Langenesis

Afro-Asiatic family

Classical Syriac

1 CE – 1300 CE Classical

Classical Syriac (1 CE – 1300 CE) is a classical Afro-Asiatic language. Lineage: Proto-Afro-Asiatic → Proto-Semitic → … → Old Aramaic → Imperial and Middle Aramaic → Classical Syriac.

See Classical Syriac on the interactive map
ISO 639-3
syc
Glottocode
clas1252

Middle Aramaic dialect of Edessa that became the literary and liturgical language of Syriac Christianity. Declined as a vernacular after the 13th century but remains in liturgical use.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Afro-Asiaticc. 10,000 BCE – 7,000 BCE
  2. Proto-Semiticc. 4,000 BCE – 2,500 BCE
  3. Proto-West Semiticc. 3,000 BCE – 2,000 BCE
  4. Proto-Central Semiticc. 2,500 BCE – 1,500 BCE
  5. Proto-Northwest Semiticc. 2,000 BCE – 1,200 BCE
  6. Old Aramaicc. 1,000 BCE – 700 BCE
  7. Imperial and Middle Aramaic700 BCE – 700 CE
  8. Classical Syriac1 CE – 1300 CE

Sister languages 3

Also descended from Imperial and Middle Aramaic.

Sources