Nabataean language

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Nabataean dedicatory inscription (1st century AD)

The Nabatean language is a Semitic language and served as the written language of the Nabatean Empire .

origin

With the end of the Persian Empire and the lost Aramaic language as the lingua franca of the Near East increasingly important. Next to her came the Greek . The formerly uniform writing and writing culture disintegrated into local schools and the old dialects now also gained importance as written languages. The Nabataean can be considered one of these local developments. Since the population of the Nabatean Empire was likely to have spoken predominantly a North Arabic dialect, Nabataean is primarily to be regarded as a written language.

Linguistic classification

As an extension of the Imperial Aramaic , the Nabataean is closer to the Western Aramaic dialects. However, the Arab influence is clearly evident . B. in the frequent exchange of "l" and "n", in Arabic proper names and numerous Arabic loan words. Around the 4th century the Arab influence finally became so strong that the Nabataean practically merged into Arabic.

Testimonies

Nabataean written documents can be found mainly in the Nabataean cities of Petra , Bosra and Hegra (especially grave and dedicatory inscriptions), as well as numerous smaller inscriptions from southern Sinai . There are also Nabataean texts from the Dead Sea caves .

font

The Nabataean script is characterized by a very characteristic italic style. It became the forerunner of the Arabic script .

literature

  • Solomon A. Birnbaum: The Negeb Script. In: Vetus Testamentum. 6, 1956, ISSN  0042-4935 , pp. 337-371.
  • Jean Cantineau: Le Nabatéen. 2 volumes. Leroux, Paris 1930–1932 (Réimpression. Zeller, Osnabrück 1978, ISBN 3-535-01561-8 ), [in need of revision].
  • Julius Euting : Nabataean inscriptions from Arabia. Reimer, Berlin 1885.
  • Ursula Hackl , Hanna Jenni, Christoph Schneider: Sources on the history of the Nabataeans. Text collection with translation and commentary. Universitäts-Verlag et al., Friborg et al. 2003, ISBN 3-7278-1410-1 ( Novum testamentum et orbis antiquus. Studies on the environment of the New Testament 51).
  • Avraham Negev: Personal Names in the Nabatean Realm. Institute of Archeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 1991 ( Qedem 32, ISSN  0333-5844 ).
  • M. O'Connor: The Arabic Loanwords in Nabatean Aramaic . In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies . tape 45 , no. 3 , July 1986, ISSN  0022-2968 , pp. 213-229 , JSTOR : 544859 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Rosenthal : Aramaic Studies During the Past Thirty Years . In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies . tape 37 , no. 2 . The University of Chicago Press, Chicago April 1978, pp. 84 , JSTOR : 545134 .
  2. ↑ Aramaic. Encyclopædia Iranica , accessed July 18, 2015 .