Jump to content

Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/warḫ-

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Compare Egyptian jꜥḥ, Hausa wata and Proto-Berber *a-ʔyur.

Noun

[edit]

*warḫ- m

  1. moon
  2. month

Inflection

[edit]

Reconstruction notes

[edit]

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, Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s/ɡ-la, Proto-Mongolic *sara, Proto-Turkic *āy, Proto-Japonic *tukuy, Proto-South Dravidian *tinkaḷ, Proto-Austronesian *bulaN, Proto-Tai *ɓlɯənᴬ, Proto-Mon-Khmer *khəjʔ and Sumerian 𒌗 (itu, itud, iti, itid /⁠itud, itid⁠/) since the moon's orbital period was used for defining a month.

Descendants

[edit]
  • 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:
    • Modern South Arabian:

References

[edit]
  • 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