Ugaritic
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Infobox language Template:Contains special characters
Ugaritic<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Rendsburg, Gary A. “Modern South Arabian as a Source for Ugaritic Etymologies”. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society 107, no. 4 (1987): 623–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/603304.</ref> (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell)<ref>Template:MerriamWebsterDictionary</ref> is an extinct Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Ugaritic is alternatively classified in a "North Semitic" group, see Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=solve>Template:Cite journal</ref> including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycle.<ref name=solve /><ref name="EHLL 2013">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
Ugaritic has been called "the greatest literary discovery from antiquity since the deciphering of the Egyptian hieroglyphs and Mesopotamian cuneiform".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Corpus
Template:Main The Ugaritic language is attested in texts from the 14th through the early 12th century BC. The city of Ugarit was destroyed roughly 1190 BC.<ref name="Huehnergard2012">Template:Cite book</ref>
Literary texts discovered at Ugarit include the Legend of Keret or Kirta, the legends of Danel (AKA 'Aqhat), the Myth of Baal-Aliyan, and the Death of Baal. The latter two are also known collectively as the Baal Cycle. These texts reveal aspects of ancient Northwest Semitic religion in Syria-Palestine during the Late Bronze Age.
Edward Greenstein has proposed that Ugaritic texts might help solve biblical puzzles such as the anachronism of Ezekiel mentioning Daniel in Template:Bibleverse<ref name=solve /> actually referring to Danel, a hero from the Ugaritic Tale of Aqhat.
Phonology
Ugaritic had 28 consonantal phonemes (including two semivowels) and eight vowel phonemes (three short vowels and five long vowels): a ā i ī u ū ē ō. The phonemes ē and ō occur only as long vowels and are the result of monophthongization of the diphthongs аy and aw, respectively.
The following table shows Proto-Semitic phonemes and their correspondences among Ugaritic, Akkadian, Classical Arabic and Tiberian Hebrew:
Writing system
The Ugaritic alphabet is a cuneiform script used beginning in the 15th century BC. Like most Semitic scripts, it is an abjad, where each symbol stands for a consonant, leaving the reader to supply the appropriate vowel. Only after an aleph the vowel is indicated (’a, ’i, ’u). With other consonants one can often guess the unwritten vowel, and thus vocalize the text, from (a) parallel cases with an aleph, (b) texts where Ugaritic words are written in Akkadian cuneiform syllables, (c) comparison with other West-Semitic languages, for example Hebrew and Arabic, (d) generalized vocalization rules,<ref>An example of this last method in Sivan, A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language, p. 116: "[The] pattern of correspondences between the thematic vowel with the second radical and the prefix vowel (thematic u and i taking prefix vowel a; thematic a taking prefix i) is helpful in reconstructing the vocalized forms of the G stem prefix conjugation."</ref> and (e), in poetry, parallellisms are also helpful to interpret the consonantal skeleton.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Although it appears similar to Mesopotamian cuneiform (whose writing techniques it borrowed), its symbols and symbol meanings are unrelated. It is the oldest example of the family of West Semitic scripts such as the Phoenician, Paleo-Hebrew, and Aramaic alphabets (including the Hebrew alphabet). The so-called "long alphabet" has 30 letters while the "short alphabet" has 22. Other languages (particularly Hurrian) were occasionally written in the Ugarit area, although not elsewhere.
Clay tablets written in Ugaritic provide the earliest evidence of both the Levantine ordering of the alphabet, which gave rise to the alphabetic order of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin alphabets; and the South Semitic order, which gave rise to the order of the Ge'ez script. The script was written from left to right.
Grammar
Ugaritic is an inflected language, and as a Semitic language its grammatical features are highly similar to those found in Classical Arabic and Akkadian. It possesses two genders (masculine and feminine), three cases for nouns and adjectives (nominative, accusative, and genitive [also, note the possibility of a locative case]); three numbers: (singular, dual, and plural); and verb aspects similar to those found in other Northwest Semitic languages. The word order for Ugaritic is verb–subject–object (VSO), possessed–possessor (NG), and noun–adjective (NA). Ugaritic is considered a conservative Semitic language, since it retains most of the Proto-Semitic phonemes, the basic qualities of the vowel, the case system, the word order of the Proto-Semitic ancestor, and the lack of the definite article.
The word order for Ugaritic is verb–subject–object (VSO) and subject–object–verb (SOV),<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> possessed–possessor (NG), and noun–adjective (NA). Ugaritic is considered a conservative Semitic language, since it retains most of the phonemes, the case system, and the word order of the ancestral Proto-Semitic language.<ref name="urlA Basic Grammar of Ugaritic Language by Stanislav Segert - Hardcover - University of California Press">Template:Cite book</ref>
Word order
The word order for Ugaritic is Subject Verb Object (SVO), Verb Subject Object (VSO), possessed–possessor (NG), and noun–adjective (NA).
Morphology
Ugaritic, like all Semitic languages, exhibits a unique pattern of stems consisting typically of "triliteral", or 3-consonant consonantal roots (2- and 4-consonant roots also exist), from which nouns, adjectives, and verbs are formed in various ways: e.g. by inserting vowels, doubling consonants, and/or adding prefixes, suffixes, or infixes.
Verbs
Introduction
Ugaritic verbs are based on mostly three-literal roots (like all Semitic languages) (a few verbs have two- or four-consonant roots). For example, RGM, ‘to say’. By adding prefixes, infixes, and suffixes, and varying the vowels, the various verbal forms are formed. (Because in Ugaritic vowels are hardly written, these vowel variations often are not clearly visible).
Verbs can take several of a dozen stem patterns, or binyanim, that change the basic meaning of the verb, and make it for example passive, causative, or intensive. The basic form (in German: Grundstamm) is the G stem.
The verbal forms for each stem can be divided in five verbal form groups:
- the suffix conjugation, also called qtl (pronounced qatal), or Perfect;
- the prefix conjugation, also called yqtl (pronounced yiqtol), or Imperfect;
- imperatives;
- two different infinitives;
- an active and a passive participle.
Verbs have one of three different vowel patterns, -a-, -i-, and -u-:
- in the qtl (G stem): qatala, qatila, or qatula (cf. Hebrew qaṭal, kavēd, qaṭon);
- in the yqtl (G stem): yiqtalu, yaqtilu, or yaqtulu.
There is no one-on-one link between morphology and tense. This is because Ugaritic is an aspect language: verbal forms do not primarily indicate the timing of activities (in the past, present or future), but they indicate aspect: the suffix conjugation (qtl) has perfective aspect, it is used when viewing an activity as having a beginning and an end; the prefix conjugation (yqtl) has imperfective aspect, it is used when it is deemed irrelevant whether the activity has an end or beginning.
Ugaritic verbs can have several moods, both indicative and injunctive (jussive, cohortative). Moods are most clearly visible in the prefix conjugation (see below).
Suffix conjugation
The suffix conjugation (qtl) has perfective aspect. Taking the root RGM (which means "to say") as an example, ragama may be translated as “he says” (at this very moment), or “he has said” (and has finished speaking).
The paradigm of the suffix conjugation (or Perfect) is as follows for the a-verb RGM, the i-verb Š‘iL (“to ask”), and the u-verb MRṢ (“to fall ill”):
| model | a-verb | i-verb | u-verb | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | 1st | masc. & fem. | STEM-tu (or STEM-tī) |
rgmt | RaGaMtu (or RaGaMtī) |
“I say, have said” | ša’iltu (or ša’iltī) |
“I ask, have asked” |
maruṣtu (or maruṣtī) |
“I fall ill, have fallen ill” |
| 2nd | masculine | STEM-ta | rgmt | RaGaMta | “you (m.) say” | ša’ilta | (etc.) | maruṣta | (etc.) | |
| feminine | STEM-ti | rgmt | RaGaMti | “you (f.) say” | ša’ilti | maruṣti | ||||
| 3rd | masculine | STEM-a | rgm | RaGaMa | “he says” | ša’ila | maruṣa | |||
| feminine | STEM-at | rgmt | RaGaMat | “she says” | ša’ilat | maruṣat | ||||
| Dual | 1st | masc. & fem. | STEM-nayā | rgmny | RaGaMnayā | “the both of us say” | ša’ilnayā | maruṣnayā | ||
| 2nd | masc. & fem. | STEM-tumā | rgmtm | RaGaMtumā | “you two say” | ša’iltumā | maruṣtumā | |||
| 3rd | masculine | STEM-ā | rgm | RaGaMā | “they both (m.) say” | ša’ilā | maruṣā | |||
| feminine | STEM-atā | rgmt | RaGaMatā | “they both (f.) say” | ša’ilatā | maruṣatā | ||||
| Plural | 1st | masc. & fem. | STEM-nū | rgmn | RaGaMnū | “we say” | ša’ilnū | maruṣnū | ||
| 2nd | masculine | STEM-tum(u) | rgmtm | RaGaMtum(u) | “you (m. Pl.) say” | ša’iltum(u) | maruṣtum(u) | |||
| feminine | STEM-tin(n)a | rgmtn | RaGaMtin(n)a | “you (f. Pl.) say” | ša’iltin(n)a | maruṣtin(n)a | ||||
| 3rd | masculine | STEM-ū | rgm | RaGaMū | “they (m.) say” | ša’ilū | maruṣū | |||
| feminine | STEM-ā | rgm | RaGaMā | “they (f.) say” | ša’ilā | maruṣā | ||||
Prefix conjugation
The prefix conjugation yqtl- takes three forms: yiqtal-, yaqtil-, and yaqtul-. There is no simple one-on-one relation with the three qtl forms, qatal, qatil, and qatul. For example, the following three verbs are all of the qatal type, but have different yqtl patterns:
verb qtl type yqtl QR’ “to call, invoke” qara’a “he calls” yiqtal- yiqra’u “he will call” YRD “to go down” yarada “he goes down” yaqtil- yaridu “he will go down” RGM “to say, speak” ragama “he says” yaqtul- yargumu “he will say”
The Imperfect paradigms for the three patterns are as follows, for the verbs RGM, “to say” (yaqtul- pattern), Š’iL, “to ask” (yiqtal- pattern), and YRD, “to go down” (yaqtil pattern):
| model | yaqtul pattern | yiqtal pattern | yaqtil pattern | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | 1st | masc. & fem. | ’a/’i-STEM- | ’argm | ’aRGuMu | “I will say” | ’iš’alu | “I will ask” | ’aridu | “I will go down” |
| 2nd | masculine | ta/ti-STEM- | trgm | taRGuMu | “you (m.) will say” | tiš’alu | (etc.) | taridu | (etc.) | |
| feminine | ta/ti-STEM-īna | trgmn | taRGuMīna | “you (f.) will say” | tiš’alīna | taridīna | ||||
| 3rd | masculine | ya/yi-STEM- | yrgm | yaRGuMu | “he will say” | yiš’alu | yaridu | |||
| feminine | ta/ti-STEM- | trgm | taRGuMu | “she will say” | tiš’alu | taridu | ||||
| Dual | 1st | masc. & fem. | na/ni-STEM-ā | nrgm | naRGuMā | “the both of us will say” | niš’alā | naridā | ||
| 2nd | masc. & fem. | ta/ti-STEM-ā(ni) | trgm(n) | taRGuMā(ni) | “you two will say” | tiš’alā(ni) | taridā(ni) | |||
| 3rd | masculine | ya/yi-STEM-ā(ni) | yrgm(n) | yaRGuMā(ni) | “they both (m.) will say” | yiš’alā(ni) | yaridā(ni) | |||
| feminine | ta/ti-STEM-ā(ni) | trgm(n) | taRGuMā(ni) | “they both (f.) will say” | tiš’alā(ni) | taridā(ni) | ||||
| Plural | 1st | masc. & fem. | na/ni-STEM- | nrgm | naRGuMu | “we will say” | niš’alu | naridu | ||
| 2nd | masculine | ta/ti-STEM-ū(na) | trgm(n) | taRGuMū(na) | “you (m. Pl.) will say” | tiš’alū(na) | taridū(na) | |||
| feminine | ta/ti-STEM-na | trgmn | taRGuMna | “you (f. Pl.) will say” | tiš’alna | taridna | ||||
| 3rd | masculine | ya/yi-STEM-ū(na) | yrgm(n) | yaRGuMū(na) | “they (m.) will say” | yiš’alū(na) | yaridū(na) | |||
| feminine | ta/ti-STEM-na | trgmn | taRGuMna | “they (f.) will say” | tiš’alna | taridna | ||||
The prefix conjugation takes four or five different endings (yqtl, yqtlu, yqtla, yqtln). There are three clear moods (indicative, jussive, and volitive or cohortative). The so-called energic forms, yqtln, with an -n suffix (-an, -anna; possibly also -un, -unna), apparently have the same meaning as the shorter forms without the -n suffix.<ref>Daniel Sivan, A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language (HdO 28; Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, 2001), pp. 99-106, 116-119.</ref>
| Form | Name | Mood | Tense | Aspect | Example | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| yqtlu | Imperfect | Indicative | Present - Future | imperfective | yargumu | “he says, will say” | |
| Past | continued action | “he used to say, is wont to say” | |||||
| yqtl | ‘short form’ | Indicative | Past | imperfective | yargum | “he said” | |
| Jussive | — | — | “may he say, let him say” | ||||
| yqtla | Volitive | Volitive (Cohortative, Subjunctive) | — | — | yarguma | “may he say, he shall say” | |
| yqtln | Energic | Jussive | — | — | yarguman(na) | “may he say” | |
| Energic #2 | Indicative | Past | imperfective | yargumun(na) | “he said, says” | existence doubted |
Imperative
The imperative probably takes three forms, qatal, qutul, and *qitil, where the vowels correspond with the vowels in the imperfect.
Examples (the verb YRD “to go down, to descend” is a so-called ‘weak’ verb, the first consonant Y disappears in the imperative):
| a-type | i-type | u-type | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| verb: | PTḤ, “to open” | YRD, “to descend” | RGM, “to say, speak” | (speaking to:) | ||||
| (Imperfect, 3 Sg. m.:) | yiptaḥu | “he will open” | yaridu | “he will descend” | yargumu | “he will say” | ||
| Imperative, 2 Singular |
masculine | pataḥ | “open!” | rid | “descend!” | rugum | “say!”, “speak!” | a man |
| feminine | pataḥī | ridī | rugumī | a woman | ||||
| 2 Dual | masculine | pataḥā | ? | rugumā | two men | |||
| feminine | ? | ? | ? | two women | ||||
| 2 Plural | masculine | pataḥū | ridū | rugumū | three or more men, or men and women | |||
| feminine | pataḥā (?) | ? | rugumā (?) | three or more women | ||||
Participles
The paradigm of the active participle (G stem, verb MLK, “to be king”) is as follows:
| Singular | masculine | māliku | “reigning (king)” |
| feminine | malik(a)tu | “reigning (queen)” | |
| Plural | masculine | malikūma | “reigning (kings)” |
| feminine | mālikātu | “reigning (queens)” |
The passive participle is quite rare. There seem to be two forms (verbs RGM “to say”, ḤRM “to divide”):
| u-form | i-form | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | masculine | ragūmu | “said, spoken” | ẖarimu | “divided” |
| feminine | ragūm(a)tu | ẖarim(a)tu | |||
| Plural | masculine | ? | ? | ||
| feminine | ragūmātu | ẖarimātu | |||
Infinitives
Like other Semitic languages, Ugaritic has two infinitives, the infinitive absolute and the infinitive construct. However, in Ugaritic the two have an identical form. The usual form is halāku (“to go”, verb hlk), but a few verbs use an alternative form *hilku, for example niģru, “to guard” (verb nģr).
The infinitive absolute is often used preceding a perfect or imperfect verbal form, to put emphasis on that following verbal form. Such an infinive absolute may be translated as “verily, certainly, absolutely”. For example, halāku halaka, “he certainly goes” (literally, “to go! he goes”). An isolated infinitive absolute may also be used instead of any perfect, imperfect, or imperative verbal form.
The infinitive construct is often used after the prepositions l (“to”) and b (“in, by”): bi-ša’āli “in asking, by asking, while asking” (verb š’al “to ask”; note that after the preposition b (bi) the genitive of the infinitive is used).
Weak Verbs
In Ugaritic, "weak verbs" are verbs whose roots contain a weak consonant, that is, a consonant that may disappear in some forms, or change into another consonant. Weak consonants are w and y, and also n, h, and in one case l (lqḥ, “to take”), if these are the first root consonant. Weak verbs exhibit irregular patterns in their conjugation due to the inherent instability of the weak consonants, often leading to phonetic variations. This phenomenon is akin to that observed in other Semitic languages, including Hebrew.
For instance, the Ugaritic verb yrd, “to go down”, is a weak verb: its imperative is rd /rid/ “go down!”, without the y consonant. The verb hlk, “to go”, has the imperative lk /lik/ “go!”, without the h. Due to their weak consonants, weak verbs can undergo phonetic changes, such as the assimilation of waw (w) to yod (y), especially in the absence of an intervening vowel. This characteristic impacts the verb's inflection, resulting in variations that are atypical compared to regular (strong) verbs.<ref name="Gordon 1998 p. ">Template:Cite book</ref>
In Ugaritic there also exist "doubly weak verbs", which contain two weak consonants.
Patterns
Ugaritic verbs occur in about a dozen reconstructed patterns or binyanim (verb P‘L, “to make, do”):
| Verb Patterns | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hebrew equivalent | Active voice | Passive voice | |||||
| Perfect (3rd sg. masc.) | Imperfect (3rd sg. masc.) | Perfect (3rd sg. masc.) | Imperfect (3rd sg. masc.) | ||||
| G stem (simple) and Gp (passive) | qal and qal passive | paʻala, paʻila, paʻula | yipʻalu, yapʻilu, yapʻulu | puʻila | yupʻalu | ||
| (?) C stem (causative internal pattern) | (?) | yapʻiluTemplate:R | (?) | (?) | |||
| Gt stem (simple reflexive) | ʼiptaʻala | yaptaʻalu | n/a | ||||
| N stem (reciprocal or passive) | niphʻal | nap(a)ʻala | yappaʻilu (< *yanpaʻilu) | n/a | |||
| D stem (factitive) and Dp (passive) | piʻʻel and puʻʻal | paʻʻala | yapaʻʻilu | puʻʻila | yupaʻʻalu | ||
| tD stem (factitive reflexive) | hithpaʻʻel | tapaʻʻala | yatapaʻʻalu | n/a | |||
| L stem (intensive or factitive) and Lp (passive) | pôlel and pôlal | pāʻala | yupāʻilu | (?) | (?) | ||
| Š stem (causative) and Šp (passive) | hiphʻil and hophʻal | šapʻala | yašapʻiluTemplate:R | šupʻila | yušapʻalu | ||
| Št stem (causative reflexive) | hištaph‘al | ʼištapʻala | yaštapʻilu | n/a | |||
| R stem (factitive) (reduplicated roots)Template:R | paʻlala (e.g. karkara) | yapaʻlalu (e.g. yakarkaru) | (?) | (?) | |||
Nouns
Paradigm
Nouns (substantives, adjectives, personal names) in their basic form (nominative singular) end in -u. Nominal forms are categorized according to their inflection into: cases (nominative, genitive, and accusative), state (absolute and construct), gender (masculine and feminine), and number (singular, dual, and plural).
Here is the full paradigm for a masculine substantive (malku, “king”) and a feminine substantive (malkatu, “queen”).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
| Masculine | Feminine | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ending | malku, “king” | ending | malkatu, “queen” | ||||||||||
| number | case | abs. state | cs. state | absolute state | construct state | abs. state | cs. state | absolute state | construct state | ||||
| Singular | nominative | -u | mlk | malku | -u | mlkt | malkatu | ||||||
| genitive | -i | mlk | malki | -i | mlkt | malkati | |||||||
| accusative | -a | mlk | malka | -a | mlkt | malkata | |||||||
| Dual | nominative | -āma (or -āmi?) | -ā | mlkm | malkāma / malkāmi | mlk | malkā | -āma / -āmi | -ā | mlktm | malkatāma / malkatāmi | mlkt | malkatā |
| gen. & acc. | -êma (or -êmi?) | -ê | mlkm | malkêma / malkêmi | mlk | malkê | -êma / -êmi | -ê | mlktm | malkatêma / malkatêmi | mlkt | malkatê | |
| Plural | nominative | -ūma | -ū | mlkm | mal(a)kūma | mlk | malakū | (*)-u | mlkt | mal(a)kātu | |||
| gen. & acc. | -īma | -ī | mlkm | mal(a)kīma | mlk | malakī | (*)-i | mlkt | mal(a)kāti | ||||
Note (*): with lengthening of the final vowel of the stem: mal(a)kat- > mal(a)kāt-.
Case
Ugaritic has three grammatical cases corresponding to: nominative, genitive, and accusative. Normally, singular nouns take the ending -u in the nominative, -i in the genitive and -a in the accusative.
As in Arabic, some exceptional nouns (known as diptotes) have the suffix -a in the genitive. There is no Ugaritic equivalent for Classical Arabic nunation or Akkadian mimation.
State
Nouns in Ugaritic occur in two states: absolute and construct. The construct (or ‘bound’) state indicates that a noun is closely linked to the following noun. For example, “the house of the king” could in Ugaritic in principle be expressed in two ways:
1. “the house” (absolute state) “of the king” (absolute state, genitive). This might be called the ‘Latin’ way of expression (domus regis);
2. “the house of” (construct state) “the king” (absolute state, genitive). This might be called the ‘Hebrew’ way of expression (bēt hammelek).
The construct state is also the basic form used when a personal pronoun is suffixed: malakūma = “(the) kings” (absolute state, nominative) > malakū (construct state) > malakūhu = “his kings”; similarly malakĩhu = “(of) his kings” (genitive, accusative).
Ugaritic, unlike Arabic and Hebrew, has no definite article.
Gender
Nouns which have no gender marker are for the most part masculine, although some feminine nouns do not have a feminine marker. However, these denote feminine beings such as ʼumm- (mother). /-t/ is the feminine marker which is directly attached to the base of the noun.
Number
Ugaritic distinguishes between nouns based on quantity. All nouns are either singular when there is one, dual when there are two, and plural if there are three or more.
Singular
The singular has no marker and is inflected according to its case.
Dual
The marker for the dual in the absolute state appears as /-m/. However, the vocalization may be reconstructed as /-āma/ or /-āmi/ in the nominative (such as malkāma, malkāmi "two kings") and /-êma/ or /-êmi/ for the genitive and accusative (e.g. malkêma, malkêmi). For the construct state, it is /-ā/ and /-ê/ respectively.
Plural
Ugaritic has only regular plurals (i.e. no broken plurals). Masculine absolute state plurals take the forms /-ūma/ in the nominative and /-īma/ in the genitive and accusative. In the construct state they are /-ū/ and /-ī/ respectively. The female afformative plural is /-āt/ with a case marker probably following the /-t/, giving /-ātu/ for the nominative and /-āti/ for the genitive and accusative in both absolute and construct state.
Adjectives
Adjectives follow the noun and are declined exactly like the preceding noun.
Personal pronouns
Independent personal pronouns
Independent personal pronouns in Ugaritic are as follows (some forms are lacking because they are not in the corpus of the language):
| person | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | ʼanā, ʼanāku | "I" | ʼanaḥnu | "we" | |||
| 2nd | masculine | ʼatta | “you” | ʼattumā | “you two” | ʼattumu | “you all” |
| feminine | ʼatti | “you” | ʼattina | “you all” | |||
| 3rd | masculine | huwaTemplate:R | “he” | humā | “them two” | humuTemplate:R | “they” |
| feminine | hiyaTemplate:R | “she” | hinna | “they” | |||
Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns
Suffixed (or enclitic) pronouns (mainly denoting the genitive and accusative) are as follows:
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | -yaTemplate:R | “my” | -nayā | “our” | -na, -nu | “our” | |
| 2nd | masculine | -ka | “your” | -kumā | “your” | -kum- | “your” |
| feminine | -ki | “your” | -kin(n)a | “your” | |||
| 3rd | masculine | -hu | “his” | -humā | “their” | -hum- | “their” |
| feminine | -ha | “her” | -hin(n)a | “their” | |||
Numerals
The following is a table of Ugaritic numerals:
| Number | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ʼaḥḥadu | ʼaḥattu |
| 2 | ṯināTemplate:R | ṯittāTemplate:R |
| 3 | ṯalāṯu | ṯalāṯatu |
| 4 | ʼarbaʻu | ʼarbaʻatu |
| 5 | ḫam(i)šu | ḫam(i)šatu |
| 6 | ṯiṯṯu | ṯiṯṯatu |
| 7 | šabʻu | šabʻatu |
| 8 | ṯamānu | ṯamānītu |
| 9 | tišʻu | tišʻatu |
| 10 | ʻaš(a)ru | ʻaš(a)ratu |
| 20 | ʻašrāma Template:R | |
| 30 | ṯalāṯūma Template:R | |
| 100 | miʼtu | |
| 200 | miʼtāma | |
| 1000 | ʼalpu | |
| 10000 | ribbatuTemplate:R | |
Ordinals
The following is a table of Ugaritic ordinals:
| Number | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | prʿ | prʿt |
| 2 | ṯanū | ṯanītuTemplate:R |
| 3 | ṯalīṯu | ṯalīṯatu |
| 4 | rabīʻu | rabīʻatu |
| 5 | ḫamīšu | ḫamīšatu |
| 6 | ṯadīṯu | ṯadīṯatu |
| 7 | šabīʻu | šabīʻatu |
| 8 | ṯamīnu | ṯamīnatu |
| 9 | tašīʻu | tašīʻatu |
Sample Texts
Here is a fragment from the epic “Baal” cycle (KTU tablet 1.4 column 5). Ba‘al, son of Supreme God El, has rebelled, he wants a palace of his own. After some blackmail - Ba‘al withholds his rain from the land - El agrees. Ba‘al's sister Anat brings him the good news:
| UgariticTemplate:Efn<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> | vocalized | English |
|---|---|---|
| w bn bht ksp w ḫrṣ bht ṭhrm ’iqn’im | wa-banayū bahatū kaspa wa-ḫurāṣa, bahatū ṭuḥūrīma ’iqn’īma |
“And build a house of silver and gold, a house of pure lapis lazuli.” |
From a list describing the organization of wine deliveries for royal sacrificial rites (KTU 1.91). Wine is to be consumed when ...:
| k t‘rb ‘ṯtrt sd bt mlk k t‘rbn ršpm bt mlk |
kî ta‘rubu ‘Aṯtaratu-Sadi bêta malki, kî ta‘rubūna Rašapūma bêta malki |
“... when Athtart of the Field enters the house of the king, when the Reshaphim enter the house of the king [...]” |
From a letter (KTU 2.19):
| nqmd mlk ’ugrt ktb spr hnd | Niqmaddu malku ’Ugarīti kataba sipra hānādū | “Niqmaddu, king of Ugarit, has written this document.” |
From a “contract” (KTU 3.4):
| l ym hnd ’iwr[k]l pdy ’agdn | le-yômi hānādū ’Iwrikallu padaya ’Agdena | “From this day, Iwrikallu has redeemed Agdenu.” |
See also
- Ugarit
- Ugaritic alphabet
- Northwest Semitic languages
- Central Semitic languages
- Semitic Languages
- Proto-Semitic language
Notes
Template:Ibid Template:Notelist
References
- Citations
- Bibliography
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book (2 vols; originally in Spanish, translated by W. G. E. Watson).
- Template:Cite book (Contains Latin-alphabet transliterations of the Ugaritic texts and facing translations in English.)
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book Found at Google Scholar.
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book P. 1-404 Template:Webarchive.
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book A more concise grammar.
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
Further reading
- Pardee, Dennis. “UGARITIC PROPER NOUNS”. In: Archiv Für Orientforschung 36/37 (1989): 390–513. UGARITIC PROPER NOUNS.
- Template:Cite book
- Watson, Wilfred G.E. "From Hair to Heel: Ugaritic Terms for Parts of the Body". In: Template:Ill Vol. LII (2015), pp. 323–364.
- Watson, Wilfred G.E. "Terms for Occupations, Professions and Social Classes in Ugaritic: An Etymological Study". In: Folia Orientalia Vol. LV (2018), pp. 307–378. DOI: 10.24425/for.2018.124688
- Watson, Wilfred G.E. "Terms for Textiles, Clothing, Hides, Wool and Accessories in Ugaritic: An Etymological Study". In: Aula Orientalis 36/2 (2018): 359–396. Template:ISSN.
- Watson, Wilfred G. E.. "Ugaritic Military Terms in the Light of Comparative Linguistics". In: At the Dawn of History: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honour of J. N. Postgate. Edited by Yağmur Heffron, Adam Stone and Martin Worthington, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, 2021. pp. 699–720. coaccess
External links
- Ugarit and the Bible. An excerpt from an online introductory course on Ugaritic grammar (the Quartz Hill School of Theology's course noted in the links hereafter). Includes a cursory discussion on the relationship between Ugaritic and Old Testament/Hebrew Bible literature.
- "El in the Ugaritic tablets" on the BBCi website gives many attributes of the Ugaritic creator and his consort Athirat.
- Abstract of Mark Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Text.
- Unicode Chart.
- RSTI. The Ras Shamra Tablet Inventory: an online catalog of inscribed objects from Ras Shamra-Ugarit produced at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
- Introduction to Ugaritic Grammar (Quartz Hill School of Theology)
- Introduction to Ugaritic Grammar Template:Webarchive (University of Chicago)