CHALDEE, a term formerly applied to the Aramaic por tions of the biblical books of Ezra and Daniel or to the vernacular paraphrases of the Old Testament (see TARGUM), on the assump tion that the language was that of Chaldaea (q.v.). But the cuneiform inscriptions show that the language of the Chaldaeans was Assyrian ; and it is now known that the substitution of Aramaic for Hebrew as the vernacular of Palestine took place very gradually. The dialect wrongly called "Chaldee" is really the language of the South-Western Arameans, who were the imme diate neighbours of the Jews. See SEMITIC LANGUAGES.