Not A Linguist Blog

Semitic Pronouns

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 04:01:44 +0000

Aramaic

ena (אנא) = I

ata (אתא) = thou (male)
at (את) = thou (female)

hu (הוא) = he
hi (היא) = she

enachna (אנחנא) = we

atun (אתון) = you (male)
atin (אתין) = you (female)

henun (הנון) = they (male)
henin (הנין) = they (female)

Hebrew

ani (אני) or anoki (אנכי) = I

ata (אתה) = thou (male)
at (את) = thou (female)

hu (הוא) = he
hi (היא) = she

anachnu (אנחנו) or anu (אנו) = we

atem (אתם) = you (male)
aten (אתן) = you (female)

hem (הם) = they (male)
hen (הן) = they (female)

Arabic

written in Hebrew/Aramaic letters without vowels

ana (אנא) = I

anta (אנתא) = thou (male)
anti (אנתי) = thou (female)

howa (הו) = he
hiya (הי) = she

antuma (אנתמא) = you both

huma (המא) = they both

nachn (נחן) = we

antum (אנתם) = you (male)
antun (אנתן) = you (female)

hum (הם) = they (male)
hun (הן) = they (female)

Akkadian

transliterated into Hebrew letters

(Note that Akkadian lost pharyngeal consonants like Het.)

anaku (אנכו) = I

ata (אתא) = thou (male)
ati (אתי) = thou (female)

shu (שוא) = he
shi (שיא) = she

ninu (נינו) = we

atanu (אתנו) = you (male)
atina (אתינא) = you (female)

shunu (שונו) = they (male)
shina (שינא) = they (female)

Introduction to Akkadian - Lesson 2

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:58:18 +0000

This is a continuation of “Introduction to Akkadian”.

abum (אבום): father; Hebrew - av (אב)
achum (אחום): brother; Hebrew - ach (אח)
ashatum (אשתום): wife; Hebrew - isha (אישה)
Note that in the construct form the Hebrew is ishath (אישת).
awatum (אוותום): word
banium (בניום): builder, maker; Hebrew - livnoth (לבנות): to build
beltum (בעלתום): lady, mistress; Hebrew - ba3ala (בעלה)
I am assuming that there is an Ayin missing between the "b" and the "l" in the Akkadian. Cuneiform could not represent pharyngeal consonants and/or those consonants might not have been used in Akkadian.
belum (בעלום): lord, master, owner; Hebrew - ba3al (בעל)
bishum (בישום): possession
darium (דריום): everlasting
dinum (דינום): judgment, legal case; Hebrew - din (דין)
ekallum (אקלום): palace
The book notes that this as a loan fom Sumerian "egal".
eli (עלי): on, upon; Hebrew - 3al (על)
elishu (עלישו): on it; Hebrew - 3alo (עלו)
eqlum (עקלום): field
I am going with Ayin here because the book notes that the original root was Het Quf Lamed (חקל). Ayin and Het are both pharyngeal consonants that Cuneiform apparently didn't represent correctly.
erreshum (ערשום): tenant farmer
(Again the root is given with a Het.)
ertsetum (ארצתום): earth; Hebrew - erets (ארץ)
The Akkadian form of the word is feminine with a final Taw.
eshemtum (עשמתום): bone
chulqum (חולקום): lost object
idum (אידום or עידום): arm, side
inum (עינום): eye; Hebrew - 3ayin (עין)
itti (איתי): with; Hebrew - ath (את)
ittishu (איתישו): with him; Hebrew - ito (איתו)
kalum (כלום): totality, entirety; Hebrew - kol (כול)
kanukkum (כנוכום): cylinder seal
Must have been the rage back then...
libbum (ליבום): heart, centre, middle; Hebrew - lev (לב)
Marduk (מרדוך): Marduk, one of the local gods
In the Hebrew Bible he is known as Merodakh (מרדך).
marum (מרום): son
matum (מתום): land
misharum (מישרום): justice
nidintum (נידינתום): gift
qatum (קתום): hand
qistum (קישתום): present, gift
re'utum (perhaps ראותום): shepherdship
ruba'um (רובאום): prince, noble
shechrum (שחרום): small
tsibtum (ציבתום): construct, interest (on capital)
shirum (שירום): exalted
I want to say that this is the same root as Hebrew "sarah" (שרה): "princess".
shaknum (שכנום): governor
shalshum (שלשום): one third; Hebrew - shlishi (שלישי)
shalushtum (שלושתום): one third (feminine)
shama'u (שמאו): sky, heavens; Hebrew - shamayim (שמים)
sharratum (שרתום): queen; Hebrew - sarah (שרה): princess
Note again that a He (ה) suffix denoted a Taw (ת) in the root. sharratum and sarah share the same root Sin/Shin Resh Taw (שרת) which is again a female version of the root Sin/Shin Resh (שר).
sharrutum (שרותום): kingship
shiprum (שיפרום): work
shabtum (שבתום): seat, dwelling
shulmum (שולמום): wholeness, health; Hebrew - shalam (שלם): complete
shumum (שומום): name, offspring; Hebrew - shem (שם)
shuqurum (שוקורום): very costly, previous
tuppum (טופום): clay tablet
Now I notice that emphatic t is marked with a dot in the book.
u (ו): and; Hebrew - w (ו)
zerum (זרום): seed
zittum (זיתום): share of property

Introduction to Akkadian

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:52:15 +0000

I am currently reading "Introduction to Akkadian", fourth edition, by Richard Caplice. I have another book about the language but it assumes that the reader learns Cuneiform quickly and I am not going to do that.
What I noticed immediately was how many words are very similar to (if not in many cases simply the same as) Hebrew words. The grammar is similar too. But let's look at the words first.
The book presents some vocabulary in each chapter and in the first chapter explains that words in the "status rectus", the word state in which nouns are declined, usually have suffixes for cases including "-um" (ום) for the nominative.
The words are given in Latin letters and occasionally in the text in Cuneiform but I transliterate them into Hebrew for easier reading. (I am assuming Alef for "a" or "e" vowel at end of words as in Aramaic.)
I will also write words with and without matres lectionis (vowel letters) so as to demonstrate both pronunciation and relationship to Hebrew words which have different vowels.
Unfortunately the difference between Alef and Ayin is not represented in the Latin script, so I will assume Alef unless Ayin makes obvious sense. A similar problem exists for Taw and Tet.
Other Latin transliteration I use:
ts for Tsadi (emphatic s)
ch for Het (voiceless pharyngeal fricative)
3 for Ayin (voiced pharyngeal fricative)

ana (אנא): to
arnum (ארנום): sin, crime, punishment
ashrum (אשרום): place
ashum (אשום): because of, concerning, because
awilum (אווילום): man
bitum (ביתום): house; Hebrew - bayit (בית)
bitatum (ביתתום): houses; Hebrew - batim (בתים)
dannum (דנום), danatum (דנתום): strong, powerful (male and female)
erretum (ארתום): curse, malediction
ezzum (אזום or עזום): angry
gitmalum (גיתמלום): perfect, noble
ilum (איל or אל): god; Hebrew - el (אל)
ilu (אילו or אלו) or ilanu (אילנו or אלנו): gods; Hebrew - elim (אלים): gods.
ina (אינא): in, among, from within, with (instrumental)
ishatum (אישתום or אשתום): fire
(A feminine version of Hebrew esh (אש): fire.)
ishtu (אישתו or אשתו): from
kabtum (כבתום): heavy, honoured, important (person)
kadrum (כדרום): wild, fierce
kima (כימא or כמא): as, like, as, that, when; Hebrew - kamo (כמו): like.
machrum (מחרום): front
(This is perhaps related to macher (מחר): tomorrow.)
martsum (מרצום): sick, difficult, painful
nishu (נישו or נשו): people; Hebrew - anashim (אנשים)
pushqum (פושקום): difficulty
rabum (רבום): great; Hebrew - rav (רב)
(The word "rabbi" derives hence.)
rimum (רימום): wild bull
safum (ספום): scattered
shanum (שנום): second, other; Hebrew - shini (שני)
sharum (שרום): king
(This is certainly related to Hebrew sarah (שרה): princess.)
tamcharum (תמחרום or טמרחום): battle
ummum (אומום or אמום): mother; Hebrew - ima (אמא): mother.
wardum (ורדום): slave, servant
washtum (ושתום or ושטום): difficult, hard, fierce
zikarum (זכרום): male, man; Hebrew - zekher (זכר): male.

(Continuation: Lesson 2)

21 Roots: Three - Greatness

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:08:05 +0100

The root “gadal” gives us the useful word “gadol” (“big”). “Gadol” is the result of the action of growing, similar to “united” (= “achud”) being the result of the action of uniting.

Words from gadal:

לגדול

ligdol = to grow (simple verb)

גדול

gadol = big (status adjective)

גדולה

gdola = greatness (also feminine form of gadol)

גודל

godel = size

מגדל

migdal = tower (location)

לגדל

legadel = to raise (i.e. grow something or someone else, directed verb)

מגדל

megadel = grower (i.e. someone who raises plants)

גידול

gidul = growth (object of legadel)

גדלות

gadluth = greatness (the actual abstract noun)

להגדיל

lehagdil = to increase (i.e. to cause to grow)

גדיל

gdil = fringe

להתגדל

lehitgadel = to boast

That’s it for now. Next time I will continue with Dalet and the root “davar” (“word”, ‘thing”).

1. Alef, “echad” = “one”

2. Bet, “bara” = “he created”

3. Gimel, “gadal” = “he grew’

21 Roots: Two - Creation

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:42:13 +0100

(This is the second article in a series on roots for each letter of the Alefbet except Waw.)

The first sentence in the Hebrew Bible is

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ

“Bereshith bara Elohim et haShamayim v’et haAretz.” (“In the beginning created the Lord the heavens and the earth.”)

The word with Bet here is “bara”, “he created”. The root Bet Resh Alef is today rarely used in the sense of “create”, but these are a few words that derive from it:

להבריא

lehavri = to cure (causative verb, “to make as if just created”)

לברוא

livro = to create (simple verb)

לברא

lebare = to clear a forest, fell trees (transitive verb)

בריא

bari = healthy (ability adjective from causative verb)

ברוא

baru = created, creature (adjective and noun from simple verb)

בורא

bore = creator, G-d (simple verb subject)

בירוא

biru = clearing out (object noun of transitive verb)

בריאה

bri’a = creation (feminine noun)

בריאות

bri’uth = health (abstract noun based on causative verb)

That’s it for now. Next time I will continue with Gimel and the root “gadal” (“he grew”).

1. Alef, “echad” = “one”

2. Bet, “bara” = “he created”

21 Roots: One

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:39:45 +0100

(This should be the first article in a series on roots for each letter of the Alefbet except Waw.)

The number one is an important concept in Judaism.

אדוני אלהינו אדוני אחד

“Adonai eloheinu, adonai echad.” (“The lord is our god, the lord is one.”) is the Jewish declaration of faith. (Usually the name is written and “adonai” is read, but I have here written “adonai” to avoid confusion.)

The Islamic declaration of faith is similar:

לא אלה אלא אללה מחמד רסול אללה

(I won’t even try to type it in Arabic letters. I don’t know if writing the sentence with mistakes is offensive or not.)

“La ilaha ila allah, machamad rasul allah.” (“No god but the god, Muhammed is messenger of the god.”)

I must say the first part of the sentence is a linguistic master piece. A sentence of four words all written with the same three letters, Alef, Lamed and He, and most of the words based on the same root too.

But I was wondering about the root for “one”, Alef Het Dalet, which has some interesting features.

For example, “echad” (“one”) is one of a handful of words that not only kept the original Proto-Canaanitic Taw for the female form in all noun states but also assimilates the last root consonant into the Taw.

אחד

Alef Het Dalet = “echad” = “one”, masculine

אחת

Alef Het Taw = “achath” = “one”, feminine

The only other words that comes to mind that does this is “ben” (“son”).

בן

Bet Nun = “ben” = “son”

בנים בת בנות

“benim”, “bath”, “banoth” = “sons”, “daughter”, “daughters”

(Notice how the Nun vanished before the Taw in “bath” but is present again in the feminine plural “banoth”. The feminine of “ben” should be “banath”, but isn’t.)

And then “echad” is also a root starting with Alef, and the Alef has the interesting quality that it can become a Yud, allowing the root to form another full set of words. This also happens in regular sound shifts between Hebrew and other Semitic languages. For example the Arabic word for Hebrew “Yisra’el” is “Isra’il” starting with Alef rather than Yud like in Hebrew.

Here is a few words I found based on the roots Alef Het Dalet and Yud Het Dalet. Note that words ending on Waw Taw (“-uth”) are abstract nouns, words starting with Lamed (“l-”) are infinitives, and otherwise the words follow the following general rules (dots are root consonants):

1. ..w. = an adjective or noun describing a result of an action (“written”), sometimes an adverb
1. ..y. = an adjective describing an ability (“-able”) or a noun of similar use
2. ... = a simple adjective, noun or adverb
3. ...h = a feminine simple noun, not necessarily the female version of the previous noun
4. .y.w. = an object of a transitive verb
5. m... = depending on vowels either the subject of a transitive verb or a location
6. lht... or ht..ut = reflexive nouns or verbs

(Remember that two Yuds can represent a single Yud meant to be a consonant as opposed to an /i/ vowel and that a He at the end of a word is usually an /a/ vowel.)

אחד

echad = one (m.)

אחת

achath = one (f.)

לאחד

le’ached = to unite, to make one (transitive verb)

להתאחד

lehit’ached = to associate, become one (reflexive verb)

להאחיד

leha’achid = to unity, to make unite (causative verb)

אחוד

achud = united (adj.)

איחוד

ichud = union (transitive verb indirect object)

אחיד

achid = uniform (ability adjective from causative verb)

אחדות

achduth = unity (simple abstract noun)

התאדחות

hit’achduth = association (reflexive abstract noun)

לייחד

leyached = to dedicate, to leave alone with (transitive verb, double-Yud is a consonant)

יחד

yachad = together (adv.)

להתייחד

lehityached = to isolate onself (reflexive verb, double-Yud is a consonant)

ייחוד

yichud = privacy (object of transitive verb, double-Yud is a consonant and a vowel)

יחדה

yachda = coalition (feminine simple noun)

התייחדות

hityachduth = isolation (reflexive abstract noun, double-Yud is a consonant)

מייחד

meyached = believer (in the unity of G-d, transitive subject, double-Yud is a consonant)

That’s it for now. Next time I will continue with Bet and the root “bara” (“he created”).

1. Alef, “echad” = “one”

The Assyrian Language

Mon, 8 Jun 2009 23:58:58 +0100

I have bought two books about an East-Semitic language, the language of Assyria, Akkad, and Babylon. It died out about 2800 years ago and was essentially replaced first by Aramaic and 2000 years later by Arabic, presumably in part because those languages could be written more easily.

Assyrian was written in Sumerian Cuneiform, a syllabary (meaning that its characters or, rather, pictures, represent a syllable each) and picture system (some pictures stood for complete words) originally intended for an unrelated language which didn’t share with Semitic languages the consonants or, obviously, the meaning of the words.

Sumerian lacked some sounds of Assyrian, most notably the Ayin*. I understand the script uses the symbols for Het** plus vowels for Ayin plus vowels. Apparently the vowels were not as much of a problem (assuming that Assyrian is as regular as Hebrew and other Semitic languages).

*Ayin is a voiced pharyngeal fricative (roughly the fricative of a very hard “q”) or a voiced velar fricative (Dutch “g”) following a vowel.

**Het is a voiceless pharyngeal fricative (a very low in the nech pronounced sound similar to “ch” as in “loch” but more like a deep “h”) or a voiceless velar fricative (“kh” or “ch”) only in Arabic.

From what I understand so far, many words are very similar to or based on the same roots as Hebrew words I know. A common word ending appears to be the third root consonant followed by an “u” vowel.

Assyrian used to be spoken in what is now northern Iraq around, for example, the city of Arbil, which in Assyrian means “four god(s)” (“arba ilu”).

The only word I knew from Assyrian apart from the city name was the first person singular pronoun which has survived into Biblical Hebrew, giving credence to the Biblical claim that the ancestors of the Israelites came from Assyria.

Hebrew and Phoenician (aka the local languages of Canaan) for “I”: ani

אני

Word used in Exodus in the Ten Commandments: anoki

אנכי

Assyrian/Akkadian word for “I”: anaku (which I cannot spell here in Cuneiform)

אנכו

This is also quite different from Arabic for “I”: ana

آنا

Or in Hebrew script:

אנא

So far I have read the first few chapters of the grammar book.

The later chapters assume that one learned the Cuneiform script.

Order

Sat, 30 May 2009 23:48:01 +0100

The Hebrew word for “order” is סדר (“seder”). This is also the name of the ritual feast held on the first night of Passover.

From the root SDR derive several interesting words.

The modern Israeli word for “OK” is בסדר (“beseder” = “in order”).

Other words include:

- typesetting: סדרות (sdaruth)

- sequence: סדרה (sidra, also “weekly Torah portion”)

- to arrange: לסדור (lisdor)

- arranged (adj.): סדור (sadur)

- arrangement: סידור (sidur, also “prayer book”)

- to settle (something): להסדיר (lehasadir)

- regular: סדיר (sadir)

- to manage: להסתדר (lehistader)

- organisation: הסתדרות (histraduth, also the name of the Israeli trade union congress.)

- line-up: מסדר (misdar)

And, not surprisingly, the root has the same meaning in Aramaic, as the trusted Aramaic lexicon at the Hebrew Union College reveals:

I wonder if the meaning “to ordain” is used by Syriac Christians. And where does the meaning “wage war” come in?

Suns and Servants

Wed, 27 May 2009 21:12:32 +0100

The Hebrew word for “sun” is “shemesh” (שמש). The Arabic word for “sun” is “shams” (شمس). SMS for “sun” is a common Semitic root.

Another meaning of the root SMS is “servant”. For the longest time I thought that meaning came into Hebrew as an Egyptian loan. But then I found the simple active voice verb “serve” in the Aramaic lexicon.

I don’t know if the words “sun” and “servant” are related in Hebrew or whether it is coincidence.

But what is even more confusing is that there is no simple active voice verb “to use” in Hebrew based on the SMS root.

Oddly enough there is a standard causative verb “lehashmish”

להשמיש

which, according to the rules, should mean something like “to make something or someone serve” and indeed does mean “to fix”, “to make serviceable”.

But the closest verb to “to serve” is a reflexive verb “lehishtamesh”

להשתמש

which can be used for the meaning “to use” but is really a reflexive verb (i.e. the subjects and objects are the same person). If an external object is required (for example “to use a car”), a preposition “in” is required: “lehishtamesh bemekhunith” = “to use a car”.

להשתמש במכונית

I am trying to figure out what exactly “lehishtamesh” means so that it means “to use” when used with the preposition “in” (or “at”). I am thinking perhaps “to indulge” is an English word employed in a similar sense. It is reflexive but could be translated into another language with an active voice verb.

Update: My friend Heng suggests that the German “sich bedienen bei” is a good translation that preserves the preposition. He’s right.

Angels and Kings

Sun, 2 Nov 2008 17:47:36 +0000

An old Semitic root for “send” is Lamed Alef Kaf (LAK, the “A” is a glottal stop or zero).

This is “send” in the sense of “giving someone a message regarding what to do”.

From the root LAK (לאכ) derives the word for “angel”, “malak” (מלאך). (The glottal stop (א) in the root becomes zero following the /a/ vowel.)

Adding an /a/ vowel at the end of the word forms the feminine version of the noun:

“malak” + “-a” = “malaka” (מלאכה)

“Malaka” means “labour”. The Yiddish word “malokhen” (“to work”) derives from it.

A very similar-sounding word is “melek”, “king”. Despite the similar consonants, the two words are not related. “Melek” is the first noun of the root MLK (“rule”, “own”) and literally means “ruler” (or “owner”).

The second noun of the root is “mameluk” which became famous as a name for slave soldiers owned by the caliphs.

Adding an /a/ vowel to the word “mameluk” then gives us the word for “kingdom”, “memleka”.

Angel: מלאך (Hebrew), ملاك (Arabic), malak (transliterated)

Labour: מלכה (Hebrew), malakha (transliterated)

King: מלך (Hebrew), ملك (Arabic), melek (transliterated)

Slave soldier: مملوك (Arabic), mameluk (transliterated)

Kingdom: ממלכה (Hebrew), memlakha (transliterated)

In the Kurdish Yezidi religion the most important angel is malak taus, the peacock angel (“malak taus” is “peacock angel” in Aramaic). He is the same angel that in Islam and Christianity is regarded as Satan or the devil.

The legend of the highest angel refusing to bow before Adam is very old and part of the holy scriptures of many religions. But the Yezidis and some other groups believe that the angel Malak Taus submitted to G-d’s will after all and that his cries extinguished the fires of hell.

This is an overall much more pleasant story than tales of an evil overlord waiting for permission to punish the wicked.

To learn how quickly one can become one of the wicked, check this story in my Shabbos Blog.