"Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack [Aramiyth], O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation."
Syriac and Aramaic were synonyms for each other from start to finish.
"Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack [Aramiyth], O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation."
Syriac and Aramaic were synonyms for each other from start to finish.
Yes, you are right. But you are not taking into account the chronological context. Beginning about 500 BC, the Jews begin to use Aramaic, first in administration then, gradually, in the marketplace and finally at home. By the first century CE, after 500 years, the spoken language was Aramaic which was of Chaldean origin but "judaized." Some schoalrs call it "Judeao-Aramaic," but that would be like calling our languge American-English (and I am not implying the same degree of simialirty).
As I said, the elders in Israel were not happy with that, but that's what happened. Consequently, Targum and Talmud, two most holy books of Judaism, were written in Aramaic, not Hebrew, in order for people to be able to read and understand. That says a lot as to which language they understood.
Consider also that the Dead Sea Scrolls are written extensively in Aramaic, and they span three centuries before Christ and the first century AD. There were no Syrians anywhere even close, so the Aramaic od the DSS was for the domestic Jewish consumption, just as that of Talmud and Targum.
Since you mention OT Hebrew, you do realize that the Hebrews did not call their language "Hebrew" although the name Hebrew ( Ibriy ) exists, but not for the language. The Hebrew language is called in Hebrew yehudiyth (lit. "Jews' language") , which is translated (correctly) in the Septuagint (LXX) as Ioudïstí and not Hebraïstí (Chaldee).