As I understand it, this is modern Syrian Aramaic that we are learning about (written in Suryoyo script), as opposed to “Assyrian Neo-Aramaic” (written in Estrangele script) or “Chaldean Neo-Aramaic” (ditto), which are both modern Iraqi varieties of Aramaic.
Hmm…I’m almost certain the Malfono (teacher) said kthobo. Well, no bother at this stage. The online resources should be of great help.
Well, this is a Syriac Orthodox Church, and the primary language of most of the older people in the church is Arabic. Since the class, apart from myself, is composed of about eight older people, the languages of instruction in the class are a mixture of Arabic and English. The teacher of the class doesn’t speak perfect English, so he sometimes has great trouble in explaining the nuances of semantic distinction, word morphology, and grammar in English, though he can do so very well in Arabic. He did say that sefro was used in a certain compound word, and that kthobo was the primary word for book, but could not effectively explain further. I’m addition, the class is held once a week on Saturday afternoons, and I cannot attend every week because of work. As I find myself interested in Aramaic, I jumped at the chance to sit in on this class, despite the difficulties presented; there aren’t many classes in Aramaic to be found anywhere. What else am I to do? I found a couple of grammars for Aramaic online, but haven’t availed myself of one yet. These are why I asked about it in the forum.
It is called Suryoyo, and from what I have been able to read, it is a dialect in common with Turoyo which is spoken in an area on the Syrian-Turkish border; Turoyo dialect of this type of Aramaic is spoken on the Turkish side, and Suryoyo (which apparently in Aramaic also refers to “Syriac”) on the Syrian, and they are essentially the same language. These are classified as “Central Aramaic” dialects. What I would really like to learn, in actuality, is that spoken in the original Aramaic homeland close to the Lebanese border (in only three villages…that dialect is severely endangered), the one remaining “Western Aramaic” dialect called in Aramaic Siryon. It’s all really very confusing, are the varieties of modern Aramaic and their names. Just see here:
Well, thank you for that! I don’t speak French, but I know enough to get the gist of a grammar. Please, do you know the title and author?
Well, in Arabic the word sifr(un) (سِفْر) exists, too. It means book and is especially used to designate biblical books. Not being enough of an expert, I therefore cannot say whether it is a loan from Hebrew or a common semitic root.
That makes sense, as Maloula is one of the three villages where Siryon is still spoken.
Apparently the same author wrote a book in English as well: The Spoken Aramaic of Maaloula the Language of Christ the Lord.
