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Arameans
Philip Schaff

Philip Schaff

Philip Schaff (1819–1893) was a German-American theologian, biblical scholar, and historian of Christianity. Born in Chur, he later moved to the United States, where he became a prominent professor of church history. Schaff is best known for his multi-volume work History of the Christian Church, which traces the development of Christianity from the early church through the Reformation. He also helped edit the influential series Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, which made important writings of early Christian theologians available in English. His scholarship had a lasting impact on Protestant historical theology and encouraged greater understanding among different Christian traditions.
Encyclopedia
A History Of Syriac And Aramean

A History Of Syriac And Aramean

"The Greeks called the Aramaeans Syriacs, which is an abbreviation of Assyrians. Those Greeks who were settled along the southern coast of the Black Sea first applied the name to their Cappadocian neighbors who were Assyrian subjects. Thence it was extended to the whole bulk of the population of the Assyrian Empire, and thus it became synonymous with Aramaean. Afterwards the Christian Aramaeans adopted the name Syriac, because among the Jews Aramaean meant heathen." The Greeks initially referred to all the subjects of the Assyrian Empire as "Syriacs" without considering their ethnicity. Over time, this name became associated specifically with the northwestern Semitic regions, equating ‘Syriacs’ with ‘Arameans’.

Encyclopedia
A Religious Encyclopedia

A Religious Encyclopedia

"The Babylonian-Assyrian disappeared from history in the sixth century B.C., and their language survived only a few centuries [...]. The Syriac Arameans lost their independence in the eighth century B.C., but continued to exist, and their dialect revived in the second century A.D. as a Christian language [...]." Philip Schaff (ed.) in A Religious Encyclopædia (1891), article “Semitic Languages,” states that “the Babylonian-Assyrian disappeared from history in the sixth century B.C., and their language survived only a few centuries,” whereas “the Syriac-Arameans lost their independence in the eighth century B.C., but continued to exist, and their dialect revived in the second century A.D. as a Christian language; and the Jewish Aramaic continued for some centuries (up to the eleventh century A.D.) to be the spoken and literary tongue of the Palestinian and Babylonian Jews.” In other words, as Schaff’s encyclopedia writes, the Assyrian-Babylonian tradition faded early as a historical nationality and language, while the Arameans lived on through enduring Christian and Jewish Aramaic traditions. Furthermore, he shows that "Syriac" and "Aramean" are synonymous terms.