The ethical dative in Aramaic

The ethical dative (dativus ethicus) has been attested without interruption in Aramaic dialects from the Official Aramaic period down through Neo-Aramaic. The extent and durability of this linguistic feature is discussed. Though its frequency differs from corpus to corpus, it is alive in some Neo-Aramaic dialects and its distribution in Modern Aramaic suggests that it was more widespread in pre-Modern Aramaic than the written texts show. It is most probably a colloquial feature that penetrated written texts to a limited extent. In the only real evidence we possess of spoken Aramaic, namely, Neo-Aramaic, it has, in different dialects, become an integral part of some verbal forms and does not express any identifiable nuance. Its precise meaning and use in pre-Modern Aramaic remain elusive.