and in others Syria of the rivers, which the Latins rendered by Syria luteramna.
But though the districts now enumerated be the only ones expressly named in the Bible as belonging to Aram, there is no doubt that many more territories were included in that extensive region, e. g. Geshur, Hul, Arpad, Riblah, Tadmor, Hauran, Abilene, etc., though some of them may have formed part of the divisions already spe cified. A native of Aram was called Arami, an Aramaean. used of a Syrian (2 Kings v :2o), and of a Mesopotamian (Gen. xxv :20). The fem inine was Arainiah, an Aramitess Chron. vii :14), and the plural Aramim (2 Kings viii :29).
2. A son of Shem (Gen. x:22, 23; i Chron. i:17), B. C. 2280. He was the progenitor of the Ara means or, as in the English versions, Syrians. (See SYRIANS.) The descent of the Aramxans from Aram is confirmed by their language, which was one of the branches of the Semitic family, and nearly allied to the Hebrew. Many writers maintain that the came from Kir, appealing to Amos ix :7 ; but while that passage is not free from obscurity, it seems evidently to point, not to the aboriginal abode of the people, but to the country whence God would recover them when banished. The prophet has said (Amos i :5) that
the people of Aram should go into captivity to Kir (probably the country on the river Kur or Cyrus), a prediction of which we read the ac complishment in 2 Kings xvi :9 ; and the al lusion here is to their future restoration. Hart mann thinks Armenia obtained its name from Aram. Traces of the name of the Aranyieans are to be found in the Arami and Aramaioi of the Greeks (Strabo, xiii :4, 6 ; xvi :4, 27 ; Comp. Homer's Iliad, ii :783). ( See ASSYRIA.) They were so noted for idolatry that in the language of the later Jews their name was used as synony mous with heathenism.
3. A son of Kemuel, the nephew of Abraham (Gen. xxii :20, B. C. about 1838.
4. One of the sons of Shamer of the tribe of Asher (i Chron. vii :34 ; Matt. i :3 ; Luke iii :33).