User:Red Phoenician/Surien language

Lebanese Syriac, also referred to as Maronite Syriac or Surien, is an extinct or dormant Western Syriac language. It was traditionally spoken in the Levant, especially in Mount Lebanon, by Maronite Christians.

Name
Similiar to Christian Palestinian Aramaic, Lebanese Aramaic did not have a unique name as a dialect or language in contemporary sources as its native speakers simply referred to it as Sūrien (Syriac). Modern scholars and sources mainly refer to the language as Lebanese Aramaic, or Lebanese Syriac.

History
Since ancient times the Arameans inhabitated the mountainous regions of Lebanon speaking Aramaic while the Canaanites on the coast spoke Phoenician. During the prominence of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 7th century BC Aramaic spread throughout the entire Near East and beyond becoming the lingua franca of the region. When the Arameans adopted Christianity they started to refer to themselves as Syrian and their language as Syriac. Syriac became the common language in Lebanon, besides Greek in prominent cities and Latin in Beirut. When the Arabs invaded the Levant they brought with them Arabic which supplanted Syriac in the region. However, the Maronites who isolated themselves within Mount Lebanon maintained their language.

When Alexander the Great conquered the region the Greek language was also introduced although moreso as a secondary language in urban areas while the Semitic languages still maintained precedence. When the Romans came Latin also in Beirut and the Beqqa. Aramaic replace Canaanite during Ptolemies and Seleucids. ADD Hitti 179

Syriac remained both the sole vernacular and liturigcal language of the Maronites (although the liturgical was the classical Syriac not colloquial form) until the 14th century when the Mamluks conquered North Lebanon. This led to the mountanious Maronites to interact with the coastal city dwelling Arabs and subsequently begin to learn Arabic. Thus, many Maronites began to learn and speak both Syriac and Arabic however those in more remote mountainous areas often were versed in Syriac alone. The influence of Arabic gradually eroded the knowledge of Syriac among the Maronites as more and more Maronites began to adopt Arabic as their first language with Syriac being prominent only among those in more mountainous regions as well as among the clergy and some nobles. The Maronite Church's decision to shift more towards Arabic in documents and liturgy also expedited the process. The Maronites of Aleppo switched to Arabic with Syriac only being in liturgical use by the end of the 17th century. The last native speakers of the language in Lebanon were last recorded in the late 19th century with Arabic having become the dominant language of Lebanon at this point.

Medieval scholar Gregory Bar Ebroyo (d. 1286) wrote that Aramaic/Syriac language "is divided into three dialects, one of the most elegant is Aramean/Aramaic, the language of Edessa, Harran, and outer Syria; next adjoining to it is Palestinian, which is used in Damascus, the mountain of Lebanon, and inner Syria; and the vulgar Chaldean Nabataean, which is a dialect of Assyrian mountains and the districts of Iraq."

One prominent contribution to Syriac literature was a press from Italy that was installed in the Qadisha valley for producing religious texts in Syriac, as well as Arabic. This was the first printing press installed in the Middle East.

Revival
Classes teaching Syriac were still taught in some Lebanese schools until the 1960s before the Lebanese Civil War broke out. With the Taif Agreement that helped end the war a strong mandate of Arabization was pushed on Lebanon which hindered progress for teaching Syriac.

Despite this, there are still efforts by locals to revive the language and make it widespread again. Groups that support this such as Tur Levnon and Bnay Qyomo have stated their goals of reviving Syriac language and culture in Lebanon. Courses teaching Syriac have recently gained popularity at universities such as the American University of Beirut, the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik and Saint Joseph University of Beirut. Similarly, the Maronites of the town of Jish have begun classes of Neo-Aramaic in their schools as a means to preserve their heritage.

Since 2021, Maronite towns and villages have begun to erect signs of their villages names in Syriac. Among these Zgharta, Ehden, Bcharre, Kfarsghab and Kfarhatna (Batroun district) have unveiled signs of the names of their villages in Syriac and have called for the recognition of Syriac as a national language in Lebanon. The sign in Ehden was vandalized and knocked down although it was later put up again.

Alphabet
Just as the spoken Lebanese Arabic dialect is divergent from Modern Standard Arabic, especially in writing, Lebanese Syriac diverges from Classical Syriac or Ktovonoyo (the written). Thus writings and inscriptions were either in the Estrangelo or Serṭā scripts and did not follow the colloquial dialect.

Vowels
Lebanese Syriac uses the 5 Syriac vowels of A – é  – I – O  – OU. Because of this many Lebanese words have changed their spelling, pronunciation and even meaning due to the switch to Arabic which only has the 3 Harakah of al-Dammah, al-Fathah and al-Kassrah. This is also the reason why Maronite hymns sung in Syriac cannot be translated into Arabic as the loss of vowels is incompatible with the melody’s rhythm.

Influence
Many words in the Lebanese Arabic dialect today have Syriac roots along with many Lebanese villages and personal names which have retained their Syriac names. The local oral poetry zajal still contains much of the Syriac metrical system in its recitation. According to Robert Gabriel, a professor of Syriac and president of the Association of Syriac Language Friends, about 50 percent of the Lebanese grammatical structure is due to Syriac influences.

Toponyms
Many villages, towns and cities in Lebanon bear toponyms of Syriac origin. According to Al-Machriq, 530 villages in Lebanon have names of Syriac origin.

Vocabulary
Many Syriac words and expressions have survived the transition to Arabic. Examples of such in the Lebanese dialect include eimata (or when), bobo (baby), ta'awa (to be late), wawa (ouch/it hurts), jawwa (inside), barra (outside), bobi (little dog/puppy), zoum (juice), zouwédé (provisions), shlaħ (to undress) and beit (house or family).

It should also be noted that many of the words in Lebanese Syriac that passed to Lebanese Arabic are actually Phoenician in origin. Examples of these include hess (feel), mnih (well), ‘a bokra or bakir (morning), barghash (mosquito), hon (here), honik (there), abét or abété (abbot or father), qarash or qarqash (freeze), lél (night), yom (day) and ta’a (come).

Lebanese Syriac has also borrowed loanwords from European languages such as Italian and French.

Anthroponyms
Many Lebanese Christians have names of Syriac origin. Examples of this include names such as Antonios/Antoun/Antoine (Anthony), Andraos (Andrew), Daniel, Gabriel, Mikhael/Michel/Michal (Michael), Pétros (Peter), Poulos/Paolos (Paul), Youhanna/Youhanon/Hanna (John) and Youssef/Yusuf/Yawséf (Joseph) for men and Barbara, Helena or Héléni, Lea (Leah), Rachelle/Rakel (Rachel) and Yuliana (Juliana) for women. A common misconception is that Lebanese Christians only adopted these names in the 1920s during the state of Greater Lebanon due to French influence. However, as the architect, linguist and president of the Syriac Maronite Union-Tur Levnon, Amine Jules Iskandar, explains: ''Our names look like Western names. But if we read history, we discover that these names were here in our society long before they became European names. And if we learn Syriac, we understand the meaning of these names that originated in our land between Mesopotamia, Greece, and Canaan.''