Lebanese Aramaic | |
---|---|
Sūrien | |
ܣܘܪܝܢ | |
Native to | Levant (Especially Mount Lebanon) |
Ethnicity | Lebanese Maronite Christians |
Extinct | c. 19th-century |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Lebanese Aramaic, also referred to as Lebanese Syriac or Surien (Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܢ),[1] is an extinct or dormant Western Aramaic dialect.[2][3] It was traditionally spoken in the Levant, especially in Mount Lebanon, by Maronite Christians.[4][5]
Based on the material studied, the Aramaic used in Lebanon is clearly of the Western type.
The western variety of Aramaic lasted for a relatively long period in some secluded villages in the mountains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon in Syria (see Arnold/Behnstedt 1993).
…Maronites established villages in the remote regions of Mount Lebanon in the north, where they would live, work, and pray for hundreds of years. The church's liturgy is written in Syriac, the ancient language of the Maronites.
Maronites spoke the local Western Aramaic dialect and used only Syriac as a liturgical language, having given up Greek completely.