The three Syriac scripts

Esṭrangēlā The earliest Syriac script, which derives from earlier Aramaic scripts, is called
“Estrangela” (Esṭrangēlā, ‫)ܐܣܛܪܢܓܠܐ‬. Its earliest use is found in pagan inscripti-
ons from Edessa and its surroundings, known from the beginning of the first cen-
tury CE onwards. The oldest preserved Christian parchment manuscripts written
in Estrangela are from the early fifth century onwards.
Along with Estrangela, there existed a more cursive script, traces of which can
be seen in some mosaic inscriptions, and which more prominently emerges in three
(non-Christian) documents found in and around Dura-Europos and dated to the
middle of the third century.
Serṭo It is from this cursive script that later on the West-Syriac script developed. Alt-
hough it occasionally occurs in earlier (sixth-century) manuscripts, it is from the
eighth century onwards only that it becomes the characteristic script of the West-
ܳ ܶ
ܳ ‫ ܶܣ‬/ ‫ܪܛܐ‬
Syriac tradition, known as “Serta” (Serṭā or Serṭo, ‫ܪܛܐ‬ ‫ܣ‬, ‘line’). It was, and
still is, in use in the Syrian-Orthodox communities and hence has also been cal-
led “Jacobite”, after the name of one of the Syrian-Orthodox leaders of the sixth
century, Jacob Baradeaeus.
East-Syriac The East-Syriac tradition developed its own script, to which somewhat infelici-
tously the names “Nestorian” and “Chaldean” have been given.
Estrangela remained in use in both traditions, for writing important texts (e. g.
biblical books) or as a more solemn script, used in headings, commemorative in-
scriptions and the like. It is also widely used in present-day scholarly publications.
The differences between the three scripts are minor and easy to learn.
Lucas Van Rompay, A Guide to the Syriac Language, 2004. p. 12.
 ‫ܒܝܬ ܡܪܕܘܬܐ‬ Estrangelo Edessa

‫ܡܪܕܘܬܐ ̈ܚܝܐ ܕܢܦܫܐ‬ Estrangelo Edessa

‫̈ܡܠܟܐ‬
‫ܡܠܟܐ‬
Über den Plural werden zur Unterscheidung vom Singular zwei Punkte gesetzt: da-
̈
her ist ‫ܡܠܟܐ‬ malkē “Könige” zu lesen, zum Unterschied von ‫ ܡܠܟܐ‬malkā “König”.
Diese Punkte werden von den Syrern s ejāmē genannt (in älteren Grammatiken fin-
det man auch die aus dem Hebräischen stammende Bezeichnung ribbui).
Syriac uses two (usually) horizontal dots [ ̈ ] above a letter within a word, similar
in appearance to diaeresis, called syāmē (‫ܣܝܡܐ‬, ̈ literally ‘placings’, also known in
some grammars by the Hebrew name ribbūi (‫‘ = )רִ בּו ּי‬plural’), to indicate that the
word is plural. These dots, having no sound value in themselves, arose before both
eastern and western vowel systems as it became necessary to mark plural forms of
words, which are indistinguishable from their singular counterparts in regularly-
inflected nouns. For instance, the word malkā (‫ܡܠܟܐ‬, ‘king’) is consonantally iden-
̈
tical to its plural malkē (‫ܡܠܟܐ‬, ‘kings’); the syāmē above the word malkē (‫)ܡܠܟܐ‬ ̈
clarifies its grammatical number and pronunciation. Irregular plurals also receive
syāmē even though their forms are clearly plural: e. g. baytā (‫ܒܝܬܐ‬, ‘house’) and its
irregular plural bāttē (‫ܒܬܐ‬,̈ ‘houses’).
There are no firm rules for which letter receives syāmē; the writer has full dis-
cretion to place them over any letter. Typically, if a word has at least one rēš , then
syāmē are placed over the rēš that is nearest the end of a word (and also replace
the single dot above it: ̈ ). Other letters that often receive syāmē are low-rising
letters—such as yōḏ and nūn—or letters that appear near the middle or end of a
word.
 3

Estrangelo Edessa
‫ܒܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ ܦܘܠܘܐܘܩܝܛܐ‬ :script=syrc

Estrangelo Talada
‫ܒܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ ܦܘܠܘܐܘܩܝܛܐ‬ :script=syrc

Estrangelo Talada
‫ܒܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ ܦܘܠܘܐܘܩܝܛܐ‬ :script=syr

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