What is the difference between Block Hebrew - Aramaic?

[Paul Younan]

Hi Paul
Thanks for this great website and the great translation into English of the Peshitta. I am very greatfull.
Few questions on the aramaic side. OK I see that the Aramaic Script of the Peshitta is in Modern or Syriac Aramaic. I have a great difficulty in understanding exactly what Block Hebrew Aramaic is. Is that really Hebrew or Aramaic. I see many manuscripts which state that they are Aramaic but it looks like Block Hebrew. So what is it? Is it Hebrew or Aramaic? Would appreciate an explanation.

regards
LR <!-- s:tellme: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/tellme.gif" alt=":tellme:" title="Tell Me" /><!-- s:tellme: -->

Hey LR,

Welcome to our forum.....

That's a question I get often, even at church - part of the confusion stems from mixing language names with what can be thought of as a "font". Hebrew and Aramaic are, of course, languages. Unfortunately for clarity's sake, the names of their respective modern (relatively-speaking) scripts are also "Hebrew" and "Aramaic."

In reality, the scripts used today by these languages are not the same scripts they started out with.

What is called "Hebrew Script" today is actually an Aramaic script, hence the name "Ktav Ashuri"....."Assyrian writing" (the Assyrian of course refers to the imperial script used in Assyria).

The script used in this website, Estrangelo, also descends ultimately from the Aramaic script used in Assyria......however, the Hebrew script resembles the block nature of Imperial Assyrian Aramaic much more closely than does the Estrangelo.

As to your other question - why the Hebrew script is used to write in non-Hebrew languages (especially, in the Aramaic language) .... that's because both languages have the same 22-letter alphabet. Hebrew script can be used to write in Hebrew or in Aramaic. For that matter, Estrangelo can be used to write in Aramaic or in Hebrew.

Think of them as different fonts of the same alphabet. It's really no different than English and Spanish using the same letters to write in two different languages.

Take care!