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Linguistic Affinities of Syrian Arabic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

G. R. Driver
Affiliation:
Magdalen College, Oxford

Extract

The dialect of the Arabic language which is spoken at the present day in Syria and Palestine has preserved many forms which bear a close relationship with the ancient languages which were formerly current in those countries. The origin of these peculiarities, which deviate from the canons of classical Arabic and which for the most part do not occur in Egyptian Arabic, is chiefly to be sought in Syriac, though many forms show the influence of Hebrew and Samaritan. Many of these resemblances, of course, are of an intangible kind, depending merely on the pronunciation of the vowels; in several cases, however, there is a definite change in the consonants, in which a return to some earlier dialect is seen.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1920

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References

page 305 note 1 It is an interesting point that, while the pronunciation ôas in Hebrew prevails in Palestine, both ô and au, as in Syriac (e.g. yôm or yaum, kôkab or kaukab), occur in Syria.

page 306 note 1 This prosthetic 'älif is also found in Samaritan, e.g. ansab for nasab, took (Petermann, Grammatica Samaritana, p. 9).

page 308 note 1 With this may be compared the use of νκτα, the night, γυναῖκα, the woman, as nominatives in modern Greek, and the derivation of the French rien from the Latin accusative rem.

page 308 note 2 See Dalman, , Palästinischer Diwan (Leipzig, 1901), p. 96, ii, 5.Google Scholar

page 309 note 1 See Dalman, , Grammatik des Jüdisch - Palästinischen Aramäisch (Leipzig, 1905), p. 11.Google Scholar

page 310 note 1 This i can be traced back to the language of the Tell-el-Amarna letters (e.g. tišpur for tašpur, thou sendest).

page 311 note 1 Petermann, op. cit., p. 22.

page 311 note 2 See Dr.Löhr, M., Der Vulgärarabische Dialect von Jerusalem (Gieszen, 1905), pp. 37, 43.Google Scholar

page 312 note 1 This tendency is seen also in the derived forms (e.g. III wâḫaḏ, blamed, for 'âḫaḏ), and may be compared with the Syriac was black (for ) and the regular IV form (e.g. ).

page 314 note 1 For the vocalization, see תיזֵחְַ (Dan. ii, 26) and תיבִצְ (Dan. vii, 19).

page 314 note 2 See Dalman, op. cit., p. 343.

page 314 note 3 Dalman, op. cit., p. 345.

page 315 note 1 See Petermann, op. cit., pp. 69–70.

page 315 note 2 The numerous variant forms of the Syriac numerals have been omitted.

page 316 note 1 See The Modern Egyptian Dialect of Arabic, by Dr.Vollers, K. and Burkitt, F. C. (Cambridge, 1895), p. 137.Google Scholar

page 316 note 2 See Dr. M. Löhr, Der Vulgärarabische Dialekt von Jerusalem, p. 81.

page 316 note 3 These names were borrowed by the Jews after the exile from Babylonia. See Cooke, , North Semitic Inscriptions (Oxford, 1903), p. 215.Google Scholar

page 317 note 1 Where no names are given, those in use do not belong to the same tradition.

page 318 note 1 This system also prevails in Egypt ; see Vollers & Burkitt, op. cit., p. 139.

page 318 note 2 From a different tradition in both languages.

page 318 note 3 See Maclean, A. J., Grammar of the Dialects of Vernacular Syriac (Cambridge, 1895), p. 71.Google Scholar