Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/wabal-

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

Verb

*wabal-

to carry, to bear, to support by muscular power
(figurative) of plants: to bear a certain produce, so as to later yield
(figurative) of bodies of water and similar: to carry, to have flowing, to stream
(figurative) of human hardships: to bear, to tolerate, to suffer, to shoulder, to grieve

Conjugation

Conjugation of Proto-Semitic/wabal- (paʕala)

		singular				dual			plural
verbal noun					*wabl-
active participle					*wābil-
passive participle					wabīl-, wabūl-
		1^st person	2^nd person	3^rd person		1^st person	2^nd person	3^rd person	1^st person	2^nd person	3^rd person
perfect	m	*wabalku	*wabalka	*wabala		*wabalkayā	*wabalkā	*wabalā	*wabalna	*wabalkanu	*wabalū
perfect	f	*wabalku	*wabalki	*wabalat		*wabalkayā	*wabalkā	*wabalatā	*wabalna	*wabalkina	*wabalā

imperfect	m	*ʔabil	*tabil	*yibil			*tabilā	*yabilā	*nibil	*tabilū	*yibilū
imperfect	f	*ʔabil	*tabilī	*tabil			*tabilā	*tabilā	*nibil	*tabilā	*yibilā

imperative	m		*bil				*bilā			*bilū
imperative	f		*bilī				*bilā			*bilā

Derived terms

*wābil- (“carrier in the literal sense; a rod, a technical support; a stream, drench, channel, wadi”)
*wabl- (“something carried; a stream”)

Descendants

East Semitic:
- Akkadian: 𒀀𒁀𒈝 (wabālum, “to carry, to transport, to bring”)
- Eblaite: 𒂍𒁀𒀠 (ʾa₃-ba-al /⁠wabāl/ˀu(m)⁠/)
West Semitic:
- Central Semitic:
  - Arabic: وَبَلَ (wabala)
  - Northwest Semitic:
    - Aramaic: (“to bring, to deliver”)
      Old Aramaic: 𐤉𐤁𐤋
      
      Imperial Aramaic: 𐡉𐡁𐡋 (ybl)
      
      Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, Jewish Literary Aramaic, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: יבל
      - Classical Syriac: ܝܒܠ
      - ⇒ Aramaic: א־ב־ל (ʾ-b-l, “related to mourning, grief, etc.”) (see CAL for more)
    - Canaanite:
      - Amorite: 𐎊𐎁𐎍 (ybl, “to carry, to bring”)
      - Hebrew: יָבַל (yāḇal, “to carry, to bring along, to bear; to yield; to flow, to stream”)
    - Ugaritic: 𐎊𐎁𐎍 (ybl /⁠yabala⁠/, “to bring; to yield”)
    - ⇒ Egyptian: ywbꜣjrꜣ (“stream”)
  - Old South Arabian:
    - Minaean: 𐩥𐩨𐩡 (wbl, “to emburden with levies”)
    - Sabaean: 𐩥𐩨𐩡 (wbl, “to emburden with levies”)

References

Huehnergard, John (2019) “Proto-Semitic”, in Huehnergard, John and Na'ama Pat-El, editors, The Semitic Languages, 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN, page 50, saying “*ja-t-wabal (3-RECP-carry. PCS) > *jawtabal (metathesis) > *jattabal” but this verb can be plausibly conceived for Proto-Semitic due to the frequency of the base
“ybl”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986– is linked here for convenience in lack of Aramaic entries
Hoch, James E. (1994) Semitic Words in Egyptian Texts of the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, Princeton: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, pages 50–51
Olmo Lete, Gregorio del with Sanmartín, Joaquín and Watson, Wilfred G. E. (2015) “ybl etc.”, in A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition (Handbook of Oriental Studies; 112), 3rd edition, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 935–937, calls the etymology of meanings related to streams of water uncertain, but via the idea of water “carrying” the relationship is straightforward.