Aramaic and Amharic

[loftyD]

Are these languages at all similar or are they completely different? I get confused a lot when I see them!

[Ashucky]

They are both Semitic languages but Amharic is South Semitic language and the official language of Ethiopia, Aramaic is a West Semitic language spoken in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Israel.

[邪悪歌]

aramaic is has also gone through a rich history in mesopotamia and has gone through a number of different scripts, including the original phoenician/canaanite alphabet, the block hebrew script, and a few different scripts used with modern syriac which is a modern version of aramaic... it was said to perhaps have been the everyday language of christ and a number of scriptures were written in it (I think the dead sea scrolls are some of them) amharic on the other hand I believe is related to the old arabian language and uses a script that evolved from the old arabian script

[loftyD]

Thanks Ashucky and 邪悪歌 for the explanations. It really helps me not be confused!

[Meera]

No actually they are different. Aramaic is in Syria, Turkey and Iraq while amharic is in Ethiopia. And Amharic has MUCH more speakers. Aramaic number of speakers is very low 

[loftyD]

Thanks for that Meera. Aramaic is the supposed language of Jesus Christ or something? hehe

[邪悪歌]

aramaic or canaanite was used as the regional language at the time so it was used all around mesopotamia at the time of Christ for most ordinary conversation while other languages had a greater import in imperial affairs and such...
thus it is said that the language of Christ and indeed perhaps even the language of the 10 commandments (if you watch the movie with Charlton Heston they're actually written in the old Phoenician script that aramaic used) ... If you watch Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ, a lot of it was actually filmed in Aramaic... not that I've ever seen it, that's just what I've heard