Matthew Saunders
@digitalsemitist.bsky.social
PhD student in Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University studying comparative Semitics, Aramaic studies, Ugaritic studies, digital humanities.
Reposted by Matthew Saunders
A brilliant thread by my brilliant friend @bnuyaminim.bsky.social. But let's think about this circumstantial evidence a bit more. Are names really indicative of one's language or ethnicity (hard to pin that down actually)? This Nabataean from NW Arabia belongs to the clan of Banī Baʿlnatan...
So I'm adding Baalnathan (also a nice baby name) to my list of probably- or possibly-Aramaic Nabataean names, like Rabbel. Another minor piece of circumstantial evidence that the Nabataeans weren't just "Arabs that wrote Aramaic". (Discussion in this article 👇)
5/6
5/6
What can Nabataean Aramaic tell us about Pre‐Islamic Arabic?
Nabataean Aramaic contains a large number of loanwords from Arabic. Together with other evidence, this has been taken as an indication that the Nabataeans used Aramaic as a written language only, whi...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
A brilliant thread by my brilliant friend @bnuyaminim.bsky.social. But let's think about this circumstantial evidence a bit more. Are names really indicative of one's language or ethnicity (hard to pin that down actually)? This Nabataean from NW Arabia belongs to the clan of Banī Baʿlnatan...
Reposted by Matthew Saunders
Fantastic keynote lecture this evening at the Summer School in Languages and Linguistics at @unileiden.bsky.social.
Ahmad al-Jallad spoke about the decipherment of South Arabic inscription from Dhofar, which was all the rage in the media world-wide last week.
Ahmad al-Jallad spoke about the decipherment of South Arabic inscription from Dhofar, which was all the rage in the media world-wide last week.
July 21, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Fantastic keynote lecture this evening at the Summer School in Languages and Linguistics at @unileiden.bsky.social.
Ahmad al-Jallad spoke about the decipherment of South Arabic inscription from Dhofar, which was all the rage in the media world-wide last week.
Ahmad al-Jallad spoke about the decipherment of South Arabic inscription from Dhofar, which was all the rage in the media world-wide last week.
Reposted by Matthew Saunders
no YOUR reconstruction of Aramaic nominal inflection is idiosyncratic and confusing
July 2, 2025 at 9:31 AM
no YOUR reconstruction of Aramaic nominal inflection is idiosyncratic and confusing
Looking forward to participating in this conference: Studying Hebrew in Sixteenth-Century Strasbourg / L’hébraïsme chrétien à Strasbourg au XVIe siècle (Strasbourg, June 16-17)
June 8, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Looking forward to participating in this conference: Studying Hebrew in Sixteenth-Century Strasbourg / L’hébraïsme chrétien à Strasbourg au XVIe siècle (Strasbourg, June 16-17)
Reposted by Matthew Saunders
New issue of Journal of Near Eastern Studies Vol. 84, No. 1 (2025) www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jnes/202... @chicagojournals.bsky.social
@marshallcunningham.bsky.social @shanazaia.bsky.social
@marshallcunningham.bsky.social @shanazaia.bsky.social
Journal of Near Eastern Studies | Vol 84, No 1
www.journals.uchicago.edu
April 8, 2025 at 4:02 PM
New issue of Journal of Near Eastern Studies Vol. 84, No. 1 (2025) www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jnes/202... @chicagojournals.bsky.social
@marshallcunningham.bsky.social @shanazaia.bsky.social
@marshallcunningham.bsky.social @shanazaia.bsky.social
Reposted by Matthew Saunders
New issue of Near Eastern Archaeology Vol. 88, No. 1 (2025) www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/nea/2025...
@asor-research.bsky.social @chicagojournals.bsky.social @christinatsoup.bsky.social @zuzchovanec.bsky.social
@melucene.bsky.social
@asor-research.bsky.social @chicagojournals.bsky.social @christinatsoup.bsky.social @zuzchovanec.bsky.social
@melucene.bsky.social
April 7, 2025 at 6:26 PM
New issue of Near Eastern Archaeology Vol. 88, No. 1 (2025) www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/nea/2025...
@asor-research.bsky.social @chicagojournals.bsky.social @christinatsoup.bsky.social @zuzchovanec.bsky.social
@melucene.bsky.social
@asor-research.bsky.social @chicagojournals.bsky.social @christinatsoup.bsky.social @zuzchovanec.bsky.social
@melucene.bsky.social
Very much enjoyed giving this lecture at Princeton Theological Seminary last week! The talk was on "Languages Beyond Borders: Principles of Aramaic-Based Code-Alternation in the Hebrew Bible"
m-saunders.com/jhu-pts-doct...
m-saunders.com/jhu-pts-doct...
JHU-PTS Doctoral Symposium - Digital Semitics Online Library (DSOL)
One week ago, I presented a lecture at the first annual Johns Hopkins-Princeton Theological Seminary Doctoral Symposium for Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and Northwest Semitics. My lecture focused on Ara...
m-saunders.com
February 24, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Very much enjoyed giving this lecture at Princeton Theological Seminary last week! The talk was on "Languages Beyond Borders: Principles of Aramaic-Based Code-Alternation in the Hebrew Bible"
m-saunders.com/jhu-pts-doct...
m-saunders.com/jhu-pts-doct...
The order of the early NWS alphabet was, for some time, in flux, but I never thought about whether the placement of some words next to each other was coincidental, or as GKC suggests "certainly not accidental". E.g., yōd 'hand' and kāp̄ 'palm' are side-by-side, as are ˁayin 'eye' and pê 'mouth'.
January 14, 2025 at 5:12 PM
The order of the early NWS alphabet was, for some time, in flux, but I never thought about whether the placement of some words next to each other was coincidental, or as GKC suggests "certainly not accidental". E.g., yōd 'hand' and kāp̄ 'palm' are side-by-side, as are ˁayin 'eye' and pê 'mouth'.
Learning the basics of Meroitic and Old Nubian through the Macquarie Ancient Languages School this week
Here’s how you write my name in ancient Meroitic cursive: 𐦨𐦵𐦮𐦡𐦥𐦡. In Meroitic hieroglyphs, it's 𐦉𐦚𐦒𐦁𐦅𐦁
Read right to left, this is transcribed ma+te+ha+e+wa+e
Learning ancient languages is fun!
Here’s how you write my name in ancient Meroitic cursive: 𐦨𐦵𐦮𐦡𐦥𐦡. In Meroitic hieroglyphs, it's 𐦉𐦚𐦒𐦁𐦅𐦁
Read right to left, this is transcribed ma+te+ha+e+wa+e
Learning ancient languages is fun!
Current Program – MALS
mals.org.au
January 6, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Learning the basics of Meroitic and Old Nubian through the Macquarie Ancient Languages School this week
Here’s how you write my name in ancient Meroitic cursive: 𐦨𐦵𐦮𐦡𐦥𐦡. In Meroitic hieroglyphs, it's 𐦉𐦚𐦒𐦁𐦅𐦁
Read right to left, this is transcribed ma+te+ha+e+wa+e
Learning ancient languages is fun!
Here’s how you write my name in ancient Meroitic cursive: 𐦨𐦵𐦮𐦡𐦥𐦡. In Meroitic hieroglyphs, it's 𐦉𐦚𐦒𐦁𐦅𐦁
Read right to left, this is transcribed ma+te+ha+e+wa+e
Learning ancient languages is fun!
Reposted by Matthew Saunders
New issue of Aramaic Studies Vol. 22, No. 2 (2024) brill.com/view/journal... @degruyterbrill.bsky.social
December 20, 2024 at 2:48 AM
New issue of Aramaic Studies Vol. 22, No. 2 (2024) brill.com/view/journal... @degruyterbrill.bsky.social
Just wrapped up my penultimate semester of coursework at JHU and finally catching up on social media. Excited to see Bluesky thriving—much more active and engaging than X/Twitter! Also thrilled to dive into my new dissertation project on the history of Aramaic. Big things ahead!
December 13, 2024 at 3:36 PM
Just wrapped up my penultimate semester of coursework at JHU and finally catching up on social media. Excited to see Bluesky thriving—much more active and engaging than X/Twitter! Also thrilled to dive into my new dissertation project on the history of Aramaic. Big things ahead!