Aramaic Influence in the Vernacular of Sadad

Fadel Mubaraka has here given us a study of the linguistic survivals of Aramaic in the Arabic dialect of the town of Sadad, in Syria, home to a large Syrian Orthodox community. Arranged alphabetically in the style of a dictionary, Mubaraka lists hundreds of different Arabic words, defines them, and then discusses their Aramaic etymology. Although the focus is on the specific dialect of Sadad, Mubaraka’s work and the words he discusses are not necessarily only to be found in this one location. This work will therefore be of great value to all interested in Arabic dialectology, the Aramaic influence on colloquial Arabic, and in the cultural history of the Levant.