Jeffrey Henning wrote:


> On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 22:53:17 +0300, Isaac A. Penzev <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
> >Jeffrey Henning wrote:
> >> vOv - an egg in a bird's nest
> >> It's /ba/ at the moment, from Syriac _bee`a_.
> >
> >Just keep in mind: Syriac is not typical in its consonants. `ayin here
> >stands for a lost emphatic sound. Cf to Hebrew _beitza_ and Mn Standard
> >Arabic _bayd.un_ (where |d.| is appr. [d_?\]). Proto-Semitic
recontructions
> >may be smth like *bajK\_>U
>
> You lost me. How would you Romanize the Syriac word?

Hmm. I'm sorry for being vague. Indeed, one should read the Syriac word as
it is written, that is [be:"?\a:]. But the [?\] (`ayin) sound here is not a
reflection of a different PS sound, usually written as "s with acute and
underdot". Ppl believe it could be a dental/alveolar lateral ejective, that
is /K_>/ (sorry for an extra backslash in the previous msg). In different
Semitic lgs it gave different reflections. Thus, in Hebrew it usu. gives
/ts)/, and in Arabic /d_?\/. Cf also: He eretz ["?E4Ets)], Arab 'ard.un
["?a4d_?\Un], but Sy ar`a [?a4"?\a:] 'land'. OTOH, there was also a PS
`ayin, kept alive in most lgs, e.g.: He `abad [?\O:"BaD] 'to work', Arab
`abada 'to serve', Sy `abad [?\a_X"BaD] 'to make'.

> Here's the only other Syriac contributions I have at the moment:
>
> kelaba [Arabic <i>kalb</i>, Hebrew <i>keleb</i>, Syriac <i>kleb</i>,
> Tigrigna <i>k?lbi</i>.]  dog
>
> semase [Hebrew <i>shemesh</i>, Syriac <i>shmesh</i>.]  sun

Those are ok. I would not call them Syriac, anyway. They are common Semitic
roots. 'Sun' in Arabic is shams{un}, too. Vocalization pattern in your words
seems a bit inconsistent: they are of the same type, and both had a short
/a/ as the first (and only) vowel in PS. I don't know your stress patterns -
Semitic lgs are stress-sensitive when it goes about vowel changes - but if
it is penultimate as I feel, I would propose |kalobo|, |samoso|, or
|kalebe|, |samese|. PS vocalization is usu. thought to be rather close to Mn
St Ar.

With much respect,
-- Isaac