The Call of *Yaqtulu : The Central Semitic Imperfective, Nominalisation and Verbal Semantics in Cyclical Flux

• The article discusses the discrepancy between the *yaqattal and *yaqtulu imperfectives (the former known from East Semitic, Ethiosemitic and Modern South Arabian and the latter from Central Semitic). It argues that original nominalised phrases such as “he is a killer” came about based on an earlier “he is one who killed”, and that these were subsequently reinterpreted as imperfectives. A comparison is made with Modern South Arabian “insubordination”, and further lines are drawn into the attested development of Biblical Hebrew and Ugaritic and to the problems such a development imply for exegetical work. Arguments con-cerning the cladistics of West Semitic are also offered, and the possibility of an initial rise of *yaqtulu already in Proto-West Semitic is cautiously supported.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Jämförande språkvetenskap och allmän lingvistik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- General Language Studies and Linguistics (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Religionshistoria (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- History of Religions (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Religionsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Religious Studies (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

yaqattal

yaqtulu

Central Semitic

relatives

grammaticalization

nominalization

Northwest Semitic

Hebrew

Ugaritic

Publikations- och innehållstyp

art (ämneskategori)

ref (ämneskategori)