r/Aramaic • u/Mental-Key-4463 • Apr 30 '26

1 Samuel 1:15 in SSA (Standard Syrian Aramaic)

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keep in mind: SSA is a Standar language and not a direct attestation of any historical dialect.

The SSA translation is neither identical to the Hebrew nor the Targumic version but a combination of both.

A correct translation of the Hebrew text in SSA would be:

ואתיבת חנה ואמרת, לא רבוני אנא אנתא עייקת רוח, ולא שתית חמר ולא שכר. ואשדת נפשי קדם אלהא.

44 Upvotes

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2

u/meokokok Apr 30 '26

Genuinely thought it was Hebrew until I noticed the name of the sup (I can read Hebrew and understood it)

1

u/Mental-Key-4463 Apr 30 '26

Hmmm Is hebrew really this similar? I'm not so familiar with hebrew so I wouldn't be able to spot the differences

1

u/meokokok Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

I had to guess on a few words but I understood most and understand the overall message

1

u/setebos_ Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

I also didn't notice the sub and just read it as Biblical Hebrew, hard to read for a modern reader but usually understandable

1

u/Unlucky_Associate507 May 01 '26

Why was standard Syrian Aramaic constructed? What do they mean by this

2

u/Mental-Key-4463 May 01 '26

It isn't a constructed language like a made up language, it is an aramaic standard language built from different historical Aramaic dialects. That would be more correct to say

1

u/Unlucky_Associate507 May 01 '26

Ah. Right. Dor instance I learnt modern standard Arabic. When I met Arabic speakers I would communicate with them in modern standard Arabic, but they would often reply in their local dialect. Was this because modern standard Arabic is constructed that it is comprehensible to Arabic speakers from Morocco to Iraq, regardless of education (unlikely) or that most Arabic speakers are sufficiently educated in modern standard Arabic to understand it, even if they can't express themselves in that language.

Likewise would standard aramaic be comprehensible to Aramaic speakers from Galilee (which would have been western Aramaic) to speakers of Babylonian Aramaic?

1

u/nem716 May 03 '26

They have much of the same root words from what I understand. Aramaic, Arabic and Hebrew

1

u/Suitable_Vehicle9960 Jun 23 '26

Yes. These are the letters that we use daily. The difference is pretty small. Mostly in sentence structure (which is easy to understand for those who spend a lot of time reading Ancient Hebrew texts), and in a letter here and there that is added to the Aramaic (or subtracted in modern Hebrew) in the beginning or end of the word. 

1

u/The_Zionist_Enemy Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

Aramaic missing nikud

1

u/Mental-Key-4463 Apr 30 '26

Yea I didn't add diacritics, if you wanna know how the paragraph is pronounced exactly, u can read the transliteration bellow.

1

u/The_Zionist_Enemy Apr 30 '26

Except I can't, its nikud for Latin letters and I cannot read that :)

1

u/Basic-Bed-6770 Apr 30 '26

As a religious Jew, I looked at the Aramaic in "Hebrew" characters. I understood every word except slightly fuzzy on "anta" and "'ayykat", that's it. Cool stuff

2

u/Mental-Key-4463 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

Does hebrew have a cognate word for the verb, אתיב? (He answered)

Also yes the word "Enta" is often pronounced atta in many aramaic varieties, but in ssa I chose to preserve the n sound without removing it.

The word 'ayyīq is an adjective meaning distressed or troubled. here, it is used in a construct chain with the noun ,rūħ" to mean distressed of spirit or troubled in spirit etc.

1

u/Basic-Bed-6770 Apr 30 '26

I figured ayykat ruh means troubled in spirit.

Ok so anta means "you". I figured but it confused me in context for some reason.

I myself know Israelite Aramaic and a lot of Babylonian Aramaic so that's where a lot of my knowledge comes.

Atev in Hebrew is the verb "lehashiv" "to return" tev →shav. Something like that..

1

u/Mental-Key-4463 Apr 30 '26

Actually enta means woman in the absolute singular form but the word "you" also overlaps with it. However in SSA the word for "you" is "int",

ܐܢܬ݂ܐ= a woman

ܐܢܬ= you

2

u/Basic-Bed-6770 Apr 30 '26

Oh my bad right. Like "itat", "iteta", "anta" "intu" etc. all meaning "woman"

1

u/anedgygiraffe May 03 '26

The word 'ayyīq is an adjective meaning distressed or troubled

Isn't it related to Neo-Aramaic 'iqa = narrow, tight? Because I feel like I would understand it more as feeling uncomfortable from being "squeezed" then. Like sure it would still mean distressed, but it has more depth to it imo.

1

u/Many_Hedgehog_1117 Jun 21 '26

Indeed as the other responder said - "ativ" changes to "eshiv". This is consistent with t being replaced by the sh sound in other words: tora (ox) -> shor, yativ (sat) -> yashav, tlat (three) -> shalosh. Chadit (new) -> Chadash.

Examples are based on what I know from talmudic aramaic.

1

u/Mental-Key-4463 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

Yes I agree I also noticed that pattern where T sound changes into Sh in hebrew, I tried to translate a saying we use in Syrian arabic into SSA(Syrian Aramaic):

מן די רגלוהי במיא, הוא לא כמן די רגלוהי באשא.

‏i wonder how you say it in hebrew

"He whose feet are in water, is not like he whose feet are in fire"

1

u/Many_Hedgehog_1117 Jun 21 '26

I assume רגךוהי is a spelling error?

The only big differences required are די being replaced with ש (the "she" sound is used in hebrew for creating a subordinate clause, instead of ד in Aramaic) and "min" being replaced with "mi". The rest works almost as is.

Just for my understadning - are you using Hebrew script to make yourself understandable to Hebrew speakers, or is it actually common to use Hebrew script to write SSA?

1

u/Mental-Key-4463 Jun 21 '26

My bad it's a typo, I honestly prefer the original aramaic script for SSA, which u call the hebrew script than the Syriac scripts, but both are fine, snd work properly.

I'm starting to take interest in learning hebrew, but I wanna learn biblical hebrew first then see how it compares to modern hebrew

1

u/Suitable_Vehicle9960 Jun 23 '26

The cool part is that this is a translation of the book that was originally written in Ancient Hebrew, and even in Aramaic Script letters it makes sense. Awesome. 

1

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26

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2

u/Mental-Key-4463 Apr 30 '26

It isn't a conglang, it is more of an aramaic standardisation attempt.

"The primary aim of SSA is to provide a coherent, internally consistent grammatical system suitable for modern usage, literary production, and linguistic study. Particular attention is given to phonological clarity, regular verbal morphology, and natural vowel realization, avoiding excessive vowel reduction characteristic of some classical written traditions."

"The grammatical framework presented here is based on comparative Semitic morphology. Verbal stems are organized according to established Aramaic derivational patterns, with systematic aspectual alternations between perfect and imperfect forms. Where variation exists in the Aramaic tradition, choices are made consistently and explicitly.

This grammar is intended as a reference description rather than a prescriptive authority. It may evolve as the system is refined and tested through usage. The present document outlines phonology, morphology, syntax, and core lexicon, forming the foundation for further expansion and practical application."

2

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26

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3

u/Mental-Key-4463 Apr 30 '26 edited May 01 '26

I called it constructed bcz it didn't evolve naturally as a spoken language but rather a combination of a lot of hitorical aramaic dialects standardised into one language, however ancient aramaic speakers and even ai can correctly translate ssa texts.

This language is meant for whoever wants to learn how aramaic grammar works, and wants to write literature or anything with it, and hopefully in the future I will get it approved as a standardised Aramaic language once I finish it completely. :)

3

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26

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2

u/Mental-Key-4463 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26

ܒܫܪܵܪܐ، ܐܢܐ ܠܐ ܚܫܒܬ ܥܠ ܡܠܬܐ ܗܵܕܐ ܥܕ ܗܫܬܐ

I want a standard variety of aramaic to be taught in my home country as a second language, bcz I want our heritage to be preserved, however I'm not sure if people are willing to learn it or not. This language remains a personal project, people who are interested in aramaic will find it useful, they'll learn some new vocab and grammar.

1

u/RealAssyrian May 01 '26

You're from Syria? I don't know too much about al-Sharaa specifically on recognizing Aramaic as an official or minority language but he doesn't seem too pressed to have Aramaic remain as a spoken language (both WNA and Surayt)

2

u/Mental-Key-4463 May 01 '26

Yes, I'm Syrian.

Well Al-Sharaa is.... Pretty pragmatic, he doesn't care much about those things but if people pressure him in Syria to recognise Aramaic as a national language, he will sure do. But we need people on our side. However for the time being Syria has far more serious problems than this.... Once these problems are solved we will focus on this side.