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Proto-Semitic is the hypothetical proto-language of the Semitic languages. The most probable Proto-Semitic Urheimat is the Arabian peninsula. This hypothesis is based on fact that the Canaanite, Aramaic, and Arab nomadic tribes are recorded to have emerged from there. The same area of origin is likely for the Akkadians. The earliest attestations of a Semitic language are in Akkadian, dating to ca. the 23rd century BC (see Sargon of Akkad). Early inscriptions in the (pre-)Proto-Canaanite alphabet, presumably by speakers of a Semitic language, date to ca. 1800 BC. Proto-Semitic would most probably have been spoken in the 4th millennium BC, roughly contemporaneous to Proto-Indo-European. The distribution of the related Afro-Asiatic languages, and especially the Egyptian branch most closely related to Semitic, suggest an original immigration of the Proto-Semites to the Arabian peninsula from the Horn of Africa, but assumptions about such early times are necessarily speculative.
Sound system
Proto-Semitic is generally reconstructed as having the following phonemes (as usually transcribed in Semitology; tentative IPA values are given in square brackets):
| Consonants | Voiced | Voiceless | Emphatic | Nasal | Approximant / Trill / Flap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial plosives | |||||
| Interdental fricatives | |||||
| Alveolar plosives | |||||
| Postalveolar fricative | |||||
| Alveolar fricatives | |||||
| Lateral fricatives | |||||
| Palatal approximant | |||||
| Velar plosives | |||||
| Pharyngeal fricatives | |||||
| Glottal stop | |||||
| Glottal fricative |
| Vowels | Short | Long | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | ||||
| Low | ||||
The emphatic series of consonants are a common characteristic of Semitic. In Arabic, emphatics are pharyngealized while in Ethiopian Semitic languages, they are glottalized. So some believe the Proto-Semitic emphatic consonants to have been ejectives instead (ie: * = * = *, although in order to explain *, we must keep in mind that ejective fricatives like * are a rare occurance in world languages.
Sound changes between Proto-Semitic and the daughter languages
This proto-phonology was reconstructed to attempt to explain the regular phonetic differences between the Semitic languages. This is how they are believed to correspond.
| Proto-Semitic | Akkadian | Arabic | Phoenician | Hebrew | Aramaic | Ge'ez | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ب | || | ב | / | ב | / | በ | |||||
| ف | || | פ | / | פ | / | ፈ | |||||
| ذ | || | ז | ד | / | ዘ | ||||||
| ث | || | שׁ | ת | / | ሰ | ||||||
| ظ | || | צ | ט | ዘ | |||||||
| د | || | ד | / | ד | / | ደ | |||||
| ت | || | ת | / | ת | / | ተ | |||||
| ط | || | ט | ט | ጠ | |||||||
| س | || | שׁ | שׁ | ሰ | |||||||
| ز | || | ז | ז | ዘ | |||||||
| س | || | ס | ס | ሰ | |||||||
| ص | || | צ | צ | ጸ | |||||||
| ل | || | ל | ל | ለ | |||||||
| ش | || | שׂ | שׂ | ሠ | |||||||
| ض | || | צ | ע | ፀ | |||||||
| ج | || | ג | / | ג | / | ገ | |||||
| ك | || | כ | / | כ | / | ከ | |||||
| ق | || | ק | ק | ቀ | |||||||
| - | غ | || | ע | ע | ዐ | ||||||
| خ | || | ח | ח | ኀ | |||||||
| - | ع | || | ע | ע | ዐ | ||||||
| - | ح | || | ח | ח | ሐ | ||||||
| - | ء | || | א | א | አ | ||||||
| - | ه | || | ה | ה | ሀ | ||||||
| م | || | מ | מ | መ | |||||||
| ن | || | נ | נ ר | | ነ | ||||||
| ر | || | ר | ר | ረ | |||||||
| و | ו י | | ו י | | ወ | ||||||
| ي | || | י | י | የ | |||||||
| Proto-Semitic | Akkadian | Arabic | Phoenician | Hebrew | Aramaic | Ge'ez | |||||
References
- Burkhart Kienast, Historische semitische Sprachwissenschaft (2001).
- Proto Semitic Language and Culture - The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
See also
"Proto-Semitic language"