Naturally, it's the prerogative of the speakers to call their language whatever they like, but it's an established linguistic fact that "Chaldean" is a form of Aramaic. I suppose a more neutral formulation would be that Chaldean (both ancient and modern), Syriac, and Biblical Aramaic, etc. are all closely related varieties of Northwest Semitic. As such, they are all more closely related to Biblical Hebrew than any of them is to the language of the historical Assyrian Empire, which was a form of Akkadian, an East Semitic language.
There was some Syriac script used in the programme in the form of the name of the Assyrian-American National Federation. This is a descendant of the Ugaritic alphabet and, thus, kissing cousins with the Hebrew alphabet and also the Phoenician alphabet, which gave rise to the Greek and Roman scripts. AFAIK, there's no direct connexion between it any cuneiform writing system.
Interesting about the Nestorian scrolls from China. I'll have to see if I can find a good book on them.
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momijizukamori
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Date: 2006-09-05 02:24 am (UTC)There was some Syriac script used in the programme in the form of the name of the Assyrian-American National Federation. This is a descendant of the Ugaritic alphabet and, thus, kissing cousins with the Hebrew alphabet and also the Phoenician alphabet, which gave rise to the Greek and Roman scripts. AFAIK, there's no direct connexion between it any cuneiform writing system.
Interesting about the Nestorian scrolls from China. I'll have to see if I can find a good book on them.