In this major reference tool, Jessie Payne Smith has abridged the great two-volume work, 'Thesaurus Syriacus,' by her late father. But her task was not to simply edit down the earlier, massive tomes. She also provided English translations for each entry and additional notations. Her father's dictionary had translated each Syriac word into Latin. The Latin translations made it more internationally accessible; but with the decline of the use of Latin, it decreased in usefulness. Her labors have insured that it continues to benefit scholars and students of Syriac.

This standard lexicon of Syriac has long been the choice of students of Syriac, both for its comprehensiveness and also because of its handy size. It originated as an abridgement of Payne Smith's Thesaurus Syriacus, a substantically larger work that also tends to be less accessible for the student. Here the meanings of the Syriac words are given in English, and the order of the Syriac is alphabetical, to avoid requiring the student to know the root of the word being looked up. An essential tool for anyone studying or researching Syriac texts or literature and for students of the Semitic languages. The Compendious Syriac Dictionary was first published by Oxford University Press in 1903 and has been out of print for a number of years. A quality Eisenbrauns reprint based on the 1976 printing.

In this major reference tool, Jessie Payne Smith has abridged the great two-volume work, 'Thesaurus Syriacus,' by her late father. But her task was not to simply edit down the earlier, massive tomes. She also provided English translations for each entry and additional notations. Her father's dictionary had translated each Syriac word into Latin. The Latin translations made it more internationally accessible; but with the decline of the use of Latin, it decreased in usefulness. Her labors have insured that it continues to benefit scholars and students of Syriac.

Classical Syriac is the third language of early Christian literature after Greek and Latin, and as a dialect of Aramaic it has a special relationship with the words of Jesus. This sixth edition of the classic textbook continues to provide a clear introduction to the language, with larger text and improved explanations.