Ammonite is the extinct
Canaanite language of the
Ammonite people mentioned in the
Bible, who used to live in modern-day
Jordan, and after whom its capital
Amman is named. Only fragments of their language survive - chiefly the 9th century BC
Amman Citadel Inscription, the 7th-6th century BC Tell Siran bronze bottle, and a few
ostraca. As far as can be determined from the small corpus, it was extremely similar to
Biblical Hebrew, with some possible
Aramaic influence including the use of the verb
‘bd (עבד) instead of the more common Biblical Hebrew
‘śh (עשה) for "make". The only other notable difference with Biblical Hebrew is the sporadic retention of feminine singular
-t (
’šħt "cistern" but
‘lyh "high (fem.)".)