

ARBITER. 



. : ><* Juliu* Klm. in hi. ' Lshrgebauds der 

 Idiom* m.t 'Bsnus; auf di. Indo-Oermanisohe Hprachen,' Ac., published 

 t Lripsi*; in 18S3. ha* shown the great probability of the Aratmean 

 having been UM mother tongue of *JJ the Semitic language., and o( iU 

 having had much influence on thuee of Indo-Oermanio origin. 



Th. AnmSMn language comprises two prineip.1 dialecU, the Baby- 

 lonian or Bast- Aramaic (which i* usually. but improperly, called Chaldw), 

 and the 8rriac or Wsst-Aramaio dialect* ; both dialects, though nearly 

 rxtinrt, are yet spoken by a few tribe* dwelling In the ancient Aram. 

 Thi* fact, mentioned by variou* traveller., we find aUo recorded in the 

 ' Journal ' of Mr. Groves. The Samaritan and Palmynoe were minor 

 dialect* of this language. 



The Motion* in Darnel and Ezra called Chaldee, and a few word* in 

 Jeremiah and Oeneu., are the mot ancient remain* of the East- 



Aramaic dialect, which U called by the Jew* ~ftlfR l^V th t 

 UM language uf the Talmud, r the language of learning, because 

 part* of the Talmud and many rabbinical writing* ore composed in 

 thi* idiom, which u now usually written and printed in the Hebrew 



square character*, or S^CHF! ]ittJb, that i*, the language of translation, 

 because the Targuinn of Onkelo* and Jonathan are paraphrastic trans- 

 lation* of the Old Testament into the East-Aramaic language. 



The oldest specimen* of the West- Aramaic are much later ; they 

 ~THT* of ome Palmyrenc inscription*, one of which lias been referred 

 to A.D. 49. The character* of the West-Aramaic or Syriac differ 

 greatly from the Hebrew. [SVHIAC LANGUAGE.] 



The" Aramaic i* one of the Semitic dialect* (poken by the descendants 

 of Shem. Many form* of noun* and verbs, which in Hebrew and 

 Arabic are polysyllabic, are shorteiii><l in Aramaic into mono.-iyllable.-i. 

 The form* of noun* in Aramaic are less numerous than in Hebrew and 

 Arabic. The dual i* rare in the East- Aramaic. The peiv.iiml pro- 

 noun of the second person singular combine* both genders in one 

 form n?. 



Thu* we see that the Aramaic baa fewer grammatical forms than the 

 oognat'e dialect*, but we observe the reverse in the following instances. 



The Aramaic baa four active and four passive modifications, under 

 erery active modification, two participle*, one of which ha* a passive 

 signification, although the passive modification* have their own 

 participle*. The third person plural of the preterites distinguishes the 

 gender* by mean* of a double formation. A present tense i* formed 

 by the combination of participles with the personal pronoun. 



U liile the Jewish community maintained it* political independence 

 in Palestine, the Hebrew continued to be the common language of the 

 country, and, *o far a* we are able to judge, although not entirely pure, 

 wa*, during that time, free from any important change* in those 

 element* and form* by which it was distinguished from other languages. 

 A few foreign word* only had crept in along with the products of 

 foreign commerce, art*, and invention* ; and these, in consequence of 

 the want of appropriate terms in the language of the country, received 

 the right of citizenship. Even in the time of Hezekiah, the Hebrew 

 dialect differed to much from the Babylonish- Aramioan, chiefly, it is 

 probable, in respect of pronunciation, that the latter sounded in the 

 ean of the common people of Jerusalem like an entirely foreign 

 language, and wa* intelligible only to the principal officer* of the court 

 (comp. 2 King* xriii. 26). But when the Assyrian and Chaldron rulers 

 of Babylon nubdued Palestine, everything aosumed another aspect. 

 The Jew* of Palestine lost, with their |x>litical independence, the inde- 

 pendence al*o of their language. The Babylonish-Arauuoan dialect 

 supplanted UM Hebrew, and by degree* became the prevailing dialect 

 of the people. 



The BabylonUh-AramaMn language wa* very closely allied t<> tlir 

 Hebrew ; it stood to it in nearly the same kind of relationship ax 

 the Lower Saxon doe* to the High ^German. Both were the <>n"piing 

 of the original Semitic language^ which was used from the ll.ilyn 

 in Cappadocia to the region* beyond the Tigris, and from the source 

 of UM Tigris to Arabia. Buth of theae, a* well a* the other Semitic 

 dislsct*. had the same stock of ancient radical words, and essentially the 

 BUM grammar. The principal features of their difference were, that 

 many word* of UM old primitive language remained current in one 

 dialect, which were entirely or partially lost in the other, for example, 

 UM rerb (TOB7 (to expos* to the sun, or to dry) in Arauucan, of which 



only UM noun tPtJ?? (un) remained in the Hebrew. The same w. <rd 



WM sometimes in use in both dialects, but in different signification*. 

 The Babylonian dialect borrowed expression* from the northern 

 ChsJdswns, who made an irruption into the country. Trace* of such 

 additions are to be found in the names of the officers of itato, and 

 other terms having reference to the government. The Babylonish 

 pronunciation was easier of utterance, and more sonorous than the 

 Hebrew. 



The numerous Aranumn colonies (2 King* xvii. 24), which were 

 substituted for the subjects of the kingdom of Israel, carried to 

 Assyria by Shalmaneser, retained their former language, and caused it 

 to ipresd in the neighbourhood of their places of residence, even before 

 the destruction of the kingdom of Judah. At a later period, the 

 Bsbylonish-Chaldsjen governors who ruled over Palestine ; the stand- 

 ing force* which they had brought with them for the preservation of 



tranquillity, and which were composed of Aranuean* and Chaldeans 

 (2 Kings xxiv. 2) ; the ho*t of foreign officers in their train, and UM 

 transactions of all public husines* in the Babyloniah-Aramwan dialect, 

 must have greatly tended to restrain the use of the n .1 !..n.d Hebrew 

 dialect, since the Jews, who held public offices, or stood in any 

 near connection with the new rulers, were compiled to become 

 familiar with the ordinary dialect of these ruler*. There is also reason 

 to suppose that the Babylonish had still earlier been the court lan- 

 guage at Jerusalem (see 2*King* xviii. 20). 



The Aranuean language derives peculiar interest from having besn 

 spoken generally by the inhabitants of Palestine, from the Babylonian 

 captivity to the final and general dispersion of the Jews. We find 

 that Jesu* Christ, when repeating on the cross the beginning of the 

 twenty-second Psalm, doe* not quote the Hebrew original, but t],.- 

 Aramaic version. Many other occasional quotation* and expressions 

 used in the New Testament and in the writings of Josephu* 

 indicate the prevalence of the Aramaic language in Palestine in the 

 age of Christ ' The oldest Syriac version of the New Testament, the 

 Peahito, i* stated to be contemporary with the Apostles, or, at leant, 

 not later th.-.n the 1st century; and a valuable addition to Syriac 

 re has been made by the Rev. Win. Cnreton, by his publications, 

 in 1845, of the ' Ignatian Epistle* ;' in 1858, of ' Remain* of a very 

 Ancient Recension of the Four Gospels in Syriac ;' ' Fragment* of the 

 Iliad of Homer,' in 1851 ; and ' Spicilegium Syriaca ;' together with other 

 works in the same language, chiefly from MSS. obtained by Arch- 

 deacon Tatham from the monasteries of Syria, and M. A. Pacho. in 

 Egypt These interesting MSS. are now in the Library of the British 

 Museum. The Greek, however, had been long firmly established 

 in Palestine, where it was first introduced by the Macedonian con- 

 quests, and extended under the dynasty of the Seleucidte. We know, 

 both from positive testimony and the indirect evidence of inwriptions, 

 Ac., that Greek must have been as common in Palestine at this period 

 as the French now is in Alsace, though it wa* no more the 

 tongue than French now is in the province just mentioned. Greek wa* 

 also the language of science and learning, as it contained nearly all the 

 knowledge which at that time existed. Concerning the language of 

 Palestine in the age of Christ, compare the dissertations of De Rossi 

 and Pfannkuche, and a chapter in Hug's introduction to the New 

 Testament ; which have been translated, partly in America, by Robin- 

 Bon. in the ' Biblical Repository,' for 1881, and partly in Edinburgh, in 



.'iblical Cabinet,' vol. i. 1883. The standard work on th 

 maic language is 'Andrea: Thc.'phili llofmanni Grammation- Syriaom 

 libri tres, cum tabulis varia Scripture) Aramaicm genera exhibci 

 Halse, 4 to, 1827. Gesenius has since published a ' Thesaurus Philo- 

 logioo-critico ' of the Hebrew and Chaldee Old Testament, in 8 vol*., 

 1828-42; and Julius Fiirst, a small Hebrew and Chaldivan Dictionary, 

 in 1835. 



English readers may compare Yates's ' Syriac Grammar ; Harris's 



' Chaldee Grammar,' 8vo, 1824 ; and EFIp~)tpn ICO, a Hebrew and 



English Lexicon, containing all the words of the Old Testament, with 

 the Chaldee words in Daniel, E/.ra, and the Targums, and a; 

 Talmudical and Rabbinical words derived from them, by Selig New- 

 man,8vo, London, 1834. 



Strabo calls the Aramseans (' Gsogr.' L p. 112, ed. Siebenk.) AfSMWNSJ 

 Kol Apcvtalovf, and Aptnoui. Comp. Stophaims By. under 'A/u/ta ; and 

 Gesenius, ' CommenUr zmn Jcwiiah.' t. i. 688, to chap. x\ 



AR'HITEK was a term in the Roman law signifying a judge in- 

 vested with a discretionary |..T. and wa- applied to different kinds 

 of judicial functionaries. The arliiirr rnni/iriiiiiiiuiiiriiu answered to the 

 arbitrator of modern jurisprudence, whose office will be treated of 

 under the article AIUIITKATKIN. 



Another specie* of arbiter, peculiar to the law of Rome, partook 

 more nearly of the character of an ordinary judge. In order to under- 

 stand the nature of hix office, it must bo borne in mind, that all ai :i.-n- 

 were commenced, and the preliminary proceedings carried on, before 

 the pnctor, technically termed (I'M jwr) ; and when the altercations of 

 the parties formally expressed had raised a question of fact disputed 

 between them, a person was nominated in the formula to whom the 

 adjudication of this fact was referred, whose title and powers depended 

 on the content* of the formula. The different kind/- known 



to the Roman law were divided into (hive classes; actions of strict 

 law, actions of good faith, and arbitrary actions : under the first class 

 were comprehended all actions upon contracts called unilateral, that is, 

 where only one of the parties is bound, u in the case of money 

 borrowed, where the borrower i* bound to repay, but no further 

 obligation lies upon the lender. In the*e action* the person appointed 

 to adjudicate was styled a judge (jwlex), and the only .[u<Mi..n for him 

 to decide wa, simply whether the plaintiff had completely established 

 hi* case as originally stated. 



In the two other classes of act i..n.- th.- person appointed to adjudicate 

 wa* allowed a greater latitude of judgment, and was styled an arbiter. 

 Actions of good faith were such as were founded on bilateral con- 

 tracts, that is, on contracts by which an obligation i imposed on both 

 parties, such a* the contract of sale, where the seller is hound to 

 deliver the good*, and the purchaser to pay the price. In all these 

 actions the arbiter wa* not compelled, as in actions of strict law, 

 to grant or to reject altogether the claim of the plaintiff, but might 



