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Steg Belsky jazdy: > On Jan 19, 2006, at 10:11 AM, Jacob wrote: > > Thanks for your input. I agree that there was a transition from the > > earlier Semitic /a/ to the later Canaanite /o/ in the Hebrew > > language. That is what I was trying to say, that the earlier speech > > of the Hebrew people was void of Canaanite influence. > > Considering that Hebrew is a Canaanite language, That's exactly what I was saying. Technically speaking, Hebrew is a Canaanite langauge, though surely somehow different from the languages of actual Canaanites... > i think it's safe to > assume that before they got to Canaan, the Hebrews were speaking > Hurrian, Aramaic, or some other Mesopotamian language, either in > Southern Ur (of Shumer) or in Northern Ur (Urfa, Turkey). I personally > prefer the Northern theory. Judging by B'reshit/Gen. 31:47 where Laban calls the hill in Aramaic, and the ritual formula in D'varim/Deut. 26:5 ("my forefather was an Aramaic nomade"), it could well be Aramaic, but anyway I don't think it is relevant to conlanging. Cheers, -- Yitzik