Syriac (ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent The Fertile Crescent is a region in Western Asia. It includes the comparatively fertile regions of Mesopotamia and the Levant, delimited by the dry climate of the Syrian Desert to the south and the Anatolian highlands to the north. The region is often considered the cradle of civilization, saw the development of many of the earliest human. Having first appeared around the 1st century C.E.^[1], Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East The Middle East is a region that encompasses southwestern Asia and Egypt. In some contexts, the term has recently been expanded in usage to sometimes include Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and North Africa. It's often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern from the 4th to the 8th centuries,^[2] the classical language A classical language, is a language with a literature that is classical— i.e., it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own, not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature of Edessa Edessa is the historical name of a Syriac town in northern Mesopotamia, refounded on an ancient site by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa, preserved in a large body of Syriac literature Syriac literature is literature written in the Syriac language, the classical Middle Aramaic language of Syriac Christianity. The majority of classical Syriac literature is of a Christian religious nature.

It became the vehicle of Eastern Orthodox The Orthodox Church, also officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church[note 1] and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, asserts that it is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles almost 2,000 years ago. The Church is composed of several self-governing ecclesial bodies, each Christianity Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. Christianity comprises three major branches: Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy (which parted ways with Catholicism in 1054 A.D.) and Protestantism (which came into existence during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th and culture, spreading throughout Asia Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population. During the 20th century Asia's population nearly quadrupled as far as Malabar Malabar Region is a region of southern India, lying between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. The name is thought to be derived from the Malayalam word Mala (Hill) and Puram (region) derived or westernised into bar. This part of India was a part of the British East India company controlled Madras State,when it was designated as Malabar and Eastern China China is seen variously as an ancient civilization extending over a large area in East Asia, a nation and/or a multinational entity^{[citation needed]} and was the medium of communication and cultural dissemination for Arabs Arab people or Arabs (العرب al-ʿarab) are a panethnicity of peoples of various ancestral origins, religious backgrounds and historic identities, whose members, on an individual basis, identify as such on one or more of linguistic, cultural, political, or genealogical grounds. Those self-identifying as Arab, however, rarely do so with it as and, to a lesser extent, Persians The Persian people are defined by the use of the Persian language as their mother tongue. However, the term Persian has also a supra-ethnic significance and has been historically referred to a part of Iranian peoples. The origin of the Persian people is traced to the ancient Indo-Iranians , who arrived in parts of Greater Iran circa 2000-1500 BCE. Primarily a Christian medium of expression, Syriac had a fundamental cultural and literary influence on the development of Arabic Arabic (العربية al-ʿarabīyah, ( Arabic pronunciation ) or عربي ʿarabī) is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. Arabic has more speakers than any other language in the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million which replaced it towards the end of the eighth century. Syriac remains the liturgical language A sacred language, "holy language" , or liturgical language, is a language that is cultivated for religious reasons by people who speak another language in their daily life of Syriac Christianity Syriac Christianity comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the early centuries of Christianity, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India. Services in this tradition tend to feature liturgical use of ancient Syriac, a dialect related.

Syriac is a Middle Aramaic language, and as such a language of the Western branch of the Semitic family The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa. They constitute a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. The most widely spoken Semitic language by far today is Arabic . It is followed by Amharic (2.

Syriac is written in the Syriac alphabet The Syriac alphabet is a writing system primarily used to write the Syriac language from around the 2nd century BC. It is one of the Semitic abjads directly descending from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet and shares similarities with the Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Arabic alphabets, a derivation of the Aramaic alphabet The Aramaic alphabet is adapted from the Phoenician alphabet, and became distinctive from it by the 8th century BCE. The letters all represent consonants, some of which are matres lectionis, which also indicate long vowels.

Geographic distribution

Syriac was originally a local Aramaic dialect in northern Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, as well as some parts of northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and southwestern Iran. Before Arabic became the dominant language, Syriac was a major language among Christian communities in the Middle East The Middle East is a region that encompasses southwestern Asia and Egypt. In some contexts, the term has recently been expanded in usage to sometimes include Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and North Africa. It's often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern, Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north. It is also sometimes known as Middle Asia or Inner Asia, and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent and Kerala Kerala (Malayalam: കേരളം, pronounced [Kēraḷam]) is a state in the south-western part of India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganization Act bringing together the areas where Malayalam is the dominant language.

History

The history of Syriac can be divided into three distinct periods:

• Old Syriac (the language of the kingdom of Osroene),
• Middle Syriac (ܟܬܒܢܝܐ Kṯāḇānāyâ: Literary Syriac), which divided into:
  • Western Middle Syriac (the literary and ecclesiastical language of Syriac and Maronite Christians),
  • Eastern Middle Syriac (the literary and ecclesiastical language of Chaldean and Assyrian Christians).

Origins

Syriac began as an unwritten spoken dialect of Old Aramaic in northern Mesopotamia. The first evidence we have of such dialects is their influence on the written Imperial Aramaic from the 5th century BC. After the conquest of Syria and Mesopotamia by Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon , popularly known as Alexander the Great (Greek: Μέγας Ἀλέξανδρος, Mégas Aléxandros), was a Greeki[›] king (basileus) of Macedon. He is the most celebrated member of the Argead Dynasty and created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander received a classical, Syriac and other Aramaic dialects became written languages in a reaction to Hellenism Hellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BC to about 146 BC ; note, however that Koine Greek language and Hellenistic philosophy and religion are also indisputably elements of the Roman era until Late Antiquity. It was immediately preceded by the Classical Greece period, and immediately.^{[dubious – discuss]} Syriac orthography is drawn from Arsacid Aramaic.

In 132 BC, the kingdom of Osroene was founded in Edessa Edessa is the historical name of a Syriac town in northern Mesopotamia, refounded on an ancient site by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa with Syriac as its official language. Syriac-speakers still look to Edessa as the cradle of their language.^{[citation needed]} There are about eighty extant early Syriac inscriptions, dated to the first three centuries AD (the earliest example of Syriac, rather than Imperial Aramaic, is in an inscription dated to AD 6, and the earliest parchment is a deed of sale dated to AD 243). All of these early examples of the language are non-Christian. As an official language, Syriac was given a relatively coherent form, style and grammar that is lacking in other Old Eastern Aramaic dialects.

Literary Syriac

In the third century, churches in Edessa began to use Syriac as the language of worship. There is evidence that the adoption of Syriac, the language of the people, was to effect mission. Much literary effort was put into the production of an authoritative translation of the Bible into Syriac, the Peshitta The Peshitta (Classical Syriac for "simple, common, straight, vulgate") is the standard version of the Syriac Bible (ܦܫܝܛܬܐ Pšîṭtâ). At the same time, Ephrem the Syrian Ephrem the Syrian was a Syriac and a prolific Syriac-language hymnographer and theologian of the 4th century. He is venerated by Christians throughout the world, and especially in the Syriac Orthodox Church, as a saint was producing the most treasured collection of poetry and theology in the Syriac language.

In 489, many Syriac-speaking Christians living in the Roman Empire fled to Persia to escape persecution and growing animosity with Greek-speaking Christians.^{[citation needed]} The Christological differences with the Persian Iran (Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] ), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and formerly known as Persia, is a country in Central Eurasia and Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was widely known as Persia. Both Persia and Iran are church led to the bitter Nestorian schism The Nestorian Schism was the split between the Byzantine church of the West and the Assyrian church of the East in the 5th century in the Syriac-speaking world. As a result, Syriac developed distinctive western and eastern varieties. Although remaining a single language with a high level of comprehension between the varieties, the two employ distinctive variations in pronunciation and writing system, and, to a lesser degree, in vocabulary.

Western Syriac is the official language of the West Syrian rite The West Syrian Rite is the rite used by certain Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic churches. It is in its origin simply the old rite of Antioch in the Syriac language. Into this framework the Oriental Orthodox have fitted a great number of other anaphoras, so that now their liturgy has more variant forms than any other. The Maronite Rite, practiced by the Syriac Orthodox Church The Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church derives its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St. Peter. It employs the oldest surviving liturgy in Christianity, the Liturgy, the Syrian Catholic Church The Syriac Catholic Church, or Syrian Catholic Church, is a Christian church in the Levant having practices and rites in common with the Syriac Orthodox Church. They are one of the Eastern Catholic Churches following the Antiochene rite, the Syriac tradition of Antioch, along with the Maronites and Syro-Malankara Christians. This is distinct from, the Maronite Church The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See of Rome. It traces its heritage back to the community founded by Maron, an early 5th-century Syriac monk venerated as a saint. The first Maronite Patriarch, John Maron, was elected in the late 7th century. Although reduced in numbers today, Maronites remain one, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church This Indian Orthodox Church was known as Jacobite Church from 1665, until the adoption of new constitution of the church in 1934. This change was made in confirmation with its theological and traditional connections with other Orthodox church bodies of the world, the Mar Thoma Church , the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an Antiochene Rite, Major Archiepiscopal sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church, in full communion with the Bishop of Rome (the pope). It is one of the Saint Thomas Christian churches centered in Kerala, India, which trace their origin to the evangelism of Saint Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. It is one of and the Aramean Free church.

Eastern Syriac is the liturgical language of the East Syrian rite The East Syrian Rite is a Christian liturgy, also known as the Assyro-Chaldean Rite, Assyrian Rite, or Persian Rite although it originated in Edessa, Mesopotamia. It was used historically in the Church of the East, and remains in use in churches descended from it; namely the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, and the Syro-, practiced in modern times by the Assyrian Church of the East The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, is an ancient Christian church currently centered in Chicago, Illinois, United States, but with most members in Mesopotamia. One of the modern churches that claim continuity with the historical Patriarchate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon – the Church of, the Chaldean Syrian Church Chaldean Syrian Church is the name used for the Assyrian Church of the East in India. It is one of several groups of Saint Thomas Christians tracing their origins to St. Thomas the Apostle who, according to tradition, came to India in AD 52, the Ancient Church of the East The Ancient Church of the East separated from the Assyrian Church of the East in 1964, after Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East introduced reforms which were not supported by a certain number of traditionalist followers of the church. Baghdad is the seat of the Ancient Church of the East and Mar Thoma Darmo, the Chaldean Catholic Church The Chaldean Catholic Church (Arabic: الكنيسة الكلدانية الكاثوليكية‎ al-kanīsä 'l-kaldāniyyä 'l-kātholikiyyä, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic ܥܕܬܐ ܟܠܕܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝܬܐ is an Eastern particular church of the Catholic Church, maintaining full communion with the Bishop of Rome and the rest of the Catholic Church, and the Syro-Malabar Church The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is an Eastern Rite, Major Archiepiscopal Church in Full Communion with the Catholic Church. It is one of the 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church. It is the largest of the Saint Thomas Christian denominations with almost 2 million believers. It is also the second largest Eastern Catholic.

Syriac literature is by far the most prodigious of the various Aramaic languages Aramaic is a Semitic language belonging to the Afroasiatic language family. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic subfamily, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic group of languages, which also includes Canaanite languages such as Hebrew and Phoenician. Aramaic script was widely adopted for other languages and is. Its corpus covers poetry, prose, theology, liturgy, hymnody, history, philosophy, science, medicine and natural history. Much of this wealth remains unavailable in critical editions or modern translation.

From the 7th century onwards, Syriac gave way to Arabic Arabic (العربية al-ʿarabīyah, ( Arabic pronunciation ) or عربي ʿarabi) is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. Arabic has more speakers than any other language in the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million as the spoken language of the region. The Mongol Tibetan Buddhism and Shamanism invasions of the 13th century further contributed to the rapid decline of the language. In many places, even in liturgy, it was replaced by Arabic.

Revivals of Syriac in recent times have led to some success with the creation of newspapers in literary Syriac (ܟܬܒܢܝܐ Kthābānāyā), and the translation of many Arabic and western books into Syriac.^{[citation needed]}

Among the Syriac churches of Kerala, Malayalam Malayalam (മലയാളം malayāḷam, pronounced [mɐləjaːɭɐm]) is one of the four major Dravidian languages of southern India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India with official language status in the state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Mahé. It is spoken by 35.9 million people. Malayalam is also often replaces Syriac. Literary Syriac is often used as a spoken language by clerics who do not speak the vernacular dialects.

Grammar

Syriac words, as with those in other Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa. They constitute a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. The most widely spoken Semitic language by far today is Arabic . It is followed by Amharic (2, are built out of triliteral roots, permutations of three Syriac consonants. For example, the root ܫܩܠ, ŠQL, has the basic meaning of taking, and so we have the following words that can be formed from this root:

• ܫܩܠ — šqal: "he has taken"
• ܢܫܩܘܠ — nešqûl: "he will take"
• ܫܩܠ — šāqel: "he takes, he is taking"
• ܫܩܠ — šaqqel: "he has lifted/raised"
• ܐܫܩܠ — ašqel: "he has set out"
• ܫܩܠܐ — šqālâ: "a taking, burden, recension, portion or syllable"
• ܫܩ̈ܠܐ — šeqlē: "takings, profits, taxes"
• ܫܩܠܘܬܐ — šaqlûṯā: "a beast of burden"
• ܫܘܩܠܐ — šûqālâ: "arrogance"

Nouns

Most Syriac nouns are built from triliteral roots. Nouns carry grammatical gender (masculine or feminine), they can be either singular or plural in number (a very few can be dual) and can exist in one of three grammatical states. These states correspond, in part, to the role of grammatical cases in some other languages.

• The absolute state is the basic form of the noun — ܫܩܠܝ̈ܢ, šeqlîn, "taxes".
• The emphatic state usually represents a definite noun — ܫܩ̈ܠܐ, šeqlē, "the taxes".
• The construct state marks a noun in relationship to another noun — ̈ܫܩܠܝ, šeqlay, "taxes of...".

However, very quickly in the development of Classical Syriac, the emphatic state became the ordinary form of the noun, and the absolute and construct states were relegated to certain stock phrases (for example, ܒܪ ܐܢܫܐ/ܒܪܢܫܐ, bar nāšâ, "man", literally "son of man").

In Old and early Classical Syriac, most genitive noun relationships are built using the construct state. Thus, ܫܩܠܝ̈ ܡܠܟܘܬܐ, šeqlay malkûṯâ, means "the taxes of the kingdom". Quickly, the construct relationship was abandoned and replaced by the use of the relative particle ܕ, d-. Thus, the same noun phrase becomes ܫܩ̈ܠܐ ܕܡܠܟܘܬܐ, šeqlē d-malkûṯâ, where both nouns are in the emphatic state. Very closely related nouns can be drawn into a closer grammatical relationship by the addition of a pronominal suffix. Thus, the phrase can be written as ܫܩܠܝ̈ܗ ܕܡܠܟܘܬܐ, šeqlêh d-malkûṯâ. In this case, both nouns continue to be in the emphatic state, but the first has the suffix that makes it literally read "her taxes" ("kingdom" is feminine), and thus is "her taxes, those of the kingdom".

Adjectives always agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify. Adjectives are in the absolute state if they are predicative, but agree with the state of their noun if attributive. Thus, ܒܝܫܝ̈ܢ ܫܩ̈ܠܐ, bîšîn šeqlē, means "the taxes are evil", whereas ܫܩ̈ܠܐ ܒܝ̈ܫܐ, šeqlē ḇîšē, means "evil taxes".

Verbs

Most Syriac verbs are built on triliteral roots as well. Finite verbs carry person, gender (except in the first person) and number, as well as tense and conjugation. The non-finite verb forms are the infinitive and the active and passive participles.

Syriac has only two true morphological tenses: perfect and imperfect. Whereas these tenses were originally aspectual in Aramaic, they have become a truly temporal past and future tenses respectively. The present tense is usually marked with the participle followed by the subject pronoun. However, such pronouns are usually omitted in the case of the third person. This use of the participle to mark the present tense is the most common of a number of compound tenses that can be used to express varying senses of tense and aspect.

Syriac also employs verb conjugations such as are present in other Semitic languages. These are regular modifications of the verb's root to express other changes in meaning. The first conjugation is the ground state, or Pə`al (this name models the shape of the root). form of the verb, which carries the usual meaning of the word. The next is the intensive state, or Pa``el, form of the verb, which usually carries an intensified meaning, The third is the extensive state, or Ap̄`el, form of the verb, which is often causative in meaning. Each of these conjugations has its parallel passive conjugation: the Eṯpə`el, Eṯpa``al and Ettap̄`al respectively. To these six cardinal conjugations are added a few irregular forms, like the Šap̄`el and Eštap̄`al, which generally have an extensive meaning.

Phonology

Phonologically, like the other Northwest Semitic languages, Syriac has 22 consonants and 3 vowels. The consonantal phonemes are:

Phonetically, there is some variation in the pronunciation of Syriac in its various forms. The various Modern Eastern Aramaic vernaculars have quite different pronunciations, and these sometimes influence how the classical language is pronounced, for example, in public prayer. Classical Syriac has two major streams of pronunciation: western and eastern.

Consonants

Syriac shares with Aramaic a set of lightly contrasted plosive/fricative pairs. In different variations of a certain lexical root, a root consonant might exist in plosive form in one variation and fricative form in another. In the Syriac alphabet, a single letter is used for each pair. Sometimes a dot is placed above the letter (qûššāyâ, or strengthening; equivalent to a dagesh in Hebrew) to mark that the plosive pronunciation is required, and a dot is placed below the letter (rûkkāḵâ, or softening) to mark that the fricative pronunciation is required. The pairs are:

• Voiced labial pair — /b/ and /v/
• Voiced velar pair — /ɡ/ and /ɣ/
• Voiced dental pair — /d/ and /ð/
• Voiceless velar pair — /k/ and /x/
• Voiceless labial pair — /p/ and /f/
• Voiceless dental pair — /t/ and /θ/

As with other Semitic languages, Syriac has a set of five emphatic consonants. These are consonants that are articulated or released in the pharynx or slightly higher. The set consists of:

• Voiceless pharyngeal fricative — /ħ/
• Pharyngealized voiceless dental plosive — /tˁ/
• Voiced pharyngeal fricative — /ʕ/
• Pharyngealized voiceless alveolar fricative — /sˁ/
• Voiceless uvular plosive — /q/

Syriac also has a rich array of sibilant consonants:

• Voiced alveolar fricative — /z/
• Voiceless alveolar fricative — /s/
• Pharyngealized voiceless alveolar fricative — /sˁ/
• Voiceless postalveolar fricative — /ʃ/

Vowels

As with most Semitic languages, the vowels of Syriac are mostly subordinated to consonants. Especially in the presence of an emphatic consonant, vowels tend to become mid-centralised.

Classical Syriac had the following set of distinguishable vowels:

• Close front unrounded vowel — /i/
• Close-mid front unrounded vowel — /e/
• Open-mid front unrounded vowel — /ɛ/
• Open front unrounded vowel — /a/
• Open back unrounded vowel — /ɑ/
• Close-mid back rounded vowel — /o/
• Close back rounded vowel — /u/

In the western dialect, /ɑ/ has become /o/, and the original /o/ has merged with /u/. In eastern dialects there is more fluidity in the pronunciation of front vowels, with some speakers distinguishing five qualities of such vowels, and others only distinguishing three. Vowel length is generally not important: close vowels tend to be longer than open vowels.

The open vowels form diphthongs with the approximants /j/ and /w/. In almost all dialects the full sets of possible diphthongs collapses into two or three actual pronunciations:

• /aj/ sometimes monophthongized to /e/
• /aw/ usually becomes /ɑw/
• /ɑj/ usually becomes /aj/, but the western dialect has /oj/
• /ɑw/ sometimes monophthongized to /o/

References

• Journal of Sacred Literature, New Series [Series 4] vol. 2 (1863) pp. 75-87, The Syriac Language and Literature
• Beyer, Klaus (1986). The Aramaic language: its distribution and subdivisions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. ISBN 3-525-53573-2.
• Brock, Sebastian (2006). An Introduction to Syriac Studies. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. ISBN 1-59333-349-8.
• Brockelmann, Carl (1895). Lexicon Syriacum. Berlin: Reuther & Reichard; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.
• Healey, John F (1980). First studies in Syriac. University of Birmingham/Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 0-7044-0390-0.
• Maclean, Arthur John (2003). Grammar of the dialects of vernacular Syriac: as spoken by the Eastern Syrians of Kurdistan, north-west Persia, and the Plain of Mosul: with notices of the vernacular of the Jews of Azerbaijan and of Zakhu near Mosul. Gorgias Press. ISBN 1-59333-018-9.
• Nöldeke, Theodor and Julius Euting (1880) Kurzgefasste syrische Grammatik. Leipzig: T.O. Weigel. [translated to English as Compendious Syriac Grammar, by James A. Crichton. London: Williams & Norgate 1904. 2003 edition: ISBN 1-57506-050-7].
• Payne Smith, Jessie (Ed.) (1903). A compendious Syriac dictionary founded upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of Robert Payne Smith. Oxford University Press, reprinted in 1998 by Eisenbraums. ISBN 1-57506-032-9.
• Robinson, Theodore Henry (1915). Paradigms and exercises in Syriac grammar. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926129-6.

Footnotes

1. ^ "Ancient Scripts: Syriac". http://www.ancientscripts.com/syriac.html.
2. ^ Beyer, Klaus; John F. Healey (trans.) (1986). The Aramaic Language: its distribution and subdivisions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. pp. 44. ISBN 3-525-53573-2.

See also

• Syriac alphabet
• Syriac literature
• Peshitta
• Ephrem the Syrian
• Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people
• Syriac music
• Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
• Turoyo

External links

• Langues araméennes on wikisyr.com
• Beth Mardutho — The Syriac Institute
• New Aramaic Bibel in mp3 and Worshipsongs
• Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
• Payne Smith's Compendious Syriac Dictionary
• Ethnologue report on Syriac
• Learn Assyrian Aramaic — an introduction to the Syriac language in its eastern version
• Suryoyo Online — Online Journal of Syrian Orthodox Church, Syriac Studies and Aramaeans
• Introduction To The Syriac-Aramaic Language — an introduction and resources from a popular Maronite website
• Syriac-English-French Online Dictionary — poor general coverage
• Beth Sapra: A Scribe's Library: contains two old Syriac grammars in the public domain and the Gospels in Syriac
• Other Public Domain Syriac grammars at the Internet Archive

Categories: Aramaic languages | Classical languages | Fertile Crescent

See Also:

What Links Here:

Recently Viewed Pages:

• Home
• Esperanto: Blogs
• Geber: News
• List of Latinised Names: Blogs
• Speech Communication: Blogs
• Double Dutch: Blogs
• List of Latinised Names: Encyclopedia
• Speech Communication: Encyclopedia
• Gibberish: Encyclopedia
• Science: Social Sciences: Linguistics: Languages: Constructed: Reformed and Modified English: Directory

Most Popular Pages:

• Geber: News
• Double Dutch: Blogs
• Double Dutch: Images
• Issue Life Cycle: Blogs
• Esperanto: Blogs
• Native Speakers: Blogs
• List of Latinised Names: Blogs
• Jabber
• Lojban: Blogs
• Gobbledegook: Blogs

Related 'Syriac' Searches: