Aramaean

Ar·a·mae·an

noun \ˌa-rə-ˈmē-ən, ˌer-ə-\

Definition of ARAMAEAN

1

: aramaic

2

: a member of a Semitic people of the second millennium b.c. in Syria and Upper Mesopotamia

— Aramaean adjective

Variants of ARAMAEAN

Ar·a·mae·an also Ar·a·me·an \ˌa-rə-ˈmē-ən, ˌer-ə-\

Origin of ARAMAEAN

Latin Aramaeus, from Greek Aramaios, from Hebrew ʽĂrām Aramaic, ancient name for Syria

First Known Use: 1839

Rhymes with ARAMAEAN

Aeschylean, Anacreon, apogean, Atlantean, Caribbean, Cerberean, cyclopean, Damoclean, empyrean, European, Galilean, Hasmonaean, Herculean, Idumaean, Ituraean, Jacobean, kallikrein, Maccabean, Manichaean, Mycenaean, nemertean, nepenthean, panacean, perigean, Sadducean, Sisyphean, Tacitean, Tennessean, Typhoean

Aramaean

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

A member of any people belonging to a confederacy of tribes that migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to the Fertile Crescent c. 1500–1200 BC. Among them were the biblical matriarchs Leah and Rachel, wives of Jacob. The Aramaic language and culture spread through international trade. They reached a cultural peak during the 9th–8th centuries BC. By 500 BC, Aramaic had become the universal language of commerce, culture, and government throughout the Fertile Crescent and remained so through the time of Jesus and into the 7th century in some areas.