Translation choice · documented
What the source reads — Greek: 'In the beginning was the Logos (the Word)'
What this version reads — Peshitta: 'In the beginning was the Miltha' (ܡܠܬܐ) — Word, but also utterance, manifestation, substance
Where the Greek has Logos, the Peshitta has Miltha — a broader Aramaic term that holds 'word, saying, thing, manifestation' at once. Not a change of meaning so much as a different colour of it, harder to flatten into a single English word.
Read this chapter side by side — John 1:1 →