Pronunciation: (ar"u-mā'ik), [key] Also,Aramean,Aramaean.a
northwest Semitic language that from c300 b.c.–a.d. 650 was a
lingua franca for nearly all of SW Asia and was the everyday
speech of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Palestine. Abbr.: Aram Cf.
Biblical Aramaic. 1. pertaining to Aram, or to the languages
spoken there. 2. noting or pertaining to the alphabetical, or
perhaps syllabic, script used for the writing of Aramaic from
about the ninth century b.c. and from which were derived the
Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian, Pahlavi, Uighor, and many other
scripts, probably including Brahmi. Random House Unabridged
Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on
Infoplease.