Syriac alphabet
Syriac alphabet | |
---|---|
Estrangela alphabet | |
Type | |
Languages | Aramaic (Classical Syriac, Western Neo-Aramaic, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Turoyo, Christian Palestinian Aramaic), Arabic (Garshuni) |
Time period | c. 200 BC – present |
Parent systems | |
Child systems |
Sogdian |
Direction | Right-to-left |
ISO 15924 |
Syrn (136, Eastern variant) |
Unicode alias | Syriac |
U+0700–U+074F | |
The Syriac alphabet is a writing system primarily used to write the Syriac language from 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 the traditional Mongolian alphabets.
Syriac is written from right to left. It is a cursive script where some, but not all, letters connect within a word. The alphabet consists of 22 letters, all of which are consonants. The vowel sounds are supplied either by the reader's memory or by optional diacritic marks.
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.
When Arabic began to be the dominant spoken language in the Fertile Crescent, texts were often written in Arabic with the Syriac script. Malayalam was also written with Syriac script and was called Suriyani Malayalam. These writings are usually called Karshuni or Garshuni (ܓܪܫܘܢÜ). Garshuni is often used today by Neo-Aramaic speakers in written communication such as letters and fliers.
Forms of the Syriac alphabet

There are three major variants of the Syriac alphabet: ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ, Maá¸nḥÄyÄ, and Será¹Ä.
Classical ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ

The oldest and classical form of the alphabet is ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ (ÜÜ£Ü›ÜªÜ¢Ü“Ü Ü; the name is thought to derive from the Greek adjective στÏογγÏλη (strongylÄ“, 'rounded'),[3] though it has also been suggested to derive from Ü£ÜªÜ›Ü ÜÜ˜Ü¢Ü“Ü ÜÜ (será¹Ä ʾewwangÄ“lÄyÄ, 'gospel character')[4]). Although ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ 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 (for instance, the Leiden University version of the Peshitta), in titles and 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 Ḥeth and the lunate Mem) are found. Vowel marks are usually not used with ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ.
East Syriac Maá¸nḥÄyÄ
The East Syriac dialect is usually written in the Maá¸nḥÄyÄ (ܡܲܕ݂ܢܚܵÜܵÜ, 'Eastern') form of the alphabet. Other names for the script include SwÄá¸ÄyÄ (ܣܘܵܕ݂ܵÜܵÜ, "conversational", often translated as "contemporary", reflecting its use in writing modern Neo-Aramaic), "Assyrian" (not to be confused with the traditional name for the Hebrew alphabet), "Chaldean", and inaccurately, "Nestorian" (a term that was originally used to refer to the Church of the East in the Persian Empire). The Eastern script resembles ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ more closely than the Western script, being somewhat a midway point between the two. The Eastern script uses a system of dots above or below letters, based on an older system, to indicate vowels:
- A dot above and a dot below a letter represent [a], transliterated as a or ă (called ܦܬ݂ܵܚܵÜ, PṯÄḥÄ),
- Two diagonally-placed dots above a letter represent [É‘], transliterated as Ä or â or Ã¥ (called ܙܩܵܦ݂ܵÜ, ZqÄpÌ„Ä),
- Two horizontally-placed dots below a letter represent [É›], transliterated as e or Ä• (called ÜªÜ’Ý‚ÜµÜ¨ÜµÜ ÜܲܪÜܼܟ݂ܵÜ, RḇÄá¹£Ä ÄƒrÄ«á¸µÄ or Ü™Ü ÜµÜ¡ÜµÜ Ü¦Ü«ÜܼܩܵÜ, ZlÄmÄ pšīqÄ; often pronounced [ɪ] and transliterated as i in the East Syriac dialect),
- Two diagonally-placed dots below a letter represent [e], transliterated as Ä“ (called ÜªÜ’Ý‚ÜµÜ¨ÜµÜ ÜŸÜ²ÜªÜܵÜ, RḇÄá¹£Ä karyÄ or Ü™Ü ÜµÜ¡ÜµÜ Ü©Ü²Ü«ÜܵÜ, ZlÄmÄ qaÅ¡yÄ),
- A letter YÅḠwith a dot beneath it represents [i], transliterated as Ä« or i (called ܚܒ݂ܵܨܵÜ, ḤḇÄá¹£Ä),
- A letter Waw with a dot below it represents [u], transliterated as Å« or u (called Ü¥Ü¨ÜµÜ¨ÜµÜ ÜÜ²Ü ÜܼܨܵÜ, ʿṢÄá¹£Ä ÄƒlÄ«á¹£Ä or ܪܒ݂ܵܨܵÜ, RḇÄá¹£Ä),
- A letter Waw with a dot above it represents [o], transliterated as Å or o (called Ü¥Ü¨ÜµÜ¨ÜµÜ ÜªÜ˜ÜܼܚܵÜ, ʿṢÄá¹£Ä rwÄ«á¸¥Ä or ܪܘܵܚܵÜ, RwÄḥÄ).
- A combination of RḇÄá¹£Ä karyÄ (usually) followed by a letter YÅḠrepresents [e] (possibly *[eÌ] in Proto-Syriac), transliterated as Ä“ or ê (called ÜܲܣܵܩܵÜ, ʾĂsÄqÄ).
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 É™, eÌŠ 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 (see below) 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, neither the East nor West variants of the alphabet have a sign to represent the schwa.
Many Assyrian Revivalists see the Maá¸nḥÄyÄ script as the future national script to be used in a future independent Assyria.

West Syriac Será¹Ä
The West Syriac dialect is usually written in the Será¹Ä (ܣܶܪܛܳÜ, 'line') form of the alphabet, also known as the Pšīá¹Ä (ܦܫܺÜܛܳÜ, 'simple'), 'Maronite', or the 'Jacobite' script (although the term Jacobite is considered derogatory). Most of the letters are clearly derived from ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ, but are simplified, flowing lines. A cursive, chancery hand is evidenced in the earliest Syriac manuscripts, but important works were written in ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ. From the 8th century, the simpler Será¹Ä style came into fashion, perhaps because of its more economical use of parchment. The Nabataean alphabet (which gave rise to the Arabic alphabet) was based on this form of Syriac handwriting. The Western script is usually vowel-pointed with miniature Greek vowel letters above or below the letter which they follow:
- Capital Alpha (Α) represents [a], transliterated as a or ă (ܦܬ݂ܳܚܳÜ, PṯÄḥÄ),
- Lowercase Alpha (α) represents [É‘], transliterated as Ä or â or Ã¥ (ܙܩܳܦ݂ܳÜ, ZqÄpÌ„Ä; pronounced as [o] and transliterated as o in the West Syriac dialect),
- Lowercase Epsilon (ε) represents both [É›], transliterated as e or Ä•, and [e], transliterated as Ä“ (ܪܒ݂ܳܨܳÜ, RḇÄá¹£Ä),
- Capital Eta (H) represents [i], transliterated as Ä« (ܚܒ݂ܳܨܳÜ, ḤḇÄá¹£Ä),
- A combined symbol of capital Upsilon (Î¥) and lowercase Omicron (ο) represents [u], transliterated as Å« or u (ܥܨܳܨܳÜ, ʿṢÄá¹£Ä).
- Lowercase Omega (ω), used only in the vocative interjection ʾŠ(Üܘّ, 'O!').
Egyptian hieroglyphs 32 c. BCE
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Summary table
The Syriac alphabet consists of the following letters, shown in their isolated (non-connected) forms. When isolated, the letters KÄpÌ„, MÄ«m, and NÅ«n are usually shown with their initial form connected to their final form (see below). The letters ʾĀlapÌ„, DÄlaṯ, HÄ“, Waw, Zayn, á¹¢Äá¸Ä“, Rēš, and Taw (and, in early ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ manuscripts, the letter Semkaṯ[5]) do not connect to a following letter within a word. These are marked with an asterisk (*).
Name | Letter | Sound Value | Numerical Value |
Phoenician Equivalent |
Hebrew Equivalent |
Arabic Equivalent | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ | Maá¸nḥÄyÄ | Será¹Ä | Transliteration | IPA | |||||
ʾĀlapÌ„* (ÜÜ Ü¦) | ![]() |
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ʾ or nothing | [ʔ] or silent |
1 | ![]() |
× | ا |
Bēṯ (Ü’Üܬ) | ![]() |
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hard: b soft: ḇ (also bh, v, β) |
hard: [b] soft: [v] or [w] |
2 | ![]() |
ב | ب |
GÄmal (Ü“Ü¡Ü ) | ![]() |
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hard: g soft: ḡ (also g̱, gh, ḡ, γ) |
hard: [É¡] soft: [É£] |
3 | ![]() |
ג | ج |
DÄlaṯ* (Ü•Ü Ü¬) | ![]() |
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hard: d soft: Ḡ(also dh, ð, δ) |
hard: [d] soft: [ð] |
4 | ![]() |
ד | د, ذ |
HÄ“* (Ü—Ü) | ![]() |
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h | [h] | 5 | ![]() |
×” | Ù‡ |
Waw* (ܘܘ) | ![]() |
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consonant: w mater lectionis: Å« or Å (also u or o) |
consonant: [w] mater lectionis: [u] or [o] |
6 | ![]() |
ו | و |
Zayn* (Ü™ÜÜ¢) | ![]() |
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z | [z] | 7 | ![]() |
ז | ز |
Ḥēṯ (ÜšÜܬ) | ![]() |
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ḥ | [ħ], [x], or [χ] | 8 | ![]() |
×— | Ø, Ø® |
Ṭēṯ (Ü›Üܬ) | ![]() |
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Ṡ| [tˤ] | 9 | ![]() |
ט | ط, ظ |
YÅḠ(Üܘܕ) | ![]() |
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consonant: y mater lectionis: Ä« (also i) |
consonant: [j] mater lectionis: [i] or [e] |
10 | ![]() |
×™ | ÙŠ |
KÄpÌ„ (ܟܦ) | ![]() |
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hard: ū soft: ḵ (also kh, x) |
hard: [k] soft: [x] |
20 | ![]() |
כ ך | ك |
LÄmaḠ(Ü Ü¡Ü•) | ![]() |
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l | [l] | 30 | ![]() |
ל | ل |
MÄ«m (Ü¡ÜÜ¡) | ![]() |
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á¹ | [m] | 40 | ![]() |
מ × | Ù… |
Nūn (ܢܘܢ) | ![]() |
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n | [n] | 50 | ![]() |
× ×Ÿ | Ù† |
Semkaṯ (ܣܡܟܬ) | ![]() |
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s | [s] | 60 | ![]() |
ס | — |
ʿĒ (Ü¥Ü) | ![]() |
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Ê¿ | [Ê•] | 70 | ![]() |
ע | ع, غ |
PÄ“ (ܦÜ) | ![]() |
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hard: p soft: p̄ (also p̱, ᵽ, ph, f) |
hard: [p] soft: [f] |
80 | ![]() |
פ ף | ٠|
á¹¢Äá¸Ä“* (ܨܕÜ) | ![]() |
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ṣ | [sˤ] | 90 | ![]() |
צ ץ | ص, ض |
QÅpÌ„ (ܩܘܦ) | ![]() |
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q | [q] | 100 | ![]() |
×§ | Ù‚ |
Rēš* (ܪÜÜ«) | ![]() |
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r | [r] | 200 | ![]() |
ר | ر |
Å Ä«n (Ü«ÜÜ¢) | ![]() |
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š (also sh) | [ʃ] | 300 | ![]() |
ש | س, ش |
Taw* (ܬܘ) | ![]() |
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hard: t soft: o (also th, θ) |
hard: [t] soft: [θ] |
400 | ![]() |
ת | ت, ث |
Contextual forms of letters
Letter | ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ (classical) | Maá¸nḥÄyÄ (eastern) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Normal form | Final connected | Final unconnected | Normal form | Final connected | Final unconnected | |
ʾĀlap̄ | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | |||
Bēṯ | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
GÄmal | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
DÄlaṯ | ![]() | ![]() | ||||
HÄ“ | ![]() | ![]() | ||||
Waw | ![]() | ![]() | ||||
Zayn | ![]() | ![]() | ||||
Ḥēṯ | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
Ṭēṯ | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
YÅḠ| ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
KÄpÌ„ | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
LÄmaḠ| ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
Mīm | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
Nūn | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
Semkaṯ | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ||
ʿĒ | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
PÄ“ | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
á¹¢Äá¸Ä“ | ![]() | ![]() | ||||
QÅpÌ„ | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
Rēš | ![]() | ![]() | ||||
Šīn | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
Taw | ![]() | ![]() |
1 In the final position following DÄlaṯ or Rēš, ʾĀlapÌ„ takes the normal form rather than the final form.
Ligatures
Name | ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ (classical) | Maá¸nḥÄyÄ (eastern) | Unicode character(s) | Description | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Normal form | Final connected | Final unconnected | Normal form | Final connected | Final unconnected | |||
LÄmaá¸-ʾĀlapÌ„ | ![]() | ![]() | Ü Ü | LÄmaḠand ʾĀlapÌ„ combined at the end of a word | ||||
Taw-ʾĀlapÌ„ | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Ü¬Ü | Taw and ʾĀlapÌ„ combined at the end of a word | ||
HÄ“-YÅḠ| ![]() | Ü—Ü | HÄ“ and YÅḠcombined at the end of a word | |||||
Taw-YÅḠ| ![]() | Ü¬Ü | Taw and YÅḠcombined 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. ʾĀlapÌ„ (Ü), the first letter, represents a glottal stop, but it can also indicate a vowel at the beginning or the end of a word. The letter Waw (ܘ) is the consonant w, but can also represent the vowels o and u. Likewise, the letter YÅḠ(Ü) represents the consonant y, but it also stands for the vowels i and e.
MajlÄ«yÄnÄ
In modern usage, some alterations can be made to represent phonemes not represented in classical orthography. A mark similar in appearance to a tilde, called MajlÄ«yÄnÄ (Ü¡Ü“Ì°Ü ÜÜ¢Ü), is placed either above or below a letter in the Maá¸nḥÄyÄ variant of the alphabet to change its phonetic value (see also: Geresh):
- Added to GÄmal: [a] to [d͡ʒ] (voiced postalveolar affricate)
- Added to KÄpÌ„: [k] to [t͡ʃ] (voiceless postalveolar affricate)
- Added to Zayn: [z] to [Ê’] (voiced postalveolar fricative)
- Added to Šīn: [ʃ] to [ʒ]
RÅ«kkÄá¸µÄ and qūššÄyÄ
In addition to foreign sounds, a marking system is used to distinguish qūššÄyÄ (ܩܘܫÜÜ, 'hard' letters) from rÅ«kkÄá¸µÄ (ܪܘܟܟÜ, 'soft' letters). The letters Bēṯ, GÄmal, DÄlaṯ, KÄpÌ„, PÄ“, and Taw, all plosives ('hard'), are able to be spirantized into fricatives ('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):
Name | Plosive | Translit. | IPA | Name | Spirant | Translit. | IPA | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bēṯ (qšīṯÄ) | Ü’Ý | b | [b] | Bēṯ rakkīḵtÄ | Ü’Ý‚ | ḇ | [v] or [w] | [v] has become [w] in most modern dialects. |
GÄmal (qšīṯÄ) | Ü“Ý | g | [a] | GÄmal rakkīḵtÄ | ܓ݂ | ḡ | [É£] | |
DÄlaṯ (qšīṯÄ) | Ü•Ý | d | [d] | DÄlaṯ rakkīḵtÄ | ܕ݂ | Ḡ| [ð] | [d] is left unspirantized in some modern Eastern dialects. |
KÄpÌ„ (qšīṯÄ) | ÜŸÝÜŸÝ | k | [k] | KÄpÌ„ rakkīḵtÄ | ܟ݂ܟ݂ | ḵ | [x] | |
PÄ“ (qšīṯÄ) | Ü¦Ý | p | [p] | PÄ“ rakkīḵtÄ | ܦ݂ or ܦ̮ | pÌ„ | [f] or [w] | [f] is not found in most modern Eastern dialects. Instead, it either is left unspirantized or sometimes appears as [w]. PÄ“ is the only letter in the Eastern variant of the alphabet that is spirantized by the addition of a semicircle instead of a single dot. |
Taw (qšīṯÄ) | Ü¬Ý | t | [t] | Taw rakkīḵtÄ | ܬ݂ | ṯ | [θ] | [t] is left unspirantized in some modern Eastern dialects. |
The mnemonic bḡaá¸kpÌ„Äṯ (ܒܓܕܟܦܬ) is often used to remember the six letters that are able to be spirantized (see also: Begadkefat).
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 are not always subject to the rules for spirantization.
Unicode
The Syriac alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in September, 1999 with the release of version 3.0.
Block
The Unicode block for Syriac is U+0700–U+074F:
Syriac[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
U+070x | Ü€ | Ü | Ü‚ | ܃ | Ü„ | Ü… | ܆ | ܇ | ܈ | ܉ | ÜŠ | Ü‹ | ÜŒ | Ü | Ü SAM | |
U+071x | Ü | Ü‘ | Ü’ | Ü“ | Ü” | Ü• | Ü– | Ü— | ܘ | Ü™ | Üš | Ü› | Üœ | Ü | Üž | ÜŸ |
U+072x | Ü | Ü¡ | Ü¢ | Ü£ | ܤ | Ü¥ | ܦ | ܧ | ܨ | Ü© | ܪ | Ü« | ܬ | Ü | Ü® | ܯ |
U+073x | ܰ | ܱ | ܲ | ܳ | ܴ | ܵ | ܶ | ܷ | ܸ | ܹ | ܺ | ܻ | ܼ | ܽ | ܾ | ܿ |
U+074x | Ý€ | Ý | Ý‚ | ݃ | Ý„ | Ý… | ݆ | ݇ | ݈ | ݉ | ÝŠ | Ý | ÝŽ | Ý | ||
Notes |
The Syriac Abbreviation (a type of overline) can be represented with a special control character called the Syriac Abbreviation Mark (U+070F).
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.
ʾĀlap̄ Bēṯ
Ü• | Ü“ | Ü’ | Ü |
ܕ | ܓ | ܒ | ܐ |
---|---|---|---|
ܚ | ܙ | ܘ | ܗ |
ܚ | ܙ | ܘ | ܗ |
Ü | ÜŸÜŸ | Ü | Ü› |
ܠ | ܟ | ܝ | ܛ |
ܥ | ܣ | ܢܢ | ܡܡ |
ܥ | ܤ | ܢ | ܡ |
ܪ | ܩ | ܨ | ܦ |
ܪ | ܩ | ܨ | ܦ |
ܬ | ܫ | ||
ܬ | ܫ |
Vowels and unique characters
ܲ | ܵ |
ܲ | ܵ |
---|---|
ܸ | ܹ |
ܸ | ܹ |
ܼ | ܿ |
ܼ | ܿ |
̈ | ̰ |
̈ | ̰ |
Ý | Ý‚ |
݁ | ݂ |
Ü€ | Ü‚ |
܀ | ܂ |
܄ | ݇ |
܄ | ݇ |
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
Footnotes
- ↑ "Syriac alphabet". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
- ↑ P. R. Ackroyd,C. F. Evans (1975). The Cambridge History of the Bible: Volume 1, From the Beginnings to Jerome. p. 26.
- ↑ Hatch, William (1946). An album of dated Syriac manuscripts. Boston: The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, reprinted in 2002 by Gorgias Press. p. 24. ISBN 1-931956-53-7.
- ↑ 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. p. 5].
- ↑ Coakley, J. F. (2002). Robinson's paradigms and exercises in Syriac grammar (5th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-19-926129-1.
References
- 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.
- 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.
- Thackston, Wheeler M. (1999). Introduction to Syriac. Bethesda, MD: Ibex Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-936347-98-8.
External links
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Syriac writing. |
- The Syriac alphabet at Omniglot.com
- The Syriac alphabet at Ancientscripts.com
- Unicode Entity Codes for the Syriac Script
- Download Syriac fonts
- How to write Aramaic – learn the Syriac cursive scripts
- Aramaic and Syriac handwriting ʾEsá¹rangÄ“lÄ (classical)
- Learn Assyrian (Syriac-Aramaic) OnLine Maá¸nḥÄyÄ (eastern)
- GNU FreeFont Unicode font family with Syriac range in its sans-serif face.