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| Origins | |
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Main article: Proto-Semitic
11th century manuscript of the Hebrew Bible with Targum
Page from a 15th century Bible in Ge'ez (Ethiopia & Eritrea)
The Semitic family is a member of the larger Afroasiatic family, all of whose other five or more branches are based in Africa. Largely for this reason, the ancestors of Proto-Semitic speakers are believed by many to have first arrived in the Middle East from Africa, possibly as part of the operation of the Saharan pump, around the late Neolithic.[7][8] Diakonoff sees Semitic originating between the Nile Delta and Canaan as the northernmost branch of Afroasiatic. Blench even wonders whether the highly divergent Gurage indicate an origin in Ethiopia (with the rest of Ethiopic Semitic a later back migration). However, an opposing theory is that Afroasiatic originated in the Middle East, and that Semitic is the only branch to have stayed put; this view is supported by apparent Sumerian and Caucasian loanwords in the African branches of Afroasiatic.[9] A recent Bayesian analysis of alternative Semitic histories supports the latter possibility and identifies an origin of Semitic languages in the Levant around 3,750 BC with a single introduction from southern Arabia into Africa around 800 BC.[10]
In one interpretation, Proto-Semitic itself is assumed to have reached the Arabian Peninsula by approximately the 4th millennium BC, from which Semitic daughter languages continued to spread outwards. When written records began in the mid 3rd millennium BC, the Semitic-speaking Akkadians and Amorites were entering Mesopotamia from the deserts to the west, and were probably already present in places such as Ebla in Syria.
[edit] Tags:Middle East,Proto-semitic,Akkadian,Semitic,Languages,Afroasiatic,Hebrew,Sumerian,Ethiopia,Eritrea,Hebrew Bible,Targum,Ge'ez,Saharan Pump,Neolithic,Gurage,Caucasian,Loanwords,Bayesian,Levant,Arabian Peninsula,4th Millennium Bc,3rd Millennium Bc,Akkadians,Amorites,Mesopotamia,Ebla,Amorite,Arab,Syria, | |
| 2nd millennium BC | |
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By the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, East Semitic languages dominated in Mesopotamia, while West Semitic languages were probably spoken from Syria to Yemen, although Old South Arabian is considered by most to be South Semitic and data are sparse. Akkadian had become the dominant literary language of the Fertile Crescent, using the cuneiform script which was adapted from the Sumerians, while the sparsely attested Eblaite disappeared with the city, and Amorite is attested only from proper names.
For the 2nd millennium, somewhat more data are available, thanks to the spread of an invention first used to capture the sounds of Semitic languages — the alphabet. Proto-Canaanite texts from around 1500 BC yield the first undisputed attestations of a West Semitic language (although earlier testimonies are possibly preserved in Middle Bronze Age alphabets), followed by the much more extensive Ugaritic tablets of northern Syria from around 1300 BC. Incursions of nomadic Aramaeans from the Syrian desert begin around this time. Akkadian continued to flourish, splitting into Babylonian and Assyrian dialects.
[edit] Tags:South Semitic,Eblaite,Cuneiform,Ugaritic,South Arabian,2nd Millennium Bc,Yemen,Fertile Crescent,Cuneiform Script,Sumerians,Alphabet,Proto-canaanite,Middle Bronze Age Alphabets,Aramaeans,Babylonian,Assyrian,Canaanite,Old South Arabian,Syrian, | |
| 1st millennium BC | |
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9th century Syriac manuscript
In the 1st millennium BC, the alphabet spread much further, giving us a picture not just of Canaanite but also of Aramaic, Old South Arabian, and early Ge'ez. During this period, the case system, once vigorous in Ugaritic, seems to have started decaying in Northwest Semitic. Phoenician colonies spread their Canaanite language throughout much of the Mediterranean, while its close relative Hebrew became the vehicle of a religious literature, the Torah and Tanakh, that would have global ramifications. However, as an ironic result of the Assyrian Empire's conquests, Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Fertile Crescent, gradually pushing Akkadian, Hebrew, Phoenician, and several other languages to extinction (although Hebrew remained in use as a liturgical language), and developing a substantial literature. Meanwhile, Ge'ez texts beginning in this era give the first direct record of Ethiopian Semitic.
[edit] Tags:Aramaic,Phoenician,Syriac,1st Millennium Bc,Torah,Tanakh,Lingua Franca,Liturgical Language,Liturgical, | |
| Common Era (AD) | |
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Page from a 12th century Qur'an in Arabic
Syriac, a descendant of Aramaic used in the northern Levant and Mesopotamia, rose to importance as a literary language of early Christianity in the 3rd to 5th centuries and continued into the early Islamic era.
With the emergence of Islam in the 7th century, the ascendancy of Aramaic was dealt a fatal blow by the Arab conquests, which made another Semitic language — Arabic — the official language of an empire stretching from Spain to Central Asia.
Approximate distribution of Semitic language around the 1st century A.D.
With the patronage of the caliphs and the prestige of its liturgical status, it rapidly became one of the world's main literary languages. Its spread among the masses took much longer; however, as the native populations outside the Arabian Peninsula gradually abandoned their languages in favor of Arabic. As Bedouin tribes settled in conquered areas, it became the main language of not only central Arabia, but also Yemen,[11] the Fertile Crescent, and Egypt. Most of the Maghreb (Northwest Africa) followed, particularly in the wake of the Banu Hilal's incursion in the 11th century, and Arabic became the native language of many inhabitants of Spain. After the collapse of the Nubian kingdom of Dongola in the 14th century, Arabic began to spread south of Egypt; soon after, the Beni Ḥassān brought Arabization to Mauritania.
Meanwhile, Semitic languages were diversifying in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where, under heavy Cushitic influence, they split into a number of languages, including Amharic and Tigrinya. With the expansion of Ethiopia under the Solomonic dynasty, Amharic, previously a minor local language, spread throughout much of the country, replacing languages both Semitic (such as Gafat) and non-Semitic (such as Weyto), and replacing Ge'ez as the principal literary language (though Ge'ez remains the liturgical language for Christians in the region); this spread continues to this day, with Qimant set to disappear in another generation.
[edit] Tags:Arabic,Amharic,Tigrinya,Qur'an,Christianity,Islamic,Islam,Spain,Central Asia,Caliphs,Bedouin,Maghreb,Banu Hilal,Nubian,Dongola,Beni Ḥassān,Arabization,Mauritania,Cushitic,Solomonic Dynasty,Gafat, | |
| Present situation | |
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Map showing the distribution of Semitic (orange) and other Afro-Asiatic language speakers today
Arabic is the native language of majorities from Mauritania to Oman, and from Iraq to the Sudan. As the language of the Qur'an and as a lingua franca, it is studied widely in the non-Arabic-speaking Muslim world as well. Its spoken form is divided into a number of varieties, some not mutually comprehensible, united by a single written form. The principal exception to this almost universal use of Arabic script is the Maltese language, genetically a descendant of the extinct Sicilian Arabic dialect. The Maltese alphabet is based on the Roman alphabet with the addition of some letters with diacritic marks and digraphs. Maltese is the only Semitic official language within the European Union.
Despite the ascendancy of Arabic in the Middle East, other Semitic languages still exist. Hebrew, long extinct as a colloquial language and in use only in Jewish literary, intellectual, and liturgical activity, was revived in spoken form at the end of the 19th century by the Jewish linguist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. It has become the main language of Israel, while remaining the language of liturgy and religious scholarship of Jews worldwide.
Several small ethnic groups, in particular the Assyrians and Mandeans, continue to speak and write Aramaic dialects (especially Neo-Aramaic, descended from Syriac) in northern Iraq, south eastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, and northeast Syria, while Syriac itself, a descendant of Old Aramaic, is used liturgically by Lebanese (the Maronites), Syrian and Assyrian Christians.
In Arabic-dominated Yemen and Oman, on the southern rim of the Arabian Peninsula, a few tribes continue to speak Modern South Arabian languages such as Mahri and Soqotri. These languages differ greatly from both the surrounding Arabic dialects and from the (unrelated but previously thought to be related) languages of the Old South Arabian inscriptions.
Historically linked to the peninsular homeland of the Old South Arabian languages, Ethiopia and Eritrea contain a substantial number of Semitic languages; the most widely spoken are Amharic in Ethiopia, Tigre in Eritrea, and Tigrinya in both. Respectively, Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia. Tigrinya is a working language in Eritrea. Tigre is spoken by over one million people in the northern and central Eritrean lowlands and parts of eastern Sudan. A number of Gurage languages are spoken by populations in the semi-mountainous region of southwest Ethiopia, while Harari is restricted to the city of Harar. Ge'ez remains the liturgical language for certain groups of Christians in Ethiopia and in Eritrea.
[edit] Tags:Afro-asiatic,Diacritic,Maltese,European Union, | |
| Phonology | |
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The reconstruction of Proto-Semitic (PS) was originally based primarily on the Arabic language, whose phonology and morphology (particularly in Classical Arabic) is extremely conservative, and which preserves 28 out of the evident 29 consonantal phonemes.[12] Thus, the phonemic inventory of reconstructed Proto-Semitic is very similar to that of Arabic, with only one phoneme less in Arabic than in reconstructed Proto-Semitic. As such, Proto-Semitic is generally reconstructed as having the following phonemes (as usually transcribed in Semitology)[13]:
[edit] Tags: | |
| Inventory | |
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Proto-Semitic consonant phonemes
Labial
Inter-
dental
Dental/
Alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Pharyn-
geal
Glottal
Central
Lateral
Nasal
*m [m]
*n [n]
Stop
voiceless
*p [p]
*t [t]
*k [k]
*’ [ʔ]
voiced
*b [b]
*d [d]
*g [ɡ]
emphatic
*ṭ [tʼ]
*q [kʼ]
Fricative
or
affricate
voiceless
*θ [θ]
*š [s]
*s [ts]
*ś [ɬ]
*ḫ [x]
*ḥ [ħ]
*h [h]
voiced
*ð [ð]
*z [dz]
*ġ [ɣ]
*ʻ [ʕ]
emphatic
*θ̣ [θʼ]
*ṣ [tsʼ]
*ṣ́ [tɬʼ]
Trill
*r [r]
Approximant
*l [l]
*y [j]
*w [w]
The probable phonetic realization of most consonants is straightforward, and is indicated in the table with the IPA. Two subsets of consonants however call for further comment:
[edit] Tags: | |
| Emphatics | |
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The sounds notated here as "emphatic" sounds occur in nearly all Semitic languages, as well as in most other Afroasiatic languages, and are generally reconstructed as glottalized in Proto-Semitic. [nb 1] Thus, *ṭ for example represents [tʼ]. (See below for the fricatives/affricates).
In modern Semitic languages, emphatics are variously realized as pharyngealized (Arabic, Aramaic: e.g. [tˤ]), glottalized (Ethiopian Semitic languages, Modern South Arabian languages: e.g. [tʼ]), or as unaspirated (Turoyo of Tur-Abdin: e.g. [t˭]);[14] Modern Hebrew and Maltese are exceptions to this general retention, with all emphatics merging into plain consonants under the influence of Indo-European languages (Italian/Sicilian in Maltese, German/Yiddish in Hebrew).
An emphatic labial occurs in some Semitic languages but it is unclear whether it was a phoneme in Proto-Semitic.
Hebrew developed an emphatic /ṗ/ phoneme to represent unaspirated /p/ in Iranian and Greek.[15]
Ge'ez is unique among Semitic languages for contrasting all three of /p/, /f/, and /pʼ/. While /p/ and /pʼ/ mostly occur in loanwords (especially Greek), there are many other occurrences where the origin is less clear (e.g. hepʼä 'strike', häppälä 'wash clothes').[16]
[edit] Tags: | |
| Fricatives | |
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The reconstruction of Proto-Semitic has nine fricative sounds that develop into sibilants at various points in later languages, although it is a matter of dispute whether all started as sibilants already in PS:
One voiced fricative, that eventually becomes, for example, both Hebrew and Arabic *z
Three voiceless fricatives
*š (*s₁) that becomes Hebrew *š but Arabic *s
*ś (*s₂) that becomes Arabic *š but Hebrew *ś
*s (*s₃) that becomes both Hebrew and Arabic *s
Two emphatic fricatives (*ṣ, *ṣ́)
Three interdental fricatives
Voiced *ð
Unvoiced *θ
Emphatic *θ̣
The precise sound of the PS fricatives, notably of š, ś, s, and ṣ, remains a perplexing problem, and there are various systems of notation to describe them. Many authors now posit values that differ significantly from what these symbols would normally suggest (hence, it may be more appropriate to designate them with *s₁, *s₂ and *s₃), but the older transcription remains predominant in most literature, often even among scholars positing the new pronunciation.[17]
The traditional view as expressed in the conventional transcription and still maintained by one part of the authors in the field[18][19] is that *š was a Voiceless postalveolar fricative ([ʃ]), *s was a voiceless alveolar sibilant ([s]) and ś was a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative ([ɬ]). Accordingly, *ṣ is seen as an emphatic version of s ([sʼ]), and *z as a voiced version of it ([z]).
Another common opinion[20] is that the difference between *s and *š is that between an affricate [ts] and a fricative [s]. Likewise the consonants *z, *ṣ are taken as the voiced [dz] and emphatic [tsʼ] counterparts of *s. Affricates in PS were proposed long since, but the idea only seems to have met wider acceptance since the work of Alice Faber (1981)[citation needed] challenging the older approach. A different opinion is maintained for example by Joshua Blau (2010), who maintains that *š was indeed originally [ʃ], while also acknowledging that an affricate [tʃ] is possible.[21]
The Semitic languages that have survived to the modern day often have fricatives for these consonants. Ethiopic languages and Modern Hebrew (in many reading traditions) have an affricate for *ṣ.[22] Many sources of evidence have been cited[by whom?] to support further affricates in not only Proto-Semitic, but also ancient Semitic languages:
The sign from the Old Akkadian script representing s, z, ṣ was borrowed by other languages (e.g. Hittite) to represent affricates.[23]
In Akkadian underlying ||t, d, ṭ + š|| was realized as ss. This is much more natural if the law was phonetically ||t, d, ṭ + [s]|| → [tts].[23]
The Canaanite sound change of *θ → *š is also much more natural if *š was [s], than if it was [ʃ].[citation needed]
Egyptian transcriptions of Semitic names and loanwords render *z, *s, *ṣ as dz and ts.
Aramaic and Syriac had an affricated realization of *ṣ up to some point, as seen in Old Armenian loanwords (e.g. Aram. צרר 'bundle, bunch' → OArm. 'crar' /tsɹaɹ/)).[23]
Older Semitic borrowings in Armenian have also /tsʰ/ and /dz/ for *s and *z.[22]
Other branches of Afro-Asiatic also have affricates corresponding to these consonants, and /*s/ for PS /*š/.[citation needed]
Judging by evidence from South Arabian[citation needed], it was determined that *ś, *ṣ́ were likely not sibilants, but lateral obstruents: [ɬ, (t)ɬʼ] (where the emphatic can also be reconstructed as an affricate).
The shift *š→h occurred in most Semitic languages (besides Akkadian, Minaian, Qatabanian) in grammatical and pronominal morphemes, and it is unclear whether reduction of *š began in a daughter proto-language or in PS itself. Given this, some suggest that weakened *š may have been a separate phoneme in PS.[24]
[edit] Tags: | |
| Consonants | |
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Each Proto-Semitic phoneme was reconstructed to explain a certain regular sound correspondence between various Semitic languages. Note that Latin letter values (italicized) for extinct languages are a question of transcription; the exact pronunciation is not recorded.
Most of the attested languages have merged a number of the reconstructed original fricatives, though South Arabian retains all fourteen (and has added a fifteenth from *p → f).
In Aramaic and Hebrew, all non-emphatic stops were softened to fricatives when occurring singly after a vowel, leading to an alternation that was often later phonemicized as a result of the loss of gemination.
In languages exhibiting pharyngealization of emphatics, the original velar emphatic has rather developed to a uvular stop [q].
Proto-Semitic
Akkadian
Arabic1
Ugaritic
Phoenician
Hebrew
Modern
Hebrew
Aramaic
Ge'ez
Modern
South Arabian
*b
b
ب
b
b
b
ב
ḇ/b
/v/, /b/
ב
ḇ/b
በ
/b/
/b/
*d
d
د
d
d
d
ד
ḏ/d
/d/
ד
ḏ/d
ደ
/d/
/d/
*g
g
ج
ǧ *[ɡʲ]→[d͡ʒ]1
g
g
ג
ḡ/g
/ɡ/
ג
ḡ/g
ገ
/ɡ/
/ɡ/
*p
p
ف
f
p
p
פ
p̄/p
/f/, /p/
פ
p̄/p
ፈ
/f/
/f/
*t
t
ت
t
t
t
ת
ṯ/t
/t/
ת
ṯ/t
ተ
/t/
/t/
*k
k
ك
k
k
k
כ
ḵ/k
/χ/, /k/
כ
ḵ/k
ከ
/k/
/k/
*ʼ
–
ء
ʼ [ʔ]
ʼ
ʼ
א
ʼ
/ʔ/, -
א
ʼ
አ
/ʔ/
/ʔ/
*ṭ
ṭ
ط
ṭ [tˤ]
ṭ
ṭ
ט
ṭ
/t/
ט
ṭ
ጠ
/tʼ/
/tʼ/
*ḳ
q
ق
q
ḳ
q
ק
q
/k/
ק
q
ቀ
/kʼ/
/kʼ/
*ḏ
z
ذ
ḏ [ð]
ḏ→d
z
ז
z
/z/
ז4/ד
ḏ4/d
ዘ
/z/
/ð/
*z
ز
z
z
ז
z
/z/
*ṯ
š
ث
ṯ [θ]
ṯ
š
שׁ
š
/ʃ/
ש4/ת
ṯ4/t
ሰ
/s/
/θ/
*š
س
s
š
שׁ
š
/ʃ/, /h/
*ś
ش
š [ʃ]
שׂ2
ś2
/s/
שׂ4/ס
ś4/s
ሠ
/ɬ/
/ɬ/
*s
s
س
s
s
s
ס
s
ס
s
ሰ
/s/
/s/
*ṱ
ṣ
ظ
ẓ [ðˤ~zˤ]
ṱ→ġ
ṣ
צ
ṣ
/ts/
צ4/ט
ṯʼ 4/ṭ
ጸ
/tsʼ/
/θʼ/
*ṣ
ص
ṣ [sˤ]
ṣ
צ
ṣ
/sʼ/
*ṣ́
ض
ḍ *[ɮˤ]→[dˤ]1
ק4/ע
*ġʼ 4/ʻ
ፀ
/ɬʼ/
/ɬʼ/
*ġ
–
غ
ġ [ɣ~ʁ]
ġ,ʻ
ʻ
ע3
ʻ3
/ʔ/, -
ע4
ġ4/ʻ
ዐ
/ʕ/
/ɣ/
*ʻ
-5
ع
ʻ [ʕ]
ʻ
ע
ʻ
/ʕ/
*ḫ
ḫ
خ
ḫ [x~χ]
ḫ
ḥ
ח
ḥ
/χ/
ח4
ḫ4/ḥ
ኀ
/χ/
/x/
*ḥ
-5
ح
ḥ [ħ]
ḥ
ח
ḥ
ሐ
/ħ/
/ħ/
*h
–
ه
h
h
h
ה
h
/h/, -
ה
h
ሀ
/h/
/h/
*m
m
م
m
m
m
מ
m
/m/
מ
m
መ
/m/
/m/
*n
n
ن
n
n
n
נ
n
/n/
נ
ר
n
r
ነ
/n/
/n/
*r
r
ر
r
r
r
ר
r
/ʁ/
ר
r
ረ
/r/
/r/
*l
l
ل
l
l
l
ל
l
/l/
ל
l
ለ
/l/
/l/
*w
w
و
w
w
y
w
y
ו
י
w
y
/v/
/j/
ו
י
w
y
ወ
/w/
/w/
*y
y
ي
y [j]
y
y
י
y
/j/
י
y
የ
/j/
/j/
Proto-Semitic
Akkadian
Arabic
Ugaritic
Phoenician Tags: | |
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