Genealogical Classification of Semitic: The Lexical Isoglosses

751 Pages·2015·4.715 MB·English

by  Leonid Kogan

LeonidKogan
GenealogicalClassificationofSemitic

Leonid Kogan
Genealogical
Classification
of Semitic
The Lexical Isoglosses
DE GRUYTER
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Preface
Myworkonthisbookbeganin2003,whenIwascollectingandeditingStudia
Semitica,aFestschriftcelebratingthesixtiethbirthdayofAlexanderMilitarev.
In his contribution to that volume, the late Sergey Starostin succinctly dis-
cussed what soon became the methodological kernel of my research on the
genealogicalclassificationofSemitic:thepossibilityofproto-languagelexical
reconstructionofbasicsemanticconcepts(Starostin2003).Or,toputitinmore
straightforward terms: are we able tocompile the Swadesh wordlists not only
forattestedlanguages,livingordead,butalsoforProto-Indo-European,Proto-
Kartvelian,Proto-UralicorProto-Semitic?
Itwascleartomefromtheverybeginningthattheanswertothisquestion
has to be affirmative, however complex and contradictory a few individual
casesmayturnouttobe.Itisuponthisbackgroundthattheentiremethodolo-
gybehindthepresentbookhasbeendeveloped:thedichotomybetweenreten-
tions and innovations in the basic vocabulary, permeating the eight chapters
offeredtothereaders’judgmentbelow,canbemeaningfulonlyifasufficiently
reliabletertiumcomparationisisavailable.Tobeconsideredarchaicorinnova-
tive,alexical(or,forthatmatter,amorphological)featurehastobecompared
to its hypothetical forerunner in the ancestor tongue from which the lan-
guage(s)underscrutinyis(are)thoughttohaveemerged.
EthiopianSemiticwasmytouchstone:inanarticlededicatedtothememo-
ryofmyGeezteacherSevirChernetsov,Itriedtoproposeapreliminaryanaly-
sis of the lexical evidence favoring the historical unity of the Ethiopian sub-
group (Kogan 2005b). Methodologically and structurally similar studies deal-
ing with Aramaic (Kogan 2005a) and Canaanite (Kogan 2006a, 2010a, 2010b)
soon followed. The Proto-Semitic lexical reconstruction of the Swadesh word-
list,thefirstdraftofwhichappearingintheStarostinAnniversaryVolume(Ko-
gan2005d),wassignificantlyexpandedandrefinedinthe2006article,where
ithasbeenusedasthestartingpointforevaluatingthedegreeoflexicalarcha-
ismofUgariticandCanaanite.Inthesubsequentyears,moreSemiticbranches,
both smaller (North West Semitic, Modern South Arabian) and larger (West
Semitic,CentralSemitic),havebeenprocessedinthesameway.
Thisbookwouldhavescarcelyacquireditspresentshapewithouttheeffi-
cienthelpofnumerousindividualsandinstitutionswithinandoutsideRussia.
MariaBulakhandSergeyLoesovdiscussedscoresofgrammaticalandlexi-
cal issues dealt with in the present volume with me, generously sharing with
metheirbroadexpertiseingeneralandcomparativelinguisticsaswellasina
variety of Semitological topics. The importance of their critical reading of my
textsishardtooverestimate.Furthermore,everydayjointworkwithDr.Bulakh
viii Preface
on numerous Ethiopian and Modern South Arabian subjects has been a con-
stantsourceofinspirationformeduringthepasttenyears.
Itisanimmensepleasuretomentionherethenamesoftwoscholarswho,
even without being directly involved into the preparation of this book, have
profoundlyinfluencedmyunderstandingofsomeofitspivotaltopics.
AlexanderMilitarevhastaughtmeamostimportantmaxim:thebasiclexi-
con of a language—ancient, modern or proto—is not to be treated lightly. It is
largelytohimthatIowetheoriginalinsightofusingthebasicvocabularyfor
genealogicalclassificationofSemitic.Withtime,mymethodsandresultshave
oftenbecomeradicallydivergentfromhis,yetourintenseandfruitfulcollabo-
rationbetween1995and2005willremainunforgettable.
JohnHuehnergard’sgroundbreakingarticlesonSemiticclassificationhave
strengthenedmybeliefintheparamountimportanceofsubgroupingissuesfor
ourunderstandingofthehistoricalgrammarandetymologyofSemitic.Gener-
allyskepticalofthevalidityoflexicalevidenceforgenealogicalclassification,
Professor Huehnergard has nevertheless succeeded to make more than one
penetrating remark on the archaic/innovative dichotomy in the Semitic vo-
cabulary.Itismymodesthopethatreadingthisbookwillfurtherstimulatehis
thinking on these important issues—and, of course, on the Semitic classifica-
tionasawhole,towhichhehasalreadycontributedsomuchandsobrightly.
Dennis Pardee (Chicago) and Miranda Morris (St. Andrews) have carefully
readpartsofthechapterspertainingtotheirmainspheresofresearch,namely,
Ugaritic–Canaanite and Modern South Arabian. Professor Pardee’s critical re-
marks on individual Ugaritic lexemes turned out to be priceless, as were his
references to newly published texts, some of which would otherwise be hard
to access from my workplace. Dr. Morris kindly agreed to check my Swadesh
wordlist for Jibbali during a very busy fieldwork season in Dhofar, providing
scores of extremely important additions and corrections. Also of considerable
importancewereherremarksontherelevanttermsinMehriandSoqotri.
The book has benefited greatly from discussions with N. J. C. Kouwenberg
(Leiden) and Peter Stein (Jena), whose intimate knowledge of Akkadian and
Sabaic sources, respectively, coupled with a broad and varied Semitological
erudition,hasneverfailedtoamazeandinspireme.
ManfredKrebernikandWalterSommerfeld,mydearfriendsandcollabora-
tors of many years in Jena and Marburg, have always been ready to discuss a
varietyoftopicspertainingtothegrammarandlexiconofearlyAkkadianwith
me. Direct communication with these two outstanding authorities in a field
thathasfascinatedmefrommyearlieststudentyearshasbeenbothaprivilege
andanhonor.
My fellow Moscow Assyriologists Ilya Arkhipov, Rim Nurullin and Boris Al-
exandrov showed keen interest towards many issues raised in this book and
Preface ix
willingly and efficiently advised me on a few matters related to their current
research.
Aaron Rubin has kindly put at my disposal a final draft of his edition of
Johnstone’s Jibbali texts, which has seriously improved my understanding of
the basic vocabulary of this crucial language, otherwise based on scarce and
notalwaysreliabledataoftheAustrianexpedition.
Theeighthchapterofthebook,focusedonthelinguisticspecificityofMod-
ern South Arabian, would never have become what it is now if not for my
heavyinvolvementinfieldworkresearchontheSoqotrilanguageandfolklore.
MywarmgratitudegoestoVitalyNaumkin,whocalledmetoparticipateinthe
Russian interdisciplinary mission in Yemen in 2010, gave me my first Soqotri
lessonsdirectlyonYemenisoilandhas,sincethen,energeticallysharedwith
me his knowledge and expertise in the framework of several joint projects in
this inexhaustible field. Dmitry Cherkashin, my closest partner in the Soqotri
enterprise, has helped me very much in a variety of ways and deserves my
mostsinceregratitude.AlexanderSedov,theheadoftheRussianMission,has
alwaysbeenkindandattentivetoourfieldworkprojects(needlesstosay,rare-
ly overlapping with his own archeological business). Last but not least, the
creative and patient collaboration of my beloved Soqotri informants, Ahmad
Isaal-DaarhiandIsaGumaanal-Daarhi,isunforgettable.
AnnaNurullina,myformerstudentofHebrew,ArabicandComparativeSe-
mitics, has kindly agreed to prepare the forthcoming Russian edition of this
book(scheduledforpublicationbyRSUHPressin2015).Numerouscorrections
of style and substance which have emerged during her work on the Russian
textaretobegratefullyacknowledged.
The English style of the book has been corrected by Erin Troseth. The re-
sults of her critical reading of this lengthy manuscript, at times exceedingly
difficultforanon-specializedreader,havealwaysbeenamodelofclarity,thor-
oughnessand,importantly,promptness.Manythanksforthis,dearErin!
Duetotheinternalregulationsoftheinstitutionswhichprovidedfinancial
support for my research, preliminary publications of some of its results were
unavoidable. It is a pleasant duty to express my gratitude to the staff of jour-
nalsandcollectionswherethesearticlesappeared:the2010editorialboardof
Sefarad(particularlyIgnacioMárquez,ManuelMolinaandJuanPabloVita),my
fellowco-editorsofBabelundBibelandScrinium.
Svetlana Vesnina, a best friend throughout the past fifteen years and the
mostefficienttechnicaleditorIhaveevermet,hasdoneherjobwithherusual
masteryandthoroughness.Myindebtednesstoherisdifficulttoexpress.
My work on this book has been facilitated considerably by the gener-
oussupportoftheRussianFoundationfortheHumanities(РГНФ/RFH),grants