ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ Syriac
Syriac is a major literary language of late antiquity, central to Christian traditions across the Near East. Studying it opens a vast corpus of theology, history, and science in a Semitic language closely related to Aramaic.
Link legend: links marked “(archived)” open an Internet Archive snapshot because the original site is down or unreliable.
See a dead/outdated resource link? Suggest a link update.
Typing help
Syriac is easiest to type with a Syriac keyboard layout/font; for occasional characters, copy/paste works well.
Dictionaries
-
- Notes: Easy to search; simply a great resource.
-
- Notes: Online, fairly easy to navigate.
-
- Access: Font
- Notes: Requires a Syriac font; contains instructions on how to install the font.
-
- Format: PDF
- Notes: Downloadable, but is huge: 50 MB.
-
Syriac-Arabic-English Dictionary
- Notes: Difficult to navigate; use Google Chrome to help. Supports Syriac character entry.
-
Syriac-French-English Dictionary
- Format: PDF
- Notes: A PDF of more manageable size, around 9 MB.
-
- Notes: Also part of the CAL.
-
- Format: PDF
- Notes: An enormous PDF file.
-
- Notes: See also part two and the supplement.
-
Syriac-Greek Dictionary of the NT
- Notes: In German.
-
- Notes: Written in Latin.
-
- Notes: By Carl Brockelmann.
-
- Notes: Perhaps George Washington used it. You never know.
-
Treasure of the Syriac Language
- Notes: Also see volume two.
-
- Notes: This one comes in three volumes.
Grammars
-
- Format: PDF
- Notes: The file size is quite compendious as well: just over 100 MB.
-
- Notes: Display a New Testament verse, then analyze each word in the verse. Linked to a lexicon. Absolutely invaluable.
-
- Notes: Includes a tool to make verb charts, but it doesn’t work well yet.
-
Syriac Grammar with Chrestomathy
- Notes: By Eberhard Nestle.
-
- Notes: Via the inductive method.
-
- Notes: Includes a manual.
-
- Notes: Uhlemann and Hutchinson.
-
- Notes: Uhlemann’s original work.
-
- Notes: Hoffmann and Cowper.
-
- Notes: Hoffmann again.
-
- Notes: From 1855.
-
- Notes: Not by an inductive method.
-
- Notes: In French.
-
- Notes: Learn the Syriac-Aramaic language online.
-
- Notes: From the Syriac Orthodox Church in Canada.
Charts & Aids
- Nouns and Verbs PDF
- Format: PDF
- Notes: Very useful charts, and very easy to read.
Texts
-
- Notes: Probably the best resource if you’re online. Includes a grammatical analyzer.
-
- Notes: The entire New Testament on a single page. English titles, so easy to search.
-
- Notes: Navigate with the links on the left; much more than just this.
-
- Notes: Very old copies of the gospels.
-
- Notes: Bible texts online in many languages with parallel viewing.
-
- Notes: These are really well-done. A joy to read.
-
- Access: Font
- Notes: Font is on this page as well.
-
- Notes: Site is in German, links to the text are on the right.
-
- Format: PDF
- Notes: The OT in Syriac. Nice PDF files.
-
Syriac Studies Reference Library
- Notes: By BYU; easy to use and navigate.
-
- Notes: From Eusebius of Caesarea, Joshua the Stylite, and Thomas of Edessa.
-
- Notes: No, we have no idea what “Mingana” is either.
-
- Notes: Links to outside sites.
-
- Notes: From a Syriac palimpsest.
-
- Notes: “On the advantage to be derived from one’s enemies.”
-
Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite
- Notes: Translation by Wright.
-
Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius
- Notes: Also edited by Wright.
-
- Notes: Notes in French.
-
- Notes: Various books of the OT.
-
- Notes: With a translation in French.
-
- Notes: Greek and Syriac texts
-
- Notes: Unedited, in French.
Other Resources
-
- Notes: A huge number of digitized books on Syriac, plus other resources.
-
- Notes: Old, but good. Click the book title and then the image in order to access the text.
-
- Notes: A nice little collection of information.
-
- Format: PDF
- Notes: More general info about the language.
-
Short History of Syriac Literature
- Notes: The text of a long article.
-
Syriac Reference Portal Project
- Notes: Join the project as a collaborator!
-
- Notes: Many of these links are long broken, unfortunately.
Noticed a problem? Use Contribute or see About.