Abstract

The present study analyses the integration of consonants in Greek loanwords in Syriac. It is shown that in the vast majority of cases each Greek consonantal phoneme is represented by a single consonant in Syriac. Correspondences that deviate from this are usually the result of one of two causes. First, a Koinē form of Greek, instead of Attic, likely served as the source for some of the words that prima facie seem to exhibit irregular correspondences. Second, some of the seemingly irregular correspondences are due to secondary developments in Syriac. This study is based on a corpus of more than eight hundred Greek loanwords and their derivatives found in pre-eighth-century Syriac texts that were not translated from Greek.

Highlights

  • Syriac underwent a prolonged period of contact with Greek

  • It is shown that in the vast majority of cases each Greek consonantal phoneme is represented by a single consonant in Syriac

  • This study is based on a corpus of more than eight hundred Greek loanwords and their derivatives found in pre-eighth-century Syriac texts that were not translated from Greek

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Summary

Introduction

Syriac underwent a prolonged period of contact with Greek. This resulted in, inter alia, a large number of Greek loanwords in Syriac.[1]. This is reflected in writings such as the following: 12 For this continuum, see Butts, Syriac in Its Greco-Roman Context, §4.5. 1556) > 焏‫ܪܩܣ‬熏‫ ܦ‬pwrqs ‘tower’ (ls[2 607]; sl 1173) This may be the result of an assimilation of [+emphatic] due to the initial “emphatic” p (for which, see §12 below).[29] It should be noted that this Greek word is realised in Mandaic as parqsa (md 365), with the same correspondence, suggesting that the Mandaic is a loanword from Syriac (or less likely, that the same assimilation occurred independently in Mandaic). It should be noted that the non-assimilated spelling ‫ܬܐ‬煟q‫ ܦܢܩ‬pnqydtis very rare and may well reflect a Fremdwort rather than a Lehnwort.[43] In a few isolated cases, Greek δ is not represented in Syriac when it occurs in word initial position:. A Grammar of the Greek Papyri of the Roman and Byzantine Periods, vol 1, p. 120; Mayser, Grammatik der griechischen Papyri aus der Ptolemäerzeit, p. 176. 46 Kiraz, Tūrrāṣ Mamllā, § 603–604

Greek θ
Greek λ
Greek μ
10 Greek ν
11 Greek ξ
12 Greek π
13 Greek ρ
14 Greek σ
15 Greek τ
16 Greek φ
17 Greek χ
18 Greek ψ
19 Greek Word-initial spiritus asper
20 Conclusion
21 Abbreviations of Lexicographical Resources bk cdg dcpa djba
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