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List of loanwords in Classical Syriac
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Loanwords in Classical Syriac entered the language throughout different periods in the history of Mesopotamia. The Alexandrian and Seleucid rule along with interaction with their fellow citizens of the Greco-Roman world of the Fertile Crescent resulted in the adoption of numerous Greek words. The majority of these were nouns relating to Roman administration, such as officials, military, and law.[1]
The largest group of loanwords come from Greek and is followed by Iranian loans, although words from Sumerian, Akkadian, and Latin are also passed on in varying degrees.[2] Several Hebrew loanwords exist (particularly religious terms). The Islamic Conquests changed the demographics of the empire and resulted in an influx of a new corpus of words from Arabic while life under the Seljuk, Ottoman, and Safavid empires introduced Turkic words to the language. Several loanwords in Classical Syriac are also partly taken or additionally rooted to other Semitic, Iranian, and Indo-European families, being rooted across various languages.
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Language isolates
Sumerian
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Semitic
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Akkadian
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Ancient North Arabian
Old South Arabian
Arabic
Classical Mandaic
Hebrew
Biblical Hebrew
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Iranian languages
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Northwestern Iranian languages
Middle Iranian languages
Parthian
Old Iranian languages
Classical Persian
Old Persian
Persian
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Indo-European
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Greek
Early Greek loans which were administrative in nature became obscure as society changed, although words adopted from translations of Christian and philosophical texts outlived the former and survive to the current day.[2] Many loanwords originally from Greek were philosophical and took the plural stem, and the current-day Syriac language remains rich in these loanwords.[300]
Ancient Greek
Byzantine Greek
Koine Greek
Latin
Latin loans appear to have been largely transmitted to Syriac via Greek. This is evident based on the Syriac orthography which demonstrates it was borrowed from the Greek form.[2]
Old Armenian
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Turkic
Ottoman Turkish
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Other
Old Georgian
Portuguese
Chinese
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Notes
See also
Bibliography
- Brockelmann, Carl (1995) [1928]. "Lexicon Syriacum" (2nd ed.).
- Hillers, Del. "COMPREHENSIVE ARAMAIC LEXICON PROJECT". COMPREHENSIVE ARAMAIC LEXICON PROJECT. Cincinnati, USA: Hebrew Union College. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
- Smith, Robert Payne (1903). A Compendious Syriac Dictionary (PDF). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781725206427.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - Ciancaglini, Claudia A. (2006). "SYRIAC LANGUAGE i. IRANIAN LOANWORDS IN SYRIAC". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
References
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