![]() ![]() ( ) Two horizontally-placed dots below a letter represent, transliterated as e or ĕ (called ܪܒ݂ܵܨܵܐ ܐܲܪܝܼܟ݂ܵܐ, rḇāṣā ʾărīḵā or ܙܠܵܡܵܐ ܦܫܝܼܩܵܐ, zlāmā pšīqā often pronounced and transliterated as i in the East Syriac dialect),.( ) Two diagonally-placed dots above a letter represent, transliterated as ā or â or å (called ܙܩܵܦ݂ܵܐ, zqāp̄ā),.( ) A dot above and a dot below a letter represent, transliterated as a or ă (called ܦܬ݂ܵܚܵܐ, pṯāḥā),.The Eastern script uses a system of dots above and/or below letters, based on an older system, to indicate vowel sounds not found in the script: The Eastern script resembles ʾEsṭrangēlā somewhat more closely than the Western script. Other names for the script include Swāḏāyā ( ܣܘܵܕ݂ܵܝܵܐ, 'conversational' or 'vernacular', often translated as 'contemporary', reflecting its use in writing modern Neo-Aramaic), ʾĀṯōrāyā ( ܐܵܬ݂ܘܿܪܵܝܵܐ, 'Assyrian', not to be confused with the traditional name for the Hebrew alphabet), Kaldāyā ( ܟܲܠܕܵܝܵܐ, 'Chaldean'), and, inaccurately, " Nestorian" (a term that was originally used to refer to the Church of the East in the Sasanian Empire). The East Syriac dialect is usually written in the Maḏnḥāyā ( ܡܲܕ݂ܢܚܵܝܵܐ, 'Eastern') form of the alphabet. Vowel marks are usually not used with ʾEsṭrangēlā, being the oldest form of the script and arising before the development of specialized diacritics. In some older manuscripts and inscriptions, it is possible for any letter to join to the left, and older Aramaic letter forms (especially of ḥeṯ and the lunate mem) are found. It is often used in scholarly publications (such as the Leiden University version of the Peshitta), in titles, and in inscriptions. Although ʾEsṭrangēlā is no longer used as the main script for writing Syriac, it has received some revival since the 10th century. The name of the script is thought to derive from the Greek adjective strongýlē ( στρογγύλη, 'rounded'), though it has also been suggested to derive from serṭā ʾewwangēlāyā ( ܣܪܛܐ ܐܘܢܓܠܝܐ, 'gospel character'). The oldest and classical form of the alphabet is ʾEsṭrangēlā ( ܐܣܛܪܢܓܠܐ). Yəšūʿ or ʾĪšōʿ, the Syriac name of Jesus in the ʾEsṭrangēlā script. A 17th century Maḏnḥāyā liturgical manuscript from the Vatican Library. There are three major variants of the Syriac alphabet: ʾEsṭrangēlā, Maḏnḥāyā and Serṭā.Ĭlassical ʾEsṭrangēlā A 9th century ʾEsṭrangēlā manuscript of John Chrysostom's Homily on the Gospel of John. In addition to Semitic languages, Sogdian was also written with Syriac script, as well as Malayalam, which form was called Suriyani Malayalam.Īlphabet forms The opening words of the Gospel of John written in Serṭā, Maḏnḥāyā and ʾEsṭrangēlā (top to bottom) - brēšiṯ iṯaw-wā melṯā, 'in the beginning was the word'. Besides Aramaic, when Arabic began to be the dominant spoken language in the Fertile Crescent after the Islamic conquest, texts were often written in Arabic using the Syriac script as knowledge of the Arabic alphabet was not yet widespread such writings are usually called Karshuni or Garshuni ( ܓܪܫܘܢܝ). The Serṭā variant specifically has recently been adapted to write Western Neo-Aramaic, traditionally written in a square Aramaic script, from which the Hebrew alphabet was derived. Several Christian Neo-Aramaic languages from Turoyo to the Northeastern Neo-Aramaic dialect of Suret, once vernaculars, primarily began to be written in the 19th century. In addition to the sounds of the language, the letters of the Syriac alphabet can be used to represent numbers in a system similar to Hebrew and Greek numerals.Īpart from Classical Syriac Aramaic, the alphabet has been used to write other dialects and languages. Spaces separate individual words.Īll 22 letters are consonants, although there are optional diacritic marks to indicate vowels and other features. There is no letter case distinction between upper and lower case letters, though some letters change their form depending on their position within a word. It is a cursive script where most-but not all-letters connect within a word. Syriac is written from right to left in horizontal lines. It is one of the Semitic abjads descending from the Aramaic alphabet through the Palmyrene alphabet, and shares similarities with the Phoenician, Hebrew, Arabic and Sogdian, the precursor and a direct ancestor of the traditional Mongolian scripts. The Syriac alphabet ( ܐܠܦ ܒܝܬ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ ʾālep̄ bêṯ Sūryāyā ) is a writing system primarily used to write the Syriac language since the 1st century AD. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined Syriac letters or other symbols instead of Syriac script. This article contains Syriac text, written from right to left in a cursive style with some letters joined. ![]()
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