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Re: [westasianconlangs] Re: Any new ideas?



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