8/2/2019 Aramaic Scripts for Aramaic Languages by Peter t Daniels

1/8

SECTION 47Aramaic Scripts

for Aramaic LanguagesPeter T. Daniels

Classical SyriacThe origin of Syriac script is not fully clear, though its development across the cen-turies of its flowering can be followed fairly easily thanks to dated colophons (Hatch1946). The fullest discussion of Syriac paleography is Pirenne 1963.

Three kinds of consonantsThere are three main varieties of Syriac writing. Oldest is the Estrangelo; during theGolden Age there came about a schism in the Syrian church, on Christological

Acknowledgment: I am extremely grateful to Bob Hoberman for his careful reading of and manifoldimprovements to the treatment of Classical Syriac.

499

8/2/2019 Aramaic Scripts for Aramaic Languages by Peter t Daniels

2/8

PART VIII: MIDDLE EASTERN WRITING

TABLE 47.1: Syriac Consonants

SYSTEMS

8/2/2019 Aramaic Scripts for Aramaic Languages by Peter t Daniels

3/8

8/2/2019 Aramaic Scripts for Aramaic Languages by Peter t Daniels

4/8

gle verb, some sort of differentiation was required. This at first took the form of a sin-gle dot placed over a letter to indicate a "fuller, stronger" syllable (usually with thevowel a), and under it to mark a "finer, weaker" vocalization, or none at all: r

8/2/2019 Aramaic Scripts for Aramaic Languages by Peter t Daniels

5/8

SECTION 47: ARAMAIC SCRIPTS FOR ARAMAIC LANGUAGES ^

bhyd wh ^yyrwsd tymdqw .nwhnm rqyt^i mm"4

rwsd

bhyw

mryhl

/. Transliteration: w^ns'yn2. Normalization: w-nasin3. Gloss: and-men

^mrynamrinsay

d^kzn^d-akznathat-e.g.

qdmytqadm-ayatfirst-ly

rkb 'twl'rakkeb atwatadevised letters.the

/. ^br'yt' wbhyn sm nmws\2. ^ebrayata wa-b-hen sam namos-aJ. Hebrew and-in-them he.set law-the1. 'tw"t' dspr"' 'hr"n' wyhb2. atwata d-sepre hrane w-yab3. letters.the of-languages others and-gave/. mnhwn. wqdmyt dswryy^ hw2. men-hon w-qadm-ayat d-suryaya haw

hkn^hakannaHkewise

1-^ammeto-Gentilesdyhbd-yab

wslymwn rkbwa-slemon rakkeband-Solomon devised

d 'tyqrd etyaqqarto-be.honoredIhyrml-hiram

dswrd-Sor

5. by-them and-first-ly of-Syriac demonst that-he.gave to-Hiram of-Tyre'Men say that as (Moses) first devised the Hebrew letters and wrote the law withthem, so Solomon devised the letters of other languages and imparted them tothe Gentiles in order to be held in honor by them. (He devised) first (the lettersof) Syriac, which he gave to Hiram of Tyre.'

-From Ishodad ofMerv's commentary on Genesis (gth century),quoted in Coxon igjo: 16.

Sertoi\vi(tv> tjio v^OLUO . ^'^r-? \Lo^Ll^o

.ntwld nylh ^r pes

8/2/2019 Aramaic Scripts for Aramaic Languages by Peter t Daniels

6/8

X PART VIII: MIDDLE EASTERN WRITING SYSTEMS

Transliteration: sepr"^ hlyn dlwtn. db'trwt^ dhdr'yn.Normalization: sepre halen da-lwat-an d-b-atrawwata da-hdar-aynGloss: scripts those that-at-us that-in-places that-around-us

mnhwn. mn msmlyn wgmyryn rnnhwn dyn hsyrynmen-hon man msamlen wa-gmirin inen-hon den hassirinfrom-them some complete and-perfected irom them however incomplete

mtltmn^ blsn^metlatmana b-lessanapronounced with-tongue

wbsyryn. wspr"^ ms'mly' Ikl twps*wa-bsirm w-sepre msamlayya 1-kol tupsaand-imperfectand-scripts complete to-each type

1. ^twt^ dmtrsm^ bktb^ Ihwn mstkh2. atuta d-metrasma ba-ktaba l-hon mestakhiiS. letters that-inscribed in-writing to-them existing

^km^ dlywny^akma da-1-yawnayasuch.as that-of-Greek

/. wrwmy^2. w-romayaJ. and-Latin1. Ikl twps'2. 1-kol tupsa3. to-each type

w^gwpty^ w^rmny^.w-eguptaya w-armanayaand-Egyptian and Armenian

wspr 'W'-sepre

hsyr"^hassire

Pla

hw>wa

and-scripts incomplete not (was)mtltmn^metlatmanapronounced

blsn^b-lessanawith-tongue

byty * swrt^baytaya surtaproper form

dmtktb'd-metkatbathat-written

1. Ihwn2. l-hon3. to-them

mstkh ^mestakhaexisting

^km^akmasuch.as

dPbry>da-l-*^ebrayathat-of-Hebrew

wswryy^ w^rby^wa-suraya w-arbayaand-Syriac and-Arabic

As for the scripts (used) by us or our neighbors, some are complete and perfect,but others are incomplete and imperfect. For complete scripts, each distinctsound has its own written letter, as in Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Armenian; butincomplete scripts do not have, for each distinct sound, their own written form,as in Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic'

Bar Hebraeus (i22^/6-1286), ''Book ofKays,' tractate 4, chap, i, sec. i(Mobersy ig22: 191-92, igoj: 3-4).

8/2/2019 Aramaic Scripts for Aramaic Languages by Peter t Daniels

7/8

BibliographyAramaicAbbott, Nabia. 1939. The Rise ofthe North Arabic Script audits Kur 'anic Development with a Full

Description ofthe Kur 'an Manuscripts in the Oriental Institute (Onental Institute Publications50). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Gruendler, Beatrice. 1993. The Development of the Arabic Scripts: From the Nabatean Era to theFirst Islamic CenturyAccording to Dated Texts (Harvard Semitic Studies 43). Atlanta: ScholarsPress.

Klugkist, A. C. 1982. "The Importance of the Palmyrene Script for Our Knowledge of the Develop-ment of the Late Aramaic Scripts." InArameans, Aramaic and the Aramaic Literary Tradition,ed. Michael Sokoloff, pp. 57-74. Bar Ilan, Israel: Bar-Ilan University Press.

Rosenthal, Franz. 1939. Die aramaistischen Forschungen seit Theodor Noldeke's Verojfentlichun-gen. Leiden: Brill.

Rosenthal, Franz, ed. 1967. An Aramaic Handbook (Porta Linguarum Orientalium 10). 2 vols, in 4parts. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Classical SyriacBrockelmann, Carl. i960. Syrische Grammatik, rev. ed. Leipzig: VEB Verlag Enzyklopadie, repr.

I976(isted., 1899).Hatch, William Henry Paine. 1946. An Album of Dated Syriac Manuscripts. Boston: AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences.Moberg, Axel. 1907-13. Buch der Strahlen: Die grossere Grammatik des Barhebraus. Ubersetzungnach einem kritisch berichtigten Texte mit textkritischem Apparat und einemAnhang: Zur Ter-

minologie. Vol. i, Einleitung, Traktat I-III, 1913; vol. 2, Einleitung und zweiter Teil, 1907.Leipzig: Hjirrassowitz.

. 1922. Le livre des splendeurs: La grande grammaire de Gregoire Barhebraeus. Texte syri-aque edite d'apres les manuscrits avec une introduction etdes notes (ActSi Reg. Societatis Hu-maniorum Litteramm Lundensis 4). Lund: Gleerup.

Moller, Garth I. 1988. "Towards a New Typology of the Syriac Manuscript Alphabetr Journal ofNorthwest Semitic Languages 14: 1^3-9^].Morag, Shelomo. 1961. The Vocalization Systems ofArabic, Hebrew, andAramaic: Their Phoneticand Phonemic Principles (Janua Linguarum Series Minor 13). The Hague: Mouton.Muller-Kessler, Christa. 1991. Grammatik des Christlich-Paldstinisch-Aramdischen,paTt i: Schrift-

8/2/2019 Aramaic Scripts for Aramaic Languages by Peter t Daniels

8/8

PART VIII: MIDDLE EASTERN WRITING SYSTEMS

lehre, Lautlehre, Formenlehre (Texte und Studien zur Orientalistik 6). Hildesheim: Olms.Noldeke, Theodor. 1904. Compendious Syriac Grammar, 2nd ed., trans. James A. Crichton. London:

Williams & Norgate. (German orig., 1898; ist ed., 1880.)Pirenne, Jacqueline. 1963. "Aux origines de la graphie syriaque.' Syria 40: ioi-37-Segal, Judah B. 1953. The Diacritical Point and the Accents in Syriac (London Oriental Series 2).

London: Oxford University Press.. 1989. ''Qussaya and Rukkaka: A Historical Introduction." Journal of Semitic Studies 34:

483-91.

THE WORLD'SWRITING SYSTEMS '^'^'l^^^^''William Bright