Assyrians, Syrians and SyriacsPosted: Friday, November 24, 2023 at 06:44 AM UT | Updated: March 31, 2025  Why should anyone ask from the Assyrians not use that name to refer to themselves but use the term Syriacs considering all the historical, cultural, linguistic and archaeological facts? Logic tells us that when a person asks from another to use one thing and not the other, then that person must provide justification for that request. We can argue rightfully that when people of a particular ethnic group explain who they are they do not refer to themselves by using a foreign language. The Egyptians among themselves, for example, do not say, Nahnu al-Egyptians (Nahnu or Arabic نحن is for the English “we”). They rather say, Nahnu al-Misriyeen (al-Misriyeen المصريين is the Arabic for the English Egyptians). The Syriac or Assyrian speaking Christians do not refer to themselves as “akhnan Syriacs”, “akhnan Syrians” or “akhnan Suryan”, Assyrians say “akhnan Suraye”, “akhnan Atouraye” or “akhnan Ashuraye” in their own language. Now considering other languages. Al-Suryan ( السريان ), is a foreign Arabic version of the Persian word Suriyan (Syrians), which in turn derives from Assuriyan (Assyrians). The title Syriac is from Latin Syriacus, or from Greek Syriakos, which is "Syrian, of or pertaining to Syria".1 Vine writes: "These various sections of the old Indian Church are often called ‘Syrian’, as indicative of their origin. Thus the Uniates are called Romo-Syrians, the Jacobites Orthodox Syrians, the Thomas Christians Reformed Syrians..."2 The Syriac speaking Christians of the entire Near East were called Syrians by the Greeks and the rest of the West, which meant nothing but Assyrians. We read, "It has been a custom to call these people as Syrians by the Greek, who are called Assyrians in other places."3 This English word Syrian was used in many publications before WWI, which meant the Syriac speaking Christians or Suraye. This word Suraye is Asuraye (with the removal of A that is common in the language) and the latter comes from Ashuraye (Assuraye). In the past, this term Syrian did not cause any conflict. In fact, it was used to reflect East and West Syrians, because it meant simple Christians.
It is very clear here that the term Syrians was generally used with association to the Syriac speaking Christians and has no connection to the term Syrians, relating to the inhabitants of a country called Syria. The term Syrians did not cause any conflict earlier. However, in 1922, the new country of Syria was created out of the Ottoman Empire and placed under the French Mandate. The people of this country were called Syrians logically. With the independent of this Arab country in 1946 it began to cause a problem and confusion. From one end, we have now “Arab” Syrians, the citizens of this new Arab country of Syria and from the other end we have the Syriac-speaking Christians of the Near East known as Syrians by the West who were ethnically not Arabs. With the weakness of the Pan-Arab movement in the Middle East, certain churches that used the Syrian title in their name began to change it to Syriac Churches instead of Syrian Churches. How about the title Syria? The name Syria is synonymous to Assyria as proven by many scholars, including Robert Rollinger7, Richard Frye8 and many others. Syria has always been short for Assyria as used by the Greeks and the Romans during and after the Selucides were driven out of Mesopotamia in the mid of the 2nd Century BC. When the Roman Pompey annexed it, the small kingdoms comprising Syria gave way to the ‘province of Syria’ in 64 BC, however, the use of the word Syrians until a hundred years ago meant nothing but the Syriac speaking Christians. The Çineköy inscription has a special significance for determining the origin or etymology of the term Syria, a question that was debated among scholars since 1871, when Theodor Nöldeke proposed a linguistic explanation based on derivation of Syria from Assyria. That explanation received majority support among scholars. The discovery of the Çineköy inscription in 1997 near the village of Cine, south of Adana, capital city of the Adana Province (ancient Cilicia) in southern Turkiye, provided additional evidence for direct connection between terms Syria and Assyria. Phoenician section of the inscription mentions ʾŠR (Ashur), and also ʾŠRYM (Assyrians), while Luwian section narrates the same content by using SURA/i (Syria). Analyzing the inscription, the Luwian section provides conclusive evidence for the original use of the term Syria as synonym for Assyria, thus settling the question once and for all.9 The Armenians of today, the descendants of those Armenians of antiquity, had called the Assyrians ‘Asori’ for the longest of time, and they still do even today. They never associated the Assyrians with the word Syrians in any of their publications baring in mind that they have shared a long history with the Assyrians. In fact, the Armenians do not have a word for Syrian because to them anyone from Mesopotamia and the Lavant that spoke Syriac/Aramaic was an Assyrian. Herodotus’ use of the terms Syrian and Assyrian were strictly to reflect a western and eastern usage and not of two different people. Why shouldn’t the Assyrians call themselves by their historic name الشوريون (al-Ashuriyoon, Arabic for Assyrians), but use السريان (al-Suryan) for example? When did the Arabic اللغة السريانية or Syriac language appear? The Syriac language, also known as Syriac Aramaic, is an Aramaic dialect that emerged during the first century AD from a local Aramaic dialect that was spoken in the ancient region of Osroene, centered in the city of Edessa. We read, "... Edessa (Urhai) became the focus of the spread of Christianity in the Semitic-speaking world. As a result, by about AD 200 the Bible was translated into the local Aramaic dialect, which became known as Syriac ..."10 Dr. Al-Jeloo states, during the period that the new dialect السريانية (Syriac) began developing in Edessa, the Assyrians were influenced by two cultures: Persians in the East and the Greeks in the West. The Persians called the region of Assyria as Asuristan ( اسورستان ) and later Suristan ( سورستان ). They called the Assyrians also Asuriyan ( اسوريان ) and Suriyan ( سوريان ). On the other side, the Greek called the Assyrians as Syrians, their language Syriac and the country Syria.11 The Arabic term السريان (al-Suryan) was not possible to have existed at the time the Edessa Syriac language was developing. Yes, Arabic was a spoken language in and around Arabia, but the Arabic alphabet probably originated at some time in the 4th Century of the Christian Era, but the earliest extant Arabic writing is a trilingual inscription — Greek-Syriac-Arabic — of AD 512. In fact, the Arabic script developed from the Aramaic, via the Nabataean.12 Sectarian people argue that the name Assyrian reflects pagan people. They claim that after the Assyrians adapted Christianity, few of them opted to distant themselves from the Assyrian name since the Assyrians of antiquity were pagans; however, this particular point could be challenged since the Assyrians repented, hence, they believed in God and accordingly their city, Nineveh, was spared; Few decades ago, an Aramean political movement was initiated. They were able to apply pressure on certain Orthodox church leaders to adopt the name Aramean as the accurate translation for the Syriac-speaking Christians (Syrians). In 1983, Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas of the Syrian Orthodox Church wrote in The Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch At A Glance: “The Syriac language is the Aramaic language itself, and the Arameans are the Syrians themselves. He who has made a distinction between them has erred.”15 But this is strange since the Arameans were pagan as well. Meanwhile, clergy within the Syriac Orthodox Church had argued that the English word Syriacs is best translation for the word السريان (al-Suryan), even when they admitted that it continued to face problems in the West explaining the differences between the Arab citizens of Syria and the Christian Syriacs. Dr. George Kiraz was a force behind this new movement of using the word Syriacs as people which started in the background of the US Census 2000. Kiraz has been a deacon in the Syriac Orthodox Church and is the founder of the Syriac Digital Library. So from where did a people under this exact English name Syriacs come? It came from the English word for the language Syriac. Dr. Al-Jeloo states, it was the French Dominican Father and prominent Church historian and Syriacist Jean Maurice Fiey (1914–1995) who used the name of the language as the name of the people in the form “les Syriaques”.16 Fiey was known to have not liked the Assyrians. He also knew that the Chaldean title was wrong to use, so he created the les Syriaques term. From the mid 19th Century, the science of archeology became the foundation of history. There is nothing in archeology about people called Syriacs, with this exact English form. So why use Syriacs and not the historic Assyrians. Many argue that history is being politicized by certain members of the Syriac-speaking churches. Many argue that, for example, the addition of the name Assyrian to the Church of the East title by Patriarch Mar Dinkha in 1976 inflamed the name matter between the various church leaders. This has reflected negatively on this one people who lived historically in the same compact region of northern Mesopotamia and who share the same language, culture and history.
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