SYRIAC LANGUAGE

[s. 738] : It belongs to the Semitic family of languages. The ancient Syriac, as used in the Peshito and other ancient versions of the Bible, is at present a purely ecclesiastical and literary language, tho oi great importance to the Biblical scholar. The modern Syriac, a much corrupted form of the ancient language, is the spoken tongue of the Chaldean, Nestor i an, and Syrian Christians living in Turkey and Persia. It is written with Syriac letters, but is found in many different dialects. A version of the Arabic Bible has been printed 720 with Syriac letters and is known as the Karshuni It is intended for those Syrians who have lost their own language. The scattered condition of the Syriac-speaking peoples has led to the growth of dialects, some of which present version. marked peculiarities. Little was known of the modern Syriac among Western scholars until 1826, when versions of some books of Scripture were brought to Europe by Dr. Joseph Wolff. When the American mi ionaries began their labors among the Syrian Christians in Urmia in 1834, no literature was known to exist in this language, and Dr. Perkins, with his colleagues, proceeded to reduce it to writing and to i ue from the pre religious and educational works. Later on a few manuscripts were discovered, dating a hundred years back, written in the Elkosh dialect spoken in the vicinity of Mosul. These proved to be unscholarly paraphrases of the Gospels, or rude poetical renderings of Gospel history. They po e little interest save as throwing light on the development of the language. The whole number of people now using the modern Syriac is estimated at about 100,000. 738