# Did the Phoenician language die out without any connection to current languages? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2007, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-phoenician-language-die-out-without-any-connection-to-current-languages/398297 "2007-04-01T14:27:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tygerbryght](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@tygerbryght](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygerbryght)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-phoenician-language-die-out-without-any-connection-to-current-languages/398297/21 "2007-04-03T00:31:57Z")
I was under the impression that Syriac was still in use in one of those churches that still persist in isolated spots? And that was the source of the Syriac language texts that were made much of in the 20th century? Syriac being a sister tongue to Aramaic. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-phoenician-language-die-out-without-any-connection-to-current-languages/398297/22 "2007-04-03T01:07:13Z")
[QUOTE=tygerbryght] I was under the impression that Syriac was still in use in one of those churches that still persist in isolated spots? And that was the source of the Syriac language texts that were made much of in the 20th century? Syriac being a sister tongue to Aramaic. [/QUOTE] See [this link](http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/august/SemiticLanguages.html), which I gave upthread: > [@NVTC](#): > > Syriac, an older descendant of Aramaic, is used as a liturgical language by Iraqi Christians. That would be the “Assyrians,” the surviving Nestorian church, and the “Chaldeans,” which I think are Eastern Rite Catholics (though I’m prepared to be corrected on the latter). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-phoenician-language-die-out-without-any-connection-to-current-languages/398297/23 "2007-04-03T14:13:45Z")
This has been a most informative thread. Thanks, everyone, for the learned replies. I guess the answer to my original question is that while the Phoenecian language died out, its true legacy is the alphabet that I’m using to type this right now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-phoenician-language-die-out-without-any-connection-to-current-languages/398297/24 "2007-04-03T15:46:37Z")
[QUOTE=Northern Piper] This has been a most informative thread. Thanks, everyone, for the learned replies. I guess the answer to my original question is that while the Phoenecian language died out, its true legacy is the alphabet that I’m using to type this right now. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I would say that its true legacy would be the fact that the alphabetic continuity has made it possible for people to know what was written in the general area of the Mediterranean Sea back thousands of years, without having to use a Rosetta Stone to know what the symbols meant. This has been of incalculable value to us over the years. Imagine if the Greeks had used Egyptian hieroglyphics for their texts, and it had still died out as a script! :eek: Yes, yes, down all you who want to argue. I’m simply making a generalization with some gross holes in it, for effect. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-phoenician-language-die-out-without-any-connection-to-current-languages/398297.md?page=1)