Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/pay-

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

Possibly from Proto-Afroasiatic. Compare Proto-Cushitic *ʔaf-/*yaf- (“mouth”).

Noun

*pay- m

1. mouth

Inflection

Declension of *pay-

case	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*payum	*payāna	plural stem + *-ūna
accusative	*payam	*payayna	plural stem + *-īna
genitive	*payim
possessive forms
1st person	*payī / *payVya	—	*payVni
2nd person m	*payVka	*payVkumā / *payVkumay	*payVkum(ū)
2nd person f	*payVki		*payVkin(ā)
3rd person m	*payVšu	*payVšumā / *payVšumay	*payVšum(ū)
3rd person f	*payVša		*payVšin(ā)

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: *payuya for nom. case, *payiya for gen. case, *payaya for acc. case, etc.

Descendants

• East Semitic:
  • Akkadian: 𒅗 (pûm)
• West Semitic:
  • Central Semitic:
    • Arabic: فَم (fam)
      • Egyptian Arabic: فم (fumm)
      • Hijazi Arabic: فم (famm, fumm)
      • Maltese: fomm
      • Moroccan Arabic: فم (fumm), فا (fā)
      • South Levantine Arabic: تم (tumm, timm)
    • Northwest Semitic:
      • Aramaic:

        Imperial Aramaic: 𐡐𐡌 (pm)

        Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: פִּימָא (pemā)

        Christian Palestinian Aramaic: ܦܝܡܐ (pemā)

        Nabataean Aramaic: 𐢘𐢒 / 𐢘𐢈𐢒 (/⁠pūm⁠/)

        Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: פּוּמָא (pumā)

        • Classical Syriac: ܦܾ݁ܘܡܳܐ (pumā)
      • Canaanite:
        • Hebrew: פֶּה (pe, pê)
        • Phoenician: 𐤐 (p /⁠pi⁠/)
          • → Ancient Greek: πεῖ (peî)
            • → English: pi
      • Ugaritic: 𐎔 (p /⁠pū⁠/)
    • Old South Arabian:
      • Old South Arabian: 𐩰 (f)
  • Ethiopian Semitic: *ʾaf-
    • Amharic: አፍ (ʾäf)
    • Argobba: አፍ (ʾäf)
    • Ge'ez: አፍ (ʾäf)
    • Gurage: አፍ (ʾäf)
    • Harari: አፍ (ʾäf)
    • Tigre: አፍ (ʾäf)
    • Tigrinya: አፍ (ʾäf)

References

• Nöldeke, Theodor (1910) Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎^[1] (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, pages 171–178
• Kogan, Leonid (2011) “Proto-Semitic Lexicon”, in Weninger, Stefan, editor, The Semitic Languages. An International Handbook (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft – Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science; 36), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, pages 221–222