Jubb'adin in the context of "Western Aramaic languages"

Aramaic (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: ארמית, romanized: ˀərāmiṯ; Classical Syriac: ܐܪܡܐܝܬ, romanized: arāmāˀiṯ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written and spoken in different varieties for over 3,000 years.

Aramaic served as a language of public life and administration of ancient kingdoms and empires—particularly the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Neo-Babylonian Empire, and Achaemenid Empire—and as a language of divine worship and religious study within Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism. Several modern varieties of Aramaic are still spoken. The modern eastern branch is spoken by Assyrians, Mandeans, and Mizrahi Jews. Western Aramaic is still spoken by the Muslim and Christian Arameans (Syriacs) in the towns of Maaloula, Bakh'a and Jubb'adin in Syria. Classical varieties are used as liturgical and literary languages in several West Asian churches, as well as in Judaism, Samaritanism, and Mandaeism. The Aramaic language is considered endangered, with several varieties used mainly by the older generations. Researchers are working to record and analyze all of the remaining varieties of Neo-Aramaic languages in case they become extinct.

Maaloula (Arabic: مَعلُولَا; Western Neo-Aramaic: ܡܥܠܘܠܐ ,מעלולא, romanized: Maʿlūlā) is a town in southwestern Syria. The town is located in the Rif Dimashq Governorate and is 56 km northeast of Damascus, and is built into the rugged mountainside at an altitude of more than 1,500m. It is known as one of three remaining villages where Western Neo-Aramaic is spoken, the other two being the nearby smaller villages of Jubb'adin and Bakh'a. However, Bakh'a was vastly destroyed during the Syrian Civil War, and all the inhabitants fled to other parts of Syria or to Lebanon.

Western Neo-Aramaic (ܐܰܪܳܡܰܝ, arōmay, "Aramaic"), also referred to as Siryon (ܣܪܝܘܢ, siryōn, "Syriac"), is a modern variety of the Western Aramaic branch consisting of three closely related dialects. Today, it is spoken by Christian and Muslim Arameans (Syriacs) in only three villages— Maaloula, Jubb'adin and Bakhʽa—in the Anti-Lebanon mountains of western Syria. Bakhʽa was vastly destroyed during the Syrian civil war and most of the community fled to other parts of Syria or Lebanon. Western Neo-Aramaic is believed to be the closest living language to the language of Jesus, whose first language, according to scholarly consensus, was Galilean Aramaic belonging to the Western branch as well; all other remaining Neo-Aramaic languages are Eastern Aramaic.

Al-Sarkha, Bakh'ah or Bakh'a (Western Neo-Aramaic: ܒܟܥܐ - בכעא lit. 'to cry or to weep', Arabic: الصرخة or بخعة) is a depopulated Syrian village in the Yabroud District of the Rif Dimashq Governorate. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Al-Sarkha had a population of 1,405 in the 2004 census. The village, inhabited by Sunni Muslims of Aramean descent, it was vastly damaged during the Syrian Civil War, and all of the inhabitants fled to other parts of Syria or to Lebanon as refugees. As of 1 February 2025, the village is still completely uninhabited. It was one of the only three remaining villages where Western Neo-Aramaic is spoken, alongside Maaloula and Jubb'adin.

Following their conversion to Islam in the 18th century, the inhabitants of Bakh'a underwent a religious transformation, shifting from being exclusively Christian to entirely Muslim.