Syriac

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Syriac Semitic language belonging to the eastern Aramaic group. In ancient times it was spoken in Edessa, now Urfa in se Turkey. Because of the importance of Edessa as a centre of Christianity in the 2nd century, the neighbouring Aramaic Christians adopted Syriac and it has been used ever since as a liturgical language by Oriental Christians of the Syrian rite. Syriac literature preserves many translations of Greek Christian texts that have not survived in the original Greek.

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Syriac

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