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SYRIAC

A form of late Eastern Aramaic; a member of the Aramaic subfamily of Northwest Semitic languages. The Syriac alphabet comprising 22 consonants is written in three forms: Estrangela, found in the oldest inscriptions and manuscripts; Nestorian, used primarily by the Syrian Christians in the Persian Empire; and Serta, or Jacobite, used by Syrian Christians in the Roman Empire. Individual consonants are written in slightly modified form depending on their initial, medial, or final position in a word and whether they stand alone or are joined to others. Syriac is written from right to left. Lexical roots are predominantly triliteral. Derived forms are generated by prefixing or suffixing consonants to a triliteral (or biliteral) root and by vocalization modifications.

Originally the dialect of Edessa (a 2nd-century center of Christianity), Syriac superseded other forms of Aramaic in the region and maintained prominence as a spoken and literary language of western Asia until the 8th century. A vast corpus of religious and nonreligious writing, both poetry and prose, was produced during this time. From the 8th century onward, Syriac was superseded by Arabic as the common language, although Syriac remained widespread as the liturgical language of Eastern Christianity until the 13th century. In 489 theological controversy and ecclesiastical disputes produced a linguistic split. The Nestorian East Syrians (Nisibis) separated themselves from the Jacobite West Syrians (Edessa), giving rise to the development of two distinct dialects and orthographies.

Syrian authors have produced a vast and rich body of literature, making Syriac the most extensively documented Aramaic dialect. Although religious texts are most abundant, the translations of the OT and NT into Syriac and the theological treatises, biblical expositions, hymns, and homilies of the early church fathers should not be allowed to overshadow Syrian literary contributions in the areas of science, philosophy, mathematics, and medicine.

Bibliography. G. Bergsträsser, Introduction to the Semitic Languages (Winona Lake, 1983); K. Beyer, The Aramaic Language: Its Distribution and Subdivisions (Göttingen, 1986).

Dennis R. Magary

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SYRIAC

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)