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Aramaic Mesar, Neo-Hebraic Masar "To Surrender (Someone)"

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Aramaic Mesar, Neo-Hebraic Masar 36 ARAMAIC MESAR, NEO-HEBRAIC MASAR "TO SURRENDER (SOMEONE)" Neo-Hebraic possesses a verb miisar (frequently found in the Misna and related literary monuments), a verb which is also commonly used in Aramaic (ludaeo-Aramaic as well as Syriac): mesar. The most frequent meaning of the verb (and especially frequent in Neo-Hebraic and in ludaeo-Aramaic) is "to hand over", "to surrender", a meaning which clearly is the basic meaning of the verb. In my opinion, this is not an original (primary) root, but a "secondary" root, based on another root. My contention is that the initial radical m of the root represents an original nominal prefix (ma), and that the root to which this nominal prefix has been added, is the Common-Semitic root 'sr "to bind", "to tie". As basis of the verbal root msr (Aramaic mesar) I consider a certain noun, or certain nouns, based on the root 'sr, which still survive in the historical Aramaic and Hebrew languages. I refer to Syriac mesiirtii (in Nestorian tradition: mesartii), also mesar (see Brockel­ mann, Lex. Syr.2, p. 38a, sub 'sr) "truss (of herbs)", also "shackle" ("vinculum"); furthermore to ludaeo-Aramaic mesiirii, also (fern.) mesartii "truss (of herbs)" (see 1. Levy, Worterbuch uber die Talmudim und Midraschim, vol. 2, p. 179 b). I also would mention Ethiopic ma'sar, ma'sar and (with fem.-ending) ma'sart, "shackle" ("vincu­ lum)", where the original alif (the glottal stop) of the root 'sr "to bind" is still preserved. But most important with respect to the deriva­ tion of mesar (miisar) "to hand over", "to surrender" from a noun based on the root 'sr "to bind", "to tie", seem to me to be certain Hebrew nouns with m-prefix, which are based on the root 'sr. These are the Hebrew nouns moser (masc.), moserii (fern.; pl. moserol). The meaning of these Hebrew nouns is "band(s)" (in the Biblical texts, the form mainly used is the plural: moserol). I assume that Early Aramaic-or even an earlier stage of Semitic language development (even Proto-Semitic)-possessed a noun ana­ logous in its form to the Hebrew noun moser (also moserii [with fem.- 514 ARAMAIC MESAR, NEO-HEBRAIC MASAR ending], pI. moserot) and expressing the same meaning, that is: the meaning "band(s)", "shackle(s)". It is self-understood that moser developed from *masir < *ma'sir (cf. the above-quoted Ethiopic forms of the noun). The vowel 0 following the consonant m in the Hebrew word is most certainly to be traced back to a more original vowel a, which in turn developed from the sequence -a'-. I refer to the analogous development of (e.g.) Hebrew ros ("head") < *ras < *ra's (cf. Arabic ra's). Whereas ros (and analogous formations) in spite of the phonetic disappearance of the original glottal stop (ale!) is still spelled with an alej, in moser ( a) (pI. moserOl) the ale! has also disappeared in the spelling. This indicates that the disappearance of the original glottal stop of the root 'sr, of which this noun and its variations are formed, and thus the emergence of a new root or etymon (m-s-r) are to be ascribed to a quite early period of linguistic development. With respect to the derivation of a secondary root m-s-r (Aramaic mesar) from nouns with prefix ma-, formed of the original root '-s-r ("to tie", or: "to shackle"), I would refer also to the Aramaic infinitive of '-s-r, that is: (le)mesar "to tie (tying)", "to shackle". Also this form (or its original morpho-phonetic basis) may have appeared at a very early stage of linguistic development. I refer in this connection to the fact that also Arabic has infinitives with the prefix ma- (the so-called ma:jdar mimi). The early Semitic (or: Proto-Semitic) noun of the meaning "band(s)", "shackle(s)" (or also: "(to) tie, (to) shackle" [infinitive, nomen action is]), which I consider as the basis of the verb mesar (Aramaic) "to hand over", "to surrender", may have appeared in a form like *ma'sir. I assume that the concept "to hand over", "to surrender" which is implied in the Aramaic verb mesar, a verb to be considered derived from a noun of the meaning "band(s)", "shackle(s)", or also "(to) tie, (to) shackle", emerged in connection with the case that "a shackled prisoner was handed over by certain people, who happened to get hold of him, to certain other people, who took an interest in him", we may also say: in connection with the case that "a shackled prisoner was handed over to his enemies". The most regular case of such a "surrender of a shackled prisoner to his enemies" in early (pre­ historic) times was certainly "the handing-over of a person accused of homicide to the family of the killed person for the purpose of (rightful) retaliation". I refer in this connection to my derivation of the ancient Arabic term for "retaliation", qawad, and the verbs .
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