SYRIAC LANGUAGE AND LITERA TURE. The Aramaic dialect anciently spoken in Edessa and Western Mesopotamia (see ARA MAIC), in which many literary productions have been preserved. This name is derived from the Greek .Z,epra, which is either an abbreviation of 'Aaavpia, or a survival of the old designation Suri found in cuneiform inscriptions. Before the in troduction of Christianity the natives of Mesopo tamia called themselves Aramfeans. Subsequently this term was used especially for the pagans, while the Christians were designated by Greeks and Persians as 'Syrians' and seem to some ex tent to have adopted the name themselves. The Syriac language shows in its earliest documents a remarkably fixed type. and must therefore have been long spoken in Mesopotamia. Character istic of this dialect are the a of the prefo•mative in the imperfect of the verb and the loss of the determinative force of the emphatic ending a in the noun.
There was probably an extensive pagan litera ture both in Edessa and in Harran; but no speci men of it has yet been recovered. The earliest document in this language is the translation of the Old Testament, which was probably made by Jews. It may belong to the first Christian cen tury, though it was subsequently revised in some books with the aid of the Greek version. Two recensions of the oldest translation of the New Testament have been preserved in part in a Sinaitic manuscript of the Gospels and a Nit rian manuscript published by Cureton, contain ing fragments of the Gospels. This latter version may have been made in the middle of the second century. A compilation of the four Gospels, called the Diatessuron, was made by Tatian (q.v.), or translated by him from a Greek work of the sante kind about 180. This Diatessaron is lost and is known chiefly through Ephraem Syrus (q.v.) the Arabic translation of this work published by Ciasca seems to belong to the eleventh cen tury. and has manifestly been made conformable to the standard text. This compilation of the Gospels, after being long in use in the Mesopo tamian churches, was finally supplanted by the Syriac Vulgate or Peshitto (see BIBLE, heading Versions), apparently in the fifth century. The shorter Catholic Epistles (II. Peter, II. and John. Jude) and the Apocalypse, which were not found in the old Syriac Bible, were later supplied from the versions of Philoxenus (508) and Thomas of Heraclea (610). In addition to the canonical books. Ecclesiasticus (q.v.) was also translated from the Hebrew and the other Apoc rypha, including IV. Maccabees and a part of Josephus's Jewish War called V. Maccabees. were translated from the Greek, as well as several Pseudepigrapha, such as the Apocalypses of Baruch and Ezra. A translation of the Greek text adopted by Origeu called the Syro-Hexaplaric version was made by Paul of Tella in 017: and a revision of the New Testament was made by Jacob of Edessa at the end of the seventeenth century.
As early as any of the New Testament trans lations are the works of Bardesanes, the Gnostic (q.v.), who flourished in the second century and was a poet, philosopher, astronomer, and his torian. His Dialogue on Destiny is extant; his 150 hymns are lost. A number of Gnostic hymns have, however, been preserved in the Jets of Thomas, Written in the third century. In the fourth century Aphraates (q.v.) wrote his lies, and the famous Ephraem (died 373) his commentaries on the Bible and on Dia tessaron, his exegetical discourses, and his hymns. Among the disciples of Ephraem were such writers as Alia. Zenobius, Balai, and Cyrillona. The most flourishing period of Syriac literature extended from e.400 to the Arabic conquest. In
the course of the fifth century the great schism occurred which divided the Mesopotamian Church between Nestoriaus and Monophysites (qq.v.) and severed both from the Catholic Church. Much of the early Nestorian literature is lost; hut some works of Ha mana (died 607), Babai (died 610), and Elias of Mery remain. Among the Monophysites. Philoxemis of Mabug, Jacob of Serug (died 521), Jacob Baradams, after whom the party was called and Jacob of Edessa (died 70S) were perhaps the most influential writers. In addition to the strictly theological works, there grew up an torical literature, including the Chronicle of Edessa, the very excellent chronicle of Diony sius of Tell Mahre, many histories dealing ex clusively with the Church, such as that of John of Ephesus (sixth century). martyrologies and legends such as those of King Abgar and the Apostle Addai. Not only theological works, such as the Clementine Recognitions, the Apology of Aristides, the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius, and the commentaries of Theodore of Mopsuestia, were translated from the Greek, but also secular works like those of Homer, ..Esop, Aristotle, Galen. and Hippocrates. Maim, Moses, Probus, Sergius, and Jacob of Edessa were especially active as translators. After the Moslem quest the Arabic language gradually gained on the vernacular. But Syriac still continued to be spoken in many localities and to be cultivated as a learned language. The use of two languages led to philological studies, and many works on grammar and lexicography were written. Among these may he mentioned the grammar of Elias of Tirhan and the lexicons composed by Bar Ali Honain (died S73) and Bar Bahlul (963). Many hooks were translated from the Arabic in the tenth century, such as the Kali/u1 tea Dimnah, Sindbad. and life of ander. Classical Syriac was written with great elegance by the Sabian Thabit ben (died 001) and his sons. (See SABIANS. ) With the decline of the caliphate. the Syriac gained a more vigorous life, and numerous theological writers used it. The most important of these are Abul faraj Gregory. called Bar Elihraya or brams (1226-80), who wrote a grammar, a on the Bible, a history of the world, a commentary on Galen, translations from the Greek, essays on ethics and religion, astronomy, and other physical sciences (see BAH-HEnn.Eus) ; and Ahhdisho (died 1315), a learned Nestorian who wrote the history of Syriac literature and many other works. After the fourteenth century there were no noteworthy writers.
The system of writing used by the Edessene Christians before the fifth century was a fication of the Aramaic script then in use in Syria, resembling most the Palmyrene. From the tenth century this writing was known as Es/no/ye/0, or 'the writing of the The Nestorians continued to use it, while the ites adopted for distinction a cursive form. At first vowels were not indicated at all. quently were used. But in the enth century the Nestorians began to employ vowel points, and about 700 the adopted some of the Greek vowel:, which they wrote above or below the consonants to show the proper nunciation.
The modern Syriac spoken with dialectical differences by the Nestorians in the \Vest, those of Lake Urnmiall. in the Kurdish mountains. and on the plain of Mosul. and by the Jacobites of Tur Abdin. exhibits, in addition to Turkish, Kurdish, and Arabic tain peculiarities rendering it probable that it is a descendant of the Aramaic, once spoken in Assyria, rather than of the classical Edessene. In the dialect of 1:rumiali a considerable ture has been developed by American mission aries.