Samaritan Aramaic, or Samaritan, was the dialect of
Aramaic used by the
Samaritans in their sacred and scholarly literature. This should not be confused with the
Samaritan Hebrew language of the Scriptures. Samaritan Aramaic ceased to be a spoken language some time between the 10th and the 12th centuries, with Samaritans switching to
Palestinian Arabic as their vernacular language.
Important works written in Samaritan include the translation of the
Samaritan Pentateuch in the form of the targum paraphrased version. There are also legal, exegetical and liturgical texts, though later works of the same kind were often written in
Arabic.
La tisgad l'hon v'la tifli'khinon arei anah ala anaki Šema elaak el kana mas'ar khoveih awaan al b'nin m'rahdin al dahr t'leethai v'ah; dahr r'vee'ai l'sahnai kad mašl'meen b'nayah l'meekhtei bathar avahth'hohn.
Notice the similarities with
Judeo-Aramaic as found in
Targum Onqelos to this same passage (some expressions below are paraphrased, not literally translated):