i

'

GORGIAS HANDBOOKS

Volume 2

Leshono Suryoyo
Ul' t oa> U*X

First Studies in Syriac

.

Leshono Suryoyo

1 9 9 *

First Studies in Syriac

4 | 9 9 ^

John F. Healey

<h>

Gorgias Press

2005

.";■; ■.:■

First Gorgias Press Edition, 2005.

Copyright © 2005 by Gorgias Press LLC,

AJl rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

Conventions. Published in the United States of America by Gorgias

Press LLC, New Jersey.

ISBN 1-59333-190-8

ft

Gorgias Press

46 Orris Ave., Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA
www.gorgiaspres s . com

Printed and bound in the United States of America,

Table of Contents

Table of Contents v

Preface ix

CD Recording xiii

Introduction xv

The Syriac Language xv

This Book and Its Use xix

General Note on Syriac Grammar xx

Abbreviations and Other Symbols xxh*

I. Writing System. The Alphabet 1

Consonants 1

List of Consonants 1

Exercise i - 5

II. Vowels and Other Signs 8

Vowel Signs 8

Other Signs 10

N ote on Punctua ti on 12

Exercise ii 12

III. Pronouns 16

Illustrative Texts 1 6

Grammatical Analysis 1 6

Grammatical Synthesis 20

A. Possessive Pronoun Endings Added to Nouns 20

B. Independent Personal Pronouns (with shortened
enclitic forms where they exist) 21

C. Interroga rives 21

D. Demonstratives 22

E. Additional Note on Enclitics 22
Exercise ill 22

IV. The Verb: Simple Perfect and Participle Forms 25

Illustrative Texts 25

Grammatical Analysis 25

Grammatical Synthesis 28

A. Simple Stem Perfect 28

vi Table of Contents

B. Participles (masculine forms)
Exercise iv

29
29

V. kJly foot and Composite Tenses 32

Illustrative Texts 32

Grammatical Analysis 32

Grammatical Synthesis 34

A. The Perfect Tense of jooi, with Enclitic Forms 34

B. Tenses . 34
Exercise v , 35

VI. Nouns and Adjectives. The Genitive Relationship 37

Illustrative Texts 37

Grammatical Analysis 37

Grammatical Synthesis 39

A. Nominal Forms 39

B. Adjectives 40

C. Uses of the Absolute State 40

D. Vowel Patterns of Nouns 41

E. The Genitive 41

F. Irregular Nouns 41
Exercise vi 43

VII. The Verb: Simple Imperfect and Imperative. Uses

of.

Illustrative Texts
Grammatical Analysis
Grammatical Synthesis

A. Imperfect Forms of the Simple (p e *al) Stem

B. Imperatives

C. Uses of j
Exercise vii

VIII. Derived Stems of the Verb

Introduction
Illustrative Texts
Grammatical Analysis
Grammatical Synthesis

A. Verbal Patterns

B. Meanings of Different Verb Stems
Exercise viii

45

45

45
47
47

48

48
49

52

52
52
53
55
55
56
58

Table of Contents vii

IX. Other Important Verb Forms 60

Illustrative Texts 60

Grammatical Analysis 60

Grammatical Synthesis 62

A. Verbs with the Vowel O (^«1 ? ) 62

B. Other Forms 63

C. ^) and jjaa. 63

D. Verbs with Initial s, x> s and % 63
Exercise be 64

X. Peculiarities in Verbs Containing Guttural Letters 66

Introduction-Grammatical Survey 66

Illustrative Texts 67

Grammatical Analysis 68

Exercise x 69

XI. Peculiarities in Verbs Beginning with j and - 72

Introduction-Grammatical Survey 72

Illustrative Texts 73

Grammatical Analysis 73

Exercise xi 75

XII. Peculiarities in Verbs with Only Two Root
Consonants in Many Forms 77

Introduction-Grammatical Survey 77

Illustrative Texts 78

Grammatical Analysis 78

Exercise xii 80

XIII. Object Pronouns Attached to Verbs. Adverbs.
Other Derived Forms of Verbs 83

Illustrative Texts 83

Grammatical Analysis 83

Grammatical Synthesis 85

A. Object Pronouns Attached to Verbs 85

B. Other Derived Stems 86
Exercise xiii 86

XrV Numerals, Dates, Days 89

Illustrative Texts 89

Grammatical Analysis 90

Grammatical Survey 92

viii Table of Contents

A. Numbers 93

B. Months 94

C. Days 94

D. Numerical Values of Consonants 95
Exercise xiv 95

Verb Paradigms 99

Table of Scripts and Vowel Signs 140

Scripts 140

Vowel signs 141

Readings 143

Introduction 143
Text 1: New Testament (John 1:1-18 and 20:19-25) 145

Text 2: Old Testament (Psalm 110) 1 48

Text 3: The Addm Legend (c. 4 th /5 th cent, A,D.) 1 50

Text 4: Bardaisan (A.D . 1 54-222) 1 54

Text 5: Aphrahat (flourished A.D. 337-45) 1 57
Text 6: The Chronicle of Joshua the Styhte (c. A.D. 507) 163

Text 7: Barhebraeus (A.D. 1226-86) 169

Text 8: St Ephrem the Syrian (d. A.D. 373) 1 76

Text 9: Philoxenus of Mabbog (d. c. A.D. 523) 180

Text 10: Thomas of Marga (9* century A.D.) 184

Glossary 189

Preface

This is a new edition of a Syriac grammar first published at
the University of Birmingham in 1980 as First Studies in Syriac
(University Semitks Study Aids 6) and subsequently reprinted
many times. The University Semitics Study Aids series had
been funded by the Nuffield Foundation, The book was also
reprinted for private use with minor modifications by the
Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

The author is pleased that so many students have studied
Syriac with the help of First Studies in Syriac, but as the years
have gone by the various minor errors and the more
significant defects in presentation have become increasingly
obvious, not least to the author himself. The book has also
been out of print in recent years and not easily available.

In this revised edition, which has a new tide, some
grammatical points which were given a very low profile in the
original book have been presented in more detail. The
experience of teaching Syriac using the book over twenty
years has led to many minor modifications and corrections.

One of the motives for writing the original book was an
attempt to replace what was in 1980 the only teaching
grammar of Syriac easily available, T. H. Robinson's Paradigms
and Exercises in Syriac Grammar (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1962 [4 th ed., original 1915]). At that time I regarded
Robinson as unnecessarily complex for many of the students
I found myself teaching. The passing of time has, in fact, led

x Preface

me to a more favourable view of many aspects of Robinson
and the new edition of Robinson (really a rewriting) by J. F.
Coakley (Oxford: O.U.P., 2002) is excellent. Also, since the
original publication of this book a number of other
introductory grammars of Syriac have been published. Most
significant among these is T. Muraoka's Classical Syriac A
Basic Grammar with a Chmtomathy (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz,
1997) which replaces BrockeJmann's contribution to the
Porta Linguaram Orientalium series - 1 used the 1965 8 th ed.
as an undergraduate, but very'recently another new grammar
in English has appeared, written by W. M. Thackston
{Introduction to Syriac [Bethesda, MD: IBEX, 1999]).

In producing a new edition of my own book 1 am in no
sense implying criticism of these other works. It is simply that
my book is different in style from these others and has filled a
certain niche in the various patterns of teaching which prevail
in different institutions. At a Syriac Symposium held in
Princeton in 2003 I was encouraged to hear many teachers of
Syriac commend my book and I was urged by a number of
colleagues, especially in the U.S., to produce a new edition.
Gorgias Press, in the person of George Kiraz, made a specific
proposal, to which I was delighted to respond.

Perhaps the biggest change which has occurred since the
1980 edition is the result of the fact that computer technology
has advanced so much in the last twenty- five years. In 1980
my manuscript was typed on an electric typerwriter and the
Syriac was inserted in an elegant form by Andrew Palmer. His
calligraphy had its own value (and coping with handwriting is

Preface

XI

■ :

a skill which students must acquire quickly if their teacher
uses a blackboard or whiteboard), but it is inevitable that
hand-written letters contain a certain amount of variability of
a kind which is a litde bit difficult for the beginner. It is
therefore a tremendous advance that Svriac fonts are available
for personal computers, though this development has only
recentiy reached the point, with Windows XP and Unicode
Syriac, at which I have found it feasible to transfer to an
electronic means of production. Here a particular word of
acknowledgement goes to the Beth Mardutho organization
and its downloadable Meltho OpenType™ Syriac fonts
(http://www.bethmardutho.org). This provides a variety of
fonts, but I wanted to retain the sertd script for the main part
of the grammar because of the relative simplicity of the
vocalization system with which it is associated.

George Kiraz of Beth Mardutho and Gorgias Press and
his collaborators are gready to be thanked for their work on
this new edition. Robert Aydin undertook the immense task
of typing the whole text in an electronic form. This was a
vital first step and his excellent work is here warmly
acknowledged, I am also grateful to Sebastian Brock for
reading and correcting the text. The introductory pages of the
original edition acknowledged also my debt to the late
Archbishop of Dublin, the Rev. Dermot Ryan, and Professor
Carme! McCarthy of University College, Dublin, my teachers
in Syriac. First Studies in Syriac owed its existence, however, to
the suggestion and inspiration of my friend John Eaton. For a
very short time we were colleagues in the Department of

XI i

PREFACE

Theology in the University of Birmingham and we have seen
little of each other in recent years. I owe much to the
encouragement he gave me in my early years as a teacher and
hence dedicate this new edition to him with happy memories
of 1973-74,

John F. Healey
Manchester, May 2005

CD Recording

Gorgias Press has produced a CD containing the illustrative
texts of all chapters as well as all the readings. Recorded texts
are marked with a CD icon, ®, in the left margin followed by
the CD track number. When two track numbers are given,
the first is for the West Syriac reading and the second for the
East Syriac reading. Chanted texts are marked with J\ .

The texts were read by Rabban Awgen Ay din and
George A. Kiraz (for West Syriac) and Daniel Benjamin (for
East Syriac) . English headings were read by Jenifer Whiting.
Acknowledgements are due to the Princeton Theological
Seminary Media Lab and the Assyrians Around the World
Studio, IL, who provided the facilities gratis. Special thanks
are also due to Hermiz Hasso and Sargon Hasso who helped
in the East Syriac recordings.

The CD, if not included in this book, may be obtained
from Gorgias Press (address at the front of the book).

The contents of the CD are as follows:
Track Content

1

Title

2

III. Illustrative Tests (W. Syriac)

3

IV. Illustrative Texts (W. Syriac)

4

V. Illustrative Texts (W. Syriac)

5

VI. Illustrative Texts (W. Syriac)

6

VII. Illustrative Texts (W. Syriac)

7

VIII. Illustrative Texts (W, Syriac)

8

IX. Illustrative Texts (W*. Syriac)

9

X. Illustrative Texts (W. Syriac)

10

XI, Illustrative Texts (W. Syriac)

virr

xrv

CD Recording

Track Content

1 1 XII. Illustrative Texts (W. Sytiac)

12 XIII. Illustrative Texts (W. Syriac)

13 XIV. Illustrative Texts (W. Syriac)

14 Text 1: New Testament (John 1:1 -18 and 20:19-25)

15 Text 2: Old Testament (Psalm 110)

16 Text 3: The Addai Legend (c. 4th/5th cent. A.D.)

17 Text 4: Bardaisan (A.D. 154-222)

18 Test 5: Aphrahaj (flourished A.D. 337^15)

19 Text 6: The Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite (c. A.D. 507)

20 Text 7: Barhebraeus (A.D. 1226-86)

21 Text 8: St. Ephrem the Syrian (d. A.D. 373)

22 Text 9: Philoxenus of Mabbog (d. c. A.D. 523)

23 Text 10: Thomas of Marga (9th century A.D.)

24 Text 1 (first pan): Chanted

25 Text 8: Chanted. First two stanzas according to the Mardin
tradition; last two stanzas according to the Tur Abdin
tradition.

26 III. Illustrative Texts (E. Syriac)

27 IV. Illustrative Texts (E. Syriac)

28 V. Illustrative Texts (E. Syriac)

29 VI. Illustrative Texts (E. Syriac)

30 VTI. Illustrative Texts (E. Syriac)

31 VIII. Illustrative Texts (E. Syriac)

32 IX. Illustrative Texts (E. Syriac)

33 X. Illustrative Texts (E. Syriac)

34 XL Illustrative Texts (E. Syriac)

35 XII. Illustrative Texts (E. Syriac)

36 XIII. Illustrative Texts (E. Syriac)

37 XIV, Illustrative Texts (E. Syriac)

Introduction

The Syriac Language

"Syriac" is the name of one of the most important forms of
Aramaic, specifically the form of Aramaic traditionally used
by the Syrian Orthodox C Church and the Syrian Catholic
Church, the Church of the East (also known as the Assyrian
Church) and the Chaldaean Catholic Church and also the
Maronite Church. In fact, some of these churches have
gradually responded to changing needs by conducting parts of
the liturgy in Arabic, but the strength of Syriac tradition is
such that the language is unlikely ever to be completely
displaced. Even in the large concentrations of these churches
in the U.S. and Europe, ever) 7 effort is made to teach Mono
suryoyo (as it is called in Syriac) to the younger, American- and
European- born, generation.

Aramaic belongs to the Semitic group of languages
(which also includes Hebrew and Arabic) and is better known
historically than any other language in the sense that Aramaic
has been in use for three thousand years and it is documented
throughout that period.

Aramaic had its origins, so far as we can tell, in the area
of northern Syria and Mesopotamia in the late second
millennium B.C. Inscriptions in Aramaic are known from
about 900 B.C. and continued to be produced throughout the
following millennium. During the Biblical age, the Aramaean

XVI

Introduction

states such as those centred on Damascus, Hama and Aleppo
emerged onto the world stage through their contact with the
great empires of the Assyrians and Babylonians and through
their appearance in the history of ancient Israel.

But Aramaic was destined to transcend these modest
historical and geographical limits and it was the Empire of the
Achaemenid Persians which was instrumental in bringing
Aramaic to this destiny. Following a more modest move on
the part of its predecessors, the Achaemenid Empire began to
use Aramaic as an international language of diplomacy and
commerce, what is often called a lingua franca, a bit like Latin
in the Middle Ages or English today. The result was the
extension of the use of Aramaic far beyond its original
borders in Syro-Mesopotamia. We thus find Aramaic
inscriptions and papyri from a vast tegion from Aswan in
southern Egypt and northern Arabia to the shores of the
Bosphorus near Istanbul and Bactria in Central Asia.

Aramaic also began to be used as a literary language. The
two best-known works are the Aramaic chapters of Daniel
and Ezra in the Bible, but there are fragmentary remains of
other early works from Elephantine.

The demise of the Persian Empire was in a way a setback
for Aramaic: potentially at that point it could have retreated
back into its original home in northern Syria and
Mesopotamia. But the independent states which appeared
after the end of the Achaemenid rule and continued into the
Seleucid and Roman eras adopted Aramaic as their official

Introduction

xvii

language and this led quickly to a new literary flourishing of
Aramaic.

By this point the new literary forms of Aramaic in
different areas had begun to differ from each other. In
Palestine we find western Jewish Aramaic being used by the
Dead Sea Scrolls sectarians and then in the production of
Aramaic translations of the Bible (the Targums). It is in this
context that Aramaic was spoken by fesus. In Mesopotamia
two other literary dialects of Aramaic emerged, Jewish
Babylonian Aramaic (used by the Jewish communities there)
and Mandaic, the language of the Mandaeans, whose religion
goes back to the early centuries A.D. and survives to this day.
Both Jewish Babylonian Aramaic and Mandaic are
represented in vast religious literatures.

And this brings us to Syriac. Syriac was the Aramaic
dialect of the city of Edessa (Urfa in modern Turkey). It is
known in pre-Christian times through inscriptions and legal
texts (H. J. W. Drijvers and J. F. Healey, The Old Syriac
Inscriptions of Edessa and Osrhoene [Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1999]). It
also began to be used by philosophers and poets for
literature, though this did not really take off until the Bible
began to be translated into Syriac as Edessa and its region
became Christian. Eventually, around A.D. 400, the whole
Bible, Old and New Testaments, was promulagated in a
revised translation called the Peshitta ("simple"). Thereafter
Syriac was established as a theological language on a par with
Greek (which was predominant in cities like Antioch), and
the prestige of the Syriac Bible, the only Christian Bible

: i

xvni

Introduction

existing in a Semitic language, led to the spread of Syriac as a
literary language. The situation is similar to that of Arabic as
the prestige language of the Qur'an. Early poetic
compositions in Syriac by authors like Ephrem the Syrian
(A.D. 306-373) then became very popular and when the
Syrian Christians became involved in the Christological
controversies which rocked the Church in the firth century,
they wrote their theological works in Syriac. A vast literature
has survived.

The golden age of classical Syriac literature lasted for
several hundred years and well into the Islamic period, but
inevitably, since the whole of the Syriac-using world was
politically subject to the Islamic dynasties, Arabic soon began
to predominate. The various Christians soon had to use
Arabic (and later Turkish and Kurdish) in intercommunal
affairs and some of the later Syriac authors w 7 rote both in
Syriac and Arabic (thus Barhebraeus in the 13 d1 century A.D.).

The second Christian millennium is often treated as one
in which Syriac was in decline. In fact much creative activity
continued and the later forms of Aramaic continue to be
used. The dialects related to Syriac survive in south-east
Turkey, north-east Syria and northern Iraq. A quite separate
form of Aramaic is still spoken in a small area north of
Damascus. The main survival of "classical" Syriac is in the
liturgy and Bible texts of the various churches of the Syriac
tradition.

Introduction

xix

This Book and Its Use

This introduction to Syriac is not, of course, a reference
grammar. Nor does it contain a full vocabulary. The works of
T. Noldeke {Compendious Syriac Grammar^ London, 1904; trans.
J. A. Crichton) and j. Payne Smith (A Compendious Syriac
Dictionary^ Oxford, 1903) are of permanent value in this
respect. (Both are available in reprints produced respectively
by Eisenbrauns [2001] and Wipf and Stock [1999]). Rather,
this is a teaching grammar. As such its main aim is to
introduce the student to the main features of the language
and a basic vocabulary. It avoids the complexities involved in
giving a systematic and complete explanation of every
grammatical detail. This, in the author's view, is the main fault
in some of the Syriac grammars currently in use.

From the start the basis of the explanation is illustrative
material gleaned from real Syriac texts. Real Syriac sentences
are also used for Syriac -English translation exercises. This
means that the student encounters at an early stage complete
sentences which cannot always be explained and understood
fully until a later stage, though examples are chosen carefully
to avoid the need to take too much "on faith". The
alternative to this approach is to give all details of every kern
as it occurs.

It is emphasized that the sections w T hich follow are
cumulative. It is best to master one section before moving on
to the next.

■

XX

INTRODUCTION

Paradigms are provided for reference purposes and the
exercises are integral to the course and should not be
neglected. With each is provided a vocabulary list, also
cumulative. Words are not normally repeated in the
vocabulary lists, though forgotten items may be checked
through the Glossary.

The selected readings are also integral to the course.
They do not introduce important new items of grammar, but
they do include much explanatory and exceptional material
(e.g. anomalous verbs and nouns) . Thus they are part of the
method of learning and are not to be regarded as optional.

General Note on Syriac Grammar

The noun and the verb are the main concerns of the grammar
sections which follow.

The noun in Syriac has a gender, masculine or feminine,
and may be singular or plural. In addition it has three so-
called states, "emphatic", absolute and construct. The
"emphatic" is the ordinary form which is used and it
incorporates the article. The absolute and construct are used
when a nominal form has certain specialized roles in a
sentence or phrase. To produce possessive pronouns
("his /your/ their book'*) suffixes are attached to the end of
the noun.

The verb has two basic tenses, conventionally called
perfect (past tense) and imperfect (future tense). Verbs are
usually formed of three root letters to which prefixes and
suffixes are added to convey distinctions of person ("I/he

Introduction

xxi

/we wrote"). On the basis of the three root letters there are
six common verb patterns or stems, modification of the
simple stem, which convey various modifications of the basic
idea inherent in the root (e. g., passive, causative).

Of the sections which follow, III and VT deal with
pronouns and nouns, while IV, V and VII-XIII cover all the
different types of verb, including those which depart from the
basic pattern because they contain root letters which are
subject to special rules.

Abbreviations and Other Symbols

Special signs used in transliteration will be found in Chapters
I and II. The sign _ under a transliterated letter indicates
fricative pronunciation (e.g. / = 'th as in "thin"). The sign
over a vowel indicates long pronunciation (e.g. u — oo as in
''moon"). * is used to indicate in untranslated texts that the
following word is a personal or geographical name: there is
no need to struggle to translate it! (Note that the use of the
asterisk in this way sometimes disrupts the correct linking of
consonants.)

In the main grammar sections, abbreviations are used
where they do not inhibit ready comprehension:

sing. singular

plur. plural

masc. masculine

fern, feminine

The abbreviations pe., ethpe., pa., ethpa., aph., ettaph.
are explained in Chapter VIII and used thereafter.

In some tables the sign : is used before an alternative
ending to the preceding word.

In the readings section, where brevity is necessary s., p.,
m., f. are used for sing., plur., masc, fern. As also are

sfx. suffix

impf. imperfect

perf. perfect

impv. imperative

Abbreviations and Other Symbols

xxiii

ptc. participle

Chapters are given Roman capital numbers (I, II, HI)
and exercises Roman small numbers (i, ii, iii). "III.2" refers to
Chapter III, sample sentence 2. "IV.A" refers to Chapter IV,
grammar section A. "v.2" refers to Exercise v, Syriac sentence
2.

T.7-ir"TT

I. Writing System. The Alphabet

Consonants

As is indicated in the Preface, the Syriac script is found in
several forms. The one used here is the serta script used
principally by the West Syrian churches. (Examples of other
scripts can be found in the Readings section (Texts 2, 9 and
10), and alphabet lists are reproduced on pp. 140-141,)

The Syriac script, like that of Arabic and Hebrew, is
basically consonantal, the writing of the signs to indicate
vowels being a secondary invention. The direction of writing
is right to left

List

OF

Consonants

1
t/5

z

-A

1
E

-

Name

Notes

I

»

'a/a£

This is not the equivalent of a, but accompanies any
vowel at the beginning of a syllable and is also used
for the glottal stop between two vowels (as in
south-eastern and Scots English "bo'el (botde)**}.

LS

b

Bet

^

g

Comal

As in "give", not as in "genius".

*

d

DaJat

•

O

h

He

,-

3t>

Wm

1. Writing System. The Alphabet

i

JO

J

J
j3

I

Z

, o
z b
3 i

/

»

Name

Zayn

Het

Tel

P

9

r

!
t

Yod
Kdp.
Ldmad

Mim
Nan
Semkat

8

Pi
$dii

Q¥

Res'
Sits
Taw

Notes

A more breathy sound than L Like a stage whisper.
Emphatic t, with the tongue not stiff, but raised
towards the velum (fleshy part at the back of the
roof of the mouth).

Similar to 'diafi, but sustained and with the throat
constricted.

Emphatic s, with tongue as for Tet.
Pronounced further back than English k.

A single letter in Syriac for sh.

The consonants are joined to each other in -writing, as in
Arabic. The slight changes of shape which result will not
cause any great difficulty-, but the following forms used at the
end of a group of letters should be noted:
9 becomes *

I. Writing System. The Alphabet

a becomes

^. becomes

.so becomes

__» becomes

-x becomes

» becomes \.

Other letters in final position simply add a short flourish
— t^, ^., etc. Some letters cannot be joined to the letter which
follows. AH this is summarized in the following table:

T

v

~

c

z

o

I

z

c
u

I

g

6

u

7.

<
H
I
C

3

!

Of

o
4

r

-

r-

4

-*■

I. Writing System. The Alphabet

1

c

7

->

J
j3

E

S

*

pa

c
u

7

"

pj

h- 1

1

<

: 7

H

7

„

".

C

u

*

J"

t

K

Confusion between consonants should not occur. With
regard to o (» and jd (q\ it should be noted that o is only
joined up to a preceding letter. U> can be joined up in either
direction. When J3 is at the end of a word, it has the form
jo_. When o is at the end of a word or group of letters, it has

the form a_.

There are certain conventional special joins between

letters;

f (/followed by *dh^) is written ]\,

V is often written ^,

There are other joins made purely for calligraphic
reasons in some manuscripts. The East Syriac (so-called

I. Writing System. The Alphabet 5

"Nestorian") script often combines / followed by * as in ^Jo
= myt\

Exercise i

(a) The following list of words with transliterations will
illustrate how consonants are joined up and may be
used for practice by covering one column and
attempting to write /transliterate.

u

*a

br

V*

drt

^^

gbr

OOl

hw

t**

hd

P

b%

j*^

btr

r°

kd

%^=

qtl

^f

Hfb

.^\v>

mik

^

7

Jj^jOq£>

pwqdn

ttj

syd

^j

rh

)v^V

slm

Iw

sryr

I. Writing System. The Alphabet

l^o

mlf

U^u

nps

S^ClA*

ysw

Low

bat

u*4

twbn

U^JXL^l

*ygwbiy

)\.aj ^N y>

rnlpnwi

lcpoa^ • fiojta

h'syilyws

j^jOLCO

muwyt

IU -

'df

Iboj^s

pTSWp

-A-Q*

ywhnn

(b) Further practice may be gained by transliterating the
following passages. Treat full stops as phrase-avid ers.
)oou yloa^o |Ul .^*- Jc^Jto . Kv i*z>, v oz»J

^ £>i, JLtn*? .^-»Q- ^ j3a=uto .U*scu ^ajorn,

.i^-Qajtlo JJL*o |UnNv> ^ot ^-?? ^^» -1*-^

)Liioo^ t^apf J^oj^jlL <^& <^oL

JlSl^N .^i-S* Oll<^... yOoC^O Ollc^ QAIOUO

I. Writing System. The Alphabet

WiU o-tSi n>mi lL(0 jjaoO la^c-zj* ..oov^c^jO

sj \

i*vi» rof l*>* .. ooti>, Joe* »^s. i>o _» L,^ L^ j-X ~-> * ~i ^ su(
.OOu^JV ^*-M OCX .11^.10 uOC^i^ U^ )-mLs QOCn

oooi Oj«LLio .JjlJL^j ^o* ^o .oo\ Joo* fesJ^o

^— (0 JiLi> ..niniS.\vi OoJ^. ^vN. yOC^s,

^Unvo v^^fjb^ .&^;»v^ JjL^om^ ;o,rt* L^i

ll»tVl-» V^S^tO .tV»,0 Ibd^^fc. .K-1JL* .h)m3

Notes

II. Vowels and Other Signs

Vowel Signs

Although the writing system was basically consonantal,
various dots and other marks were added to help with reading
and to eliminate ambiguity. The West Syriac pronunciation
and vowel signs are the basis of this book, but the main
features of the more ancient East Syriac tradition of
pronunciation are noted below and the East Syriac signs may
be found on p. 1 41 .

Three of the consonantal signs developed a secondary
use to indicate some vowels. Thus:
i (dkg) was used to represent e/e and a, especially at the

end of words.
^ (y) was used to represent f (e),

o (w) was used to represent 6 (only preserved normally

in East Syriac pronunciation) and u (as in "moon").

The East Syriac script (see pp. 140-141) distinguishes

between Q - u and o - o f and these dots are

sometimes imported into the West Syriac script to

reflect the original pronunciation. They are not used

in the main part of this book, though they do appear

where the Eastern script appears.

As the system evolved, further precision was felt

necessary and vowel marks adapted from Greek A, O, E, H

and OY (ou) were added above or below the preceding

II. Vowels and Other Signs

consonant to indicate types of vowel. Although mostly placed
above the consonant, they can be placed below to avoid
clashes with other signs. The system is not designed to
indicate vowel length systematically, though in practice three
of the signs are used for long vowels:

r y

O a as in ^ao (man). This is the short a of British English,

as in "hat", approximately the vowel in American
English "dot".

O dns, in Jans (sdm). In West Syriac tradition this original

a is pronounced as in "raw" in British English. In
American English it is like the o in the word "more".
Hence scholars often transliterate it as of 6 (as in the
tide of this book). In East Syriac pronunciation it
appears as a long a> as in "father". In this book, apart
from in the title, it is normally transliterated as a, to
reflect the most ancient pronunciation.

O e as in ^ao {men). Short e as in. English "set".

t *

O /(more rarely /) as in ul*j (ns). Note in this example

that both O and » are used to indicate the (long)

vowel.

O u (more rarely u) as in lCq3 (puq). As we have noted,

East Syriac tradition preserves an ancient distinction
here between o and u, and this is shown in its vowel
signs. The two are merged in West Syriac
pronunciation. Again note in the example given that
„ both O and o are used to represent the vowel.

( is also used, but only in the interjection of, "Oh"),

10

II. Vowels and Other Signs

Other Signs

A. Dots or diacritical points and other marks were used, as
felt necessary, to convey certain distinctions in sound and
meaning, Note;

(1) A dot placed over the letters b, g, d, k, p and t s indicates
their plosive pronunciation (as in English). A dot placed
below indicates an alternative, fricative (aspirated) or
"soft" pronunciation as v (i.e. bb), gb, dh, kh, f, th (in
transliteration indicated by b y g, d, &,£>£)■ F° r example, ^>
is hard and *=» soft. The soft pronunciations are normal
immediately after a vowel, even the vowel of a secondary
prefix or closely associated preceding word (but see B (ii)
below). These dots are smaller than other dots which
appear and are often omitted or used inconsistently. They
are not generally used in this book, except in this chapter
and when it is necessary to clarify pronunciation. When
they do appear, take note!

(2) Dots were also used to distinguish words which appeared
identical in unvocalized texts. Thus an upper dot on <>tX
indicates it is to be read as Idh rather than kh. The upper
dot on ^'fcfc^JO indicates it is to be pronounced qdteltaxhet
than qtal, which can be written ^^^^^o to indicate this.
There are some vocabulary items which are distinguished
in this way: jb&M is maikd, "king", while JnSin is melkd,
"advice". Also some verbal forms are identical in
unvocalized texts and are distinguished by dots.

II. Vowels and Other Signs

ii

(3) A double dot sign as in )Vy>o {ntalki) is used to indicate
that the word is plural It is placed where convenient in
the word and may merge with the dot of $, which then
becomes V ,

(4) A line under or above a consonant indicates that it is not
pronounced, e.g. JLjJ[ , pronounced ndld.

B. Features which are not indicated by special signs.

(1) It is important to note that Syriac words are frequendy
found without any vowel between the first two
consonants in the word (or two consonants at the
beginning of a new syllable within a word). In most cases
this is historically the result of the loss of an original full
vowel, which has been shortened and is eliminated in
later pronunciation. This shortened or eliminated vowel
(sometimes called shewd) can be represented in
transliteration by * (as, e.g., in Exercise ii) or simply
omitted,

Thus: "^^** i fi & a % or V-

JLaJ^o is kfdbd, or Mtdbd.
Note in the last example, kldbd, that the softening of
the / has arisen from the original vowel preceding it,
despite the fact that it has been reduced to a shewa (see A
(i) above).
(2) Also lacking any distinctive sign in Syriac is the doubling
of consonants when no vowel intervenes. In fact double
pronunciation of consonants was virtually lost at least in
West Syrian pronunciation, which is why there is no

12

II. Vowels and Other Signs

distinctive sign for it. Rare examples of a consonant being
written twice do, however, exist: l>V)V>e>, sammdne.
Knowledge of where consonants were originally doubled
will come with knowledge of the grammar.

The letters b, g, d, k,p, t> when originally doubled, are
always pronounced hard. Hence latent doubling reveals
itself in the unexpected hard pronunciation of these
consonants after a vowel (see A (i) above). Thus in ^Jic
a dot placed above the oi indicates hard pronunciation.
Since there is a vowel immediately before the letter, the
hardening must result from original doubling {qabbel).

Students are recommended to become familiar with
Chapters I and II before proceeding further.

Note on Punctuation

Punctuation is not very systematic and both MSS and printed
books contain great variations. However,

ft is used at the end of a paragraph.

is used for full stop, semi-colon and comma.
: *. .• usually indicate lesser breaks.
There is no question mark.

Exercise ii

(a) Practice transliterating and writing vocalized Syriac using
the following list.

^1

V

1L Vowels and Other Signs

13

L^

JjOi

baqra

matk,&

hand

r . r

madlfrd (

madbrd]

. J *

aldha

i f *

kensd

t

itd (itta)

it r 9

jLiboi

hdkana

f f

w

'did

lict

tawrd

htab

vA

9 C _

ara

V*

salit

K+j

pagrd

cfreb

fih'hd

.

14

11. Vowels and Other Signs

Ji^ooa

I

?. r
2U£D

V

)Ku

;*>

kumra
saypd

'aM

ndFrin

nfditd {n? ditto)

(b) Practice further transliteration and the reading aloud of
the following texts:

ULS. ^ j.oi . *til=f 3? Uv> » -S i UAJ *y*^j

|Uo ji nnN ^ -ft ,f£-fc ^oo .U^

r r

^> .<^ U ^-%. )J44^q ftiaL^.

,.oa^ )i? ^SflJ .loot H^=>?f -l°f ^iVw ? ^^

\^ — — ■ • f »•

*H s *isvl )ou^i -ftaoH» »oU> llo^ lootL JLidou

II. Vowels and Other Signs

Notes

15

III. PRONOUNS

Illustrative Texts

1. .001 v o^s n 8:54 ) He is our God -

2. -.Ui ? old VI V[ Q" 10:7 ) l am the & tc of the

sheep.

3 lti ^i oj*i (Lk 22:19) This is my body.

4 JJo Jj? M^ ot W (Ps 22:7) I am a worm and not a

,l*jUa man.
5. ^la UM £ol i-*? (Mk 5:31) You say, "Who

. j->- touched me?"

Grammatical Analysis

OCX

is the noun, )<>^s "God", with a suffix ^0
on the end to indicate the possessive
pronoun "our". The -a ending (with V^),
which appears on almost all nouns in their
normal form, disappears when a suffix is
added.

is the personal pronoun "he". The personal
pronouns are often abbreviated (here by the
non-pronunciation of the ©1, indicated by the
line under it) when they are used as enclitics
(particles attached to other words). The vowel
of the pronoun moves back onto the
preceding consonant. As enclitics the

III. Pronouns

17

2. VI

r

OOi

Ui,

pronouns can be used to mean "is/are".
Hence this sentence would be translated
literally as "Our God he (is)".
As in other Semitic languages, "is/are", etc.
are often not separately expressed.

is the pronoun "1", here accompanied by its
shortened enclitic form. \j] jLi( is "I am",
literally "I, I (am)". This repetition of
pronouns is one of the peculiarities of Syriac
which it takes some time to get used to.
is the noun JL^iL, "gate", with a suffix. ©iO,
"his/its".

consists of Ux, "flock" (a collective noun),
with j prefixed, j is a very common particle
attached to the beginning of words and one of
its main uses is to indicate possession, more
or less the equivalent of English "of". Here,
then, we have "of the flock". A special rule
covers its vocalization and also the
vocalization of the prefixed prepositions l^
and ^ (see III. 5) and the prefixed particle o
(IIL4), The rule is that the 9 has no vowel if
the following consonant bears a vowel {skewa
does not count as a vowel for this purpose),
but the 1 has O if the following consonant has
no vowel. Jux has a vowel on the first

.

18

3.

CJOI

-^s 3

III. Pronouns

consonant: hence \1L). Attached to U ^a we
would find Ju.ISi* j.

A strange feature is that whereas in English
we would say "the gate of the flock" or "its
gate", here, as often, the Syriac has literally
"its gate of the flock", where "its" looks
forward to and agrees with the following
noun. This seemingly redundant use of a
pronoun is characteristic.

is a merging of JJa, "this", with the enclitic
form of 001 (see III.l). ' Literally "This, it

(is)...".

^^), "body", with a
possessive pronoun suffix — , "my, of me".
This particular suffix has no vowel with it in
writing because it was not usually
pronounced: pagr.

is "I",

{tawi'd, later pronounced tan? fa) is a noun

meaning "worm". JJjis the enclitic form of )j(

(see III.2). Literally we have *% a worm, I

(am)".

combines o, "and", which is always attached

to the following word, and D, "not". The

pronunciation is n?Ia, though uf- becomes wa-

(o) if the first letter of the following word has

no vowel (see III.2 above).

III. Pronouns

19

JLiJ^s is a fixed phrase meaning "man". Literally it is
"son of a human being", ;J>, "son", and JjLj
(which can also be written JLiuf). Here the
genitive relationship (English "of ' phrase) is
expressed in a different way, without * (see
III.2andVIE).

i*al is a participle, "saying".

&j( ('ai) is the pronoun "you (singular)". Since the
English word "are" requires no separate word
in Syriac in this enclitic usage (see III.l), we
have literally "Saying, you (are)", introducing a
quotation.

is analogous to ojoi (see III. 3) and combines
^so "who?", with the enclitic form of 001
(001 ^so becomes 001 ^ which becomes
oito), literally "Who (is) he ...?". The action
of the verb follows in ^t'^O, "he drew near,
touched". For this type of verb with an e
vowel in the second syllable, see IX.A.
is a combination of "^ "to", and ^ (see
III.3). Particles like *^. take suffixes to give
"to me, you, him, etc." ^ is also used,
prefixed to nouns or with pronoun attached,
to indicate the direct object of a verb, and it
may be taken in this sense here: "touched
me". On the vocalization see III.2 above.

QJJSO

JL&

20

III. Pronouns

Grammatical Synthesis

All the main points about pronouns are covered above, a full
list of forms being provided here.

A. Possessive Pronoun Endings Added to Nouns

Before the addition of possessive pronouns, the -a ending of
the ordinary nominal form is removed. There are basically
two sets of endings:

(a) those used on nouns of masculine singular form and on
feminine nouns, singular and plural;

(b) those used on nouns of masculine plural form. The
endings added to masculine plural nouns have an
additional - before the ending.

Note that the forms of nouns are dealt with in VI. At
this point, the main thing is to note the first list (a). These are
the only forms used on nouns in Chapters I1I-V.

_Jb)

U)

my bodies

r 7

my body

y

your

your body

r^=r*

bodies

(masc. sing, "you")

r f

vour bodv (fern.

■a 7 _

(pagreM) <"*P*-^ S

bodies

sing, yuu )

his bodies

{pagraw)

his body

^^

her bodies

her body (the dot
over 61 indicates
fern.)

^^^

III. Pronouns

21

_co

to

our bodies

r r

our body

y 7

your

t 7 V

your body (masc.

V * S5*

bodies

plur. "you")

your

■31 t 7

your body (fern.

11 7

bodies

p] ur.)

their

their body (masc.)

4 . ^

bodies

their

■3 r r

their body (fem.)

■71 7

bodies

B. Independent Personal Pronouns (with shortened
enclitic forms where they exist)

Forms used as

Full Form

English

Enclitics

Equivalent

tt

T

*j

you (sing, masc.)

-JKJ

you (sing, fem.)

001

he

she

■ r

we

yO&jf

you (masc. plur.)

^jU

you (fem. plur.)

yOil

tf -31

they (masc.)

^7

■31 n

they (fem.)

C. Inter rogatives

who?

22

III. Pronouns

1 9 It f *

what?

»tf

which? (masc. referent)

u

which? (fern, referent)

£l\

which? (plural referent)

D. Demonstratives

if t

(■PI*

$

4 f

, QJOt

ft >

this (masc)
this (fern.)
these

that (masc.)
that (fern.)
those (masc.)
those (fem.)

E. Additional Note on Enclitics

(1) Third person (he, she, they) enclitics tend to be used even
with second person pronouns. Hence oa &j( = "you
arc".

(2) The vowel with the consonant which ceases to be
pronounced is often written on the preceding consonant,
if it has no vowel: oo £oi . The two may be written as
one word.

(3) If the preceding consonant does have a vowel, a merging
takes place, e.g. \koL followed by o©i becomes ooi JLio^.

Exercise ill

(a) Translate into Syriac:

III. Pronouns

23

1 . This is the king of the land.

2. Which gate is our gate?

3. Their king is a man and not their God.

(b) Translate into English:

oil^p U.£v ^oi:*, \L2L* j»dla£* 1 -

2.

y

..oaJ^ ]Sl i-aoj ***>? t**^
.001 jLzia** i---^ l 01 -^

t
f . — *

* k 3

4.

6.
7.

Vocabulary for the above:

)iNvi

king

liil

land (fern.)

apostle

1 * *

messiah, Christ

o

by, in, with (like "%* )

1 1/ -?i

will

^01

truly

1* *

light

JL^l

world, eternity

24

III. Pronouns

■71

since, for (placed second

in the sentence)

UioL

love (noun)

if 4

priest

d ...0?

either . . . or

14

father (takes suffixes

irregularly: see VI. F)

^i,

all

T v 4

always

V

with (takes suffixes like

^» and "V IIL5)

tf£^2

ever^'thing

M

belonging to (takes

suffixes like ^^ , III. 5)

Notes

©3,27

IV. The Verb: Simple Perfect and
Participle Forms

Illustrative Texts

1. ^)?o oms^ ^ja*.o

■71

2. .OOU^OO OJD^ yOOU*)

I ? 1>

, J. «-7» J*

*-=> o*-^j

3. .^oL **:

JU^ If*.

4. .pAol^o*.

O 5

5. isjl ja*ij JLjai ^ .n\ v»

Grammatical Analysis

(Lk 5:25) And he took his

bed and went home.

Some of them fled and

some they took into

captivity.

(Mt 9:9) As Jesus passed

on from there he saw a

man.

(Mk 14:64) From his

mouth you have heard

the blasphemy.

Qn 21:15) Simon son of

Jona, do you love tne

more than these?

1. ^^

(fqai) is the simplest form (3 rd person
masculine singular - "he" - form) of the basic
perfect tense of the Syriac verbal system. It
corresponds to the past tense, "he took", A
series of suffixes indicate the differences of
person (T,. you, she, etc.), a separate pronoun

25

26 IV. The Verb: Simple Perfect and Participle Forms

being unnecessary, though sometimes added
for emphasis. (Note that throughout this
book the 3 rd masc sing, perfect of the simple
stem is used as the citation form [i.e. the form
normally quoted] and the meaning is given in
the past tense without a personal pronoun. So
^P* is glossed as "took".)
is the noun JLw^L, "bed", with suffix "his",
"went", is basically the same as %-Q*. except
that the initial 'dlafc must have a full vowel
with it; hence the O, which here moves onto
the prefixed o because the dlap. goes silent:
^j?o becomes ^ffo (pronounced w%at).
(So also 9 + )ouSs produces |ou^o , waldba)
"house".

\h*J>

oouio

oo^x

oA

u

^LM—i

T

is a suffixed form of ^o, "from, than", used

here in a partitive sense, "some of them"

(compare French "de").

( s raq) is the 3 masc. plural perfect of ^^,

"fled".

similarly from i-=>j, "led, took".

is )■-**, "captivity", with the preposition ^,

"with, in, into, by". It has to be attached

direcdy to the word it goes with (like "^ in

III. 5), For vocalization like 9 see IIL2,

"when, as".

IV. THE VERB: SIMPLE PERFECT AND PARTICIPLE FORMS

27

B.

like '^vja*. above, but meaning "passed by,

crossed over".

"there".

is fundamentally the same as i-^x, except that

with the verbs ending in 'dlaj) the final vowel

is rather than O and the alaji is not

pronounced (see XII). The meaning is "he

saw".

'man'

Uao£> "mouth".

. Qj^\v^*, is another perfect verb form, with the 2"

person masculine plural ending, meaning "you

(have) heard".
J^a^ "blasphemy".

JoZ.) is a participle like &l in III. 5. The chief

characteristic of the participles of the simple
type is the vowel in the first syllable. The
second syllable has O as here, though in some
verbs O is found (as in iJ»( ). The meaning is
■ "loving". With a pronoun it may be used to
produce a finite form (like the participle in
English: "he is loving").

As noted at III. 5, ^ can be used simply to
indicate the object of a verb, as here.
tbZ. "abundant", with ^o means "more than".

A

28 IV. THE VERB: SIMPLE PERFECT AND PARTICIPLE FORMS

A question is often indicated in Syriac by
intonation and can be detected in texts only
from the context.

Grammatical Synthesis

A. Simple Stem Perfect

Most verbs in Syriac have three root consonants. These root
consonants appear in a number of patterns or stems. The
basic pattern is called the simple, stem of the verb. This
simple stem of the verb is described as p'al on the basis of
the set of root letters *^°> (^i-B being the 3 rd masc.
singular of the root in this stem).

The list set out below shows the vowel patterns and
endings used to indicate the different persons.

iSsci*

* r

t o£v,*\,Cljfc
* It

fiqai he took

kqlat she took

?qa!t you (masc. sing.) took

fqait you (fern, sing.) took

kqkt I took

gqat they took (note the o which

is not pronounced)
?qal they (fern.) took (note

double dots, and -*. which is

not pronounced)
fiqaltm you (masc. plur.) took

fqaltm you (fem. plur.) took

?qak we took

IV. The Verb: Simple Perfect and Participle Forms

29

It may be noted that in unvocaliaed texts (and even in
vocalized texts) dots can be used to distinguish K^jCia, "she
took", is^oa*., "you took", and K^jS*., "I took". (In later
Syriac, "she took" will have the dot after the L as in t^ja*..)

This tense-form can in particular contexts represent "he
has taken", "he had taken" or "he will have taken" in English.

The full list of forms for li« is given later (XII), as are
those of the other verbal patterns or stems (VIII).

B. Participles (masculine forms)

Active "^Qjl. (plural J^Lo*.), "taking, carrying".
Passive ^jjq*. (plural J^.oa*), "taken, carried".
For verbs like \y*, the (singular) active participle is
normal: j^L.

Exercise iv

(a) Translate into Syriac:

1 . We are taking the bed of the man.

2. We heard everything.

3. The aposde saw the Messiah.

(b) Translate into English:

9 #

.otX ^so(o \z>\ka JLi^

■ .

30 IV. The Verb: Simple P erfect an s j Participle Forms

Vocabulary for the above:

r

wrote

thus

-.Ks

opened

liUt*>

city (fern.)

jOSj

went out

p

1-=^

made

r 1

like (pronounced 'a$

Ji^lilJD

sword

lauJi.

sharp, sharpened (a passive

participle)

U*

answered (see )(*•)

UHi

angel

said (see ^fO

IjU^

word (fern.)

K^

among

$

brothers (singular \Li)

^iii

fell

fetters, bonds, chains (fem.

#

plural)

U

hand

going up (participle)

IV. THE VERB: SIMPLE PERFECT AND PARTICIPLE FORMS

31

li

JUaJ

together

ILduC*

temple

f I

time

11^,

prayer (fem.)

Mi

behold (exclamation)

■f

crippled (passive participle)

Notes

V. j&J, loo and Composite Tenses

Illustrative Texts

^ u

2. hksio loot t*Q ^^
.Jooi oi^.]ls

3. KJ I»q2 Moo ©o

4. loo* ouK.( e? otbo '

* — t & v* ^

5. .ovX oooi ,^i^o

6.

JoC" ..Q°l» JU| Uo

(I Cor 2:16) We, however,
possess the mind of Christ.
(Jn 1:10) He was in the world
and the world was through
his power.

On this mountain was the
blessed Panbo, the teacher.

His mother, however, was

from the city of Amida.

(Mk 3:2) And they were

guarding him.

And no man had gone out.

Grammatical Analysis

i. £

"to us": hete with the sense "belonging to .

"but, now, however" is placed second in, the

sentence (compare *j«^in iii.4).
\Z±l "mind".

kJ means basically "there is". It is very

commonly used simply for "is, ate, etc.", and

is here followed by a repetition of ^:

V. hJi, loc* AND COMPOSITE TENSES

33

loot

oca

ouJS^?

L

OOl

*<L *

K^ 1

"belonging to us". _2^ h^*l effectively means
"to have",

is the 3 rd masc, sing, perfect of the verb
"was". It is frequently used, especially in its
enclitic form, loot, in combination with JS^t
and other verbs (below),

can mean "by means of and )£*? can mean
"power" as well as "hand". (Note the
tendency for \ to become silent and lose its
vowel when a prefix is added.)

The pronoun suffix am.icipal.es the following

nominal phrase.

"mountain".

"blessed man, saint".

"reachef".

k-*l "there is", frequendy takes a pronoun
suffix to produce "she is", "they are", etc.
Here it is the fern. sing. 3 td person suffix and it
should be noted that the plural-type suffixes
are used (III.A(b)).

is the 3 rd fern. sing, of Jooi, enclidc, and it
makes the sense clearly past.

plur. active participle from ^-*, "kept,
guarded".

34 v. b~l lost and Composite Tenses

ooot is the 3 rd masc. plur. enclitic from Jocn and

with a participle produces a continuous past
sense: "they were keeping. . .".
For ^, see III.5.

6. uul is an alternative form of JUj], "man" (see

further in VI. Q.

A perfect verb followed by a form of foot, as
here, may produce the sense "he had gone
out".

Grammatical Synthesis

A. The Perfect Tense of Joe*, with Enclitic Forms

Enclitic forms

Basic forms

MEANINGS

loo

Jo»

he was

Looi

Loot

she was

£—0Ol

JEs-»ooi

you were

«K-*0Oi

^K>0Ol

you (fetn.) were

JS-.0OI

A^OOi

I was

OOOl

ood

they were

bkOOl

mOOI

they (fern.) were

you were

^^-.OOt

^K*00t

you (fem,) were

^*OOl

-*OOl

we were

B. Tenses

We now have the following possibilities:

r

V. Ku, Iooand Composite Tenses

35

(1) ^^inc, "he took".

(2) ooi ^jqjl, "he is taking" (with an enclitic pronoun or a
separate noun as subject).

(3) |ooi *^bja*», "he was taking".

(4) Jooi ^ja*., "he had taken" (sometimes simply "he
took", indicated by context).

Exercise v

■ •'

(a) Translate into Syriac:

1. You were going out from the temple of God.

2. There was an angel in the city.

3. The king had opened the gate of his house.

(b) Translate into English:

.iLV-^j? )vt..°> *OOi2^ |OOi djtoo

)*»?■

3.

c& foot «©ioA^? JouSko (ou^x ta2^ )ooi -&foK»f
JoC^s Lo2s. KjJi-^i Jooi -cxo\J Jj©l .f£0^3

Joe* ot^Jla "^n

'* I J> I J ■» # > ^ i .» ;P . * 9> „

^u^ if ^4 ^^u .Uoi.t K^* ? ^LJ,*'

36

V. JSJ, Jooi AND COMPOSITE TENSES

llcaVci °i X joc-

Vocabulary for the above:

Lso—2

answer

jUw

letters (fem.)

luaj

youth (fem.)

laii.

pagan (noun)

It # #

beginning (here absolute:

seeVT)

L<£>

towards, with

-

holy man

lord (tide of saints and

church leaders)

l±^

race

(uu^aiii

Syrian

I^Q^t Kfci

a place-name (Jboo^l.

means "border")

%^

until now, as yet

^

to, belonging to, by

ilaoVa2*

Persians

Notes

VI. Nouns and Adjectives. The
Genitive Relationship

©5,29

Illustrative Texts

f V *

if •

2. oooi t J^» U-V-Sci

i r J

4. JfQi £^ )l*x lU^x

5. Jl^ao JL=»X^ t»Oi o«o

Grammatical Analysis

(Lk 8:1 1) The seed is the word

of God.

(Lk 15:2) And the Pharisees

were murmuring and saying. . .

(Mt 16:16) You are the Christ,

the son of the Jiving God.

The church had been made

into a fire -temple.

And this report reached the

king of kings.

1. jU^j "seed", is a noun of the most common form.

The final (O is a suffix which originally
indicated detlniteness ("tbe seed"), but in
standard Syriac it has no such special
meaning. The meaning can be definite or
indefinite ("a seed, the seed"). Traditional
grammar calls this the "emphatic" state of the
noun to distinguish it from the absolute and
construct (below). It should be noted that this

37

38 VI. Nouns and Adjectives. The Genitive Relationship

term does not refer to any emphasis in the
meaning.

|£0^o "word", is similar except that it has the ending
added to the L characteristic of feminine
nouns.

|oC^( i can be used to represent "of (see III.2), in
which case the words linked by 9 appear in
their ordinary, i.e. "emphatic" form. This is
the most common way of conveying the
genitive relationship between nouns,

2. JJL'^B "Pharisees", is also an "emphatic" or ordinary
form, but with the plural masculine ending

Jo.

"murmuring", is a participle (see IV.B) and its
pjaral ending is not (O but the so-called
"absolute" ending, ^-O, which is found
principally on adjectives and participles used
as predicates (as here). Adjectives and
participles agree in number and gender with
the nouns they refer to.

|o^f o£» In this phrase ; is used for the genitive, but
the following noun is anticipated by the
pronoun suffix. Hence literally we have "his
son of God",

]lL adjective "living".

<e#

4. t

is a passive participle (see IV.B), "done,
made". Since it is the predicate it has the

VI. Nouns and Adjectives. The Genitive Relationship 39

absolute, not the "emphatic" form and since
the subject is feminine, it too is feminine.
Hence the feminine absolute singular ending
?C>, which happens to be identical in form
with the masculine "emphatic".
|t<X "church", feminine, ordinary form.
I^qj K*i> "temple/house of fire", demonstrates an
alternative way of indicating the genitive
relationship - not using ^ . In this less
frequent method the first noun is given a
special form distinct from the "emphatic" and
absolute forms. This third form is called the
construct. Thus the ordinary form of the
word for "house" is )KJ>; its construct is

5 ]J»)Li "report", is "emphatic", its construct being

J^so "reached" (see )(** IV.3).

}n\^ .S^v* "king of kings", is made up of the singular

construct of j nN vt, "king", followed by its

"emphatic" plural.

Grammatical Synthesis

A. Nominal Forms

Nouns and adjectives have endings to distinguish singular,
plural, masculine, feminine and the three uses which a noun
or adjective may have in a sentence: ordinary /"emphatic",

40 VI. Nouns and Adjectives. The Genitive Relationship

absolute, and construct. The word o^ , "good", provides a
convenient model.

Masculine

Feminine

Sing.

PL.

Sing,

PL.

Ordinary,

«si

\U4

"Emphatic"

Absolute

»i

4

Construct

-^

J

&

^

For pronoun suffixes on nouns, refer back to III.A.

B. Adjectives

Adjectives agree with the noun they refer to in number and
gender and adjectives are placed after the noun in nominal
phrases like "the good king": )La^ n\v,

C. Uses of the Absolute State

The uses of the absolute state are:

(i) to mark the predicate if it is an adjective or participle;
(ii) after ^a, "all", in what are called distributive
phrases, such as "every man, all men": ju[ ^^o (the
emphatic form of the noun is mlm).
(iii) after certain other set expressions, such as JJj meaning
"without" and in some numerical expressions (see XIV).

VL Nouns and Adjectives . The G en htve Relati on s hip 41

D. Vowel Patterns of Nouns

In s^ and a number of nouns and adjectives the vowel
pattern of the basic word does not change when endings are
added or in forming the construct. In many nouns and
adjectives, however, the vowel pattern of the stem does
change. For example,

l^'" becomes .^sow in the construct, and
)>a!S.S becomes *"-^ in the construct.
These represent two main types in which an extra vowel
is inserted when the -a ending of the emphatic is lost. Further
examples will appear in later sections.

E. The Genitive

The genitive relationship can be expressed in Syriac in three
ways, so that the following three phrases have exactly the
same meaning:

(1) Using *: ) / .»■> yi f ) . " . .N m

(2) Using * and an anticipatory pronoun: jLl^A^af owL ^ jfc .

(3) Using the construct of the first noun: jL^JLao ^

The last is much rarer than the other two.

F. Irregular Nouns

There are a number of nouns, unfortunately often the most
used ones (and also the word for "other"), which do not
follow the neat pattern set out above. The following list
covers the most important ones.

42 VI. Nouns and Adjectjves, The Genitive Relationship

Emphatic

singular and

MEANING

Construct
singular

Forms with
suffixed
pronouns

EMPHATIC
PLURAL

la?, "father"

none

*a? ('^, "my

r

father"; woia^i
('abuy), "his father"

"parents";

"spiritual
fathers"

JLU, "brother"

none

«-?, "ray bt.";
-oioi.^ "his
brother"

J£f, "brothers"

bo?, "mother"

71

(also for
absolute)

<**>(, "my mother";
ooo(, "his mother"

|W

JL&J, "other"

( m .);)it4(f0

rare

1 r

"woman, wife"

LjSsj? (***)

-L&Ji!, "my wife";

■» F

oil^ "his wife"

IU, "son"

«+*=• (her), "my son";
oiia'j "his son"

Jliri (construct:

"daughter"

tiis (Ab0

-lus (£ e ra$, "my
d."; ftL^S, "his d."

)K^, "house"

(m.)

M

-isj^i (^y- 1 ^, "my
h,"; ©t&*4 "hjs h."

<**

\is-u>, (satta),
"year" (f.)

^

suffixes not used

J^

!^-iJ»,

-K-tJ3, "my v.";

ji'fQJS

VI. Nouns and Adjectives. The Genitive Relationship 43

Emphatic

singular and

MEANING

Construct
singular

Forms with

suffixed

pronouns

Emphatic
plural

'Village" (f.)

oiJt^;-©, "his v."

JJ.J "hand" (f.)

«*^, "myh."; Or^L.?,

- # ■ ^

"his hand"

- * ■ *

Ua*., "name"

»^>Q». (jaw), "my n.";
ciJscul, "his name"

(oii*., ILocsa*.

Exercise vi

(a) Translate into Syriac:

1, The light of Christ is good.

2, The word of the king is written in the letters of the
messenger (angel).

3, The good land is in the hand of the Syrian.

(b) Translate into English:

■imi^N, K^f flo^ jouS^ ,J^o

* V p X. — — ^ ^p

■ ► 4> ■ v^ • *

iff
..Jbor

V* i 1 r Tj f

1.

2.
3.

4.

44 VI, Nouns and Adjectives. The Genitive Relationship

Vocabulary for the above;

■ » :

I

r

ik

carpenter

woman, wife

in authority (adjective)

husband, master

animals (collective sing.)

tribe

nobleman

kingdom

head

(walled) city

heard, listened to

voice

lord (used of God)

anger

anger s wrath

but, except, if not

Notes

® 6, 30

VII. The Verb: Simple Imperfect and
Imperative. Uses of *

Illustrative Texts
i. JLL? ©& J^-S,

; °>m-\ jl^^ . on vtorn^
V

u^ infill ~>t .^0

* . _ > I t" y t

t J* * . r _ * >/

-

1f W|" ,-2*3 ^O^ffl

■ ™ - "^V i -*oiJSa^

it V

(Mt 8:20) There is not
anywhere for him to rest his
head.

And he was saying that
there did not remain for the
Franks anywhere to rest the
head on the coast of the sea
except Tyre.

(Mt 10:33) Whoever denies
me before men, however, I
will denv him also before
my father who is in heaven.
And he said to him "Draw
near, aposde of Christ".
Overthrow from before me
all the heresies.

Grammatical Analysis

1. JS."^ is used in exactly the same way as J^l and

means "there is not" (is^t + JU ).
9 JlAJ means "where, anywhere", introducing a
subordinate clause.

A*

46 VII. The Verb: Simp) e Imperfect and Imperative. Uses of »

4 %

U-»i

is the imperfect tense, 3 d masc. sing., of the
verb j^""y, "rested, iay". This is the simplest
form of the imperfect and by contrast with
the perfect this tense corresponds usually to
the future. Hence literally "he will rest",
though the same form is used also for "he
would rest" according to the context,
"head".

apart from meaning "of, also introduces
indirect statements, corresponding to English
"that", as in: "He said thathe did it."
"remained" (see further on this type of verb
in XII).

is the imperfect, 3 d masc. plur., of -jsoxo.
"coast", here construct with pal, "sea".
^o J^co "except".

4 11

V

i

froaaj

Up

r

3>i

i

\r r r

"whoever", introduces a subordinate clause.

is 3 masc. sing, imperfect of V^d , "denied",

while joSld? is the 1 st sing.

is a preposition, "before".

the plural of JLij^ (construct phrases).

"also".

a suffixed form of jL^f, "father" (see VI.F).

is simply "in heaven". The prefixed $ changes

this into a relative clause: "who (is) in

heaven", the % being used as a relative particle.

It is invariable.

VII The Verb: Simple Imperfect and Imperative. Uses of i 47

4. tjso;_o is the masc. sing, imperative, "draw near!", of

the verb lz>;jS. Imperatives (masc. sing.) are
basically derived from the imperfect by the
removal of the prefixes (though see the details
in VII.B). Thus oo^ol , "you will draw
near", ^o^o, "draw near".

5, 3Qifc£o masc. sing, imperative from .°>Z* m, "threw,

overthrew".
■j^i o p<r° u ^ tn suffix, attached as if to a masc. plur.

noun,
^.ol^o ^o with suffix: "all of them".
■ ^-ftt'-ff "heresies", is a loanword from Greek and its

form is anomalous.

Grammatical Synthesis

A, Imperfect Forms of the

See Paradigm 1 ,

Simple (p e 'aJ) Stem

^V 4 71

nesqul

he will take

^aja*A

iesqul
tesqul

she will take

^nrifcl

you (masc. sing.) will take

S^l

tescflin

you (fern, sing.) will take

^oo*j

efyiil

I will take

nestflun

they (masc.) will take

■* - T

ws(fldn

they (fern.) will take

tetyliin

iestfldn

you (masc. plur.) will take

you (fern, pi.) will take

48 Vll. The Verb: Simple Imperfect and Imperative. Uses of f

^^ojaju nesqul

we will take

A very small number of verbs, including ^j and
have O in the imperfect: ^p and t ^^t (see Paradigm 2.B).

B. Imperatives

See Paradigm 2.

\fl(^t

■■■■

s*qu/

take! (masc. sing.)

<^>oo*

$qul

take! (fem. sing.)

s"qul
{^quiun)

take! (masc. plur.)

,» 4

fiqul

$qulen

take! (fem. plur,)

They are used as in English except that for prohibitions,
i.e. negative commands, the imperfect is used, preceded by JJ
(see viL2).

C, Uses of \

The uses of * are:

(1) to mean "of.

(2) as the relative word or particle: )lvm-^ v 03 ^ "our
father, who art in heaven".

(3) to form subordinating conjunction like ? i^*(, "anywhere
to ...", and 9 ^o, "whoever ...".

(4) to mean "that", introducing indirect speech (and
sometimes a direct quotation; see vii.5).

VII. The Verb: Simple Imperfect and Imperative. Uses of , 49

(5) for purpose, "so that, in order that", introducing a
purpose clause.

It is always attached to the following word and has no
vowel if the following consonant has a vowel written with it.
Otherwise it is pronounced i , da-. (The same rule applies to
^, *^ and o, prefixed to other words: see IIL2, 4, 5 and
TV.2). .

Exercise vii , -

(a) Translate into Syriac:

1 . We will take the sword.

2. He said that he would overthrow the kingdom.

3. Write to my father.

(b) Translate into English:

^.QDyo );^U> ***£Lsji oo* nh-> joroo

■ '£ ^hS^o b>C\m°nif ^ot^L ,U

• . ■*■ "^ *■■•-*■

X

2,
3.

4.

50 VIL THB VERB: SIMPLE IMPERFECT AND IMPERATIVE. USES OF <,

Vocabulary for the above:

KlCO

put (compare >»-3 in VII. 2 )

liLeL

mind, thought

*+*\°>

worked

wages

-ii

ate (compare J-S0( )

)sA„*V

bread

+

rebuked, complained

.rtmOj

cut off

71

from } than

y

pardoned

&&

debt

i UAJ

just as

Juk^.

debtor

spirit (fern.)

U^oc

holiness

separated

gave (Note that in this verb the

middle toot letter goes silent in

many forms; l^Ou becomes t^oi^:

see XI. 5. Here the enclitic form of

"we" is attached to the first

\i+M

participle)
prisoner

VIL The Verb: Simple Imperfect and Imperative. Uses of « 51

Notes

VIII. Derived Stems of the Verb

Introduction

Modification of the meaning of a verb's simple stem (IV and
VII above) can be produced in Syriac and other Semitic
languages by adding prefixes and/or modifying the vowel
pattern. Syriac has five common derived stems (and a few
rarer ones) but most verbs occur only in one or two of the
stems, often with meanings of a simple type, like those of the
simple stem (p' r af).

Illustrative Texts
i. .o£ J&U? pl£

2.

k,*^ * oov

4.

5.

4 v * "" 7

COO JUJ3C

\T. t

Los©) ^C^-v «JLJTo

N^-SuOO OCsai.} J^jO
\, * f

(Lk 17:9) He did whatever

was commanded him.

(Mt 2:4) And he gathered all

the chief priests.

And he went out with joy of

heart to the place at which

he was martyred.

And Saladin similarly

departed with them.

After he had been

excommunicated, he and

those with him, and he had

received punishment. . .

52

VIII. Derived Stems of the Verb

53

Grammatical Analysis

J 3 !-**

,-a£>U

■f, r

jioto

"made, did".

"anything". Unlike ordinary nouns this word

does not normally change: "anything

which...",

is the 3 rd masc. sing, perfect of a stem derived

from *ja3, "commanded". Traditional

grammar, using the verb ^^0^3 as a model,

called this the "<$>*«£ the V- being the chief

characteristic. The / prefix, as elsewhere in

Semitic verbs, has a reflexive/passive

connotation. In meaning the *etp' 'el stem is

usually the passive of the p''al. Hence, "it was

commanded".

"gathered", is the 3* 1 masc. sing, perfect of the
pa el stem, distinguished by the vowel pattern
and here derived from juls, "gathered". This
stem has an implicit doubling of the second
root letter, though the doubling is not
retained in West Syriac pronunciation. This
stem often conveys an intensification of f'al,
though this may not always be clearly
represented in the appropriate English
equivalent.

is the plural masc. construct of JL=i^ "great",
"priest".

V?

'went out, departed", simple stem perfect.

54 VIIL Derived Stems of the Verb

(loU "joy".

)Lso$Lx "unto, up to".

)koo$ "place".

^SoU is 3^ masc. sing, perfect 'etpaal stem, usually
the passive of the pa el, which for this verb is
"^sNo, "he crowned" (often used of the
crown of martyrdom). The 'el-, characteristic
of passives, reappears as in the 'etfi'el stem,
but the different vowel pattern should be
noted.

VIII. Derived Stems of the Verb

55

^-J

L

ODOl

is the 3 rd masc. sing, of the *ap?el stem of the
verb "^a*., "he took", which is used in this
form to mean "departed". The characteristic
of this stem is the prefixed *dlap. Sometimes it
has a causative meaning, for example, turning
N **\ "reigned", into ^aol, "made king,
came to power",
"similarly, thus".

i jj^s _» "after", introducing a clause.

ft»***llu is the 3 rd masc. sing, perfect 'ettag'aj, derived
from »***, which does not occur in the Jf al
stem, but in the 'ap'el commonly means "he
excommunicated" (jo+**(). The 'etiapfal,
characterized by the double L, with V- at the
beginning, is the passive of the afc'el Note
that it is pronounced "ettahram. When, in the
imperfect, there is a farther /- prefix, it is

normal to omit the t which would begin the
stem.

^AjD 3 rd masc. sing. pad, "received, accepted". The
p'al means "accused". Implied doubling of
the b in the pa si is indicated by a hardening
dot, as here (see II, B(ii)).

) m ', a Jam^o is an idiom for "punishment, capital
punishment" and it can be written as one
word (as in viii.4). jomy is a nominal form
derived from the verb jon> meaning "put,
imposed" (see XII), so the idiom means
literally "imposition on the head".

Grammatical Synthesis

A. Verbal Patterns

The six main Syriac verb stems are listed here, using the
example of *^i3, which gives them their traditional names.

Name of stem

Description

Abbreviation

^i3

fd

simple stem

pe.

^ls>U

'eiff'el

often passive of
simple stem

cth.

^i>

pad

often intensive

pa.

^U

*etpa a I
'ap'el

often passive of
the pa el stem

ethpa.

~~~X~"

often causative

aph.

^IsLU

ettap al

often passive of
the *^>Vstem

ettaph.

~v

56

VIII. Derived Stems of the Verb

(The abbreviations are used to identify the stem, but the
full tide is retained wherever it is important that the student
should note the details of the particular stem.)

The other persons of the perfect and the imperfects are
formed by the addition of the prefixes and suffixes already
encountered in dealing with the p f 'al stem to the new stem.
So, e.g., the 3 masc. sing, imperfect of the pa el is n^x&j,
while the 3 rd masc. plur. perfect of the qfeVstem is Q l S.s 9* .

r

A full list of forms, using the verb ^J5, "killed", will
be found in Paradigm 1. This should be understood and
mastered, in its main features at least, before moving on to
subsequent sections.

B. Meanings of Different Verb Stems

The phrases "often intensive", "often causative" and "often
passive" in the table above are a useful starting-point for
seeking the meaning of a particular verbal root in a particular
derived stem, but it is important to note that pa el and ap el
forms often have meanings which are unrelated (or appear to
be unrelated) to the meaning of the simple stem. For
example, ^^^-a*. (p' : 'al) means "he took", but the 'ap'ei of the
same root, ^soO*J, means "he set off". Knowing one of
these meanings would not help much in working out the
other. ,.\vi (p*'al) has two basic meanings, "reign, be king"
and "advise", while the *e£paal t jNinU, means "take counsel,
consult". The *ap*el can mean "cause to be king" or "give
advice". The verbal root *s> m +£> in the /V means "draw near",
in the pa' el "offer" and in the *ap'el "fight".

VIII. Derived Stems of the Verb

57

It follows that the only way to be sure about the meaning
of a particular verbal root in a particular stem is to look it up
in the dictionary and memorize it, root and stem together.

A further fact to bear in mind is that not all verbal roots

y

are actually used in all stems. j^Di is the *apel of the verbal
root j^D and means "he proclaimed", but this root never
occurs in the p'al form. Despite this, however, it appears in
the dictionary under ji-o.

pa' el forms often make an intransitive verb describing a
static state of affairs into a transitive verb which conveys the
idea of creating that state and which requires an object. Thus
the ^Wof ^>a means "it is finished" (which cannot have an
object), but *&* (pa'el) means "he completed" (which must
have an object). The pa'el is also used to create verbs from
nouns: lAoi^, "gold", produces the verb ^©i*. "gild, cover in
gold".

A litde care is needed with passives. If the pa'el or op, el

•n r

of a verb root has a special meaning of its own (like ls;_o
above, meaning "offer"), the el- prefixed form will give the
passive of that meaning. So ^zi^ou means "he (or it) was
offered". If the "^Whas a simple causative meaning derived
from the simple stem, note that it is the "causing" element

-31 f

which becomes passive in the 'ettap'ah ^^joi, "he caused to
kill", becomes "^^^uoLU, "he was caused to kill" (not "he
caused to be killed", which is in fact an alternative meaning
for the afrefoi this verb).

58

VI II. Derived Stems of the Verb

Exercise viii

■■i -•/.-.;- .;■;•.■ j ■^■■* l :

(a) Translate into Syriac:

1. They were killed in this place.

2. His son was made king.

3. You will accept his word.

(b) Translate into English:

* ? » f , " •» 4

.yOJi ^Lt l*Ii H^>0<* Oi-SOi ^JOB

cajL»l ( U Lio* Juoio JUl^fc^o «+-^ jLmlij -Iko
^'^L 1^30 Dt^i "^x l=»? i"**^ «^^3J^J

-N-W ■mAAmflfl^; 0I.CLSO }K-=>0 jKLJ-iG

U_>p )Laj JJp^oJLfy |Lil^ mi>V> oooio .JL^Xj ooi

I* .1 r -Ti* f v>.n' |*> *;k

— * *

Vocabulary for the above:

*^v* ethpa. took counsel

^5Q2> «J1 one mouth (JLaoa3), agreement

JLULx Arab (from the Tfayite tribe)

)JL\ brother

VIII. Derived Stems of the Verb

59

pa. absolved

blood

reckoned, counted

sin

divided

war

trouble

time

death

aph. became king

wicked man

Christian

distress

persecution

harsh

tyrant

then

descended (see XI. 2)

capital punishment (a

compound)

enemy

Notes

IX. Other Important Verb Forms

(*^o, IMPERATIVES, PARTICIPLES,
INFINITIVES, VERBS BEGINNING
WITH s/s/s/z)

Illustrative Texts

1. ©u^.

»!^B»

(K°i>i

V

2.

3.

4.

)L»3. •*«( JL13 +-O0

Grammatical Analysis

1. o*_>^d is 3 masc. plur. fi'al perfect of t^^a,

"worshipped, bowed down". This type, of

it
verb, usually intransitive, has O in the second

( : ,\)

5.

(Mt 2:11) And they fell down

and worshipped him and

opened their treasures and

offered him gifts.

(Mk 7:34) And he said to htm

"Be opened 7 ' and at that very

moment his ears were opened.

And when Addai had built the

church, they were offering in it

vows and offerings.

(Lk 15:32) It was, however,

fitting for us to be merry and to

rejoice.

And the Maphrian obeyed him

and went up with him to the

monaster}'.

IX. Other Important Verb Forms

61

v

£D

■J, y

JLofCUS

V y ""

syllable of the p*al. Of this group KAj,
■■0- s .cd and \zs\js have been met already. In
derived stems they are normal, but the pe.

r 4

imperfect often has O instead of oO. These

verbs are joined in this respect by verbs like

>ajqj, which also has O in the imperfect.

"treasure".

is 3 rJ masc. plur. perfect pa. of oiJ3,

"touched", meaning in this stem, "brought

near, offered".

"offering".

r

ethpa. imperative masc. singular from 4**^_3,

"opened". Each derived form has its own

imperative.

"hour". )Kx»Li otz», literally "in it, in the

hour", means "immediately".

"ear" (feminine). Note that ***K_sU in the

final phrase is 3 rd fern. plur. perfect.

pe. perfect, "built" (see )>**, (cot, etc.: see XII)
"offering", is the pa. particle (masc. plur.)
from >-3i-o, the sing, being -~s cv Each
derived form has its own participles and
infinitive.

\i

71

"vow".

is the pe. infinitive from bm, "made
merry", here, as usually, with *^: "to make

Do

62 IX. Oil I KK I M I'ORTANT V HKB I 'ORMS

•merry" (prefixing "to" to the infinitive as in
English).

is an active participle form (pe.) meaning
"fitting".

is the pe, infinitive from )£**/«£**, "rejoiced".
Verbs with final ala£ have for O in the
infinitive.

5. >4-i3jN-iLi is y masc. sing, perfect ethpe. of >&^&jl. It
illustrates the peculiarity that verbs beginning
with i*., js, ,, and ) in the stems with a l
prefix transpose the L and the i*. f*sx> / . /j .
In addition, with . and j the u becomes *and
9 respectively. Hence instead of i **i&jtLl we
find ^^i. The ethpe. here means
"obeyed", though it can also mean "was
heard".

oc^ with suffix indicating the object.

Ji^>QX "dwelling, monastery".

) * • ; a ^ "Maphrian" (traditional tide of the eastern
head of the Syrian Orthodox Church),

Grammatical Synthesis

A. Verbs with the Vowel (Vl^)

Verbs with the vowel O in the p e al stem perfect usually have
O in the imperfect, but are normal in the derived stems. The
list here uses the verb "^-1^ meaning "feared".

IX. Other Important Verb Forms

63

Perfect

^

Imperfect

! 'it

B. Other Forms

A complete list of imperatives, infinitives and participles will
be found in Paradigm 2.B. Note that there are pa. and aph,
passive participles as well as ethpa. and ettaph. participles.
The usage of participles is in practice the same as in English.

C. ,pi and r

r it

These two verbs have O in the perfect and O in the
imperfect. See Paradigm 2.B.

D. Verbs with Initial s y s, s and z

These verbs undergo transposition (metathesis) of the first
root letter and the / of the derived 'et- prefixed stems.
E. g., \\v^» Li becomes vv^Kjh',

64

IX, Other Important Verb Forms

Note also in the case of verb roots beginning with / and ^the
mutation of the t of the prefix to / and d respectively: ^1.1
becomes ^}jl.

Exercise ix

(a) Translate into Syriac :

1 . He said that the king would fear God.

2. It is not fitting to write this.

3. Nobles, make the priest king!

(b) Translate into English:

1 7: \ fvt.y^X ^N^>mv>

1.

^\.Q1 "^^ rL. p^. +L.

— V ^ V

>Ol^O

4 % f * A *

iff I to ' !»»»' I"l I ' r V «' r I »|*\

jjooi )^*o JUjoo i^bo Jl\a^,^ .n«°Hj Jivijl^i N

^ U©» jb^V>l |jL^J> Uot^ JO-ls]*

,0t»o3

Vocabulary for the above

1; i^o^nl Turkoman

"^x over, against, concerning
JjLj place, region; plural ) Lo«ju

X^La. ruled, prevailed over; pa. gave

power (here passive participle)

IX. Other Important Verb Forms

65

JJW^

evil thing

IK~

many

"^^m

bore

^^

pa. spoke

V

one

r

happened (note short form of

fem. plur.)

1" r

holy, holy man

Ute

cathedra (bishop's chair), pulpit

pa, explained

UI

people

Ulo

book, writing

1 ;j- J

priestly, holy

F'
*-*

1

hand (construct of |1*(: see

VLF); jla , "by means of

Notes

X. Peculiarities in Verbs Containing
Guttural Letters

Introduction-Grammatical Survey

The number of totally irregular verbs in Syriac is very small.
However, many verbs contain consonants which regularly
produce variations on the normal vocalization. The biggest
group is that of verbs containing guttural letters (( ot w ^)
and j (which counts as a guttural in Syriac).

(1) Verbs beginning with ( have already been encountered,
e.g., i-io(, "he said". I always has a full vowel at the
beginning of words. Thus the equivalent of %ja* is v^oi.
Otherwise the I often quiesces and the vowel which
belongs with it is transferred to the preceding consonant.

■Ti

Thus the pe. imperfect of ^^ixs?, "ate", is ^oaJL». (The

-ft

imperfect of ^ioi is of an intransitive type, ;_aolb). See
Paradigm 3, comparing it in detail with the ordinary verb
forms, and noting particularly the aph. and ettaph. in
which a o appears,

(2) In verbs ending with a guttural or 9 there is a general

y

tendency for the vowel before the guttural or j to be O

I y

rather than any other vowel. E.g., the imperfect of \vjcul
is va^iojJ, "he will hear", while the ethpe. is ^^i
(Note here the interchange of «*. and i, : IX.5). See
Paradigm 4. Verbs ending in (G are dealt with in XII.

(LA

©9,33

X. Peculiarities in Verbs Containing Guttural Letters 67

(3) Verbs with ? in the middle have peculiarities arising from
the nature of ( which always either bears a vowel or is
completely silent, its vowel being transferred to the
preceding consonant E.g. , ^Uc, "he asked" (note the
O vowel), is the pe. of this type, while its imperfect is
^Uj (nefai becoming nesat). The pa. and ethpa. forms
are regular. See Paradigm 5.

Illustrative Texts

In the following illustrative texts some forms of these three
kinds are introduced. Other examples will appear
subsequently in texts, exercises and readings. The student
should attend to the basic features of these verbs. Details wtll
not then cause any problem.

1. ^.Q*I ^jLoi '<jx>1 Jiq (Lk 19:28) And when Jesus

Mgi cvv >t riN . ■. q°x j had said these things he

■)"-*-}oJLl ^fb} went out ahead to go to

Jerusalem.

2. k%Cu "^i^ouo And he was killed in the war
. ) V * rn ( oJl^ju «oiQjjiO and his sons were led away

prisoners.

3. i«go W\ \ t_oS>o And he commanded his

\ >^ > yOii^jUj servants that they should kill

4 r ' If* -71

..ooo ^^_^^Sj J-ipa every Egyptian who would

meet them.

4. \l SL JLaooI oocio (J a 16:23-24) And on that
^o»- ^- .^3t-io 4 ctS jl* L day you will not ask mc

68 X. Peculiarities in Verbs Containing Guttural Letters

lS.« ChS.

anything. Until now you
have not asked anything in
my name.

He asked for Basil and he
was told; "Tomorrow you
can sec him in the church".

Jti-^ ©iS.

Grammatical Analysis

1. ;-»( "he said", a verb beginning with i, should be

compared with the regular vowel pattern of

..^ny^^N. is joijdS, "ahead" (see )3*-o) with 3 rd sing.

suffix.
^JjL* is the imperfect of the pe. of ^jii. The i has

become silent ; "he will go (out)".

2. '^Sk^joU is the ethpe. (passive) perfect of ^^^-o: "he

was killed".
^o-ol=> the suffixed plur. of \^ (see construct plur.
ci>, VT.F).

■n

o^«pL( is the ethpe. perfect 3 rd masc. plur. of ^^
"led", with its final j preceded by O instead

3. I

servant

^>

the pe. active participle of M^^^t, "met". The
final guttural causes the departure from the
usual vowel pattern of "^^o.

X. Peculiarities in Verbs Containing Guttural Letters 69
Uol "day".

■91

^a^U.1 is the 2 nd plur. imperfect of ^U., in which
the i has become silent and its vowel has
moved on to the ju Contrast the usual

tit CM

'now, (at) this time"

V s

5. M*>

■Mil

i£

> J N> v \jijL contrast . OjbOxa*..

Jba*. "name", with suffix (see VI.F).

"he asked", is the pa. stem perfect of ^JLiL

and is in effect normal.

"on account of, for, concerning, because of \

is the ethpe. of ^ao?, the t becoming silent and

its vowel (not written in the regular ^^S^^jdL?)

moving on to the prefix, Also the final j

produces an a vowel in the last syllable.

"tomorrow".

is the active participle from Jf»*, "he saw".

Exercise x

(a) Translate into Syriac:

1 . We will go to this city.

2. You (sing, masc.) will not hear the word of God.

3. He will ask for the book.

(b) Translate into English :

70 X. Peculiarities in Verbs Contain ing Guttural Letters

|Uoi ^ HU ^oi>^ 1?^^ ^ ^

»*xo

I

'•'■"' -iJcj

QiJS

IU,; r J ^ ^t IL% ^J U^x 4.

••*

t> v y '• r

Vocabulary for the above:

■f c

m 1 "

r 4
^ + OOl

* *

pa, sent

envoy

summer

— ^ *e\

aph. ordained; pe, devastated

lW?

four

1 » » r

deacon

bishop

^>ol

also, again

If' r

monk

fei-

rest

Ui

women (related to JjuJ; see

VLF)

*iL

exacted satisfaction from, asked

for recompense from (transitive

and followed by a direct object

when active)

X. Peculiarities in Verbs Containing Guttural Letters 71

Notes

XI. Peculiarities in Verbs Beginning

with j and «

Introduction-Grammatical Survey

(1) Verbs beginning with j frequently lose the j since it tends
to be assimilated to a following letter unless a vowel
intervenes. This occurs particularly in the aph. and ettaph.
stems and normally in the imperfect of the pe. Thus for
■ "°>« (see iv,2) the pe. imperfect is *j3o£li (the dot over
the hard 3 reflects doubling); the aph. perfect is wQ3(;
the ettaph. perfect is ja£>Lu. The ethpe., pa. and ethpa.
are normal. Note with unusual vowel patterns hJ^s with
imperfect Lq£j, S; i*ii> with imperfect S: *i^j, and .->mi
with imperfect nmi. See Paradigm 6.

(2) Most verbs with initial *» were developed from verbs with
an initial o which reappears in the aph. and ettaph. stems.
(A small number of verbs has an original **.) In other
forms the » without a vowel changes into the vowel i
which may have l before it if it is not preceded by a

71

prefix. The pe. perfect normally has the vowel O, Thus
for the root L^ the pe. perfect is \,i^(l) (fret), "he
inherited" (note e vowel); the ethpe. perfect is Li-U; the
jo(. (The verb *m* retains the y in the
aph.) The pa. and ethpa. are normal. See Paradigm 7.

7?

XI, PECULIARITIES IN VERBS BEGINNING WITH j AND -

73

© 10, 34

Illustrative Texts

i.

ii r

t
I ' #■ 7h

■7, ^y

I "" f r it * #

O«_00( IlV1*^0 "^""

.Ii

0X3

°^ Mi **4 ^>

O^K

OOu

M

,oii jaaooLj^Jo

Grammatical Analysis

(Mt 8:16) And they brought

before him many demoniacs

and he made their demons go

out by the word.

(Mk 15:32) Let the Christ, the

king of Israel, come down now

from the cross.

And he divided his army and

they were prepared and they

encamped against the city for

battle.

The churches they uprooted,

the sanctuaries they demolished

and the monasteries they burnt

with fire.

(Mt 25:29) For to whoever has

will be given to him and added

to him.

1.

■91 y

Iff 7

I j f
I a*,

pa. perfect of t-^i-o, meaning "brought near".

"demoniac".

"demon" (plur. with suffix).

is the aph. perfect of ua^j, the j having been

absorbed, since no vowel would have

followed it.

74 XI. PECULIARITIES IN VERBS BEGINNING WITH j AND -

L

JLSLUO)

o,MU

G^^O

•r

p<0

71 » 1i

is the pe. imperfect (3 rd masc. sing.) of kJLi,
the j of the root having disappeared. The
imperfect is regularly used for wishes: "let him

"cross",
"army".

r

3^ masc. plur. perfect ethpa, of jjfcos "was
prepared".

Here the O slips back onto the o, "and", but
the ground form is o^K*, the 3 rd masc. plur.
perfect pe. of <^K*, "sat, encamped". This
verb and %&.£!, "knew", have further
irregularities. The main one is that in the pe.
imperfect they behave like the verbs

■a

beginning with j: o£o etc.; >^Jj etc, (like

S: ^bs^ij and .-tfTn in Paradigm 6), with

imperatives lsL, etc. and v^, etc., and
infinitives l>£^> and \^tJ».

"uprooted".

"altar, sanctuary"

"monastery".

is the 3 fd masc, plur. perfect aph. of the root

tjal This transitive form means "they burnt".

The original o reappears in this form.

is the regular imperfect pattern of the ethpe,
of verbs with initial «. The verb oou, "gave"
is peculiar in some forms, the & not being

XI. Peculiarities in Verbs Beginning with j and

75

pronounced and its vowel being moved
forward on to the **. Also, for "he will give" a
completely different root is used - ^K-t.

r

sSiDoL&Jis the ettaph. stem from the root °>™- (no
pe.), used in this stem and in the aph. to mean
respectively "was added" and "added, did
again".

Exercise xi

(a) Translate into Syriac:

1 . We will cause the great men to go out.

2. He will inherit the earth.

3. He burned the city.

(b) Translate into English:

ja£>( JSjdo JLsoLo^o l^©^ It+JLO JlVM JLo^o

■n r

,ooax

~6

XT. Peculiarities in Verbs Beginning with j and »

Vocabulary for the above:

r
JLm

I > r

leave, forgive

life (a plural form)

patriarch

thing; plur. |l,a^

resurrection

lamp stand, candle

gold

silver

and other > etcetera

authority

Magian, Persian priest

on account of what, why?

aph. (*^30t) brought

participle)

turned, returned, changed

elder, priest

pe, Imperative of oou

document, deed

Notes

(here

XII. Peculiarities in Verbs with Only
Two Root Consonants in Many

Forms

Introduction-Grammatical Survey

(1) Many verbs are like jaso met already (vii.l) with two
consonants and the vowel in the pe. perfect. The
corresponding imperfect normally has oO, while the pe.
participle has an *dla£ (by analog}' with the verbs wkh 'dlap.
in the middle). The aph. and ettaph. perfect and imperfect

jp

have the vowel £. Thus for the root )ac: pe. perfect joo,
'*he arose"; imperfect joa£u; participle ^>JLo; aph. perfect
y±Jsl. The ethpa. and ettaph. are merged: ja^LU, with
doubled /, This form is pronounced ! et(tjqim. See
Paradigm 8. (Note that y*£> may be found under Joojs in
dictionaries, since these verbs originally had three root
letters.)

(2) Another group has its third root letter identical with the
second (see , ^J^ > o 5 VIII.3). The letter only appears once
in many forms - pe.> aph., and ettaph. stems. Thus we
have from the root s ^»^ for the pe., s ^> "he entered";
imperfect ^oiJ; aph. perfect ^m; ettaph. perfect
^ki^LU. The first root letter is hardened if it is one of the
series h t & d, k, p, t after a prefix: fazij from )p. The
ethpe., pa. and ethpa. are all regular. See Paradigm 9.

(3) A major group of verbs ends in the pe. stem perfect in f O
(-a, see )£**, IV.3), taking endings like Joot (V.A). It is to be
noted that the final 'dlafc is not a root letter but simply the

-7-7

78 Peculiarities in Verbs with Only Two Root Consonants

sign of a. This takes the place of an original «. , which
reappears in many forms (often as a vowel, however), e.g.,
ethpe. -f**U, "he was seen". Imperfects end in (O, e.g.,
pe, fyZ , "he will see". See Paradigm 10.

Illustrative Texts

l. a*jf.

2.

r *l r t

) kcoq^qS too

1*1' < *\T

* I * 4

* *

5.

.J^ji Oi_^sO *^V
"^>A. O^*. oUo

JKu

(Acts 13:16) Paul arose and
raised his hand.

(Lk 1:69) And he has raised up
for us a horn of salvation in the
house of David his servant.
And Alexander went with the
embassy to Darius until he
entered Babylon.

And when he returned to his

kingdom he Imposed a poll-tax

on the whole country.

And they filled the land with

those killed and came and

encamped against the city of

Mu'arra.

Grammatical Analysis

1. joja is the 3 td masc. sing, perfect pe. of a two-

consonant root meaning "arose, stood".
.a^Ji is the aph. perfect of ^j, meaning "raised,

waved".

-

Us

uJOt

1

Peculiarities in verbs with only Two Root Consonants 79

2, jcuj^i y masc. sing, perfect aph. from jao,
Uii "horn".

JjjOjaS "redemption, salvation".

3. Ilot^v' "embassy, mission".

*%sX is 3 rd masc, sing, perfect pe. from the root

*^so^, "entered". The second and third root
letters appear only once.

is the 3 rd masc. sing, perfect pe. of a verb
which has become two-consonant as a result
of the loss of a final - (p e na): "turned,
returned".

is the 3 rd masc, sing, perfect of the aph. of
JLaoj, "threw, pouted". Here the original ^
reappears (only as a vowel) and the meaning is
"he placed, imposed".
Jj^j .Qimo a construct phrase, literally "money of the
head", is an idiom for "poll-tax" (note
ordinary form JJBaaa) .

is the 3 rd masc. plur. pe. perfect of ILo, "filled,

was full". The vowel a of Jlto is modified

when the plur. ending is added.

is basically the pe. passive participle of

~%>^J5, here used as a noun, "those killed, the

slain",

is analogous to d^oo above, but from ju,

"came", which has the extra vowel because of

the initial 'aiap (see X.(l)).

cboc

At

80 Peculiarities in Verbs with Only Two Root Consonants

o*jl see tiLso, oU, from j^^, "loosed, dwelt,

encamped". The pa. means "began" (***JL).

Exercise xii

u

(a) Translate into Syriac:

1 . They put the book in the hand of the king.

2. He will not enter the kingdom.

3. They returned from the battie.

(b) Translate into English:

' ■ * j * i { * f

. -Oi jL«.ioaji )A> u+ Vi J)( kCpaXmir 1 '^ Do

■ji» N ^jso wOiov^q*. *^om J LjL=k - ; 4i lOWaii J,

Qi i^pS . Uo^ U-tc ooi JuL^ :

J fl

&

aOi3

f ft } I J # I * * * \* * • N^'*

ooi fu M^^Of oiop ooo .JbuL*.^ imAo ^

.Ix^m Juoi

jfcsJL*(j "^£oo [Ll^CO OUOl^sa* OCX ^fltAi

t _tf OOl .^^^CO

* r

^kj^Q oO* *coK*ia "^u^Oj *** OOi .

Vocabulary for the above:

Peculiarities in Verbs with Only Two Root Consonants 81

Tl

jojL=

^■ajSQL^

pe. participle of )a£>
Opposite, against

sent

I ft *

experience, test

OiOl

pe. imperative of l^ou (see XI. 5)

liao,U^o

lord, the Lord

It

depicted, painted

^

picture, image

H*

pe. passive participle (construct)

of )L>, "filled, was full"

IUq^

beauty, virtue

^

chose, (here pe. passive participle,

"emphatic", used as an adjective:

elect, pure, eminent)

14

high

from, than (here "more high

than") (for comparison, sec IV. 5)

jLL^

tongue, speech

loo

pa. remained

year (VI. F)

•'5

Iyar (month name: April- May)

.LwL*

month

Koo

died (like JOJD but with middle - )

Damascus

lAii

sickness, pain

Jjoq14

strangling (used of diphtheria etc.)

?
ȣ>"**

forgave

! ^4^

because . , ,

82 Peculiarities in Verbs with Only Two Root Consonants

( CQii) el** aph. loved

>*<^co much (adverb)
^^i^js litde (adverb)

Notes

$ 12, 36

XIII. Object Pronouns Attached to

Verbs. Adverbs. Other Derived

Forms of Verbs

Illustrative Texts

i\ y

1. oMm) ^to OlAsOli

2.

3.

4.

5.

* * r "B

He made him turn back
because of his fear to bring him
into the city.

They ran against Romanus in
order that they might kill him.
They confused their order and
they fled hastily.

(Acts 13:33) Behold God has
fulfilled it to us, their sons.
And all the people of the chuch
were praying there diligendy.

GRAMMATICAL ANALYSIS

1. ©ia3©t? is the 3 rd masc. sing, aph, of -J2>cn with the
pronoun suffix "him" attached. This is a
normal procedure and equivalent to the use of
^ with suffix: oo. --3o(. The pronouns are
similar to those attached to nouns and
prepositions, except that there is no 3 rd plur.
form, the enclitic form of the independent
personal pronoun being used instead. The

R 7 !

84 XIII. Object Pronouns Attached to Verbs

vowel pattern of the whole word is often

modified as here.
\isS.--* f "fear". It is followed by a clause introduced by

9 which explains what he was afraid of
dboj 3 rd masc, sing, imperfect aph, of S!5 ^,

"entered", with "him" suffix, equivalent to

2, Q^ft» $©»» "hastened, ran".

^ouJii^jaj is ^S^O) "they will/might kill", with the
"him" suffix in an alternative form. See
XIII. A and Paradigm 11,

3, ^gi(T\^\^> is again a form with object suffix "him". This

is added to the 3 rd masc, plur, of ^-*N.^
which is in effect an additional rather rare
verb form derived from s *^cj (^>^) and

means "confused". For convenience it may be
called a palpei form.

jLmrL^ "order, rank".

KjLLoL "hastily, eamesdy, urgendy", is a typical
adverbial formation based on the adjective
!-»>- ^1 "urgent". Tlie ending -d'it is
commonly used to form adverbs from nouns
and adjectives,

4, &uNv>» when the pronoun is removed, is J^aaiL. This

is another rare derived form based on the
verb \hn>, The meaning attached to this
pattern is often causative and in this case is

XIII. Object Pronouns Attached to Verbs

85

"completed, made full, fulfilled". The form is
called safi'el since in verbs with an ordinary
third consonant such as *Ax, the form is
"enslaved, caused to serve".

\ofl

^A

U

jp.

is the pa. active participle from JJ*, "bent'
which in the pa. means "prayed".
K*l^*a« "diligently" (see llo^ A., "diligence").

* f

Grammatical Synthesis

A, Object Pronouns Attached to Verbs

The following list gives the main forms encountered.

me

uJL.

you (masc. sing.)

r-

you (fem, sing.)

**a_

(after consonant)

Ol_

4-

(after oO)

u&1_

him

p

(after oO,

often inserted as a
linking vowel)

uOU.

(after— O)

**C*lO_

her

Ol_

us

X-

you (masc. plur.)

4

yas-

you (fcm. plur.)

11

86 XIII. Object Pronouns Attached to Verbs

Notes:

(1) There are no 3 cd plur. suffixes but yOj? and ^J( are
used instead.

(2) The addition of a suffix disrupts the vowel pattern of
a verb.

(3) The final a of verbs like \y+ produces special vowel
mutations when suffixes are added.

See Paradigms 11 and 12.

B. Other Derived Stems

Other rare derived verb forms like p\> from ^^. and
*^a^a from ^^a include the following patterns (based on
"^^Jio^S): sap.' el; pakl; pawkk, p e 'afel\ payd\ pa ft (and their
corresponding et- prefixed forms) .

The pattern for the addition of suffixes and prefixes to
indicate tense and person is like that of the aph.

Exercise xiii

(a) Translate into Syriac:

1 . The king enslaved him.

2. He will make you king.

3. The priests killed him.

(b) Translate into English:

XIII. Object Pronouns Attached to Verbs

H7

..**otaaoJ_o «&ia^?o jL^q^vilX

\L±* do hjiLdQ II Uioi ViiSip ^^> 2.

..)olS.)J ---^-
§ <^p if JloiLtmS. t^xiJ ^^ |L«> 3.

I JP f r

Vocabulary for the above:

took hold of

J^i

pe. threw, lay (hands), put (chains);

aph, raised (voice)

Ik* to

village, field

Uao

heat, struck

Hoi*

blow (here plur.)

liObiJL

chain

^

was fulfilled/ finished; ethpe. was

handed over; pa. finished, offered;

aph. handed over

UJoi

Greek

mi^

with mistakes, imperfecdy

pa. praised

ik^

creation

llraOti m

futility

is->iLi*-

truly

JUz.

suffering

' -^.m

payd stem : bore

88

XIII. Object Pronouns Attached to Verbs

U-Ao

I

fc»»aaao

(^n^o) ^

beaten

pa. passive participle ("emphatic") of

U*m, struck, beat

was low, lay down, etc.; pa. laid low,

humbled (transitive) (here passive

participle)

Notes

©13,37

XIV. Numerals, Dates, Days

Illustrative Texts

IK JL ^ ^

f f.

^io

v t

tf^

■* 3

} f it

# ' . 1 r

)OCuJ=i **OijO( Kl^

fl I * - J v * •

«ib b^j^io ai'mv
j£li, Owl jMjlz*

t'l> jt ( ■» ..^ ?l

JLlUB liOGLLO ^L

Ujjts oui, oooi jLL^ji

(Mt 14:17) We have here only
five loaves and two fishes.

In the days of Shapour the king
he killed there in one day 118
martyrs.

He came again to fight with
Edessa (Orhay) on the twenty-
fourth of the month of Ilul, a
Wednesday

In the year 305 of the Arabs
were sent from the king,
Constantino, ambassadors, two
persons, an old man and a
young man.

She had four sons, the first
Tushi, the second Shagati, the
third Ukati, the fourth Tuli

89

90

XIV. Numerals, Dates, Days

Grammatical Analysis

1. ,j'l "here".

jLSa^* "five", is used with the feminine noun
'Vr*"^J "l°af"> m its absolute plural form.
The absolute is often (but not always) used
after a preceding number. As in the other
Semitic languages, the numbers 3 to 10 have a
feminine-looking form which is, however,
used with masculine nouns, and a masculine-
looking form (here) used with feminine
nouns. The number can also be placed after
the noun referred to (in which case the noun
is normally in the ordinary, "emphatic" form).
^•VL "two", and all other numbers which

distinguish gender have the normal agreement
of masc. with masc. and fern, with fern. Ijqj,
"fish", is masc. "Two" with a feminine noun
would be ,-Avl.

2. u^iaoi is the construct plural of liool, "day?.
JjLso "hundred" (common gender).

^mvKiioL "eighteen", is the masculine form
corresponding to fern. l^miuLSol. Large
numbers are formed by using "and", putting
the bigger numbers first. Note also that the
number here is placed before the noun, which
is in the ordinary ("emphatic") form.
$ot£o Witness, martyr"

XTV. Numerals, Dates, Days

91

'one", masculine: the fern, is K

is the aph. infinitive of ^>\-0 which in the aph.
means "fought".
Uai "twenty**, does not distinguish gender, while

7 y

U^=tjt is the feminine form of vsJ>*?, "four",
used with the masc. noun Jbsol in accordance
with what has been said above,
joai^ and JoaiX are used to introduce the date in the
month or week, (Alternatively forms like

9

)JS-X3f)^, "on the fourth", may be used.)
-*j( = m-W construct of U*& "month", ^o^/

is a month name corresponding

approximately to September.
JL^it "week", is used with the number, as here, to

indicate the days of the week. Thus jLa^a U*

is Sunday.

u

I f p

1^2

=~ s 'Vear'

is the construct of
(note the line over the top) is a number, the
alphabet having been used for this purpose.
"■*► is 300; ©i is 5. In full this w T ould be

indicates the dating system being used - i.e.

the Islamic daring, based on 16 th July, 622.

is from the root j,jt.

"person, substance, hypostasis".

"old man, senior person".

"young man".

92 XIV, NUMERALS, DATES, DAYS

5. Uis is the plural of J^ (see VI.F.).

Uvi« o, Uli L ? JijtS-*^L, )»\>3J (from Jb^a ji ) are ordinal
numbers: first, second, third, fourth. (An
alternative to these is the use of i followed by
ordinary numbers, e.g., ^*jL? |i^, "the second
son", literally "the son of two".)

Grammatical Survey

The main series of numbers is unremarkable except for the
fact that

a) 1-19 distinguish gender like adjectives,

b) 3-10 display characteristic endings of the opposite
gender to that of the noun referred to.

Note should be made also of the general pattern of
ordinal numbers, with their JLO ending which forms the
numbers into adjectives.

As for the calendar, the names of days and months are
different from those in use in the West, though the structure
is the same. The year used as the start of the era is rarely that
of the birth of Christ, even in Christian contexts. The most
common system is that based on the accession of Seleucus I,
the founder of the Seleucid dynasty, on 1 st October, 312 B.C.
This is called "the year of the Greeks".

The main numerals and the months and weekdays are
listed below.

XIV. Numerals, Dates, Days

93

A. Numbers

Form used

Form used

Form

USED WITH BOTH

with

with

MASCULINE AND FEMININE

MASCULINE

FEMININE

NOUNS

NOUNS

NOUNS

1

p

fc-

2

-f 1

«14

20

* 1\

3

)hS.i

iOLL

30

^l

4

M

^

^}?

40

5

1* Vt*»

50

6

K*.

60

7

K^>»

r

70

8

it

U^L

80

V

9

\LX

>^L

90

X-^Jk-t

10

11 &n v

t rr>s -

100

K

11

r y

1"* * f

200

^LJLso

12

4-oimL

KaaiUl.

300

IJL^js^L

13

^nxiC^L

UikkL

1,000

7i y
3^

14

10,000

as,

15

C ^y r

16

KlcoxL^sjl

17

v k K

18

p 11 y f 1

19

)-;m\>.t

94

B. Months

XIV. Numerals, Dates, Days

Name

Approximate equivalent

[)Q*£jd] pl£> ~i*\.

October

November

[^*t°] y*l£> yols

December

January

^A*.

V ?

February

■4

March

f *

April,

May

June

J ul y

' ol

August

^aU

September

C. Days

1 ' *

^,1

Ail

(Lai

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

XIV. Numerals, Dates, Days

95

D, Numerical Values of Consonants

1

1

100

ja

2

20

T

200

i

3

^

30

^

300

*

4

-

40

P

400

I

5

01

50

V

6

60

lTO

7

t

70

>Sw

8

Wk*

80

3

9

4

90

4

10

M

J can stand for 1000, cs for 2000, etc.

. ico ^ 3> , can stand for the corresponding 500, 600
etc., this being indicated by a dot above the letter. Other
numerical systems also exist

Exercise xiv

(a) Translate into Syriac;

1. Twenty- five men.

2. In the year 57 of the Arabs.

3. On the ninth of the month of July.

(b) Translate into English:

JuJa^ oi*J( bJiM. .*otj Jul/* )Lso£*jL £s.L»J> 1.

|'7lj f '_ r lap- * *

jA*A (Kji, ,-? )?oiz> JvLmxl^Lo J)yitv<l Kl*. 2.

96 XIV. Numerals, Dates, Days

Uujst x*^-^ f^-*- J; v>- r . foe* *=s^o la^js

uOIO^^X yOOOO ~*3 ^v--s* POQjLS uuj>jLL(0 4.

Th f ()' ^ I * rv " ^ r *

/ • .

Vocabulary for the above:

.-mvh

if* *

It;

t 7

1+^

*^

y.^3

t, ?

Jk.^-0

took (see Paradigm 6)

after '

vintage, grape harvest

pe. bought; pa, sold (see IX.D)

wine

measure (of wine, oil, grain)

dinar, denarius (monetary unit)

qab (measure of c. 2 quarts)

raisins (plur. only; fern.)

nummus (a coin; plur.)

daughter

wife, woman

pe. was at rest; ethpe./ettaph. was

at rest, took rest

work, deed

bent the knee; pa. blessed

pa. sanctified

XIV. numerals, Dates, Days

97

Notes

Verb Paradigms

a.
<

a.
<

s

•a

s!

a

en

r
i

o
<*,

o

1-1

u

I

C

Q

•c

ttJO

i

a

pi-

's

m

<N

<M

%

wiiionis .oaaaaa

%

s

•4

■4

E

#7!

4

V

k^**" k*

Ij f Cj ;

W7J

°>

A

°s

4

i V

1 -3

I c

, cm

INI

1

1

t

*

^

TsramdioHjaad

2

x

<

8|

2

4

7 k |

■>■}

a f— j

H S

4

<^

s

t

■* — ■

IP
4

fN!

"avanoMis loarsadwi

^

s

*£,

c^-

2

2

>w

f-)

-•

IN

4

<

a

a

oj

I

4

'tvnnicT joajnidwi

X
p-l

i

I

<

en

a

c
5

at

Ji

|

0)

I

e-i

a

a
1

<
ft

la

£

J4i

>;

a

—I

'I

4:

4

'14

44

4 '4.

3

.szp ±*<p

i

'%

44

'4

a

'4

gjULV^adiMi

Z

—

'4,

3

U

I — I

Hi <

3

u

I — 1

L - 1

<

O

a

■d

O
H

3J

o

■U

■J3

I

f

13

u

•s

c

bib

1)

ti

^

&

Cm

b

. a

<U

Jq

4M

c

M

"3

y

ju

Cl

-G

rt

u

OJ

a.

>

.9

<3

/""'-:

en

\.^"

J3

■g

S-l

'l?

>

e*

V:

■Jy

J3

OJ

■y

s

>

c

ffl

<3

oi

1

s

<m

*n

c

■iH

Z

«

VI

rt

Oh

4

'1
2

=»»■.•

2

u4

a

Mm

2

<;

M

i— i

u

1

b
W

3

|

HALLVUHdWI

u
w

&
— ■

I I I I

*" | »^*l »** fc ***| T^

WW

*4

F l.

u

1

1 ;

8 i u; I S ■ ^ i

■a : -a : ? : 1 \ u

6
■a

a

1*4 ;

a ■ v>

¥^flDNIS

Tv^n-id

M_

^

Cr

Ph

£

-6

*<[;

4

c
■ —

>

>

.'"'"'.

a.

i-

T3

— i

-^

§

4-

U

(U

Um

H

a

Cm

u

mC

F 0/

•t

4M

*-)

+j

u

<>

u

^

VI

U

0)

(L>

■5

a,

t

s

'

«

>

^

4

m
O

-

7

7

%

}

pa

1

£

J

■a

u

-Q

X!

I

I

«

Oh

•;

1

£
&■

m

4

a

3

ft

J

2

a

rj

}

2

1

i

4

1

3

I

tk< ■ K-f

a

nvinoNis xo&raad

1

s

\

s

n
m

o o

o o

s n PI

^4

7*

7 %

7 "%

V

V

V

V

i

CM

Q

3

o

3

3

3

1

a

%

"4/

%

$
-i

?

^

51

^

^4/

TV^rnd JLO&raaa

3i

: * — ! !

=—1 :?*3

*2i

•x

2

I

o <

'1

O i

?j

*» ■

O i

4p

"3;

4-!

o <

O i

4

o

7

^3

■;

DC

51

^3 j

7\

p i

?!

r* ,

1

-* j

4P

v 3 :

^3 :

4;

4!

a-

riiS

ai

a

k* — " '

a

3;

1

1

j

4i^

♦Ij

4

\

4|

7

k— '

=,^j

ia

ia

^srf

^sr*

la

p.

7

J

?•

^

^

4

^

Jfc

7

:z

^

a

rf

rf

a

a

l-H

7

'-J

1

7

4p

\

JL

i

•4

7

: -a*

ia

1

^C

111*

1 3-

■ v

2

2-

*

If -*■ '

\i

1

*< — *

|4

a

■ 'J-J

i a

i M-J !

a

1 <H-H

i s

1 M-5

CO

■ ■a
; en

1 c

! "S ! *

C4 n

!&

1 -3
1 C

; in

! 'j

1 c

! ^

i

• ^

H\naoNis xoa jaadwi

TVUmd JD3dliadlMI

■ n

o

i)

.a

o
u

f

1

*C2

C3 F _-i

3$

1
3

•I

7

I

%

v o

4 \

3 4

'8
•1

'8
'1

k 8
7

2;

X
6

;•

^

*

3

*3

7

£

1

1

11;

a

3

7

7

;

A

t- — * K- J

H

4^

3

7

2 i

§

1 — 1

M
S

H.

1

•9 "9

4 -4,

4«4

a

7

1

<-ti

B

: f^

M4

g

E
2

E

2;

i — i

w

U g

p. <

2

p .

Ph Ah

aAiivuadwi

o

X

51

f

i

y
v

DO

■e

■I

c
Bh,

i

a

tS
1

I

c

y
at

X:

I

rt

u

■3

£

p-
|

1

rn

M
*4

J
i

*4

ci

ill

m

a

1

<M

-5

3
•I

-4

I
«d

d

x

*d

winoNis loaded

H
ft

: >

1 =3

•

1

rn

4

>

.J

4

3

v

o

M

1

a

oj

i

4
1/

4/

-1

i

TV^niti XDHiraad

i

1

ft

cO

1

<M

1

t \

•i!

rj

4
1

winoNis loaraai'ii

v:

a

v:

31

v:

i

3Q

31

VI

<"1

□
rs

— *

41

4

4

"i
1

J

13

Cm

H3

<3
u

4-J

c

o

PU
<

w

C 1»

S-

£

J

1

4

3

a

a §j

5

■

-4 >"4

^

1

■1 4

c

3

•1

*4 *-*4

4

aALLVTJHdKl

•J

1

M

.J

£

7

a

3

J

a

g

p 1

w R

4

,5

3

a S

K -
< <

m

Si
v-

?

1

-1-1

-a

5

X

1

'4

♦is

4

A

4

1

ii

d d

F ^3

d

4

3

4/

X

Ph

^T
•

4

4

a
4

)

a
'4

3

4

d d

d

d

V

3
?

3

1

'4

3

4

-I

? 5J

•i

J

4

V

.4

V

As

w

PL-

j2

4

1

A

•4

a
4

•"A

4 iliii

.. . -*•<£(

w 1
1
1
1
1
1
1

d

V

d

a

S

C!

a

*— 1

1

i : -a

en > co

6 iw i

a 1 c 1 «

CM | CM ; t-"

^(VinONIg JDHJSHd

Tvunid .03 ja3d

-

.a

A

3

rC

4

A
4

k
4

A

d

d

. — ■

7

d
/

cm

A

. — 1

i

•A

A,

rj

ii

4

A
4

a
4

a

d

V

a
*4

^

3

*4

a

~4

XVIflDNIS X33;IH3dPII

ft

a

—J

d

a

3

: 4,

a

-4/

■2

d

d

*4

^-^

J
^

d

A,

A
■A

A

A
■A

r^

a

a

3

4

a
/

a

G

G

a
d

I

o
2

ivumd XOH JH3dPq

(Tl

$3

(3

\ A -A

'4
*3

2

3
7

5)

d
4

3

Xi

13

1
/

'-4

7

■ ^ J

A

*4

J

-1

4 ^

3^

■4

ii

4

4 %

a
•

7

W !

^ !

^ 1

44

E
z

& <

■RA1LVS3.JWI

>n

■

^J

^j

_< : — •

1

—j

—I

—J

i. — *

^„ r

^^-« :^^j

K^*

..^j

*.*-*

*~^

*-J

T

3

J

hi

r

T

s.

I

%

1

% \

*i

1

V

V

k -{/

-1/

k*~—

K*--»

i.—

^*^r

v»*-*

*„,

k *r^r

L.*-— '**"*— '

"■"VX

f

t

"I

1*

1*

'3

r

f

9*1 a*

I'

X
3

i

*i

i

Vi v

*-|^

•i

1

Xi

I

nrl

Irj 4

■|

Su

So

■j

S
«J
S

"$ Si a

5,

■

£

'

j

\C

1

1

I

£

^ | 6

Uh

2 uj

6

ij-i

tj

"5 i |

c

3

■a ; "B

1,

|

■

•o

m

en | £i

<n ; T-i

CO ; en

■

6i

(N

r-i

1-1

PU

winoNis joa^uad

TVXQTd xoajaaj

c;

1'

. — i

. — <

•I

. i

'2

'2

4

4

'2

1

?

— j

f

i

I'

;|

4

1-

1 . ff .

'I

9

'9'

•I

t

S

I

4

a

On
■5

UJ

f

O

Z

s

CO

cO

S
1

CM

fN

£ :3»

^

wrnoNis joa-raadwi

TV^nid I3adH3dWI

T3

e

o
u

ca
«

i

a-

"3

i 1

"3

i

•1/

2

1

i

X

<

1*

1|*

7|^

'3

<

=>

<3

"9

'3

i

c

S

t/5

i+j

a"

M-;

1

1— 1

§

ft

z

. — 1

i

Si

aMivnadwi

a!

s

erf

3

<^

J "~° !

t~— * !
Q 1

1

2

3d

vl.|

vti

k- — r
o

•d.

i — «

■4.

Pd

w d

* ■

o

k *o i

k *o

'~5 :

^o

'8

o

'1

•4.

1
■4.

DC
-

<4.

F 4.

•4.;

+ +

*

<

V

f V

3.

51

1

i

1

**

51

•a.

&

»d.

•l

o

51

ivi

vi.

o

5d:

1

•51

.H

I

pi

Fin

*d

\:b

S

a

o

u

o

a

a

I Ui

: a
i p-

! ***

H
Z

3

5 55

SALLVTiadJMI

ps r;

PS «

< <

en

I

X

<

X

5

I

•I

<

X

w

1

1

-a

■a

tO

5

-4

o>

V>Q

HVinONIg i33dH3d

•i

CO

ll

1

, — «

V=!

to

^

°y

^

1

•i4

I

V

i

i

V

1

i

ivumd XDaairad

w

1

'2,

X

E

. — i

X

I

■

■I

'

I

'8

ft.

CO

1

1

, — I

'I

1

'9

a

I

I

<
-J

V

1

•9

1

*

1

I

1

i

5L

W1HONIS J-DSd^gdlMl

-a

d ^

i

■8

i

2

I

: 1/

■a
to

1

i

I

-X

'3 1*3

(N i <N

1

1

1

1

'IVHn-|dX03JS3dWI

LO

CM

<

£

I

1

'I

s

t-a

*v

a

c

1

1

1

5

%

a.

F

1

*n ' *i

*Oj fy

a

a

i

LU
fe

•a

'9

1

^ : '9

811

i

1

y.

Ph

aAULVHadwi

t,
£

3

0- <

Pi

Ph P-.

' r-

CM

X
k

(b

(b

@

3

3C

5?

"0-

V!

1*

2

1

•**^.

V

%

sl

■j.

a-

"3*

It

V:

a

a

c
c

4-1

u

0)

a
5
13
t-

4— '

c

la

c
o
o

'/1

1

■£

Ph

(b
1

■a

(b

a

a. : &

A

a-
1

:a

a

sa

w
p.

a

'I:

3

00

-2
in

6a

°>

V

V

V

°^

V

<N

^

t

^

"<b

V

a?

V

a

V

■a

CM

3

lb

1=

-a

"3

c

I"

M
a

f

W

5J

o

p ^i

"^

^ ; f ^

'4

'4

*— 4

K-~J

k— J

l-^j k_-j

a^

■<b

a- : <b

*

1 1

;a-

{b

Ph
<

■*d

•1/

T.

1

I J

l

1

•i

•1/

ffi

Ph

<

*g

1

1

5 V

'A

,4

2

,1

[I]

<-+;

Hh

?

g

1

to

<

CU

a

s

e

2

a

oq

VhH

Pi

l-M

>>

Ph

u

P

H- 1

u

HAUVHSdWI

E
2

<

3

1 — E

(3-1

n.

CN

M

X

<

1

a.

?

G

-a

i

1

I

■I

ft

I

ft

•I

I

I

x-d

•I

•I

■i

.J

HVlflONIS 133 JH3d

■a

3

1

I-

4

■i

3

if

—J,

!«-.

V

o

V

°>

I

V

£

ft

I 3

.?

I

A/

I

3

"b

■4

4

Tvama xoadnad

3!

i

3

^

3

3
"4,

"2

1

"4

4

<

3

3

■i

3

; 1

I

•1

1

:i

i4

X

u

?. — i

4

*3

■i

^

-i

'2

i

— **

•1

if

•2„

4

4

i

4

f =/

I

3

•1

l

I

4

2

^

•i

1

3

^

i

v /3

if

:}

■3

3

3

1

4

: I

I

1

[2

4

a

4-i

a

a

1 *— i

s

■a
ft

ft

, 6

! M

T-

uvTnoNis xoadnadwi

iv^m j JoaaHadMi

eO

CO

s

C

s

c

U

"j

i

x

p

<

3!

?

3

-*

b

■tf

<

P-

^

~

£

3!

?

vf!

4

2-

M

«

14

H

4

X A *»,

1

■4

V

ii

H

i

*/-|

B

On

aAILYH3dKT

1

t

1

3

g

r

2

JM

^|

— ! —

CL, <

3 2

4

*1

4

^i

a

O 5

PH Ph

en

D

>

ft

F4

o

en

£

CO

2

en

U

I
§

C

s

p.

on

i

'*i

II

V

■<-a

t

%,

vf ; i

y

•3

3~ ■*<»

J

1

*

*

2

1 E

1

*d

^

g

«

1

: i

*

-3

V

H/

-i

I

u

U

I

i— i

«

s

c
*c
8

c
U

(In

3.

-J

5

2 9
^ -j-i

■jT;

61

1

4*

: t

*3

fill

.

* J\ -<• J

I "3

4

L _ * **

■r

^ ,

CO

§
I

pi

^

2

'1

4

4
1

1

4*

1

4>:

1

'If:

1

4:

4

^

'/":

w 3 '3

3 *3

*9 "3

4

4TJ

1 1;

4"i

A

aAlLVH3dIMI

X

7:

en

s

D
O

p

fU

Ph

U

■■-...'

.a

c

c

u

I

a

a;

y

GO

i

o
c

a

Ph

3

2
5

en

§

-

i

■%

'i
j

v:

/;

■*-

4

-i!

4

■ft :

£

s ;

■I

:1\

6i

5

1

j

to

■*o
5

J

51

v ={

■J

k;

E

s.

4\

*0

^=1

■i

ft-

V

■4

4

^

o

■ 3

i

a

?

4

i-

4

P*

-4-1

t:
p-

&

u

■S

a
o
U

f

Ph

a.

1

3

'/■:

P

C

Q
^ E

y

V

4

I

4

4
4

t

X

1

1

I

i

6i

{

X

i

M

4\

•%■

i
i

i

5i

1'

I

ft-

V

rf

6 s

Y,

m

i

a

i

o
■5

w*4

:4

^ ■

*(■
V

7

7

y

*- -
c

i

Table of Scripts and Vowel Signs

Scripts

Serta

ESTRANGEI.A

Fast Syriac

Arabic

Hebrew

(West Syr.)

"Nestorjan"

1

rC

1

I

K

L3

^3

«a

L_J

n

^

^

^

e

31

1

1

?

J

T

CM

CT3

en

b

n

a

J

i

1

i

1

J

T

Wk*

jj

hth

c

n

t!

K

\

L

v

»

Ijt

tf

i

*°

^V 1

«? <?

iil

D

^

A

A

J

^

)°

>

?

r

a

*

r*

^

u

3

tCO

CD

JS

U' 3

D

v^

*i_

X

£

S

&

3

4

D

J

_s-

S

(J- 3

v

JO

J3

J3

(J

P

i

f

1

3

J

"1

kdL

A

Jt

O 1

tf

L

V

&

I 1

n

idn

Table of Scripts and Vowel Signs

141

Vowel signs

These are frequently used inconsistently or not at all in Syriac
manuscripts. Not all distinctions of quality and length are
represented unambiguously.

West Syriac

East Syriac

Q a

a

t
a (pronounced as in "raw")

O a (also used in the diphthong

aw)

O e

O f/7
Q(orO) f

*
i

i

*/#

f

o 0/0"

Readings

Introduction

It is emphasized that these readings ate an integral part of this
introduction to Syriac. They contain examples of grammatical
features and information which complement the main
grammar section.

Most of the readings are given in vocalized sertd script.
However, since the student needs to become familiar with
other scripts, Text 2 is given in each of the three scripts, while
Text 9 is in estrangeld and Text 10 is in the East Syriac script
(commonly called "Nestorian") . The punctuation follows that
of the printed editions and, as in the manuscripts, is not
consistent.

The notes with each text are aimed at making it as easy
as possible for the student to read the text without recourse
to further works of reference. Hence on grammar and
vocabulary quite full information is provided, though
unnecessary repetition is avoided. Familiarity with the
grammar section of this work is assumed and cross-reference
is made where necessary. Reference is occasionally made to
sections of Ndldeke's grammar (see p. six).

Vocabulary is not cross-referenced. New kerns of
vocabulary are translated where they occur first. The Glossary
aims to be comprehensive and may be used where vocabulary
items have been forgotten. Personal and place names

\AK

144

READINGS

(asterisked as before wherever contusion could arise) do not
appear in the Glossary.

Verbs are translated in the past tense, the meaning given
being that of the particular stem in question. Thus ^^^^^o is
glossed as "killed": the particular form means specifically "he
killed".

Readings

145

Text 1: New Testament Qohn 1:1-18 and 20:19-25)

The following text is taken from the Pesitta version (early 5*
® 14, S 24 cent A - D ')

«oioK*? jiSo^ ooio Jj&s Nv i |ooi «©io£vJ ^*»*;^

JjOi *~ j£O^X> OOl Jo©( -OlOjfc^? Iol^nq JoC^s Lao-. )o&

.Jooi oiU\^ s ^ JoC^s Lao*. K***^=i Jooi -otoK»(
Jooi ylL. oo .Jooi} jo^so too) j£** Jl3? ^gio ^Os^ o

LOQJk**3 JjOiQJ OOlO J» ■- '^T IfOtOl .OOuiS^f JUi.0

oo mK*J? U^Vo loo *oia«i )J LoqjuIo ".jouio

^ * * I f 71 -7 * jr

"^X ^OLCQJj |l Q»OimO> (Li JLlOl .^jJ+oi C-Jso*. .-!du^

JJj JjCuQJ J©Oi OOi JJo , ^^)L=j ^sa^OJ . * i N.O * .J^OiQJ

•.|ft*-f IfOioJ i^^ )o» ^oioK*' JjOrOt "^x ^o%mjj

)LacL^o Jooi lviN\-\ .J^co^- O ^ fit) .•i NnN joaioj

f "* * 11 ' * *

JJ dtL^o .|U oiS^X .oo,+I U )viNvo .}oon ov)L*

.cuaajJs -.,is?.ooo^ e^-*v . v o6ou Joio^m J-^=>i j iKN o*,

J V .V \ ^ 4 • "FIT

oo Uo .f; m^j Jli*o, oo )Jo .poj oo oo.j t; o-(

14

|;.mA JjlSoooo L_l .o^LU |o^s oo JJ? -)^4>1 '^^J

^oto^x fOvm oi* a* *j£sjtOjoo JLoA*^ Use* *.Jo(

16

^iv OOl

7

4 ft r

>oi uk^S^-O^ Nil ^« Lil0
* * (j w

^* )LoA*^o .^imi

Ilo^xJo — f )<iu^ .0101*1,1 ULaio

_^o _u* oilti.Nv^ ooo
Jocn ).»»Vi

146

Readings

18

* *} l?"\ 1 ' * r ^ t * jr t * • * I* "19

^•^ul .LMlc ■• j -1. * t> «^| 00 Lsocl^ ,Ucao^ -^ foot *2

.©I^JS-OOO .^OtO^i .OJ( -Q**0 v^aof J,Ot , n^snx

r Xh 01 * F" ^

<J*OtO .0Ot3 ..^t *.-*Ji.©i t20( PO rt*\\ ]Lt(

24 ^ ■ ■»• V T

-*9 UooJL* " .— J*£? *jf, .ot— ?l Jo .Ot^, .QjCoKiU

J001 ^oL foot 1) boil ^o?K»» oot |1 j ^ »| _^ ^i

-*^* .) mV>N I ©Ok — i-SOfO .^OjlT )U ^D lOOttol

JK1L00I -OfO^Jbi U? fc 11? .^ocxX ^sof ^? 0©) , f^N

yoTX^oi, "gospel"; |Lojo;_d, "preaching", -utd is a common
ending for abstract nouns; l-3a: see Exercise v,4; *A^a,
"without", with sfx. added as if to a p. noun; )U* Jl^f, "also
not one, not a single one"; loex, "it (£) was"; 4: &., "life";
iOouK*i, p. sfx. because L~ is p.; (joia), "light"; 5: JLoom-1,
"darkness"; jouio, aph. ptc. of ^ou, "shone, illumined"; -W,
aph. perf. of ^^, "attained, understood"; 6: ^K*.?, ethpa. of
$Lfc, "sent"; 7: JLo|ou», "testimony, witness"; j^tco,
"witnessed"; >* 1 No , "evetyone"; ^a*ou, impf. of ^-»i, in
effect a. pay el stem (see XIILB) based on Jtooi, a by-form of

Readings

147

,^?, It is Eke an aph. and means "believed"; 10: ^Xl,
"knew", perf. with sfx.; 12: JLuls, p, of |^>, "son"; . ooou,
impf. of foot; ^ivuotao, p. absolute ptc. of ^1*01 (above); 13:
oi, "not"; }U^>, "flesh"; oSSl, ethpe. of ^1, "begat,
bore"; 14: ^J, aph. of ^5^ (^J' " dweit > descended";
U^zL, "glory"; ^X "as"; UU^, "only, sole"; lL, passive
pc. ptc. of ILo, "filled", here construct s.; JLozi*^, "goodness,
grace"; |iv*oi, "truth"; 15: lio, "cried out"; cuoi = )jo, +
001; 00, is a kind of "ethic dative", approximating to "for
himself' (see Noldeke §224); *aoU>, "before me"; -*>,jd,
"first" (ordinal); 16: JLoiX^, "fullness, abundance"; .cfrs..,
"instead of, in exchange for"; 17: jaaojoj, "law"; 18:
looKiaao, "ever" (^oo^^ao ^o, "from everlasting"); JLso^,
"bosom"; M^iN-*.*, root pjt, ethpa., "told, narrated".

19: U*)5, "evening"; U^=> ^, "Sunday"; ^U^l passive
ptc, of h^?, "closed, retained"; , \A*l "where"; (Uao^L
"disciple"; Ji,>ou # , "jew"; i^L^, "among"; )^"<« ; "peace";
20: t*oU, root Jew in pa. stem, "showed"; li-^-co, "side"; Q*C**,
root **^**, "rejoiced", like JU^ pCI'I), but some intransidve
types like this retain the ~ in the pe. perf. Compare the
intransidve verb-type ^-^o (IX.4); 22: u^2u, "breathed"; 23:
K l, "if; 24: IL'imxJl, "the twelve", a coUective; Uo?L, "twin";
25: lidaof p. of lioof, "place"; (jj, "nail"; Jboi, "put";
livboj, "finger"; ^jLoso, aph. ptc, root ^ju, "stretched,
held out"; \l£>i "side".

148

Readings

Text 2: Old Testament (Psalm 110)

The following text is taken from the Pesitta version (c. 2 nd
cent. A.D.).

)o*£Di7 JLio^ .,j.i*Vt. ^o **-^ ^=>U **; v N JL{jjo ^o(
iVo7j :^alaj jjo Upo ba* .wlCiL? U^ h^ F^V

0*3 ^Z>L ... I.Vl,

,^SaI j»j vA jsJsu >V*A rdii») "V^rV

rat=C\j^

*V

■ ->->

sli

^diXtorC'l p^?3^-

^z> rdii»i ii£i rf'ly.QA-i rfi^aj* .vyTi^HX
^*> rdsL^ctci ,1^01= .rtf^iMl rtfs3cvi=3 rdwL=i£r*j

RKA DINGS

149

' (* " 7 ' »*. ^" V n ■ , ,,

■ ' — § ■ ,■;» t F - if * ■ T^

ua I^uaai AL ^iaio . jay^Nyta oi^tkioaa :7tS\ \
Uaii i^JOiO ?^^n\A K ou .^ilao oi%loaa ^o&^a
:j^au ^aola jlSIhJ t^ 00 .iala Zl^^Bia ^La jtaci^iQ

.ouLha 'a^ifsxa lim AXas

f* i» in V it

?

Lai, impv, s. of s^iV-, "sat": note the irregular imperative
(see XL3); ^, ethic dative, see Text 1:15; JLLial, "right
hand"; n Ibo^x, "until"; ^aa>\, 1 st person pe. impf. of jaso,
"put", which is otherwise like jn£> (XII); 1*3 oa, "footstool";
jUL^f, "foot"; \L£<zL, "staff, rod"; U*.ol, "strength";
^!kJS_»j, ethpa. impf., root •£^jl, "ruled"; l-'-^Iv^ p a . pt c .
from ,,, ~\ m, "gave praise"; J^cn, "glor>'"; )LL-»^o, "womb";
)z+U>, "first, of old"; U^, "young man, child"; SS(l),
"begat", here V 1 person s. petf. with sfx.; jLaal, "swore" (see
XII) ; ^llu, pa. impf., "broke faith"; )Lq2o-, "likeness"; tal,
"broke"; yoU, pe. impf. of *£, "judged"; JLao^L, p. of bo^,
"people"; iC^*., "corpse"; jQnrn !!, pe. impf. of jamS, "cut
off; JU, "stream, wadi"; JiSjJ, pe. impf. of JK*., "drank".
Note the letter combination / in the "Nestorian" script
version; ^a*^Ll>j, ettaph. impf. of p) "raised up".

150

READINGS

Text 3: The Addai Legend {c, 4 th /5' h cent. A.D.)

The text, concerning the coming of Christianity to Edessa,
records the letters exchanged by Jesus and King Abgar and
refers to the blessing of the city by Jesus and the image of
Jesus preserved there.

Jim, 4»u$ U4 u»} ^aii*^ --h^o) ^pl*

9 ? 9

\>kZsn IV^v^A-v Jooi JJ^ : r toic©? Vo , . . \V J&s \VI *

JLoi^L ^S.oi ,-DO .^? purisa JK^ -2)1 .K»? JLmJLso
Jol^s o?£ ;.uv^> Jkaaa? .j^j! *-^M ^ ^ ' j£sJ»joV

K^Jbo JLtoi ^^-^ .£^ r^ ^ou^od t*-^1 ■'?^ s ?
IAJLdo .-^ Jji *<iJ» *-=> -Lo^ JUL* .^lio K-fcX^

* ' r ' ^^ ' r * \ *

JiN^t £o ;*^N Jb^> ^J^So .\Uiko thl

Readings

151

(Jn 20:29) «3 v mvuou )J -^ <-^f ^Uf Jiso.
vL=k? La^ )J? *&Lcdo 4 &lL >cS^U ^k^Ajo JLo^oui*.
.)oX*jo ]Lj»)l> ^L K»/f ^o^so ]L=»)L3o :^ ;Vvt\ l

oC^ |ooi ;_so( Uooi^ ;); N , oS^ ,_Li. Jooi 1^ ^^ *-3
.]Lzif .1; o-?"^ |ooi otaamo JK^i jLoilk^ )6& c K , -so ooi

Lteaot "black"; U^} 5 "healer, physician"; 4-U, ethpe. of
Yy+, "was seen, appeared"; \1qLeoI, "healing"; Jlaaaam, p, of
jLtom, "drug, pigment"; Jjjax, "root, herb"; Jlaijbio, pa, ptc. of
|ji>?, "healed"; liaxao, "blind" (pa. passive ptc. of $<ax);
-S.«Xto, pa. ptc. of ■|* Sww t. "went", here "made to walk";
t^ "leper"; ]^^o, pa. ptc. of \A^ "purify"; Uu*, "silent
(deaf, dumb)"; )^J, "roof-top" - JL^J 'J>, "demon";
)Lai*A3, pa. passive ptc. from jai*., "afflicted with pain";
\J^Jx>, "dead"; ^i>nv>, aph. ptc. of ja£>; llouiol, "wonderful

| p P -71 i

things" (strictly a pe. passive ptc.); JL=>io}, "great"; ^=i^, pe.
ptc. of Ji^; K^, 1" person perf. pe. of \L=>, "sought";
|UL, 2 nd m. s. impf. of JU, "came"; +L, approximately

152

Readings

Readings

153

"while", but in context "so that"; Jol^o, "anything", hence as
an adjective "any" or "a certain ...."; % ^l, "as"; .N *aa»Oc
see the verb ,_aa*oi in Text 1:7; ^S«, p. ptc pe of Sty,
"persecuted"; ^oa£>fj 5 3 fd p. impf. pe. of ^oj, "crucified",
with ptonoun sfx.; r; *i-2>, ptc. p^ (above); ■--; mC^ p e .
infinitive of m-^do, "injured"; — him, pe, ptc. of U», "looked
at, considered"; r*axj, "small"; +jJL{, pe. passive ptc. used
with an active meaning, "holding", see Noldeke §280; ' ; ■ ** - ,
"fair" (here f. absolute); _*<fU "two"; JLoSim, pc. ptc. of
■ n°ifa, "sufficed"; ; vi\v>, pe. infinitive of ^*i^, "dwelt";
|rs i>., "peace"; JLj^J, "letter"; K^ can mean "at the house

r \y r

of ..." without an extra ^a prefix; <jaj, construct s. of JJij,
"great one, chief; )\ Nnv, "tabularius (scribal official)";
^j" pe. impv. from ^jf. This is not regular (see X). A
further pecularity with this verb is the non- pro nun elation of
the ^. in forms in which it should carry a vowel after
vowelless j. E. g., the ptc. is not)b\\ but jLlj?, pronounced *d%d;
^so(, also impv.; pi++~, iU, with sfx.; *-l jfc "to, at", with
sfx.; JLaa^, "good" (noun), may be used as a p. with sfxs. to
give "blessed is he, are you, etc."; ^jh^**, 2 nd m. s. perf. pe.
of )i*+ with sfx.; A« ivi.<>, 2 nd m. s, perf. of ^*o^ (see above);
^s-jfco, pe. passive ptc. of s^Ao, "wrote"; _*£l, pe. ptc. of )£«;
olsq-ou, 3 rd p. impf of -ScLoi (above); \jSjfcoj , "and that,
you wrote, as regards the fact that you wrote"; )L?, 1 st s. impf.
pe. of )U, "came"; )a^to 001, "that thing"; LijK»J, ethpa.
perf, 1 st s., of f^i.:"I was sent"; -oi<£L^; the sfx. refers to the
pUZ>; )J>& "here"; ^.n^ "now"; x^U, ethpa. of u^,
"was finished"; ocL, ethic dative, see Text 1:15 arid Noldeke

§224; JS. is the same; -C& g>, pe. ptc. of . rN m, "went up";
wJffJL, ti*. with sfx. ; 9 po, "when"; j*Jlso, pa. ptc; ^o *£,
"one of .,."; ^-*j, aph. knpf. from )o^u, "healed"; ^.oa
< ^, "whoever"; U=1j, aph, impf. from Us, "made return";
JLa^o, "city"; ^i-=>, "blessed" (pe. passive ptc); ^S>,Kju,
ethpa. impf. from ^\*., "had dominion"; i i_Lz>, "by the

If

"painter, carver"; "^ja*., "took", can mean also "began"; jl
pe. perf like Joo, "painted"; 1^^, "picture, image"; 1""^^
passive ptc. pe. (emphatic) p. (s. JLLa^C} of JLL^ "chose",
hence "chosen, choice"; **K*?, aph. perf. from JU, the first .*
being unusual since the normal aph. of verbs beginning with f
is like iXtof from ^a(. The second ** follows the regular
pattern for verbs in final (. Hence, "he caused to come,
brought"; i*ouJ**, |f» with sfx.; c^S^io, ^^Lo (pa.) with sfx.;
odom, J&i» with sfx.; li-O-l, "honour"; jkJs, p. of ]K^i (see
VLF); Jj Jbj, "palace"; ^,, "belonging to".

154

READINGS

Text 4: Bardaisan (A.D, 154-222)

From The Book of the Lam of Countries (early 2 nd cent. A.D.): a
dialogue on fate in which it is argued that Christians are
everywhere free to reject the customs and laws of the
societies they live in.

r »

is-Ao J*^^ -N-k»^ yLa-f Uo .^*Vt^£oo ? *^? <^S>?
of ..oow'j&^do ^o ^sJ3^k ^jja^jj - ^Li Uo .*oou^Jls

lloaja Q^Ul y o<*X J4s l^U{ lA^A JJo
.yooui^j^ yoJoi, jU .^ooilo^, )ooi JJ, Uo,

READINGS

155

Note that this passage contains many tribal and place names:
they are not in this case marked with *.

U^ = Uo, "what?"; )1sj=>^, "race, rank, tribe"; |LU (f.),
"new"; jU, absolute form of J jU, "place", the absolute often
being used after "^o (see Noldeke §202); Jls, absolute p. of
iK^xS, "region"; jouX>?, aph. of )a£>; |KAUo, "coming"; }<>,,
"for behold"; , |U, "wherever"; J^*, "name"; ^JoKto,
ethpe. ptc, p. of J;jD, "called", with enclitic attached for ^L*;
^JLiaioo, ethpa. ptc. from ijuo, "gathered", also with
enclitic; (.tsjoal, common p. of Uool; ^^L»vlo, passive ptc, of
«*^j3, "became bald, exposed", the passive ptc. being used as
an adjective, "evident, specified, special". Hence "special
days"; l UA ^oa, "food"; ^l^?Kfc^, ethpe. ptc. p. from
^jJL, "abstained from", with enclitic "we"; J^^ "Gallia,
Gaul"; ^mt , pe. ptc. of ^mt, "took, took in marriage";
)i-o?, "male person"; oLiJa, "Parthia"; J^ y p. absolute of
ILKi?, "woman, wife" (Vl.F); ,ooiT, "Judaea"; -(hCK^,
ethpe. ptc. p. of if^ "cut, circumcized"; yLa*J, "our sisters"
(p. of }Ll); J^a, "among"; JL^L^C "the Geli" (a tribe);
) ' « 't « , "Kushanians"; ^Lo'KfcAs, f p. ptc. 3UoK*.(, "had
intercourse", the passive of 3lo*.,, which is basically a sap'el
stem (see XIII.B); Utooi, "foreigner"; ga>ls, "Persia"; jiia
p. of 11^, "daughter" (Vl.F); -^, "Media"; ^U, "fled";
)^^-*>, "a dead man"; ^jd, "buried"; ^L., p. absolute of
adjective \LL, "alive, living"; )K^oa]Lio, "food"; JA^o,
dog ; yoovuj, U^, see ^iu above; yvK^ P e - P tc - f- P-
absolute from ^^ "committed adultery"; )J? 3 "but";
^jltfJS^o, ethpa. ptc. of *fi**j, meaning "avoiding, keeping

156

READINGS

away from"; ^a^joo, aph. ptc. of }o^*-, "handed over";
JlL{, "judgement"; I^Q^, "Hatra"; JO^Jk, "threw stones at";
JAi^ "thief; l^of, "place" (absolute of jiocf); JJ, often
has the sense "lest, so that ... not"; jLfsiaioJ, "law" (here
construct p.); ItofU, p, of |$L(, "country"; ^J-Siie, aph. ptc
of the root ^ai-3, "caused to withdraw, separated"; loX.'. .
"fate"; U;^»V!, "governor, ruler", used here of the (heavenly)
powers controlling a man's destiny; ,^s pe. participle of
pSs., "forced, pressed"; <zhLLk*x>, ethpa. infinitive of the
"used"; liiaj p. of ILaAj (f.), "thing". Note the

root

mutation of the vowel o (u) into a consonantal o (n>a) in the

plur. This occurs in a number of nouns with vocalic endings

in the absolute: here u.. See also ILc^j, "prayer", p. JlajL,;

Jvi^, f. absolute p. of IjLsa^, "unclean"; JLJoijod, "sickness";

-£ "however"; )tv>\.o^, "health"; ){Lol, "wealth";
V • f 4

(^oiaLCQio, "poverty"; jlojjL^, "free-will";, i-^, "came to pass,
befell".

Readings

157

® IS

Text 5: Aphrahat (flourished A.D. 337-45)

From his Demonstration 8, discussing the resurrection of the
dead.

* -ft , r 4

:<iiLc£lp LUd? JL&o, JUL^* 3>l c=>oL .(Deut 32:39) U?
.(I Sam 2:6) nmv>g ^ o lu X Kiaoo jLVwo ^..^w Ui^o*

r ^ 11. ■

U;jso -^iSXio yO^Jf :;j»' JLlooi JLL^j LLiJLr : £iic

■71 r "■ "

iOlX )AJjnaX |oi, :^»(o ji-Of ^Oj* 3(o .(Is. 26:19) |^£lx

* jf * * * * t * r

^axjtvjJo ;^Sv yo|oJo yasoanj |t=Lt^o ILv^o^L JSj?
,-lLioo j-^la jLS^?o .(Ps 88:11-12) JloLJ JrhJzsjj

I* *V ^ T \ ' 4 t, * * * r if r ^

:)joitii N uCiSno po*«2. —OQl ,~*>-s.-n |; -iff) J^

* \ * ^ ? r ^

kJ l 'uL£L i y^a^Uo il^aSn iSsJs V V)PQ IK. .4 ^x^ii'o

♦ J-^ito ^lisjLto, JtoA*^ «oi j;©. .(1 Cor. 15:43-44)
Jb7 lu^f Iol^X '^l >.^.nj» |Q^a oot |J-Vl=> foot l)o

JL^k* oii»i jK^Jo^ 6ti^ U^ Z^so ^o Ji-Sx

158

Readings

r f

o&jWLJik) ^ol vJu^s*o .(I Kg. 17:17-24) cooJJ ©tsouo
iilo taloli, :(II Kg. 4:8-37) )\^^* , »^S. *£?

* f* it ' f ,,

*iz> 3?o *)iALf ILo^oud LUo :(II Kg.l3:20-21) \L^>
K-U^^ ool Jfc^U (Ezek. 37:1-10) U^j ^JLfi^*

.LoV<C OuoLc )V v Ac-iX )oo!S. OiflSi t-D |£Cjtt bZJ*
t+ZL :oS i^oio »ooulfjj» yoou^x oi^xxjo jju^J&
v^^I oo jfco? :"%_*]LqiI* oSs ;_ibie* -.L*J;_=> t^SkC^ L^wL
JLso'^^ N ^ Mu^ JcxiLt :\+'+X3 oo. i^olo JLo'^so J;*jo
oi>cl^Kb rv> vm :j£*aJ Uo*.^^ *J»?o JL=&jU :^S.ot
Ko| loot ^S.O) Ua^JS*3 yoi? VOttJM *jo .JL,o*£to liioj
ocoi ..ooUo oclo£jo( ~o**( 3t bo"^C annuo jloo

f. * -jt 4 * f r \ r \f * 6) \f r v * k *

JjlS X>-3 ^O *-3 COoLo JLL=U .CJj |^0 .OOOl ^^£0*30

Lcl^ j^^flLO Jooi "%.,-s av? oii^a**^ ,Uc^o ooot — u
* ooiLo*-fc^x.o :*Z» ^^ *jU q-">n<uo gsJa j J P cv^C) Ui-3
:UlV^=> h*>1 — Ljo JpL^3 JKI^Jl .^^iNUo = K^j

J*^i\ ch, ffoi ^>cL e*-*°* -\OOo Looi IS_fc_^ Llc^o oooi

* * " < — ■ * *

^20 U»oi ul .OuS. ^30(0 )^»0f ^ pjli :oo, ^0(0

wyin.j *J*>o ..OjLio LOo? ^kot^ umqSo :jLiloV J^Si^^i

Xvjs. aaoj?o aL^o jL*oi» . ooui KiL^ U^**i Ucl^K-S ^ qj(

^ol, "again 7 *; Ulcl», "Moses"; f^ot, aph. perf. of the root
y+0 7 "preached, proclaimed"; K*)LX^ "clearly"; kZ*L
)^2o, "resurrection of the dead"; i --(, "as, as if; .boo*),
"mouth"; Kh*ax>, aph. perfect of Koo, "caused to die";

Readings

159

JLiao, aph, ptc. of the slightly irregular U~, "lived". The aph.
perf. is wJ^i (only one **). Compare verbs with reduplicated
second root letter, XII and Noldeke §183; JLlL, "Hannah";
(lo^Vj, "prayer"; h>J^x>, aph. ptc. of hJls, "descended",
hence "making go down" (see XI, verbs with initial j);
^a**., "Sheol" (Hebrew name of the underworld); JSsxrxi y
aph. ptc. from q ^-c d , "went up". This verb is odd in that it
assimilates the "^j somewhat in the same way as verbs
beginning with j. Its vowel distribution is identical with verbs
in this latter category. As Noldeke notes (§183), it behaves as
if it were jamj; \i±k\, "Isaiah"; JIzjj, "prophet"; Uoot, "thus,
likewise"; yQjJ, 3 td person p. impf. pe of U-, "lived". The It
instead of j reflects a tendency to treat this verb as if it began
with ?, JpiJL, "corpse"; yOAoacu, 3 rd p. pe. impf. of Joo;
^oU^Li^j, 3 rd p. impf ethpe. (XII and Paradigm 8: some
treat this as ettaph., see Noldeke § 1 77) of i^., meaning in this
stem, "was aroused, awakened"; .o^=ikj 3 rd p. impf. pa. of
■ ■ ^ ■ i "praised, glorified"; J^slL, construct p. pe. ptc. of
^i*, "slept"; JUI, "dust"; ^i "David"; 14 "behold";
♦AL, ptc, of ^Ax, "did"; (U^OfL, p. of R.fO»>l, "wonder";
)^=ll^ "giant, mighty man"; . o|qj: 3 rd p. impf. aph., the
main form in which the root 1^ appears, meaning
"confessed" (**fo(, perf); . qxKju, ethpa. impf. of the root
\L*> "related" (JLjLl?); IUA "grave"; ILoL^, "grace". We
may note here that the Hebrew of this verse (Ps 88: 11-12) is
interrogative and it is implied that God does not do wonders
for the dead, Aphrahat takes it as indicative, with the Syriac

v r v f>

version; \lsul, "how?"; ^xKiLio, see «XK*.? above; ^\v>fc

160

Readings

r

pe. ptc. of >ioa»., "heard"; '^js, construct s. of Jlo, 'Voice,
sound"; |fO£i**., "trumpet"; J^O pe. ptc. of J;_0, "called";
\j'<J$, "horn"; Jja^j, pe. ptc. of oo^f, "called"; ttooj, "height,

high place"; Jb-Qf, "shaking, earthquake"; Jo©), pe, ptc, of jooi;

r f

-^-N-Sioo, ethpe. ptc. of the root •*» Jb^-S, "was opened";

.. * *

^*ia*jD, pe. ptc. of Jojd; |^*oAjlI, "hymn, praise, glory"; JL

t <T» N.. "one to one, to each other"; JLsij, f. absolute, "great";

* ^

L^axU, ethpe. 3 rd f. s. perf. of +^x; ja^mB, passive ptc. pe.
.ftmOj "cut off; l;-tm, "hope"; ju^m, passive ptc. pe. of
n-^iii, "shut in"; -oo, l s< p. perf. of |oo; JLaa*A, "darkness";

r * r

^W, ethpe. of the root ^*), "sowed", in which the L
changes place with the \ (see IX). In addition, as happens with
. also, ) causes the L to changes into • (with , the \ becomes
J); ILk-*, "corruption"; . ^ao/Li, ethpa. of i^aJ., "was buried";
^JLii^j, "naturally, regarding physical life"; J^m*.o$,
"spiritually"; (Loou^o, "weakness, sickness"; JLX», "strength";
«a If©., "this is" (Jfo. s "this (£)").

ILe, p. of |J6^i "word"; ? a£S4 "only 5 '; ^A., "beloved,
friend"; JjAx, "deed"; SaZ*, **ai, pa. of the root )o«,
"showed", with sfx.; |l6»Olco, p. of |lojcm», "witness,
testimony". See (Loo* in Text 4; jamso, pe. infinitive of taia,
"put", used as a compound with various nouns. Here literally
"putting in thought", hence here "doubt" (see VIII. 5); JOj-o>
pa., "be early /quick (in doing)"; JJ^N, "Elijah"; M^U,
ethpe. 3 ld f. s. perf. of )£**; ^lA, m. p. ptc. of U**, "lived";
)£Oi>j»ii, "widow"; ouL(, aph. of JUL. (*£() with sfx.; 00 ou,
o>o>, "gave" with sfx.; ^ii^, "Elisha"; K^N.j,
"disciple"; )A..^(3<*£, "Shulammite" (f.); jaL^LL, ethpa. 3 ld

Readings

161

s. f. impf. from jac, "was established"; i*X, pe. 3 rd s. f. impf.
of jJjl, "was proved true"; ^'U, "of two", i. e. "another,
second"; U^ "bone"; oU 3 )U, "threw"; U~, "revived";
LiJt. (above), 3 rd f. s. perf.

"^jLoji, "Ezekiel"; ©ua£ij, aph, of gQu2*>, "caused to go
out", with sfx.; J&vn *, "plain"; cn£ziij, aph. of ;jkx,
"caused to pass by", with sfx.; . oouV*— : it** ("circle") is used
as a preposition, "around", with sfx, added to the p. form
-V*— ; x£*£>, pe. ptc, p. of JUL*; JliJ;^, "man", literally "son of
a human being"; \^U, pe. ptc. of \^JI, "knew"; J^J»,
construct of J^jso/Ui^o, "lord"; JLo'po, p, of the same; JLsjU,
ethpa. impv. from the root )L^j, "prophesied"; ;_to?, impv.;
>** ^ «, "dried up"; >^ pe. impv, m, p. of n^so*.; UL^J^-£>,
"saving, word"; m>j«uJ, aph. of ns^cul; ILo], "shaking"; Uo,
"voice, noise"; juloU, ethpa. of JUO, "was gathered";
ono» vi t pa, infinitive of the root jajo«, "broke in pieces".
The infinitive is here used in a special construction to
emphasize the meaning of a following finite verb, or ptc. used
as a verb, of the same root (see Noldeke §295-8); ^*xlo^»,
which follows, is the passive ptc, of the same pa. stem. Hence
"also those which had been finely crushed"; ^^z>K^c, pa.
passive ptc. of ^1, "shattered"; oJol, "was stupefied,
amazed", ^J-S, absolute p. of |K*±3, "region"; ^U pe. ptc.
p. of jli; Ji-^L, "companion"; ^^uaao, pa. ptc. of ^^a*5,
"accepted"; (K^, "joint"; LoX, "to"; L;J>, construct of
JLi-^, "daughter"; JU^oji, "yoke", the whole phrase being used
for "companion (jJ* if m.), wife, associate"; Kaj-O, 3 rd f. s.
pe. of u^Jjq "drew near"; o^oju, ethpa. of the root L^aj,

162

Readings

"was constructed"; ''.«-»"*-, "dryness"; jkouj. 3 rd s. f. pe. of
<-=»^i, "was/became moist"; .°i^\U) ethpe. of ,9>qN, "was
joined" (note the short form of the f. plur.); J^Us^ "tendon,
ligament"; m*U "bubbled up"; \Z-Jl, "vein, etc."; JoJoU,
ethpe, of joi-o, "was spread over"; JLdjOo, "skin"; ); mi,
"flesh"; JiT, "sprang up"; lixm, "hair"; \Zn, "nature";
"nature"; r*£*-, pe. passive ptc. of J{jl., meaning "lying,
thrown down"; •*£*•», "then"; oi^Lo3 t pe, perf, from ^a3,
"commanded" with sfx.; Jjlo j (£), "spirit, wind"; Jl irregular

f \ 4 r

impv. f. s. of (if; U^o'i K^^V'j '"the four winds", is an
unusual numerical expression of a type used for close and
fixed compounds (see Noldeke §152). We would normally
«V NS^Vl; m— q3, impv, f, s. from u-lB, "breathed"
(note also -*Su); |L^-D, "slain"; yoiJ, 3 rd p. imp£ pe. of \L+\
\Ji~L "other, another"; K&L, 3 r(1 f. s. pe. of ^, "entered";
IL^i, "foot"; l^ as an adverb: "very"; «^^», "great,
many".

Readings

163

© 19

Text 6: The Chronicle of Joshua the Slytite (c. A.D. 507)

The following text concerns the period of Persian-Roman
wars of A.D. 502-6.

JhSj \*i~i -;jlLi U*U-=> ol3 _*• ^mxJtsjwL

~ *» Jtn V ■ 4 ^

K » 4 "* ttf * I J fc »• * f , * (f

. tQJi ou '.JJL k*V**»i jLycicn ...nit j 1 .ULcoVqS ^L.JJo

,J|J{ yQj/ V^O? J^J^^oS °I^.SVl\ Q^IsLJ J>0

JJLio ..ooi^Lb. "^pviX mlA( iQjoto ..o©ato
o « V\ « viN .OOL^S. OOOf o^cn^^U wCKXtol.} iiaoootV?

yoLuzHsJ) ^O ^( ) J to'«LO^> yOiJOJO JjfcOO} **-j ^^ jfOJ

I' •* l* r F •* Ik* r ^S.^i- y *t

J)Qj) J^j Of** ,_£> .(JS^^O ^Vi*1 M f ^ OOOl ft-A-J

V it

^# p*i ^ ^ . \ w

o,jw( U _*? J^L^jW ..ocn\ aa*ic« ..ooiito v qj?

QJULoUo .oAj nviN yOOt^ oSU JJ? ftK^Ot^^S.
-Oi^ ^JQ^O Ui-O^^f ^oOb. 0^,0 .La^JLS. cii'^^sji'o

164

READINGS

* I -7)

Htzs oo©( q.qN mo ..U-CSfOS ou^A. V **** 1 ? P*-° t^ 3
K-^^oo ,|oC^s. Jo^jo U-^to La^y bu^f jdo^Lc
^oild^* s po U^o JpL." :)£oCk fool ^A^

' r r ^ > * v . * *

wd ^o^j^-so .^aoL oooij IJtooa* yoc0>o I^Q*JLa yCui

"^Ao ^o Uoj I9AJ00 0010 .)°nnmi. e >( V OOL ^ &Z=**-Q

ciL.* l-aaffl.q^aa bool'^ ^^ flajoo la*-**

f^l^f )jS.*. 0001 .»n°>v>o .0001 —otS Uv^J (LoVlJLs^

Readings

165

FJio£oo, ethpe. ptc. of Kio, "was able for, a match for,
prevailed over"; }<io, "Kawad"; JLl*, "strength"; ^, pa.,
"sent"; ^^iJ, "NuWn"; U^, "Tayite", a tribal name which
came to mean "Arab", later "Muslim"; v ai.fJL» (silent ^), 3 ld
p. pe. impf. of "^fi, from which the "^ falls out whenever
the j has no vowel. The vowel of the ^» is transferred to the
j; Mia-L, "south"; K*^, construct, "house, district"; UiU» ?
"Harranite"; ^, used here partitively, "some of"; jLLajjoS,
"Persian"; o^o, "drew near"; )P; rrs udth verbs of
movement means "forwards" (with sfx.); JlLXj^-cooo,
"Constantina"; JJ1, "Telia", ^*^, pe. ptc. p. of |p> 5
"plundered"; ^mS^J*, pe. ptc. of *a^**, "plundered, did
\iolence to", ..^ii>.v>, aph. ptc. of ^^ , "devastated";
^a^K*-L = ^fliXjtojtL, "nineteen"; ^^*| -V*-t, month
name, c. November; note that some of the verbs in the
following passage appear in the MSS in the singular, where p.
is expected; im.°iyia!^, "Olympius"; •sa^O) "commander,
dux"; JaL-^oJ, "Eugenius"; j^IXto, "Melitene"; KZj,
"descended"; JLi^aj, "time"; «uii*J, an anomalous verb,
treated like an aph. despite the first vowel, "was able, found";
JLyac, irregular p. of JK*;j3, "village"; £'<»U*> "round"; ou»,
"devastated"; -osU, ethpe. of ju3, "turned back, returned";
£1^00, pe. infinitive of ^o^, "turned back, returned";
\M°l aph. of ^^1, "caused to know"; IL^*^, "500"; ^*j£
absolute p. of UJ£ JUi, "torrent, wadi"; — ^o o^>, "not
much, very little"; jo*£*, "far"; <^1^U, ethpa. of the root
o>cl^, "was prepared, prepared oneself; ^>.^]Lao, pe. infinitive
of ^f(; JLoooot^, "Roman, cidzen of E. Roman Empire";

166

Readings

-71

o^ol^SU: passive of the four-root verb j©l^3, "scattered".
The pattern is similar to the pa.; *ooiX, "for themselves", a
so-called "ethic dative" (see Text 1:15); o.'Xtvt, pa. infinitive
of mJSjl, meaning "strip" (transitive); 113b., "night";
ytLal^^, aph. impf. of jaS>», "caused to burn"; (Kaoj, "high
place"; U'+a=> \io t "blow a horn"; , ^ ^l "such /so that";
yokiok^, ethpa. impf. from jlid, "was gathered"; JLLaj^o,
"general" (stricdy "border guard", of Persian origin); ,-*i-*^
pe. ptc. of JU-, "dwelt, encamped"; s*aa*AXl, "Tell
Beshmai"; 9y+, Jf«, "saw"; )'^, "brightness"; ailf, pa. perf.
from the root yOj, "armed"; litis, "cavalryman"; — U^^—m,
p. absolute of IU^sj, "many"; *j-2>», "turned"; yOOi^, ethic
dative, see above and Noldeke §224; JU^^, "infantryman";
Ot-sof, aph. of *aoi, though formed as if from },jso, "was
able"; q^AS^jo, ethpa. infinitive from ^3, "escaped,
saved himself; oaJU (middle \ not pronounced, hence here
omitted), ethpa. of p^, "was compelled"; ^j Oao aph.
infinitive of o^3 "fought"; if£^-mi, ethpe. (with
transposition of s and /) of j^co, "was set in order"; jbaio,
batde"; Ui^K», ethpe. ptc. f of \lo, "called"; Jal*>, the
Greek word X^^ll, "tortoise" (military); UJ<^ "tortoise";
UU "time"; )U^°> "multiplied"; o*lcooLU, ettaph. of 3m*,
"was increased, added"; jUooi, "Hun"; ai^lU, ethpa. of
^jL, "was broken"; k+_m, "rank"; oa^J&mU, ethpe. (with
transposition of / and t) from <*-^t, "was troubled, put in
disorder"; J&i, "each other" (see J^, "one"); qK^L?, ethpa.
of ^— , "was mixed"; J;_2iL "dust" (possibly read (Ja^,
"hooves"); Mtoj, "horse" (form also used as a collective for

READINGS

167

p.); jl*(IU, ethpe. of jm, "was trampled"; . rmvt ,
"trampled"; l=*U., "slew, destroyed"; )Lo^, "rest"; woJb**4,
ethpe. of \L» (with transposition), "was led away captive".

Jj-Mio, "excellent" (pa. ptc. from its*, "increased");
JLaAm*B?, "bishop"; ^J, "Amida" (modern Diyarbekir);

■ft

u-jJIU, ethpe. of «*j meaning "was at rest, took rest", here
"died" (some regard the from as ettaph.); > JoU> ,_»,
"before"; v ot*J, Ji^, "encamped, etc."; J ^J fl , "went up";
^jl=>, construct p, of J^, "son", "son of ..." often indicates
"someone belonging to . .."; jdo^js, "clergy"; jaZ'i pe. ptc.
of loAj, "loved", here in the construct used as a noun;
^Jsl*), pa. passive ptc. of the pa. verb A^j, "adorned";
U/i, "illustrious 5 '; JwoiliLs, "Flavian"; U;Iv&i>,
"patriarch"; Jtlai^j?, "Antioch"; \U^i^ f^X "grasped
with honour, held in honour"; -acL, "there"; -aj.fc^,
"afterwards" (also ^a*KA); ^£sU, ethpa. of ^Lb, "made
his escape"; ]LL=JL, "captivity"; Jb'oj, "Nonnus"; U-^o,
"priest"; )^*^5 (|K*=* *a»)» "steward"; ^m*i>?, aph, with
sfx. from the root pys, meaning "persuaded, asked,
petitioned". This verb is a Joan from Greek TTEiaai;
a&'^iJ, "clergy"; "^ija, pa., "received"; |La*-j,

^CO

"headship", here construct with JIojois, "priesthood";
pa, "sent"; J^oL, "Thomas"; lAA flru^ oo,
"chorepiscopus", a priesdy subordinate of a bishop in charge
of a (country) district; ^, "led, governed"; Ul*>l
"Amidan"; ^JjJ, impf. of ^^; l^aoiOM, "gift"; Jo^a,
"anything, some"; a*oK*J, ethpe. of Jo*. (with

168

Readings

transposition), meaning in this stem "agreed with, conspired
with"; ILaLa, "petition"; m^, "sent"; J]x, "forced,
resisted"; \1L\, "judge"; ? I!*!, "who"; Uoif % "gold"; ^^Ls>,
pa., "distributed"; jLtaioao, "poor" l^^-^-so, "for this
reason"; (Lc&l p. of )JU, "land"; UCJ, "other"; )*3,
"wandered"; ^j&£bo, aph. ptc. of *aAi; jpLn, "corpse";
^i*ot, "then"; +ja£i£oo, ethpe. ptc. of »ja3, "was ordered,
appointed".

5 20

Readings

169

Text 7: Barhebraeus (A.D. 1226-86)

Barhebraeus (Syriac Bar "Ebroyo, Arabic Ibn al-*Ibri) was
Syrian Orthodox Maphrian of the East. The following text is
taken from his Chronographj. part of his account of the
Crusades, specifically the dealings of King Richard of
England with Saladin and his entourage in A.D. 1191.

^C^ J$J l&> k4jl %k ilkf^H U^o

I i v 4„ F r ..? v ^, I* \ p r t . mi i 9 r v

.Jjso^ . o/">*. c a..floo ..°>»fr> o*Oj |oij June* «JN-soy Ibc^o

, %^x>q . .ooi jo ^nj ^tlSoi yloifU U-oi t^**^
j*iL o>olo .©tLj y??jaA=> ^ ^-as JoC^f ban? :O^L

ii i*j is s ^?i ^ ^j l^n, *?L^?,: }&>£
)<*, -m iLl ^jl ^,%* ^* *a&i ^ v Lcaj,

,a£^ |jL£U>o Km.*. ^1, -aiJJ bal \La»\ (il^
Uoot .--ioow )?'■>'? ^ 4nr.fn Jio^. _.oi_Jio JijOiio :^ nn°t )
l J ^si k ■♦J!o ^oi^bo »K-lX JL»| ^»ou jLft £>?o JLqj^JI |^et

170

Readings

-iS^,, jLaloso jooJo *.]UL^V-3 -^LA^ Ual i °imij

%>,% if? .^ i;ic± lL] ^ ,.3. ii; -^(oii

-snai.1 La2x p,a)o U=>V°i *«jlo sfj&w^ia *_o* uOioi.1
Us? .Uooi U tao£oo J?o^ rJL*^»-i» :JLio*V^ v QJOi otX
I^O^ol* LiO« U-xso :)fOu^ ^ii d,< c^ol ©<oi»fo

■ „ ■ O-j. ■■ « r

)oij voCL ;j»? UA**^l JLaooI^ otloX ^Lsool (jfcOxL
VI ^^jlso ) v i V t.jLao L3^ -*ioaI )jfcs-^L _»S,ot3
Uooi );-.;Jl UIXju-uj loot v ?t J;-Wo iJJ^j^jLStf JJo *&JL.

^oiojU ^ ^iioQX* ^3^ *IjoI* J^*io Ij^-iool^ .ooo©
: c^x do,, |o* <# J> ^k, \JL*U> ^ Jty,

o\^> otsax ^*? jooi £s+l .ja ^N^v ^j IjLJLs J'yin^
-o*oi>t^ ILoVL? ocsav .p-^^ U . (V ;oa ^toi'o ^C^b. ulll^

^ Sj ^ r I - #

^jo oooi ^iri !^ yQjoi )J1<^)V °>N. JL>jLyt.o Jui^ flVM

Readings

171

y

;jJ^i U)v^n^» Qi^^o otlcoc^j t T. No c^oj J^Jl^
o^lUa -^C^ — ^ teil ^o U^^oV |K^l (ii^uoo

•.uuo ^4^ -s^° ^,ii i^x t^,j >&<£^

■-^oL )l»al cmSo ^JS^o :i/JSu^^^ )A\v> ^\ "V^x
*U*i- jjo*. jJt^=> iJ( Ulz. +*] .o*isisJ^ jou jy Jn'Nvn

f ■?, j 1 ' O \ • j .

vijOju? _2oo ..N.tN 001 Us? c^XAaao Uj ^Kxoio
-oiQi^jiXj Jt-^f*' y* 1 ^^ y^-**^ ^'^ JLj-sq^^^^JS^o^
loot ^Ao .Ik^^N jlnn,tm K^o tUaa^»^oaS>

t\jko!> ),lL( JlSL^ JLL^fio ^^ol ^^jLo :^i*.^JJ ^J?

7 r #

j^^u^ <;s (( J "England"; It-^jJ, "messenger, ambassador";
)oi ; "behold"; Q£Di_^W, ethpa. of ^fl^^j "was devoured,
broken in pieces"; \A^ "war"; JL^ "side"; *K^if UU,
"how long? (literally: until when?)"; JLlooi, "thus"; a*o^
from -o^ "became drunk" (compare ^*t** in Text 1:20);
Mum , "sword"; Uo^ "blood"; -43oi/, aph. impv. of ^01,
"returned, changed"; ^..^^ "now, therefore"; .S -»™*, 2 nd

172

READINGS

s. perf. of cu«u, "took"; —? . ^A^, "rather, especially" (see
Greek uaAAov); W^^, "worship"; ©iK^i^o: ^^io
with sfx., "on account of it"; ^iciSj, 1 st p. of oaSu with
enclitic -L.; sOcqaj, 1 st p. impf. of ja^jt, "left desisted";
s***jLL, the ethpe. equivalent for verbs like Jao, from the root
«J, often u—JlU (with two t s) in the perf.; here impf, 2 nd s.
m., "was at rest"; mIb, pa. from Us, "replied"; ok, "not";
^,Qi^ ^, "formerly" (see f^ooL, "first of all"); 4<^
construct of Ujo*., "beginning"; JKoSbo, "eruption, going
out, emergence"; euWt> aph. perf. of Jt^, "snatched";
%Jkaa t aph. of %*>*&, "were weakened"; ^oiboD, "a little";
v oLil 2 nd p. m. perf. of |tl "came"; U4 "now"; ^^i^-*,
"because of, concerning"; v oK-^so(, ptc. p. of i-aol, with 2"
p. m. enclitic pronoun; 6uls*l, K*( with 3 rd f. s. sfx.; uM,
"much more"; ,j*^a», aph, ptc. with enclitic pronoun of
ojo( (root oi-T), "made great, honourable"; ^i.j.cu'm, pa.
ptc. with enclitic (root jja*), "treated with reverence"; JLsoaf
,, "as"; v foa4 "QurW; Uj, ptc. of JLL, "wanted"; V L^J,
ethpa. impf. (root *K-), "connected himself by marriage":
this verb is a denominative based on the noun \j1S-U,
"relation by marriage" (see VIII.B); " < ^, with the foregoing,
"through, by way of; -«&?, W, "brother", with sfx.; ^Ja
^,11 "Malik <AdiT; )Lu, "sister"; LU, 3 rd f. s. pe. of III;
T ^T mC* pe, infinitive of t-<^», "worshipped"; .(, "if;
jLupa, p. of ILl+Uo, "city"; \isuo, "bank, side"
(construct); Ul, "sea"; )Sm,; "fort"; joi^P, "alone only";
•oaaj, ^Aa, "ordered, ruled, had command"; U>Oi3, irregular
p. of J^tc, "town, village"; £o{ p. of Uof, "afflicted", the p.

Readings

173

being used of "templars, knights templar"; f-^K ^™f,
"knight hospitaller"; Uo©s £ ptc. of loot; ILqjAJ^
"relationship created by marriage, wedding"; ^'i+l, contruct p,
of )U, "hand"; j^Laso, "dwelling-place"; j£^, "agreed to";
♦_al, "was inflamed"; Ij^^, "desire"; U=>}Oj, "p" 110 ^ g 1 ^
man"; lLa>, "elder"; )dLu, impf. of )Q^a; «^e», "much";
■ nmv.Kao, ptc, from uaxax, "was difficult", ethpe. "made
himself difficult"; Jlso*^, "astute, clever"; JL±+L ptc. pe. of
•<y.il, "knew", with enclitic pronoun; jj looKio, "never"; iW,
"nor"; U^J *», ethpe. ptc. (with transposition) f. of )A.,
"was willing, consented"; Ui>, construct of JLiii, "daughter";
Uij, "great"; -^ )ooi can mean "married"; o^, adverb,
"well"; Jjjio passive ptc, ("emphatic") of K*>, "was able",
hence, "it is possible"; Uf, "kind, type": Up, "by way of;

p r r r

(iOSfckOiL, "jest, mockery"; JLaoD?, "as"; J^o, aph. ptc. of JL,
"was accustomed"; a«l&io, aph. infinitive of <-**£>, "joked";
ILoLij, "cunning"; .Q^^, "therefore"; jl21, 2 nd s. impf.
aph. of **** (juu*), "saddened, hurt"; ^(^jJ, ethpa. (with
transposition) of ^Ut, "was enticed, cajoled"; Ji^C V^>
"ambassador"; )lnvi\ m , "agreement"; ©£**?, +Z*l with sfx.,
"retained, kept"; U^,, "night"; jviv,.?, "day-time"; ^l^o,
pa. ptc. of "^^ "enticed, cajoled"; Ji-so?, f. absolute ptc;
JUiJi, "true"; >*-£>oi, "remrned"; iv^oo, pe. passive ptc, of

* F"

Loo, "was ashamed", hence "in shame"; i-*>o^ r»*-^ >i-oL,
"Taqi al-Din <Umar"; U^ol, "journey, road"; JJlo, "Khilat";
^j 1 ?, ptc. of ^ff; ^»UiJ, aph. impf. of ^;-0, "fought";
»oian_£>oi(, aph, 3 rd m, p, perf, of *£>oi, with 3 rti m. s. sfx.,
"brought him back"; -ojo^ajo, "buried"; g - n \ ^-^^

174

Readings

7

"Maipherkat"; U» } pe. ptc. of Uao, "hated"; Ui, "without";
ULJi p., "mercy"; JLl, "shed"; UW?, "Armenian"; JL^3,
"labourer"; Uo*^, "wronged, miserable"; jq^S^a.^.
"Gabal Gur"; *oji*> ^oo, "Malik Mansur"; ^lU , ethpa.,
"was confirmed, fortified, took refuge"; >o,'u, pe, ptc. of
■ n-^*, "left"; Jo/iS-to, ethpe. ptc. of the root |of, "agreed with,
made alliance with"; ^to?j&OQz>, "Begtimur"; J^o, "Lord";
l^ou^i., "therefore"; -Jsooii, aph. of pooi, "ignored, turned
away"; JK-sJm, "at that moment"; ^^Xo, "a little"; .*oijo(,
"Edessa"; K '*J., "Harran"; Jv^wn, "Samosata"; \cujo,
aph. ptc. f. p. of S; !*ja* t , "set off; ^*&uLvU ^U't, "two",
with sfx., "the two of them"; )*<i4s "band" (£); '^zuJClL,
"towards"; « nSn* (, "Ashkelon"; ^+Jt, pe. passive ptc. of
);jl "encamped, etc."; rivirn, toio "put, set"; JJjLaaa,
"ambush"; ^,oP>k ptc. of *jz2u; Jj^ijoo, "camp"; oXjz^so,
pa. infinitive of ^£p\ "collected"; )rn*o, "piece of wood";
oj**, .1^; J^L^L(> ethpe. of IJ-^, "was uncovered"; c*3%
"rode"; .r.Nn, "every one"; JLLcoas>, "horse"; ^^3, "met,
attacked"; o^ii, pa. of ^4^' " slew "5 °^U for ^l
ethpe. of ^i, "was seized"; JLjl^S, "horseman"; ^^V^
"only"; Po^a, "ordinary"; «oujtj, JL».j, "blamed, accused",

■71

with sfx.; )bo^ pe. ptc. of JLio, "sought"; ***]-*?> 1 st s. impf. of
It** with sfx.; > ^sLaoi, pa. l sr s. impf. of the root ^'^Ssoo,
"spoke"; jl-u, "pitched (tent), encamped"; Ij&o-U, "tent,
etc."; ,jo ;^>., "outside"; ,_»], "towards, at"; oJS**, "sat";
^>L, "there"; JUoo,\ "evening"; *Cs, "departed"; ($**,
"each other"; v J^sXa*» > "sultan"; ot! 1 st s. impf. of oil,
"sat" (see XI.3); U^ "was willing"; ^Lfi, "two (things)"; ^o,

Readings

175

"indeed" (Greek p£V). It is used for "on the one hand ...";

f r

Jslo, "was afraid"; JLi—j, "other (thing)"; 3*.?, aph. perf. of
°»°»- ^ "conceded"; ©oij oiLo^,, "towards j&W- ooi*
emphasizes that Richard is referred to; by implication
Richard ought to come to Saladin; *o^»o ? "therefore"
ul£>, pa. of Us, "replied"; *Ojj, pe. ptc, of *Ojf "was fitting"
nli^i^i ethpa. impf. of ju-O, "were gathered, assembled"
)^ojl, "strength, agreement" (here construct); U*a,, "peace"
"^-oi^, "until now"; 9*jlM, pa. passive ptc. of f^*., "fixed
agreed"; lSqiuj, .->!.. "reckoned, thought"; ^jalX-mio.
ethpa. ptc. of s ^^""> (with transposition), "understood
jN-vavi, "speech, language"; ujLul _ao, "of necessity" (Greek
avcxyKT]); Ja^^IS-*) "interpreter"; iX-uis, "between";
-ftjfl't^', pe. impf. of tOi., "made, worked, appointed"
with sfx. anticipating the object: probably 1" p. with jussive
meaning: "Let us appoint the ambassador as interpreter"
(alternatively 3 rd s,); K^, "there is not"; JIoA*_l£0, "need";
U-^^>, "meeting"; JoK&, "winter"; aal , "Akko"; ^£ml,
"20"; U^k, p. of lii^x, "1000" (hence 24,000); |£L*
"dinar, denarius"; JL=>ot^, "gold"; jU*, pa., "set free"; Ju*»i,
"prisoner".

176

Readings

Text 8: St Ephrem the Syrian (d. A.D. 373)

Part of a poem (Nisibene Hymn 17, dated c. 361-63) marking
the death of Vologeses, Bishop of Nisibis, and in praise of
Abraham, his successor. Note the pattern of seven syllables in
each phrase.

Note on Chanting (by George A. Kiraz)

Syriac music is syllabic (i.e., each musical note is associated
with a syllable). Sometimes the melody of a particular line
contains one more syllable than 'provided in the text. For
example, the first line in the melody m'oSI oooi q^XjSu,
which is used here, consists of eight syllables, while the text is
made up of only seven syllables. In such cases, the chanter
adds an extra syllable at the end of the line according to the
following rules:

r t 4

i) If the vowel of the last syllable is O, O or O, a p

is added and it takes the same vowel as the last

syllable. For example, jAo^qx^ in the first

stanza is chanted .Ao^ooio^pL. Similarly,

j^^^o^ of the second line is chanted
* i *

jr - # s*

ii) If the vowel is O or O, a *. is added instead. For
example, ot^L^. of the third line becomes otli^.v.

© 21./ 25

Readings

177

.. Jf&I ooot fib^jaUf lie ^^ ..

- P if
■ &UON3A

.)L£u Wot \u£±L

,.yh+

a^ oi^^x^ oci

s *f*

^

•V

**

. * * *

■<*M

71 ' f

t-=» 7

, A oo^ v

Ja

on Vi v o$aiajj

I^M^j viN JLjL*f Jooi*
jxXfc^H jL^^ oi^ foot

71 ,£7!

ju»j .oouataoi j>

Oi^nVt N.L,^o L=»» corn

?* r \fr * ? K'' it f # * f

.f^Q3 ^-.i li-^JU u^JHO JLlX o-^=» U^f Oli

* 4 p 1 1 ti r s

180

Readings

Readings

181

Text 9: Philoxenus of Mabbog (d. c. A.D. 523)

From his Discourse 2, on faith, here advocating childlike
simplicity before God, Note the significance of the diacritical
points in an unvocalized text. For full treatment of these
points see Noldeke §§ 6-17. Vocalized serf a script is used in
the notes.

avoAa . r^'mArt' ^r\c\A ri'ocni ocn &r^ rdir^cn

,mdl=o K^jb r^Aa r^zn ^o r^i^Xcu

kAi AA^pD <nA *aArb:i )3XW achA ^ri'i
}o:u*):i r^iin r^acTin . cr>T°n ^ziiLajjca r^Ajjj
r^acmil rdstir^ \=A cnA ja:n r^i^m -vwr ^
■.cnA r<^=i ,c73CuL!3ar) r^A ru*. . rfcnAr^ ir\oA

i\0^i r^'Usjc vyK'o ^-^< 0c P rfizi*.
AA^io ^r^ . rs^\c\A5*L.<7i^ Aj=mia anaXcL*

Ojl^!^ r^to\2k .^sJu^r^ r^JftC\jrsa*e7A

mL*it\jr<'^ .- rtf'itVi- (-i^ra r^^jJD rC'&Vi-iriAa^o
^lLk?3 rdwoi rh=j rd^V^n vV^n-w^iw

:^:U r^A r^zOi- ^2> ^axao -pardb rdiiZk*
r^-iioa rd\o ■■■nns*^ r^Aa (V— jb ri\a
W»\n SrvAV\ ^ri' r^ArC* AAira rdAa

rC'k-lce^aJwa rsllD'ia . rdixi.1 f^OD'Vi ^Lwl

r^\ cnA K'riXasn
aai^Xa^j^ rg'-incv^

=Ao . rdJLb A -into

,n\h)e£zi r^A ^ amift

r^Ac^

K'noAja

^»^\r<' rdiAjp ^A cuacuai .^^io r^i^cT)
■U-^ ^-A^r^^i .^cur^ ^al^ik r«lAo >i\oA

rfk^ax=i .saSrvG (Mt. 19:14) rtf'crAr^i

♦ {Mk. 10:15)

182

READINGS

II.^* , "young child"; *o+i ptc. of j3^, "was fitting". Note
that a dot above a form like this indicates that it is a participle
(see II.A(ii)); ILaj, impf of JuLo, "possessed"; * JLL? ^^,
"whoever"; ^za^o^oo, ethpa. ptc. of ls;jo. "drew near"; UaJ
^ "just as"; JLqj;^? v>, "guidance, dispensation, government";
*^2LQio, pa. ptc. of ^^Ljo, "received"; jLij, "great man,
master"; Yf>, pe. ptc. of |^>, "investigated"; JLo, p. of jKi^,
"word"; nnwi, pa. ptc. of >in\, "discussed, disputed,
examined"; JL^lqA, "thought"; v ?{, pe. ptc. of ^ "judged";
piLso oot, "anything"; ^Lao t pa, ptc. of ^X "taught",
sometimes found in the form £L^JLtt, like verbs beginning
with (; U-Sj, "soul"; Julf, "judge"; Urns, pe. p. passive ptc. of
Imo, "covered, kept secret" (the verb being used in the pa.);
JLj^Q^, "deed"; Loy, impf. of Lj, "listened to"; JLol^-£i,
"faith"; ^,Vt^, "afresh" (U>(); ^o^, aph. ptc. of £l,
"bore, brought forth, gave birth to"; _£l^J: StLj, impf. pa. of
^>J (above) with 1 st p. sfx.; ^ can mean "originating from";
<j^L.U, l sr p. ethpe. of ^Ll with enlitic pronoun attached:
"we have been born"; Lco^jd, "belly, womb"; l^^\oy> ; f.
of Jjp^oiD, "progenitor, producing, generative" (used
adjectivally); hk*Jo, f. absolute passive ptc. ta*m, "put";

It I* 4 r

JKxJao, "middle", here "as the means"; )K ^oaaa so,
"baptism"; JL^fao, pe. passive ptc. of ^jao, "mixed" (f.
absolute); ^C^I^> ethpe. ptc. of ^ Up?, "likewise" ()L#j
"manner"); JJol, "baby, infant"; Jills, "nature"; jiotzi*.,
"simplicity, childishness"; joLo, ptc. of jao which can mean
"existed"; Ji^jfcoio, ethpa. ptc. of Ji^, here "thinking,
reasoning"; ^^aoao, pa. ptc. of ^>-to, "spoke"; K3j,

Readings

183

"moved, wriggled"; ) n? t \\ "only"; Koj, "movement";
ja*^j, "far"; — ojj, "of spirit, spiritual"; .^m, "instead of;
Ipkcua, see +S.Q20 above; cili., "condemned, guilty, liable",
used for "ought"; «-» 1 "at, in the presence of, here with Jocn
means "had something to do with, was a pam to"; )L=i£>ax,
"investigation, enquiry"; v^ao*., ptc. of voo*.; pntoil
"sincerity"; lie, "sound, saying"; JLp, "examination";
^;jsroo, ethpa. ptc. of ^J-C, "drew near"; Iooojl, p. of
Uk^, "name" (see VI.F); Ilia], p. of llo^, "thing"; ^Li,
pe. ptc. of - e ^-, "learned"; \aKxo^, ethpa. ptc. (with
transposition) of ^a^o, "understood, recognized"; JLo^oi,
"here, now, herein"; Jfjf, "mystery, secret"; jlaodo,
"understanding, meaning"; ^^j, pe. impf. form used for
the impf. of oou, "gave"; |jfco^ "knowledge"; ^vn:.,
"wisdom"; j K vi ^oo, ethpa. ptc. of "^oo, "was spoken" -
the phrase means "ineffable"; JLoo;_3, "saviour"; * Li-o, Ji-O,
"called, designated", with sfx.; qoqji*, impv. p. of >n-t»,
"left, let"; *0lS, "namely", but it stands for quotation marks
and need not be translated; l^K, p- of il^, "child"; ^U, p.
ptc, of JU; »Q^ot, impf. of 11a, "forbade". Note that the
impf. is used for negative commands; t^—f, here "those" (see
. qjoi), but usually interrogative (see Noldeke §§68, 236);
llnnNvt, "kingdom"; ^ot, "again"; jiooj, "place"; )lU+l £
of \j++*L "other"; f ~ao, "whoever"; ^QiJ, pe.lmpf. of ^x
C^^), "entered".

18-1

Readings

Text 10: Thomas of Marga (9 century A.D.)

From this Church of the East author's Book of Governors on
monastic history. (East Syriac script and vowel signs).

la a 7iciaal + ^aaa ^ita ^"^V oi ♦
;i!fc*l*a iaoi-aa iisooi, jes

•Bio j^aiaa 301 ,_io 7101131* ;noV\a A*aoi 1jul»1
/yaiaXa lllacul lAaAaa*ma ~<Jl opaaa »lcui -xa3

,f 7 - *> > » ' *' i ' '

auaolo cu^ax is»cua*^a it»aja laci laaoaAo laaci
»' i *• ' * " ( ' " * " ' t • '

"Tscriiaii Iqjc ^Uloa laail aia . l^laaaaa Aal ciS\i
* i» i i* m i — "i ■ t * •

iAo^ai ?vA*A iai oiaa*flla ♦i'^Viiq laMao laaju

,i i ,• ^*w i ,. i ; - i * f

w,a ^fiSv> . l^joaxj «iojLk t-hSJSa aA Iaioi . 2a*u<a

~"/ t " " ' i ~ Vl * ' '" . ',
»ja*o . lisai^ aa ji*j olfisAxisa asisAas JLi.0** ;al

\7f ^ '»' ' ~' " •. ' ^ '

-aaa iJiaa cn£\A_xis3 . pnem i\J3 laaaoV *-» T^ltooa

~C '" ' , ''< " •* ' ,T, ;

AuJ*a laaoo**ao Xoxj, 2a*" ,_3aa laaooa* Jea T3ciaai >:

■aaao .;Vriftil' ; a iaaai&A ^aaal iA 71^ AU .liii,

LiiaciSj l£sla , lisajOiiXa laa-taml Aibq Jo^ pa

:ii'vl*a l5oJLa JLjlL* lisiLlaa a^o .^o-Jii

X^M n*l£Aho :xCx»aio e^-ii ;isoaiua

:;ooi -b^b ;i"\cl\ Xiaoi' lia^cua ^IXa «ta :)Ttii-i\

«ioi*l3a oueid "anas oe^a .^^jiao^saa oioA-aA (SoioaiUxia

"' *'*'*'*,'*" ♦ *•« ' 1 '' "' '•»"'',

libaaava ^M .a^aa l^scrDl ^oaialis^j alJsaA^^aaaQ

fulo .UiHaao l*aoM*ao i-aaaS'a ^ala l<n*axao

V I ,t '!,,»• ,1 s * I #1 I

AaA oiaJLiixa ia\ ^.ad aa : ^i\ a>oaoia U-a

llGl ^LAMC . ^QJLivi lliofil CTlNOi OXlAM . JiJkS

^ •! ,1 ■ ■ * ,1 1 1 i' \ "

Readings

185

lii Si^aa ana ilAa ^i Q .^ oc1 ^ ^

i&aA LA, jaaai. .liLaa ^ laaoaia ^iaaAfis^a
' '* * • ■ ' ■ ? ,1 ■ 1 ,1 ■

it-=te>a jjua_»ia .^ulaaina ii^aA a^aal ^ao :iaa*aj&ia
v^ ' ■ - t - .- - •;■ »^j ,. .. rr r -- ( --fc-

AilaaA looi a^ ^a'oia i*ia ^^aooi^Aa Aa

A*i Jdoa iV i fl a INoUaxao J^aao j&caisli o^aaiaAo

^Ihaa tAQftnniV.^Na Jal^ :aaoio" ^ Uqci

-aaa ^aaa ja^ao laaaoiA .'looi AAa aiaA^a

.looi j3£ojo oviii oiA^a l^oaaao /loct -A*2 ■Bc'aai
1' ■ ■• ' 1' * ■ ' t i ~ ,

lisaj.oaL jsaaoaMa po r^'ffi^ ^Lt 5^ ikacio

' ' ^ t * ' ** Vi 1 *i 111

ou^a «iOjud. 00 , Ju*aa wioiaso on l6.oa*%i<a

OJL3Q l^atll ouxoia lJo fttrt) . li>aa 001 3a-aSa

&J* &oA alio luula jjaM loiisQaaaa liLao laaaoa»
*' * * ' * " 1* (» 1 * 1 ,1 i ■ • ,, t

'* i*' • 1 1 1 '

vj£soiii-.£oo lAa

Uio^ "blessed, holy"; ^, literally "our master", an
honorific tide; ».$, "head" (construct); liaoox, "monastery";
IfQ^, "mountain"- JJ H ?, "Izk" ^^noi, "therefore"; jo?
l^r-^°?= " Ur of me Chaldaeans"; jl^S file, "appointed in
advance, predestined", a combination of two verbs, J4-i-3,
"separated", and jo^o (pa.), a did beforehand, andcipated,
prevented"; coiax», Jam, "put", with sfx.; IJL^ao*,
"multitude"; ) v i v?v , p. of JLaoI, "nation"; o, here "also";
Itsoj, "way of life, custom"; JialU^l, "being alone,
monastic life"; owLJt, ^Vstem with sfx. of the root *A},
"made abound"; &c=^o? aph. of 0% "made great, enlarged".
Note that the Eastern script often represents -aw as oO;
\l*Jn, "East"; )t=^ "man"; ]^o, ? , "spiritual"; Jo^, passive

186

Readings

ptc. of Jo*., "was even, worthy", meaning "equal"; Ji^s

"deed"; cxxLal, aph. of tafl, "established", with sfx.; U^sA,

"legion, class"; JJo&-=», "celibate, virgin" (m.); fwjj, "ascetic,

Nazkite"; <^£o, ptc. p. of ^k-o, "wrote"; liio^, "ancient,

former"; .*©i<£^: note the Eastern spelling with O; .<£i*io

(usual spelling), "rather, in particular"; ^iLol |b»(, "Father

John"; J^^, "writer"; \LSmX, "history"; |L^ ^, "Bar

Idta"; ^moi, "Rostam"; Uoc k*i "Beth Qoqa" (in

Adiabene); ^^J J^,, "Zeka Isho"'; \ii j^*4 Beth *Abe";

Ji-^*ao "desert"; LS.-.O™? (usual spelling), "Eskete" (Scete in

Egypt); JLaa -^-»l "form, manner of life"; floloix,

"asceticim"; JL/JjdoS, "command"; U^Ss "divine"; yax,

"dwelt"; |Li-Lso, "cave"; jK**^so, pa. passive ptc. of U^,

"hid". Note the Eastern script combination of / and ' at the

* ** *

end of the word; JlnA4*, "neighbourhood"; K-iLiLs,

"quickly, shortly"; "fe^Af, ethpe, of **%*> "became known,

famous"; jio^I, "cause"; JJJK "profit"; U»a^ (western

vocalization), "general"; y**a>, pe. passive ptc. of |on, "put,

it i p

appointed"; ll.i^i QSo, "priority", used in construct to mean
"fore-"; ji-^U "knowledge" (hence "foreknowledge");
U^oloo, "eternal"; \ialLjZ, "middle, means"; ^ot*MjfrJ:
t ^Xt is an anomalous verb based on |j*viNl, "disciple",
meaning "taught, made disciples". Here we have an impf.
passive (some would call it the ettaph. of , viS>): "they will
(might) be made disciples"; Hoof, p. of Jls?, "father"; }&<$,
"founder"; lotiaioo, pa. passive ptc. of ch^o*.; the verb means
"named, gave a name to", this ptc. ' means "famous,
renowned"; UjoW, "Assyrian"; KN-iA, Babylonian"; U-j,

Readings

187

"odour"; UftO*Ot, "spice"; U^^ "chosen, choice" (passive
ptc. of b^; ~U>, "spread"; JLa2 "report"; ,l\ /.tx-
"splendid deeds"; J^^l3, "region"; uu&U, ethpa. of *id;
UqiI, "poor, ascetic"; U-£s, "set apart, special"; »»&, pa. of
Jq«, "showed, revealed", Note again vocalization with 6;
lL^»o t "crown"; ^sKdqj, ethpa. impf, (with transpositon) of
^£i£o, "was trimmed, cut"; U^A^lKte, "novice"; U>^
"until"; |K*Lpo, "coming"; ooo: vocalization with O; )L»t*.,
"true"; A->*-^ "shaven" (passive ptc. of ^i-<*J; UifoJL<»,
"follower of Severus" (Patriarch of Antioch: the author of
this text shows his opposition to the so-called "monophysite"
tradition,); ^p>, adverbial use of JLLaf, meaning "formerly";
\i<AoJ^LA, "philosophy"; U^, "foreign, heathen"; UjqL,
"Greek"; Bj, ptc. of JLa^, "wished"; £&JL», pe infinitive of
£^, "learnt"; aliam, pa. infinitive of ^to (pa), "held fast
to, had mastery of*; juqjU (alternative spelling oaoLL?),
"Athens"; JLs omS 4 , "philosopher"; JLaj» "now, in this
place/case"; , <viNn , "whoever"; s^^j, "desirous";
JLo^, "sonship"; o.Ao*o, aph. ptc. of ^ko, "enrolled,
inscribed"; JL^, p. of )Lu^ "year"; , ^, "after"; ^o(U
or JS^ojU, one of the additional derived stems (see XIII.B),
etpawpa! of oat, here "was increased" (3 rd £ s.); ILo^p,
"abstinence"; <*s, "through him"; *oiqLi ^, "during his
life"; iSoj^S, "person"; Ujloio, "congregation"; ols, from

* r

JLiz>, "built"; ILoaaj, "likeness", hence ©tLo*>3, "in Jiis
likeness, like him"; iaidU, ethpe. of jlj^j, "was gathered,
died"; the ethpa. is more common; HJul, "honour"; «JuL pa.

188

Readings

r r

of Jl*,, "changed, migrated"; U* 3 "without"; JlnN^r.^-io,

"corruption, corruptibility".

Glossary

This glossary contains all the vocabulary items which appear
in the main part of the book, with the exception of the
following: most pronouns, numerals, day and month names
(see XIV), rarer ethnic names and, of course, personal and
geographical names.

Verbs are given in an unvocalized "root" form, though
vocalization is given where necessary (e.g. to indicate verbs
with an e vowel like *^»). This is followed by an indication
of which stems are used and the meaning in those stems.
Verbs like *^1 are listed as ^&o^. Verbs like )cua are listed as

9

Jcus and not, as is often the practice, as joojs. Genders of
nouns are only given if not obvious. Adjectives are given in
the masculine singular "emphatic" form.

\=A

father (takes sfxs. irregularly: see

VLF)

Mi

w

P" *F

pe. perished
wages
roof-top
letter

Ear (f.)

of ...0/

either ... or

M

ethpe. agreed with, made alliance

with

jUosof

black

189

190

Glossary

>SH

distress

k°^°!

gospel

to

store house

journey, road

pe. went

Ui

brother (see VLF)

1—1

pe. took hold of, closed, retained

li&J

t

other, another (see VI. F)

PXJ

other thing (see VLF)

sister (pt 11 a** I)

hand, power (construct +1, see VI. F)

envoy

iu^i

embassy

like, as

1

as, as if

l e° r •

such/ so that

itiul

where, anywhere

Mkll

how?

just as

Lc^a*^

dav-titne

iUJ

who, whoever

ifii

honour

*J

there is (see V)

l{-J

together

*W

pe. ate

f 1

as

18

if not, except, but

god

Glossary

191

6

—J

r

* ?*

.* C! II i

w

JLfcJ

H

- iLai^?

J 1

. a?

■ w5

13

*j

-71

divine

pe, pa. forced, pressed

mother

aph. was able

truly

pe, said

if

necessity (Greek OtVayKT))

man (absolute »m)

woman (plur. |ju: see VI.F)

pe. healed

knight hospitaller

healer, physician

heahng

prisoner

form, manner of life

also

palace

bishop

raisins (plur. only)

heresy

mystery, secret

widow

land (f.)

pe. shed

document, deed

was able, found (anomalous, but like

an aph,)

192

Glossary

w

pe. came

ti&

place, region (p. |\.o*1-0

-3

by, in, with, through

Wte

cathedra, bishop's chair, also a kind

of pulpit

-4?

inside (preposition)

therefore

L^o

pe. was ashamed

IU«£

comfort

»p

pe. plundered

V- ^=>

pe. tested

* 9 f

among, between

|W£

evil thing

*^

among

IjL^

house, district (construct AvjO, p.

\h^ see VLF)

^^ars

always (see JUof)

,rt A\ A

only

^<^>

paipel confused

poo

without

' lo

pe. built

sweet

jama

pe, made merry

1' *

flesh

pe. sought

)La>o

petition

JLi

husband, master

Glossary

193

Ui

Jo

II

r

enemy

pe. investigated

examination, investigation

pe. examined

proof, examination

son (construct i^a: see VI,F)

son ship

foreign, heathen

creation

pe. bent the knee, pa. and pe, passive

ptc. blessed

man, literally son of a human being

(see Myf; p. )»'*'• '*■*)

daughter (construct L^, p. )£sjl3: see

VI.F)

virgin, celibate (m.)

after

afterwards

HIL4
IK,

tortoise
pe. chose
side

election
man

pe. wove
pe, happened
band (usually f.)

194

Glossary

1*K>

blasphemy

u;^

general

^*4

body

V. r

treasury

*^

pe. cut, circumdzed

tendon, ligament

for, since (not the preposition

'for")

•k

pe. revealed

*-U^

clearly

^

thief

1^4,

giant, mighty man

^5.

aph. dwelt, descended

^

race, family

pe. committed adultery

leper

\r^

loaf

U^

bone

JD^

pa. devoured, broke in pieces

*^

pe. shaved

_j of, that, in order that, because, which,
who (relative pronoun)

JiS— zn sacrifice

^a^ pe. took, led, drove, guided

Ju^*^ gold

! i_a o <j way of life, cus torn

Jlo| afflicted, knight templar

tmsoj commander, dux

Glossary

(iSooj place

s ^>-^ pe. feared

l^s^-** fear

)a^ demon

Jjo*j demoniac, possessed person

~ *^*f belonging to

^ but, now, however

M*f judgment

\ll\ judge

|^l»C dinar, denarius

)i*( home, habitation, monastery

\il±i monk

Ldj pa. purify

l^oj male person

]}$ without

«fy\ $ pe. blazed

JLao<j blood

|i.aaoj likeness

yj pe. judged

JLlSj side

^A£) pa. broke in pieces

L^jj step, rank

y.^ aph. attained, understood

*i pe, trampled

|oi behold

JLi^©i flower

ha^o member, limb

195

196

Glossary

glory

|ooi

pe. was, became

1> *

then

iia-t.s>

temple

believed (pay'e/o£ ^oi or ^o?)

ILoivi.oi

faith

LODCM

thus, similarly

^S-iJicn

therefore

1 1 r t

thus

.JN^&t

pa. went, made walk

L»oi

aph. ignored, turned away

^3oi

pe. turned, returned, changed

1 ' f '

POOfOf

spice

1 * . t

here, now, in this place, in this case

now

_©

and, also

, W °

pe. fitting (used as active ptc.)

^coo

etcetera

^1

pe. bought (imperfect ^pv?); pa. sold

tfaf

time

*°>J

pe. was fitting (used as participle)

brightness

S°:

yoke

J^

shaking, movement

m

armour

pa. armed (^jj

Glossary

197

V,

kind, type; jb'
likewise

r r

by way of; JLipi:

1- 4

small

JLoioi.)

smallness

jaxf

pe. called

\°l*Oi

cross

,£SjOf

pe. crucified

^■V

pe. sowed

&i?

seed

lulk

free-will

."k-*. f

aph. loved
beloved, friend

ILsuJSL,

ik~

corruption

companion

*^~

pe. shut in

1- *

crippled

one

each other

pe. rejoiced

lUU

joy

,,J / .J

around

M

new

|Qm

pa. showed

U>oi>

love

Uq^.

debt

jy-i

staff, rod

liv^Xal

health

198

GLOSSARY

Li^o-

mind, thought

h

pe. saw

9 y

sin

1*4-

sin

• a ^~

pe. plundered, did violence to

u

pe. lived, revived

&.

life (plur.)

Ut

living

lili

condemned, guilty, liable (ought), as a

1"

noun: debtor

animals (sing, collective)

strength, force, army

livvn.*.

wisdom

£»-

pa. mixed

fis!-

valiant

>£w

aph. healed

^w

instead of

la^Z

fate

wine

|L*^

anger

JLoak*

strangling

loi'-'-

pagan

Juqow

pa. absolved

Um^

holy, holy man

».C1f3u*

pa. strengthened

)W,

fort

1 * *

diligendy

. 9

***

pe. looked at, considered

Glossary

199

'Ft m r\

.UN?

pe., aph. devastated, destroyed, slew

war, sword

sharpened

aph. excommunicated

pa. set free

silent, deaf, dumb

suffering (noun)

pe. reckoned, counted, thought

darkness

ethpa. used

pe. suffered; aph. saddened, hurt

sister

ethpa. connected himself by marriage

marriage relationship, wedding

report

good

pa. prepared

tabularius (a scribal official)

good (noun), blessed is . . .

blessed, holy, holy man

mountain

goodness, blessedness, grace

Arab, Muslim

order, rank

young man, child

youth

wronged, miserable

200

Glossary

*-

pe. was finished; pa. finished, used up

unclean

pe., pa. buried

with mistakes, imperfecdy

tyrant
pe,, pa, hid

1 * r

IL

If

f i 9 *

bocu

ol

CL.

■ t * * ' *•

La*

dried up

dryness

pa. handed'down, etc.; aph. brought

aph, confessed

pe, knew (see notes on XI.3); ethpe,

became famous

knowledge

pe. gave (for impf. use ^jfcy)

Jew

succession

teaching

day

Greek

profit

being alone, monastic life

only, sole

pe, begat, bore

infant

pe. learnt; pa. taught

pe. swore

sea

Glossary 201

If J,

right hand

Oirr>.

aph. added

K-

pe. sprang up

♦ja-

aph. burnt

^

pe, was heavy, pa, honoured

pe. was/became great; aph, made

great, enlarged

l*+i-L

month (construct M*i-*( or i**ji)

iL-a

tent

pe. inherited

^f*

aph. stretched

pe. sat, encamped (see XI.3)

*

much, more, abundant

W6

sickness, pain

r

when, as

Q»3

pa. broke faith

priest

JLaiOtS

priesthood

priesdy, holy

1 >' *

footstool

If

priest

if *

furnace

chorepiscopus

1 1 » . *

sickness

(li

kail (measure)

1"

nature

talent (coin)

202

Glossary

■^

all; ,-^)\t^: always (see ]LL>f)

lb

pe. forbade, prevented

KV>

dog

tortoise

ll^o

crown

' ^Js

everyone

pi vi No

everything (see )©^to)

^^o

pa. crowned (with martyrdom)

jbboD

ambush

1 c *

congregation

ufcJLO

pa. gathered

jLcOD

pa. covered, kept secret (pe. passive

participle used as adjective)

money

pe. denied

ILojoio

preaching

' «'i°

aph. preached, proclaimed

jloou^o

weakness, sickness

li>^m.^a

Christian

r^

pe. placed/wrapped round

IP y

(walled) city

1 p V

womb, belly (construct wco^o)

^>ko

pe, wrote

\*k&

book, writing

ILL

beaten

_i^ to, belonging to, by (with passives)
(also used as sign of accusative)

Glossary 203

u

?
not; ]}f. without

^

pe. grasped, held

m 7 v

outside

d^

not

"^^sclL.

opposite, against, towards

jotoa^

first of all

*u^

towards

|vs„\

bread, food

A^S,

there is not

iri.

night

^

namely (indicates associated words

are a quotation)

Ul^x

harbour

°>°^

pe, joined

^

pa, collected

HiJL

tongue, speech, language

food

coming

u<^

Magian, Persian priest

U>2>*-X>

altar, sanctuary

desert

1>' y

governor

JLaj^tao

guidance, dispensation, government

city

anything, any

1mI|V

the East

9

gift

204

Glossary

progenitor, producing

lLa*>

death

JL=»Laio

dwelling-place

^s^

pe. mixed

9

pe. struck, beat

JLq^o

blow

^^3

pa, weaken, aph. was weakened

\+*SCt

tomorrow

1^0

pe. reached

s^

for, on account of, concerning

,~M^

because . . .

IJoCi^jo

for this reason

r

pe. died

jKoo

dead, dead man

liK^so

excellent

^^n^o

now, therefore

*aso

pe. was low, lay down; pa. kid low,

humbled

writer

lb.

pe. tilled, was full; sajfel completed,

made full; '^Vwas perfected

angel

|Lo*^so

fullness

.^\?o

pe. reigned; ethpa. took counsel

king (construct .«\^o)

)l ni\v*

kingdom

^*>

pa. spoke

rather (paXAov)

Glossary

205

P

7

y

ft

! ^°

I P * 1

it * * *

i j. f *

p

hcaa ao

IL

, i-

It *> *

I'* *1

4 r

teacher

word

speech, language

from everlasting (see too£s«>a)

who?

whoever

indeed (|JEV)

from, than, some of

after . . .

after ...

what? JLlso "^^iJo on account of

what?

poor

poverty

punishment, capital punishment

blind

baptism

pe. trampled

cave

eruption, going out, emergence

maphrian

pe., ethpe. was able

middle, means

middle, means

Egyptian

priority (with another noun means

fore-)

pe. supplied, bought

206

it s>

I * >< r

Jut*

I J> J r

r

u

I' *

.. S 4
I I 4

I' *

Glossary

lord (construct )i-ao, plur. )L<Wo)

my lord, but used as a tide of holy

men

the Lord (of God)

womb

general

flock, diocese

the Messiah, Christ

skin

deacon

camp

everlasting, ever (adverb)

eternal (adjective)

corruption, corruptibility

interpreter

novice

ethpa. prophesied

prophet

carpenter

vow

aph. shone, illumined

long time

light

foreign, foreigner

plur. nummus (coin)

fish

fire

Glossary

207

Hot

ILS

I > t *

boJLtt
i » *

If "

IL^>

ascetic, Nazirite

abstinence

pe., ethpe. was at rest, took rest, died

stream, wadi

pe. descended (imperfect LoiJ)

pe. kept, guarded

law

pe. took (see Paradigm 6)

experience, test

aph. raised, waved

pe. breathed

pe. fell (impf, > ^£k see Paradigm 6)

pe, went out

soul

naturally, regarding physical life

founder

illustrious, splendid

pe. pitched (tent)

silver

old man, senior person

pe. bore

hope

pe. multiplied

pe. worshipped

worship

much (adverb)

much, many

208

if ■»

rt rvi

v4^

*
nrrt

fuvs

rust

1 J- #

JLLss

u

* » . -#

7

I Pi. m

If "
i

I J> jf

poco

JLlco

#

If r

(Lcua*/

.CTPtfn

GLOSSARY

pe. set in order

rank

pe, witnessed

martyr, witness

testimony, witness, example

multitude

understanding, meaning

sultan

horse

deed

Syrian

pe, threw, overthrew, demolished

7

side; ^mo : and other, etc.

except, aside from

pay 'e/ bote

food

treasure

sword

ethpa. understood

(round) shield

pe. went up

pe. put

drug, pigment

pe. rested, lay

pe. hated

need

hair

pe. sufficed

Glossary

209

r f

JLcLd*i_co

pa,, aph. cut, clipped

coast, bank, side

pe. devastated, injured; aph, ordained

futility

winter

? *

*z^ pe. made, did, worked, appointed
(imperfect *^iJ); saj)V enslaved,
caused to serve
work, deed
servant

pe. passed by, crossed over
pe. was accustomed
pe. touched; aph. snatched
until now, as yet
pe. rebuked, complained
until, up to
until . . .
how long?
time
church
bosom
baby, infant
dwelling, monastery
investigation, enquiry
strength
wealth
^^ pe. turned back

►

till

* •

1 f f 4

I t 4

MA. OX

210

^1

Ik

Lax

U
lii

ILqIqaI

I? r

^^
1^

Glossary

over, against, concerning; j,iv* S; 5;>X:

on account of what?

therefore

pa. raised up

pe. entered

world, eternity

pastor, shepherd

cause

with

people (plur. |^nv\\.)

pe, dwelt

pe. answered

flock, sheep (collective)

poor, ascetic

asceticism

pe. was difficult

dust.

pe. forced, resisted

pa. discussed, disputed, examined

pe. uprooted

root, herb

ethpe., ettaph. was aroused,

awakened

astute, clever

bed

pe. came to pass, befell

pe. fled

pa. prepared

Glossary 211

^S 3

pe. met, attacked

i f 71

meeting

body

jo2>

pe. wandered

1 J *

poo3

mouth

UJJ3Q3

command

,LLco;_£s

Persian

1 » ' . *

Lud,oB

salvation

f

Uk*3

pe. breathed

1 9 *

answer

Ld^I^s*

patriarch

t 9 * v' #

philosopher

|l CiOiomV.CS

philosophy

V

UBftt °>

aph. form >m.°>? persuaded, asked,

petitioned (anomalous verb from

Greek Tmam)

t i #

incense, censer

^3

pa. divided, distributed

J©l^3

scattered (four-root verb)

■Xgl

pe. worked

l^i

labourer

£^>

ethpa. escaped

Us>

pe. returned, turned, pa. replied

IjLis

region

.mm»i

aph. permitted

.rtt«Oi

pe. cut off

-y*

aph. joked

j_03

pe. commanded

212

Glossary

Ulas

blossom

|jJs-i^Q3

plain

I i i »

saviour

^.^3

pe. spread

UUs

Pharisee

u^i*

Frank

U>^^3

person

ja^3

aph. separated

^3

pe. set apart, separated, departed,

died passive ptc. used as adjective:

special

U^

cavalryman

pe. remained

-r<».p>

pa. explained

l^4Jvi>

saying, word

— Ks

pe., pa. opened

r^ 3

pe. mixed, wove

iG^j

towards, to, at

^

pe. wanted; ethpe, was willing,

^

consented

&•*,

thing

will

i*^J

finger

Hj

pa. adorned

Uoj

fasting

*3

painter

«.

pe. bent; pa. pray

* *

If 71

y

if r

U

* *

Jo©

I f f . *

GLOSSARY 213

prayer

picture, image

cunning

nail

pe, depicted, painted

pe. listened to

qab (measure)

pa. received, accepted

pe. fixed, fastened

pe. buried

grave

pa, held fast to

first, of old

holy, holy man

pa. was early/quick, did beforehand,

anticipated

before; pi cv\: ahead, forwards;

• J©*-© oo : before ... ;

^ao*on\ ^ao : formerly

first, ancient j former

pa. sanctified

pa. remained

holiness

offering

truth

pe. killed

vintage, grape harvest

214

Glossary

9

summer

litoaln

resurrection

l p r
f

piece of wood

u

voice, sound, tune

^^iija

little

quickly, shortly

clergy

clergy

too

pe. arose, existed

pe. obtained, possessed

1L^

lampstand, candle

jUoolo

person, substance, hypostasis

^

pe. was afraid

k-o

pe. cried out

u

pe. called, blew (on horn)

pe. drew near, touched; pa. brought

near, offered; aph. fought

ILa£o

war, battle

)K»u>

village, field (p. U^oo : see VI. F)

p^o

pe. spread over

JLj^o

horn

iUJ>

harsh

elder, priest

bi

pa. increased

1M

great, master

•^i

pawpel made big; 'etpawpal was

increased

Glossary

215

\k^=>)

steward

^^4'

desirous

KS

foot

U^j

infantryman

^'

pe. threw stones at

llaofj

persecution

&»

pe. persecuted

U*30&n

Roman

i°*i

pe. hastened, ran

)oj

pe. became drunk

v •

anger, wrath

Uo|

spirit, wind (f.)

spiritual

^JLblo^

spiritually

i > . r

great

I*/ « r

nobleman

leu— i

far

^

pe. loved

JLsL*V

mercy (plur.)

■J^**i

pa., aph. put away; ethpa. avoided,

j ?i

kept from

<*&

pe. was moist, became moist

$

pe. murmured

UL*k

odour

head

ILoi.,'

headship

JjLjl?

beginning

71

pe. rode; pa. constructed, composed

216

t

U

If* T

II

(lot

Glossary

horse

pe, was/became high; ethpe. was

exalted

pe. threw, lay (hands), put (chains);

aph. threw, poured, raised (voice)

evening

high place

ethpe., ethpa. thought

pe. fed, tended (sheep etc.)

pasture, fodder

mind, heart

pe. moved, wriggled

pe. blamed, accused

wicked man, apostate

pe. bubbled up, boiled up, was

heated/ inflamed; jJ^Vmade abound

pe.j pa. asked; ethpe. abstained from

pe. led away captive

neighbourhood

pa. praised

tribe

captivity

splendour

pe. pardoned, left, desisted

young child

simplicity, childishness

trouble

Glossary

217

I

3>\,<ak.

i^*~ ~»ri

.N. .

pe. troubled

pe. threw

pa. beguiled, enticed

pa. sent

pe. was even/worthy; ethpe.

conspired, agreed with

gl°ry

authority

beautv, virtue

wall

beginning

strength, agreement

safrd partook of, associated;

F jp *»

£>LojSjm : had intercourse,

communicated

ordinary

peace

trumpet

fetter, bond, chain

pe. slept

corpse

pe. sent; pa. stripped

pe. ruled, prevailed over; pa. gave

power; ethpa. ruled .

peace

apostle

in authority (adjective)

pe. was fulfilled, finished, agreed to;

218

Glossary

cthpe. was handed over; pa. finished,

offered; aph, handed over

l^\i

perfect, complete

peace

|Lnv,\i

agreement

hU

name (plur. Jocsa*. : see VI. F)

Ot*Uk.

pa. called; passive forms: was called,

was famous

|; i

farthing, mite

\t r

heaven •

fat, fading

M^aa*.

pe. heard, listened to; ethpe. was

heard, obeyed

.Ol*.

pa. afflicted with pain

)Ll

year

>-

ethpa, told, narrated

lioJL

hour; J£oJl; : at that moment

JU^;

sincerity

fair

,°1« 3 !»

aph. conceded

^O*.

pe. took, began; aph. departed

u

pe. loosed, dwelt, encamped; pa.

fi

began

IJ^ii

race, rank, tribe

1 J> p •»

vein, membrane

true

truly

te-a.

joint

Glossary

219

Uu

rest

ft*

pe. was proved true; pa. agreed

ft**

truth

lis^ii

chain

J^

pe. drank

4

r

twin

pe. exacted satisfaction from, asked

recompense from

pe. broke; pa. shattered

legion, class

merchant

wonder

jest, mockery

also, again

worm

Turkoman

south

hastily, earnestly, urgendy

anomalous verb derived from the

noun U*vi\l : taught, made

disciples

disciple

pe. was amazed, stupefied

there

here

pa. broke

door

220

Glossary

truce, peace
hymn, praise, glory
history

JsibJk. jjf JL^OJi. Jol^kUo JnS«