Aramean

Meaning

1. The Aramaic language.
2. Of or pertaining to Arameans or Aram.
3. Any member of a West Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who lived in the Levant and later also in upper Mesopotamia during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Their homeland is referred to in the Hebrew Bible as Aram. They spoke Aramaic.

Etymology / origin

From Latin Aramaeus + -an, with the first component from Ancient Greek Ἀραμαῖος (Aramaîos), itself a calque of Aramaic ܐܪܡܝܐ / אָרָמָיָא (ʾārāmāyā, “Aramean”) using Ἀράμ f (Arám, “Aram”, the name of a land originally covering central regions of what is now Syria) (from Aramaic ܐܪܡ / ארם (ʾarām)) + -αῖος (-aîos, adjective suffix) (compare with Χαναναῖος (Khananaîos, “Chananean”), from Χαναάν f (Khanaán, “Canaan”) + -αῖος (-aîos)). By surface analysis, Aram + -ean.

Sources

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