אַשּׁוּרִי, Assyrian, esp. the modern form of Hebrew type (square), supposed to have been brought along by the returning Babylonian captives, and made to supersede the older Hebrew (Syriac or Samaritan, עברי) characters. Y. Meg. I, 71ᵇ א׳ יש לו כתב וכ׳ the Assyrian (trans-Euphratic, Chaldaic) language had a (developed) type of writing, but no tongue (cultivated grammar) &c. [See the whole discussion, ibid.] Cmp. Snh. 21ᵇ. Meg. 8ᵇ. Esth. R. to I, 22; a. e.—Meg. I, 8; Y. Sot. VII, beg. 21ᵇ אשורית the Hebrew language in its modern type.