Aramaic

& s. From Heb. ארָמִית (aramith), 2 Kings xviii. 26 and Dan. ii. 4 of the Heb. Bible (rendered in the Eng. version "Syrian" or "Syriack.").] [ARAMEAN.] 1. As adjective: Pertaining to the Aramaic or Aramæan tongue. The Semitic family of languages may be divided into three cla es or branches: (1) The Arabic, or Southern Semitic; (2) the Hebraic, or Middle Semitic; and (3) the Aramaic, or Northern Semitic. Under the third of these cla es Prof. Max Müller ranks of living languages the NeoSyriac; and of dead ones, (1) the Chaldee of the Masora, Talmud, Targums, and the Bible; (2) the Syriac or Peshito of the second century, A.D.; and (3) the cuneiform inscriptions of Babylon and Nineveh. ( Max Müller : Science of Lang., 4th ed., 1864, Table.) 2. As substantive: The language or subfamily of languages above described. [See No. 1., adj .]