The term Galilean dialect generally refers to the form of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic spoken by people in Galilee during the late Second Temple period, for example at the time of Jesus and the disciples, as distinct from a Judean dialect spoken in Jerusalem.
Contents
The Aramaic of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels, gives various examples of Aramaic phrases. The New Testament notes that the pronunciation of Peter gave him away as a Galilean to the servant girl at the brazier the night of Jesus' trial (see Matthew 26:73 and Mark 14:70).
17th and 18th century scholarship
John Lightfoot and Johann Christian Schöttgen identified and commented upon the Galilean Aramaic speech. Schöttgen's work, Horae Ebraicae et Talmudicae, which studied the New Testament in the context of the Talmud, followed that of Lightfoot. Both scholars provided examples of differences between Galilean and Judean speech.
19th century scholarship
The grammarian Gustaf Dalman identified "Galilean Aramaic," but he was doubted by Theodor Zahn.
Modern scholarship
Porter (2000) notes that scholars have tended to be "vague" in describing exactly what a "Galilean dialect" entailed. Hoehner (1983) notes that the Talmud has one place with several amusing stories about Galilean dialect but indicate only a defective pronunciation of gutturals in the third and fourth century. Hugo Odeberg attempted a grammar based on the Aramaic of the Bereshith Rabba in 1939. Michael Sokoloff's English preface to Caspar Levias' Hebrew language Grammar of Galilean Aramaic (1986) also sheds light on the controversy that began with Dalman. Edward Kutscher's Studies in Galilean Aramaic (1976) may offer some newer insights. More recently attempts to better understand the Galilean dialect vis a vis the New Testament have been taken up by Steve Caruso.
Personal names
Evidence on possible shortening or changing of Hebrew names into Galilean is limited. Ossuary inscriptions are invariably show full Hebrew name forms. David Flusser suggested that the short name Yeshu for Jesus in the Talmud was 'almost certainly' a dialect form of Yeshua, based on the swallowing of the ayin noted by Paul Billerbeck, but most scholars follow the traditional understanding of the name as a polemical reduction.