Written by Baruch Podolsky
Saturday, December 18, 2004
chapter from Dr. Baruch Podolsky's book "CONVERSATIONS ABOUT HEBREW AND MUCH MORE" (reprinted with the kind permission of the author) SEMITIC LANGUAGES
We all generally know that Hebrew is considered a Semitic language. But very few people know what the Semitic language is, who the Semites are. In the Soviet Union, where we all came from, this was a very common occurrence: everyone who studied at the university knew what Antidühring was, but only a few knew who, in fact, Dühring was. In the same way, everyone knows who the anti-Semites are, but few people know who the Semites are and why Hebrew is considered a Semitic language.
The term "Semitic languages" appeared a little over 200 years ago, at the end of the 18th century. The German historian Schlözer created this term based on the classification of peoples contained in the Bible.
Chapters 6-9 of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, describe the Great Flood in which all mankind perished, with the exception of Noah and his three sons with their families - Shem, Ham and Japhet. From them came people on earth, and in the 10th chapter there is a detailed enumeration: such and such sons were born from Japhet, such and such sons were born from Ham, and such and such sons were born from Shem. And all of them became the ancestors of the peoples on Earth. One of Shem's grandchildren was Ever, the progenitor of the Jews. From the name "Ever" the very word "Jew" is derived, in Hebrew Ivri.
Schlözer took this story as a basis and called by the name of Shem the peoples related to the Jews, Semites, and those languages \u200b\u200bthat are related to Hebrew, Semitic. Since then, the concept of "Semitic languages", "Semitic peoples" has appeared. (In Hebrew, Sim sounds like SHEM, so in Hebrew the "Semitic language" is Safa Shemite שָׂפָה שֵמִית. In Latin, this name is written SEM, hence "Semites, Semitic").
What languages are considered Semitic, and what peoples belong to the Semites? Most of them have been known since ancient times, many are known only in antiquity: these are the languages that were spoken 3000-4000 years ago, and today nothing remains of them except written monuments.
AKKADIAN LANGUAGE
One of the most known languages of antiquity was the Akkadian language, which was spoken in Mesopotamia - in Mesopotamia, on the territory of present-day Iraq. They wrote in this language with a peculiar system - cuneiform, mainly on clay. We have reached great amount clay bricks with embossed signs. When, in the last century, scientists deciphered this script, which, by the way, was very complex, they were surprised to find a Semitic language related to the well-known Hebrew and Arabic. This is one of the oldest Semitic languages - Akkadian, or Assyro-Babylonian. This language existed in the second and first millennia BC and disappeared around the fourth century BC.
To the north of the regions of the Akkadian language, that is, in the region of northern Iraq and further to the west, in the territory of present-day Syria, numerous Aramaic tribes roamed, speaking the Aramaic language. This language deserves a separate discussion. In our Jewish history, a very peculiar relationship has developed between the Jews, Hebrew and Aramaic.
In the north-west of Syria, near the current border with Turkey, there was in ancient times, about 3500 years ago, a small city-state called Ugarit. This city was destroyed in antiquity; for thousands of years, no one knew about its existence, until at the beginning of the 20th century, archaeologists excavated the hill of Ras Shamra and found under it the remains of an ancient city and a large number of clay tablets with texts written in a peculiar script. Their deciphering showed that this language is closely related to Hebrew. Until now, new and new texts of very different content are being discovered: among them there are economic, administrative, mythological and real literary texts, in which scientists find a lot of parallels with the Bible, because this language was spoken around the time when the Bible was created. The language was closely related to Hebrew; Naturally, there were common themes and common words, and even common phrases. This is the Ugaritic language.
FROM PHENIICIA TO MOAB
South of Ugarit, in what is now Lebanon, lived the Phoenicians or Phoenicians. This people is the closest in language to the Jews. The Phoenician language was very close to Hebrew, about the same as Russian is to Ukrainian. To read an ancient Phoenician inscription, it is enough to know Hebrew well. We hardly meet new words, new grammatical phenomena there. A person who knew Hebrew could freely communicate with the Phoenicians and understand them.
To the east of the Land of Israel, in the land of Moab (today's central and northern Jordan), lived tribes also closely related to the Jews, the Moabites. Moab and the Moabites are mentioned many times in the Bible. Ruth (Ruth in Hebrew), the great-grandmother of King David, was from Moab. Several ancient inscriptions in the Moabite language are known. This language is about as close to Hebrew as Phoenician.
Well, of course, Hebrew in the Land of Israel, which we will talk about a lot more. Then we will head south. In the south of the Land of Israel, in the Negev, we meet with a people called "Nabatheans" or "Nabatheans". Anyone who has traveled through the Negev knows that there is the Nabataean city of Avdat there. The famous Petra in southern Jordan was also a city of the Nabataeans. The Nabateans were most likely an Arab tribe, but they wrote in Aramaic in their own peculiar script, and a large number of Nabatean inscriptions have come down to us.
ARABIC
Now we have come to the largest in terms of the number of speakers of all the Semitic languages - Arabic. The Arabic language, whose homeland is the Arabian Peninsula, spread along with Islam in all directions: northeast to Iraq, north to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, west to Egypt, Sudan and further to northern Africa; today it is spoken by more than 130 million people. It has been known to us since the first centuries of our era, mainly from separate short inscriptions, as well as from several poems created even before the rise of Islam.
Islam originated in 622 AD. - this is the year when the founder of Islam, Mohammed, or Muhammad in Arabic, was forced to flee from Mecca to Medina. In 622, a new world religion begins - Islam.
Although already two or three centuries before that, texts in Arabic were known, even entire poems, for real Arabic formed with Islam. The teachings that, according to legend, were spoken by Allah to Mohammed, make up the Koran. Mohammed himself was illiterate. His disciples wrote down these teachings. This is how the Koran appeared - the first major work in the literary Arabic language.
The history of the Arabic language developed very interestingly in the future. On the one hand, since it was the language of religion and culture, it remained almost unchanged, and until now the literary Arabic language is the language of the Koran, enriched with modern concepts, terms, developed, but grammatically it is the same language.
However, no language can exist without change for many centuries, especially 1000-1300 years. Naturally, dialects arose in the Arabic language. As a matter of fact, there were already dialects in the Old Arabic language. Modern Arabic has a huge number of dialects, which are divided into two groups.
Eastern Arabic dialects - from Egypt and Sudan to the east (Saudi Arabia, Yemen and beyond Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan) - this is one group of dialects. Arabs clearly distinguish who speaks - Egyptian, Iraqi or Syrian, but there is a free mutual understanding between these dialects: it is easy for an Iraqi to negotiate with a Syrian and with an Egyptian. The language is essentially the same.
But those dialects spoken by the Arabs to the west of Egypt - Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania - differ sharply from the eastern dialects. These are the so-called Maghreb dialects. "Maghrib" is Arabic for "west", the same word as in Hebrew maarav מַעֲרָב. And these dialects are so different from the dialects of the East that mutual understanding is excluded between the Arabs of the East and the West. A Syrian or Iraqi Arab, when he hears the Moroccan dialect, does not understand it in the same way that we do not understand it.
MALTA ISLAND
One of the Arabic dialects has become independent language: This is the language of the island of Malta, or the Maltese language. Malta is located between Sicily and Tunisia, there are two or three islands that are inhabited by a people of Semitic origin. But the Maltese for many centuries in all respects, especially religious and cultural, were associated with Italy. They are Catholics, they prayed in Latin and did not want to acknowledge their kinship with the Arab, predominantly Muslim world, although their language is essentially an Arabic dialect, closely related to the dialect of neighboring Tunisia. The Maltese write in Latin script and are proud that they have their own separate language. Moreover, there have been attempts to trace the ancestry of the Maltese language to the Phoenician, since its Semitic character is obvious to anyone who knows at least a little what the Semitic language is.
The fact is that the Phoenicians, whom I have already mentioned, were excellent sailors and constantly roamed the Mediterranean. There were also Phoenician settlements in North Africa. The most famous is, of course, Carthage. The word Carthage itself is a distortion of two Phoenician words Kart Hadasht, which are easily translated into Hebrew as "Kirya Hadash" - New City. Naturally, people who have moved to a new place, first of all, build a new city, hence Novgorod in Russia, Naples in Italy and many other cities with a similar name. The Maltese tried to trace their origin to the Phoenicians or the Carthaginians, but the study of their language showed that this is not a Phoenician, but an Arabic dialect.
SABA AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA
But let's continue our journey through the geography of the Semitic languages and go even further south. In southern Arabia, in its southernmost part, on the territory partly belonging to Yemen, partly to Oman, small so-called South Arabian tribes still live today: Mehri, Jibali, Shehri, and on the island of Socotra - the Socotri people. Their languages are very peculiar and by no means similar to Arabic. Let's put it this way: they are no more similar to Arabic than to Hebrew. These are the descendants of the ancient Semitic languages of this region.
There were at least four different Semitic languages in ancient Yemen, one of which is well known as Sabaean.
The Bible mentions the Queen of Sheba. The Queen of Sheba was the ruler of the state of Shva (in Hebrew), or Sava (in Russian), Saba (in Latin). This kingdom was located on the territory of present-day Yemen, and a special Semitic people lived there - the Sabaeans. The Sabaean language is preserved in a large number of inscriptions.
Approximately 1000 years BC, the resettlement of Semitic tribes from the Arabian Peninsula through the Red Sea to the African coast, to the territory of present-day Ethiopia, began. Over the centuries, there arose its own ancient Ethiopian language, the so-called Geez, which at first used the South Arabian script, the same script that the Sabaeans wrote. Later, in the fifth century AD, when the ancient Ethiopians adopted Christianity, they reformed this script.
The ancient Semitic writing, like the modern Hebrew, did not mark vowels, only consonants were written. And today in Hebrew and Arabic consonants are written mainly, and vowels - only partially. In ancient texts, only consonants were written. And so, in Ethiopia there was a reform of writing. Some wise man came up with his own vocalization system. Unlike the Hebrew system of "nekudot", which are written separately from the letter and are not required, the Ethiopian vowel signs merge with the letter, that is, there is some change in the shape of the letter itself. You have to write the word in full: both consonants and vowels. There is no way to write the way we do: instead of sefer - sfr ספר. It was a very original reform that turned the ancient script without vowels into a script that perfectly reflected the pronunciation. The Ethiopian script from the 5th century AD has survived almost unchanged to this day, and it is still used for several Ethiopian languages.
In ancient times, there was the ancient Ethiopian language Geez, which has survived to this day as a language of worship. Ethiopians (both Christians and Ethiopian Jews) prayed and read the Bible in this language. But as a living language, of course, Geez did not survive. It has developed into a number of modern Ethiopian Semitic languages.
True, not all peoples living in Ethiopia speak Semitic languages. There are three groups of languages there: mainly along the western border of Ethiopia with the Sudan there are purely Negro tribes speaking various Nilo-Saharan languages; there are in Ethiopia the so-called Cushitic and Omotian languages, which are very distantly related to the Semitic ones. And there are the Semitic languages of Ethiopia, of which the Amharic language is best known today - official language Ethiopia, the language of the majority population. By the way, this is also the language of the majority of Ethiopian Jews. On it, REKA radio broadcasts are conducted in Israel, a magazine is published.
Amharic people occupy mainly the central part of Ethiopia. To the north of them lives the Tigray people, whose language is Tigrinya, which is the main language in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, is also Semitic. Some Ethiopian Jews speak the Tigrinya language.
Even further north, in a narrow strip in Eritrea, the Tigre people live (please do not confuse: there are the Tigray people who speak the Tigrinya language, and there are the Tigre people who speak the Tigre language). Tigre is also a Semitic language. In addition, in the south of Ethiopia there are several other small Semitic languages, which are spoken, as a rule, by several tens of thousands of people. These include a whole group of Gurage languages and dialects, as well as the Harari language, which is used only in one city of Harar.
Such is the picture of the Semitic languages.
Semitic languages - a group of languages of the Middle East, which had more or less extensive geographical distribution in different periods. Some of these languages played the role of major cultural languages world importance. K S. yaz. include: Babylonian-Assyrian. (see), which for a number of centuries, starting from the 4th millennium BC, was the most important language of the Ancient East; Hebrew language. (cm.); Phoenician (cm.); Aramaic and dialects (see) that spread throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, starting from the 10th-9th centuries. BC. and subsequently also occupied the territory of the Babylonian-Assyrian and Hebrew languages; Syriac (see), Arabic. (see), which came to the fore as a world cultural language, starting from the 7th century. AD, Semitic languages. Abyssinians (Amhara, Geez, etc.), an ancient South Arabian language. and etc.
S. yaz. form a rather close group, mutual connections and similarities between individual representatives of a cut are quite clear. The proximity of Arabic and Hebrew. was noted by the Hebrew grammarians of the 10th century. (Ibn Quraish); the proximity of Aramaic to ancient Hebrew is even more obvious. The unity of this entire group of languages was recognized by Western European Orientalists already in the 17th century, when this group was given the name S. yaz. Especially much has been done for the comparative study of S. yaz. in the 19th century, after the cuneiform monuments of Assyria and Babylonia and South Arabian and Phoenician inscriptions were deciphered.
In addition to more common roots S. yaz. have a number of common grammatical and phonetic features. The main meaning of the root of words is associated in S. lang. with consonants, and vowels play a service role, not being part of the root. Yes, in Arabic. from the root "ktb" with the help of various vowels, the following words are obtained: "kataba" - "he wrote", "kutiba" - "he was written", "katib-un" - "writing", "kitab-un" - "book ”, “kutub-un” - books, “katab-un” - “writing”, “a-ktubu” - “I write”, “ma-ktub-un” - “letter” - “ma-ktab-un” - “a place where they write” (= school), etc. Most of the roots consist of three and only a small number of two or four consonants. Word-formation and inflection takes place in addition to the "internal vowel change" just mentioned, with the help of both suffixes and prefixes. Grammatical genders- two. The declension is poorly developed, and it exists only in the Arabic classical language, where there are three cases, in other languages there are only traces. Tenses are poorly developed in the verb: in most S. yaz. there are only two tenses - finished and unfinished. Various verb forms have a great development to express the strengthening of action, transitivity, reciprocity, recurrence, repetition, coercion, passivity, etc. The suffixation for the designation of the direct object with verbs and the indirect object with prepositions is quite developed. The syntax is dominated by sentence forms.
S. yaz. have very close ties with the Cushitic, Berber-Libyan languages and with the ancient Egyptian language. All these languages are united by most of the newest researchers into one group, the Semitic-Hamitic. Academician N.Ya.Marr proved the deep connections that exist between S. yaz. and Japhetic. S. yaz. are a newer transformation of the early historical or "Japhetic" state of the speech of the peoples of the Mediterranean. Hence the convergence of S. yaz. with Japhetic, sometimes reaching the details. Bibliography:
Renan E., Histoire generale du systeme comparee des langues semitiques, P., 1855; Wright W., Lectures on the comparative grammar of the semitic languages, Cambridge, 1890; ZimmernH., Vergleichende Grammatik der semitischen Sprachen, Berlin, 1898; Noldecke Th., Die semitischen Sprachen, Eine Skizze, Lpz., Bd. I, Berlin, 1908, Bd. II, Berlin, 1912; His own, Kurzgefasste vergleich. Grammatik d. semitischen Sprachen, Berlin, 1908; Konig, Ed., Herbaisch and semitisch. Prolegomena und Grundlinien einer Geschichte d. semit. Sprachen, Berlin, 1901; Dhorme B.P., Langues et ecritures semitiques, P., 1930; Cohen M., Langues chamitosemitiques, in Les langues du monde, A. Meillet et M. Cohen., P., 1924; MarrN.Ya., Preliminary report on the relationship of the Georgian language. with Semitic ones, in his work "Basic tables for the grammar of the ancient Georgian language", St. Petersburg, 1908 (reprinted in his "Selected Works", vol. I, L., 1933); His own, Japhetic approach to the paleontology of Semitic languages, "Japhetic collection", vol. I, P., 1922; His own, On the question of the origin of Arabic numerals, “Notes of the College of Orientalists”, vol. V, L., 1931; GrandeB., From the linguistic convergence of the Iberians of the Caucasus and Palestine, "Reports of the Academy of Sciences", 1931.Literary encyclopedia. - In 11 tons; M .: publishing house of the Communist Academy, Soviet Encyclopedia, Fiction.Edited by V. M. Friche, A. V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939 .
The name "Semitic" languages, "Semitic" language, is conditional, i.e. is not connected either with the grammatical structure of these languages, or with the place of their origin and distribution. The name of this family is borrowed from the genealogical classification of peoples given in the Bible (Genesis 10). Most of the peoples who spoke languages related to Hebrew were numbered among the descendants of one of the sons of Noah - Shem. From this proper name, the name "Semitic, Semitic" was produced. It was introduced into scientific use in the 18th century. German historian and philologist August Schlözer (1735–1809).
According to the data of the late 1990s, the number of speakers of Semitic languages exceeds 200 million people (mainly due to speakers of modern Arabic).
The family of Semitic languages includes both living languages and dead ones that have fallen into disuse due to various historical conditions. Living Semitic languages are widespread in the territory of Western Asia, on the Arabian Peninsula, in Northeast and North Africa. "Islands" of the Arabic language are found in Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, "islands" of living Aramaic languages - in the territories of Northern Iraq, North-Western Iran, Eastern Turkey, in Transcaucasia.
Among the dead Semitic languages known modern science, include the following.
Akkadian the language (aka Assyro-Babylonian), known from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, which fell into disuse at the turn of our era, was distributed in the territory of Mesopotamia (now the territory of Iraq) ().
Eblaite the language, or language of Ebla, is the language of a cuneiform archive discovered by archaeologists in the 1970s in northwestern Syria. Cuneiform tablets date back to the second half of the 3rd millennium BC.
Amorite the language, known only by its own names, recorded in the Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform texts, was widespread at the end of the 3rd - the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. in northwestern Syria and western Mesopotamia.
Old Canaanite the language, known by individual names and phrases from Akkadian and ancient Egyptian texts, was widespread in the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. in the territories of ancient Palestine (now Israel and Jordan) and ancient Phoenicia (modern Lebanon).
Ugaritic the language, represented by a large archive of cuneiform clay tablets, was discovered by archaeologists in 1930 in northwestern Syria. Written monuments date back to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, the language was in use in the ancient city-state of Ugarit.
Phoenician the language is known from inscriptions from the second half of the 2nd millennium BC; the latest inscriptions date back to the 2nd c. AD It was distributed in Phoenicia (the territory of modern Lebanon), as a result of colonization it spread throughout the Mediterranean basin, along the coasts of Cyprus, southern Italy, southern Spain and North Africa.
Hebrew the language is known from the monuments of the 12th-3rd centuries. BC. (biblical Hebrew). Presumably remained colloquial until the first centuries of our era. Until the 18th century used in post-biblical form as written language. It was distributed in the territory of ancient Palestine. How the cult language is used to this day.
Aramaic a language known since the 9th century. BC. as "Old Aramaic", later represented by the languages and dialects of the Middle Aramaic period, existed until about the 14th century. AD It was distributed in the territories of Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia up to Western Iran ().
ancient South Arabian languages otherwise called "Epigraphic South Arabian" ( Sabaean, Menaic, Catabani and Hadhramaut), are known from written monuments from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. until the middle of the 6th c. AD They were distributed in the territory of modern Yemen and in the adjacent territories of South Arabia, including Oman.
ancient Ethiopian language, or geez known from the oldest royal inscriptions of Aksum from the middle of the 4th c. AD; as colloquial existed until about the 10th century. AD During this period, it was distributed on the territory of the ancient state of Aksum and in the adjacent northeastern regions of modern Ethiopia and Eritrea. Until now, it is used as a cult language of the Ethiopian Christian Church.
Old Arabic the language apparently existed as a collection of ancient tribal dialects of nomadic and sedentary inhabitants and is known from a small number of epigraphic texts dating back to the first centuries BC. and the first centuries A.D. In the pre-Islamic period, it was distributed in the territories of Central and Northern Arabia, and in connection with the migration of tribes at the beginning of our era. spread to the territories of Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia.
Living Semitic languages
are represented both by some descendants of the ancient Semitic languages known to us, and by languages that do not have their own written history.
Modern Arabic the language, represented by a single literary form and a number of oral-colloquial forms (dialects), is common in Western Asia, Northeast and North Africa in all Arab states, as well as in some neighboring African countries. According to the number of speakers (according to various sources, from 190 to 250 million people), it is one of the largest languages in the world.
Maltese the language (dating back to one of the Arabic dialects) is common on the island of Malta. According to 1990 data, the number of speakers of this language in Malta is 365 thousand, the total number of speakers of Maltese is about 500 thousand people.
Amharic language is the official written and spoken language of Ethiopia. The number of speakers, according to the 1980-1990s, is more than 15 million people. The first known written evidence of the Amharic language dates back to the 14th century. how literary language developed from the end of the 19th century. ().
Hebrew(or modern Jewish) - literary and colloquial, one of the two official languages of the State of Israel. According to data from the late 1980s, the number of speakers is about 5 million people.
New Aramaic languages are currently represented by several groups of dialects: western (in three villages of Syria northeast of Damascus), eastern, common in southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran; as well as Mandaean language spoken on the southern border between Iraq and Iran and Assyrian a language spoken by islands in northern Iran, northern Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, and also among the Assyrian diaspora. Total number speaking the Assyrian language, according to 1990 data, is about 330 thousand people.
Modern South Arabian languages: mekhri, harsushi, bathari, hobyote, jibbali(shahri) are common in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, in the territories of Yemen and Oman; language socotry on the island of Socotra. In general, the number of speakers of these languages, according to 1977 data, is about 200 thousand people.
Modern Ethiopian languages (in addition to Amharic) are represented by the northern and southern groups of languages.
The language belongs to the northern group tigray(or tigrinya), considered a descendant of the ancient Geez. Distributed in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia. The number of speakers is, according to 1995 data, about 4 million people. Language tiger distributed in Eritrea and in the border regions of Sudan. According to the 1990s, the number of speakers is about 1 million people.
The southern group (in addition to Amharic) includes argobba, harari and oriental gurage, northern and western gurage, hafat and a number of other closely related languages. Distributed in Ethiopia and neighboring countries. The number of speakers for each of the groups ranges from 500,000 to several thousand.
According to the hypothesis put forward by A.Yu. Militarev in the early 1980s, the alleged ancestral home of the Semitic-speaking population was in the 5th millennium BC. in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates.
The Semitic proto-language (base language) in this distant era was hardly a single one; it most likely represented a group of closely related tribal dialects.
In the history of the study of Semitic languages, many different principles for the classification of Semitic languages and, accordingly, the classifications themselves have been proposed. At the same time, their territorial and geographical distribution is recorded in the names of the main groups of Semitic languages.
The traditional classification of Semitic languages is based on a combination of the most revealing features of phonological and grammatical systems.
In Russian Semitology, the traditional classification of Semitic languages has been modified in accordance with the degree of archaism of the phonological and morphological systems or, on the contrary, the “advancement” of the changes that have occurred in them. So, according to I.M. Dyakonov, the genealogical classification of the Semitic languages is represented by the following scheme:
the northern peripheral (northeastern) group is the Akkadian language with its own dialects;
north-central (north-western) group - Eblaite, Amorite, Canaanite, Ugaritic, Phoenician, Hebrew with a modern form - Hebrew, Aramaic (ancient and modern);
south-central group - Arabic classical, modern Arabic, Arabic dialects, Maltese;
southern peripheral group - South Arabian epigraphic, modern South Arabian;
the Ethio-Semitic group, subdivided into northern (Geez, Tigray, Tigre) and southern (Amharic, Gurage group and a number of other languages and dialects) subgroups.
The latest and most recognized in the 1990s was the classification of the American scientist Robert Hetzron, later supplemented by a number of Western Semitologists. Hetzron's approach is based on taking into account morphological and phonological innovations common to a particular group of languages. The resulting classification looks like this:
Eastern Semitic languages - Akkadian, Eblaite;
Western Semitic languages:
central - Arabic;
northwestern - Ugaritic, Canaanite (Hebrew, Phoenician, etc.), Aramaic (and others);
South Semitic languages:
eastern - socotri; mekhri, kharsusi, jibbali (i.e. modern South Arabian);
western - ancient South Arabian (i.e. South Arabian epigraphic);
Ethiopian:
northern Ethiopian - geez, tiger, tiger;
South Ethiopian - Amharic (and others).
When comparing the two classifications, one can notice that in the second of them the Eblaite language is grouped with Akkadian, the Arabic language is grouped not with the southern, but with the Western Semitic, in relation to which it occupies a special - central - position. Within the Western group, Arabic is opposed to the Northwestern, and together with the entire large "Western" group, Arabic is opposed to the "Eastern" and "Southern" Semitic languages.
In recent years, the method of glottochronology has been used in domestic Semitology to classify the Semitic languages according to the chronology of their division, starting from the base language up to the selection of the languages known to us. Below is the chronology of the division of the Semitic languages, developed by A.Yu.Militarev.
From the above glottochronological table it follows that the earliest division of the Semitic proto-language occurs into northern and southern branches. At present, the southern branch is represented by its descendants: the Socotri, Mekhri, Jibbali (Shahri) languages, i.e. modern South Arabian. More divisions through some alleged linguistic communities over the course of five millennia are undergoing the northern branch, to which all other (dead and living) Semitic languages ultimately ascend. So, in the IV millennium BC. the northern branch is divided into two main sub-branches: northwestern and northeastern. Northeastern sub-branch in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC represented by a single group of Akkadian (with dialects). On the other hand, the northwestern sub-branch is subdivided into the central and peripheral groups, which in turn "branch" most of the Semitic languages known to us. At the same time, the Ethio-Semitic languages \u200b\u200bgo back directly to the northwestern sub-branch, like the central group. The Arabic language goes back directly to the central group, just like the entire group of Ugaritic, Canaanite, Hebrew, Aramaic languages (cf. the genealogical classification of R. Hetzron).
Since the glottochronological classification is based on a lexical feature (i.e., the degree to which the common basic vocabulary is preserved in each of the compared languages), this classification may not coincide with classifications based on phonological and morphological features languages.
In part, such discrepancies are due to the fact that each of the languages develops in its own way (that is why the division of the parent language occurs). Features and differences can be laid in the depths of the primary closely related dialects of the proto-language (as mentioned above, hardly any proto-language was completely unified). On the other hand, the separation of languages was associated with the separation-settlement and migration of their speakers. This process took place not only in time, but also in a specific geographical space, which was filled with neighboring peoples and tribes who spoke other, in some cases non-Semitic languages in general. Interlingual contacts could have influenced the structure and vocabulary of each of the separated Semitic languages.
So far, no definite traces of non-Semitic languages have been found on the territory of the Arabian Peninsula, although it is assumed that the south and southeast of the peninsula were inhabited by non-Semitic-speaking peoples in ancient times. But even in such relatively “favorable” conditions, the separating Semitic languages, together with their speakers, found themselves in mutual “secondary” contacts with their distant, earlier separated relatives, living and migrating in a single space.
There was an imposition of closely related influences, which further complicated the picture of the development and change of the Semitic languages.
So, if the hypothetical ancestral home of the Semitic-speaking population was in the 5th millennium BC. in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates, then the first separated group of languages, whose descendants are located in the extreme south of the Arabian Peninsula and the island of Socotra, had to do long way in the historical and geographical space of the Arabian Peninsula or its coast.
The ancestors of the Ethio-Semitic and epigraphic South Arabian languages also had to make a no less long journey through time and space. And only the ancestors of the Arabic-speaking tribes occupied a not so remote territory - apparently, these were still free then territories of Central Arabia, suitable only for a nomadic lifestyle. The speakers of the "proto-Arabic" language (or dialects) turned out to be a middle link between the "Arabian" languages that spread to the south and the northwestern relatives. It is for this reason that in the system of the Arabic language one can find features that bring it closer to the southern ones (phonological system, ways of forming the so-called "broken" plural), and with northwestern, especially Aramaic: endings of the suffix plural of names, a system of personal perfect endings (one of the aspect-temporal verb forms).
The most general typological characteristic of the Semitic languages takes into account the way in which morphemes are connected in a word. On this basis, the Semitic languages are defined as inflectional-agglutinative. This definition was put forward in the 19th century. F.F. Fortunatov. With a number of more detailed clarifications, this definition has been retained by the Semitic languages to the present day.
On the contrary, different Semitic languages are characterized differently by the way words are connected to each other in a phrase and sentence. For example, even within the limits of the Arabic language, there is a typological discrepancy between its literary form and Arabic dialects. The structure of classical and modern literary Arabic is defined as synthetic, and the structure of modern Arabic dialects is defined as synthetic-analytical, i.e. with a shift towards the development of analytical constructions in syntax.
As the Semitic languages were divided and developed independently, their particular typological characteristics also changed.
The Proto-Semitic language represented the features of the inflectional-agglutinative system most fully: word-building and inflectional forms had a developed system of external morphemes (prefixes, suffixes, infixes, endings) and internal morphemes, traditionally called internal inflection (alternation of vowels at the base of a word, doubling of root consonants). The relationship between words in a sentence and a phrase was expressed by the forms of words: case endings, forms of agreement, endings of personal verb forms. Functional words included only prepositions. Therefore, the original type of the Proto-Semitic language is assumed to be a synthetic type.
The phonological system of the Proto-Semitic language represented a type of regular consonant oppositions on the basis of "voiced: voiced: emphatic (i.e. glottalized or velarized)"; in addition, there was an opposition of consonants on the basis of "lateral: non-lateral".
As the Semitic languages separate and develop in their own ways, changes in the original typological structure occur in each of them. Some languages retain the type close to the original, others are characterized by the reduction of the phonological system, the loss of ancient inflections and, at the same time, the development of new grammatical forms and methods, new syntactic constructions. Thus, some of the Semitic languages known to us retain a more archaic structure and typology, while others are characterized by typological innovations and strong changes in the syntactic structure.
On the basis of archaic/innovativeness, all Semitic languages can be attributed to one of the three main stages of development - such a classification was proposed in the 1970s by I.M. Dyakonov.
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CLASSIFICATIONS OF THE SEMITIC LANGUAGES ACCORDING TO THE DEGREE OF ARCHAICITY |
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| Stage of development |
Group |
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| Ethiosemite. | South | Central | Northwest | Northeast | |
| Ancient | epigraphic: Sabaean, Mi-neisky and others. I thousand BC - ser. I millennium AD |
Old Arabic, Classical Arabic | Eblaite III thousand BC, Canaanitessky, ugaritic II millennium BC |
Akkadian III millennium BC |
|
| Medium | ancient Ethiopian ski-geez (to the border I-II millennium AD | Himyarite language (before 9th century AD) | ancient Arabic dialects (epi graph. Arabic) | Hebrew, Ancient Aramaic 10 in. BC. | Late Babylonian to early AD |
| Late | sowing Ethiopian: tigre, tigrinya (live), southern. Ethiopian: Amharsky, gurage, etc. (live) | modern south arabiaskies: mekhri, shakhri, socotri, etc. (live) | Arabic dialects; maltium Russian language (live) | new Aramaic languages; modern Hebrew (live) | |
It should be emphasized that this scheme classifies the Semitic languages according to the degree of development of their phonological and morphological structure, but by no means indicates a greater or lesser degree of their genetic relationship. So, if modern South Arabian languages are in the “late stage” column, this does not mean that they are genetically closer to modern Arabic dialects or to New Aramaic languages.
This classification takes into account only the degree of difference in the structure of the language from the hypothetically initial model of the general Semitic state (cross graphs) and the approximate geographical location of ancient and modern languages. Languages that are more closely related may be at different stages of development, as is the case with literary Arabic and Arabic dialects.
As characteristics common to most Semitic languages, we can note: stable consonantal composition of the root, the predominance of the triconsonant composition of the root, the presence of the so-called "root variants" (or "phonetic variants") of the consonantal part of the root. The latter phenomenon is represented by the metathesis (rearrangement) of root consonants or the alternation of one (or more) root consonant with a similar one in the way and / or place of articulation without changing the basic meaning of the root (or with transparent modifications of this meaning).
General Semitic structural-typological features can also include a single (mostly) type of word-formation and inflectional systems and, along with external affixation, a wide functioning of the method of internal inflection (according to another interpretation, the use of discontinuous morphemes, or transfixes).
Most Semitic languages are characterized by lexico-grammatical and grammatical categories of masculine and female, singular and plural (in some languages, the category of the dual number is also preserved); the case system in the historical perspective seems to be a dying category. Common to the verb system are the categories of person, number, and gender. Species-temporal categories are in the process of forming different systems in different Semitic languages. A general Semitic feature is the lexical and grammatical category of extended verb stems, the so-called "breeds": intensive, causative, directional, reflexive, etc.
Most Semitic languages are characterized by two possible syllable structures - CV and CVC (C - consonant, V - vowel), as well as the prohibition of consonant clusters at the beginning of a syllable and the prohibition of vowel clusters. At the same time, in many living Semitic languages (New Aramaic, some Arabic dialects, Hebrew), the destruction of the original Semitic restrictions on the structure of the syllable is noted. In many ways, this process is facilitated by the development of a weak accent into a strong one.
In the field of phonetic-phonological systems, with all the changes that have taken place in the Semitic languages during the period known to us, we can note as a common feature the preservation of the triple opposition of some consonants: voiced - voiceless - "emphatic".
It should also be noted that some of the historical changes observed in a number of Semitic languages occur according to the "general scenario": the verbalization of participles and the reduction of the case system in the field of morphology; the reduction of interdental, the fall of the explosive laryngeal - in the field of the phonetic-phonological system.
In general, it can be said that in each of the living Semitic languages, although "in its own way", there is a shift towards analyticism.
The history of the study of Semitic languages begins with the emergence of the first national grammar schools among the speakers of these languages ( cm. NATIONAL LINGUISTIC TRADITIONS).
The Arabic linguistic school and tradition was formed in the first centuries of Islam with the aim of preserving the sacred language of the Koran, normative processing and standardization of the written and literary language. Its first representatives and authorities - ad-Duali (7th century), al-Khalil, Sibawayh, al-Kisai (8th century) laid the foundations for traditional grammatical and phonetic analysis. The development of the system was carried out by Arab philologists of the 10th-13th centuries. The system of concepts and grammatical analysis developed by the Arabic tradition has had and continues to have a great influence on both modern Arabic linguistics and Western Arabic studies.
The Jewish linguistic school also arises in connection with textual work and the preservation of the text of the Old Testament. From the 10th–12th centuries The systematic study of the Hebrew language begins in the writings of Yehuda ben David Hayyuj, Mervan ibn Janakh. At the beginning of the 12th c. Isaac ibn Barun in his essay A book comparing Hebrew with Arabic compares two related languages grammatically and lexically. Further popularizing work of representatives of the Jewish linguistic school also served as the basis for the development of Semitological studies in the West.
The study of the Syriac language (one of the Aramaic languages) also begins among the Syrian philologists who studied the texts of the Holy Scriptures. The works of Syriac grammarians of the 7th century are known. (Jacob of Edessa), 11th c. (Ilya Tirkhansky), 12th century. (Jacob bar Ebrey).
In the West, attention to the languages of sacred texts - Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic - arises and intensifies during the Renaissance. In the future, scientific progress in deciphering ancient Semitic inscriptions contributes to the expansion of Semitic research. Western Semitology from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century. develops as a complex historical and philological science, which laid the material foundations for the future Semitic linguistics: the deciphering and publication of written monuments, the study of Jewish and Arabic manuscripts of the medieval period. This trend is also characteristic of Russian Semitology in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
At the same time, the successes of comparative historical linguistics in the field of the Indo-European languages and other language families are also attracting Semitologists to this direction. New archaeological discoveries and decipherments also contribute to the development of Semitic comparative studies: deciphering of ancient South Arabian epigraphy (M. Lidzbarsky, T. Nöldeke, F. Pretorius, D. Müller, I. Mordtmann, G. Reikmans, N. Rodokanakis), publication of written monuments of the ancient Ethiopian language (Ge'ez) and their analysis (17th-20th centuries), the creation of the first Ethiopian dictionaries and grammars (August Dilman, 1823-1894), the decipherment of Akkadian cuneiform in the middle of the 19th century. (Henry Rawlinson, Julius Oppert, William Talbot, Edward Hinks).
During the 18th and 19th centuries the circle of knowledge about the Aramaic languages is expanding. Grammars and dictionaries on the main Semitic languages are published: the Arabic grammar of Sylvester de Sacy (beginning of the 19th century), the Arabic dictionaries of G. Freytag, A. Bieberstein-Kazimirsky, E. Lane, R. Dozi (during the 19th century), works on Akkadian (Y. Oppert, 19th century), ancient Ethiopian, epigraphic South Arabian languages. By the beginning of the 20th century the first works on living Semitic languages appear: Arabic and Aramaic dialects, Ethio-Semitic languages. All these prerequisites contributed to the appearance of the first consolidated fundamental work of Karl Brockelmann on the comparative grammar of the Semitic languages (C. Brockelmann. Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der semitischen Sprachen. Bd. I–II, Berlin, 1908–1913). The scientist draws on all the Semitic material available for his time. The starting position of this work was the hypothesis that it is the Arabic language that is the oldest representative of the Semitic languages, and therefore the reconstruction of the ancient state was guided by the Arabic language system. Further development of Semitic linguistics and the involvement of new materials from Semitic languages refutes this hypothesis. The Akkadian language is beginning to be considered the prototype of the language of the most ancient type.
20th century was marked by the discovery and deciphering of the monuments of the Ugaritic and Eblaite languages, each of which makes its own adjustments to the idea of the genetic links of the Semitic languages. Grammars, dictionaries, comparative historical and typological studies on individual Semitic languages and dialects are published.
From generalizing works of the 20th century. on Semitic languages in the West, mention should be made of An Introduction to Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages by the Italian Semitologist Sabatino Moscati (1969), the work of Giovanni Garbini Semitic languages (1972), Dictionary of Semitic Roots French semitologist David Cohen (1970-present), the final collective work on the Semitic languages, published by R. Hetzron (1997, see references).
In Russian Semitology, the linguistic direction proper was singled out in the 1920s. N.V. Yushmanov summarizes all the material of the Semitic languages known by his time, uses the results of observations of the most authoritative representatives of the national Arabic grammar and Western Semitologists, and puts forward his hypothesis about the formation of the Semitic root. The scientist analyzes the phenomena of compatibility / incompatibility of root consonants, the phenomenon of root variants, highlights a system of class indicators for nominal roots. As a result, he puts forward hypotheses about the development of the Semitic triconsonant root from the two-consonant, about the development of the Semitic phonological system from a limited group of "diffuse" archiphonemes.
The fundamental problems of the structure and composition of the Semitic root, the peculiarities of Semitic consonantism have remained at the center of attention of Russian Semitic scholars throughout the entire 20th century. S.S. Meisel (1900–1952), based on the analysis of root variants found in various Semitic languages, puts forward a hypothesis that this phenomenon has become one of the ways to expand the root fund of Semitic languages. A.M.Gazov-Ginzberg proposes an original hypothesis about the sound-pictorial character of Semitic consonantism and vocalism. BM Grande (1891–1974), the founder of the school of Moscow Semitologists, develops the concept of a slogophoneme as the minimum unit of a Semitic word. An unconventional approach to the structure of the Semitic word was developed by the Moscow Semitologist V.P. Starinin (1903–1973), who put forward the concept of a discontinuous morpheme.
From the middle of the 20th century Semitological school in Tbilisi is actively developing. Its representatives are G.V. Tsereteli, T.V. Gamkrelidze, A.S. Lekiashvili, V.G. Akhvlediani, K.G. Tsereteli, L.V. , M.E. Nedospasova, G. Chikovani and many others - develop the problems of both individual Semitic languages and general theoretical issues.
The circle of Semitological research is also expanding in Moscow and Leningrad (St. Petersburg). Goes through a cycle scientific conferences, the materials of which are published in the series of collections "Semitic languages", a series of essays on individual Semitic languages is being published. In the early 1990s, a volume from the "Languages of Asia and Africa" series was published, dedicated to the Semitic languages.
The renewal of Semitic comparative studies began in the last quarter of the 20th century. works of I.M.Dyakonov (1915–1999) and a group of his students and younger colleagues (A.Yu.Militarev, V.Ya.Porhomovsky, O.V.Stolbova) in the field of not only Semitic, but also other languages of the Afroasian macrofamily. The reconstruction of the Afroasian phonological system, the structure of the Afroasian root, the reconstruction of specific Afroasian roots - all this allows Semitologists to see the facts of the Semitic languages against a wider Afroasian background.
The comparative-historical trend in Russian Semitic studies continues in the works of A.Yu. Militarev, who develops fundamental questions of the genesis of the Semitic languages: the problem of the ancestral home of the Semitic-speaking population, the problem of etymology and reconstruction of the basic Semitic root word, and the chronology of the division of Semitic languages. At present, A.Yu.Militarev and L.E.Kogan prepared the first in the world Semitology Semitic etymological dictionary(part 1). The first part of the dictionary contains more than four hundred reconstructed Proto-Semitic roots related to human and animal anatomy. This dictionary is expected to be continued on other topics.
As a result research work Semitologists towards the end of the 20th century. many "white" spots in the history of the Semitic languages began to disappear: their genetic connections were clarified, the possibility of a deep reconstruction of not only the consonant part of the root, but also the root vocalism was opened, the disappeared members of the phonological system, the primary structure of the root, the trends of language changes were reconstructed. General typology and sociolinguistics continue to be enriched by adequate data on Semitic languages and their history.
Literature:
Semitic languages. Ed. G.Sh.Sharbatova. M., 1963
Starinin V.P. The structure of the Semitic word. M., 1963
Gazov-Ginzberg A.M. Was language pictorial in its origins? M., 1965
Semitic languages. Materials of the first conf. in Semitic languages. Oct. 1964. Ed. G.Sh.Sharbatova, part 1–2. M., 1965
Gazov-Ginzberg A.M. Symbolism of Proto-Semitic inflection. M., 1974
Dyakonov I.M. Languages of ancient Western Asia. M., 1976
Militarev A.Yu. Development of views on the Semitic root.- In the book: Eastern Linguistics. M., 1976
Semitic languages. Sat. articles, no. 3. Ed. G.Sh.Sharbatova. M., 1976
Meisel S.S. Ways of development of the root fund of the Semitic languages. Rep. ed., compiler, author of the introductory article and additions A.Yu.Militarev. M., 1983
Semitic languages.- In the book: Languages of Asia and Africa, vol. IV, book. 1. Afroasian languages. M., 1991
Grande B.M. An Introduction to the Comparative Study of the Semitic Languages. M., 1972; 2nd ed. M., 1998
Yushmanov N.V. Selected writings. Works on general phonetics, semitology and Arabic classical morphology. M., 1998
B. Grande
Semitic languages - a group of languages of the Middle East, which had more or less extensive geographical distribution in different periods. Some of these languages have played the role of major cultural languages of world importance. K S. yaz. include: Babylonian-Assyrian. , which was for a number of centuries, starting from the 4th millennium BC. e., the most important language of the Ancient East; Hebrew language. ; Phoenician ; Aramaic and dialects that spread throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, starting from the 10th-9th centuries. BC e. and subsequently also occupied the territory of the Babylonian-Assyrian and Hebrew languages; Syriac , Arabic , which came to the fore as a world cultural language, starting from the 7th century. n. e., Semitic languages. Abyssinians (Amhara, Geez, etc.), an ancient South Arabian language. and etc.
S. yaz. form a rather close group, mutual ties and similarities between individual representatives of which are quite clear. The proximity of Arabic and Hebrew. was noted by Hebrew grammarians of the 10th century. (Ibn Quraish); the proximity of Aramaic to ancient Hebrew is even more obvious. The unity of this entire group of languages was recognized by Western European Orientalists already in the 17th century, when this group was given the name S. yaz. Especially much has been done for the comparative study of S. yaz. in the 19th century, after the cuneiform monuments of Assyria and Babylonia and South Arabian and Phoenician inscriptions were deciphered.
In addition to more common roots S. yaz. have a number of common grammatical and phonetic features. The main meaning of the root of words is associated in S. yaz. with consonants, and vowels play a service role, not being part of the root. Yes, in Arabic. from the root "ktb" with the help of various vowels, the following words are obtained: "kataba" - "he wrote", "kutiba" - "he was written", "katib-un" - "writing", "kitab-un" - "book ”, “kutub-un” - books, “katab-un” - “writing”, “a-ktubu” - “I write”, “ma-ktub-un” - “letter” - “ma-ktab-un” - “a place where they write” (= school), etc. Most of the roots consist of three and only a small number of two or four consonants. Word-formation and inflection takes place in addition to the "internal vowel change" just mentioned, with the help of both suffixes and prefixes. There are two grammatical genders. The declension is poorly developed, and it exists only in the Arabic classical language, where there are three cases, in other languages there are only traces. Tenses are poorly developed in the verb: in most S. yaz. there are only two tenses - finished and unfinished. Various verb forms have a great development for expressing amplification of action, transitivity, reciprocity, recurrence, repetition, coercion, passivity, etc. Suffixation is quite developed for designating a direct object with verbs and an indirect object with prepositions. The syntax is dominated by sentence forms.
S. yaz. have very close ties with the Cushitic, Berber-Libyan languages and with the ancient Egyptian language. All these languages are united by most of the newest researchers into one group, the Semitic-Hamitic. Academician N. Ya. Marr proved the deep connections that exist between S. yaz. and Japhetic. S. yaz. are a newer transformation of the early historical or "Japhetic" state of the speech of the peoples of the Mediterranean. Hence the convergence of S. yaz. with Japhetic, sometimes reaching the details.
List literature
Renan E., Histoire generale du système comparée des langues sémitiques, P., 1855
Wright W., Lectures on the comparative grammar of the semitic languages, Cambridge, 1890
Zimmern H., Vergleichende Grammatik der semitischen Sprachen, Berlin, 1898
Nöldecke Th., Die semitischen Sprachen, Eine Skizze, Lpz., Bd. I, Berlin, 1908, Bd. II, Berlin, 1912
His own, Kurzgefasste vergleich. Grammatik d. Semitischen Sprachen, Berlin, 1908
König Ed., Herbäisch und semitisch. Prolegomena und Grundlinien einer Geschichte d. semit. Sprachen, Berlin, 1901
Dhorme B.P., Langues et écritures sémitiques, P., 1930
Cohen M., Langues chamitosémitiques, in Les langues du monde, ed. A. Meillet et M. Cohen., P., 1924
Marr N. Ya., Preliminary report on the relationship of the Georgian language. with Semitic ones, in his work "Basic tables for the grammar of the ancient Georgian language", St. Petersburg, 1908 (reprinted in his "Selected Works", vol. I, L., 1933)
His own, Japhetic approach to the paleontology of Semitic languages, "Japhetic collection", vol. I, P., 1922
His own, On the question of the origin of Arabic numerals, “Notes of the College of Orientalists”, vol. V, L., 1931
Grande B., From the linguistic convergence of the Iberians of the Caucasus and Palestine, "Reports of the Academy of Sciences", 1931.
