What language did the native Christian majority in the Levant speak during the time of the crusades?
>>18248374They spoke Arabic predominantly, but a large minority (at least compared to today) spoke Aramaic still, as a significant pocket of them had held out in the area near modern-day Eastern Lebanon and Southern Syria. So, Arabic as lingua franca and rapidly replacing Aramaic, but Aramaic still holding significance in that part of the Levant with many native speakers remaining.
>>18248380I assumed they'd speak Greek.
>>18248393There was probably still a remnant group of Greek speakers in some areas, after all, many Christians, especially Orthodox in the region were referred to as Greeks, Greek this, Greek that, sometimes just simply called “Greek” and this lead to a modern ethnic identity among some Levantine “Greek” Christians as “Rum” meaning “Rome” in reference to the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. Greek was and still is used as a liturgical language, and many could and can speak it as a second language. Among the Catholics, it was of course Latin. It’s just that the older languages had been largely erased due to Arab expansion, so where Aramaic and Greek were once dominant with Latin and Hebrew being smaller minorities, by this time Aramaic was in the minority, and Greek had greatly shrunk from its peak influence many centuries before. So, while Greek still had some presence as a small minority first language and a minority lingua franca, it was ultimately restricted to the extreme Northwest corner of the Levant, around the modern-day Turkish province of Hatay, which Syria has long claimed. Anatolia had remained thoroughly Greek in language, but just a few decades after the first crusade, this would also drastically retreat in the Central plains and Highlands of Anatolia, and Greek was then relegated to the coastline largely. So basically, Greek would be wiped out in Anatolia everywhere but the coasts (to be fair, where most lived)just a few decades after the crusade, so it was in an even more precarious position in the Levant
>>18248393>>18248416For reference, here’s a picture
>>18248374A mix of Aramaic and Arabic. In the north there was also Greek and Armenian to an extent. For example Cilicia was either almost completely Greek and part Armenian due to recent migrations, or in Edessa which would be the Aramaic-Arabic mix with Armenian. Antioch and its surroundings would have been Greek and Aramaic-Arabic.
>>18248393It was always a minority/prestige language among urban levantines, especially among the melkites. By the time of the Crusaders it was a mere liturgical language for the vast majority
>>18248474Any suggestions on a book on the history of various liturgical languages?
>>18248482anon, nobody reads on this board, they're just saying things
>>18248507I've had some good recommendations on some topics here. I'll settle for something short form, frankly. Wikipedia is useless at the best of times so finding out historical information on languages from there is impossible. Especially for anything vaguely religious like a linguistic withering into liturgy.
Were the Syriac Christians nestorian or oriental orthodox?
>>18248530Both. There were jacobites and the church of the east. And possibly some maronites and even euchites, though I can't remember where I read the last.
