Samaritan Hebrew language
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| colspan="3" style="text-align: center; font-size:120%; color: black; background-color: Template:Infobox Language/family-color;" |Samaritan Hebrew #REDIRECT Template:Script/Hebrew ‘IvritTemplate:Infobox Language/pronunciation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Israel and Palestinian Authority territories, predominantly in Samaria and Holon. | |
| Total speakers: | fewer than 1,000; liturgical only | |
| Language family: | Template:Infobox Language/genetic2 Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Northwest Semitic Canaanite Samaritan Hebrew | |
| Writing system: | Samaritan abjad | |
| colspan="3" style="text-align: center; color: black; background-color: Template:Infobox Language/family-color;"|Official status | ||
| Official language in: | none | |
| Regulated by: | no official regulation | |
| colspan="3" style="text-align: center; color: black; background-color: Template:Infobox Language/family-color;" |Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | — | |
| ISO 639-3: | heb | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
The Samaritan Hebrew language is a descendant of Biblical Hebrew as pronounced and written by the Samaritans. It is used in the reading tradition of the Samaritan Pentateuch.
Contents |
Writing
It is written in the Samaritan alphabet, a direct descendant of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet (itself a variation on the Phoenician alphabet), whereas all other varieties of Hebrew are written in the later Hebrew alphabet, a variation on the Aramaic alphabet.
Pronunciation
The Samaritan pronunciation of Hebrew differs in several respects from most others. The laryngeals He and Heth have disappeared or turned into vowels. Beth and Waw both are pronounced as b (in fact, the letters' names are pronounced Bît and Ba), only the waw-conjunctive is pronounced as u. There is no double pronunciation of the Shin like Jewish Hebrew; it is always pronounced sh. Consonants with dagesh are pronounced geminate. Stress is commonly penultimate rather than ultimate.
Grammar
Pronouns
Personal
| I | anáki |
| you (male) | átta |
| you (female) | átti (note the final yod) |
| he | û |
| she | î |
| we | anánu |
| you (male, plural) | attímma |
| you (female, plural) | éttên |
| they (male) | ímma |
| they (female) | ínna |
Demonstrative
This: masc. ze, fem. zéot, pl. ílla.
That: alaz (written with a he at the beginning).
Relative
Who, which: éšar.
Interrogative
Who? = mi. What? = ma.
Noun
When suffixes are added, ê and ô in the last syllable may become î and û: bôr "pit" > búrôt "pits". Note also af "anger" > éppa "her anger".
Segolates behave more or less as in other Hebrew varieties: beţen "stomach" > báţnek "your stomach", kesef "silver" > kesfánu "our silver", dérek > dirkakimma "your (m. pl.) road" but áreş "earth" > árşak "your earth".
Article
The definite article is a- or e-, and causes gemination of the following consonant, unless it is a guttural; it is written with a he, but as usual, the h is silent. Thus, for example: énnar / ánnar = "the youth"; ellêm = "the meat"; a'émur = "the donkey".
Number
Regular plural suffixes are -êm masc., -ôt fem: eyyamêm "the days", elamôt "dreams".
Dual is sometimes -ayem (šenatayem "two years"), usually -êm like the plural (yédêm "hands".)
Verbs
Affixes are:
| perfect | imperfect | |
| I | -ti | e- |
| you (male) | -ta | ti- |
| you (female) | -ti | ? |
| he | - | yi- |
| she | -a | ti- |
| we | ? | ne- |
| you (plural) | -tímma | te- -un |
| you (female, plural) | -tên | ? |
| they (male) | -u | yi- -u |
| they (female) | ? | ti- -inna |
Particles
Prepositions
"in, using", pronounced:
- b- before a vowel (or, therefore, a former guttural): b-érbi = "with a sword"; b-íštu "with his wife".
- ba- before a bilabial consonant: bá-bêt "in a house", ba-mádbar "in a wilderness"
- ev- before other consonant: ev-lila "in a night", ev-dévar "with the thing".
- ba-/be- before the definite article ("the"): barrášet "in the beginning"; béyyôm "in the day".
"as, like", pronounced:
- ka without the article: ka-demútu "in his likeness"
- ke with the article: ké-yyôm "like the day".
"to" pronounced:
- l- before a vowel: l-ávi "to my father", l-évad "to the slave"
- el-, al- before a consonant: al-béni "to the children (of)"
- le- before l: le-léket "to go"
- l- before the article: lammúad "at the appointed time"; la-şé'on "to the flock"
"and" pronounced:
- w- before consonants: wal-Šárra "and to Sarah"
- u- before vowels: u-yeššeg "and he caught up".
Other prepositions:
- al: towards
- elfáni: before
- bêd-u: for him
- elqérôt: against
- balêd-i: except me
Conjunctions
- u: or
- em: if, when
- avel: but
Adverbs
- la: not
- kâ: also
- afu: also
- ín-ak: you are not
- ífa (ípa): where?
- méti: when
- fâ: here
- šémma: there
- mittét: under
Bibliography
- J. Rosenberg, Lehrbuch der samaritanischen Sprache und Literatur, A. Hartleben's Verlag: Wien, Pest, Leipzig.
- Ben-Hayyim, Ze'ev, and Tal, Abraham, A Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew Based on the Recitation of the Law in Comparison with the Tiberian and Other Jewish Traditions: 2000 ISBN 1-57506-047-7
