Old Testament and Related Worlds: Semitic Languages

Imperial or Achamenid Aramaic is the dialect of Aramaic which was once used as an administrative lingua franca during the Achamenid Era (ca. 700-300 BC). Texts like the Jewish texts from Elephantine were written in this dialect.
Aramaic has a very long history and evolved into numerous dialects that each have distinctive features. Some are covered here on this page.
Several resources attempt to cover this history, a few are listed below.

While Biblical Aramaic only represents a small fraction of the Old Testament, it is important to at least be familiar with how it differs from Hebrew in grammar and vocabulary.

There are numerous resources to learning and studying Syriac (a dialect of Aramaic), below are just a fraction. Syriac is an important ecclesiastical language and there is a very large body of literature.

Nabataean is an interesting Aramaic dialect with some Arabic features. Most text are funeral inscriptions, but there are some legal papyri from the Dead Sea area.
There isn't really a comprehensive grammar of Nabatean, but the introductions elsewhere on this site have chapters on Nabataean. Below are mainly collections of inscriptions.

There is no up-to-date grammar of Nabataen Aramaic, so students are referred to shorter overviews such as in some of the handbooks listed on this page. For instance, the chapter "Late Imperial Aramaic" in The Semitic Languages: an International Handbook.

Coptic is an Afro-Asiatic language and the direct descendant of Ancient Egyptian. Written in an alphabet similar to Greek, it was/is the liturgical language of the Coptic Church.

While Biblical Hebrew is the language of the Old Testament a host of other languages are related to Hebrew, and are useful for the study of the Old Testament, ancient Judaism, early Christianity, and everything in-between. This page provides links to online resources helpful in the study of these languages, as well as links to the library catalogue for finding relevant print resources.

While languages like (Biblical) Aramaic, Syriac, Classical Arabic, and Ethiopic are directly relevant for biblical study, this page also aims to provide resources for the study of other Semitic languages such as Ugaritic, Akkadian, Old South Arabian, Nabataean, etc.

This page only contains links and guidance to learning the languages. Look under the literature tab to find resources for studying the literature which was originally witten in these languages (but which have excellent translations into English).

If there is an Ancient Near Eastern language that you would like help with finding resources, please do send me an email.

There are a number of excellent handbooks that introduce the reader to the various Semitic languages and describe their history and grammar. These handbooks are often online, and are a great place to start.

There are a wide variety of journals specializing in the study of the Semitic languages and their relation to each other. Below are links to some that the Divinity Library has current subscriptions to. Some are online and some you can find in the library. Current issues can be found just beyond the front desk when you enter the library.

The comparative study of the Semitic languages is a whole field of its own.
Below are some resources to get you started. For further study, contact your reference librarian.

Akkadian is an East-Semitic language and there are many, many resources to help you learn and study this language and its dialects. There is an enormous amount of literature in Akkadian of all kinds such as legal texts, personal letters, narrative, and myths.

Ugaritic is a fairly easy language to learn and it has many similarities to Biblical Hebrew.

Ge'ez is the liturgical language of the Ethiopic church, and there is a significant body of literature to access. Ge'ez is a Semitic language, but with significant influence from the surrounding African languages.

Besides gaining access to reading the Qur'an in its original language, Classical Arabic has also been used by many Christians in the Arabian Peninsula.

Despite the name, OSA is not directly related to Arabic. Quite a few building inscriptions and dedications exist. Sabaic is the best documented dialect.

Again, Ancient North Arabian is not directly related to Arabic. There is a growing scholarship and many inscriptions. Safaitic is the best documented dialect.

Sumerian is not a Semitic language, but was an administrative language used before Akkadian.