Syriac Language and Script in a Chinese Setting: Nestorian Inscriptions from Quanzhou, China

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the Syriac language and script found on 14th century Nestorian tombstones from Quanzhou in South China. Syriac script is used for the most part on the tombstones for writing inscriptions in Turkic language. The article deals with the formation of the Syriac script, Syriac formulae that appear in some inscriptions, Syriac loan words in Turkic, the use of an extra letter within the Syriac script to capture a specific Turkic pronunciation, and the transliteration of Syriac titles into Chinese in the bilingual inscription for Mar Solomon, Bishop of South China.