Syriac

The Syriac alphabet is a set of 22 consonants; there are no vowels. It was created in the 1st century CE as an offshoot of cursive Aramaic.

Written from right to left, (and occasionally vertically), the vowel sounds were implied by context. In the 8th century, diacritical marks were introduced to represent vowel sounds.

There were three variations of the script, one of which, the oldest and classical version called "Estrangela" is shown here. As the oldest version, Estrangela does not usually adopt the diacritical marks, and is therefore "pure" classical Syriac.

Looking at the table here, one might notice the first letter, ālep̄, and say "Isn't that the vowel "a"? It is actually a glottal stop, so not the same. Just below it on the table, Waw is the consonant "w" but can create the sounds of "o" and "u" when spoken. Yöt on the second row is the letter 'y' but can also create a vowel sound for "I" and "e."

Across the Middle East, Syriac was a major vernacular, literary, and religious language. It ha also been called Edessan, the Mesopotamian, and Aramaic. It was the main language of the early Christian era. As Syriac Christianity spread, the language became known as far as India and China. By the end of the Middle Ages, it became less a daily language and more reserved for liturgical use.

Syriac is still around. In fact, you can order a book designed to teach it to children.

While it flourished, however, it was used by several major authors of the early era. Jacob of Serugh (c.451 - 521) composed hundreds of homilies in verse. The poet Narsai (c.399 - 502) was nicknamed the "Tongue of the East" for his writings that influenced East Syrian liturgical theology. Jacob of Edessa (c.640 - 708) created the first formal Syriac grammar and translated Greek philosophical works into Syriac.

Then there was Isaac of Nineveh, also known as Isaac the Syrian, whose Syriac writings on mysticism were so popular that they were translated from Syriac into Arabic, Ethiopic, and Greek. We'll talk about him more tomorrow.