Editing Chaldea (section)

===Language===
Ancient Chaldeans probably spoke a [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]] language similar to [[Old Aramaic]].{{sfn|Vanderhooft|2017|p=173}} 

During the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]], [[Imperial Aramaic]] became the [[lingua franca]] of the empire under the rule of the [[Assyria|Assyrian]] king [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] in the mid-8th century BC. As a result, in late periods both the Babylonian and Assyrian dialects of [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] became marginalized, and Aramaic took its place across Mesopotamia, including among the Chaldeans, and later, also the [[southern Levant]]. One form of this once widespread Aramaic language was used in some books of the [[Hebrew Bible]] (the [[Book of Daniel]] and the [[Book of Ezra]]). The use of the name "Chaldean" (Chaldaic, Chaldee) to describe it, first introduced by [[Jerome of Stridon]] (d. 420),{{sfn|Gallagher|2012|p=123-141}} became common in early [[Aramaic studies]], but that [[Chaldean language (misnomer)|misnomer]] was later corrected, when modern scholars concluded that the [[Biblical Aramaic|Aramaic dialect]] used in the Hebrew Bible was not closely related to the ancient Chaldean language.{{sfn|Nöldeke|1871|p=113-131}}