| Western Neo-Aramaic | |
|---|---|
| ܣܪܝܘܢ (ܐܰܪܳܡܰܝ) siryōn (arōmay) | |
| Pronunciation | [sirˈjo:n] |
| Native to | Syria |
| Region | Maaloula, Bakhʽa andJubb'adin villages,Qalamoun Mountains,Damascus |
| Ethnicity | Aramean (Syriac)[1][2] |
Native speakers | 30,000 (2023)[3] |
Early forms | |
| Dialects |
|
| Maalouli square script[a] Syriac alphabet (Serṭā) Phoenician alphabet[b] Arabic alphabet | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | amw |
| Glottolog | west2763 |
| ELP | Western Neo-Aramaic |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Western Neo-Aramaic (ܐܰܪܳܡܰܝ,arōmay, "Aramaic"), also referred to asSiryon[4] (ܣܪܝܘܢ, siryōn, "Syriac"),[5][6][7] is a modern variety of theWestern Aramaic branch consisting of three closely related dialects.[8] Today, it is spoken by Christian and MuslimArameans (Syriacs)[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] in only two villages—Maaloula andJubb'adin (and until recently,Bakhʽa)—in theAnti-Lebanon mountains of westernSyria.[16] Bakhʽa was vastly destroyed during theSyrian civil war and most of the community fled to other parts of Syria or Lebanon.[17] Western Neo-Aramaic is believed to be the closest living language to thelanguage of Jesus, whose first language, according to scholarly consensus, wasGalilean Aramaic belonging to the Western branch as well; all other remainingNeo-Aramaic languages areEastern Aramaic.[18]
Western Neo-Aramaic is the sole surviving remnant of the once extensive Western Aramaic-speaking area, which also included thePalestine region and Lebanon in the7th century.[19] It is now spoken exclusively by the inhabitants of Maaloula and Jubb'adin, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) northeast ofDamascus. The continuation of this little cluster of Aramaic in a sea ofArabic is partly due to the relative isolation of the villages and their close-knit Christian and Muslim communities.
Following theMuslim conquest of the Levant, there was a linguistic shift to Arabic for local Muslims and later for remaining Christians; Arabic displaced various Aramaic dialects, including Western Aramaic varieties, as thefirst language of the majority. Despite this, Western Aramaic appears to have survived for a relatively long time at least in some remote mountain villages in Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. In fact, up until the 17th century, travelers in Lebanon still reported on several Aramaic-speaking villages.[20] The villages ofDeir Atiyah andSadad were reported to have spoken Aramaic in the 1830s, andAin al-Tinah likewise in the 1860s.[21] The Austrian orientalistAlfred von Kremer claimed it was spoken inQaryatayn ("Kurietein") in 1850[22], but the veracity of this account is questionable.[23]
The dialect of Bakhʽa was the most conservative. Arabic less influenced it than the other dialects and retains some vocabulary that is obsolete in other dialects. The dialect of Jubb'adin changed the most. Arabic heavily influenced it and has a more developed phonology. The dialect of Maaloula is somewhere in between the two, but closer to that of Jubb'adin.[citation needed]
The cross-linguistic influence between Aramaic and Arabic has been mutual, as Syrian Arabic itself (andLevantine Arabic in general) retains an Aramaicsubstratum.[24] Similar to the Eastern Neo-Aramaic languages, Western Neo-Aramaic usesKurdish loanwords unlike other Western Aramaic dialects, e. g. in their negation structure: "Čū ndōmex", meaning "I do not sleep" in the Maalouli dialect.[25][26] These influences might indicate an older historical connection between Western Neo-Aramaic and Eastern Aramaic speakers.[27] Other strong linguistic influences on Western Neo-Aramaic includeAkkadian during theNeo-Babylonian period, e. g. the names of the months:āšbaṭ (Akk.šabāṭu, "February"),ōḏar (Akk.ad(d)aru, "March"),iyyar (Akk.ayyaru, "May") or agricultural terms such asnīra (Akk.nīru, "yoke"),sekkṯa (Akk.sikkatu, "plowshare"),senta (Akk.sendu, "to grind") ornbūba (Akk.enbūbu, "fruit").[28][29]
As in most of the Levant before the introduction ofIslam in the seventh century, the three villages were originally all Christian until the 18th century.[30][31] Maaloula is the only village that retains a sizeableMelkite Christian population belonging to theGreek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch andMelkite Greek Catholic Church; the inhabitants of Bakhʽa and Jubb’adin converted to Islam over the generations. However, the first Muslims were not native converts, butArab families fromHoms who were settled in the villages during theOttoman era to monitor the Christian population.[32] Maaloula glows in the pale blue wash with which houses are painted every year in honor ofMary, mother of Jesus.[citation needed]
Historical accounts, as documented by theFrench linguistJean Parisot in 1898, suggest that the people of Maaloula and nearby areas claim to be descendants of migrants from theSinjar region (modernIraq). According to their oral traditions, their ancestors embarked on a substantial migration in ancient times, driven by the challenges posed by theMuslim occupation of the northern part of Mesopotamia. Seeking refuge, they crossed theEuphrates and traversed thePalmyrene desert, eventually finding a lasting sanctuary among Western Aramaic-speaking communities in thehighlands of eastern Syria.[c][33] In Maaloula and the surrounding villages, thesurname ”Sinjar“ (Aramaic:ܣܢܓܐܪ) is borne by some Christian and Muslim families.[34]
All three remaining Western Neo-Aramaic dialects are facing critical endangerment as living languages. As with any village community in the 21st century, young residents are migrating into major cities likeDamascus andAleppo in search of better employment opportunities, thus forcing them into monolingual Arabic-speaking settings, in turn straining the opportunity to actively maintain Western Neo-Aramaic as a language of daily use. Nevertheless, the Syrian government provides support for teaching the language.[35]
Unlike Syriac, which has a rich literary tradition, Western Neo-Aramaic was solely passed down orally for generations until 2006 and was unwritten.[36] Since 2006, Maaloula has been home to an Aramaic language institute established by theDamascus University that teaches courses to keep the language alive. The institute's activities were suspended in 2010 amid concerns that the square Maalouli Aramaic alphabet used in the program, which was developed by the chairman of the language institute, George Rizkalla (Rezkallah), resembled the square script of theHebrew alphabet. Consequently, all signs featuring the square Maalouli script were taken down.[37] The program stated that they would instead use the more distinct Syriac alphabet, although use of Maalouli square script has continued to some degree.[38]Al Jazeera Arabic also broadcast a program about Western Neo-Aramaic and the villages in which it is spoken with the square script still in use.[39]
In December 2016, during an Aramaic Singing Festival in Maaloula, a modified version of an older style of the Aramaic alphabet closer to thePhoenician alphabet was used for Western Neo-Aramaic. This script seems to be used as a true alphabet with letters to represent both consonants and vowels instead of the traditional system of the Aramaic alphabet where it is used as anabjad. A recently published book about the Maalouli Aramaic dialect also uses this script.[40][41]
Aramaic Bible Translation (ABT) has spent over a decade translating theBible into Maalouli Western Neo-Aramaic and recording audio forPortrait of Jesus. Rinyo, the Syriac language organization, has published ABT's content, developed by Kanusoft.com. On their website, theBook of Psalms andPortrait of Jesus are available in Western Neo-Aramaic using the SyriacSerta script. Additionally, aNew Testament translation into Western Neo-Aramaic was completed in 2017 and is now accessible online.[42][43][44]
An electronicspeech corpus of Maalouli Western Neo-Aramaic has been available online since 2022.[45][46]
Thephonology of Western Neo-Aramaic has developed quite differently from other Aramaic dialects/languages. Thelabial consonants of older Western Aramaic,/p/ and/f/, have been retained in Bakhʽa and Maaloula while they have mostly collapsed to/f/ in Jubb'adin under influence from Arabic. The labial consonant pair/b~v/ has collapsed to/b/ in all three villages. Amongstdental consonants, the fricatives/θð/ are retained while/d/ have become/ð/ in most places and/t/, while remaining a phoneme, has had its traditional position in Aramaic words replaced by/ts/ in Bakhʽa, and/tʃ/ in Maaloula and Jubb'adin. However,[ti] is the usual form for the relative particle in these two villages, with a variant[tʃi], where Bakhʽa always uses[tsi]. Among thevelar consonants, the traditional voiced pair of/ɡɣ/ has collapsed into/ɣ/, while /ɡ/ still remains a phoneme in some words. The unvoiced velar fricative,/x/, is retained, but its plosive complement/k/, while also remaining a distinct phoneme, has in its traditional positions in Aramaic words started to undergo palatalization. In Bakhʽa, the palatalization is hardly apparent; in Maaloula, it is more obvious, and often leads to[kʲ]; in Jubb'adin, it has become/tʃ/, and has thus merged phonemically with the original positions of/t/. The original uvular plosive,/q/, has also moved forward in Western Neo-Aramaic. In Bakhʽa it has become a strongly post-velar plosive, and in Maaloula more lightly post-velar. In Jubb'adin, however, it has replaced the velar plosive, and become/k/. Its phonology is strikingly similar to Arabic both being sister Semitic languages.
| Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Palato- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyn- geal | Glottal | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | emphatic | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | tˤ | (kʲ) | k | ɡ | q | ʔ | ||||||||||||
| Affricate | (ts) | (tʃ | dʒ) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Fricative | f | θ | ð | s | z | ðˤ | sˤ | zˤ | ʃ | (ʒ) | x | ɣ | ħ | ʕ | h | |||||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||||||||||||||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||||||||||||||||
Western Neo-Aramaic has the following set of vowels:[47]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Open-mid | e | o |
| Open | a | |
Square Maalouli alphabet used for Western Neo-Aramaic.[48] Long vowels are transcribed with macrons (Āā, Ēē, Īī, Ōō, Ūū) and are written withmater lectionis +
for /o/ and /u/,
for /i/, which are also used at the end of a word if it ends with one of these vowels.
| Maalouli letter |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |  |  |  | |   |   |  |   |   |  |  |   |   |   |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Hebrew letter | א | בּ | ב | גּ | ג | דּ | ד | ה | ו | ז | ח | ט | י | כּ ךּ | כ ך | ל | מ ם | נ ן | ס | ע | פּ ףּ | פ ף | צ ץ | ק | ר | שׁ | תּ | ת | ת |
| Latin letter/Transliteration | Aa, Ee, Ii, Oo, Uu Āā, Ēē, Īī, Ōō, Ūū | Bb | Vv | Gg | Ġġ | Dd | Ḏḏ | Hh | Ww | Zz | Ḥḥ | Ṭṭ | Yy | Kk | H̱ẖ | Ll | Mm | Nn | Ss | Ҁҁ | Pp | Ff | Ṣṣ | Rr | Šš | Tt | Ṯṯ | Čč | |
| Pronunciation | ∅ | /b/ | /v/ | /g/,/ʒ/ | /ɣ/ | /d/ | /ð/ | /h/ | /w/ | /z/ | /ħ/ | /tˤ/ | /j/ | /k/ | /x/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /s/ | /ʕ/ | /p/ | /f/ | /sˤ/ | /k/~/ḳ/ | /r/ | /ʃ/ | /t/ | /θ/ | /tʃ/ |
Syriac (Serta) and Arabic alphabet used for Western Neo-Aramaic.[49]
| Syriac letter | ܐ | ܒ | ܒ݆ | ܓ | ܔ | ܓ݂ | ܕ | ܕ݂ | ܗ | ܘ | ܙ | ܚ | ܚ݂ | ܛ | ܜ | ܝ | ܟ | ܟ݂ | ܠ | ܡ | ܢ | ܣ | ܥ | ܦ | ܨ | ܨ̇ | ܩ | ܪ | ܫ | ܬ | ܬ݂ | ܬ̤ |
| Arabic letter | ا | ب | پ | گ | ج | غ | د | ذ | ه | و | ز | ح | خ | ط | ظ | ي | ک | خ | ل | م | ن | س | ع | ف | ص | ض | ق | ر | ش | ت | ث | چ |
| Pronunciation | /ʔ/, ∅ | /b/ | /p/ | /g/ | /dʒ/ | /ɣ/ | /d/ | /ð/ | /h/ | /w/ | /z/ | /ħ/ | /x/ | /tˤ/ | /dˤ/ | /j/ | /k/ | /x/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /s/ | /ʕ/ | /f/ | /sˤ/ | /ðˤ/ | /q/~/ḳ/ | /r/ | /ʃ/ | /t/ | /θ/ | /tʃ/ |
| Syriac letter | ܰ | ܶ | ܳ | ܺ | ܽ |
| Arabic letter | ـَ | ـِ | ـُ | ي | و |
| Pronunciation | /a/ | /e/ | /o/ | /i/ | /u/ |
Characters of the script system similar to the Old Aramaic or Phoenician alphabet used occasionally for Western Neo-Aramaic with matching transliteration. The script is used as a true alphabet with distinct letters for all phonemes including vowels instead of the traditional abjad system with plosive-fricative pairs.[50][41]
| Letter |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Transliteration | b | ġ | ḏ | h | w | z | ḥ | ṭ | y | k | x | l | m | n | s | ʕ | p | f | ṣ | ḳ | r | š | t | ṯ | č | ž | ᶄ | ḏ̣ | ẓ | ' |
| Pronunciation | /b/ | /ɣ/ | /ð/ | /h/ | /w/ | /z/ | /ħ/ | /tˤ/ | /j/ | /k/ | /x/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /s/ | /ʕ/ | /p/ | /f/ | /sˤ/ | /k/~/ḳ/ | /r/ | /ʃ/ | /t/ | /θ/ | /tʃ/ | /ʒ/ | /kʲ/ | /ðˤ/ | /dˤ/ | /ʔ/ |
| Letter |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Transliteration | a | ā | e | ē | i | ī | o | ō | u | ū | ᵊ |
| Pronunciation | /a/ | /a:/ | /e/ | /e:/ | /i/ | /i:/ | /o/ | /o:/ | /u/ | /u:/ | /ə/ |
The Lord's Prayer in Western Neo-Aramaic, Turoyo Neo-Aramaic, Classical Syriac (Eastern accent) and Hebrew.
There are various versions of the Lord's Prayer in Western Neo-Aramaic, incorporating altered loanwords from several languages, notably Arabic:Šēḏa (fromAkk.šēdu, meaning "evil" or "devil"),[51]yiṯkan (fromAr.li-yakūn, meaning "that it may be" or "to be"),ġfurlēḥ &nġofrin (from Ar.yaghfir, meaning "to forgive"),maḥiṭ (from Ar.khaṭiʾa, meaning "to sin") andčaġribyōṯa (from Ar.jarīb ortajrība, meaning "temptation").[52]
Several decades ago, the Christian inhabitants of Maaloula began translating Christian prayers and texts into their vernacular Aramaic dialect, given that their actual liturgical languages are Arabic andKoine Greek.
Pastor Edward Robinson reported that his companion, Eli Smith, found several manuscripts in theSyriac language in Maaloula in 1834, but no one could read or understand them.[53] Classical Syriac, the Aramaic dialect ofEdessa, was utilized as the liturgical language by local Syriac Melkite Christians following theByzantine rite. There was a compilation of Syriac manuscripts from the monasteries and churches of Maaloula. However, a notable portion of these manuscripts met destruction upon the directives of a bishop in the 19th century.[54][55][56][57]
| Western Neo-Aramaic | Turoyo Neo-Aramaic | Classical Syriac (Eastern accent) | Hebrew |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ōboḥ/Ōbay/Abūnaḥ ti bišmō/bišmōya yičqattaš ešmaẖ | Abuna d-këtyo bišmayo miqadeš ešmoḵ | Aḇūn d-ḇa-šmayyāʾ neṯqaddaš šmāḵ | Avinu šebašamayim yitkadeš šimḵa |
| yṯēle molkaẖ/malkuṯaẖ yiṯkan ti čbaҁēleh | g-dëṯyo i malkuṯayḏoḵ howe u ṣebyonayḏoḵ | tēṯēʾ malkūṯāḵ nēhwēʾ ṣeḇyānāḵ | tavo malḵutḵa, ya'aseh retsonẖa |
| iẖmel bišmō/bišmōya ẖet ҁalarҁa. | ḵud d'kit bi šmayo hawḵa bi arҁo ste | ʾaykannāʾ d-ḇa-šmayyāʾ ʾāp̄ b-ʾarʿāʾ. | kevašamayim ken ba'arets. |
| Aplēḥ leḥmaḥ uẖẖil yōmaḥ | Haw lan u laḥmo d-sniquṯayḏan adyawma | Haḇ lan laḥmāʾ d-sūnqānan yawmānā | Et leẖem ẖukenu ten lanu hayom |
| ġfurlēḥ ḥṭiyōṯaḥ eẖmil | wa šbaq lan a-ḥṭohayḏan ḵud d-aḥna ste | wa-šḇōq lan ḥawbayn wa-ḥṭāhayn | uselaẖ lanu al ẖata'enu |
| nġofrin lti maḥiṭ ҁemmaynaḥ | sbaq lan lanek laf elan | ʾaykanāʾ d-āp̄ ḥnan šḇaqn l-ḥayāḇayn | kefi šesolẖim gam anaẖnu laẖot'im lanu |
| wlōfaš ttaẖlennaḥ bčaġribyōṯa | w lo maҁbret lan l'nesyuno | w-lāʾ taʿlan l-nesyōnāʾ | ve'al tavienu lide nisayon |
| bes ḥaslannaḥ m-šēḏa | elo mfaṣay lan mu bišo | ʾelāʾ paṣān men bīšāʾ | ki im ẖaltsenu min hara |
| English[58][59] | Western Neo-Aramaic |
|---|---|
| Hello/Peace | šlōma |
| Altar server | šammōša |
| Morning | ʕṣofra/emḥar |
| Mountain | ṭūra |
| Water | mōya |
| God | alō (defined)/ilōha (undefined) |
| Sun | šimša |
| Mouth | femma |
| Head | rayša |
| Village | qriṯa |
| I swear (by the Cross) | b'sliba |
| Nice | ḥalya |
| Here/Here it is | ḥōxa/ḥōxa hū |
| Liar | daklōna |
| After | bōṯar min |
| Son | ebra |
| Daughter | berča |
| Brother/Brothers | ḥōna/ḥunō, ḥunū(ya) |
| Sister | ḥōṯa |
| Donkey | ḥmōra |
| Tongue/Language | liššōna |
| Money | kiršō (fromAkk. "kīršu") |
| Nation | ōmṯa |
| Year | ešna |
| Moon | ṣahra |
| King | malka |
| Earth | arʕa |
| Dove | yawna |
| Long live! | tiḥi! |
| Grave | qabra |
| Food | xōla |
| (Paternal) Uncle | ḏōḏa |
| (Maternal) Uncle | ḥōla |
| (Paternal) Aunt | ʕamṯa |
| (Maternal) Aunt | ḥōlča |
| Father | ōbu |
| Mother | emma |
| My mother | emmay (lit. "my mothers", archaic phrase) |
| Grandfather | žetta |
| Grandmother | žičča |
| Way | tarba |
| Sea | yamma |
| Congratulations! | ibrex! |
| Aramean (Syriac) | sūray |
| Sky | šmōya/šmō |
| Who? | mōn? |
| Love | rḥmōṯa |
| Kiss | nōšqṯa |
| How are you? | ex čōb? (m)/ex čiba? (f) |
| Fast | ṣawma |
| Human | barnōša |
| Holy Spirit | ruḥa qutšō |
| Poison | samma |
| Sword | seyfa |
| Bone | ġerma |
| Blood | eḏma |
| Half | felka |
| Skin | ġelta |
| Hunger | xafna |
| Stone/Rock | xefa |
| Vineyard | xarma |
| Back | ḥaṣṣa |
| Goat | ʕezza |
| Lip | sefta |
| Chin/Beard | ḏeqna |
| Tooth/Crag | šenna |
| Past | zibnō |
| Queen | malkṯa |
| The little man | ġabrōna zʕōra |
| Peace to all of you | šlōma lxulḥun |
| Who is this? | mōn hanna? (m)/mōn hōḏ? (f) |
| I am Aramean (Syriac) and my language is Aramaic (Syriac) | ana sūray w liššōni siryōn |
| We are Arameans (Syriacs) and our language is Aramaic (Syriac) | anaḥ suroy w liššonaḥ siryōn |
| Church | klēsya (Greek loanword) |
| Shirt | qameṣča (fromlat. "camisia") |
| What's your name? (m) | mō ušmax? (m)/mō ušmiš (f) |
| Dream | ḥelma |
| Old man | sōba |
السريان في معلولا وجبعدين ولا يزال الأهلون فيها يتكلمون
... معلولا السريان منذ القديم ، والذين ثبتت سريانيتهم بأدلة كثيرة هم وعين التينة وبخعا وجبعدين فحافظوا على لغتهم وكتبهم أكثر من غيرهم . وكان للقوم في تلك الأيام لهجتان ، لهجة عاميّة وهي الباقية الآن في معلولا وجوارها ( جبعدين وبخعا ) ...
There are no significant differences in the dialect of Malula between the speech of Christians and Muslims. The native name is siryōn or arōmay.
I then requested them to translate for me the Lord's Prayer into Ma'lulan Syriac for me; but a universal outcry was raised from every side as to the exorbitant nature of my demand. Some of the priests affirmed, ex cathedra, that not only had the Lord's Prayer never been uttered in modern Syriac, but that to translate it would be a mere impossibility.
Western Neo-Aramaic. This group consists of the dialects of the three villages Ma'lula, Bax'a, and Jubb'adin in western Syria. It is the only remnant of the dialects of Western Aramaic in the earlier periods.
Ich kenne das Dorf nicht, doch gehört habe ich davon. Was ist mit Malula?‹ fragte der festgehaltene Derwisch. >Das letzte Dorf der Aramäer< lachte einer der…
The fact that nearly all Arabic loans in Ma'lula originate from the period before the change from the rural dialect to the city dialect of Damascus shows that the contact between the Aramaeans and the Arabs was intimate…
Aramäer von Ǧubbˁadīn
Die arabischen Dialekte der Aramäer
Die Kontakte zwischen den drei Aramäer-dörfern sind nicht besonders stark.
Aramäern in Ma'lūla
Viele Aramäer arbeiten heute in Damaskus, Beirut oder in den Golfstaaten und verbringen nur die Sommermonate im Dorf.
…. 7th century C.E. initiated the demise of the Aramaic language….
Nach der Versicherung älterer glaubwürdiger Personen wäre es noch in den sechziger Jahren in dem nahenAin il tine (syrisch: 'ain tenča), in den dreissigern noch inDer Atije und Sadad, nach A. von Kremer selbst noch 1850 inKarjetén gesprochen worden.
Die Angabe klingt etwas unwahrscheinlich. Thatsächlich unrichtig ist die andere, dass nur in Karjetên die starke Imāla ae für á üblich sei, die in Wahrheit fast in ganz Syrien und einem grossen Theil von Palaestina zu hören ist. S. oben S. 129.
… especially since in the eighth century BCE an Akkadian influence had already exerted itself even on Aramaic in the west.…
…Western Neo-Aramaic (Spitaler 1938; Arnold 1990), which is attested in three villages whose speakers just a few generations ago were still entirely Christian.
The inhabitants of Bakh'a and Jubb'Adin are Muslims (since the eighteenth century), as is a large portion of the people of Ma'lula, while the rest have remained Christian, mostly of Melkite (Greek Catholic) persuasion. The retention of the "Christian" language after conversion to Islam is noteworthy.
As the villages are very small, located close to each other, and the three dialects are mutually intelligible, there has never been the creation of a script or a standard language. Aramaic is the unwritten village dialect...
Several years ago, the political leadership in Syria decided to establish an institute where Aramaic could be learned. Rizkalla was tasked with writing a textbook, primarily drawing upon his native language proficiency. For the script, he chose Hebrew letters.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)…Eli Smith raconte son court séjour de 1834 : "In our journey in 1834, instead of taking the direct road to Hums, we turned to the left, and ascended among the higher parts of the mountain. (...) We found Saidnaya with its nunnery, resembling a formidable fortress, situated high up on the third. From hence, we proceeded on the eastern side of this ridge to Maaloula, which is situated in a sublime glen at its foot. Beyond Maaloula, we crossed to the western side by a remarkable gap, and found Yebrud at its northern extremity. At Nebk we joined the ordinary road from Damascus to Hums. District of Maaloula. The three villages in this district, are remarkable for speaking still a corrupted Syriac. It is spoken equally by Muslims and Christians. I found among them many Syriac manuscripts ; but they were unable to read or understand them. So far as I have been able to learn, after extensive and careful inquiry, Syriac is now spoken in no other places in Syria. The Syrians, i.e. Jacobites, and papal Syrians, mentioned in the lists as inhabiting other places, speak only Arabic."
Since the Aramaic of Edessa was formerly the liturgical language of these Christians of Byzantine rite, a certain number of Syriac manuscripts from the monasteries and churches of Maʿ lūlā have come down to us, but most were burnt on the orders of a bishop in the 19th century.
In contrast to "Nestorians" and "Jacobites", a small group of Syriacs accepted the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon. Non-Chalcedonian Syriacs called them "Melkites" (from Aramaic malka "king"), thereby connecting them to the Byzantine Emperor's denomination. Melkite Syriacs were mostly concentrated around Antioch and adjacent regions of northern Syria and used Syriac as their literary and liturgical language. The Melkite community also included the Aramaic-speaking Jewish converts to Christianity in Palestine and the Orthodox Christians of Transjordan. During the 5th-6th centuries, they were engaged in literary work (mainly translation) in Palestinian Christian Aramaic, a Western Aramaic dialect, using a script closely resembling the Estrangela cursive of Osrhoene.
The main center of Aramaic-speaking Melkites was Palestine. During the 5th-6th centuries, they were engaged in literary, mainly translation work in the local Western Aramaic dialect, known as "Palestinian Christian Aramaic", using a script closely resembling the cursive Estrangela of Osrhoene. Palestinian Melkites were mostlyJewish converts to Christianity, who had a long tradition of using Palestinian Aramaic dialects as literary languages. Closely associated with the Palestinian Melkites were the Melkites of Transjordan, who also used Palestinian Christian Aramaic. Another community of Aramaic-speaking Melkites existed in the vicinity of Antioch and parts of Syria. These Melkites used Classical Syriac as a written language, the common literary language of the overwhelming majority of Christian Arameans.