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Language
Syriac
The Aramaic dialect of Edessa and the language of Eastern Christianity.
- Family
- Northwest Semitic (Eastern Aramaic)
- Script
- Estrangela / Serto (Syriac scripts)
- Era
- c. 1st c. CE – present
Character
Syriac is a literary dialect of Eastern Aramaic that became the vehicle of a vast Christian literature from the 2nd century onward. Its Peshitta version is the standard Bible of the Syriac Orthodox, Assyrian, and Maronite churches to this day.
What it does well
- Extremely early independent translation tradition — a check on the Greek and Latin lines.
- Preserves Semitic idiom lost when Aramaic sayings of Jesus pass through Greek.
- Rich exegetical literature (Ephrem, Aphrahat) informs how the text was read.
Translation challenges
- The Peshitta's Old Testament and New Testament reached their standard forms at different dates.
- Some NT books (2 Peter, 2–3 John, Jude, Revelation) were absent from the earliest Peshitta canon.
Notes
The Old Syriac Gospels (Sinaiticus and Curetonianus) predate the Peshitta and preserve older readings.
Documents in Syriac
Manuscripts
Versions
English translations
No catalogued translations.