Samaritan Aramaic should not be confused with Samaritan Hebrew.
| Samaritan Aramaic | |
| Nativename: | Samaritan Aramaic: ࠀࠓࠌࠉࠕ |
| Pronunciation: | in Semitic languages pronounced as /arɑmiθ], [arɑmit], [ɑrɑmɑjɑ], [ɔrɔmɔjɔ|]/ |
| Region: | Israel and Palestine, predominantly in Samaria and Holon. |
| Extinct: | by 12th century; liturgical use |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Afro-Asiatic |
| Fam2: | Semitic |
| Fam3: | Central Semitic |
| Fam4: | Northwest Semitic |
| Fam5: | Aramaic |
| Fam6: | Western |
| Fam7: | Palestinian Aramaic |
| Ancestor: | Proto-Afroasiatic |
| Ancestor2: | Proto-Semitic |
| Ancestor3: | Old Aramaic |
| Ancestor4: | Middle Aramaic |
| Ancestor5: | Palestinian Aramaic |
| Script: | Samaritan alphabet |
| Iso2: | sam |
| Iso3: | sam |
| Glotto: | sama1314 |
| Glottorefname: | Samaritan Aramaic |
Samaritan Aramaic was the dialect of Aramaic used by the Samaritans in their sacred and scholarly literature. This should not be confused with Samaritan Hebrew, the language of the Samaritan Pentateuch. Samaritan Aramaic ceased to be a spoken language some time between the 10th and the 12th centuries, with Samaritans switching to Palestinian Arabic as their vernacular.
In form, Samaritan Aramaic resembles the Aramaic of the Targumim, and is written in the Samaritan alphabet. Important works written in it include the translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch, legal, exegetical and liturgical texts.
Exodus XX.1-6:
Notice the similarities with Judeo-Aramaic as found in Targum Onqelos to this same passage (some expressions below are paraphrased, not literally translated):