George Kiraz

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George Anton Kiraz
Born 1965 (age 48–49)
Bethlehem, West Bank
Nationality American
Ethnicity Assyrian/Syriac
Known for Promoting Syriac heritage and literature
Religion Syriac Orthodox

George Anton Kiraz (Syriac: ܓܘܪܓܝ ܒܪ ܐܢܛܘܢ ܕܒܝܬ ܟܝܪܐܙ) (b. 1965) is an Assyrian/Syriac American syriacist, engineer and entrepreneur, best known for his contribution to modern Syriac studies.

Biography

George Kiraz was born in Bethlehem to a Syriac Orthodox merchants family which traces its roots back to Harput in Anatolia. He learned Syriac at the St. Mark's Monastery in Jerusalem and since he developed interest in this language. In 1983 he emigrated with his family to the United States where they settled in Los Angeles.[1]

He holds numerous degrees including a B.Sc. degree in Engineering from California State University in 1990, a Master's degree in Syriac Studies from Oxford University in 1991, a Master's degree in Computer speech and Language processing, and a Ph.D. degree in Computational Linguistics from Cambridge University in 1992 and 1996 respectively.[1]

In 1986 he designed the first computer fonts for Syriac. He developed the proposal for encoding Syriac in Unicode and designed the Unicode compliant Meltho fonts which enable Syriac computing on modern computers. His fonts are by far the most popular Computer Syriac fonts used in modern days.[1]

He has been involved in Syriac related projects such as the co-founding of Gorgias Press, a publishing house dedicated to Syriac studies,[2] and directing the institute of Beth Mardutho,[2] which seeks to promote Syriac heritage and language. In 1996 he joined Bell Labs as a Member of Technical Staff in the Language Modeling Group. His research interests include finite-state technology, morphology, phonology and Syriac studies.[3]

Bibliography

Kiraz has published a number of books concerning Syriac languages, and co-authored many others:

  • The Syriac primer: reading, writing, vocabulary & grammar: with exercises and cassette activities, 1988.[4]
  • Computer-Generated Concordance to the Syriac New Testament, six volumes, 1993.[5]
  • Lexical tools to the Syriac New Testament, 1994.[6]
  • Anton Kiraz's archive on the Dead Sea scrolls, 2005.[7]
  • The new Syriac primer: an introduction to the Syriac language with a CD, 2007.[8]
  • Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels: Aligning the Old Syriac (Sinaiticus, Curetonianus), Peshitta and Harklean Versions, 2003.[9]
  • The acts of Saint George and the story of his father: from the Syriac and Garshuni versions, 2009.[10]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "SOR Organization". Syriac Orthodox Sources. Retrieved 8 December 2011. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Gorgias Press Staff". Gorgias Press. Retrieved 8 December 2011. 
  3. ↑ "Home Page: George Anton Kiraz". Bell Labs. Retrieved 8 December 2011. 
  4. ↑ "The Syriac primer: reading, writing, vocabulary & grammar : with exercises and cassette activities". Retrieved 8 December 2011. 
  5. ↑ 90-04-09728-7 "A computer-generated concordance to the Syriac New Testament". Retrieved 8 December 2011. 
  6. ↑ "Lexical tools to the Syriac New Testament". Retrieved 8 December 2011. 
  7. ↑ "Anton Kiraz's archive on the Dead Sea scrolls". Retrieved 8 December 2011. 
  8. ↑ "The new Syriac primer: an introduction to the Syriac language with a CD". Retrieved 8 December 2011. 
  9. ↑ "Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels: Aligning the Old Syriac (Sinaiticus, Curetonianus), Peshitta and Harklean Versions". Retrieved 8 December 2011. 
  10. ↑ "The acts of Saint George and the story of his father: from the Syriac and Garshuni versions". Retrieved 8 December 2011. 
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