Musa Dagh Factoids

For The Week of January 9, 2000

By what two common names is the Musa Dagh dialect known? What is their meaning?

1. Kistinik, meaning, the language of Christians.

2. Suederen, meaning, the (Armenian) language spoken at Suedia, which was not Musa Dagh per se, but rather a nearby rural town on the banks of the Orontes River serving as the administrative center of the Suedia Nahiye (subdistrict), to which Musa Dagh belonged until 1924. That year, Musa Dagh became a separate nahiye within the Sanjak of Alexandretta.