Introduction to Syriac : An Elementary Grammar with Readings from Syriac Literature(Paperback) - 2016 Edition

by Wheeler M. Thackston

Syriac is the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, an important center of early Christianity in Mesopotamia. Today it is the classical tongue of the Nestorians and Chaldeans of Iran and Iraq and the liturgical language of the Jacobites of Eastern Anatolia and the Maronites of Greater Syria. Syriac literature flourished from the third century on and boasts of writers like Ephraem Syrus, Aphraates, Jacob of Sarug, John of Ephesus, Jacob of Edessa, and Barhebraeus. In this text the language is presented both in Syriac script, as it will always be seen, and in transcription, which is given so that the pronunciation of individual words and the structure of the language as a whole may be represented as clearly as possible. The majority of the sentences in the exercises-and all of the readings in the later lessons-are taken directly from the Peshitta, the standard Syriac translation of the Bible. For many of those whose interest in Syriac stems from Biblical studies or from the history of eastern Christianity, Syriac may be their first Semitic language. Every effort has been made in the presentation of the grammar to keep the Semitic structure of the language in the forefront and as clear as possible for those who have no previous experience with languages of that family. Wheeler M. Thackston is Professor of Persian and other Near East Languages at Harvard University, where he has taught Persian and Arabic for over twenty years.

Genres: Language

Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Wheeler M. Thackston, Jr. (born 1944) is an Orientalist and distinguished editor and translator of numerous Chaghatai, Arabic and Persian literary and historical sources.
Thackston is a graduate of Princeton's Oriental Studies department, where he was a member of Princeton's Colonial Club, and Harvard's Near Eastern Studies department (Ph.D., 1974), where he was Professor of the Practice of Persian and other Near Eastern Languages since 1972. He studied at Princeton under Martin Dickson and at Harvard with Annemarie Schimmel. Thackston retired from teaching at Harvard in 2007.

Reviews

[Max Stoffel-Rosales · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superbly written, with an abundance of actual text (in all three varieties of script) to read in the back.

Mention has been made (in another review) of the fact that the author, as a rule, does not bother with the diacritical vowels found chiefly in later Maronite texts. This will be yet another stumbling-block to those poor readers who haven't already tangled with such abject abjads (...ܫܒܘܩ ܠܢ ܚܘܒܝܢ) as are found on ancient Mesopotamian steles, and in the caves of Qumran. Then again, because all of the Syriac text is †transliterated throughout the lessons, the complaint isn't what I would call damning. The fact is, one often finds that textbooks groom the reader for a language he simply doesn't encounter "in the wild". Any classicist who has read the Macmillan Iliad, or the OCT, or the Loeb or whatever, will have to admit that she can't make any sense at all of a Byzantine manuscript of the same (without some extracurricular effort).

The only mistake I detected in the book, if in fact I didn't just miss it (which is very possible), was that the author omits to mention the graphical distinction between the 2nd person sg. masc. and fem. in the so-called 'suffixed' Qal or 'kṯab' conjugation. Although that shouldn't really confuse anyone, given how insanely difficult & idiosyncratic this particular language's writing system is.

Very highly recommended to anyone interested in the subject, with a proviso that comparatists like yrs truly will be maybe a little disappointed because virtually no reference is made to Aramaic, Hebrew, or Arabic lexicon. The reason for this, however, should be quite obvious.

†into Latin characters with diacritics

[Briana Grenert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been working through this text (sporadically) for about ten months, while also working my way through Matthew's gospel. I haven't been as diligent as I should have been so perhaps I wasn't the ideal student for this textbook (and like a lot of sinful language-textbook users I did not take the time necessary to really learn the vocabulary which added to my self-caused frustration).
*Pros:*
Introduces multiple scripts early, begins chunks of reading at an early stage, relevant practice exercises. Has an answer key for those who are self-studying. Variety of texts in the readings section (which I admittedly have not spent much time with at this point). Introduces weak verbs/other non-"normal" verbs early so they're not a big surprise at the end.
*Cons:*
Unvocalized which makes things very unwieldy and makes the tables in the back not super useful.
TYPOS both in the textbook and the answer key which mean extra work to verify if you or the answer key is wrong. Lacks useful explanations for the phonological changes that happen with weak, hollow etc verbs which could make learning the changes more frustrating. I would have liked more tables and fewer lists, but that's just the way I think.
***
I prefer Coakley/Robinson, personally, but I will return to this textbook to benefit from the readings. However, I am not good at rote-memorization so most ancient-language textbooks are a struggle.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

After attempting Robinson's Paradigms by Coakley and Muraoka's Classical Syriac for Hebraists – and stalling - I switched to Thackston's Introduction. Finally I was able to make headway. The lack of vocalizations makes this a great introductory text. Perhaps the use of Estrangelo instead of Jacobite also helped because the minimal ligatures is more reminiscent of Aramaic block. One encouraging phenomena is when the bible student realizes the particular example excercise is lifted from the Peshitta, and through context is able to finish the exercise. This helps solidify vocab and was common in this book, especially the longer excercises in the later chapters. There were indeed typos and the vocabulary was a bit heavy for the excercises, but nonetheless this was a very useful book.

[Paul G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Thackston has an admirable skill for explaining concepts clearly and concisely, and the exercise and reading portions of this book are good, I found that the overall organization left a lot to be desired. The biggest problem in my opinion is the reliance on transcription with unvocalized Syraic script, which hampers the reader from gaining real proficiency in reading the language. Second, the organization of topics made little sense; topics were often split into two or three parts and scattered across the lessons. Overall, this textbook is helpful, but I don't think it should be the primary text for anyone trying to learn Syriac.

[Ushan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Syriac is a variety of Aramaic, like Jewish Babylonian Aramaic and the Aramaic of the Book of Daniel. It is the language of an important translation of the Christian Bible, the Peshitta; the Old Testament is very close but not identical to the Masoretic text. It is the liturgical language of several Christian churches including that of Kerala, India, and the language of literature such as the tale of Hulagu Khan's taking of Baghdad in 1258. Syriac also has had a large influence on classical Arabic; many Greek classics were translated into Arabic via Syriac. Originally the final aleph was the definite article in Aramaic, like the initial he in Hebrew, but in Syriac it is the normal ending of nouns, both definite and indefinite. Like in other varieties of Aramaic, there are regular consonantal correspondences between it and Hebrew. Lexically it is very close to Hebrew, with some differences: the root ʿbd means to serve, work in Hebrew but to do, make in Syriac; there are also a few borrowings from the Greek. There are three active binyanim, ground, intensive and causative, corresponding to the Hebrew pa'al, pi'el and hiph'il. There are no passive binyanim in the language: their role has been taken over by the equivalents of the Hebrew binyan hitpa'el, one for each of the three active binyanim. Like in Hebrew, there are some minor binyanim. There are many exercises and texts to read, but I was mostly interested in the grammar.

[Gareth Hughes · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is certainly not the best Syriac teaching grammar. I would recommend Healey as the best around today, just ahead of Robinson. Thackston's use on unvoweled Estrangela makes things quite awkward for new learners to get a feel for the language, its presentation of grammar is not as clear as Robinson's, and its texts are not as well prepared as Healey's.

[DROPPING OUT · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know Arabic fairly well and so gave the author's Arabic grammar high marks; I do not know Syriac anywhere as well and simply could not get as comfortable with this book. Perhaps the size of the Syriac font and my aging eyes have something to do with it.

[David Witthoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was chosen by my professor because it's perhaps the best there is, but the book seemed riddled with typos and errors to me.

[Christy]

study syriac language open