Saturday, August 22, 2015

Syrian vs. Syriac

SYRIAC WATCH: 42 easily confused English terms that make global travelers look ridiculous (Jake Flanagin, Quartz). This piece explains lots of useful subtleties. I was pleased that the following was among them:
Syrian vs. Syriac

“Syrian” refers to anyone from the modern state of Syria. “Syriac” is a language spoken by groups from Iraq and the Levant known as Assyrians, Arameans, or Chaldeans, who are descended from ancient Mesopotamian peoples. Most Syrians are ethnic Arabs, though some may be Kurdish or Armenian, and most Syrians do not speak Syriac.
It would have been useful to specify that Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic.