Letters and Other Neo-Aramaic Documents Sent to Eduard Sachau

This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or 9326
  • Dates of Creation
    • 19th century
  • Language of Material
    • Arabic English Italian Syriac
  • Physical Description
    • 1 codex 89 ff. Materials: Paper. Dimensions: Varied. Script: Various, including cursive Latin, riq'a, naskh, serto and madhnhaya. Ink: Primarily black ink. Binding: British Museum binding.

Scope and Content

A collection of correspondence and notes made in various languages in Northern Iraq, including the following contents. f. 1: First 11 stanzas of a durıktā by Thomas Tektek Sinjar with the Arabic translation in the left column. f. 2: Arabic texts with Neo-Aramaic translation in the left column. f. 3: A Neo-Aramaic letter from Jeremiah Shamer to Eduard Sachau (2 March 1896). ff. 4-5: Arabic texts with Neo-Aramaic translations in the left column. f. 6r: The first 9 stanzas of a durıktā by Damyanos of Alqosh. f. 6v: Neo-Aramaic sayings on paper from the Seminar für Orientalische Sprache, Berlin, in the 1890s. ff. 7-8: Letters in Arabic from Jeremiah Shamir, with information about Syriac manuscripts. f. 9: Classical Syriac text with a seal of the Patriarch's residence. ff. 10-11: Letter in Arabic from Jeremiah Shamir to Eduard Sachau, written on 28 February 1896 in Mosul. f. 12: A list of Syriac manuscripts(?). f. 13: Classical Syriac liturgical texts or prayers. ff. 14-24: Letters in either Arabic or Neo-Aramaic from Jeremiah Shamir to Eduard Shamir. f. 25: Letter in English from Jeremiah Shamir to Eduard Sachau requesting money to pay ''the scribes'', on 25 March 1897. ff. 26-45: Letters in Neo-Aramaic and/or Arabic from Jeremiah Shamir or Yoḥnan Zu'bi to Eduard Sachau. ff. 46-49: Letter in Italian from Samuel Jamil to Eduard Sachau dated ''Monastero de Madonna 22 ott. 1882'', asking for money and providing information about other Neo-Aramaic texts: ''quanto poi alla sua domanda di mandare alcune narrazioni in dialetto di gêlû e di Tiyârî presentemente non ci erano uomini che conoscano questo dialetto.''. ff. 50-51: Letter with several Neo-Aramaic verses and their Arabic translations. ff. 52-53 Letter in Italian from Samuel Jamil to Eduard Sachau, from the Monastery of St. George in Mosul on 14 September 1881. ff. 54-60: Other letters and documents in Arabic and Neo-Aramaic. ff. 61-64: Classical Syriac tash'īṯē written in serṭo. ff. 65-73: Letters in Neo-Aramaic from Urmia from 1865. ff. 74-89: Letters and other documents sent by Jeremiah Shamir in the years 1883 onward. ff. 79-85: A list of Neo-Aramaic words. ff.86-89: Two letters in English to the deacon of Uramya/Ereimya (who might possibly have been Jeremiah Shamir) from R. Wahl and F. Gatro (?).

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Other Finding Aids

Catalogue record based largely on: A. Mengozzi, ''The Neo-Aramaic Manuscripts of the British Library: Notes on the Study of Durıkyātā as a Neo-Syriac Genre'', in Le Muséon, vol. 112, issue 3-4. Pp. 459-494.

Related Material

For more poems by the author of f. 1, please see Or. 9322, f.4. For more poetry by the author of f. 6r, please see Or. 9322, f.9.