aramaic
Writing system	Palmyrene alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Linguist List	qhy-pal
Glottolog	palm1242

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

• Middle Aramaic dialects
• Palmyrena
• Palmyrene Empire

Notes

1. The Palmyrene dialect has a dual affiliation because it combines features of both Western and Eastern Aramaic, but it is somewhat closer to the Eastern branch.

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.