Alephs and Vowel Changes

  • There were five Proto-Semitic letters that are not present in Akkadian. These are referred to as aleph 1-5. (Some of these alephs exist in Hebrew.)
    • ʾ1 = ʾ (א)
    • ʾ2 = h (ה)
    • ʾ3 = ḥ (ח)
    • ʾ4 = ʿ (ע)
    • ʾ5 = ǵ (ע)
  • The Akkadian letters y and w may also be referred to as alephs.
    • ʾ6 = w (ו)
    • ʾ7 = y (י)
  • These alephs largely disappear in Akkadian, but they can affect the word formation.

    • If a word began or ended with an ʾ1-7, the aleph was lost with no change to the word.

      *ʾabum > abum (father)

      (exception for w, eg wardum)

    • If a word lost an ʾ1-7 next to a vowel, the vowel lengthend with a macron.

      *nahrum > nārum (river)

    • If a word lost an ʾ1-7 between vowels, the two vowels went thru changes based on what they were:

      • e or i followed by a = no change (if first vowel is long, it will become short)
      • ā or ē followed by i = ê
      • XY = Ŷ

    • ʾ3-4 caused a to turn to e. This can show up when comparing Hebrew and Akkadian.

      *baʿlum > *beʿlum > bēlum (בַּ֫עַל)

Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns

Annum (This/these)

Note: This paradigm demonstrates the effect of the aleph and vowel changes above. annum in Proto-Semitic was *hanniy-. The h is dropped without any affect. However, when the y is dropped and the endings are added, changes occur.

Annum
MasculineFeminine
Nom Sannûm (*hanniyium)annītum (*hanniytum)
Gen Sannîm (*hanniyim)annītim (*hanniytim)
Acc Sanniam (*hanniyam)annītam (*hanniytam)
Nom Pannûtum (*hanniyūtum)anniātum (*hanniyātum)
Gen/Acc Pannûtim (*hanniyūtim)anniātim (*hanniyātim)
  • annum is the most common near demonstrative in OB.
  • When paired with other adjectives, it comes last (eg. šamnum ṭābum annum this fine oil)
  • The feminine singular (annītum) may be used as a neuter demonstrative pronoun.

Šū (That/those)

Note: The far demonstrative is the 3rd person independent pronouns (Lesson 2).

šū
MasculineFeminine
Nom Sšūšī
Gen/Acc Sšuāti (šuātu, šâti, šâtu)šuāti (šâti, šiāti)
Dat Sšuāšim (šâšim, šâšum)šuāšim (šâšim, šiāšim)
Nom Pšunušina
Gen/Acc Pšunutišināti
Dat Pšunūšim--
  • The forms in parentheses are dialectictical variations.
  • The dative case only occurs after ana.
  • This is anaphoric meaning it always refers back to something already known.
    • Often translate as “the aforementioned”, “said”, “this/these”.

Denominative Adjectives

  • Adjectives formed from nouns (as opposed to verbal adjectives formed from verbs).

  • Formed by adding -ī- to the base then adding the endings.

    maḫr- + -ī- + -um/im/am == maḫrûm, maḫrîm, maḫriam

  • Declined as annûm

Anki Deck