Meltha Magazine Online

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Meltha 2000, No 10 pages 36-37

ON THE MODERN ASSYRIAN LANGUAGE by Marona Arsanis

The popular Assyrian journal "1. of the Assyrian Academic Studies" which normally comes out in Chicago, has published an article by Youel Avrahim Baaba on Rabi Benjamin Arsanis (1998, 12 No.2). The author points out that B. Arsanis completed all his undergraduate programs in Russia and hence was a scholarly man, and yet he was not so good at the Aramaic language and so at times he replaced Aramaic words for Persian equivalents.

For judgment one should obviously know the state of the art in the Assyrian community at the time and primarily it is vital that he should know the ethnic and linguistic situation particularly in the Urmian region. .

It actually was in Urmia where the first Assyrian print shops appeared in the l840s, and largely it coincided with appearance of some Assyrian newspapers, journals and .primary schools and colleges as well. In fact foreign missionaries were behind it everywhere. Although in bygone days the general Assyrian literal language was suggested as early as in the 17th century in the large Assyrian village Alkush, 50 km to the north of Mosul, where was the legendary Assyrian monastery "Rabban Khormizd", the formation of the modern Assyrian language did not happen until the 19th century in Urmia when economy had slipped into a good shape. Urmia had become a major book printing center of the nation and naturally the Urmian dialect other than the Alkush or some other dialects was laid in the base for the modern Assyrian literal language. However other dialects as well as the medieval classic Assyrian language "Lishana Attika" which is still in the occasional use in the Assyrian Church of the East made their own contributions to the formation of the language. Hence the national literal language and the Urmian dialect alone should not be identified as one.

While Rabi Benjamin was on his journey to the Kurdistan mountains in 1925, he decided to write as soon as possible the Assyrian first reading book (self-study) "Malpana Atturaya" in two parts made up from stories, poems and brief notes on the history of Ancient Assyria. The book was supposed to include phonetics and a compilation of classical texts. However this conception of the book did not arouse those Assyrians who could promote this project anyway. Well-known Assyrian scholar I. Killeta who ran the print shop in Mosul then was found indifferent to B. Arsanis. And yet in 1925 the writer managed to issue the Assyrian textbook in two parts owing to his wife, Katherin Arsanis, who donated for this project her "rainy day" gold coins (as a matter of fact in every Assyrian family there was a deposit of gold money because of the economic instability).

In the middle of the 19th century the Aramaic language was nothing else but the language of the Assyrian clergy and scholars. Practically this language was mainly used in writing holy scriptures. It should be noted that the population of Urmia never knew the Aramaic language in its classical mold which was so spread in Mesopotamia.

Meanwhile anew language had been molded by then ("Lishana Khata"), and it equally was in the wide use with the former language "Lishana Attika" in the Middle Ages.

Lishana Khata consisted of numerous tribal dialects so it had a variety of influences like Persian, Turkish, Kurdish and Arabian lexis depending on with whom Assyrians had to share their lands. The Urmian dialect was molded almost in the same way, in the Persian surroundings. Many Assyrian enlighteners wrote in this language. So did Benjamin Arsanis who used a simple dialect which Urmian Assyrians could easily catch without a deep knowledge of complicated and unfamiliar Aramaic words. Although among his literary contributions he has the Aramaic dictionary with a power of 2,000 lexical units. Unfortunately this publication fell flat when the war began.

Mr. Youel Baaba views could have been more objective if the author had had a better clue to the period he described. The Urmian literature has made a great contribution to the Assyrian history, and so Urmia stands out as the national Assyrian hearth in the modern times. It is regretful that this odious work has been accepted beyond any critical approach and once was used without commentary notes or profound analysis in another magazine.

The author in question, Mr. Youel Baaba, is on the editorial board with a highly acclaimed journal " J. of the Assyrian Academic Studies" where he has had many of his stories out. But here is the question, why is it the same Urmian dialect he ever uses in his works 80 years after Assyrians fled out of Urmia? And why does he still like some Persian lexis indeed?