Wiktionary:Classical Syriac transliteration
These are the rules concerning transliteration in Classical Syriac entries.
Classical Syriac transliteration
[edit]Consonants
[edit]| Letter/
consonant |
Sound | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transliteration | IPA | |||||
| Wiktionary
translit. |
Other
translit. | |||||
| Classical
Edessan |
Western
Syriac |
Eastern
Syriac | ||||
| ܐ | ʾ | ', ˀ, (null) | [ʔ] or ∅ | Silent when not immediately followed by a vowel. | ||
| ܒ | hard: b soft: ḇ |
soft: bh, v, β | hard: [b] soft: [v] |
hard: [b] soft: [w], [b] |
hard: [b] soft: [w] |
Begadkefat letter. |
| ܓ | hard: g soft: ḡ |
soft: g̱, gh, ġ, γ | hard: [ɡ] soft: [ɣ] |
Begadkefat letter. | ||
| ܕ | hard: d soft: ḏ |
soft: dh, ð, δ | hard: [d] soft: [ð] |
Begadkefat letter. | ||
| ܗ | h | [h] | ||||
| ܘ | w | [w] | Also a vowel (see below). | |||
| ܙ | z | [z] | ||||
| ܚ | ḥ | H, kh, x, ħ | [ħ] | [x] | ||
| ܛ | ṭ | T, ţ | [tˤ] | |||
| ܝ | y | [j] | Also a vowel (see below). The sequence /jə/ is usually realized as [ʔi] . | |||
| ܟܟ | hard: k soft: ḵ |
soft: kh, x | hard: [k] soft: [x] |
Begadkefat letter. | ||
| ܠ | l | [l] | ||||
| ܡܡ | m | [m] | ||||
| ܢܢ | n | [n] | ||||
| ܣ | s | [s] | ||||
| ܥ | ʿ | `, ˁ | [ʕ] | |||
| ܦ | hard: p soft: p̄ |
soft: p̱, ᵽ, ph, f | hard: [p] soft: [f] |
hard: [f] soft: [f], [w] |
hard: [p] soft: [p], [w] |
Begadkefat letter. In later Western and Eastern Syriac, there is generally no difference in their respective sounds between the "hard" and "soft" variants except for a common [w] soft variant that occurs in some words. Sometimes occurs as unaspirated [p˭] (transliterated ṗ) in foreign words (mostly for Greek π (p)). |
| ܨ | ṣ | S, ş | [sˤ] | |||
| ܩ | q | ḳ | [q] | |||
| ܪ | r | [r] | ||||
| ܫ | š | sh | [ʃ] | |||
| ܬ | hard: t soft: ṯ |
soft: th, θ | hard: [t] soft: [θ] |
Begadkefat letter. | ||
Vowels
[edit]When adding vowel marks to Classical Syriac entries, the preference on Wiktionary is to use the Eastern system, mainly because it is clearer in differentiating /o/ from /u/ and /i/ from /e/. You can look up Classical Syriac words with their Eastern vowel marks here: Beth Mardutho Dictionary Search. Check the results given under Audo (Toma Audo, Treasure of the Syriac Language: A Dictionary of Classical Syriac).
Ideally we would like to create a module that automatically adds an entry with the Western vowel marks too, but that's for whoever has the knowledge or the time to implement in the future (See discussion: Wiktionary:Beer_parlour/2022/August#Let's_talk_Classical_Syriac_dotting).
| Vowel | Sound | Notes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transliteration | IPA | |||||||
| Type | Western
vowel |
Eastern
vowel |
Wiktionary
translit. |
Other
translit. | ||||
| Classical
Edessan |
Western
Syriac |
Eastern
Syriac | ||||||
| Short | ܰ | ܲ | a | [a] | [ɑ] | [a] | Can only occur in a closed syllable. In Eastern Syraic, becomes [ɑ] immediately before ܘ (w). | |
| Long | ܳ | ܵ | ā | aa, â, å, o | [ɑ] | [o] | [ɑ] | |
| Short | ܶ | ܸ | e | i | [ɛ] | [e] | [ɪ] | Can only occur in a closed syllable. |
| Long | ܽܘ | ܘܼ | ū | u | /uː/, [u] | [u] | Cannot be reduced. | |
| Short | u | ū | /u/, [u] | Can be reduced. | ||||
| Long | ܘܿ | ō | o, u | /oː/, [o] | [u] | [o] | Cannot be reduced. | |
| Short | o | ō, u | /o/, [o] | Can be reduced. | ||||
| Long | ܺܝ | ܝܼ | ī | i | [i] | |||
| ܹ | ē | ī, i | [e] | [i] | [e] | |||
| ܶܝ | ܹܝ | ê | ē | [e̝] | ||||
| Reduced | (null) | (null) | ə | e̊, e, (null) | [ə] | ∅ | Can only occur in an open syllable. Later became deleted at some point in the development of Syriac. | |
| ܰ | ܲ | ă | a | [ă] | [ɑ] | [a] | Can only occur in an open syllable and immediately after ܐ (ʾ). | |
| ܶ | ܸ | ĕ | e, i | [ɛ̆] | [e] | [ɪ] | Can only occur in an open syllable and immediately after ܐ (ʾ). | |