Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/ṯalāṯ-

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

Perhaps cognate with Egyptian ḫmtw, as are *ṯamāniy- and ḫmnw.

Numeral

Proto-Semitic numbers (edit)
 ←  2 3 4  → 
    Cardinal: *ṯalāṯ-

*ṯalāṯ-

  1. three

Usage notes

This number exhibited chiastic concord (gender polarity), in which masculine forms were used to agree with feminine nouns, and feminine forms with masculine nouns.

Reconstruction notes

Lipiński reconstructs *śalāṯ- to account for the Ethiopian Semitic and Modern South Arabian forms, and posits that the other Semitic languages underwent regressive assimilation of the first radical, but unless this variation was present at the level of Proto-Semitic, it is more parsimonious to assume that those languages underwent dissimilation instead.

Inflection

Declension of *ṯalāṯ-
m f
nominative *ṯalāṯum *ṯalāṯatum
accusative *ṯalāṯam *ṯalāṯatam
genitive *ṯalāṯim *ṯalāṯatim

Derived terms

  • *ṯalāṯ-um (nominative absolute)
    • East Semitic:
      • Akkadian: 𒐈 (šalāšum)
    • West Semitic:
  • *ṯalāṯ-at-um (nominative absolute with *-at- suffix)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Benjamin D. Suchard (2019), “A Concise Historical Morphology of Biblical Hebrew”, in The Development of the Biblical Hebrew Vowels‎[1], Brill, →ISBN, page 243
  • Huehnergard, John (2019), “Proto-Semitic”, in John Huehnergard, Na'ama Pat-El, editors, The Semitic Languages, 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN
  • Lipiński, Edward (2001), Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta; 80), 2nd edition, Leuven: Peeters, →ISBN
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