• DOI:10.1086/511103
• Corpus ID: 162760021

The Terms “Assyria” and “Syria” Again

@article{Rollinger2006TheT,
  title={The Terms “Assyria” and “Syria” Again},
  author={Robin D. Rollinger},
  journal={Journal of Near Eastern Studies},
  year={2006},
  volume={65},
  pages={283 - 287}
}

• R. Rollinger
• Published 1 October 2006
• History
• Journal of Near Eastern Studies

Since antiquity there has been a debate about whether there is a linguistic connection between the words “Assyria” and “Syria.” In 1617 John Selden suggested that the name “Syria” is simply a corruption of “Assyria.”1 Konrad Nöldeke restated this assumption in 1881 in a meticulous reexamination of the question.2 The results of Nöldeke’s study were generally received as authoritative. The debate, however, was kept alive in the following century. Eduard Schwartz examined some of the Classical authors’ statements in greater detail3 and agreed with Nöldeke’s conclusions. Payton Helm, in his 1980 survey of the current state of the debate, reaffirmed the conclusions of Nöldeke and Schwartz.4 In 1981 John A. Tvedtnes denied the by now established connection between “Assyria” and “Syria” in an article published in this journal. He focused on the ancient Egyptian term Hrw for his proposed etymology:5 “The development Hrw § Sa(i )ri is not totally unexpected, for we have numerous other examples of h § s (in addition to h) in Coptic. And herein lies what is possibly the correct derivation of the Greek Suria. It may well have come from the Egyptian Hrw at a time when the latter was already pronounced similarly to its Coptic counterpart (i.e., *Suri ).”6 This opinion did not, however, remain unchallenged. In a rejoinder, which also appeared in this journal, in 1992, Richard Frye argued that Tvedtnes’ explanation is a most unlikely one:7 “It is conceivable, of course, that the Egyptians had a term for the Hurrians which they confused with later Assyria/Syria, but both the vocalization of the word ‘Syria’ and the reconstructed Middle Egyptian word *Suri present problems, while the identification of Assyria with Syria does not.”8 In this context Frye reiterated the main arguments put forward by Nöldeke, Schwartz, and Helm, i.e., that, in Greek, usage of the terms “Assyria” and “Syria” was applied almost interchangeably for an area that was roughly the same as that covered by the Assyrian empire. Only the “Syrians” of Cappadocia and northern Anatolia around Sinope posed some problems. Frye assumed that these “Syrians” may have been descendants of the Assyrian trading posts established at the beginning of the second millennium b.c.9 Helm speculated about an independent