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Document Details : Title: Aramaeans in a Late Sabaic Inscription Author(s): KOROTAYEV, Andrey Journal: ARAM Periodical Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Date: 1996 Pages: 293-298 DOI: 10.2143/ARAM.8.2.2002201 Abstract : In a recently (partly) published inscription (MAFRAY-Ḥaṣī 1) its author, the head of a Yemeni principality, establishes a Jewish cemeteryon 4 plots of land (lines 4-5) through a gezērah decree, forbidding the burial of any "Aramaean” ('RMYm– lines 5 and 12) there. With respect to this, the first editor of the text reasonably remarks: [Le mot] “qui veut dire ‘païen', 'rmy (aramī), vient de Syrie; on le trouve également en éthiopien classique. Il dérive de l'ethnique ‘araméen': dans la Syrie byzantine, les gens de la campagne, de langue araméenne, tardaient à se convertir au christianisme, à l'opposé des citadins, en majorité hellénisés”. All this sounds very plausible, and there would seem to be a clear parallel with the Latin paganus. However, a few remarks are necessary. |
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