Syriac I B

Teacher(s)

Schmidt Andrea Barbara; Tavernier Jan;

Language

French

Prerequisites

None

Main themes

Teaching of Syriac language (late Aramaic)
The course teaches the morphology and grammar of Syriac, that is the Aramaic language of Christians in the Middle East (from 2nd c. up to pre-modern times).
It gives an overview about the main writing systems of Syriac (estrangelo, serto, syro-oriental) and the use of the basic lexical and grammar tools.
At the end of the course, students will read easy and fully vocalized texts.  Students have to do exercises for each course (translating, reading and grammatical analysis).

Content

The family of Aramaic languages belong to the western group of Semitic languages. Aramaic covers a wide range of fields from the 1st millennium BC to modern times. From the 2nd century onwards and during the Christianization of the Middle East, Syriac, a late Aramaic language, became dominant. Syriac has developed in more than 1600 years a rich and diversified literature. Oriental Christians even outside Mesopotamia, in Central Asia, China and South India, used Syriac for religious and scientific behalf. Syriac literature and language also played a central role for Coptic and Arabic Christianity, as well as for Byzantium and the Caucasus.
The course teaches the morphology and grammar of Syriac, that is the Aramaic language of Christians in the Middle East (from 2nd c. up to pre-modern times). It gives an overview about the main writing systems of Syriac (estrangelo, serto, syro-oriental) and the use of the basic lexical and grammar tools. At the end of the course, students will read easy and fully vocalized texts.  Students have to do exercises for each course (translating, reading and grammatical analysis).

Teaching methods

Students must prepare exercises, which will be reviewed and commented. The portfolio of exercises and other materials are available in Moodle (registration required).

Evaluation methods

There will be an oral examination at the end of each semester. The student has to prepare a text studied in the class and provide a translation with grammatical explanations.

Other information

https://uclouvain.be/en/faculties/fial/learning-agreement-comment-choisir-ses-cours.html#English-friendly-courses/
cours enseigné en français mais offrant des facilités en anglais.

Bibliography

Cf. la documentation exhaustive sur Moodle. S. Brock et al. (ed.), The Hidden Pearl. The Syrian Orthodox Church and its Ancient Aramaic Heritage, vol. I et II, Roma 2001 J.F. Healey, Leshono Suryoyo. First Studies in Syriac, Piscataway 2005; L. Costaz, Grammaire Syriaque, Beyrouth 1952  (réimpr. 1964); J. Payne Smith, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary, Oxford 1903 (plusieurs editions online)

Teaching materials

• cf Moodle

Faculty or entity

EHAC