Lebanese Aramaic

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

Name

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

The term Syriac was used in medieval times to refer to all dialects of Aramaic, not just the Edessan dialect, as the term Aramaic held negative pagan connonations for the Christianized Arameans, thenceforth called Syrians.

History

Since ancient times the Arameans inhabitated the mountainous regions of Lebanon speaking Aramaic while the Canaanites on the coast spoke Phoenician. During the prominence of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 7th century BC Aramaic spread throughout the entire Near East and beyond becoming the lingua franca of the region. When the Arameans adopted Christianity they started to refer to themselves as Syrian and their language as Syriac. Aramaic became the common language in Lebanon, besides Greek in prominent cities and Latin in Beirut. During the Arabic (Islamic) conquest the Levant, Arabic supplanted Aramaic and gradually became the dominant language in the region, although it was already present in the Ghassanid kingdom. However, the Maronites who isolated themselves within Mount Lebanon maintained their language.

Aramaic remained the sole vernacular language of the Maronites until the 14th century when the Mamluks conquered North Lebanon. This led to the mountainous Maronites to interact with the coastal city dwelling Arabs and subsequently begin to learn Arabic. Thus, many Maronites began to learn and speak both Aramaic and Arabic however those in more remote mountainous areas often were versed in Aramaic alone. The influence of Arabic gradually eroded the knowledge of Aramaic among the Maronites as more and more Maronites began to adopt Arabic as their first language with Aramaic being prominent only among those in more mountainous regions as well as among the clergy and some nobles. The Maronite Church's decision to shift more towards Arabic in documents and liturgy also expedited the process. The Maronites of Aleppo switched to Arabic with Syriac only being in liturgical use by the end of the 17th century. The last native speakers of the language in Lebanon were last recorded in the late 19th century with Arabic having become the dominant language of Lebanon at this point.

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

Revival

The Lebanese writer Said Akl promoted the revival of the Aramaic language in Lebanon arguing for a Phoenician-Aramaic origin of the Lebanese vernacular. In 1999, Akl published the Maronite Missal and Eucharistic Liturgy in the Lebanese dialect in protest to the Maronite Church switching to Modern Standard Arabic from the Lebanese vernacular for its homilies. Similarly, Fouad Ephrem Boustany argued that the modern Lebanese vernacular is still imbued with specifically Canaanite and Aramaic phonological, syntactic, and lexical attributes, that do not even exist in the Arabic language.

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

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

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

Alphabet

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

Phonology

Vowels

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

Syntax

Influence

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

Toponyms

Many villages, towns and cities in Lebanon bear toponyms of Aramaic/Syriac origin. According to Al-Machriq, 530 villages in Lebanon have names of Syriac origin. A study is currently being conducted by professor Elie Wardini of Stockholm University on "Aramaic in Lebanese Place Names." According to his findings: Of the ca. 25000 place names in the database included in this study (covering all the regions of Lebanon; compared to Wardini 2002 which included 1700 names covering North Lebanon and Mount Lebanon), we expect that some 36%, i.e. some 9000 place names will be Aramaic, a large enough sample where much of the phonology and morphology and part of the lexicon of Lebanese Aramaic can be elucidated. Given the nature of Lebanese place names, the description of syntax is expected to be more limited.

*Aramaic / Syriac loanwords in Arabic, other words are cognates from a shared Proto-Semitic origin.

Vocabulary

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

According to Lebanese American historian Philip K. Hitti:

A large number of plants in this conquered area, both wild and domestic, have preserved their pre-Arab Semitic names. Technical terms used in farming and agriculture are mostly Syriac and Aramaic, as are terms relating to theology and ritual (such as 'imad, baptism ; karz, preaching ; qissīs, monk ; mazmūr, psalm).

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

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

Anthroponyms

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

See also

• Turoyo language
• Garshuni
• Cypriot Maronite Arabic
• Language attrition
• Language revitalization

Notes

References