ABSTRACT
The pre-eminent position of Aramaic within the Persian empire would likely have facilitated Aramaic influence on Hebrew and other languages. However, Aramaic was an important language in other periods too. We cannot restrict the interaction between Hebrew and Aramaic to just one era and set of conditions. Even in the Persian period, the evidence indicates that we cannot assume that Imperial Aramaic influence penetrated all varieties of literary Hebrew to the same degree. Some scribes or scribal schools seem to have been more open or exposed to Aramaic influence than others. The point stressed by experts such as Rendsburg, that a large proportion of the forms considered 'Aramaisms' by scholars are very likely to be, rather, native Aramaic-like features of Hebrew dialects. Thus, while Aramaic and Aramaisms have figured prominently in linguistic dating attempts throughout modem scholarship, it is generally accepted among Hebrew language scholars that the value of Aramaisms as a chronological marker is extremely dubious.
