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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Aleph-Tav-Kof. 1 Sam 2:3

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>, wattswestmaas <wattswestmaas AT eircom.net>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Aleph-Tav-Kof. 1 Sam 2:3
  • Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2005 19:10:23 +0100

On 03/04/2005 18:19, Yitzhak Sapir wrote:

... It seems to fit the few pieces of evidence I can seem to think of - Aramaic "xada" (one), Hebrew "exad" (one), yaxad (together/united), Arabic "waxad" (one). But this
doesn't mean it's true. It can be totally wrong! I'm not a linguist. ...


While I can make some claim to be a linguist, in this case I have simply found some data for the word meaning "one" in other Semitic languages. There are in fact several, including classical Arabic, which have a form starting with alef (or equivalent) or a vowel (simplified transliteration):

Ugaritic: 'axd
Phoenician: 'xd
Hebrew: 'exad
Ma'lula: axxadh
Modern Mandaic: ehda (~ heda)
Classical Arabic: 'axad
Ge'ez (Ethiopic): 'axadu
Harari: axad

But the forms with initial w are found in Moroccan, Egyptian and Iraqi Arabic: waxed/waxid, also in Sabean: wxd. And forms without the first syllable are found in Achaemenid Aramaic: xd, Syriac: xad, Modern Mandaic: heda (~ ehda), and Tigrinya: xada. This suggests to me that it is unlikely that the forms with initial alef are simple extensions of forms with initial consonant - if they are, the extension must be much older than Hebrew or have happened independently several times.

... It's also
possible that "yaxad" (together) and ")exad" (one) are
simply unrelated words, one with an alef and one with a
yod.


I would explain the above data by suggesting that these have been two independent words which have existed alongside one another since early Semitic times - yaxad being a variant of early Semitic waxad/waxid. But I don't suggest two quite separate roots, rather that this was a very early doublet, or perhaps the w- or the alef was originally a prefix. But this must be speculative.

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



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