Unicode Demystified

The Syriac Alphabet

The Syriac language is a member of the Aramaic family of languages that is spoken by a variety of minority communities—mostly Christian—throughout the Middle East.^[5] It's the principal liturgical language and also serves as the vernacular for many members of these communities. Its alphabet is also used to write modern Aramaic, and many Syriac-speaking communities use the Syriac alphabet for writing other languages, particularly Arabic (Arabic written using the Syriac alphabet is called Garshuni.) A theological schism among the Syrian Christians in the fifth century led to a bifurcation of the language: there are two dialects of Syriac: Eastern and Western. The Eastern and Western communities have different, though related, ...