Syriac alphabet
Estrangela-styled alphabet
Type	Impure Abjad
Languages	Aramaic (Classical Syriac, Western Neo-Aramaic, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Turoyo, Christian Palestinian Aramaic), Arabic (Garshuni), Malayalam (Suriyani Malayalam), Sogdian
Time period	c. 1 AD - present
Parent systems	Egyptian hieroglyphs Proto-Sinaitic script Phoenician alphabet Aramaic alphabet Syriac alphabet
Child systems	Sogdian ->Old Turkic alphabet ->Old Hungarian alphabet ->Old Uyghur alphabet ->Mongolian script ->Manichaean alphabet
Direction	Right-to-left
ISO 15924	Syrc, 135 Syre, 138 (?Es?rang?l? variant) Syrj, 137 (Western variant) Syrn, 136 (Eastern variant)
Unicode alias	Syriac
Unicode range
Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

This article contains Syriac text, written from right to left in a cursive style with some letters joined. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined Syriac letters or other symbols instead of Syriac script.

The Syriac alphabet ( lep? bê? S?ry?y?^[a]) is a writing system primarily used to write the Syriac language since the 1st century AD.^[1] It is one of the Semitic abjads descending from the Aramaic alphabet through the Palmyrene alphabet,^[2] and shares similarities with the Phoenician, Hebrew, Arabic and Sogdian, the precursor and a direct ancestor of the traditional Mongolian scripts.

Syriac is written from right to left in horizontal lines. It is a cursive script where most--but not all--letters connect within a word. There is no letter case distinction between upper and lower case letters, though some letters change their form depending on their position within a word. Spaces separate individual words.

All 22 letters are consonants, although there are optional diacritic marks to indicate vowels and other features. In addition to the sounds of the language, the letters of the Syriac alphabet can be used to represent numbers in a system similar to Hebrew and Greek numerals.

Apart from Classical Syriac Aramaic, the alphabet has been used to write other dialects and languages. Several Christian Neo-Aramaic languages from Turoyo to the Northeastern Neo-Aramaic dialects of Assyrian and Chaldean, once vernaculars, primarily began to be written in the 19th century. The Ser variant specifically has recently been adapted to write Western Neo-Aramaic, traditionally written in a square Aramaic script closely related to the Hebrew alphabet. Besides Aramaic, when Arabic began to be the dominant spoken language in the Fertile Crescent after the Islamic conquest, texts were often written in Arabic using the Syriac script as knowledge of the Arabic alphabet was not yet widespread; such writings are usually called Karshuni or Garshuni (). In addition to Semitic languages, Sogdian was also written with Syriac script, as well as Malayalam, which form was called Suriyani Malayalam.

Alphabet forms

The opening words of the Gospel of John written in Ser, Ma?ny? and ?Es?rang?l? (top to bottom) -- bri? i?aw[hy]-[h]w? mel, 'in the beginning was the word'.

There are three major variants of the Syriac alphabet: ?Es?rang?l?, Ma?ny? and Ser.

Classical ?Es?rang?l?

A 9th century ?Es?rang?l? manuscript of John Chrysostom's Homily on the Gospel of John.

A 17th century Ma?ny? liturgical manuscript from the Vatican Library. Note the title written in ?Es?rang?l?.

Y? or , the Syriac name of Jesus in the ?Es?rang?l? script.

The oldest and classical form of the alphabet is ?Es?rang?l?^[b] (‎). The name of the script is thought to derive from the Greek adjective strongýl? (, 'rounded'),^[3] though it has also been suggested to derive from ser ?ewwang?l?y? (? ?‎, 'gospel character').^[4] Although ?Es?rang?l? is no longer used as the main script for writing Syriac, it has received some revival since the 10th century. It is often used in scholarly publications (such as the Leiden University version of the Peshitta), in titles, and in inscriptions. In some older manuscripts and inscriptions, it is possible for any letter to join to the left, and older Aramaic letter forms (especially of ?e? and the lunate mem) are found. Vowel marks are usually not used with ?Es?rang?l?, being the oldest form of the script and arising before the development of specialized diacritics.

East Syriac Ma?ny?

The East Syriac dialect is usually written in the Ma?ny? (?‎, 'Eastern') form of the alphabet. Other names for the script include Swy? (‎, 'conversational' or 'vernacular', often translated as 'contemporary', reflecting its use in writing modern Neo-Aramaic), ?r?y? (‎, 'Assyrian', not to be confused with the traditional name for the Hebrew alphabet), Kald?y? (‎, 'Chaldean'), and, inaccurately, "Nestorian" (a term that was originally used to refer to the Church of the East in the Sasanian Empire). The Eastern script resembles ?Es?rang?l? somewhat more closely than the Western script.

Vowels

The Eastern script uses a system of dots above and/or below letters, based on an older system, to indicate vowel sounds not found in the script:

• A dot above and a dot below a letter represent [a], transliterated as a or ? (called ?‎, p?),
• Two diagonally-placed dots above a letter represent [?], transliterated as ? or â or å (called ?‎, zq?p),
• Two horizontally-placed dots below a letter represent [?], transliterated as e or ? (called ? ‎, r? r or ?‎, zl?m? pq?; often pronounced [?] and transliterated as i in the East Syriac dialect),
• Two diagonally-placed dots below a letter represent [e], transliterated as ? (called ? ‎, r? kary? or ‎, zl?m? qa?y?),
• The letter waw with a dot below it represents [u], transliterated as ? or u (called ‎, l or ?‎, r?),
• The letter waw with a dot above it represents [o], transliterated as ? or o (called ?‎, rw or ‎, rw),
• The letter y with a dot beneath it represents [i], transliterated as ? or i (called ?‎, ),
• A combination of r? kary? (usually) followed by a letter y represents [e] (possibly *[e?] in Proto-Syriac), transliterated as ? or ê (called ?‎, s?q?).

It is thought that the Eastern method for representing vowels influenced the development of the niqqud markings used for writing Hebrew.

In addition to the above vowel marks, transliteration of Syriac sometimes includes ?, e? or superscript ^e (or often nothing at all) to represent an original Aramaic schwa that became lost later on at some point in the development of Syriac. Some transliteration schemes find its inclusion necessary for showing spirantization or for historical reasons. Whether because its distribution is mostly predictable (usually inside a syllable-initial two-consonant cluster) or because its pronunciation was lost, both the East and the West variants of the alphabet traditionally have no sign to represent the schwa.

West Syriac Ser

An 11th century book in the Ser script.

An example of Garshuni: a 16th century Arabic-language manuscript written in the Syriac Ser script.

The West Syriac dialect is usually written in the Ser or Ser?o (‎, 'line') form of the alphabet, also known as the P? (?‎, 'simple'), 'Maronite' or the 'Jacobite' script (although the term Jacobite is considered derogatory). Most of the letters are clearly derived from ?Es?rang?l?, but are simplified, flowing lines. A cursive chancery hand is evidenced in the earliest Syriac manuscripts, but important works were written in ?Es?rang?l?. From the 8th century, the simpler Ser style came into fashion, perhaps because of its more economical use of parchment.

Vowels

The Western script is usually vowel-pointed, with miniature Greek vowel letters above or below the letter which they follow:

• Capital alpha (?) represents [a], transliterated as a or ? (?‎, p?),
• Lowercase alpha (?) represents [?], transliterated as ? or â or å (?‎, Zq?p; pronounced as [o] and transliterated as o in the West Syriac dialect),
• Lowercase epsilon (?) represents both [?], transliterated as e or ?, and [e], transliterated as ? (?‎, R?),
• Capital eta (H) represents [i], transliterated as ? (?‎, ),
• A combined symbol of capital upsilon (?) and lowercase omicron (?) represents [u], transliterated as ? or u (‎, ),
• Lowercase omega (?), used only in the vocative interjection (‎, 'O!').

Summary table

The Syriac alphabet consists of the following letters, shown in their isolated (non-connected) forms. When isolated, the letters k?p?, m?m, and m?n are usually shown with their initial form connected to their final form (see below). The letters lep?, d?la?, h?, waw, zayn, ?, r and taw (and, in early ?Es?rang?l? manuscripts, the letter semka?^[5]) do not connect to a following letter within a word; these are marked with an asterisk (*).

Letter						Sound Value (Classical Syriac)		Numerical Value	Phoenician Equivalent	Imperial Aramaic Equivalent	Hebrew Equivalent	Arabic Equivalent
Name	Translit.	?Es?rang?l? (classical)	Ma?ny? (eastern)	Ser (western)	Unicode (typing)	Transliteration	IPA
*	lep?*[c]				?	? or null mater lectionis: ?	or ? mater lectionis:	1	?‎	?	?	?
	B				?	hard: b soft: ? (also bh, v or ?)	hard: soft: or	2	?‎	?	?	?
	G?mal				?	hard: g soft: ? (also g?, gh, ? or ?)	hard: soft:	3	?‎	?	?	?
*	D?la?*				?	hard: d soft: ? (also dh, ð or ?)	hard: soft:	4	?‎	?	?	? / ?
*	H?*				?	h		5	?‎	?	?	?
*	Waw*				?	consonant: w mater lectionis: ? or ? (also u or o)	consonant: mater lectionis: or	6	?‎	?	?	?
*	Zayn*				?	z		7	?‎	?	?	?
					?	? (also H, kh, x or ?)	, or	8	?‎	?	?	?
					?	? (also T or ?)		9	?‎	?	?	?
	Y				?	consonant: y mater lectionis: ? (also i)	consonant: mater lectionis: or	10	?‎	?	?	?
	K?p?					hard: k soft: ? (also kh or x)	hard: soft:	20	?‎	?	? ?	?
	L?ma?				?	l		30	?‎	?	?	?
	M?m					m		40	?‎	?	? ?	?
	N?n					n		50	?‎	?	? ?	?
?	Semka?				?	s		60	?‎	?	?	?
					?	?	[d]	70	?‎	?	?	?
	P?				?	hard: p soft: p? (also p?, ?, ph or f)	hard: soft:	80	?‎	?	? ?	?
*	?*				?	? (also S or ?)		90	?‎	?	? ?	?
	Q?p?				?	q (also ?)		100	?‎	?	?	?
*	R*				?	r		200	?‎	?	?	?
	n				?	? (also sh)		300	?‎	?	?	? / ?
*	Taw*				?	hard: t soft: ? (also th or ?)	hard: soft:	400	?‎	?	?	? / ?

Contextual forms of letters

Letter name	?Es?rang?l? (classical)			Ma?ny? (eastern)
	Unconnected final	Connected final	Initial or unconnected medial	Unconnected final	Connected final	Initial or unconnected medial
lep?					[e]
B
G?mal
D?la?
H?
Waw
Zayn
Y
K?p?
L?ma?
M?m
N?n
Semka?					/
P?
?
Q?p?
R
n
Taw

Ligatures

Letter name	?Es?rang?l? (classical)			Ma?ny? (eastern)			Unicode character(s)	Description
	Unconnected final	Connected final	Initial or unconnected medial	Unconnected final	Connected final	Initial or unconnected medial
L?ma?-lep?								L?ma? and lep? combined at the end of a word
Taw-lep?				/				Taw and lep? combined at the end of a word
H?-Y								H? and Y combined at the end of a word
Taw-Y								Taw and Y combined at the end of a word

Letter alterations

Matres lectionis

Three letters act as matres lectionis: rather than being a consonant, they indicate a vowel. lep? (?), the first letter, represents a glottal stop, but it can also indicate a vowel, especially at the beginning or the end of a word. The letter waw (?) is the consonant w, but can also represent the vowels o and u. Likewise, the letter represents the consonant y, but it also stands for the vowels i and e.

Majl?y?n?

In modern usage, some alterations can be made to represent phonemes not represented in classical phonology. A mark similar in appearance to a tilde (~), called majl?y?n? (‎), is placed above or below a letter in the Ma?ny? variant of the alphabet to change its phonetic value (see also: Geresh):

• Added below g?mal: [?] to [d] (voiced palato-alveolar affricate)
• Added below k?p?: [k] to [t] (voiceless palato-alveolar affricate)
• Added above or below zayn: [z] to [?] (voiced palato-alveolar sibilant)
• Added above n: [?] to [?]

R?kk and q?y?

In addition to foreign sounds, a marking system is used to distinguish q?y? (, 'hard' letters) from r?kk (, 'soft' letters). The letters b, g?mal, d?la?, k?p?, p?, and taw, all stop consonants ('hard') are able to be 'spirantized' (lenited) into fricative consonants ('soft'). The system involves placing a single dot underneath the letter to give its 'soft' variant and a dot above the letter to give its 'hard' variant (though, in modern usage, no mark at all is usually used to indicate the 'hard' value):

The mnemonic b?a?kp () is often used to remember the six letters that are able to be spirantized (see also: Begadkepat).

In the East Syriac variant of the alphabet, spirantization marks are usually omitted when they interfere with vowel marks. The degree to which letters can be spirantized varies from dialect to dialect as some dialects have lost the ability for certain letters to be spirantized. For native words, spirantization depends on the letter's position within a word or syllable, location relative to other consonants and vowels, gemination, etymology, and other factors. Foreign words do not always follow the rules for spirantization.

Sy?m?

Syriac uses two (usually) horizontal dots^[f] above a letter within a word, similar in appearance to diaeresis, called sy?m? (, literally 'placings', also known in some grammars by the Hebrew name ribb?i [?], 'plural'), to indicate that the word is plural.^[6] These dots, having no sound value in themselves, arose before both eastern and western vowel systems as it became necessary to mark plural forms of words, which are indistinguishable from their singular counterparts in regularly-inflected nouns. For instance, the word malk? (?, 'king') is consonantally identical to its plural malk? (, 'kings'); the sy?m? above the word malk? () clarifies its grammatical number and pronunciation. Irregular plurals also receive sy?m? even though their forms are clearly plural: e.g. bayt? (?, 'house') and its irregular plural b?tt? (?, 'houses'). Because of redundancy, some modern usage forgoes sy?m? points when vowel markings are present.

There are no firm rules for which letter receives sy?m?; the writer has full discretion to place them over any letter. Typically, if a word has at least one r, then sy?m? are placed over the r that is nearest the end of a word (and also replace the single dot above it: ). Other letters that often receive sy?m? are low-rising letters--such as y and n?n--or letters that appear near the middle or end of a word.

Besides plural nouns, sy?m? are also placed on:

• plural adjectives, including participles (except masculine plural adjectives/participles in the absolute state);
• the cardinal numbers 'two' and the feminine forms of 11-19, though inconsistently;
• and certain feminine plural verbs: the 3rd person feminine plural perfect and the 2nd and 3rd person feminine plural imperfect.

M?alq?n?

Syriac uses a line, called m?alq?n? (, literally 'concealer', also known by the Latin term linea occultans in some grammars), to indicate a silent letter that can occur at the beginning or middle of a word.^[7] In Eastern Syriac, this line is diagonal and only occurs above the silent letter (e.g. ?‎, 'city', pronounced mtt?, not *mnt?, with the m?alq?n? over the n?n, assimilating with the taw). The line can only occur above a letter lep?, h?, waw, y, l?ma?, m?m, n?n, or r (which comprise the mnemonic ?amlay n?hr?, 'the works of light'). In Western Syriac, this line is horizontal and can be placed above or below the letter (e.g. ?‎, 'city', pronounced mto, not *mnto).

Classically, m?alq?n? was not used for silent letters that occurred at the end of a word (e.g. m?r[?], '[my] lord'). In modern Turoyo, however, this is not always the case (e.g. ‎ mor[?], '[my] lord').

Latin alphabet and romanization

In the 1930s, following the state policy for minority languages of the Soviet Union, a Latin alphabet for Syriac was developed with some material promulgated.^[8] Although it did not supplant the Syriac script, the usage of the Latin script in the Syriac community has still become widespread because most of the Assyrian diaspora is in Europe and the Anglosphere, where the Latin alphabet is predominant. As a result of Westernization, the Latin alphabet has been used for Syriac writing. Some letters are altered and would feature diacritics and macrons to indicate long vowels, schwas and diphthongs. The letters with diacritics and macrons are mostly upheld in educational or formal writing.^[9]

The Latin letters below are commonly used when it comes to transliteration from the Syriac script to Latin:^[12]

• ? is used to denote a long "a" sound or [?:] as heard in "car".
• ? is used to represent a voiced dental fricative, the "th" sound as heard in "that".
• ? is used to denote an "ee" sound or [e:].
• ? is to represent an "eh" sound or [?], as heard in Ninw? or "mare".
• ? represents a voiceless pharyngeal fricative ([?]), only upheld by Turoyo and Chaldean speakers.
• ? represents a long "o" sound or [?:].
• ? is a voiceless postalveolar fricative, the English digraph "sh".
• ? denotes an emphatic "s" or "thick s".
• ? is an emphatic "t", as heard in the word ?la ("three").
• ? is used to represent an "oo" sound or the close back rounded vowel [u:].

Sometimes additional letters may be used and they tend to be:

• ? may be used in the transliteration of biblical Aramaic to show the voiced bilabial fricative allophone value ("v") of the letter B.
• ? denotes a schwa sound, usually when transliterating biblical Aramaic.
• ? is utilized for the voiceless velar fricative or the "kh" sound.
• ? is used to denote the "th" sound or the voiceless dental fricative.

Unicode

The Syriac alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in September, 1999 with the release of version 3.0. Additional letters for Suriyani Malayalam were added in June, 2017 with the release of version 10.0.

Blocks

The Unicode block for Syriac is U+0700–U+074F:

The Syriac Abbreviation (a type of overline) can be represented with a special control character called the Syriac Abbreviation Mark (U+070F).

The Unicode block for Suriyani Malayalam specific letters is called the Syriac Supplement block and is U+0860-U+086F:

HTML code table

Note: HTML numeric character references can be in decimal format (&#DDDD;) or hexadecimal format (&#xHHHH;). For example, ܕ and ܕ (1813 in decimal) both represent U+0715 SYRIAC LETTER DALATH.

?lep? b

Vowels and unique characters

See also

• Abjad
• Alphabet
• Aramaic alphabet
• Aramaic language
• Mandaic language
• Mongolian script
• Sogdian alphabet
• Syriac language
• Syriac Malayalam
• Old Uyghur alphabet
• History of the alphabet
• List of writing systems

Notes

References

Sources

• Coakley, J. F. (2002). Robinson's Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar (5th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-926129-1.
• Hatch, William (1946). An Album of Dated Syriac Manuscripts. Boston: The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, reprinted in 2002 by Gorgias Press. ISBN 1-931956-53-7.
• Kiraz, George (2015). The Syriac Dot: a Short History. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-4632-0425-9.
• Michaelis, Ioannis Davidis (1784). Grammatica Syriaca.
• Nestle, Eberhard (1888). Syrische Grammatik mit Litteratur, Chrestomathie und Glossar. Berlin: H. Reuther's Verlagsbuchhandlung. [translated to English as Syriac grammar with bibliography, chrestomathy and glossary, by R. S. Kennedy. London: Williams & Norgate 1889].
• Nöldeke, Theodor and Julius Euting (1880). Kurzgefasste syrische Grammatik. Leipzig: T.O. Weigel. [translated to English as Compendious Syriac Grammar, by James A. Crichton. London: Williams & Norgate 1904. 2003 edition: ISBN 1-57506-050-7].
• Phillips, George (1866). A Syriac Grammar. Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, & Co.; London: Bell & Daldy.
• Robinson, Theodore Henry (1915). Paradigms and Exercises in Syriac Grammar. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926129-6.
• Rudder, Joshua. Learn to Write Aramaic: A Step-by-Step Approach to the Historical & Modern Scripts. n.p.: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011. 220 pp. ISBN 978-1461021421 Includes the Estrangela (pp. 59-113), Madnhaya (pp. 191-206), and the Western Serto (pp. 173-190) scripts.
• Segal, J. B. (1953). The Diacritical Point and the Accents in Syriac. Oxford University Press, reprinted in 2003 by Gorgias Press. ISBN 1-59333-032-4.
• Thackston, Wheeler M. (1999). Introduction to Syriac. Bethesda, MD: Ibex Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-936347-98-8.

External links

• The Syriac alphabet at Omniglot.com
• The Syriac alphabet at Ancientscripts.com
• Unicode Entity Codes for the Syriac Script
• Meltho Fonts for Syriac
• How to write Aramaic - learn the Syriac cursive scripts
• Aramaic and Syriac handwriting ?Es?rang?l? (classical)
• Learn Assyrian (Syriac-Aramaic) OnLine Ma?ny? (eastern)
• GNU FreeFont Unicode font family with Syriac range in its sans-serif face.
• Learn Syriac Latin Alphabet on Wikiversity