What is the difference between West Syriac and East Syriac?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ต.ค. 2024
- West Syriac and East Syriac are two major dialects of the Syriac language, which is itself a form of Middle Aramaic. These dialects evolved in distinct geographic and ecclesiastical settings, with West Syriac primarily used in modern-day Southeast Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and the Holy Land, whereas East Syriac is associated with regions of Iraq and Iran. West Syriac became the liturgical language of the Syriac Orthodox Church and other related Christian groups, while East Syriac was used by the Church of the East and its offshoots.
The most noticeable difference between the two dialects lies in their pronunciation. In West Syriac, the Aramaic /ā/ vowel shifted to /o/, as seen in the pronunciation of the word for God, which is Aloho in West Syriac and Alaha in East Syriac. East Syriac retained older vowel pronunciations, staying closer to classical Aramaic phonology. In addition, West Syriac often pronounces the letter "taw" (ܬ) as /th/, whereas East Syriac keeps a more conservative pronunciation of this consonant.
Another distinction is found in the scripts used by the two traditions. West Syriac employs the Serto script, which is more cursive and rounded, while East Syriac uses the Madnhaya script, a more angular style that remains closer to the classical Estrangelo form shared by both traditions in earlier periods. These script differences reflect the varying liturgical and cultural environments in which each dialect developed.
Both dialects were shaped by their interactions with surrounding Aramaic dialects. West Syriac evolved under the influence of Western Aramaic, particularly in the Levant, leading to notable phonetic shifts. In contrast, East Syriac, spoken in Mesopotamia, maintained stronger ties to Eastern Aramaic and was influenced by Persian and other eastern languages.
Today, both dialects continue to be used in liturgical contexts, although West Syriac is more common in Syria and Lebanon, and East Syriac is preserved in Iraq, Iran, and parts of India. However, the modern usage of East Syriac faces challenges due to political and religious upheavals in the region.
In essence, the split between West Syriac and East Syriac reflects broader religious and cultural divides within the early Christian world, with each dialect preserving distinct elements of the broader Aramaic language family.
NOTE: In some traditions, the ܪܒ݂ܵܨܵܐ ܐܲܪܝܼܟ݂ܵܐ, rḇāṣā ʾărīḵā is known as the ܙܠܵܡܵܐ ܦܫܝܼܩܵܐ, zlāmā pšīqā and the ܪܒ݂ܵܨܵܐ ܟܲܪܝܵܐ, rḇāṣā karyā is known as the ܙܠܵܡܵܐ ܩܲܫܝܵܐ, zlāmā qašyā.
#syriac #aramaic #assyrian
![ILLSLICK - WINTER IS COMING [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dwTMeM1zIhQ/mqdefault.jpg)
My mother-in-law and her mother speak one of the dialects/languages of the modern Jewish Eastern Aramaic. They emigrated to Israel from Iranian Kurdistan (north western Iran) Nowadays they speak Hebrew and they unfortunately did not teach their kids the language.
We know many Jews from Iranian Saqez, which you call Qotedymokhstan, who spoke Ashurit fluently, and who continued to do so in Israel as well.
Ashurit was later called Aramite by Christian fanatics who wanted to honor their god Jesus with a language of his own. These Christian fanatics came to dominate the universities and spread this false theory of Ashurit language.
Barukh KhaShem, Alaha d'Ashuraye Khaya Ekhad!
Khayet Omtan Ashureta o Khaya Lishanan Ashuraya.
And you, do not forget the words of Yahweh to the one who lies and falsifies the Torah: "Ekhre bpommokh o ere dakhmare bymmokh khshikha shekhtane brone d'satana."
This is a very informative video🫂
I am a St.Thomas Syrian Christian from India, here some churches use the West Syriac Rite employing the Liturgy of St.James and some churches use the East Syriac Rite employing the Liturgy of Mar Addai and Mar Mari. This division is a basis for a wide split between the United Syrian Christians of Kerala.
Welcome to the channel!
Thank you professor Michael
Awesome video and explanation! I have a video on my channel showing a live comparison between West & East Syriac. I usually like to show it to beginners who don’t really understand the differences between the two accents yet.
“If you read this, write below” 😁
Yeeaaahhhhh, buddy!
I'd really love to get deeper into Syriac - Ephraim awaits! Well, deeper than my current level of barely-scratched-the-surface, anyway. But, alas and alak, this is pushed forwards to the future time and time again.
At least I now have a physical copy of Muraoka's _Classical Syriac_ 2nd ed. to pick up when the time comes.
Time management skills: would be nice to have them...
Great video, ܬܘܕܝ!
Thank you so much for a new video on Syriac!! We knuckleheads love it.
Fantastic video. Very well done!
Glad you enjoyed it!
in qritun hada, ktubu letaHt.
I was only able to guess what this means because I speak Arabic and Hebrew haha. that's so fun.
in Arabic: idha qara'tum hadha, uktubu taHt.
in Hebrew: im qara'tem et zeh, ketvu lemata.
You are the target demographic for this channel! Awesome job!
Thank you for this amazing video.
Fascinating.
It seems that arabic script derived from serto script. They look astonishingly similiar.
They certainly do feel as though there is a relationship. From what I have learned, it is probably a common ancestor script style that influences them both. Kufi Arabic writing is generally regarded to have come from two sources: Syriac (most likely an Estrangelo type from the East--modern day Iraq) and Nabatean, where the ancestor common to serto and Nabatean probably was prominent.
Hi Professor Michael.
How can I contact you?
Do you have an email?
Greetings
professorwingert@gmail.com
This is the first video from the channel that I watch. I was wondering why the video started with the ‘signs’ on the letters.
Well there’s so many places one can start from.
It’s a shame that the Aramaic ‘languages’ are disparate as they are. Not been united under one political entity ever since the last Assyrian state around 700BC including the entire Levant region. Of course even at the time the regional accents existed but perhaps there was one official language? I don’t know.
The unity in the language's diversity makes it fun!
Professor, during the time of Mor Jacob of Edessa, the distinction between West and East vocalisation was not a thing right ? It came a bit later ? The spoken Syriac in Urhoy was still closer to the eastern pronunciation which is overall the most conservative one right ?
Great video, tawdi.
From what I recall, the distinction was first (at least for us researching the topic) noted by Mor Jacob of Edessa. I'd need to review his grammar to be sure. It is an interesting, and potentially a real rabbit hole to dive into. I would love to be able to spend some time researching the matter more thoroughly and unfortunately for me, I don't know enough about that at the present.
@@ProfessorMichaelWingert
Tawdi Malfono,
Here's what made me ask the question as I was unsure if I understood it correctly,
THE
DIACRITICAL POINT
AND THE ACCENTS
IN SYRIAC, page 46:
The dominance of o
among the West Syrians had not yet arisen by the time of Jacob
of Edessa, for in his scheme of vowel letters â is represented by ܐ
and o by ܳ (whose shape is probably derived from Greek o).
@@tihebethnahrin8146 Important observation.
Professor Wingert, I’m 50yo and started studying Aramaic on my own. How do you know when a Teth or Tau takes the “th” sound. I just found your channel and am working my way thru your videos, so do you have one that specifically answers that? Or do you have a book that discusses that? I’ve got a couple books off Amazon, but I can’t really do a $400 textbook. I pre-thank you for any suggestions, sir.
You’ll know when a Tau is a “Thau” or takes a “Th” sound when the Tau letter has a small dot underneath it called a “Rukkakha” which looks like this ܬ݂
Now as for how to know when the Tau becomes softened in this manner - I think Professor Wingert has a video on it - but it depends on a few rules.
The first rule is If the letter Tau follows an open syllable in a word, then it becomes softened. For example in the word “Tawditho” meaning thanksgiving or religion, it follows the pattern (C for consonant, V for vowel) CVC-CV-CV. Since the letter Tau follows the Yodh vowel and is in an open syllable it becomes softened.
There are two other rules but i can’t type them all out right now.
@@bar_yama Thank you! But, when you say the dot underneath, do you mean the Syriac alphabet? Because I’ve gotten the Biblical Aramaic books and one extremely short book on Galilean. I posted on this video because it was the most recent, so I should’ve clarified.
Can I assume the same rule applies? I have encountered open and closed syllables (I’m about as beginner as beginner can be LOL) so I’ll focus on that and get it down pat.
I’ve always liked Mesopotamian and Levant ancient history, so that’s why I picked that over modern Syriac.
Thank you for taking the time to help. I really do appreciate it. And I completely understand about too much to type. I think those proverbial monkeys with the typewriters trying to produce Shakespeare type faster than I do.
Thanks again!
@@bar_yama oh, and a total guess here, but is your username a combo of Hebrew and Japanese? Bar-Yama (son of the god/great spirit, something like that? I know Mt. Fuji is called Fuji-yama because it’s sacred) I’m probably totally wrong, but that came to mind immediately.
Professor, you will never think outside the box the educational institution set for you, and you cannot be blamed - because otherwise you would never have passed your studies and even become a professor.
Those who are to be blamed and humiliated at all costs are the Ashuraye who mutilate their identity by calling their language other than Ashuraya. Those Ashuraye who mutilate their identity in this way have unfortunately sold their single brain cell and ass to those who deny the Ashuraye and want to erase them from history - just like you and all the "learned" have sold your conscience and ass to the educational institution.
@@bar_yamaRkakha bgarmokh, Ptakha btizedymmokh, Esasa bkharetokh, Rpasa breshedbabokh, o noqza breshokh dakhmare: what are you going to do with this when your entire existence is at stake and your identity is being questioned?
Great video. I noticed how the former nestorian east is now shia, while the former jacobite west is now sunni! I wonder if this divide continued as a sunni-shia divide?
Yes, the Nestorians, who rejected the Trinity were persecuted by all other Christians, who regarded them as Jews, and perhaps most from the Copts who tortured Nestorius to death; And so many Nestorians chose to convert to Islam, which then held much the same view of the abominable trinity.
@@AxelMegaton The so-called "Nestorians" profess the Trinity.
Great observation! Tribal bonds tend to be stronger than religious bonds it seems.
@@ProfessorMichaelWingert Why so-called "Nestorians"? There is no logic in your claim, and anything illogical is false and a lie - Why should the Nestorians be persecuted by all other Christians who exalt Jibus and his mother of deity and saint and the "holy fart" into something extraordinary if the Nestorians did the same?
Of course Omta is more important than belief.
Khayet Omtan Ashureta, Nestorneta-Hudeta, o Khaya Lishanan Ashuraya.
Nishra, Nestorius in Greek, said: Alahan d'Ashuraye ile Kha-Khaya-Ekhad.
@@AxelMegaton the Nestorians profess the trinity, a simple search on google proves this, the reason why they were rejected was because they didn't conform to the Christology issued at the council of Ephesus, but alas I don't expect a rеtаrdеd cube worshipper like you to know basic history, let alone Christian theological disputes.
❤❤❤
Jesus as his name is often misspelled due to the lack of the ayin sound in Greek, which was rendered to Iesous ( Ιησους ), coupling the nearest sound to ayin, same letter found in 'Iraq', which sounds entirely different in Arabic form 'Iran' in Arabic, with the -ous Greek suffix that Greeks typically add to their names 'HerodotOS', 'PlotinUS', 'AchelOUS' and later mumbled into a J).
The yeshua rendition of Isa (his name in the Qur'an) PBUH which is purported to be the name of Jesus is KNOWN to had been taken from greek. Western Syriac also use "Isho". Western Aramaic (separate from Syriac which is a dialect of Eastern Aramaic) use "Yeshu". Western Syriac has been separate from Western Aramaic for about 1000 years. And sounds don't even match up. Syriac is a Christian liturgical language yet the four letters of the name of Jesus «ܝܫܘܥ» [ = Judeo-Babylonian Aramaic: «ישוע» ] sounds totally different in West vs East Syriac, viz. vocalized akin to Christian Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic «ܝܶܫܽܘܥ» (Yēšūʿ) in West Syriac, but pronounced more akin to Muslim Arabic Quran character name Isa in East Syriac «ܝܑܼܫܘܿܥ» (ʾĪšōʿ). The reason for this confusion is their dropping of phonemes as aforementioned. Only someone that has no idea what the letters are or how they sound would have a name ending in a pharyngeal fricative like the ayin, if it were to be used in a name it would have had to be in the beginning, thus the Arabic rendition is the correct one. In addition, The word God in hebrew is eloah, is a cognate of the Arabic I-L-H, pronounced ilah not eloah. Hebrew dropped the glottal stop and mumbled it into eloh, aramic mumbled a little less and it became elah. Infact it is written A-L-H in Arabic, it is pronounced i in Arabic cause it is an Alef with hamza below (إ أ ) They are two different forms of Alef. And it mean "a god", it is the non definitive form of A-L-L-H, in which the Alef is without a glottal stop/hamza,(ا)
"protosemetic" Alphabet (29), Arabic Alphabet (28), Latin transliteration, hebrew (22)
𐩠 𐩡 𐩢 𐩣 𐩤 𐩥 𐩦 𐩧 𐩨 𐩩 𐩪 𐩫 𐩬 𐩭 𐩮 𐩰 𐩱 𐩲 𐩳 𐩴 𐩵 𐩶 𐩷 𐩸 𐩹 𐩺 𐩻 𐩼
ا ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ك ل م ن ه و ي
A b t ṯ j h kh d ḏ r z s sh ṣ ḍ ṭ ẓ ʿ ġ f q k l m n h w y
א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ ק ר ש ת
Merged phonemes in hebrew and aramaic:
ب ( b ) reducted into v ( ב )
ح, خ (h, kh) merged into only kh ( ח )consonant remain
س, ش ,ث (s, sh, th) merged into only Sh ( שׁ ) consonant remaining
ت, ط (Taw, Teth) merged into a voiceless alveolar t ( ת ) consonant remaining
ص, ض, ظ (Zhad/ṱ , ḍ/Dhad, ṣ/Tsad ) merged into only Tsa ( צ ) consonant remaining
ع, غ (3ayn, Ghayn) merged into a reducted ayin A' ( ע )consonant remaining
ز, ذ ( Zhal, Zayn) merged into only ( ז ) consonant remaining
The reason why the protoS alphabet here is 28 and not 29, is because the supposed extra letter is simply a س written in a different position, but it was shoehorned to obfuscated. In Arabic letter shapes are different depending on whether they are in the beginning , middle or end of a word.
This kind of nuance is lost in the dialect continua. As a matter of fact, all of the knowledge needed for deciphering ancient texts and their complexity was derived from the Qur'an. It was by analyzing the syntactic structure of the Qur'an that the Arabic root system was developed. This system was first attested to in Kitab Al-Ayin, the first intralanguage dictionary of its kind, which preceded the Oxford English dictionary by 800 years. It was through this development that the concept of Arabic roots was established and later co-opted into the term 'semitic root,' allowing the decipherment of ancient scripts. In essence, they quite literally copied and pasted the entirety of the Arabic root. Hebrew had been dead, as well as all the other dialects of Arabic, until being 'revived' in a Frankensteinian fashion in the 18th and 19th centuries. The entire region spoke basically the same language, with mumbled dialect continuums spread about, and Arabic is the oldest form from which all these dialects branched off. As time passed, the language gradually became more degenerate, and then the Qur'an appeared with the oldest possible form of the language thousands of years later. This is why the Arabs of that time were challenged to produce 10 similar verses, and they couldn't. People think it's a miracle because they couldn't do it, but I think the miracle is the language itself. They had never spoken Arabic, nor has any other language before or since had this mathematical precision. And when I say mathematical, I quite literally mean mathematical.
. Schlözer in his preparation for the Arabia expedition in 1781 coined the term Semitic language:
"From the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, from Mesopotamia to Arabia ruled one language, as is well known. Thus Syrians, Babylonians, Hebrews, and Arabs were one people (ein Volk). Phoenicians (Hamites) also spoke this language, which I would like to call the Semitic (die Semitische)."
-Before Boas: The Genesis of Ethnography and Ethnology in the German By Han F. Vermeulen
He was only half right though, Arabic is the only corollary to "proto-semitic", infact the whole semitic classification is nonsensical for anyone with a somewhat functioning mass between their ears. hebrew, aramaic, rest of madeup dialect continua only have 22 letters of the 29 protosemitic letters Arabic has all 29. The difference betweeen Arabic and the other creoles and Pidgin is the same as that between Latin and pig latin or italian.
|Classical Arabic | 28 consonants, 29 with Hamza and 6 vowels; some consonants are emphatic or pharyngealized; some vowels are marked with diacritics | Complex system of word formation based on roots and patterns; roots are sequences of consonants that carry the basic meaning of a word; patterns are sequences of vowels and affixes that modify the meaning and function of a word | Flexible word order, but VSO is most common; SVO is also possible; subject and object are marked by case endings (-u for nominative, -a for accusative, -i for genitive); verb agrees with subject in person, number, and gender; verb has different forms for different moods and aspects |
| Akkadian | 22 consonants and 3 vowels; some consonants are glottalized or palatalized; vowels are not marked | Similar system, but with different roots and patterns; some roots have more than three consonants; some patterns have infixes or reduplication | Fixed word order of SVO; subject and object are not marked by case endings, but by prepositions or word order; verb agrees with subject in person, number, and gender; verb has different forms for different tenses and aspects |
| Aramaic | 22 consonants and 3 vowels (later variants have more); no emphatic or pharyngealized consonants (except in some dialects); vowels are not marked (except in later variants such as Syriac) | Simple system of word formation based on prefixes and suffixes; some roots or patterns exist, but are less productive than in Arabic or Akkadian |
"Semitic" is just mumbled Arabic, really. Imagine English with a third of its letters removed and simplified grammar. That's Aramaic, Hebrew, etc. For example, combine T and D into just T; there's no need to have 2 letters. The same goes for i, e, y - they should all be just y from now on, etc., etc. Arabic is the only corollary to proto-Semitic. In fact, the whole classification of Semitic languages is nonsensical for anyone with a somewhat functioning brain. Hebrew, Aramaic, and the rest of these made-up dialect continua only have 22 letters out of the 29 proto-Semitic letters. Arabic has all 29. The difference between Arabic and the other creoles and Pidgin is the same as the difference between Latin and pig Latin or Italian. "Phoenician" is an Arabic dialect continuum, and not only that, it is pidgin. It is simplified to the point of stupidity. Anyone with a basic knowledge of Arabic would see this clearly. What happened was that Arabic handicapped "scholars" saw the equivalent of Scottish Twitter spelling, with added mumbling due to phonemic mergers (22 letters, not 29), and mistakenly thought they were seeing a different language."
Now how is it that the Qur'an came thousands of years in a language that is lexically, syntactically, phonemically, and semantically older than the oldest recorded writing?
Now how is it that the Qur'an came thousands of years later in an alphabet that had never been recorded before, and in the highest form the language had ever taken?
The creator is neither bound by time nor space, therefore the names are uttered as they truly were, in a language that is lexically, syntactically, phonemically, and semantically older than the oldest recorded writing. In fact, that writing appears to have been a simplified version of it. Not only that, but it would be the equivalent of the greatest works of any particular language all appearing in one book, in a perfect script and in the highest form the language could ever take. It is so high in fact, that it had yet to be surpassed despite the fact that over the last millennium the collection of Arabic manuscripts when compared on word-per-word basis in Western Museums alone, when they are compared with the collected Greek and Latin manuscripts combined, the latter does not constitute 1 percent of the former as per German professor Frank Griffel, in addition all in a script that had never been recorded before.
Thus, the enlightenment of mankind from barbarism and savagery began, and the age of reason and rationality was born from its study.
God did bring down the Qur’an, Mohamed is his Messenger.
In qritun hade ktubu ltaxt
Welcome!
ถามน้องเด้งยัง ชอบมั้ย จะไปสวบเค้าป่ะ ลูกสาวมีความเป็นตัวเองสูงมากอยู่นะ😂
ธรรมเนียมไทย ลูกสาวแต่งเข้าบ้านนะ ไม่ใช่อะไรเพื่อความปลอดภัยของผู้อื่นจากลูกสาวน่าจะดุอยู่นะโตขึ้นอ่ะ😅
East Syriac as you called it was our language from Akkadian roots ...we do not belong to history of TORAH
Mo amrat barnasha? Lishanan ile Ashuraya o la mendi khina. Tora ila up tashita d'Omtan Ashureta o ktawan d'Ashuraye Mqodsha.
KhaShem Barukh Omtan Ashureta!
Ashur Betkhaya akhji Akh wartota Hudeta, Bkhela d'Alahan Khaya Yahwe KhaShem.
ܬܘܕܝ ܣܓܝ ܪܒܝ ܡܝܟܼܐܝܠ
just a note regarding two of the eastern Syriac diacritics:
rbasa arika, I know it as ܙܠܡܐ ܦܫܝܩܐ (zlama psheeqa)
rbasa karya, I know it as ܙܠܡܐ ܩܫܝܐ (zlama qashya)
I should have commented on that in the video. I left a note in the video description.