Syriac Tools and Resources

A compilation of information and resources you need to work with the Syriac biblical texts 
MGVHoffman (Last updated: 2009.09.14)

• Fonts
• Typing in Syriac
• Online Syriac Texts
  • Old Testament
  • New Testament
  • Other Syriac Non-biblical Texts
• English Translations and Interlinears of Syriac Texts
• Lexicons and Grammars
• Syriac Texts in Bible Software
• For Further Study

Return to Scroll and Screen = Biblical Studies and Technological Tools

FONTS
Some old TrueType fonts are still available at the SBL site (SPEdessa) and at Peshitta.org (Estrangelo). What you really want, however, are the Unicode Syriac fonts such as TITUS Cyberbit or the wonderful collection of Meltho OpenType, Syriac scripts at Beth Mardutho. If you want to see what the fonts look like, go to this gallery page. (This page indicates that Syriac is not supported by TITUS Cyberbit, but the latest version I have linked above does indeed include it.) For OS X, note the offering from XenoType. (You will also get a Syriac font with the Accordance program.)
Also note the large collection of 43 free TrueType fonts at Assyrian Information Management.

TYPING IN SYRIAC
Here's your best guide to getting your system set up for Syriac and registering the keyboards. For biblical text work, I recommend that you install the Syriac Phonetic keyboard. For more detailed information on setting up your system for Syriac, Roger Pearse has a page on Unicode here and another one on coding for right-to-left here.

Do you forget where all the accents and such are located on the keyboard? I can recommend two good options.

• Shibboleth from Logos
  Read more about this free downloadable tool provided by Logos Software. You can either type in characters or click on the keyboard or on the characters in the right hand column. Note that for Syriac, you can choose between East Syriac Adiabene, Estrangelo Edessa, or Serto Jerusalem. (Since it outputs your text in Unicode, you can always change it in your word processor.) As the graphic shows, this tool also works for Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, Ethiopic, and other languages.
  
  
• UniqTitus
  You can also try the free UniqTitus Keyboard layout addin for MS Word. It's Unicode compliant and works well for Greek, Hebrew, and transliteration.
  
  
• [For learning to write Syriac, check Steven Ring's Aramaic Calligraphy.]
• For converting Syriac text from Arabic Windows into Syriac Unicode, check the software convertors available at Syriac Resources.

ONLINE SYRIAC TEXTS
The Peshitta is the primary text of interest for biblical scholars. (The linked Wikipedia article looks quite accurate and is worth checking.)

Old Testament

• A digital version of the Old Testament is available at the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon project (CAL). If you start at this page, you can invoke the Masoretic text, Targumim, and the Peshitta (be sure to check the "display Peshitta" box) all in parallel. Very nice! (Note, however, that for the Syriac to appear in a Syriac font, you need to be using IE7 or at least Firefox using an IE rendering.) Alternatively, you can start at this page and get the full Peshitta OT text (after a quick and free acceptance of terms). An outstanding feature of this display is that you can click on the verse number to get a full analysis of every word in the text. Be sure to select the viewing font (in the upper left corner; the Meltho-Unicode is recommended if you've installed the Meltho fonts listed above) before you select the text.
• Images of the Ceriani edition of Codex Ambrosiano of the Syriac Peshitta OT are available here (1-4) and here (7) on the BYU site. Also follow the links on Steven Ring's page.

• NEW> OT and NT Syriac Bible (modern, 1893) viewable online or as a download.

• For texts of the Peshitta NT, get them here (Peshitta.org) (under Tools > Word Docs) as MS Word DOCS using the Estrangelo font from Peshitta.org listed above. (The files appear to be the same at both sites.) 
• There are beautiful PDFs of the Peshitta NT available for download at the Beth Sapra project. Also a part of the Beth Sapra Library, you can download PDFs of Tetraeuangelium Sanctum (The Four Holy Gospels) by Philip Edward Pusey and George Henry Gwilliam, 1901. Read the notes on the page about this critical edition.
• You can also get the Peshitta NT here (AramaicPeshitta.com) or here (The Syriac Library; whole NT on a single web page).
• The Four Gospels in Syriac Transcribed from the Sinaitic Palimpsest by Bensly, Harris, and Burkitt is available here.
• This page of Syriac NT resources has four versions of the Peshitta NT: ones using Serto, Estrangella, Unicode (Serto Batnan, but any of the Unicode Meltho fonts can be used), and a Romanized text version.

• BURKITT, F. CRAWFORD, Evangelion da-Mepharreshe : the Curetonian Version of the four gospels, with the readings of the Sinai palimpsest and the early Syriac patristic evidence (Cambridge England: University Press, 1904) 2 v. [vol. 2] Download PDF Here (121 MB) (BYU site)

• Want some images of actual manuscripts? Try here or here (PDFs with image, transcription, translation) or here. Also follow the links on Ring's page.

• Be sure to check the Syriac Studies Reference Library sponsored by BYU and CUA. Here is the list of books downloadable as free PDFs. Also check out the Syriac Articles and Lectures.
• The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha project has a new critical edition of 2 (Syriac Apocalypse of) Baruch. The full Syriac text along with the Greek and Latin fragments is presented with textual notes.
• Steven Ring provides "A Collection of Syriac printed texts available on-line"
• The Syriac Library has a few texts by Eusebius, Joshua the Stylite, and Thomas of Edessa.
• Also check the Thoughts on Antiquity blog, especially this listing of Catalogues of Syriac manuscripts online.
• There is now a Syriac wiki online: WikiSyr. The site is only in French, and there is not yet very much content, but it's structured for lots of well-organized entries.
• NEW> Mingana Syriac collection online (in progress, University of Birmingham)

• (George) Lamsa Bible Online - English Peshitta Translation (OT)
• (George) Lamsa Bible Online - English Peshitta Translation (NT)
• John Wesley Etheridge Translation of the Western Peshitto (NT) 1846-1849
• James Murdock Translation of the Western Peshitto (NT) 1852 (It is also available as download here and here.)
• The Bible Tool site offers an excellent parallel layout of the Murdock NT Translation and the NT Peshitta.
• An excellent tool for the Peshitta NT is at the Dukhrana site. Choose a text, choose a font, decide whether you want the vowels or not, and choose whether to include Etheridge's, Murdock's, and/or the KJV translation to appear alongside the Syriac text.
• Aramaic / English Peshitta Interlinear with translation by Paul Younan (Gospels and part of Acts completed) 2004 (Also available at the Peshitta.org site under Interlinear NT.)
• A modern translation of the "Aramaic Bible" by Vic Alexander
• The Aramaic Peshitta New Testament Translation by Janet M. Magiera (2006) - Selections online, but it comes complete with BibleWorks7.

• The standard lexicon for the Syriac is the Payne Smith Compendious Syriac Dictionary. It is available online for free here, and it is broken down by initial letter, but it is basically a collection of image files which makes it rather cumbersome to find a desired entry. You can, however, buy a "Syriac Lexicons" CD of the book as a PDF scan for only $18. I'm not sure if it is the same PDF collection, but an explicitly "searchable and bookmarked" edition of it is available for download for $45 here. If you want the original Latin volumes, the Internet Archive has it here for free. (BTW, if you do want a hardcopy, I want to commend Wipf & Stock for producing a paperback version priced at a mere $36. )
• At the BYU/CUA site you can download for free:
  • W. Jennings' Lexicon to the Syriac New Testament (Peshitta): With Copious References, Dictions, Names of Persons and Places and some Various Readings found in the Curetonian, Sinaitic Palimpsest, Philoxenian & Other Mss (Oxford: 1926. 244pp). Download PDF Here (50.5 MB)
  • T. Nöldeke's Compendious Syriac Grammar. With a table of characters by Julius Euting. Tr. from the 2d and improved German ed., by James A. Crichton, D.D (London : Williams & Norgate, 1904). Download PDF Here (106 MB)
• An excellent online lexicon is available at the Dukhrana site. Lots of options for searching (English, Syriac, Lexeme, Root, Word ID), choice of fonts, and results allow for further research such as showing all inflected forms with analysis.
• Similarly, the Peshitta.org site (under Tools > Lexicon) offers a nice Lexicon / Concordance searchable by English, Word Number, Aramaic, Lexeme, or Root.
• There is a free, downloadable "Syriac Lexicon and Parser for the NT" based on the Kiraz' Sedra 3 data available on this page.
• The CAL site provides a lexicon, but it is somewhat more awkward to use.
• For a downloadable Syriac dictionary you can run independent of the web, use the Beth Mardutho one based on the SEDRA database.
• NEW: Aramaic Lexicon and Concordance: Free web resource for searching by English word, Aramaic word, lexeme, or root. The concordance provides verse references for occurrences in NT Peshitta.
• For a free, online grammar of "Assyrian Aramaic," this appears to be a very nice site.
• At the Beth Sapra Online Library, you can download PDFs of a bibliography, the 1906 The Elements of Syriac, and Eberhard Nestle's 1900 Syriac Grammar.

• BibleWorks7 comes with the Aramaic New Testament (Peshitta), with the Etheridge (1849), Lewis (1896), Murdock (1851), Norton (1881), and Magiera (2005) English translations. The OT is not included, and the Syriac text is not analyzed or linked to any lexicon.
• Logos3 includes the Syriac Peshitta NT with Morphology along with editions of Codices Curetonianus and Sinaiticus in their Original Language, Silver, and Gold libraries. (The Peshitta NT can also be purchased separately for a list price of $19.95.) The Silver and Gold libraries (why not the Original Languages one??) also include the Analytical Lexicon of the Syriac NT. (Also available separately.) In Logos3, therefore, one can double click on any word in the Syriac text, and it will invoke the correct lexicon entry. There are not, however, any English translations available unless you buy the rather expensive ($179.95 list on pre-pub) Gorgias Press Syriac Collection which includes the Murdock translation along with 8 other books.
• Accordance for the MAC, like Logos3, offers the Syriac Peshitta NT with Morphology along with editions of Codices Curetonianus and Sinaiticus. (But unlike Logos3, it will cost you $100.) Murdock's translation is also included, but I can't find that any Syriac lexicon is.
• The NT Peshitta in Hebrew letters is available in the Online Bible.
• The Murdoch translation of Peshitta NT is available for e-Sword.

• Join the Hugoye list on Yahoo groups.
  "Hugoye-list is an e-mail discussion group devoted to the academic field of Syriac studies. The list is associated with the electronic journal Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies and is sponsored by the Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. Intended for the use of academic scholars, Hugoye-list is not an appropriate forum for amateur inquiries. The framework for discussion is academic and non-political."
• Join the "Studying Syriac" online study group! 
• The Aramaic Peshitta Bible Repository offers quite a bit of information and access to tools for studying the Aramaic NT.
• There are numerous resources at Peshitta.org Under the Introduction heading is background information and links to fonts. There are a number of articles, tools (links to a grammar [cached page], lexicon, font encoding, Word DOCS), an interlinear NT (Matthew-Acts), a forum, music, and more links.
• Also check out the Beith Morounoye site which provides a history of the Syriac language and lessons in Syriac along with other devotional resources.
• Steven Ring has compiled a collection of resources on his Syriac Studies page which includes introductory material on Syriac/Aramaic and materials focused on the Syriac NT and Gospels. Also check his "Virtual Syriac music and audio library."
• The Syriac Orthodox Church has helpful background information on the Syriac Bible and various editions and commentaries.
• "Teach Yourself Modern Syriac" is a Windows program available for purchase on CD ($69.95 + S/H). You can download for free the text and audio of The Lord's Prayer in Aramaic.
• Additionally, use this Google Books search link to find all the books with full views with Syriac in their titles. (The 29 hits that were returned on 2007.10.04 are mostly old grammars and catalogue listings, but there are some interesting texts and other reference works in the mix. >> 2008.07.03: There are now 85 "full view" books with Syriac in the title!)
• NEW> Syriac flashcards: Use iFlipr (available both as an iPhone app and a free online web version) to study various Syriac words or grammatical elements. HERE is the list of Syriac card decks. It's quite a list with choices in Serto, Estrangelo, and Eastern scripts. "The cards are grouped according to frequency of occurrence in the Peshitta (à la Kiraz, Lexical Tools)." (Thanks to Jeff Childers)
• NEW> All Things Aramaic is a site "dedicated to all aspects of the Aramaic language." Includes both biblical Aramaic as well as Aramaic/Syriac OT/NT Peshitta resources. Still in development but provides historical background and (coming) free lessons for learning Syriac.
• NEW> Patrologia Syriaca and Patrologia Orientalis: Use that link to locate the specific volumes and find the links to the volumes on Google Books, Archive, etc.
• NEW> Gallica is a French repository of online books. I find 135 results in a search for "syriac" in French, Latin, English...
• NEW> Lulu returns 174 results for "syriac" (though not all will be relevant). You will recognize many of the titles or authors, and you can purchase the books in a variety of formats (ebook, paper, hard).
• NEW> Aramaic Designs: Aramaic Classes Online - Some Aramaic and Syriac language learning classes online for a fee.
• NEW> Vivarium: A catalog of works from St. John's Abbey and University and their Hill Museum & Manuscript Library. Many Syriac titles viewable online and others available in digital form by request. Use the search pages HERE and HERE.