Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 21/06/2004 18:09, Trevor Peterson wrote:

> Peter Kirk wrote:
>
> > Now I don't take BDB as the top authority on Akkadian (and it doesn't 
> > mention Ugaritic because it is too old - but it is what I have to 
> > hand), but it seems to suggest that mû and šamû are regular singular 
> > nouns which also have plural forms. Have I misunderstood BDB? Or is 
> > it wrong?
>
>
> I'd have to say you've understood correctly, but it's wrong. The study 
> of Akkadian has come a long way in the past century, so I wouldn't go 
> too hard on BDB. I'm not familiar enough with the history of the 
> discipline to know exactly how things have changed since then; what I 
> do know is that muu is nominative plural in form and mee is oblique 
> plural. The difference is one of case; all attested forms of these two 
> words look plural in number. I can cite sources on that if you like.
Thank you, and also to Mick, for the clarification. Well, the 
implication seems to stand that these words were plural in form in 
proto-Semitic.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/