Syriac

views updated Jun 11 2018

Syriac Semitic language belonging to the eastern Aramaic group. In ancient times it was spoken in Edessa, now Urfa in se Turkey. Because of the importance of Edessa as a centre of Christianity in the 2nd century, the neighbouring Aramaic Christians adopted Syriac and it has been used ever since as a liturgical language by Oriental Christians of the Syrian rite. Syriac literature preserves many translations of Greek Christian texts that have not survived in the original Greek.

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