IIRC, it was the language that was used in biblical times as a sort of ‘lingua franca’ for talking between different peoples whose native language was different. There is on scene in the Old Testament where the Assyrian army commander is yelling to the people of Jerusalem from outside the walls and the king’s (Hezekiah?) representatives said, “Speak to us in Aramaic, we can understand that.” It wasn’t to get the message across, but to hide the general’s words from the populace, because he was yelling some scary stuff..............
They were actually lots of versions of Aramaic, both varied in time and locale. I’ll leave this one to the experts -— I recognize exactly one letter.