| Title | The Shape of the Teen Numerals in Central Semitic |
|---|---|
| Contributor | Benjamin D. Suchard(author) |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0463.22 |
| Landing page | https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0463/chapters/10.11647/obp.0463.22 |
| License | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| Copyright | Benjamin Suchard; |
| Publisher | Open Book Publishers |
| Published on | 2025-03-07 |
| Long abstract | The study reconstructs the morphology of teen numerals in Central Semitic languages, covering Northwest Semitic, Arabic, and Sabaic. The formation follows a digit-teen order with gender agreement, unlike many other Semitic languages. The digit stems largely align with previous reconstructions, but significant attention is given to the numeral ‘one’, posited as *ʿist-ān- for masculine and *ʿist-ay- for feminine forms, derived from a Proto-Semitic root distinct from the later adjectival *ʾaḥad-. The paper also examines the endings in the teen numerals, showing that the uninflecting *-a likely preserves an ancient feature. The distinct morphology of feminine forms, especially the Northwest Semitic *ʿiśrihi, reflects an innovative feminine suffix *-ihi, also evidenced in Arabic demonstratives. The study concludes that many features of the teen numerals result from both inherited and innovative elements within the linguistic group. |
| Page range | pp. 611–630 |
| Print length | 20 pages |
| Language | English (Original) |
| Landing Page | Full text URL | Platform | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0463/chapters/10.11647/obp.0463.22 | Landing page | https://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0463.22.pdf | Full text URL |
Benjamin D. Suchard (PhD, Leiden University) is a postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven focusing on Biblical Hebrew, Middle Aramaic, and Comparative Semitics. His publications include The Development of the Biblical Hebrew Vowels (Brill, 2020), Aramaic Daniel: A Textual Reconstruction of Chapters 1–7 (Brill, 2022), and ‘What Can Nabataean Aramaic Tell Us about Pre-Islamic Arabic?’, Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 34/1 (2023).