Syriac is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. At its broadest definition, Syriac is often used to refer to all Eastern Aramaic languages spoken by various Christian groups; at its most specific, it refers to the classical language of Edessa, which became the liturgical language of Syriac Christianity. This list of languages is alphabetical by English name. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ... The Fertile Crescent is a region in the Middle East incorporating present-day Israel, West Bank, and Lebanon and parts of Jordan, Syria, Iraq and south-eastern Turkey. ... A classical language is a language with a literary tradition that can be judged as classical. According to George L. Hart: [To] qualify as a classical tradition, a language must fit several criteria: it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own not... Edessa is the historical name of a town in northern Mesopotamia. ... A sacred language is a language, frequently a dead language, that is cultivated for religious reasons by people who speak another language in their daily life. ... Syriac Christianity is a culturally and linguistically distinctive community within Eastern Christianity. ...

Classification

Syriac is a member of the Afro-Asiatic language family, the Semitic language sub-family, the West Semitic language branch, and the Aramaic language group. Map showing the distribution of Afro-Asiatic languages The Afro-Asiatic languages are a language family of about 240 languages and 285 million people widespread throughout North Africa, East Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia. ... Semitic is an adjective referring to the peoples who have traditionally spoken Semitic languages or to things pertaining to them. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ...

Syriac is written in the Syriac alphabet. 11th century book in Syriac Serto. ...

Geographic distribution

Syriac was originally a local Aramaic dialect in northern Mesopotamia. Before Arabic became the dominant language, Syriac was a major language among Christian communities in the Middle East, Central Asia and southern India. It is now spoken as a first language in small, scattered communities in Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Azerbaijan. These communities have, over the years, settled throughout the Middle East, Europe, North and South America, and Australia. Mesopotamia ( Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the Land between the Rivers or the Aramaic name Beth-Nahrin two rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Map of Central Asia outlined in orange showing one set of possible borders Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ...

History

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

• Old Syriac (the language of the kingdom of Osrhoene),
• Middle Syriac (Kthâbânâyâ: 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),
• Modern Syriac (a Modern Eastern Aramaic language), which remains divided:
  • Modern Western Syriac (Turoyo and Mlahso),
  • Modern Eastern Syriac (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic etc.).

Osroene (also: Osrohene, Osrhoene) ( Syriac: ܡܠܟܘܬܐ ܕܒܝܬ ܥܣܪܐ ܥܝܢܶܐ), also known by the name of its capital city, Edessa (modern Sanli Urfa, in Syriac: ܐܘܪܗܝ), was one of several kingdoms arising from the dissolution of the Seleucid Empire. ... Turoyo is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. ... Mlahsö is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. ... Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ...

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 fifth century BC. After the conquests of Syria and Mesopotamia by Alexander the Great, Syriac and other Aramaic dialects became written languages in a reaction to Hellenism. Old Syriac orthography is drawn from Arsacid Aramaic. In 132 BC, the kingdom of Osrhoene was founded in Edessa with Syriac as its official language. Syriac-speakers still look to Edessa as the cradle of their language. There are about eighty extant Old 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, Old Syriac was given a relatively coherent form, style and grammar that is lacking in other Old Eastern Aramaic dialects. Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ... Mesopotamia ( Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the Land between the Rivers or the Aramaic name Beth-Nahrin two rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ... Bust of Alexander III in the British Museum. ... The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... The Arsacid Dynasty ruled Persia. ... Osroene (also: Osrohene, Osrhoene) ( Syriac: ܡܠܟܘܬܐ ܕܒܝܬ ܥܣܪܐ ܥܝܢܶܐ), also known by the name of its capital city, Edessa (modern Sanli Urfa, in Syriac: ܐܘܪܗܝ), was one of several kingdoms arising from the dissolution of the Seleucid Empire. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

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 a authoritative translation of the Bible into Syriac (the Pšittâ or Peshitta). At the same time, Ephrem the Syrian was producing the most treasured collection of poetry and theology in the Syriac language. The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible in the Syriac language. ... Ephrem the Syrian was a prolific Syriac language hymn writer and theologian of the 4th century. ...

The sixth beatitude (Matthew 5:8) from an East Syriac Peshitta.
Tuvayhon l'aylên dadkên blebhon: dhenon nehzon l'alâhâ.
'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.'

In 489, many Syriac-speaking Christians living in the Roman Empire fled to Persia to escape persecution and growing animosity with Greek-speaking Christians. The dubbing of the Persian church as 'Nestorian' heretics by the West led to a bitter division in the Syriac-speaking world. Thus, Syriac developed separate western and eastern literary languages, with distinct pronunciation, scripts and grammar. Aramaic version of the 6th Beatitude. ... The Beatitudes (from Latin, beatitudo, happiness) is the name given to a well-known, and to some, such as Henri Nouwen, definitive and central, portion of the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. ... Events Theoderic, king of the Italy with the approval of the eastern emperor Zeno. ... The term Nestorianism is eponymous, even though the person who lent his name to it always denied the associated belief. ...

Western Middle Syriac is the official language of the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syrian Catholic Church, the Maronite Church, the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, the Mar Thoma Church and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. The Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East with members spread throughout the world. ... The Syrian Catholic Church is a Christian church in the Levant in full communion with the pope having practices and rite in common with the Jacobites. ... Maronites (Marunoye ܡܪܘܢܝܶܐ in Syriac, Mawarinah in Arabic) are members of one of the Eastern Rites of the Catholic church. ... The Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, sometimes called Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, is a branch of the Syriac Orthodox Church. ... The Mar Thoma Church (also known as The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church) is a schismatic branch of the pre-16th century undivided Syrian Orthodox Church, and got its current identity in 1889, even though it was born much earlier. ... This article or section should be merged with Malankara catholic church The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an Indian branch of the Eastern Rite Syrian Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See,which on February 10, 2005 erected its primatial see of Trivandrum into a Major Archeparchy,elevating the...

Eastern Middle Syriac is the liturgical language of the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. The Assyrian Church of the East is a church that traces its origins to the Sea of Babylon, said to be founded by Saint Thomas the Apostle. ... The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Rite church, retaining autonomy and distinct identity within the Catholic Communion while remaining in full communion with the Pope in Rome. ... The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is an Eastern Rite church in communion with the Papacy. ...

File links The following pages link to this file: Apollo 8 Accordion Antonio Vivaldi Aramaic language Symphony No. ... Aboun. ... The Lords Prayer (sometimes known by its first two Latin words as the Pater Noster, in Greek as the , or the English equivalent Our Father) is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity. ...

Syriac literature is by far the most prodigious of the various Aramaic languages. Its corpus covers poetry, prose, theology, liturgy, hymnody, history, philosophy, science, medicine and natural history. Much this wealth remains not available in critical editions or modern translation. Aramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history. ...

From the seventh century onwards, Syriac gave way to Arabic as the spoken language of the region. The Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century led 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. Among the Syriac churches of Kerala, Malayalam often replaces Syriac. Arabic (العربية) is a Semitic language, closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... Honorary guard of Mongolia. ... Malayalam (മലയാളം) is the major language of the state of Kerala, in southern India. ...

Modern Syriac vernaculars

Classical Syriac mixed with various local, unwritten Eastern Aramaic dialects throughout northern Mesopotamia over time. These Neo-Syriac vernaculars are only partly based on the classical language, and are diverse enough to impede clear communication between speakers of different Modern Syriac languages.

The main language of Modern Western Syriac is Turoyo, the mountain tongue of Tur Abdin in eastern Turkey. A related but distinct language, Mlahso is now believed to be extinct. Turoyo is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. ... Tur Abdin is a hilly region of south east Turkey incorporating the eastern half of Mardin Province, and Sirnak Province west of the Tigris, on the border with Syria. ... Mlahsö is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. ...

Modern Eastern Syriac has much in common with the Jewish languages of Eastern Aramaic. This group of languages, spread from Lake Urmia to Mosul, is diverse. Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (with numerous dialects) and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic are the major Christian languages. Jewish languages: The oldest and most treasured books of the Jewish people have been the Torah and Tanakh (i. ... Satellite image of Lake Urmia, taken in November 2003 Lake Urmia (Persian: دریاچهٔ ارومیه) is a salt lake in northwestern Iran, in Iranian Azarbaijan (between the provinces of East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan), west of the Caspian Sea. ... Mosūl (Kurdish: Mûsil, Arabic: موصل, al Mawsil) or Nineveh (Syriac: ܢܝܢܘܐ) is a city in northern Iraq/Central Assyria. ... Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ...

Due to the upheavals of the region over the last two centuries, many speakers of Modern Syriac languages have moved south into Syria and Iraq, north into Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and throughout the world.

Appendices

Related topics

• Syriac alphabet.
• Aramaic language.
• Peshitta.
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic.
• Chaldean Neo-Aramaic.
• Senaya language.
• Turoyo language.
• Mlahso language.
• Ephrem the Syrian.

11th century book in Syriac Serto. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history. ... The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible in the Syriac language. ... Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Chaldean Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... The Senaya language is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ... Turoyo is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. ... Mlahsö is a Modern West Syriac language, a dialect of Aramaic. ... Ephrem the Syrian was a prolific Syriac language hymn writer and theologian of the 4th century. ...

References

• Beyer, Klaus (1986). The Aramaic language: its distribution and subdivisions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. ISBN 3-525-53573-2.
• 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.
• Payne Smith, Jessie (Ed.) (1903). A compendious Syriac dictionary founded upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R 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 0199261296.

External links

• Beth Mardutho - The Syriac Institute (http://www.bethmardutho.org/)
• Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies (http://syrcom.cua.edu/hugoye/)
• Ethnologue report on Syriac (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=SYC)
• Learn Assyrian Aramaic (http://www.assyrianlanguage.com/) — an introduction to the Syriac language in its eastern version