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Daniel Marsh:
"“…Aramaic was so firmly established as the lingua franca that no government could dispense with its use as a vehicle of expression in a far-flung empire, especially in the western provinces. Moreover, without schools and other modern facilities, Aramaic could not be replaced by the speech of conquering nations. Conquerors were not interested in imposing their languages and cultures on subjugated peoples. What they wanted was taxes, spoils, and other levies…” – Dr. George Mamishisho Lamsa, Aramaic scholar
Aramaic even spread into such regions as Asia.
“As for the Aramaic alphabet, it achieved far wider conquests. In 1599 A.D., it was adopted for the conveyance of the Manchu language on the eve of the Manchu conquest of China. The higher religions sped it on its way by taking it into their service. In its `Square Hebrew’ variant it became the vehicle of the Jewish Scriptures and liturgy; in an Arabic adaptation it became the alphabet of Islam.” – Dr. Arnold Toynbee, Historian
Aramaic, being such a common language, used in many different countries, such as Assyria, Babylon and Israel, had many names. One name was given by the Greeks: Syriac.
“Greeks had called Aramaic by a word they coined, ‘Syriac’, and this artificial term was used in the West, but never in the East, where it has always been known by its own name, ‘Lishana Aramaya’ (the Aramaic language.)” – Paul Younan, Aramaic scholar
“There is another name for Ancient Aramaic. The Jewish scholars of Scriptures today talk of the “Ashuri” language and they call the sacred language of the Torah “Ashurit.” The modern Hebrew writing is called “Ktav Ashuri,” or Ashurai Writing. This is the language in which the Ten Commandments were written and the only sacred language of the Old Testament according to most Jewish scholars. There are hundreds of pages on the Internet that a scholar can research by simply doing a search for "Ashuri, Ashurit, Ashuris, Ktav Ashurit, Ksav Ashuris.” – Victor Alexander, Aramaic scholar
Aramaic, as we know from history and the Bible (parts of Ezra, Jeremiah and Daniel were written in Aramaic, albeit with the Hebrew script), became the dominant language even among the Israelis. Additionally, Aramaic is the primary language of the “Rabbinical Jewish” Mishnah and two Talmuds. The Aramaic language became a very important part of religion among the Judeans.
“Even to the West of the Euphrates river, in the Holy Land, the main vernacular was Aramaic. The weekly synagogue lections, called sidra or parashah, with the haphtarah, were accompanied by an oral Aramaic translation, according to fixed traditions. A number of Targumim in Aramaic were thus eventually committed to writing, some of which are of unofficial character, and of considerable antiquity. The Gemara of the Jerusalem Talmud was written in Aramaic, and received its definitive form in the 5th century. The Babylonian Talmud with its commentaries on only 36 of the Mishnah’s 63 tractates, is four times as long as the Jerusalem Talmud. These Gemaroth with much other material were gathered together toward the end of the 5th century, and are in Aramaic. Since 1947, approximately 500 documents were discovered in eleven caves of Wadi Qumran near the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. In addition to the scrolls and fragments in Hebrew, there are portions and fragments of scrolls in Aramaic. Hebrew and Aramaic, which are sister languages, have always remained the most distinctive features marking Jewish and Eastern Christian religious and cultural life, even to our present time.” – Paul Younan
…Modern scholarship contends that while both Aramaic and Greek were common in Israel, in the time of Jesus, Greek was the main language, or “lingua franca”. Problems arise for this theory, when we see what famous Judean historian Josephus has to say on the matter, in 42 AD (note that Josephus wrote in Aramaic!):
“I have also taken a great deal of pains to obtain the learning of the Greeks, and understand the elements of the Greek language; although I have so accustomed myself to speak our own tongue, that I cannot pronounce Greek with sufficient exactness. For our nation does not encourage those that learn the language of many nations. On this account, as there have been many who have done their endeavors, with great patience, to obtain this Greek learning, there have yet hardly been two or three that have succeeded herein, who were immediately rewarded for their pains.” – Antiquities XX, XI 2.
aramaicpeshitta.com/Online_Version/historical_proofs.htm
As has been shown in this thread, the use of Greek among Jews was highly discouraged.
"“…Aramaic was so firmly established as the lingua franca that no government could dispense with its use as a vehicle of expression in a far-flung empire, especially in the western provinces. Moreover, without schools and other modern facilities, Aramaic could not be replaced by the speech of conquering nations. Conquerors were not interested in imposing their languages and cultures on subjugated peoples. What they wanted was taxes, spoils, and other levies…” – Dr. George Mamishisho Lamsa, Aramaic scholar
Aramaic even spread into such regions as Asia.
“As for the Aramaic alphabet, it achieved far wider conquests. In 1599 A.D., it was adopted for the conveyance of the Manchu language on the eve of the Manchu conquest of China. The higher religions sped it on its way by taking it into their service. In its `Square Hebrew’ variant it became the vehicle of the Jewish Scriptures and liturgy; in an Arabic adaptation it became the alphabet of Islam.” – Dr. Arnold Toynbee, Historian
Aramaic, being such a common language, used in many different countries, such as Assyria, Babylon and Israel, had many names. One name was given by the Greeks: Syriac.
“Greeks had called Aramaic by a word they coined, ‘Syriac’, and this artificial term was used in the West, but never in the East, where it has always been known by its own name, ‘Lishana Aramaya’ (the Aramaic language.)” – Paul Younan, Aramaic scholar
“There is another name for Ancient Aramaic. The Jewish scholars of Scriptures today talk of the “Ashuri” language and they call the sacred language of the Torah “Ashurit.” The modern Hebrew writing is called “Ktav Ashuri,” or Ashurai Writing. This is the language in which the Ten Commandments were written and the only sacred language of the Old Testament according to most Jewish scholars. There are hundreds of pages on the Internet that a scholar can research by simply doing a search for "Ashuri, Ashurit, Ashuris, Ktav Ashurit, Ksav Ashuris.” – Victor Alexander, Aramaic scholar
Aramaic, as we know from history and the Bible (parts of Ezra, Jeremiah and Daniel were written in Aramaic, albeit with the Hebrew script), became the dominant language even among the Israelis. Additionally, Aramaic is the primary language of the “Rabbinical Jewish” Mishnah and two Talmuds. The Aramaic language became a very important part of religion among the Judeans.
“Even to the West of the Euphrates river, in the Holy Land, the main vernacular was Aramaic. The weekly synagogue lections, called sidra or parashah, with the haphtarah, were accompanied by an oral Aramaic translation, according to fixed traditions. A number of Targumim in Aramaic were thus eventually committed to writing, some of which are of unofficial character, and of considerable antiquity. The Gemara of the Jerusalem Talmud was written in Aramaic, and received its definitive form in the 5th century. The Babylonian Talmud with its commentaries on only 36 of the Mishnah’s 63 tractates, is four times as long as the Jerusalem Talmud. These Gemaroth with much other material were gathered together toward the end of the 5th century, and are in Aramaic. Since 1947, approximately 500 documents were discovered in eleven caves of Wadi Qumran near the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. In addition to the scrolls and fragments in Hebrew, there are portions and fragments of scrolls in Aramaic. Hebrew and Aramaic, which are sister languages, have always remained the most distinctive features marking Jewish and Eastern Christian religious and cultural life, even to our present time.” – Paul Younan
…Modern scholarship contends that while both Aramaic and Greek were common in Israel, in the time of Jesus, Greek was the main language, or “lingua franca”. Problems arise for this theory, when we see what famous Judean historian Josephus has to say on the matter, in 42 AD (note that Josephus wrote in Aramaic!):
“I have also taken a great deal of pains to obtain the learning of the Greeks, and understand the elements of the Greek language; although I have so accustomed myself to speak our own tongue, that I cannot pronounce Greek with sufficient exactness. For our nation does not encourage those that learn the language of many nations. On this account, as there have been many who have done their endeavors, with great patience, to obtain this Greek learning, there have yet hardly been two or three that have succeeded herein, who were immediately rewarded for their pains.” – Antiquities XX, XI 2.
aramaicpeshitta.com/Online_Version/historical_proofs.htm
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