Western Neo-Aramaic
ܣܪܝܘܢ (ܐܰܪܳܡܰܝ)
Siryōn (Arōmay)
Pronunciation[sirˈjo:n]
Native toSyria
RegionBab Touma District, Damascus; Anti-Lebanon Mountains: Maaloula, Bakhʽa and Jubb'adin
EthnicityAramean (Syriac)[1][2]
Native speakers
~3,000[3] (2021)
Early forms
Dialects
  • Maalouli, Bakh'a, Jubb'adin
Maalouli square script[lower-alpha 1]
Syriac alphabet (Serṭā)
Phoenician alphabet[lower-alpha 2]
Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3amw
Glottologwest2763
ELPWestern Neo-Aramaic

Western Neo-Aramaic (liššōna arōmay), more commonly referred to as Siryon (Siryōn "Syriac"[4][5]), is a modern Western Aramaic language. Today, it is spoken by Christian and Muslim Arameans (Syriacs)[6][7][8] in only two villages – Maaloula and Jubb'adin, until the Syrian Civil War also in Bakhʽa – in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains of western Syria.[9] Bakhʽa was completely destroyed during the war and all the survivors fled to other parts of Syria or to Lebanon.[10] Western Neo-Aramaic is believed to be the closest living language to the language of Jesus, whose first language, according to scholarly consensus, was Galilean Aramaic belonging to the Western branch as well; all other remaining Neo-Aramaic languages are of the Eastern branch.[11]

Distribution and history

Western Neo-Aramaic is the sole surviving remnant of a Western Middle Aramaic dialect, which was spoken throughout the Orontes River Valley area and into the Anti-Lebanon Mountains in the 7th century CE.[12] It is now spoken exclusively by the inhabitants of Maaloula and Jubb'adin, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) northeast of Damascus. The continuation of this little cluster of Aramaic in a sea of Arabic is partly due to the relative isolation of the villages and their close-knit Christian and Muslim communities.

Following the Muslim conquest of the Levant, there was a linguistic shift to Arabic for local Muslims and later for remaining Christians; Arabic displaced various Aramaic dialects/languages, including Western Aramaic varieties, as the first language of the majority. Despite this, Western Aramaic appears to have survived for a relatively long time at least in some villages in mountainous areas of Lebanon and Syria. In fact, up until the 17th century, travelers in Lebanon still reported on several Aramaic-speaking villages.[13]

In the last three villages, where the language still survives, the dialect of Bakhʽa appears to be the most conservative. It has been less influenced by Arabic than the other dialects and retains some vocabulary that is obsolete in other dialects. The dialect of Jubb'adin has changed the most. It is heavily influenced by Arabic and has a more developed phonology. The dialect of Maaloula is somewhere in between the two, but is closer to that of Jubb'adin. Cross-linguistic influence between Aramaic and Arabic has been mutual, as Syrian Arabic itself (and Levantine Arabic in general) retains an Aramaic substratum.[14] Similar to the Eastern Neo-Aramaic languages, Western Neo-Aramaic is heavily using Kurdish loanwords unlike other Western Aramaic dialects, e. g. in their negation structure:”Čū ndōmex“ meaning "I do not sleep“ in the Maalouli dialect.[15][16] These influences might indicate an older historical connection between Western Neo-Aramaic and Eastern Aramaic speakers.[17] Other strong linguistic influences on Western Neo-Aramaic include Akkadian during the Neo-Babylonian period, e. g. the names of the months: āšbaṯ (Akk. šabāṯu, "February"), ōḏar (Akk. ad(d)aru, "March"), iyyar (Akk. ayyaru, "May") or agricultural terms such as nīra (Akk. nīru, "yoke"), sekkṯa (Akk. sikkatu, "plowshare"), senta (Akk. sendu, "to grind") or nbūba (Akk. enbūbu, "fruit").[18][19]

As in most of the Levant prior to the introduction of Islam in the seventh century, the three villages were originally all Christian until the 18th century. Maaloula is the only village that retains a sizeable Melkite Christian population (they belong to the Rūm Orthodox Church of Antioch and Melkite Greek Catholic Church) as most of the inhabitants of Bakhʽa and Jubb’adin converted to Islam over the generations and are now all Muslim. However, the first Muslims were not native converts, but Muslim Arab families from Homs who were settled in the three Aramean (Syriac) villages during the Ottoman era to monitor the Christian population.[20] Maaloula glows in the pale blue wash with which houses are painted every year in honor of Mary, mother of Jesus.

Historical accounts, as documented by the French linguist Jean Parisot in 1898, suggest that the people of Maaloula and nearby areas claim to be descendants of migrants from the Sinjar region (modern Iraq). According to their oral traditions, their ancestors embarked on a substantial migration in ancient times, driven by the challenges posed by the Muslim occupation of the northern part of Mesopotamia. Seeking refuge, they crossed the Euphrates River and traversed the Palmyrene desert, eventually finding a lasting sanctuary among Western Aramaic-speaking communities in the highlands of eastern Syria.[lower-alpha 3][21] In Maaloula and the surrounding villages, the surname ”Sinjar“ (Aramaic:ܣܢܓܐܪ) is borne by some Christian and Muslim families.[22]

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 like Damascus and Aleppo 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.[23]

Unlike Classical Syriac, which has a rich literary tradition in Syriac-Aramaic script, Western Neo-Aramaic was solely passed down orally for generations until 2006 and was not utilized in a written form.[24]

Since 2006, Maaloula has been home to an Aramaic Language Institute established by the Damascus 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, developed by the chairman of the Language Institute, George Rizkalla (Rezkallah), used in the program, closely resembled the square script of the Hebrew alphabet. Consequently, all signs featuring the square Maalouli script were taken down.[25] The program stated that they would instead use the more distinct Syriac Aramaic alphabet, although use of the Maalouli square script has continued to some degree.[26] 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.[27]

In December 2016, during an Aramaic Singing Festival in Maaloula, a modified version of an older style of the Aramaic alphabet closer to the Phoenician 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 an abjad. A recently published book about the Maalouli Aramaic dialect also uses this script.[28][29]

Aramaic Bible Translation (ABT) has spent over a decade translating the Bible into Western Neo-Aramaic (Maalouli dialect) and recording audio for Portrait of Jesus. Rinyo, the Syriac language organization, has published ABT's content, developed by Kanusoft.com. On their website, the Book of Psalms and Portrait of Jesus are available in Western Neo-Aramaic using the Syriac Serta script. Additionally, a translation of the New Testament into Western Neo-Aramaic was completed in 2017 and is now accessible online.[30][31][32]

Phonology

The phonology of Western Neo-Aramaic has developed quite differently from other Aramaic dialects/languages. The labial 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. Amongst dental consonants, the fricatives /θ ð/ 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 the velar consonants, the traditional voiced pair of /ɡ ɣ/ 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/.

Consonants

Labial Dental/Alveolar Palato-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn-
geal		 Glottal
plain emphatic
Nasal m n
Plosive pb td tˤ (kʲ) kɡ q ʔ
Affricate (ts) (tʃdʒ)
Fricative f θð sz ðˤ sˤzˤ ʃ(ʒ) xɣ ħʕ h
Approximant w l j
Trill r

Vowels

Western Neo-Aramaic has the following set of vowels:[33]

Vowels
Front Back
Close i u
Open-mid e o
Open a

Alphabet

Square Maalouli alphabet

Square Maalouli alphabet used for Western Neo-Aramaic.[34] Words beginning with a vowel are written with an initial . Short vowels are omitted or written with diacritics, long vowels are transcribed with macrons (Āā, Ēē, Īī, Ōō, Ūū) and are written with mater 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 and if a word begins with any of these long vowels, they begin with + the mater lectionis). Words ending with /a/ are written with at the end of the word, while words ending with /e/ are written with at the end. Sometimes is used both for final and instead of also using .

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 Qq 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 and Arabic alphabet

Syriac (Serta) and Arabic alphabet used for Western Neo-Aramaic.[35]

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/

Alternate Aramaic alphabet

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.[36][29]

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/

Liturgical language and sample of Lord's Prayer

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 (from Akk. šēdu, meaning "evil" or "devil"),[37] yiṯkan (from Ar. litakun, meaning "that it may be" or "to be"), ġfurlēḥ & nġofrin (from Ar. yaghfir, meaning "to forgive") and čaġribyōṯa (from Ar. jareeb, meaning "temptation").[38]

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 and Koine Greek. Pastor Edward Robinson reported that his companion, Eli Smith, found several manuscripts in the Syriac language in Maaloula in 1834, but no one could read or understand them.[39]

Classical Syriac was originally the liturgical language of the Melkite Syriacs (from the Aramaic word malkā for "king")[40] in Syria, while some other Aramaic-speaking Melkites, predominantly of Jewish descent, used the Syro-Palestinian dialect in Palestine and Transjordan instead.[41][42][43][44] The Melkite Syriacs changed their church's West Syriac Rite to that of Constantinople in the 9th-11th centuries, requiring new translations of all their liturgical books.[45][46]

Western Neo-Aramaic Turoyo Neo-Aramaic Classical Syriac (Eastern accent) Hebrew
Ōboḥ/Ōbay/Abūnaḥ ti bišmō/bišmoya 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/bišmoya 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

Miscellaneous words and sample phrases[47][48]

English Western Neo-Aramaic
Hello/Peace šlōma
Altar server šammōša
Morning ṣofra
Mountain ṭūra
Water mōya
God alo (defined)/iloha (undefined)
Sun šimša
Mouth femma
Head rayša
Village qriṯa
I swear (by the Cross) bsliba
Nice ḥalya
Here/Here it is hōxa/hōxa hū
Liar daglōna
After bōṯar min
Son ebra
Daughter berča
Brother/Brothers ḥōna/ḥuno
Sister ḥōṯa
Donkey ḥmōra
Tongue/Language liššōna
Money kiršo
Nation omṯa
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
Ocean 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 lišōni siryōn
We are Arameans (Syriacs) and our language is Aramaic (Syriac) anaḥ suroy w lišonaḥ siryōn
Church klēsya (Greek loanword)
Shirt qameṣča (from lat. "camisia")
What's your name? (m) mō ušmax? (m)
Dream ḥelma
Old man sōba

See also

Literature

  • Arnold, Werner: Das Neuwestaramäische (Western Neo-Aramaic), 5 volumes. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden (Semitica Viva 4),
    • Volume 1: Texte aus Baxʿa (Texts from Baxʿa), 1989, ISBN 3-447-02949-8,
    • Volume 2: Texte aus Ğubbʿadīn (Texts from Ğubbʿadīn), 1990, ISBN 3-447-03051-8,
    • Volume 3: Volkskundliche Texte aus Maʿlūla (Texts of folk tradition from Maʿlūla), 1991, ISBN 3-447-03166-2,
    • Volume 4: Orale Literatur aus Maʿlūla (Oral Literature from Maʿlūla), 1991, ISBN 3-447-03173-5,
    • Volume 5: Grammatik (Grammar), 1990, ISBN 3-447-03099-2/
  • Arnold, Werner: Lehrbuch des Neuwestaramäischen (A Manual to Western Neo-Aramaic), Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1989, ISBN 3-447-02910-2.
  • Wehbi, Rimon (2021). "Zwei neuwestaramäische Texte über die Wassermühlen in Maalula (Syrien)". Mediterranean Language Review. 28: 135–153. doi:10.13173/medilangrevi.28.2021.0135. S2CID 245214675.

Notes

  1. ↑ It is a modified version of the Hebrew alphabet since 2006, but its usage is declining.
  2. ↑ Since 2016, a rarely utilized, slightly modified version of the Old Phoenician alphabet has been used for Western Neo-Aramaic.
  3. ↑ The Anti-Lebanon mountains were geographically located in the eastern part of former Ottoman Syria in the year 1898, thus Jean Parisot wrote, "highlands of eastern Syria".

References

  1. ↑ Abū al-Faraj ʻIshsh. اثرنا في الايقليم السوري (in Arabic). Al-Maṭbaʻah al-Jadīdah. p. 56. السريان في معلولا وجبعدين ولا يزال الأهلون فيها يتكلمون
  2. ↑ iنصر الله، إلياس أنطون. إلياس أنطون نصر الله في معلولا (in Arabic). لينين. p. 45. ... 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 ) ...
  3. ↑ https://publications.hse.ru/pubs/share/direct/522906798.pdf
  4. ↑ Western Neo-Aramaic: The Dialect of Jubaadin , p. 446
  5. ↑ Maaloula (XIXe-XXIe siècles). Du vieux avec du neuf, p. 95
  6. ↑ Rahim Arnold. "About us". friendsofmaaloula. Hilfe für das Aramäerdorf Maaloula e. V. Retrieved 16 January 2024. It is our heartfelt wish to contribute to the livelihood of the Aramaeans of Maaloula as long as they still live as refugees in Damascus.
  7. ↑ Anas Abou-Ismail. The Semitic Heritage of Northwest Syria. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781527517578. Arameans fled Maaloula, the influence of Christian liturgy on the Maaloula dialect will likely increase.
  8. ↑ Anas Abou-Ismail. Western Neo-Aramaic. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 2. ISBN 9781527550469. Jubaadinis are very proud of their language and their Aramean identity and they have no trouble at all balancing their religious and ethnic identities.
  9. ↑ Brock, An Introduction to Syriac Studies Archived 2013-05-18 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 2011
  10. ↑ https://www.aymennjawad.org/2020/01/the-village-of-bakha-in-qalamoun-interview
  11. ↑ "Easter Sunday: A Syrian bid to resurrect Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ". Christian Science Monitor. 2010-04-02. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  12. ↑ Jared Greenblatt. The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Amədya. Brill. p. 2. ISBN 9789004192300. …. 7th century C.E. initiated the demise of the Aramaic language….
  13. ↑ Owens, Jonathan (2000). Arabic as a Minority Language. Walter de Gruyter. p. 347. ISBN 3-11-016578-3.
  14. ↑ Studies in the Grammar and Lexicon of Neo-Aramaic by Geoffrey Khan, Paul M. Noorlander
  15. ↑ Studies in the Grammar and Lexicon of Neo-Aramaic, Geoffrey Khan, Paul M. Noorlander
  16. ↑ Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar - p. 464
  17. ↑ Brockelmann (GVG 1 §19)
  18. ↑ Akkadian influences on Aramaic (Assyriological Studies) by Kaufman, Stephan A.
  19. ↑ Elephantine Revisited. p. 89. ISBN 9781646022083. … especially since in the eighth century BCE an Akkadian influence had already exerted itself even on Aramaic in the west.…
  20. ↑ Studies in Islamic History and Civilization, p.308
  21. ↑ Parisot, Jean (1898a, "Le dialecte de Maʕlula. Grammaire, vocabulaire et textes.", p. 270):"D'áprès leurs traditions, ġaddan ʕan ġaddin, les habitants de ce village et des lieux avoisinants raient des émigrés du pays de Sendjar. Ils disent qu'à une époque ancienne, urs ancêtres voulant se soustraire aux vexations des musulmans qui avaient ivahi la partie septentrionale de la Mésopotamie, auraient traverse l'Euphrate le désert de la Palmyrène, pour se réfugier définitivement sur les hauts ateaux de la Syrie orientale, à trois cents lieues de leur pays d'origine."
  22. ↑ https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/syrias-christians-face-uncertain-future-1.359246
  23. ↑ Sabar, Ariel (18 February 2013). "How To Save A Dying Language". Ankawa. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  24. ↑ Oriens Christianus (in German). 2003. p. 77. 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...
  25. ↑ Maissun Melhem (21 January 2010). "Schriftenstreit in Syrien" (in German). Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 15 November 2023. 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.
  26. ↑ Beach, Alastair (2010-04-02). "Easter Sunday: A Syrian bid to resurrect Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
  27. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "أرض تحكي لغة المسيح". YouTube.
  28. ↑ "Aramaic singing festival in Maaloula for preserving Aramaic language – Syrian Arab News Agency". 10 September 2016.
  29. 1 2 Francis, Issam (10 June 2016). L'Arameen Parle A Maaloula – Issam Francis. Lulu.com. ISBN 9781365174810.
  30. ↑ "Ma'luli". Aramaic Bible Translation.
  31. ↑ "Bible - Rinyo.org". www.rinyo.org.
  32. ↑ https://scriptureearth.org/data/amw/PDF/amwMaLuliNT-web.pdf
  33. ↑ Werner, Arnold (2011). Western Neo-Aramaic. In Stefan Weninger (ed.), The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook: Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 685–696.
  34. ↑ "الأبجدية المربعة | PDF".
  35. ↑ New Testament in Western Neo-Aramaic (Serta/Arabic)
  36. ↑ "襄阳阂俑装饰工程有限公司". www.aramia.net.
  37. ↑ https://www.assyrianlanguages.org/akkadian/dosearch.php?searchkey=6370&language=id
  38. ↑ Das Neuwestaramäische: Volkskundliche Texte aus Maʻlūla, p. 144
  39. ↑ Frédéric Pichon. Maaloula (XIXe-XXIe siècles). Du vieux avec du neuf (in French). Presses de l’Ifpo. p. 95. ISBN 9782351593196. …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."
  40. ↑ Arman Akopian (11 December 2017). "Other branches of Syriac Christianity: Melkites and Maronites". Introduction to Aramean and Syriac Studies. Gorgias Press. p. 573. ISBN 9781463238933. …from Aramaic malka, or "king"…
  41. ↑ CLASSICAL SYRIAC. Gorgias Handbooks. p. 14. 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.
  42. ↑ "JACOB BARcLAY, Melkite Orthodox Syro-Byzantine Manuscripts in Syriac and Palestinian Aramaic" quote from the German book Internationale Zeitschriftenschau für Bibelwissenschaft und Grenzgebiete, p. 291
  43. ↑ "However, in contrast to what went on in northern Syria and Mesopotamia, where Syriac competed well with Greek to remain a great cultural language, Syropalestinian was in a weak position with regard to Greek and, later, to Arabic." quote from the book The Fourth International Conference on the History of Bilād Al-Shām During the Umayyad Period: English section, p.31
  44. ↑ "Some Chalcedonians of Palestine and the Transjordan chose to write in Christian Palestinian Aramaic (CPA) rather than Syriac." quote from the book A Companion to Byzantine Epistolography, p.68
  45. ↑ "The west Syriac tradition covers the Syriac Orthodox, Maronite, and Melkite churches, though the Melkites changed their Church's rite to that of Constantinople in the 9th-11th centuries, which required new translations of all its liturgical books.", quote from the book The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, p.917
  46. ↑ Arman Akopian (11 December 2017). "Other branches of Syriac Christianity: Melkites and Maronites". Introduction to Aramean and Syriac Studies. Gorgias Press. p. 573. ISBN 9781463238933. 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 mostly Jewish 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.
  47. ↑ Das Neuwestaramäische Wörterbuch: Neuwestaramäisch von Werner Arnold, The Western Neo-Aramaic Dictionary: Western Neo-Aramaic by Werner Arnold
  48. ↑ Western Neo-Aramaic Vocabulary by Lambert Jungmann

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