< Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic

Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/warḫ-

This Proto-Semitic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Semitic

Etymology

Compare Egyptian jꜥḥ and Proto-Berber *a-ʔyur.

Noun

*warḫ- m

  1. moon
  2. month

Inflection
Declension of *warḫ-
Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *warḫum *warḫāna plural stem + *-ūna
Genitive *warḫim *warḫayna plural stem + *-īna
Accusative *warḫam
possessive forms
1st person *warḫī / *warḫVya — *warḫVni
2nd person m *warḫVka *warḫVkumā / *warḫVkumay *warḫVkum(ū)
2nd person f *warḫVki *warḫVkin(ā)
3rd person m *warḫVšu *warḫVšumā / *warḫVšumay *warḫVšum(ū)
3rd person f *warḫVša *warḫVšin(ā)
Note: the endings -m and -na are dropped in the bound form, which may also undergo syncopation of an unstressed final vowel where possible.

Note: the ending -V before the possessive endings responds to case: *warḫuya for nom. case, *warḫiya for gen. case, *warḫaya for acc. case, etc.

Declension of 2sg m. possessive form (your/thy m.) *warḫ-
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *warḫuka *warḫāka plural stem + *-ūka
Genitive *warḫika *warḫayka plural stem + *-īka
Accusative *warḫaka
Declension of 2sg f. possessive form (your/thy f.) *warḫ-
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *warḫuki *warḫāki plural stem + *-ūki
Genitive *warḫiki *warḫayki plural stem + *-īki
Accusative *warḫaki

Reconstruction notes

Huehnergard reconstructs this item as *wariḫ-, with the unbound form *wariḫum alternating with the bound form *warḫu. The semantic extension from "moon" to "month" is comparable to those of Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s and Proto-Japonic *tukuy, since the moon's orbital period was used for defining a month.

Descendants
  • East Semitic:
    • Akkadian: 𒌚 (warḫum, “month”)
  • West Semitic:
    • Central Semitic:
      • Safaitic: 𐪅𐪇𐪍 (wrẖ, “month”)
      • Northwest Semitic:
        • Aramaic:
          Imperial Aramaic: 𐡉𐡓𐡇𐡀 (yrḥʾ)
          • Western Middle Aramaic:
            Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: יְרַח (yrḥ /⁠yəraḥ⁠/, “moon”); יַרְחָא (yarḥā, “month”)
            Christian Palestinian Aramaic: ܝܪܚܐ (yrḥʾ, “moon; month”)
            Nabataean Aramaic: 𐢍𐢛𐢊 (yrḥ)
          • Eastern Middle Aramaic:
            Hatran Aramaic: 𐣩𐣣𐣧 (yrḥ)
            Palmyrene Aramaic: 𐡩𐡴𐡧 (yrḥ /⁠yraḥ⁠/, “moon”)
            Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: ירח (yrḥ /⁠yəraḥ⁠/, “moon”); ירחא (yarḥā, “month”)
          • Classical Mandaic: [script needed] (iahra, “moon”) (metathesized)
          • Classical Syriac: ܝܰܪܚܳܐ (yarḥāʾ, “month”)
          • Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܝܲܪܚܵܐ (yarḥā)
        • Canaanite:
        • Ugaritic: 𐎊𐎗𐎃 (yrḫ /⁠yarḫu⁠/, “moon, month”)
      • Old South Arabian:
        • Old South Arabian: 𐩥𐩧𐩭 (wrḫ)
          • Arabic:
            • >? Arabic: تَارِيخ (tārīḵ, “date, history”) (see there for further descendants)
    • Ethiopian Semitic:
      • North Ethiopian:
        • Ge'ez: ወርኅ (wärḫ)
        • Tigrinya: ወርሒ (wärḥi, “month”); ዋርሒ (warḥi, “moon”)
        • Tigre: ወርሕ (wärəḥ)
      • South Ethiopian:
        • Amharic–Argobba:
          • Amharic: ወር (wär, “month”)
          • Argobba: ወርሕ (wärəḥ)
        • Gurage: ወር (wär)
        • Harari: ወርሒ (wärḥi), ዋርሒ (warḥi)
    • Modern South Arabian:
      • Mehri: warḫ (“month”)
      • Shehri: ɔ́rx, írəx (“month”)
      • >? Shehri: ʾɛrə́t (“moon”)
      • >? Soqotri: ʾére (“moon”) – if not instead cognate to Hebrew אוֹר (ʾôr, “light”), Akkadian 𒌓𒁕 (urrum, “light; daylight, shining after a period of darkness”), or to Arabic شَهْر (šahr, “month”)

References
  • Kogan, Leonid (2015) Genealogical Classification of Semitic. The Lexical Isoglosses, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN
  • Huehnergard, John (2019) “Proto-Semitic”, in Huehnergard, John and Na'ama Pat-El, editors, The Semitic Languages, 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.