A Cultural History of Aramaic

Aramaic is a constant thread running through the various civilizations of the Near East, ancient and modern, from 1000 BCE to the present, and has been the language of small principalities, world empires, and a fair share of the Jewish-Christian tradition. Holger Gzella describes its cultural and linguistic history as a continuous evolution from its beginnings to the advent of Islam. For the first time the individual phases of the language, their socio-historical underpinnings, and the textual sources are discussed comprehensively in light of the latest linguistic and historical research and with ample attention to scribal traditions, multilingualism, and language as a marker of cultural self-awareness. Many new observations on Aramaic are thereby integrated into a coherent historical framework.

Holger Gzella, Habilitation (2004) in Semitics, Heidelberg, is Professor of Hebrew and Aramaic at Leiden University. He was formerly trained at Oxford, Münster, and the Biblicum (Rome), has published widely on Semitic languages, and is a member of The Young Academy.

“…the book under review is written fluently in a very accessible language. It offers a valuable, first-hand overview of the Aramaic language, dialects, and records from the beginning of the first millennium B.C. to the advent of Islam.”
Edward Lipiński in The Biblical Annals / Roczniki Biblijne 6.2 (2016) 289-295.

"The work represents an invaluable tool for the study of Aramaic in the first centuries of its written transmission, and demonstrates an impressive control on the language. The grammatical phenomena (in particular phonology and morphology) are meticulously analysed. (...) The book is surely a welcome and long-expected contribution, which can be considered a major achievement as far as the historical grammar of Aramaic is concerned. It contains so many observations and data that it will surely offer the starting point for many fruitful and stimulating discussions and become an important reference source for years to come."
Giulia Francesca Grassi in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 116.2 (2021), 139-142.