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Lecturer: PhD student Radu MUSTATĂ
Course start date: 05.10.2022
The present course aims to initiate learners into the basic morphological structures of the Syriac language through exercises and practical texts, so as to provide them with the knowledge and tools required to study ancient, medieval and early modern Syriac texts. By the end of the course learners will have acquired sufficient knowledge to be able to translate using the dictionary spoken texts from the New Testament and other sources of moderate difficulty. The texts read in the practical section of the course will be adapted according to the learners’ particular interests. At the beginning of each course, the grammatical concepts previously studied will be reviewed.
Course duration: 05.10.2022-01.07.2023
Evaluation date: 03.09.2023
Date of granting of certificates: 20.09.2023
Course fee: 1800 lei
(50% discount for UBB staff)
- Other learners: 10% for two courses, 15% for three courses, 20% for four courses, 25% for five courses, 30% for six or more courses.
- Possibility to pay in two instalments (for each semester separately)
General objectives: Classical Syriac is the most widely spoken dialect of the Aramaic language and belongs to the North-Western group of Semitic languages. Originally this dialect was spoken in the region around Edessa (Syr. Urhay; Urfa in modern-day Turkey), and with the expansion of Christianity it became the language of liturgical, theological and literary discourse for Christians in the Middle East and beyond. From biblical and patristic translations to hymnography or mystical writings, from historiography or philosophy to encyclopaedic writings, Syriac literature in all its variety is relevant to historians, theologians and philologists, as well as to those who wish to discover and further explore the literary testimonies of a little-known or little-studied branch of Christianity.
Course structure:
Lecture 1
– Syriac language and literature (periods);
– Alphabet (1): types of writing (serṭā, esṭrangelā and Eastern Syriac writing), consonants and connecting consonant signs;
– Exercises:
Lecture 2
– Dictionaries, literature histories and study tools;
– Review: connecting consonant signs;
– Alphabet (2): vowel systems and vowel signs; dots, symbols and punctuation;
– Exercises
Lecture 3
– The spread of Christianity in Osrhoene
– Proclitic and enclitic personal pronouns; possessive pronominal suffixes;
– Texts and exercises.
Lecture 4
– Syriac thought and literature in the early Christian centuries
– Conjugations of the verb in the Syriac language: basic introductory elements; forms of perfect and PEAL active participle;
– Exercises
Lecture 5
– Literary genres and terminology in Syriac poetry
– Expressions of copula; ‘it, hwā and the forms of the perfect composed with hwā;
– Exercises.
Lecture 6
– Syriac Rite Churches
– Noun and adjective; noun states and expressing the genitive case
– Exercises and practical course.
Lecture 7
– Translations of the Bible into Syriac
– Verb: the perfect and imperative forms derived from the PEAL conjugation; uses of dālath;
– Exercises and practical course
Lecture 8
– Review
– Exercises and practical course
Lecture 9
– Other types of Syriac translations
– Conjugation of regular verbs (with consonant root) (1)
– Exercises and practical course
Lecture 10
– System of education among Syriac Christians
– Conjugation of regular verbs (with a consonant root) (2)
– Exercises and practical course
Lecture 11
– Theology and exegesis of the Syriac Fathers
– Verbs whose root ends in guttural
– Exercises and practical course
Lecture 12
– Expansion of the Syro-Oriental Church in the Middle Ages
– Verbs whose root begins in nun and yud;
– Exercises and practical course
Lecture 13
– Grammar works in Syriac literature
– Conjugation of verbs with two root consonants;
– Exercises and practical course
Lecture 14
– Review and practical course;
– Use of the diacritic point in verbs
Lecture 15
– Historiographical sources in Syriac
– Conjugation of verbs whose root ends in yud;
– Exercises and practical course
Lecture 16
– Types of liturgical books used by Syriac churches
– Pronoun complements joined to the verb; adverbs;
– Exercises and practical course
Lecture 17
– Syriac Renaissance of the 12th and 13th centuries
– The numeral
– Exercises and practical course
Lecture 18
– Syriac Christianity in the Ottoman Empire
– Practical course: The Gospel of John (Peshitta) I
Course 19
– Syriac Christianity in India
– Practical course: The Gospel of John (Peshitta) II
Course 20
– Practical course: The Gospel of John (Peshitta) III