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Brill’s Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics 9 (2017) 119–138

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On the role of Modern South Arabian within a comparative Semitic lexicographical project

Lutz Edzard Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg / University of Oslo [email protected]

Abstract

Drawing on material collected in the course of a large comparative Semitic lexico- graphic project in general and inspired by Kogan 2015 and other sources (mainly the dictionaries by Thomas Muir Johnstone and Wolf Leslau) in particular, this paper aims at detecting specific lexical peculiarities and semantic shades in the South Semitic (mainly Modern South Arabian) lexicon, in order to determine the value of this branch for genetic classification within Semitic at large

Keywords

Modern South Arabian – Arabic – Lexicography

1 Introduction

This paper emanates from the author’s participation in a large-scale lexicographical project, the Doha Historical Dictionary of Arabic (muʿǧam ad-dawḥa at-taʾrīxī li-l-luġa al-ʿarabīya). Within this project, the author is responsible for comparative Semitic etymological entries, which shall accompany the individual Arabic lemmata. While the project is far from being finished, the comparative data gathered so far clearly support the common wisdom about genealogical classification of Semitic. In addition to the well-established criteria setting apart East and West Semitic (cf. notably Faber 1997: 7–12), Goldenberg (2013: 45f.) lists the following further classification criteria, which are of special rele- vance for the southern varieties Semitic:

– the distribution of the intraflexion (“broken plural”) in Arabic, South-Ara- bian, and Ethio-Semitic; – internal vowel lengthening in the binyanim (forms iii and vi in Arabic); – consistent use of -a- in all active forms of the suffix conjugation; – the existence of two prefix conjugations (Akkadian, Modern South Arabian, Ethio-Semitic); – the emergence of the -na ending (3pl.f., 2pl.f.) in Central Semitic (cf. Hetzron 1976); – the isogloss p (Akkadian, Aramaic, Canaanite) vs. f (Arabic, South-Arabian, Ethio-Semitic).

Hetzron (1976), to whom we owe the concept of “archaic heterogeneity” and “shared morpho-lexical innovations” in Semitic, had arrived at a model of genealogical representation, where Modern South Arabian is quite deeply embedded in the a family tree structure (apud Huehnergard and Rubin 2011: 262):

In the meantime Porkhomovsky (1997) and others have modified the previous model as in the following scheme. It is noteworthy that both Modern South Arabian (“msa”) and Ethio-Semitic (“Ethiopian”) branch off at quite a high level in the modified family tree model, whereas Epigraphic South Arabian (called “Ṣayhadic” in the Russian school) is embedded within Central Semitic (apud Huehnergard and Rubin 2011: 263):

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Kogan (2015), who focuses entirely on the role of the lexicon, also ascribes quite early genealogical independence to both (modern) South Arabian and Ethio-Semitic. He arrives at the following model, curiously reversing East and West in his representation (Kogan 2015: 600). The encircled language groups in Kogan’s model can be interpreted as representing linguistic areas in which contact phenomena are especially relevant. Kogan’s model also underlines the linguistic distinctiveness of the South-Semitic area:

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2 The role of the lexicon

Grosso modo, lexical lists can be based on two principles: (1) either on genetic cognates within a language family, irrespective of the precise meaning of the lexical items in the individual languages (cf., e.g., Bergsträsser 1983: 210–223), or (2) on lists of words with (approximately) the same meaning in a target language, which, however, need not be genetically related (cf., e.g., Bennett 1998: 232–249). Kogan (2015) takes both strategies into consideration, but pays special attention a the second strategy, building his arguments on a list of lemmata, which constitutes a kind of modified Swadesh list. The lemma “sun” in Semitic may serve to illustrate the situation. While East and Central Semitic (and also Epigraphic South Arabian, “esa”) use the root √ š-m-s in variations, the Modern South Arabian and the Ethio-Semitic languages resort to the lemmata for “day” (√ y-w-m) and “pre-noon” (√ ḍ-ḥ-y), respectively, roots which also are attested in other branches of Semitic but constitute lexical innovations in the cited Ethio-Semitic and Modern South Arabian branches.1 Here is an overview of the lemma “sun” in Semitic (cf. also Leslau 1987: 149):

The lemma “sun” in Semitic

Akkadian šamšum שֶׁמֶשׁ Hebrew šemeš Syriac šemšā 焏ܳ ܡܫ ܫܶ esa šms سْمَش Arabic šams Mehri ḥə-yáwm Jibbāli yum Ḥarsūsī ḥe-yōm Gəʿəz ḍaḥāy ፀሓይ Amharic ṣähay ፀሓይ Argobba č̣ähed Gurage č̣et (’clear‘ חַצ pre-noon’ and Hebrew ṣaḥ‘ ىَحُض cf. Arabic ḍuḥā)

In the following, I will concentrate on the first principle, i.e. genetically related roots. While the comparative roots lists are established independently, previ-

1 I owe the hint to the significance of this example to a presentation by Jan Retsö in the fall of 2015 at the University of Oslo.

Brill’s Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Linguistics 9 (2017) 119–138 Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 01:19:21PM via free access on the role of modern south arabian 123 ous data collections (notably Cohen, Bron and Lonnet 1970/1994ff. and Leslau 1987) have also been taken into consideration. Taking an Arabic root list as a point of departure as is the goal of the initially mentioned project (without claiming that Arabic represents a “proto-Semitic” lexical stock), one finds that approximately 80% of the roots found in Arabic have cognates in at least some Semitic languages. Based on a corpus of ca. 1000 roots investigated so far, there are basically three scenarios regarding the Modern South Arabian vocabulary:

1. common Semitic roots, found in all or most of the sub-branches of Semit- ic, e.g., √ k-t-b, √ n-f-s; Modern South Arabian vocabulary is found in ca. 42% of the roots; 2. Semitic roots that are basically Arabic, but where parallels or loans from Arabic are found in Modern South Arabian (and sometimes also Epi- graphic South Arabian and Ethio-Semitic), e.g., √ x-b-z, √ h-g-r (also loaned into more recent Hebrew); about 17% of the roots belong to this group; 3. non-Semitic roots that are loaned via Aramaic (sometimes ultimately from Greek) into Arabic, e.g., √ ǧ-n-s; such roots are relatively rare.

For the purpose of this paper, only the first two cases are relevant (even though one example of the third scenario will also be provided). In many cases, the Modern South Arabian vocabulary carries a special semantic shade. This impression may well be based on the wealth of cultural context and semantic fine-tuning provided in the dictionaries by Johnstone (1977; 1981; 1987) and Leslau (1938). Within the Modern South Arabian vocabulary (just as within other branches of Semitic), one also finds doublets of autochthonous vocabulary and vocabulary loaned from Arabic (cf. Lonnet 2005; Tezel 2010; Edzard 2015a, 2015b):

Arabic bannāʾ –> Mehri bənnāy ‘bricklayer’ (loaned) Mehri mənnōy ‘bricklayer’ (autochthonous) Aramaic tāḇ ‘he repented’ –> Arabic tāba ‘he repented’ (loaned) Arabic θāba ‘he returned’ (autochthonous) Akkadian ušēṣī ‘he sent out’ –> Aramaic šēṣī ‘he accomplished’ (loaned) Aramaic iʿā ‘he grew’ (autochthonous)

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3 Sample entries

3.1 Common Semitic roots, also attested in Modern South Arabian The following sample entry (the root √ n-f-s) illustrates a common Semitic root. Incidentally, Kogan (2015: 578) also includes this root in his data list. The sample entry also provides an overview of the sources (mainly dictionaries).

( سفن ) n-f-s √ East Semitic Akkadian √ n-p-š – verb: napāšu(m) ‘to breathe freely, blow, relax, expand’ li-ip-pu-uš-ilum ‘let him breathe, O God’ (personal name) – noun: napīšu(m) ‘breath(ing)’ napištu(m) ‘(essence of) life; throat’ (cad; AHw; Black et al. 2000)

West Semitic Central Semitic Arabic √ n-f-s ’nafisa ‘to be parsimonious, envious سِفَن َ ;’nafusa ‘to be precious سُفَن َ :verb – ,ʾanfus ‘soul, psyche, desire, appetite سُفْنأ ,nufūs سوفُن .nafs, pl سْفَن :noun – being, person, self’ ’ʾanfās ‘breath, sip سافْنأ .nafas, pl سَفَن (Wehr)

Nabatean √ n-f-s nafs ‘tomb’ ty nfs mrwʾ al-qys bn ʿmrw mlk al-ʿrb ‘This is the tomb of mrʾlqys, son of ʿmrw, king of the ʿrb’ (an-Namāra inscription; cf. Retsö 2003: 467–470)

Northwest Semitic Ugaritic √ n-p-š npš ‘soul, (sexual) appetite’ ʾap npš ‘funerary document’ (Krahmalkov 2000)

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Phoenician √ n-p-š npš i ‘person, personnel, emotions’ l-npš bt ʾš lʾ-štt mkl ‘[paid to] to the personnel of the temple of the consorts of mkl’ npš ii ‘funerary monument, tombstone’ nʾpš šʿdyt ‘[this the] funerary monument of šʿdyt’ (del Olmo Lete and Sanmartín 2003)

Northwest Semitic in general (Phoenician, Punic, Moabite, Ammonite, El-Amarna; Nabatean, Palmyra, Hatra) √ n-p/b-š npš i ‘life’ npš-k[y] ʾlqḥ ‘I will take your life’ np/bš ii ‘person’ w-tbʿh nbš-k ‘and you(r person) will seek’ np/bš iii ‘soul’ w-tšty nbš pnmw ‘and may the soul of pnmw drink’ np/bš iv ‘disposition’ np/bš v ‘funerary monument’ (Hoftijzer and Jongeling 1995)

Biblical Hebrew √ n-p-š ;’nep̄eš ‘throat, neck, breath, living being, people, personality, life, soul שֶׁפֶנ appositional reflexive pronoun (Genesius; Koehler & Baumgartner) (nep̄eš ḥayyā ‘living soul’ (Gen 1:20 שֶׁפֶנ הָיַּח (ʾāśīm ʾeṯ nap̄šə-ḵā ‘I will deal with your life’ (1 k 19:2 םיִשָׂא ָךְשׁפַנ־תֶא ’lə-nap̄š-ī ‘for myself, for my own sake יִשְׁפַנְל

Aramaic Babylonian Aramaic √ n-p-š ’nəp̄aš ‘to increase, to be numerous’; ‘to be empty שׁפנ :verb – nap̄šā ‘soul, body, self, human being’; reflexive pronoun אָשְׁפַנ :noun – (Sokoloff 2002a)

Palestinian Aramaic √ n-p-š ’nap̄šā ‘soul, living, essence אָשְׁפַנ ’nəp̄ēš ‘soul, living person, self, tomb, monument שׁיֵפְנ (Sokoloff 2002b)

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Syriac Aramaic √ n-p-š – verb: 犿ܰ ܢܦ nəp̄aš ‘to breathe out, exhale’; perhaps also ‘to desire’ ܰ – noun: 焏ܳ ܦܫ ܢ nap̄šā ‘breath of life, soul, person; funerary monument’; reflexive pronoun (Payne Smith 1903, Sokoloff 2009)

South Semitic Eastern South Semitic Modern South Arabian (Mehri, Jibbāli, Ḥarsūsi, Soqoṭri) Mehri √ n-f(-s) – noun ḥə-nōf ‘self’ – verb: anōfəs ‘to make space’; əntfūs ‘to be safely delivered of a child’; šənfūs ‘to welcome s.o.’ – noun: nafs/nəfáws ‘individual, soul, person’ (Johnstone 1987)

Jibbāli √ n-f(-f) núf ‘self’ (Johnstone 1981)

Ḥarsūsi √ n-(h)-f ḥe-nōf/ḥe-nyehōf ‘self’ (Johnstone 1977) Soqoṭri √ n-h-f (h < s/š; metathesis of C2 and C3) nhof ‘soul’ (Leslau 1938)

“The msa terms with the meaning “self” are hard to separate from ps *napš- (note especially the plural nöfoš́ in Soqotri), but Jib. núf makes it clear that the Proto-msa form should be reconstructed without *š-, which does not shift to h and cannot be dropped in Jibbali (cf. sed i No. 46v and 51v).” (Kogan 2015: 578)

Western South Semitic Epigraphic/Old South Arabian (mainly Sabaic) √ n-f-s – verb: hfs1 (assimilated n) ‘to open up (water channel)’ – noun: nfs1 i ‘soul, person, self, life’ nfs1 ii ‘funerary monument’ nfs1 iii ‘woman in childbed’ (Beeston et al. 1982; Biella 1982)

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Ethiopian Semitic North Ethiopic (Gəʿəz, Tigre, Tigrinya) Gəʿəz √ n-f-s – verb: ነፍሰ nafsa ‘to blow (wind, spirit)’ አንፊሰ ʾanfasa ‘to breathe, exhale, rest, give relief’ – noun: ነፍስ nafs, pl. ነፍሳት nafsāt ‘soul, spirit, breath, a person, life’; reflexive pronoun ነፍሳት nafsāt ‘body, genitals’ (Leslau 1987)

Tigrinya √ n-f-s – verb: ነፈሰ näfäsä ‘to blow (wind), be childish’ – noun: ነፍሲ näfsi ‘soul, spirit, breath, a person, organism’

South Ethiopic Amharic √ n-f-s – verb: ነፈሰ näffäsä ‘to blow (wind, spirit)’ – noun: ነፋስ/ንፋስ näfas/nəfas ‘wind’ ነፍስ näfs ‘soul, life’

In a number of roots attested across Semitic one finds special semantic shades in the Modern South Arabian vocabulary. Here are a few examples (in the following, only the Arabic and msa lemmata are provided):

’to look, grasp‘ رصب b-ṣ-r √ Mehri √ b-ṣ-r – verb: bīṣər ‘to dawn’ abōṣər ‘to go in the twilight, evening’ həbṣáwr ‘to see well’ – noun: bəṣār dawn bəṣōrət ‘right advice’; ‘cleverness’

Jibbāli √ b-ṣ-r – verb: εbṣér ‘to see well’ bɔ́tṣər ‘to foretell, be farseeing’ – noun: biṣɔ́rt ‘cleverness, good advice’

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Ḥarsūsi √ b-ṣ-r – verb: báyṣer ‘to dawn’ abēṣer ‘to go in the evening’ abṣōr ‘to see well’ – noun: beṣār ‘dawn’; abṣār ḏ-āyn ‘the iris of the eye’ beṣōret ‘story’; ‘moral tale’; ‘good advice’

Soqoṭri √ b-d̮-r – verb: bd̮r ‘to tear, rip, break sth. up’ – noun: mibḍeher ‘piece, bit, fragment’

’to destroy, ruin‘ ربث ṯ-b-r √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ ṯ-b-r – verb: ṯəbūr ‘to break, break (the leg of)’

Jibbali √ ṯ-b-r – noun: ṯɔ̄r ‘splinter, fragment’

’to be heavy‘ لقث ṯ-q-l √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ ṯ-k‘-l – verb: ṯīk‘əl ‘to be heavy’; šəṯk‘áwl ‘to find (guests, visitors) unwelcome’; ‘to think someone a burden’

’to mold; mountain‘ لبج ǧ-b-l √ Mehri √ g-b-l – noun: gəbēl; jibēl/jibelīn ‘mountain(s)’

Jibbāli √ g-b-l – noun: giέl/gélə́tə ‘mountain(s)’ gəblí, gəblε̄t/gəblɔ́, gəblóti ‘mountain man’ gəblε̄t ‘Jibbāli (languge)’

’to sweep away‘ فرج ǧ-r-f √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ g-r-f – verb: gərūf ‘to sweep, muck out’

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Jibbāli √ g-r-f – verb: gərɔ́f ‘to sweep, muck out’

Ḥarsūsi √ g-r-f – verb: gerōf ‘to brush out, brush away’ – noun: gáref ‘bank (river)’

Soqoṭri √ g-r-f – verb: gérof ‘to graze; to steer; to invite; to throw’

’to span, traverse‘ رسج ǧ-s-r √ Modern South Arabian Ḥarsūsi √ g-š-r – verb: gešár ‘to distract’

’to make, put‘ لعج ǧ-ʿ-l √ Modern South Arabian Jibbāli √ g-ʿ-l – noun: migʿál/migεbʿal ‘leather bag, traveling case, case’

’to sit down‘ سلج ǧ-l-s √ Modern South Arabian Soqoṭri √ g-l-s – noun: gálas ‘headland, mountain’ miglis ‘storey’

’to freeze, stiffen‘ دمج ǧ-m-d √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ g-m-d – verb: gīməd ‘to become solid’ həgmūd ‘to make (curds, etc.) dry and hard’ – noun: gəmēd/gəmōd/ḥəgáwməd ‘Jumādā’ (Islamic month)

Jibbāli √ g-m-d – verb: gĩd ‘to become solid, frozen’ – noun: giε̃d ‘Jumādā’ (Islamic month)

Soqoṭri √ g-m-d – verb: géməd ‘to be or become dry’; ‘to dry something or somebody’ égmed ‘to be missing’

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’to roast‘ رمج ǧ-m-r √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ g-m-r – noun: məgəmrēt ‘incense-burner’ gimrēt ‘embers’

Jibbāli √ g-m-r – gε̃r ‘ember; firebrand’ – məgmεrt/mogõr ‘incense-burner’

Ḥarsūsi √ g-m-r-d – gemerīd, gemerdōt/gemerōd ‘completely bald’

Soqoṭri √ g-m-r – migméreh ‘casserole with incense’

’to incline, lean‘ حنج ǧ-n-ḥ √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ g-n-ḥ – verb: agōneḥ ‘to fly’

Jibbāli √ g-n-ḥ – noun: gεnaḥ ‘wing’

Soqoṭri √ g-n-ḥ – verb: šígnaḥ ‘to give someone the power’

’to be brought to light‘ رهج ǧ-h-r √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ g-h-r – verb: gəhēr ‘to be dazzled’

Jibbāli √ g-h-r – verb: gεhεr ‘to be dazzled’; ‘to have weak eyes, be shortsighted’ εgóhur ‘to say in front of people things better left unsaid’

Soqoṭri √ g-h-r – verb: égher ‘to destroy’

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’to gladden, delight‘ ربح ḥ-b-r √ Modern South Arabian Soqoṭri √ ḥ-b-r – máḥber (‘to join, merge’) ‘hundred’ – ḥóbir ‘of many colors’

’to obstruct confine‘ سبح ḥ-b-s √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ ḥ-b-s – verb: ḥəbūs ‘to imprison; to imprison someone in the place of the wrong- doer’ – noun: ḥabs/ḥəbūs ‘prison; ankle-ring’ məḥbīs/məḥbōs ‘prisoner’

Jibbāli √ ḥ-b-s – verb: ḥɔ̄s ‘to imprison’ aḥtēs ‘to be wearing anklets’ – noun: ḥabs ‘prison’ maḥbást/maḥōs ‘anklet’

Ḥarsūsi √ ḥ-b-s – verb: ḥebōs ‘to imprison’ – noun: mḥəbīs ‘imprisoned; prisoner’

Soqoṭri √ ḥ-b-s – verb: ḥébos ‘to imprison’ – noun: meḥbéseh ‘prison’

’to ensnare catch; be pregnant‘ لبح ḥ-b-l √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ ḥ-b-l – noun: ḥōbəl/ḥəbōwəl/ḥəbūl ‘leather head thong’ ḥəblēl/ḥəbēl/ḥəbε̄tən ‘umbilical cord’ ḥəbəlīt ‘pod of the ḥərōz, seed pod of a kind of grass’

Ḥarsūsi √ ḥ-b-l – noun: ḥōbel/ḥebéwwel ‘hobble’; ‘a kind of bush’ ḥebelēt/ḥebélten ‘umbilical cord’; ‘fruit of the samr’

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Soqoṭri √ ḥ-b-h-l – noun: ḥábehol ‘cord’ ḥabhol ‘leather rope and harness used to climb a palm-tree’

3.2 Vocabulary found mainly (or exclusively) in Arabic and msa / South Semitic ’to jump scare away; eyelid‘ ن\ لفج ǧ-f-l/n √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ g-f-n – verb: agōfən ‘to cut away drooping skin on the eyelid (of a camel, an old person) to make it easier to see’ həgfūn ‘to make a tulchan; (she-camel) to accept a tulchan’ – noun: gəfōn/gəfənīn ‘eyelid, eyelash’; ‘rim inside the eyelash’; ‘tulchan’

Jibbāli √ g-f-n – verb: egófun ‘to make a tulchan’; ‘to trim a camel’s eyelid to help it to see’ – noun: gε fn/gúfún ‘eyelid, eyelash’; ‘rim inside the eyelash’ gífún/gəfənín ‘stuffed skin, tulchan: given in place of her young one to a bereaved mother-animal’

Ḥarsūsi √ g-f-n – noun: gəfōn ‘eyelid’; ‘tulchan, a stuffed skin to induce a bereaved mother camel into continuing to give milk’

Soqoṭri √ g-f-n – noun: géfon ‘stuffed skin of a calf, tulchan’

’to endeavor, labor‘ دهج ǧ-h-d √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ g-h-d – verb: həghūd ‘to be industrious’ gáthəd ‘to be active, energetic’; ‘to become vigorous on seeing someone one likes’ šəgēhəd ‘to cause enmity between oneself and someone else by interfering in their affairs’ – noun: məgháwd ‘one’s best effort’

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Jibbāli √ g-h-d – verb: gεhέd ‘to try hard’ εgóhud ‘to do one’s best’ gɔ́thəd ‘to try one’s best’ – noun: məghúd ‘one’s best effort’

’to be ignorant‘ لهج g-h-l √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ g-h-l – verb: gəhēl ‘to be unfriendly or unjust to someone’ əgtəhūl ‘to make a false claim to something’ šəghūl ‘to eat little so that others can have enough’

Jibbāli √ g-h-l – verb: gεhέl ‘to be unfriendly or unjust to someone’; ‘to eat more than others’; ‘to be ignorant’ εghél ‘to be greedy with food’; ‘to make ignorant’ gɔ́thəl ‘to be outeaten’ əgəthél ‘to cheat others (such as orphans) who are defenseless’; ‘to make a false claim to something’

Ḥarsūsi √ g-h-l – verb: gehēl ‘to be unjust, unfriendly toward’

’to bake bread‘ زبخ x-b-z √ Mehri √ x-b-z – verb: xəbūz ‘to bake, make bread’ – noun: xabz ‘bread’

Jibbāli √ x-b-z – verb: xɔ̄z ‘to make bread’ xɔ́tbəz ‘to be made into bread’; 2. ‘to be smashed, mashed’; 3. ‘to be flat’; 4. ‘to be flattened in a fall’ – noun: xabzέt/xɔbz ‘bread’

Ḥarsūsi √ x-b-z – verb: xebōz ‘to bake’ – noun: xabz, singulative xebzét ‘bread’

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’to become in the morning‘ حبص ṣ-b-ḥ √ Mehri √ ṣ/s-b-ḥ – verb: aṣōbəḥ ‘to take the goats out for a while in the morning and then return about 9 a.m.’ həṣbāḥ, həṣbēḥ ‘to be in the morning’ – noun: ṣōbēḥən ‘time just before dawn, about 3 a.m.’ √ s-b-ḥ səbḥáy ‘morning, matutinal’

Jibbāli √ ṣ-b-ḥ – verb: εṣōḥ ‘to come to so. in the morning’; ‘to come upon so., attack so. in the morning’; ‘to take out the cows in the early morning and bring them back about 9 a.m. for milking’ εṣbáḥ ‘to become’; ‘to be in the morning’; ‘to go in the morning’; 4. ‘(food, etc.) to be left overnight’ √ s-b-ḥ – verb: sɔ́tbaḥ ‘to drink milk in the morning’

Ḥarsūsi √ ṣ-b-ḥ – verb: aṣbáḥ ‘to be in the morning’ – noun: ṣōbēḥen ‘about 3 a.m.’ √ s-b-ḥ – adverb: k-sōbeḥ ‘in the morning’

Soqoṭri √ ṣ-b-ḥ – verb: ṣbáḥ ‘to become morning’; ‘to become s.th. in the morning’ ṣabḥáni ‘to have breakfast’

’to turn‘ بلق q-l-b √ Mehri √ k‘-l-b – verb: k‘əlōb ‘to turn, return, to return to one’s place with one’s animals when the pasture is exhausted’; ‘to turn into (another shape)’; ‘to greet’ ak‘ōləb ‘to upset’ šək‘láwb ‘to take, want back’ – noun: k‘āb/k‘əláwb ‘mind, intelligence, memory’; ‘heart’; ‘intention’ mek‘táwləb ‘stiff neck’

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Jibbāli √ k‘-l-b – verb: k‘ɔ́lɔ́b ‘to turn, return’; ‘to return with o’s animals when the pasture is finished’; ‘to overturn’ εk‘ólb ‘to upset’ s̃k‘əléb ‘to want, take back’ – noun: k‘εlb/εk‘lēt ‘heart’ k‘élέb ‘bride-price’ k‘albéṭ/mik‘álbəṭ ‘turning (on a path, track)’

Ḥarsūsi √ k‘-l-b – verb: k‘əlōb ‘to turn over’; ‘to return, tr.’; ‘to give a greeting’ ak‘āleb ‘to upset, overturn’ k‘áteleb ‘to change, change into’ šek‘láwb ‘to want s-th. back again’ – noun: k‘alb/k‘elábbet ‘sense, intelligence, reason, mind’; ‘memory’; ‘morale’; ‘heart’ mek‘táwleb ‘stiff neck’

Soqoṭri √ k‘-l-b – verb: k‘élob ‘to turn, roll, throw’

’to emigrate‘ رجه h-ǧ-r √ Mehri √ h-g-r – verb: həgūr ‘to buy food for one’s family’ hōgər ‘to leave one’s family and emigrate’ hgūr ‘to go out in the midday heat’

Jibbali √ h-g-r – verb: hɔ́gɔ́r ‘to leave one’s family and emigrate’ ohógur ‘to come, go at midday’ εhgér ‘to (make) emigrate’ – noun: hɔ́gər ‘midday’ hεgrún ‘one who travels at midday’

3.3 Non-Semitic roots that are loaned via Aramaic into Arabic Finally here is an example of an ultimately non-Semitic root that also found its way into Modern South Arabian.

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’γένος) ‘to make similar >) سنج ǧ-n-s √ Modern South Arabian Mehri √ g-n-s – verb: gátnəs ‘to have a different nationality’ agōnəs ‘to make someone change his nationality’ əgtənūs ‘to make oneself look different’ šəgēnəs ‘to acquire the habits of a different nationality’ – noun: gans ‘type, kind’

Jibbāli √ g-n-s – verb: gɔ́tnəs ‘to change color, shape’; ‘to disguise oneself, become something else’ s̃əgíns ‘to become friendly with a person outside one’s group’ – noun: gεns ‘kind, type’

4 Conclusion

This brief overview of the Modern South Arabian lexicon in relation to its Semitic context clearly establishes the relative independence of this branch of West Semitic, as lately proposed by Porkhomovsky (1997) and Kogan (2015). Whereas Modern South Arabian lemmata figure as cognates in about 42% of the Arabic/Semitic roots surveyed so far by the author, about 17% of Semitic roots appear to be specific to Modern South Arabian (and partially also Epi- graphic South Arabian and Ethio-Semitic) as compared with the Arabic lexicon. The lexicostatistics thus are in line with the phonological and mor- phological arguments for the relative independence of Modern South Ara- bian.

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