Syriac language

The Syriac language, also known as Classical Syriac or Edessan Aramaic, is an ancient Eastern Middle Aramaic dialect that emerged during the first century AD in the region of Osroene, centered around the city of Edessa. It became the main literary language of various Aramaic-speaking Christian communities in Ancient Syria, Assyria, and throughout the Near East during the Early Christian period. As a liturgical language of Syriac Christianity, it played a significant role among Eastern Christian communities and spread as far as India and China.

Classical Syriac is written in the Syriac alphabet, a derivation of the Aramaic alphabet, and is preserved in a large body of Syriac literature, which makes up about 90% of all existing Aramaic literature. Along with Greek and Latin, Syriac was one of the three most important languages of Early Christianity. It had a major cultural and literary influence on the development of Arabic, which later largely replaced it during the medieval period.

Today, Syriac remains the sacred language of Syriac Christianity. It continues to be used as the liturgical language of several Christian denominations that follow either the East Syriac Rite or the West Syriac Rite, including the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syriac Orthodox Church, and various Catholic churches such as the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Syriac Catholic Church.

Name

The name "Syriac" comes from ancient Assyria. Until the time of the Seleucid Empire, it referred to the area that is now Northern Iraq, Northeast Syria, and parts of Southeast Turkey. In English, "Syriac" is used to describe a special kind of the Aramaic language that comes from northeastern Syria, near a place called Edessa. This area was outside the old borders of Roman Syria.

Aramaic was spoken by many people in the Middle East, such as Assyrians, Mandaeans, Arameans, and Judeans, and had many different forms, or dialects. The version from northeastern Syria became known as Syriac because of where it came from.

Early speakers of this language used different names for it. Besides the general name for Aramaic, they also used a name for the special form from Edessa, called Urhaya. Another name, Nahraya, came from the name of a region called Bet-Nahrain, which means Mesopotamia.

Later, people started using the name Suryaya, which came from Greek ways of calling Aramaic speakers "Syrians." The Greeks often called the Aramaic language "Syrian," and this name was also used by Aramaic speakers themselves.

Many writers over the centuries used these different names—Aramaya, Urhaya, Nahraya, and Suryaya—to talk about their language. For example, Jacob of Edessa talked about the language as "Syrian or Aramaic."

In Greek and Latin, people mostly used the name Syrian or Syriac. Later scholars also used these names, but they often meant just the version from Edessa, called Classical Syriac. This created some confusion because the old Greek name was for Aramaic in general, not just the Edessan version.

Theodoret of Cyrus noted that different areas had different forms of Aramaic. He said that people in Syria proper spoke one form, while people in Osroene (around Edessa) spoke another.

Because of these confusions, some scholars say that "Syriac language" can mean two things. The wider meaning is just another name for the whole Aramaic language. The narrower meaning is only the version from Edessa, called Classical Syriac.

Scholars try to use the name "Classical Syriac" to clearly mean the old literary and religious version of the language, but they don’t always do this.

These naming problems caused issues, especially when setting international standards. In 2007, the term "Classical Syriac" was officially accepted with the code syc. But there are still differences between systems, causing more confusion.

The term "Palaeo-Syrian language" has also been used for an ancient language called Eblaite, which is not related to Edessan Aramaic.

After political changes in the Near East in 2003, questions about the language’s name became more complicated, especially in Iraq, where the Constitution uses "Syriac" to refer to Neo-Aramaic-speaking communities. This has led to discussions about identity and recognition among these communities, especially in places like Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

Geographic distribution

Syriac was the local way of speaking Aramaic in a place called Edessa. Over time, it changed and grew because of groups like the Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox Church. Before Arabic became more common, Syriac was an important language for Christian communities in the Middle East, Central Asia, and along the Malabar Coast in India. Even today, it is still used by Syriac Christians. People have even found Syriac writings as far away as Hadrian's Wall in Great Britain, left by soldiers from the Roman Empire.

History

The history of the Syriac language is divided into several periods, based on how the language developed and was used.

• Old Syriac (Old-Edessan Aramaic) was the earliest form of the language. It began around the start of the first century AD in the region of Osroene, centered in Edessa, and grew in importance over the next few centuries.
• Middle Syriac, often called Classical Syriac or Literary Syriac, was the most significant period. From the third to the thirteenth century, it was used in literature, religious writings, and culture. This period includes:
  • Early Classical Syriac, from the third and fourth centuries.
  • Classical Syriac, the main standardized form from the fourth to the eighth centuries.
  • Late Classical Syriac, from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries.
• Modern Syriac (Neo-Syriac Aramaic) is the form used today. It developed from related dialects, not directly from Classical Syriac. Modern Syriac includes:
  • Modern Eastern Syriac, such as Assyrian Neo-Aramaic and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic.
  • Modern Western Syriac, including Turoyo and Mlahsô.
  • Modern Maaloulian Syriac, such as the dialect of Maaloula.

Origins

During the first three centuries after the Common Era, a local Aramaic dialect in the Kingdom of Osroene, centered in Edessa, became more important. There are many early inscriptions in this dialect, dating from the first to the third centuries AD.

Literary Syriac

In the 3rd century, churches in Edessa started using the local Aramaic dialect for worship. This led to important translations, like the Peshitta, and poetic and theological works by Ephrem the Syrian.

After the Arab conquest in the 7th century, everyday use of Syriac slowly shifted to Arabic. However, Syriac remains important in religious traditions and has seen revival efforts in recent times. It is recognized as a minority language in Iraq and is taught in some schools around the world.

Grammar

Many Syriac words, like those in other Semitic languages, come from roots made of three consonants. New words are created from these three consonants by adding different vowels and consonants. For example, from the root ܫܩܠ (ŠQL), which has a basic meaning of "taking", we can make words like:

• ܫܩܠ – šqal: "he has taken"
• ܢܫܩܘܠ – nešqol: "he will take"
• ܫܩܘܠ – šqol: "take! (to a man)"
• ܫܩܠ – šāqel: "he takes, he is taking"
• ܫܩܠ – šaqqel: "he has lifted"
• ܐܫܩܠ – ʾašqel: "he has set out"
• ܫܩܠܐ – šqālā: "a taking, burden"
• ܫܩ̈ܠܐ – šeqlē: "takings, profits"
• ܫܩܠܘܬܐ – šaqluṯā: "a beast of burden"
• ܫܘܩܠܐ – šuqqālā: "arrogance"

Most Syriac nouns are also built from three-consonant roots. Nouns have gender (masculine or feminine), can be singular or plural, and exist in one of three forms. The basic form is called the absolute state, like ܫܩ̈ܠܝܢ, šeqlin, meaning "taxes". The emphatic state usually shows a specific noun, like ܫܩ̈ܠܐ, šeqlē, meaning "the taxes". The construct state shows a relationship between nouns, like ܫܩ̈ܠܝ, šeqlay, meaning "taxes of...".

Most Syriac verbs are also built from three-consonant roots. Verbs show person, gender (except for the first person), number, tense, and conjugation. Syriac has two main tenses: perfect (past) and imperfect (future). The present tense is usually shown with a participle and a pronoun, which is often left out for the third person. Verbs can also change their meaning through different stems, such as the intensive stem or the causative stem.

The basic conjugation of the verb "to write" in the perfect and imperfect tenses is shown below:

Phonology

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Phonologically, Syriac, like other similar languages, has 22 consonant sounds. These sounds can change slightly depending on how people speak Syriac today, especially in prayers.

Syriac has special pairs of sounds where a letter can be spoken in two different ways, like a soft sound or a strong sound. This is shown by placing a dot above or below the letter.

The language also includes special throat sounds and a variety of hissing or buzzing sounds.

Vowels in Syriac usually depend on the consonants around them. In some areas, certain vowel sounds change, and the length of vowels is not very important. Vowels can also combine with certain sounds to form gliding sounds, but these often simplify to just a few common pronunciations.