§. I. The use of the Syriac Language for the illustration of the Hebrew.

§. II. The use of the Syriac Language, particularly in regard to Hebrew Grammar.

§. III. The use of the Syriac Language, in elucidating the phraseology of the New Testament.

§. IV. Of books written in Syriac: and of the use of the Sy. riac New Testament.

§. V. Some account of the Syriac Version of the Old Testa

ment.

§. VI. The use of the Syriac Version of the Old Testament. §. VII. The use which may be made of other Syriac works, particularly those published by the Assemans.

THE USE OF

THE

SYRIAC LANGUAGE.

§ I.

The use of the Syriac language for the illustration of the Hebrew.

THE first and most usual object that is proposed, in learning the Syriac language, is derived from its illustration of the Hebrew. It is not necessary for me here to say all that might be said, since I have already stated the prominent topics, in the forty-first and forty-second paragraphs of my View of the means which are employed for acquiring a knowledge of the Hebrew Language ;* and I must request that these paragraphs be re-perused. I deem it necessary, however, to subjoin to them the following.

1. I have there indeed already observed, that the Syriac is less used than the Chaldee and the Arabic, for the illustration of the Hebrew; and hence it readily follows, that any one,

[The title of this work is: "Beurtheilung der Mittel, welche man anwendet, die ausgestorbene Hebräische Sprache zu verstehen." It was first published in the year 1756, when the author had resided at Göttingen ten years, devoting his chief attention to Hebrew Philology, and the works of Albert Schultens. See EICHHORN's Biblioth. der Bibl. Lit. B. 111. pp. 862, 863. Tr. ]

who learns this easy language in any degree of perfection, can obtain from it more that was previously unknown; and in the explanation of the Scriptures, he can so much the more frequently have the advantage of something new.

It is only necessary, to take particular notice of some of the reasons, why so little has hitherto been derived from the use of a language as easy as this is.

The following is one. The Jews, our first teachers in Hebrew, understood the Chaldee, as it occurred in the Targum, and applied it to the Hebrew. Some of them, under the dominion of the Saracens, spoke the Arabic as their vernacular language; or, as learned men, they understood and used it. But, though they must have understood Syriac books, they could not read them, on account of their peculiar written character; and they were not interested in these books, because they were for the most part the productions of Christians. Thus they did not use the Syriac; and most philologists among Christians tread in the footsteps of these their precursors. Some few. who rose above the character of mere imitators of the Jews, and among such I would name the venerated SCHULTENS as one of the most conspicuous examples, had unhappily too little knowledge of the Syriac, and a predilection for the Arabic, which this language can readily excite among its votaries, by its beauty, and the charm of its compositions for, that beauty and poetry do not enter into the commendation of the Syriac language, I shall evince in a following* page.

In the second place, most students acquired their know. ledge of Syriac, as I have already stated in the work before referred to, merely from the New Testament, without ever reading the Version of the Old. Now it is scarcely practicable, so to learn a language from the New Testament alone, that it may serve as a literary resource, independent of its

*

[In the author's work, from which the present Treatise is extracted, may be found a section ( §. 15.) entitled: Models of Poetry or Taste are not to be sought for in Syriac. Tr.]

connexion with the New Testament; for there occur too few words, and what is of importance here, very few names of the works of nature and art. The Old Testament is, in this respect, of a character entirely the opposite, and to a remarkable degree more rich in its vocabulary.

In the third place, there has been, for fifty years past, a want of such books of interest, written in the Syriac language, as we may now own and use. And if any one devoted much attention to the language, he was obliged, if he had no access to manuscripts, to avail himself chiefly of the Versions of the Old and New Testament. Now it is easy to perceive, that from these alone the language cannot be acquired, in that extent and copiousness, which is practicable, if, as is the good fortune of our age, one has ly ng before him, and can make use of the Oriental Library of the truly excellent JOSEPH SIMONIUS ASSEMAN (So replete with important and various extracts from Syriac books), the admirable Syriac Martyrology, and the Syriac Works of EPHREM SYRUS.* Should even the same word occur in these books and in the Bible, it is not the same to the reader; for he here meets with it in a varied connexion, from which he can ascertain its meaning, and not unfrequently with certain characteristics, whereas, if a Hebrew word were extant at the same time in Syriac, and the Syrian had retained it in his translation, I am none the wiser for reading it in his version, than if I had pre

*[The titles of these three valuable publications are:

1. Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana, recensens Manuscrip tos, Codices, Syriacos, Arabicos, Persicos, Turcicos, Hebraicos, Samaritanos, Armenicos, Æthiopicos, Graecos, Ægyptiacos, Ibericos, et Malibaricos, ex oriente conquisitos, comparatos, avectos, et Bibliothecae Vaticanae addictos recensuit, digressit, &c. Auctoritate, Jussu et Munificentiâ Clem. XI. It was published at Rome, 1719-1728. in 4 vols. fol.

2. Acta Sanctorum Martyrum Orientalium et Occidentalium, &c Rome, 1748. 2 vols. fol.

3. Ephr. Syr. Opera, in six vols. fol., published at Rome in the years 1732-1746. See WATT's Bibliotheca Britannica, Tr.]

viously read it in Hebrew. It stands in the very same connexion, and thus is no further illustrated.

Here then the Syriac supplies us with records of great extent, from which we may elucidate the Hebrew, and which are not in use, because the public has been in possession of them but a few years. It is not the fate of learning, that very prompt use is made of the treasures, which enrich her. A book is printed, and lies long upon the shelf as an ornament not in use; for it does not immediately serve the purpose of the learned; and too little indeed was he favoured by fortune, that could buy it. How commonly does this occur ! It is a chance, if within a hundred years of the printing of an old outlandish book, any one can guess all, for which it might be useful, and of which the editor perhaps never once thought. In some cases this always remains undiscovered; and the book is lavished, as those blossoms, which nature designs only to change again to garden-mould, after they have for a short time exhibited their beauties.

It is true, that Rome long since had these treasures in her Vatican Library: and I may with justice call this city the special seat of Syriac learning. But the best votaries of Syriac there do not occupy themselves, with a reference to Hebrew; and they generally use their Syriac learning for a purpose, different from that of us Protestants. For as a great part of the Syrian church has submitted to the See of Rome, and efforts are made to gain the other also, it is necessary, with a view to be well versed in the usages, the liturgies, the antiquities, and the history of the Syrian Church, that an acquaintance be formed with their own writings. At Rome, therefore, the Syriac is pursued, almost after the same propensity, which Virgil ascribed to the Romans of old :

Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento.

And it is important, in some measure to retrieve in the East, what seems to have been lost in Europe. In this manner is the Syriac, as to the actual knowledge that is obtained by its study, an important part of Roman learning; and such is the