The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5
=> a closer look.....
| a closer look..... |
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Posted by
pancho
(Moderator)
- Monday, July 15 2013, 6:18:01 (UTC) from *** - ***  Commercial -  Windows NT -   MozillaWebsite: Website title: |
This is the quote most needing close scrutiny... "As for deciding whether the term 'Syrian' meant the same as 'Assyrian'. this has long been a cause for doubt among scholars, but it has been resolved recently by the discovery of a bilingual inscription which came to light in Cilicia. One version has 'Syrian' and the other 'Assyrian', proving that the two words were variants of a single word in the 8th century BC..." pp32-33 This is confusing and hardly adequate. In the first place, how can "...the two words be variants..." of a SINGLE word? What is that "single word"? If it is "Assyrian", then where are the "two words"? There is only a one word variant...a one word variant of Assyrian. One word, not two...and that one word is 'Syrian'....'Assyrian' is hardly a "variant' of itself. What Dr Dalley doesn't say, until you check her notes, is that the inscription on that fragment is in TWO distinct languages. Yes, she uses the word "bilingual" on page 33...but only in the note does she tell you WHICH two languages...and this is important. The Luwians lived hundreds of miles from the Phoenicians and each had its own language. What is so surprising, or telling, in two languages having their own version of the name of a people? The Phoenicians happened to use "Assyrian", as did the Assyrians themselves...but the Luwians chose to write it as "Syrian"....so? The French call Americans "les Americains"....the Brits call us "Americans", which is the same word we use to describe ourselves. From this you can conclude that les Americains and Americans refers to Americans...but where do Americans refer to THEMSELVES as les Americains? Why should we be surprised that the French have their own name for us, even if it is very close to our own name? What would be truly surprising would be if we started calling OURSELVES les Americans...would make no sense at all. To the French we Americans are les Americains...as to the Luwians the Assyrians were Syrians. What does that prove except that in different languages people refer to another people by different names, while still meaning the SAME people? What would finally settle this is if an inscription were found in which the ancient Assyrians called THEMSELVES Syrians as well...using them interchangeably...then we would have an interesting discovery...but this find in Turkey does nothing like that. --------------------- |
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