Ethiopic Reception of Syriac Texts via Arabic

A number of Syriac texts were transmitted into Ethiopic via Arabic. This includes Ethiopic versions of works by Syriac authors, such as Aphrahaṭ (fl. 336–345), Ephrem (d. 373), Jacob of Serugh (d. 521), Philoxenos of Mabbug (d. 523), Isaac of Nineveh (seventh century), Dadishoʿ Qaṭraya (seventh century), John of Dalyatha (eighth century), Theodore bar Koni (eighth century), and Ishoʿdad of Merv (ninth century). There are also a number of anonymous Syriac texts, including exegetical homilies, wisdom literature, and hagiography, to name only a few genres, which were transmitted into Ethiopic. In all these cases, Arabic served as the bridge by which Syriac texts reached Ethiopic. Much work remains to be done on the Ethiopic reception of Syriac texts. As a foundational first step, BeInf aims to produce an annotated inventory of Ethiopic texts attributed to Syriac authors or which (could) go back to Syriac originals. For each text, the inventory will identify the immediate Arabic Vorlage and the ultimate Syriac source. Particular attention will be paid to the Arabic intermediaries, not only because they have generally been neglected in previous scholarship, including the most recent scholarship, but also because they serve as the bridge in the transmission process from Syriac to Ethiopic. The Arabic intermediaries are thus a crucial part of the transmission history of these texts from Syriac to Ethiopic. In addition to a number of traditional print publications, the annotated inventory produced by BeInf will be systematically incorporated into the digital project Beta maṣāḥǝft, hosted at the Hiob Ludolf Centre for Ethiopian Studies at Universität Hamburg.