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  • From: David Kummerow <farmerjoeblo AT hotmail.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Anahnu - Anu
  • Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 10:33:17 +1100


The diachronic development in Hebrew is actually even more complicated as there is a third, albeit rare, form: nahnu (Gen 42:11; Exod 16:7, 8; Num 32:32; Lam 3:42). J-M (1.120) suggest that this form is the more ancient, the aleph of 'anahnu due to analogy with the 1cs. Certainly 'anu seems to be a phonologically reduced form of 'anahnu, and is the form used in Mishnaic Hebrew.

Regards,
David Kummerow.

The changes from literary Arabic to the colloquial language are
in many ways equal to the changes from proto-Semitic to BH. Now, in classical Arab. the term for 'we' is NAH(.)NU, compared,
for instance, to the spoken Palestinian or Egyptian EH(.)NA .
In the colloquial the first Nun drops out, exactly as in the case
of Anu in relation to Anahnu.
It appears that in Heb. there is rather a diachronic development. In fact, Mandelkern lists only one occurrence of Anu in the HB, in Jer. 42:6 (actually with defective vowelling and the Qeri is: Anahnu! ). I assume that the Mishnaic literatue and what followed is full with the shorter form.
On the other hand there are of course many occurrences of Anokhi
as well of Ani in BH; as I mentioned they seem to be a fusion of
usages in different dialects and languages. Uri







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