Languages

Syriac

SIRR-ee-ak

Also Known As Classical Syriac · Edessan Aramaic

Language

Citation Formats

General Reference

Language Atlas. "Syriac." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://language.interactiveatlas.org/languages/syriac-language.

APA Style

Language Atlas. (n.d.). Syriac. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://language.interactiveatlas.org/languages/syriac-language

BibTeX

@misc{languageatlas-syriac,
  author = {Language Atlas},
  title = {Syriac},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://language.interactiveatlas.org/languages/syriac-language},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Syriac (Classical Syriac) is an Eastern Aramaic language of the Northwest Semitic branch of Afro-Asiatic, which emerged in the first century AD from a local Aramaic dialect spoken in the ancient Neo-Assyrian kingdom and region of Osroene, centered on the city of Edessa. It survives today as the liturgical and literary language of Syriac Christianity, used by the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church among others, and is written in the Syriac alphabet, a cursive abjad descended from the Aramaic alphabet.

Facts

ISO 639-3 Code

syc 1

Speaker Count

0 1

No longer a vernacular; Syriac remains the sacred, liturgical language of Syriac Christianity, and is taught in some public schools in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Sweden, Augsburg (Germany) and Kerala (India).

Status

Liturgical / Learned Use Only 1

Attested From (Year)

from 100 1

Attested To (Year)

to 1200 1

Circa; following the Arab conquest in the 7th century, vernacular Syriac was gradually displaced by Arabic, and among its native Assyrian and Aramean speakers by Neo-Aramaic languages, with the transition largely complete by the end of the Middle Ages.

Region

Fertile Crescent, historically (northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, Syria, southeastern Turkey, Lebanon); Syriac Christian communities worldwide today (liturgical use) 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

In Family

Afro-Asiatic

Source Wikipedia: Classical Syriac Language

Written In

Syriac Alphabet

Source Wikipedia: Classical Syriac Language

Sources

1. Wikipedia: Classical Syriac Language

WikipediaHistory section

Quote, History section

It emerged during the first century AD from a local Eastern Aramaic dialect that was spoken in the ancient Neo-Assyrian kingdom and region of Osroene, centered in the city of Edessa.

View the Source

1. Wikipedia: Classical Syriac Language

WikipediaInfoboxView the Source

1. Wikipedia: Classical Syriac Language

WikipediaIntroduction

Quote, Introduction