SYRIAC, a dialect or branch of the Aramaic, and thus one of the Semitic family of languages. It was a vernacu lar dialect in Syria during the early cen turies of our era, but ceased to be spoken as a living language about the 10th cen tury, being crowded out by that of the Arabian conquerors. A very corrupted form of it, however, is still spoken by a few scattered tribes, and principally by the Nestorians of Kurdistan and Persia. Syriac literature had its rise in the let century of our era. At first it was chiefly connected with theological and ecclesiastical subjects, Biblical transla tions and commentaries, hymns, mar tyrologies, liturgies, etc., but in course of time it embraced history, philosophy, grammar, medicine, and the natural sci ences. The oldest work in the language still extant is the incomplete transla tion of the Bible called the Peshito. In addition to the Peshito Version, which was recognized as the authorized version by all the various sects of the Syrian Church, there is one made in the be ginning of the 7th century by Paul of Tela, a Monophysite; this is based on the Hexaplar Greek Text, that is, the Septuagint with the corrections of Ori gen, and is of very great value for the criticism of the Septuagint, supplying as far as a version can the lost work of Origen. Another version, the Syro
Philoxenian, translated by Polycarp un der the auspices of Philoxenus, Bishop of Hierapolis (488-518), and revised by Thomas of Heraclea in 616, is very in ferior to the Peshito. Among the MSS. brought by him from Syria in 1842 Dr. Cureton discovered an imperfect copy of the Gospels, differing widely from the common text, and which he supposed to belong to the 5th century. The most learned representative of the orthodox Syrian Church is undoubtedly Ephrmm Syrus, who flourished in the 4th century. The Syriac literature, like the language, was superseded by that of the Arabians. The latest Syriac classic writer is Bar Bishop of Maraga, who died in 1286. The greater part of this litera ture has been lost, but much valuable material still remains unedited.