The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia

284 Pages·2008·3.41 MB·English

by  Roger D. Woodard

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THE ANCIENT LANGUAGES OF SYRIA-PALESTINE
AND ARABIA
Thisbook,derivedfromtheacclaimedCambridgeEncyclopediaoftheWorld’sAncientLan-
guages,describestheancientlanguagesofSyria-PalestineandArabia,fortheconvenienceof
studentsandspecialistsworkinginthatarea.Eachchapteroftheworkfocusesonanindivid-
uallanguageor,insomeinstances,asetofcloselyrelatedvarietiesofalanguage.Providinga
fulldescriptivepresentation,eachofthesechaptersexaminesthewritingsystem(s),phonol-
ogy,morphology,syntax,andlexiconofthatlanguage,andplacesthelanguagewithinits
properlinguisticandhistoricalcontext.Thevolumebringstogetheraninternationalarray
ofscholars,eachaleadingspecialistinancientlanguagestudy.Whiledesignedprimarilyfor
scholarsandstudentsoflinguistics,thisworkwillproveinvaluabletoallwhosestudiestake
themintotherealmofancientlanguage.
RogerD.WoodardistheAndrewVanVrankenRaymondProfessoroftheClassicsatthe
UniversityofBuffalo.HischiefresearchinterestsliegenerallywithintheareasofGreekand
Romanmythandreligion,Indo-Europeancultureandlinguistics,theoriginanddevelop-
ment of writing among the Greeks, and the interaction between Greece and the ancient
NearEast.HisotherbooksincludeTheCambridgeCompaniontoGreekMythology(2007),
Indo-EuropeanSacredSpace(2006),TheCambridgeEncyclopediaoftheWorld’sAncientLan-
guages (2004);Ovid’sFasti (withA.J.Boyle,2000);GreekWritingfromKnossostoHomer:
ALinguisticInterpretationoftheOriginsoftheGreekAlphabet (1997),andOnInterpreting
MorphologicalChange(1990).HehasalsopublishednumerousarticlesandservedasPresi-
dentoftheSocietyfortheStudyofGreekandLatinLanguageandLinguisticsfrom1992to
2001.

The Ancient
Languages of Syria-
Palestine and Arabia
Editedby
roger d. woodard
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521684989
© Cambridge University Press 2008
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2008
ISBN-13 978-0-511-39338-9 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-68498-9 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Contents
Listoffigures pagevi
Listoftables vii
Listofmaps viii
Listofcontributors ix
Notesonnumberingandcross-referencing x
Listofabbreviations xi
Preface roger d. woodard xv
Prefacetothefirstedition roger d. woodard xix
1 LanguageinancientSyria-Palestine
andArabia:anintroduction roger d. woodard 1
2 Ugaritic dennis pardee 5
3 Hebrew p. kyle mccarter, jr. 36
4 PhoenicianandPunic jo ann hackett 82
5 Canaanitedialects dennis pardee 103
6 Aramaic stuart creason 108
7 AncientSouthArabian norbert nebes and
peter stein 145
8 AncientNorthArabian m. c. a. macdonald 179
Appendix1.Afro-Asiatic john huehnergard 225
Appendix2.FulltablesofcontentsfromTheCambridgeEncyclopedia
oftheWorld’sAncientLanguages,andfromtheothervolumesinthe
paperbackseries 247
Indexofgeneralsubjects 252
Indexofgrammarandlinguistics 255
Indexoflanguages 258
Indexofnamedlinguisticlawsandprinciples 262
v
Figures
3.1 ThesevenfullvowelsofTiberianHebrew page 43
4.1 VowelphonemesofStandardPhoenician 87
7.1 ThegreatinscriptionofKarib’ilWatar(c.685BC)R3945:section
oflines11–20 148
8.1 Pre-IslamicArabia 180
8.2 ExamplesoftheAncientNorthArabianscripts 182
8.3 Letter-formsintheAncientNorthArabianscripts 187
vi
Tables
2.1 TheUgariticcuneiformconsonantalscript page8
2.2 TheUgariticnoun:absolutestate 13
2.3 TheUgariticverb:G-stem 23
3.1 TheHebrewalphabet 39
3.2 TheTiberianrepresentationoftheprincipalHebrewvowels 40
3.3 TheconsonantalphonemesofHebrew 42
3.4 ThevowelclassesofHebrewverbs 68
4.1 ThePhoenicianconsonantalscript 85
4.2 TheconsonantalphonemesofStandardPhoenician 86
4.3 TheencliticpersonalpronounsofStandardPhoenician 92
6.1 Aramaicconsonantalscripts 110
6.2 Aramaicvoweldiacritics 111
6.3 OldAramaicconsonantalphonemes 113
7.1 TheAncientSouthArabianconsonantalscript 147
7.2 TheconsonantalphonemesofAncientSouthArabian 149
8.1 TheconsonantalphonemesofAncientNorthArabian 188
8.2 ThecardinalnumeralsinDadanitic 213
A.1 TheconsonantalphonemesofCommonSemitic 229
A.2 Proto-Semiticpersonalpronouns 237
vii
Map
1 TheancientlanguagesofNortheasternAfricaandArabia page xx
viii