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THE ROOT HWY "TO BE", A PROTO-SEMITIC VERB

The root s/swy is found in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic. Among the various morphological structures through which the root is repre• sented, I mention especially the "intensive" stem of the verb, e.g., Arabic sawwa "to make equal, to equalize", while the "basic" stem of the verb, which is intransitive, is well represented in Hebrew sawa, Aramaic sewa "to be like, to equal, to resemble". My assumption is that the root represents an ancient "causative" stem formed with the "causative"-prefix sa-, and I consider the Aramaic and Hebrew verb "to be" as the root of which this causative was formed in Proto-Semitic. The original form of this verb, expressing the meaning "to be", may be established as hwy, as present in Aramaic hewa, a root-form rarely occurring in Hebrew (hdwa), where the common form is haya, the y of which certainly represents a replace• ment of w. In Arabic, a root hwy with the meaning "to be" (or: "to become") does not exist, but the root can nevertheless be considered as Proto-Semitic, since it is clearly attested in Akkadian: ewu (> emu), as has been recognized by A. Amiaud, Revue d'Assyriologie, vol. 2 (1885), p. 11. For the meanings and various usages of the Akkadian root see C(hicago) A(ssyrian) D(ictionary) , vol. 4 ("E"), p.413-415. The "basic" stem of the Akkadian root, i.e., ewu (infinitive), has the meaning "to change, turn into (intrans.)". The root also appears in the "intensive" stem, ummu "to turn into (trans.)", and in the "causative" stem, sumu "to turn into (trans.)". This last mentioned form of the Akkadian root, the "causative" sumu, appears to me to be directly based on the proto-Semitic form to which the West-Semitic root swy (swy) "to be equal, to resemble" is in my opinion to be traced back. I assume for Proto-Semitic the existence of a causative of the root hwy ("to be", or "to become") formed with the causative-prefix sa. This causative appeared probably under the form *sahway( a), and expressed the concept "he caused [something] to be (or: become) [something else]", or (in a different THE ROOT HWY 541 form of expression) "he turned [something] into [something else]", exactly as Akkadian useme « usewe). I assume that the sound h in the proto-Semitic form *sahway(a) disappeared and that thus a root swy developed. Probably, this original sound of the root hwy did not simply disappear without leaving a trace; rather, it may have become "assimilated" to the w (i.e., the second radical of the basic root hwy), so that the original form *sahway( a) developed into *sawway( a) with a geminated middle radical w, a form which had the appearance of the "intensive" stem of a root swy. The West-Semitic root sjswy ("to be equal", Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic) should thus be recognized as a "secondary" root, developed by an original verbal prefix (the causative-prefix sa) having turned into a part of the root itself. I thus identify this form *sawway( a) with the Akkadian form useme < usewe (infinitive: sumu < suwu), the causative stem of ewu, the Akkadian correspondence of West-Semitic hewa (Aramaic), haya (Hebrew) "to be". Akkadian ewu has the meaning "to change, turn into (intrans.)", and can, in this meaning, govern a direct com• plement in the accusative. Cf. (CAD, vol. 4 ("E"), p. 414a, sub 1. a) umu namrum da'ummatam /i-we-sum "may the bright day turn into darkness for him". In order to bring out the ordinary meaning of West-Semitic hewa, haya ("to be"), we could also interpret: "may the bright day become (or: be) darkness for him". The accusative (as in the quoted instance) should be considered the basic construc• tion of the complement of ewu (and of corresponding terms dependent on forms of the derived "stems" of the root). In most instances, however, the complement of forms of ewu, "to turn into" (both intransit. and transit.), is characterized by morphological elements expressing the idea of "like", thus characterized by the suffix -is, or the preposition kima or ki: "something becomes like something [else]" (or also-even when characterized by such elements-simply: "something changed into something [else]"). Compare, e.g., (CAD, I.e., p.414, sub 1 b) awilis i-we "he (Enkid) changed into a human being", or (Ibid., p.415, sub 3 a) u-se-me karmes "I turned (the enemy cities) into mounds", or (Ibid., sub 3 b) massu kima til abUbi lu-si-me "may he (Assur) turn his lands into mounds (left) by the flood"; etc. The idea "something becomes like something [else]" is most frequently implied in the concept "something becomes some• thing [else]". And analogously, with respect to the "causative" stem of the root, the idea "someone turns something into something