what is now referred to as biblical aramaic was until recently called chaldaic or chaldee, and east syrian christians, whose liturgical language was and is a form of aramaic, were called chaldeans, as an ethnic, not a religious term. hormuzd rassam applied the term "chaldeans" to the "nestorians", those not in communion with rome, no less than to the catholics. he stated that "the present chaldeans, with a few exceptions, speak the same dialect used in the targum, and in some parts of ezra and daniel, which are called 'chaldee'."