Information about Syriac Language
See Syriac (disambiguation) for other uses.
Syriac (ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. It was a major literary language throughout the Middle East from the second to the eighth century AD.[1] 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.
It became the vehicle of Christianity and culture, spreading throughout Asia as far as Malabar and Eastern China and was the medium of communication and cultural dissemination for Arabs and, to a lesser extent, Persians. Primarily a Christian medium of expression, Syriac had a fundamental cultural and semantical influence on the development of Arabic which replaced it towards the end of the eighth century.
Syriac is written in the Syriac alphabet.
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.
Eastern Middle Syriac is the liturgical language of the Assyrian Church of the East (including the Chaldean Syrian Church), the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Syro-Malabar Church.
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 of this wealth remains unavailable in critical editions or modern translation.
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 with the creation of newspapers in literary Syriac (ܟܬܒܢܝܐ Kthābānāyā), and the translation of many Arabic and western books into Syriac. Among the Syriac churches of Kerala, Malayalam often replaces Syriac. Literary Syriac is often used as a spoken language by clerics who do not speak the vernacular dialects.
The main language of Modern Western Syriac is Turoyo, the mountain tongue of Tur Abdin in eastern Turkey. A related but distinct language, Mlahsô is now believed to be extinct.
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.
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.
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, bîšÃ®n šeqlē, means "the taxes are evil", whereas ܫܩ̈ܠܐ ܒܝ̈ܫܐ, šeqlē ḇîšē, means "evil taxes".
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 conjunctions 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 conjunction 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 conjunctions has its parallel passive conjunction: the Eṯpə`el, Eṯpa``al and Ettap̄`al respectively. To these six cardinal conjunctions are added a few irregular forms, like the Šap̄`el and Eštap̄`al, which generally have an extensive meaning.
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:
| Syriac ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation: | /surˈjɑjɑ/ (Eastern), /surˈjɔjɔ/ (Western) | |
| Spoken in: | Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Kerala, India | |
| Total speakers: | 1 500 000 fluent | |
| Language family: | }}} Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Aramaic Eastern Aramaic Syriac}}} | |
| Writing system: | Syriac abjad | |
| Official status | ||
| Official language of: | Iraq (in areas where Assyrians form a majority) | |
| Regulated by: | no official regulation | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | syr | |
| ISO 639-3: | variously: syr — Syriac (generic) syc — Syriac (classical) aii — bhn — Bohtan Neo-Aramaic cld — hrt — Hértevin kqd — syn — Senaya tru — Turoyo | |
Syriac (ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. It was a major literary language throughout the Middle East from the second to the eighth century AD.[1] 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.
It became the vehicle of Christianity and culture, spreading throughout Asia as far as Malabar and Eastern China and was the medium of communication and cultural dissemination for Arabs and, to a lesser extent, Persians. Primarily a Christian medium of expression, Syriac had a fundamental cultural and semantical influence on the development of Arabic which replaced it towards the end of the eighth century.
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.Syriac is written in the Syriac alphabet.
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, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Israel, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. These communities have, over the years, settled throughout the Middle East, Europe, North and South America, and Australia.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),
- Modern Syriac (a Modern Eastern Aramaic language), which remains divided:
- Modern Western Syriac (Turoyo and Mlahsô),
- Modern Eastern Syriac (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic etc.).
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 Osroene 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.Literary Syriac
- Further information: Syriac literature
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 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.
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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.
Eastern Middle Syriac is the liturgical language of the Assyrian Church of the East (including the Chaldean Syrian Church), the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Syro-Malabar Church.
| Abûn d-ḇašmayâ | |
| The Lord's Prayer, Abûn d-ḇašmayâ, sung in Syriac | |
| Problems listening to the file? See media help | |
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 of this wealth remains unavailable in critical editions or modern translation.
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 with the creation of newspapers in literary Syriac (ܟܬܒܢܝܐ Kthābānāyā), and the translation of many Arabic and western books into Syriac. Among the Syriac churches of Kerala, Malayalam often replaces Syriac. Literary Syriac is often used as a spoken language by clerics who do not speak the vernacular dialects.
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, Mlahsô is now believed to be extinct.
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.
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.
Grammar
Syriac words, as with those in other Semitic languages, 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 takes"
- 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"
- ܫܘܩܠ — šÃ»qālâ: "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...".
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, bîšÃ®n 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 conjunction. 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 conjunctions 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 conjunction 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 conjunctions has its parallel passive conjunction: the Eṯpə`el, Eṯpa``al and Ettap̄`al respectively. To these six cardinal conjunctions are added a few irregular forms, like the Šap̄`el and Eštap̄`al, which generally have an extensive meaning.
Sounds
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. Pronunciation has also been affected by other languages.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/ (in eastern dialects these are /b/ and /w/)
- Voiced velar pair — /ɡ/ and /ɣ/
- Voiced dental pair — /d/ and /ð/
- Voiceless velar pair — /k/ and /x/
- Voiceless labial pair — /p/ and /f/ (in eastern dialects /w/ sometimes replaces /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/ (in many eastern dialects this becomes /x/)
- Pharyngelized voiceless dental plosive — /tˁ/
- Voiced pharyngeal fricative — /ʕ/
- Pharyngealized voiceless alveolar fricative — /sˁ/
- Voiceless uvular plosive — /q/
- Voiced alveolar fricative — /z/
- Voiceless alveolar fricative — /s/
- Pharyngealized voiceless alveolar fricative — /sˁ/
- Voiceless postalveolar fricative — /ʃ/
| Place of articulation ? | Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Radical | (none) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manner of articulation ? | Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Pharyn- gealized coronal |
Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyn- geal |
Glottal |
| Plosive | p b | t d | tˁ | k ɡ | q | ʔ | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||||
| Trill | r | ||||||||||
| Fricative | f v | }|}|}|}|}|}|}|}
References1. ^ Beyer, Klaus; John F. Healey (trans.) (1986). The Aramaic Language: its distribution and subdivisions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 44. ISBN 3-525-53573-2.
Syriacs or Syrians may refer to:
..... Click the link for more information. International Phonetic Alphabet Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. The International Phonetic Alphabet History Nonstandard symbols Extended IPA Naming conventions IPA for English The ..... Click the link for more information. Motto Մեկ Ազգ, Մեկ Մշակույթ (Armenian) " ..... Click the link for more information. Motto none Anthem Azərbaycan Respublikasının Dövlət Himni (March of Azerbaijan) ..... Click the link for more information. Motto ძალა ერთობაშია (Georgian) "Strength is in Unity" Anthem "Tavisupleba" ..... Click the link for more information. Anthem Sorūd-e Mellī-e Īrān ² Capital (and largest city) Tehran ..... Click the link for more information. Motto الله أكبر (Arabic) "Allahu Akbar" (transliteration) "God is the Greatest" Anthem ..... Click the link for more information. Motto Kūllūnā li-l-waṭan, li-l-'ula wa-l-'alam (Arabic) "Nous sommes tous pour le pays, la sublimation et le drapeau!" ..... Click the link for more information. Palestine (from Παλαιστινη; Palaestina; formerly also פלשתינה Palestina ..... Click the link for more information. Anthem Hatikvah The Hope Capital (and largest city) Jerusalem Official languages Hebrew, Arabic Demonym Israeli ..... Click the link for more information. Anthem Homat el Diyar Guardians of the Land Capital (and largest city) Damascus ..... Click the link for more information. Motto Yurtta Sulh, Cihanda Sulh Peace at Home, Peace in the World Anthem İstiklâl Marşı The Anthem of Independence ..... Click the link for more information. Coordinates: Kerala (/span>]] ?· i ; Malayalam: ; Kēraḷaṁ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of southwestern India. ..... Click the link for more information. This page is currently protected from editing until disputes have been resolved. Protection is not an endorsement of the current [ version] ([ protection log]). ..... Click the link for more information. A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language. As with biological families, the evidence of relationship is observable shared characteristics. ..... Click the link for more information. Semitic languages are a family of languages spoken by more than 300 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa. They constitute the northeastern subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic languages, and the only branch of this group spoken in Asia. ..... Click the link for more information. West Semitic languages are a proposed major sub-grouping of Semitic languages. One widely accepted analysis, supported by semiticists like Robert Hetzron and John Huehnergard, divides the Semitic language family into two branches: Eastern and Western. ..... Click the link for more information. Central Semitic languages are an intermediate group of Semitic languages, comprising Arabic and Northwest Semitic (including Canaanite (Hebrew), Aramaic and Ugaritic). Different classification systems disagree on the precise structure of the group. ..... Click the link for more information. Northwest Semitic languages form a medium-level division of the Semitic language family. The languages of this group are spoken by approximately eight million people today. ..... Click the link for more information. Aramaic}}} Writing system: Aramaic abjad, Syriac abjad, Hebrew abjad, Mandaic alphabet with a handfull of inscriptions found in Demotic[2] and Chinese[3] characters. ..... Click the link for more information. writing system is a type of symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language. General propertiesWriting systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that one must usually understand something of the..... Click the link for more information. Syriac alphabet Child systems Sogdian →Orkhon (Turkic) →Old Hungarian →Uyghur →Mongolian Nabataean → Arabic Georgian (disputed) ..... Click the link for more information. Motto الله أكبر (Arabic) "Allahu Akbar" (transliteration) "God is the Greatest" Anthem ..... Click the link for more information. The Assyrians (also called Syriacs; see names of Syriac Christians) are an ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria, but many of whom have migrated to the Caucasus, North America and Western Europe during the past century. ..... Click the link for more information. This is a list of bodies that regulate standard languages. Afrikaans Die Taalkommissie, South Africa Arabic Academy of the Arabic Language (مجمع اللغة العربية, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, ..... Click the link for more information. ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. It consists of 136 two-letter codes used to identify the world's major languages. These codes are a useful international shorthand for indicating languages. ..... Click the link for more information. ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. The three-letter codes given for each language in this part of the standard are referred to as "Alpha-3" codes. There are 464 language codes in the list. ..... Click the link for more information. ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. It extends the ISO 639-2 alpha-3 codes with an aim to cover all known natural languages. The standard was published by ISO on 5 February 2007[1]. ..... Click the link for more information. Assyrian Neo-Aramaic}}} Language codes ISO 639-1: none ISO 639-2: syr ISO 639-3: aii Assyrian Neo-Aramaic is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ..... Click the link for more information. Hértevin}}}
Writing system: Syriac abjad (Madnhāyâ variant) Language codes ISO 639-1: none ISO 639-2: syr ISO 639-3: hrt The Hértevin language is a modern Eastern Aramaic or Syriac language. ..... Click the link for more information. This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License. Herod_Archelaus
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