Aramaic Annotations: Pt.

1
© 2010, T. Michael W. Halcomb | www.MichaelHalcomb.com

1. Aramaic Alphabet: In my first dozen posts or so of “Aramaic

Annotations”, my goal is mainly to supply Aramaic paradigms. My personal goal
and hope for myself is that if I focus on at least 1 paradigm a day, when my first
semester of Aramaic soon begins, I’ll be familiar with at least some of the
material. So, in terms of Aramaic, look for “A Paradigm A Day” for the next
several weeks (that’s the goal anyway). The first paradigm I am going to provide
is really not a paradigm per se but rather, it is the alphabet. Even so, let’s call it
the “alphabet paradigm” (if for nothing else than to get started with the series).

Aramaic Alphabet Table

’ a
’aleph y y q q yodh qoph

b
b k
k
kaph
% r
r
beth final resh

g g
gimmel l l
lamed s´ f
sin

d d
daleth m m
mem
~*(
̮
s v
shin

h h
he n n
nun !*( t t
tav

w w
waw s s
samek
Tips:
1) Remember the table
dimensions 3x9 (the last
4 cells of the 3rd column

z z
zayin ‘ [
‘ayin
are blocked in) as this
will help commit to
filling it in. There are

h
.
x
het
p p
peh
@*(
23 consonants and 5
have “final” letters.
2) Notice that all 5 “final”
letters are in the middle

t. j
tet s
.
c
tsade #*( or 2nd column.
3) Note that “ ’aleph” &
“ ‘ayin” are pretty much
just breathing marks
w/no sound