Lebanese Aramaic: Difference between revisions

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Extended confirmed users
2,159 edits
AfD: Nominated for deletion; see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Lebanese Aramaic.
XFDcloser
)
 
(24 intermediate revisions by 12 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
<!-- Please do not remove or change this AfD message until the discussion has been closed. -->
{{Article for deletion/dated|page=Lebanese Aramaic|timestamp=20231227195255|year=2023|month=December|day=27|substed=yes}}
<!-- Once discussion is closed, please place on talk page: {{Old AfD multi|page=Lebanese Aramaic|date=27 December 2023|result='''keep'''}} -->
<!-- End of AfD message, feel free to edit beyond this point -->

{{Short description|Extinct or dormant Aramaic dialect of Lebanon}}
{{Short description|Extinct or dormant Aramaic dialect of Lebanon}}
{{Infobox language
{{Infobox language
Line 20: Line 15:
|fam6= [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]]
|fam6= [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]]
|fam7= [[Western Aramaic languages|Western Aramaic]]
|fam7= [[Western Aramaic languages|Western Aramaic]]
|script=
|script= [[Syriac alphabet]] ([[Syriac alphabet#Classical ʾEsṭrangēlā|Estrangelo]] and [[Syriac alphabet#West Syriac Serṭā|Serṭō]])<ref name=Syriac13>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2021/11/26/syriac-identity-of-lebanon-part-13-the-three-syriac-scripts-2/|title=Syriac Identity of Lebanon part 13: The Three Syriac Scripts|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=26 November 2021|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref>
|iso=
|iso=
|glotto=
|glotto=
Line 26: Line 21:
}}
}}


'''Lebanese Aramaic''', also referred to as '''Lebanese Syriac''' or '''Surien''' ({{lang-syr|ܣܘܪܝܢ}}),<ref name=Origin1>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2022/02/27/about-the-origin-of-the-lebanese-language/|title=About the origin of the Lebanese language (I)|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=27 February 2022|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref> is an extinct or dormant [[Western Aramaic languages|Western Aramaic language]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wardini|first=Elie|date=2012|title=Some aspects of Aramaic as attested in Lebanese place names|url=https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?dswid=5134|journal=Orientalia Suecana|volume=61|issue=Supplement|pages=21-29|doi=|quote=Based on the material studied, the Aramaic used in Lebanon is clearly of the Western type.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Arnold|first=Werner|chapter=The Arabic dialects in the Turkish province of Hatay and the Aramaic dialects in the Syrian mountains of Qalamûn: Two minority languages compared|title=Arabic as a Minority Language|year=2000|location=Berlin-New York|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|pages=347–370|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ih6b9iupT6oC|quote=The western variety of Aramaic lasted for a relatively long period in some secluded villages in the mountains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon in Syria (see Arnold/Behnstedt 1993).}}</ref> It was traditionally spoken in the [[Levant]], especially in [[Mount Lebanon]], by [[Maronites|Maronite Christians]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Lebanon |isbn=9781438105796 |page=26 |quote=…Maronites established villages in the remote regions of Mount Lebanon in the north, where they would live, work, and pray for hundreds of years. The church's liturgy is written in Syriac, the ancient language of the Maronites.}}</ref>
'''Lebanese Aramaic''', also referred to as '''Lebanese Syriac''' or '''Surien''' ({{lang-syr|ܣܘܪܝܢ}}),<ref name=Origin1>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2022/02/27/about-the-origin-of-the-lebanese-language/|title=About the origin of the Lebanese language (I)|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=27 February 2022|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref> is an extinct or dormant [[Western Aramaic languages|Western Aramaic language]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wardini|first=Elie|date=2012|title=Some aspects of Aramaic as attested in Lebanese place names|url=https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-88897|journal=Orientalia Suecana|volume=61|issue=Supplement|pages=21–29|doi=|quote=Based on the material studied, the Aramaic used in Lebanon is clearly of the Western type.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Arnold|first=Werner|chapter=The Arabic dialects in the Turkish province of Hatay and the Aramaic dialects in the Syrian mountains of Qalamûn: Two minority languages compared|title=Arabic as a Minority Language|year=2000|location=Berlin-New York|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|pages=347–370|isbn=9783110165784 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ih6b9iupT6oC|quote=The western variety of Aramaic lasted for a relatively long period in some secluded villages in the mountains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon in Syria (see Arnold/Behnstedt 1993).}}</ref> It was traditionally spoken in the [[Levant]], especially in [[Mount Lebanon]], by [[Maronites|Maronite Christians]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Lebanon |isbn=9781438105796 |page=26 |quote=…Maronites established villages in the remote regions of Mount Lebanon in the north, where they would live, work, and pray for hundreds of years. The church's liturgy is written in Syriac, the ancient language of the Maronites. |last1=Malaspina |first1=Ann |date=2009 |publisher=Infobase }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Akopian|first=Arman|date=2017|title=Introduction to Aramean and Syriac Studies|url= |location= |publisher=Gorgias Press|page=312|isbn=9781463238933|doi=10.31826/9781463238933|quote=Maronites spoke the local Western Aramaic dialect and used only Syriac as a liturgical language, having given up Greek completely.}}</ref>


==Name==
==Name==
Similiar to [[Christian Palestinian Aramaic]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Morgenstern|first=Matthew|chapter=Christian Palestinian Aramaic|title=The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook|year=2012|location=Berlin-Boston|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|pages=628–637|isbn=9783110251586|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMzgBLT87MkC}}</ref> Lebanese Aramaic did not have a unique name as a dialect or language in contemporary sources as its native speakers simply referred to it as Sūrien (Syriac).{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=204}}<ref name=Origin1>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2022/02/27/about-the-origin-of-the-lebanese-language/|title=About the origin of the Lebanese language (I)|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=27 February 2022|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref> Modern scholars and sources mainly refer to the language as Lebanese Aramaic,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bawardi|first=Basilius|date=2016|title=The Lebanese-Phoenician Nationalist Movement: Literature, Language and Identity|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Lebanese_Phoenician_Nationalist_Move/_hKMDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22lebanese+aramaic%22&pg=PA122&printsec=frontcover|location=|publisher=I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd|page=122|isbn=9781786730121|quote=If the language in which we wrote the masterpieces of the past has changed, the Lebanese spirit has remained and continues to move with us from one language to the other. The transformation from the Phoenician [language] to the Greek and later to the Latin and finally to the Lebanese Aramaic [...] is not so different from the move of a family from one house to another.}}</ref><ref name=Wardini>{{cite web|url=https://www.su.se/english/research/research-projects/aramaic-in-lebanese-place-names-a-linguistic-and-socio-cultural-analysis?open-collapse-boxes=research-project-description,research-project-publications|title=Aramaic in Lebanese Place Names: A Linguistic and Socio-Cultural Analysis|last=Wardini|first=Elie|date=1 January 2018|website=su.se|publisher=Stockholm University|quote=Of the ca. 25000 place names in the database included in this study (covering all the regions of Lebanon; compared to Wardini 2002 which included 1700 names covering North Lebanon and Mount Lebanon), we expect that some 36%, i.e. some 9000 place names will be Aramaic, a large enough sample where much of the phonology and morphology and part of the lexicon of Lebanese Aramaic can be elucidated.}}</ref> or Lebanese Syriac.<ref name=Origin2>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2022/03/06/about-the-origin-of-the-lebanese-language-ii/|title=About the origin of the Lebanese language (II)|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=6 March 2022|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref>
Similar to [[Christian Palestinian Aramaic]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Morgenstern|first=Matthew|chapter=Christian Palestinian Aramaic|title=The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook|year=2012|location=Berlin-Boston|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|pages=628–637|isbn=9783110251586|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMzgBLT87MkC}}</ref> Lebanese Aramaic did not have a unique name as a dialect or language in contemporary sources as its native speakers simply referred to it as Sūrien (Syriac).{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=204}}<ref name=Origin1>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2022/02/27/about-the-origin-of-the-lebanese-language/|title=About the origin of the Lebanese language (I)|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=27 February 2022|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref> Modern scholars and sources mainly refer to the language as Lebanese Aramaic,<ref>{{cite book|last=Bawardi|first=Basilius|date=2016|title=The Lebanese-Phoenician Nationalist Movement: Literature, Language and Identity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_hKMDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22lebanese+aramaic%22&pg=PA122|location=|publisher=I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd|page=122|isbn=9781786730121|quote=If the language in which we wrote the masterpieces of the past has changed, the Lebanese spirit has remained and continues to move with us from one language to the other. The transformation from the Phoenician [language] to the Greek and later to the Latin and finally to the Lebanese Aramaic [...] is not so different from the move of a family from one house to another.}}</ref><ref name=Wardini>{{cite web|url=https://www.su.se/english/research/research-projects/aramaic-in-lebanese-place-names-a-linguistic-and-socio-cultural-analysis?open-collapse-boxes=research-project-description,research-project-publications|title=Aramaic in Lebanese Place Names: A Linguistic and Socio-Cultural Analysis|last=Wardini|first=Elie|date=1 January 2018|website=su.se|publisher=Stockholm University|quote=Of the ca. 25000 place names in the database included in this study (covering all the regions of Lebanon; compared to Wardini 2002 which included 1700 names covering North Lebanon and Mount Lebanon), we expect that some 36%, i.e. some 9000 place names will be Aramaic, a large enough sample where much of the phonology and morphology and part of the lexicon of Lebanese Aramaic can be elucidated.}}</ref> or Lebanese Syriac.<ref name=Origin2>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2022/03/06/about-the-origin-of-the-lebanese-language-ii/|title=About the origin of the Lebanese language (II)|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=6 March 2022|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref>

The term Syriac was used in medieval times to refer to all dialects of Aramaic, not just the [[Edessan Middle Aramaic language|Edessan dialect]], as the term Aramaic held negative pagan connonations for the Christianized Arameans, thenceforth called Syrians.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hitti|first=Philip|author-link=Philip K. Hitti|date=1957|title=Lebanon in History|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.53848|location=India|publisher=Macmillan and Co Ltd|pages=204|quote=Their earlier name, having by that time acquired in their minds a heathen connotation, became distasteful to them. Thus did the original Semitic name, Aramaic, come to be generally avoided and was replaced by the Greek “Syrian” for the people and “Syriac” for the language.}}</ref>


==History==
==History==
[[File:Syrisch.svg|thumb|Map showing timeline of Aramaic speaking areas in the Middle East]]
[[File:Syrisch.svg|thumb|Map showing timeline of Aramaic speaking areas in the Middle East]]
Since [[ancient history|ancient times]] the [[Arameans]] inhabitated the mountainous regions of Lebanon speaking [[Aramaic]] while the Canaanites on the coast spoke [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]]. During the prominence of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] in the 7th century BC Aramaic spread throughout the entire Near East and beyond becoming the [[lingua franca]] of the region.<ref>{{cite book|last=Frahm|first=Eckart|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhsmDwAAQBAJ|title=A Companion to Assyria|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2017|isbn=978-1-118-32524-7|editor=E. Frahm|location=Hoboken|chapter=The Neo-Assyrian Period (ca. 1000–609 BCE)|pages=177–178}}</ref> When the Arameans adopted Christianity they started to refer to themselves as Syrian and their language as [[Syriac language|Syriac]]. Syriac became the common language in Lebanon, besides Greek in prominent cities and Latin in Beirut. When the [[Arab conquest of the Levant|Arabs invaded the Levant]] they brought with them Arabic which supplanted Syriac in the region. However, the [[Maronites]] who isolated themselves within [[Mount Lebanon]] maintained their language.{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=179}}{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=204}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Procházka|first=Stephan|date=8 April 2020|chapter=Arabic in Iraq, Syria, and southern Turkey|title=Arabic and contact-induced change|url=https://zenodo.org/records/3744507|location=Berlin, Germany|publisher=Language Science Press|page=85|isbn=978-3-96110-251-8|doi=10.5281/zenodo.3744507|quote=Though after the Muslim conquests Arabic eventually became the majority language, it did not oust Aramaic very quickly: the historical sources suggest that Aramaic dominated in the larger towns and the mountainous regions of Syria and Lebanon for a long time.}}</ref>
Since [[ancient history|ancient times]] the [[Arameans]] inhabitated the mountainous regions of Lebanon speaking [[Aramaic]] while the Canaanites on the coast spoke [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]]. During the prominence of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] in the 7th century BC Aramaic spread throughout the entire Near East and beyond becoming the [[lingua franca]] of the region.<ref>{{cite book|last=Frahm|first=Eckart|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhsmDwAAQBAJ|title=A Companion to Assyria|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2017|isbn=978-1-118-32524-7|editor=E. Frahm|location=Hoboken|chapter=The Neo-Assyrian Period (ca. 1000–609 BCE)|pages=177–178}}</ref> When the Arameans adopted Christianity they started to refer to themselves as Syrian and their language as [[Syriac language|Syriac]]. Aramaic became the common language in Lebanon, besides Greek in prominent cities and Latin in Beirut. During the [[Arab conquest of the Levant|Arabic (Islamic) conquest the Levant]], Arabic supplanted Aramaic and gradually became the dominant language in the region, although it was already present in the [[Ghassanid|Ghassanid kingdom]]. However, the [[Maronites]] who isolated themselves within [[Mount Lebanon]] maintained their language.{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=179}}{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=204}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Procházka|first=Stephan|date=8 April 2020|chapter=Arabic in Iraq, Syria, and southern Turkey|title=Arabic and contact-induced change|url=https://zenodo.org/records/3744507|location=Berlin, Germany|publisher=Language Science Press|page=85|isbn=978-3-96110-251-8|doi=10.5281/zenodo.3744507|quote=Though after the Muslim conquests Arabic eventually became the majority language, it did not oust Aramaic very quickly: the historical sources suggest that Aramaic dominated in the larger towns and the mountainous regions of Syria and Lebanon for a long time.}}</ref>{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=204}}


Syriac remained both the sole vernacular and liturigcal language of the Maronites (although the liturgical was the classical Syriac not colloquial form) until the 14th century when the Mamluks conquered North Lebanon.{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=336}} This led to the mountainous Maronites to interact with the coastal city dwelling Arabs and subsequently begin to learn Arabic. Thus, many Maronites began to learn and speak both Syriac and Arabic however those in more remote mountainous areas often were versed in Syriac alone. The influence of Arabic gradually eroded the knowledge of Syriac among the Maronites as more and more Maronites began to adopt Arabic as their first language with Syriac being prominent only among those in more mountainous regions as well as among the clergy and some nobles.{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=404-405}} The Maronite Church's decision to shift more towards Arabic in documents and liturgy also expedited the process. The Maronites of Aleppo switched to Arabic with Syriac only being in liturgical use by the end of the 17th century.<ref>{{cite journal|last=del Rio Sanchez|first=Francisco|date=2013|title=The Study of Syriac in an Arabized community: the Maronites of Aleppo|url=https://www.academia.edu/2962710/The_Study_of_Syriac_in_an_Arabized_community_the_Maronites_of_Aleppo|journal=CNERU–CEDRAC|volume=1|issue=|pages=237–242|doi=|quote=In fact, at the end of the 17th c., the Syriac language was completely relegated to liturgical use between the Maronites of Aleppo, becoming a holy classical language whose study was reserved for the community clergy and scholars.}}</ref> The last native speakers of the language in Lebanon were last recorded in the late 19th century with Arabic having become the dominant language of Lebanon at this point.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Erdman|first=Michael|date=January 2017|title=From Language to Patois and Back Again: Syriac Influences on Arabic in Mont Liban during the 16th to 19th Centuries|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348521420_From_Language_to_Patois_and_Back_Again_Syriac_Influences_on_Arabic_in_Mont_Liban_during_the_16th_to_19th_Centuries|journal=Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Journal|volume=55|issue=|pages=1–19|doi=}}</ref>
Aramaic remained the sole vernacular language of the Maronites until the 14th century when the Mamluks conquered North Lebanon.{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=336}} This led to the mountainous Maronites to interact with the coastal city dwelling Arabs and subsequently begin to learn Arabic. Thus, many Maronites began to learn and speak both Aramaic and Arabic however those in more remote mountainous areas often were versed in Aramaic alone. The influence of Arabic gradually eroded the knowledge of Aramaic among the Maronites as more and more Maronites began to adopt Arabic as their first language with Aramaic being prominent only among those in more mountainous regions as well as among the clergy and some nobles.{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=404-405}} The Maronite Church's decision to shift more towards Arabic in documents and liturgy also expedited the process. The Maronites of Aleppo switched to Arabic with Syriac only being in liturgical use by the end of the 17th century.<ref>{{cite journal|last=del Rio Sanchez|first=Francisco|date=2013|title=The Study of Syriac in an Arabized community: the Maronites of Aleppo|url=https://www.academia.edu/2962710|journal=Cneru–Cedrac|volume=1|issue=|pages=237–242|doi=|quote=In fact, at the end of the 17th c., the Syriac language was completely relegated to liturgical use between the Maronites of Aleppo, becoming a holy classical language whose study was reserved for the community clergy and scholars.}}</ref> The last native speakers of the language in Lebanon were last recorded in the late 19th century with Arabic having become the dominant language of Lebanon at this point.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Erdman|first=Michael|date=January 2017|title=From Language to Patois and Back Again: Syriac Influences on Arabic in Mont Liban during the 16th to 19th Centuries|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348521420|journal=Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Journal|volume=55|issue=|pages=1–19|doi=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Salameh|first=Franck|date=2020|chapter="Young Phoenicians” and the Quest for a Lebanese Language: between Lebanonism, Phoenicianism, and Arabism|chapter-url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004423220/BP000012.xml|title=Arabic and Its Alternatives: Religious Minorities and Their Languages in the Emerging Nation States of the Middle East (1920-1950)|url=https://brill.com/display/title/39181|location=|publisher=Brill|page=117|doi=10.1163/9789004423220_005|isbn=9789004423220|quote=Corm affectionately noted how his own grand-parents spoke Syriac – not Arabic – in late-nineteenth century Lebanon}}</ref>


One prominent contribution to Syriac literature was a press from Italy that was installed in the Qadisha valley for producing religious texts in Classical Syriac, as well as Arabic.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2021/12/12/syriac-identity-of-lebanon-part-18-syriac-maronite-literature/|title=Syriac Identity of Lebanon part 18: Syriac Maronite Literature|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=12 December 2021|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref>{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=402}} This was the first printing press installed in the Middle East.
One prominent contribution to Syriac literature was a press from Italy that was installed in the Qadisha valley for producing religious texts in Classical Syriac, as well as Arabic.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2021/12/12/syriac-identity-of-lebanon-part-18-syriac-maronite-literature/|title=Syriac Identity of Lebanon part 18: Syriac Maronite Literature|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=12 December 2021|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref>{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=402}} This was the first printing press installed in the Middle East.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Tadrus|first1=Fawzi M.|date=1982|title=Printing in the Arab World with emphasis on the Bulaq press in Egypt|url=https://qspace.qu.edu.qa/handle/10576/8097|journal=Bulletin of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences|volume= |issue=5|pages=61–77|hdl=10576/8097|quote=The first printing press in the Arab world came into being in the year 1610, when the Lebanon monastery of Dayr Qazḥiyā acquired a printing press from Rome, with Syriac letters.}}</ref>


==Revival==
==Revival==
The Lebanese writer [[Said Akl]] promoted the revival of the Aramaic language in Lebanon arguing for a Phoenician-Aramaic origin of the Lebanese vernacular. In 1999, Akl published the Maronite Missal and Eucharistic Liturgy in the Lebanese dialect in protest to the Maronite Church switching to [[Modern Standard Arabic]] from the Lebanese vernacular for its homilies.<ref>{{cite book|last=Salameh|first=Franck|date=12 April 2010|title=Language, Memory, and Identity in the Middle East: The Case for Lebanon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BL44ZZwSwbYC|location=|publisher=Lexington Books|page=166|isbn=9780739137406}}</ref>{{sfn|Salameh|2010|p=53}} Similarly, Fouad Ephrem Boustany argued that ''the modern Lebanese vernacular is still imbued with specifically Canaanite and Aramaic phonological, syntactic, and lexical attributes, that do not even exist in the Arabic language.''{{sfn|Salameh|2010|p=264}}
[[File:Kfarhatna sign.jpg|thumb|Sign from Kfarhatna, Batroun with the name of the village inscribed in English, Syriac and Arabic]]

Classes teaching Syriac were still taught in some Lebanese schools until the 1960s before the [[Lebanese Civil War]] broke out.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2022/05/23/the-maronite-patriarchs-and-the-syriac-language/|title=The Maronite Patriarchs and the Syriac Language|last=Iskander|first=Amine|date=23 May 2022|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress|quote=With the retirement of the last Syriac teachers in the 1960s, mountain schools stopped teaching this language for good.}}</ref> With the [[Taif Agreement]] that helped end the war a strong mandate of [[Arabization]] was pushed on Lebanon which hindered progress for teaching Syriac.<ref>{{cite journal|last=F. Salloukh|first=Bassel|title=The Limits of Electoral Engineering in Divided Societies: Elections in Postwar Lebanon|journal=Canadian Journal of Political Science|date=September 2006|volume=39|issue=3|pages=635–655|jstor=25165996|doi=10.1017/s0008423906060185|s2cid=154975167}}</ref>
Classes teaching Syriac were still taught in some Lebanese schools until the 1960s before the [[Lebanese Civil War]] broke out.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2022/05/23/the-maronite-patriarchs-and-the-syriac-language/|title=The Maronite Patriarchs and the Syriac Language|last=Iskander|first=Amine|date=23 May 2022|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress|quote=With the retirement of the last Syriac teachers in the 1960s, mountain schools stopped teaching this language for good.}}</ref> With the [[Taif Agreement]] that helped end the war a strong mandate of [[Arabization]] was pushed on Lebanon which hindered progress for teaching Syriac.<ref>{{cite journal|last=F. Salloukh|first=Bassel|title=The Limits of Electoral Engineering in Divided Societies: Elections in Postwar Lebanon|journal=Canadian Journal of Political Science|date=September 2006|volume=39|issue=3|pages=635–655|jstor=25165996|doi=10.1017/s0008423906060185|s2cid=154975167}}</ref>


Line 46: Line 44:
</ref>
</ref>


Since 2021, Maronite towns and villages have begun to erect signs of their villages names in Syriac. Among these [[Zgharta]], [[Ehden]], [[Bcharre]], [[Kfarsghab]] and Kfarhatna ([[Batroun district]]) have unveiled signs of the names of their villages in Syriac and have called for the recognition of Syriac as a national language in Lebanon. The sign in Ehden was vandalized and knocked down although it was later put up again.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2021/10/24/city-of-zgharta-unveils-artwork-with-name-in-syriac-calls-for-official-recognition-of-the-syriac-language-in-lebanon/|title=City of Zgharta unveils artwork with name in Syriac. Calls for official recognition of the Syriac language in Lebanon|date=31 October 2021|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2022/08/31/calling-for-the-revival-of-syriac-and-making-it-a-national-the-ehdenian-movement-erects-ehden-town-sign-in-syriac-letters/|title=Calling for the revival of Syriac and making it a national, the Ehdenian Movement erects Ehden town sign in Syriac letters|date=31 August 2022|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2023/07/24/syriac-villages-in-lebanon-proudly-display-identity-with-new-signs/|title=Syriac villages in Lebanon proudly display identity with new signs|date=24 July 2023|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2023/08/19/syriac-villages-in-lebanon-show-strong-connection-to-their-syriac-heritage/|title=Syriac villages in Lebanon show strong connection to their Syriac heritage|date=19 August 2023|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref>
Since 2021, Maronite towns and villages have begun to erect signs of their villages names in Syriac. Among these [[Zgharta]], [[Ehden]], [[Bcharre]], [[Kfarsghab]] and Kfarhatna ([[Batroun District]]) have unveiled signs of the names of their villages in Syriac and have called for the recognition of Syriac as a national language in Lebanon. The sign in Ehden was vandalized and knocked down although it was later put up again.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2021/10/24/city-of-zgharta-unveils-artwork-with-name-in-syriac-calls-for-official-recognition-of-the-syriac-language-in-lebanon/|title=City of Zgharta unveils artwork with name in Syriac. Calls for official recognition of the Syriac language in Lebanon|date=31 October 2021|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2022/08/31/calling-for-the-revival-of-syriac-and-making-it-a-national-the-ehdenian-movement-erects-ehden-town-sign-in-syriac-letters/|title=Calling for the revival of Syriac and making it a national, the Ehdenian Movement erects Ehden town sign in Syriac letters|date=31 August 2022|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2023/07/24/syriac-villages-in-lebanon-proudly-display-identity-with-new-signs/|title=Syriac villages in Lebanon proudly display identity with new signs|date=24 July 2023|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2023/08/19/syriac-villages-in-lebanon-show-strong-connection-to-their-syriac-heritage/|title=Syriac villages in Lebanon show strong connection to their Syriac heritage|date=19 August 2023|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref>


==Alphabet==
==Alphabet==
{{See also|Syriac_alphabet#Summary_table}}
{{See also|Syriac_alphabet#Summary_table}}
Just as the spoken [[Lebanese Arabic]] dialect is divergent from [[Modern Standard Arabic]], especially in writing, Lebanese Aramaic diverges from Classical Syriac or Ktovonoyo (the written).<ref name=Origin1 /> Thus writings and inscriptions were either in the [[Syriac alphabet#Classical ʾEsṭrangēlā|Estrangelo]] or [[Syriac alphabet#West Syriac Serṭā|Serṭā]] scripts and did not follow the colloquial dialect.<ref name=Syriac13 />
Just as the spoken [[Lebanese Arabic]] dialect is divergent from [[Modern Standard Arabic]], especially in writing, Lebanese Aramaic diverges from Classical Syriac or Ktovonoyo (the written).<ref name=Origin1 /> Thus writings and inscriptions were either in the [[Syriac alphabet#Classical ʾEsṭrangēlā|Estrangelo]] or [[Syriac alphabet#West Syriac Serṭā|Serṭā]] scripts and did not follow the colloquial dialect.<ref name=Syriac13>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2021/11/26/syriac-identity-of-lebanon-part-13-the-three-syriac-scripts-2/|title=Syriac Identity of Lebanon part 13: The Three Syriac Scripts|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=26 November 2021|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref>


==Phonology==
==Phonology==
Line 61: Line 59:


==Influence==
==Influence==
Many words in the [[Lebanese Arabic]] dialect today have Syriac roots along with many Lebanese villages and [[personal names]] which have retained their Syriac names.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hobeica|first=Youssef|date=10 January 2011|title=al-dawāthir al-suryāniyya fī lubnān wa-sūriyya|trans-title=The Influences of Syriac on the Lebanese and Syrian Dialects|url=https://www.gorgiaspress.com/the-influences-of-syriac-on-the-lebanese-and-syrian-dialects|language=ar|location=|publisher=Gorgias Press LLC|isbn=978-1-61719-461-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Freiha|first=Anis|author-link=Anis Freiha|date=1956|title=اسماء المدن والقرى اللبنانية وتفسير معانيها|trans-title=The Names Of Lebanese Cities And Villages And The Interpretation Of Their Meanings|url=https://www.noor-book.com/en/ebook-Asm%C4%81%CA%BC-almudun-waalqur%C3%A1-alLubn%C4%81n%C4%AByah-watafs%C4%ABr-ma%CA%BB%C4%81n%C4%ABh%C4%81-pdf|language=ar|location=New York University Libraries|publisher=American University of Beirut}}</ref><ref name=Bassal>{{cite journal|last=Bassal|first=Ibrahim|date=2012|title=Hebrew and Aramaic Substrata in Spoken Palestinian Arabic|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/medilangrevi.19.2012.0085|journal=Mediterranean Language Review|volume=19|issue=|pages=85-104|doi=}}</ref> The local oral poetry [[zajal]] still contains much of the Syriac metrical system in its recitation. According to Robert Gabriel, a professor of Syriac and president of the Association of Syriac Language Friends, ''about 50 percent of the Lebanese grammatical structure is due to Syriac influences.''<ref name=Frey>{{cite web|url=https://dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2008/Nov-25/53151-you-may-think-youre-speaking-lebanese-but-some-of-your-words-are-really-syriac.ashx|title=You may think you're speaking Lebanese, but some of your words are really Syriac|last=Frey|first=Michael|date=25 November 2008|website=dailystar.com.lb|publisher=The Daily Star|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322102948/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2008/Nov-25/53151-you-may-think-youre-speaking-lebanese-but-some-of-your-words-are-really-syriac.ashx|archive-date=22 March 2015}}</ref>
Many words in the [[Lebanese Arabic]] dialect today have Syriac roots along with many Lebanese villages and [[personal names]] which have retained their Syriac names.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hobeica|first=Youssef|date=10 January 2011|title=al-dawāthir al-suryāniyya fī lubnān wa-sūriyya|trans-title=The Influences of Syriac on the Lebanese and Syrian Dialects|url=https://www.gorgiaspress.com/the-influences-of-syriac-on-the-lebanese-and-syrian-dialects|language=ar|location=|publisher=Gorgias Press LLC|isbn=978-1-61719-461-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Freiha|first=Anis|author-link=Anis Freiha|date=1956|title=اسماء المدن والقرى اللبنانية وتفسير معانيها|trans-title=The Names Of Lebanese Cities And Villages And The Interpretation Of Their Meanings|url=https://www.noor-book.com/en/ebook-Asm%C4%81%CA%BC-almudun-waalqur%C3%A1-alLubn%C4%81n%C4%AByah-watafs%C4%ABr-ma%CA%BB%C4%81n%C4%ABh%C4%81-pdf|language=ar|location=New York University Libraries|publisher=American University of Beirut}}</ref><ref name=Bassal>{{cite journal|last=Bassal|first=Ibrahim|date=2012|title=Hebrew and Aramaic Substrata in Spoken Palestinian Arabic|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/medilangrevi.19.2012.0085|journal=Mediterranean Language Review|volume=19|issue=|pages=85–104|jstor=10.13173/medilangrevi.19.2012.0085 }}</ref> The local oral poetry [[zajal]] still contains much of the Syriac metrical system in its recitation. According to Robert Gabriel, a professor of Syriac and president of the Association of Syriac Language Friends, ''about 50 percent of the Lebanese grammatical structure is due to Syriac influences.''<ref name=Frey>{{cite web|url=https://dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2008/Nov-25/53151-you-may-think-youre-speaking-lebanese-but-some-of-your-words-are-really-syriac.ashx|title=You may think you're speaking Lebanese, but some of your words are really Syriac|last=Frey|first=Michael|date=25 November 2008|website=dailystar.com.lb|publisher=The Daily Star|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322102948/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2008/Nov-25/53151-you-may-think-youre-speaking-lebanese-but-some-of-your-words-are-really-syriac.ashx|archive-date=22 March 2015}}</ref>


===Toponyms===
===Toponyms===
Many villages, towns and cities in Lebanon bear toponyms of Aramaic/Syriac origin.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2020/10/11/syriac-identity-of-lebanon-part-8-syriac-lebanese-toponyms/|title=Syriac Identity of Lebanon – Part 8: Syriac Lebanese Toponyms|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=11 October 2020|website=syriacpreess.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Starcky|first=Jean|date=1946–1948|title=Récentes découvertes à Palmyre|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4196511|journal=Syria|volume=25|issue=3/4|pages=334–336|doi=|quote=Nous avions ainsi le nom antique de la source; nous l'avons relu dans le texte palmyrénien sous la même forme, et c'est donc avec raison qu'on l'a rapproché de la racine araméenne «nefaq», «sortir». L'araméen «afqa» signifie d'ailleurs «canal» et tout cela convient trés bien au souterrain qui livre passage aux eaux.|trans-quote=We thus had the ancient name of the spring; we read it again in the Palmyrene text in the same form, and it is thus rightly linked to the Aramaic root "nefaq", "to go out". The Aramaic "afqa" also means "canal", and all this is very apt for the underground passageway through which water flows.}}</ref> According to [[Al-Machriq]], 530 villages in Lebanon have names of Syriac origin.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hitti|first=Philip|author-link=Philip K. Hitti|date=1957|title=Lebanon in History|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.53848|location=India|publisher=Macmillan and Co Ltd|pages=244–245|quote=The overwhelming majority of Lebanese villages still bear Aramaic or Phoenician names, not Arabic. In al-Mashriq there is a list of 530 such villages, all called Syriac.}}</ref> A study is currrently being conducted by professor Elie Wardini of [[Stockholm University]] on "Aramaic in Lebanese Place Names." According to his findings: ''Of the ca. 25000 place names in the database included in this study (covering all the regions of Lebanon; compared to Wardini 2002 which included 1700 names covering North Lebanon and Mount Lebanon), we expect that some 36%, i.e. some 9000 place names will be Aramaic, a large enough sample where much of the phonology and morphology and part of the lexicon of Lebanese Aramaic can be elucidated. Given the nature of Lebanese place names, the description of syntax is expected to be more limited.''<ref name=Wardini/>
Many villages, towns and cities in Lebanon bear toponyms of Aramaic/Syriac origin.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2020/10/11/syriac-identity-of-lebanon-part-8-syriac-lebanese-toponyms/|title=Syriac Identity of Lebanon – Part 8: Syriac Lebanese Toponyms|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=11 October 2020|website=syriacpreess.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Starcky|first=Jean|date=1946–1948|title=Récentes découvertes à Palmyre|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4196511|journal=Syria|volume=25|issue=3/4|pages=334–336|doi=|jstor=4196511 |quote=Nous avions ainsi le nom antique de la source; nous l'avons relu dans le texte palmyrénien sous la même forme, et c'est donc avec raison qu'on l'a rapproché de la racine araméenne «nefaq», «sortir». L'araméen «afqa» signifie d'ailleurs «canal» et tout cela convient trés bien au souterrain qui livre passage aux eaux.|trans-quote=We thus had the ancient name of the spring; we read it again in the Palmyrene text in the same form, and it is thus rightly linked to the Aramaic root "nefaq", "to go out". The Aramaic "afqa" also means "canal", and all this is very apt for the underground passageway through which water flows.}}</ref> According to [[Al-Machriq]], 530 villages in Lebanon have names of Syriac origin.{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=244–245}} A study is currently being conducted by professor Elie Wardini of [[Stockholm University]] on "Aramaic in Lebanese Place Names." According to his findings: ''Of the ca. 25000 place names in the database included in this study (covering all the regions of Lebanon; compared to Wardini 2002 which included 1700 names covering North Lebanon and Mount Lebanon), we expect that some 36%, i.e. some 9000 place names will be Aramaic, a large enough sample where much of the phonology and morphology and part of the lexicon of Lebanese Aramaic can be elucidated. Given the nature of Lebanese place names, the description of syntax is expected to be more limited.''<ref name=Wardini/>
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Lebanese toponyms of Aramaic/Syriac origin
|+ Lebanese toponyms of Aramaic/Syriac origin
|-
|-
! Toponym !! Syriac word !! English translation
! Toponym !! Syriac word
!Arabic word!! English translation
|-
|-
| Ain/Ayn || ܥܝܢܐ || Spring
| Ain/Ayn || ܥܝܢܐ
|{{lang|ar|عَيْن}} {{IPA|/ʕajn/}}|| Spring
|-
|-
| Beit/B || ܒܝܬ || House of
| Beit/B || ܒܝܬ
|{{lang|ar|بَيْت}} {{IPA|/bajt/}}|| House of
|-
|-
| Kfar|| ܟܦܪܐ || Village
| Kfar|| ܟܦܪܐ
|{{lang|ar|كَفْر}}* {{IPA|/kafr/}}|| Village
|-
|-
| Kifa || ܟܐܦܐ || Stone
| Kifa || ܟܐܦܐ
| -|| Stone
|-
|-
| Majd || ܡܓܕܠܐ || Tower
| Majd || ܡܓܕܠܐ
|{{lang|ar|مِجْدَل}}* {{IPA|/mid͡ʒdal/}}|| Tower
|-
|-
| Mar || ܡܪܝ|| Saint
| Mar || ܡܪܝ
|{{lang|ar|مَار}}* {{IPA|/maːr/}}|| Saint
|-
|-
| Mayy || ܡܝܐ || Water
| Mayy || ܡܝܐ
|{{lang|ar|مَاء⁩}} {{IPA|/maːʔ}}|| Water
|-
|-
| Qarn/Qorn || ܩܪܢܐ || Summit/Horn
| Qarn/Qorn || ܩܪܢܐ
|{{lang|ar|قَرْن}} {{IPA|/qarn/}}|| Summit/Horn
|-
|-
| Tur or Turo || ܛܘܼܪ or ܛܘܪܐ || Mount or Mountain
| Tur or Turo || ܛܘܼܪ or ܛܘܪܐ
|{{lang|ar|طُور}}* {{IPA|/tˤuːr/}}|| Mount or Mountain
|}
|}
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Aramaic / Syriac loanwords in Arabic, other words are cognates from a shared [[Proto-Semitic language|Proto-Semitic]] origin.


===Vocabulary===
===Vocabulary===
Many Aramaic words and expressions have survived the transition to Arabic. Examples of such in the Lebanese dialect include ''eimata'' (or when), ''bobo'' (baby), ''ta'awa'' (to be late), ''wawa'' (ouch/it hurts), ''jawwa'' (inside), ''barra'' (outside), ''bobi'' (little dog/puppy), zoum (juice), ''zouwédé'' (provisions), ''shlaħ'' (to undress) and ''beit'' (house or family).<ref name=Frey /><ref name="Iskandar"/><ref name=Bassal/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2020/09/27/syriac-identity-of-lebanon-part-6-syriac-lebanese-vocabulary/|title=Syriac Identity of Lebanon – part 6: Syriac Lebanese vocabulary
Many Aramaic words and expressions have survived the transition to Arabic. Examples of such in the Lebanese dialect include ''eimata'' (or when), ''bobo'' (baby), ''ta'awa'' (to be late), ''wawa'' (ouch/it hurts), ''jawwa'' (inside), ''barra'' (outside), ''bobi'' (little dog/puppy), zoum (juice), ''zouwédé'' (provisions), ''shlaħ'' (to undress) and ''beit'' (house or family).<ref name=Frey /><ref name="Iskandar"/><ref name=Bassal/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://syriacpress.com/blog/2020/09/27/syriac-identity-of-lebanon-part-6-syriac-lebanese-vocabulary/|title=Syriac Identity of Lebanon – part 6: Syriac Lebanese vocabulary
|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=27 September 2020|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref>
|last=Iskandar|first=Amine|date=27 September 2020|website=syriacpress.com|publisher=Syriacpress}}</ref>

According to Lebanese American historian [[Philip K. Hitti]]:
{{quote|A large number of plants in this conquered area, both wild and domestic, have preserved their pre-Arab Semitic names. Technical terms used in farming and agriculture are mostly Syriac and Aramaic, as are terms relating to theology and ritual (such as 'imad, baptism ; karz, preaching ; qissīs, monk ; mazmūr, psalm).{{sfn|Hitti|1957|p=244}}
}}


It should also be noted that many of the words in Lebanese Aramaic that passed to Lebanese Arabic are actually [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] in origin. Examples of these include ''hess'' (feel), ''mnih'' (well), ''‘a bokra'' or ''bakir'' (morning), ''barghash'' (mosquito), ''hon'' (here), ''honik'' (there), ''abét'' or ''abété'' (abbot or father), ''qarash'' or ''qarqash'' (freeze), ''lél'' (night), ''yom'' (day) and ''ta’a'' (come).<ref name=Origin2 /><ref name=Bassal/>
It should also be noted that many of the words in Lebanese Aramaic that passed to Lebanese Arabic are actually [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] in origin. Examples of these include ''hess'' (feel), ''mnih'' (well), ''‘a bokra'' or ''bakir'' (morning), ''barghash'' (mosquito), ''hon'' (here), ''honik'' (there), ''abét'' or ''abété'' (abbot or father), ''qarash'' or ''qarqash'' (freeze), ''lél'' (night), ''yom'' (day) and ''ta’a'' (come).<ref name=Origin2 /><ref name=Bassal/>


Lebanese Aramaic has also borrowed [[loanwords]] from European languages such as [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[French language|French]].<ref name=Origin2 />
Lebanese Aramaic has also borrowed [[loanwords]] from European languages such as [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[French language|French]].<ref name="Origin2" />


===Anthroponyms===
===Anthroponyms===
Line 118: Line 131:
[[Category:Languages of Lebanon]]
[[Category:Languages of Lebanon]]
[[Category:Languages of Syria]]
[[Category:Languages of Syria]]
[[Category:Syriac language]]
[[Category:Western Aramaic languages]]
[[Category:Neo-Aramaic languages]]

Latest revision as of 01:37, 14 June 2024

Lebanese Aramaic
Sūrien
ܣܘܪܝܢ
Native toLevant (Especially Mount Lebanon)
EthnicityMaronites
Extinctc. 19th-century
Afro-Asiatic
Language codes
ISO 639-3–

Lebanese Aramaic, also referred to as Lebanese Syriac or Surien (Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܢ),[1] is an extinct or dormant Western Aramaic language.[2][3] It was traditionally spoken in the Levant, especially in Mount Lebanon, by Maronite Christians.[4][5]

Name

Similar to Christian Palestinian Aramaic,[6] Lebanese Aramaic did not have a unique name as a dialect or language in contemporary sources as its native speakers simply referred to it as Sūrien (Syriac).[7][1] Modern scholars and sources mainly refer to the language as Lebanese Aramaic,[8][9] or Lebanese Syriac.[10]

The term Syriac was used in medieval times to refer to all dialects of Aramaic, not just the

Edessan dialect, as the term Aramaic held negative pagan connonations for the Christianized Arameans, thenceforth called Syrians.[11]

History

Map showing timeline of Aramaic speaking areas in the Middle East

Since

Ghassanid kingdom. However, the Maronites who isolated themselves within Mount Lebanon maintained their language.[13][7][14][7]

Aramaic remained the sole vernacular language of the Maronites until the 14th century when the Mamluks conquered North Lebanon.[15] This led to the mountainous Maronites to interact with the coastal city dwelling Arabs and subsequently begin to learn Arabic. Thus, many Maronites began to learn and speak both Aramaic and Arabic however those in more remote mountainous areas often were versed in Aramaic alone. The influence of Arabic gradually eroded the knowledge of Aramaic among the Maronites as more and more Maronites began to adopt Arabic as their first language with Aramaic being prominent only among those in more mountainous regions as well as among the clergy and some nobles.[16] The Maronite Church's decision to shift more towards Arabic in documents and liturgy also expedited the process. The Maronites of Aleppo switched to Arabic with Syriac only being in liturgical use by the end of the 17th century.[17] The last native speakers of the language in Lebanon were last recorded in the late 19th century with Arabic having become the dominant language of Lebanon at this point.[18][19]

One prominent contribution to Syriac literature was a press from Italy that was installed in the Qadisha valley for producing religious texts in Classical Syriac, as well as Arabic.[20][21] This was the first printing press installed in the Middle East.[22]

Revival

The Lebanese writer Said Akl promoted the revival of the Aramaic language in Lebanon arguing for a Phoenician-Aramaic origin of the Lebanese vernacular. In 1999, Akl published the Maronite Missal and Eucharistic Liturgy in the Lebanese dialect in protest to the Maronite Church switching to Modern Standard Arabic from the Lebanese vernacular for its homilies.[23][24] Similarly, Fouad Ephrem Boustany argued that the modern Lebanese vernacular is still imbued with specifically Canaanite and Aramaic phonological, syntactic, and lexical attributes, that do not even exist in the Arabic language.[25]

Classes teaching Syriac were still taught in some Lebanese schools until the 1960s before the Lebanese Civil War broke out.[26] With the Taif Agreement that helped end the war a strong mandate of Arabization was pushed on Lebanon which hindered progress for teaching Syriac.[27]

Despite this, there are still efforts by locals to

Neo-Aramaic in their schools as a means to preserve their heritage.[33][34]

Since 2021, Maronite towns and villages have begun to erect signs of their villages names in Syriac. Among these

Bcharre, Kfarsghab and Kfarhatna (Batroun District) have unveiled signs of the names of their villages in Syriac and have called for the recognition of Syriac as a national language in Lebanon. The sign in Ehden was vandalized and knocked down although it was later put up again.[35][36][37][38]

Alphabet

See also: Syriac_alphabet § Summary_table

Just as the spoken Lebanese Arabic dialect is divergent from Modern Standard Arabic, especially in writing, Lebanese Aramaic diverges from Classical Syriac or Ktovonoyo (the written).[1] Thus writings and inscriptions were either in the Estrangelo or Serṭā scripts and did not follow the colloquial dialect.[39]

Phonology

Vowels

Lebanese Aramaic uses the 5 Syriac vowels of A – é – I – O – OU. Because of this many Lebanese words have changed their spelling, pronunciation and even meaning due to the switch to Arabic which only has the 3 Harakah of al-Dammah, al-Fathah and al-Kassrah. This is also the reason why Maronite hymns sung in Syriac cannot be translated into Arabic as the loss of vowels is incompatible with the melody's rhythm.[40][41]

Syntax

Influence

Many words in the

personal names which have retained their Syriac names.[42][43][44] The local oral poetry zajal still contains much of the Syriac metrical system in its recitation. According to Robert Gabriel, a professor of Syriac and president of the Association of Syriac Language Friends, about 50 percent of the Lebanese grammatical structure is due to Syriac influences.[32]

Toponyms

Many villages, towns and cities in Lebanon bear toponyms of Aramaic/Syriac origin.[45][46] According to Al-Machriq, 530 villages in Lebanon have names of Syriac origin.[47] A study is currently being conducted by professor Elie Wardini of Stockholm University on "Aramaic in Lebanese Place Names." According to his findings: Of the ca. 25000 place names in the database included in this study (covering all the regions of Lebanon; compared to Wardini 2002 which included 1700 names covering North Lebanon and Mount Lebanon), we expect that some 36%, i.e. some 9000 place names will be Aramaic, a large enough sample where much of the phonology and morphology and part of the lexicon of Lebanese Aramaic can be elucidated. Given the nature of Lebanese place names, the description of syntax is expected to be more limited.[9]

Lebanese toponyms of Aramaic/Syriac origin
Toponym Syriac word Arabic word English translation
Ain/Ayn ܥܝܢܐ عَيْن /ʕajn/ Spring
Beit/B ܒܝܬ بَيْت /bajt/ House of
Kfar ܟܦܪܐ كَفْر* /kafr/ Village
Kifa ܟܐܦܐ - Stone
Majd ܡܓܕܠܐ مِجْدَل* /mid͡ʒdal/ Tower
Mar ܡܪܝ مَار* /maːr/ Saint
Mayy ܡܝܐ مَاء⁩ /maːʔ Water
Qarn/Qorn ܩܪܢܐ قَرْن /qarn/ Summit/Horn
Tur or Turo ܛܘܼܪ or ܛܘܪܐ طُور* /tˤuːr/ Mount or Mountain

*Aramaic / Syriac loanwords in Arabic, other words are cognates from a shared Proto-Semitic origin.

Vocabulary

Many Aramaic words and expressions have survived the transition to Arabic. Examples of such in the Lebanese dialect include eimata (or when), bobo (baby), ta'awa (to be late), wawa (ouch/it hurts), jawwa (inside), barra (outside), bobi (little dog/puppy), zoum (juice), zouwédé (provisions), shlaħ (to undress) and beit (house or family).[32][40][44][48]

According to Lebanese American historian Philip K. Hitti:

A large number of plants in this conquered area, both wild and domestic, have preserved their pre-Arab Semitic names. Technical terms used in farming and agriculture are mostly Syriac and Aramaic, as are terms relating to theology and ritual (such as 'imad, baptism ; karz, preaching ; qissīs, monk ; mazmūr, psalm).[49]

It should also be noted that many of the words in Lebanese Aramaic that passed to Lebanese Arabic are actually Phoenician in origin. Examples of these include hess (feel), mnih (well), ‘a bokra or bakir (morning), barghash (mosquito), hon (here), honik (there), abét or abété (abbot or father), qarash or qarqash (freeze), lél (night), yom (day) and ta’a (come).[10][44]

Lebanese Aramaic has also borrowed

loanwords from European languages such as Italian and French.[10]

Anthroponyms

Many

Youssef/Yusuf/Yawséf (Joseph) for men and Barbara, Helena or Héléni, Lea (Leah), Rachelle/Rakel (Rachel) and Yuliana (Juliana) for women. A common misconception is that Lebanese Christians only adopted these names in the 1920s during the state of Greater Lebanon due to French influence. However, as the architect, linguist and president of the Syriac Maronite Union-Tur Levnon, Amine Jules Iskandar, explains: Our names look like Western names. But if we read history, we discover that these names were here in our society long before they became European names. And if we learn Syriac, we understand the meaning of these names that originated in our land between Mesopotamia, Greece, and Canaan.[50][51]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Some of these names are of Canaanite, Greek or Latin root that entered into the Syriac lexicon

References

  1. ^ a b c Iskandar, Amine (27 February 2022). "About the origin of the Lebanese language (I)". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress.
  2. ^ Wardini, Elie (2012). "Some aspects of Aramaic as attested in Lebanese place names". Orientalia Suecana. 61 (Supplement): 21–29. Based on the material studied, the Aramaic used in Lebanon is clearly of the Western type.
  3. ISBN 9783110165784
    . The western variety of Aramaic lasted for a relatively long period in some secluded villages in the mountains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon in Syria (see Arnold/Behnstedt 1993).
  4. ISBN 9781438105796
    . …Maronites established villages in the remote regions of Mount Lebanon in the north, where they would live, work, and pray for hundreds of years. The church's liturgy is written in Syriac, the ancient language of the Maronites.
  5. ISBN 9781463238933
    . Maronites spoke the local Western Aramaic dialect and used only Syriac as a liturgical language, having given up Greek completely.
  6. ISBN 9783110251586
    .
  7. ^ a b c Hitti 1957, p. 204.
  8. ISBN 9781786730121
    . If the language in which we wrote the masterpieces of the past has changed, the Lebanese spirit has remained and continues to move with us from one language to the other. The transformation from the Phoenician [language] to the Greek and later to the Latin and finally to the Lebanese Aramaic [...] is not so different from the move of a family from one house to another.
  9. ^ a b Wardini, Elie (1 January 2018). "Aramaic in Lebanese Place Names: A Linguistic and Socio-Cultural Analysis". su.se. Stockholm University. Of the ca. 25000 place names in the database included in this study (covering all the regions of Lebanon; compared to Wardini 2002 which included 1700 names covering North Lebanon and Mount Lebanon), we expect that some 36%, i.e. some 9000 place names will be Aramaic, a large enough sample where much of the phonology and morphology and part of the lexicon of Lebanese Aramaic can be elucidated.
  10. ^ a b c Iskandar, Amine (6 March 2022). "About the origin of the Lebanese language (II)". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress.
  11. ^ Hitti, Philip (1957). Lebanon in History. India: Macmillan and Co Ltd. p. 204. Their earlier name, having by that time acquired in their minds a heathen connotation, became distasteful to them. Thus did the original Semitic name, Aramaic, come to be generally avoided and was replaced by the Greek "Syrian" for the people and "Syriac" for the language.
  12. ISBN 978-1-118-32524-7
    .
  13. ^ Hitti 1957, p. 179.
  14. ISBN 978-3-96110-251-8
    . Though after the Muslim conquests Arabic eventually became the majority language, it did not oust Aramaic very quickly: the historical sources suggest that Aramaic dominated in the larger towns and the mountainous regions of Syria and Lebanon for a long time.
  15. ^ Hitti 1957, p. 336.
  16. ^ Hitti 1957, p. 404-405.
  17. ^ del Rio Sanchez, Francisco (2013). "The Study of Syriac in an Arabized community: the Maronites of Aleppo". Cneru–Cedrac. 1: 237–242. In fact, at the end of the 17th c., the Syriac language was completely relegated to liturgical use between the Maronites of Aleppo, becoming a holy classical language whose study was reserved for the community clergy and scholars.
  18. ^ Erdman, Michael (January 2017). "From Language to Patois and Back Again: Syriac Influences on Arabic in Mont Liban during the 16th to 19th Centuries". Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Journal. 55: 1–19.
  19. ISBN 9789004423220
    . Corm affectionately noted how his own grand-parents spoke Syriac – not Arabic – in late-nineteenth century Lebanon
  20. ^ Iskandar, Amine (12 December 2021). "Syriac Identity of Lebanon part 18: Syriac Maronite Literature". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress.
  21. ^ Hitti 1957, p. 402.
  22. hdl:10576/8097
    . The first printing press in the Arab world came into being in the year 1610, when the Lebanon monastery of Dayr Qazḥiyā acquired a printing press from Rome, with Syriac letters.
  23. ISBN 9780739137406
    .
  24. ^ Salameh 2010, p. 53.
  25. ^ Salameh 2010, p. 264.
  26. ^ Iskander, Amine (23 May 2022). "The Maronite Patriarchs and the Syriac Language". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress. With the retirement of the last Syriac teachers in the 1960s, mountain schools stopped teaching this language for good.
  27. S2CID 154975167
    .
  28. ^ "Syriac Maronite Union-Tur Levnon: back to the source of the Syriac language (I)". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress. 18 February 2022.
  29. ^ "About Tur Levnon". tur-levnon.org. Tur Levnon.
  30. ^ Salhani, Justin (7 October 2012). "Can a dying language revive Lebanon's Christian population?". csmonitor.com. The Christian Science Monitor.
  31. ^ Salhani, Justin (27 September 2012). "Lebanon: seeking an escape from eternal confrontation". opendemocracy.net. openDemocracy.
  32. ^ a b c Frey, Michael (25 November 2008). "You may think you're speaking Lebanese, but some of your words are really Syriac". dailystar.com.lb. The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 22 March 2015.
  33. ^ Judith Sudilovsky (2012-06-22). "Aramaic classes help Maronites in Israel understand their liturgies". Catholic News Service. Archived from the original on July 2, 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
  34. ^ Daniella Cheslow, (2014-06-30) Maronite Christians struggle to define their identity in Israel, The World, Public Radio International. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
  35. ^ "City of Zgharta unveils artwork with name in Syriac. Calls for official recognition of the Syriac language in Lebanon". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress. 31 October 2021.
  36. ^ "Calling for the revival of Syriac and making it a national, the Ehdenian Movement erects Ehden town sign in Syriac letters". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress. 31 August 2022.
  37. ^ "Syriac villages in Lebanon proudly display identity with new signs". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress. 24 July 2023.
  38. ^ "Syriac villages in Lebanon show strong connection to their Syriac heritage". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress. 19 August 2023.
  39. ^ Iskandar, Amine (26 November 2021). "Syriac Identity of Lebanon part 13: The Three Syriac Scripts". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress.
  40. ^ a b Iskandar, Amine (6 September 2020). "Syriac Identity of Lebanon – part 4: Why is Spoken Lebanese a Syriac Dialect?". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress.
  41. ^ Iskandar, Amine (13 March 2022). "Toponyms of Lebanon". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress. As for the country's highest peak, it was dedicated to the Christian martyrs who fell victim to the genocide perpetrated by the Mamluks at the end of the thirteenth century. It was called Qornet Sodé, the Martyr's Horn or Martyr's Summit. Later, with the transition to Arabic writing, the Syriac vowels, such as "o" and "é", which did not exist in Arabic, were replaced by a "waw" and a "hamzah", resulting in al-Qornah al-Sawdaa, the black corner.
  42. ISBN 978-1-61719-461-0
    .
  43. ^ Freiha, Anis (1956). اسماء المدن والقرى اللبنانية وتفسير معانيها [The Names Of Lebanese Cities And Villages And The Interpretation Of Their Meanings] (in Arabic). New York University Libraries: American University of Beirut.
  44. ^
    JSTOR 10.13173/medilangrevi.19.2012.0085
    .
  45. ^ Iskandar, Amine (11 October 2020). "Syriac Identity of Lebanon – Part 8: Syriac Lebanese Toponyms". syriacpreess.com. Syriacpress.
  46. JSTOR 4196511
    . Nous avions ainsi le nom antique de la source; nous l'avons relu dans le texte palmyrénien sous la même forme, et c'est donc avec raison qu'on l'a rapproché de la racine araméenne «nefaq», «sortir». L'araméen «afqa» signifie d'ailleurs «canal» et tout cela convient trés bien au souterrain qui livre passage aux eaux. [We thus had the ancient name of the spring; we read it again in the Palmyrene text in the same form, and it is thus rightly linked to the Aramaic root "nefaq", "to go out". The Aramaic "afqa" also means "canal", and all this is very apt for the underground passageway through which water flows.]
  47. ^ Hitti 1957, p. 244–245.
  48. ^ Iskandar, Amine (27 September 2020). "Syriac Identity of Lebanon – part 6: Syriac Lebanese vocabulary". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress.
  49. ^ Hitti 1957, p. 244.
  50. ^ Iskandar, Amine (4 April 2020). "Syriac Identity of Lebanon – Part 7: Syriac Lebanese Anthroponyms". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress.
  51. ^ Iskandar, Amine (21 December 2022). "Anthroponyms from Mount Lebanon". syriacpress.com. Syriacpress.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lebanese_Aramaic&oldid=1228945388"