Ged¨hi

Ged¨hi and Zeªhţi are related to East-Semitic languages, but they also acquired many areal features of the Shedshian sprachbund.

They are spoken in the Lands of Both Dracon's Flanks, especially in the Holy Land of Hexapotamia.

Acording to the legend, Ged¨hu and Zeªhţu were brothers who left their overpopulated homeland, sailed beyond Pillars of Heracles and after a long voyage settled near the Rhipean Mountain.

Grammar

Phonology

Ged¨hi language retained all 29 Proto-Semitic consonants.

Vowels in rots were reduced and merged to the vowel e.

Another new vowel o was introduced probably due to adstrate influences, although the Ged¨hi classical grammarians claim that it was not an inovation but a retained archaism.

The old long vowels were shortened, but new length arised from contraction:

ú < uwu

í < uwi

á < uwa

ó < uwo

é < uwe

This occurs mainly in all masculine plural nominal forms, and also it caused the irregularity of verbs primae waw, where it occurs in intensive and pasive stems.

Orthography

According to the early traditional orthography, the consonants are represented by 22 basic letters and 2 diacritic marks.

It can be written either right to left:

א ב ג גֿ ד דֿ ה װ ז ח ט טֿ ײ כ כֿ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ צ׳ ק ר ש ש׳ ת תֿ

or left to right:

A Б Γ Γ` D D` E W Z Η Θ Θ` И K K` L M N Ξ O Π Ψ Ψ' Q R Ш Ш' T T`

Some combinations of a letter with a diacritic can be optionally writen as ligatures:

Γ` = Ω (great O)

D` = Ð

K` = X (slim H)

T` = Þ

A Б Γ Ω D Ð E W Z Η Θ Θ` И K X L M N Ξ O Π Ψ Ψ' Q R Ш Ш' T Þ

In 437 CE, Б И Ξ Π Ψ Ш were replaced by Latin letters B J C P Ç and Greek Σ, whereas the ligatures Ð Þ were temporalily abandoned:

A B Γ Ω D D` E W Z H Θ Θ` J K X L M N C O P Ç Ç' Q R Σ Σ' T T`

In November 885 CE, the remaining Greek letters Γ Ω Θ Θ` Σ were replaced by Latin letters G G` T¸ Þ¸ and Ð Þ were reintroduced, whereas Ω was abandoned:

A B G G` D Ð E W Z Η T¸ Þ¸ J K X L M N C O P Ç Ç' Q R S S' T Þ

The reform at the begining of the XV century changed the orthography of laryngeals and vowels:

¨ b g gh d ð ¨h w z ªh t¸ þ¸ j k x l m n c ºh p ç ç' q r s s' t þ

Before the reform, the vowel a was not written and was considered to be implicitly contained in the letters for consonants. When the mark : (called se¨ewatu "emptiness") was placed after the consonat, it canceled this inherent a. When the vowel V or I was placed immediatelly after the consonat, it contracted with the inherent a to o and e respectivelly.

Thus for exapmle, the word beºhlatu "lady" was written BIO:LT:V.

Pronunciation

The two main dialects differs in the pronunciation of sibilants. In more archaic Upper Ged¨hi, c is the voiceless alveolar affricate and s is the voiceless alveolar fricative, whereas in Lower Ged¨hi, c is the voiceless alveolar fricative and s is the voiceless postalveolar fricative. The standard language avoids the ambiguous voiceless alveolar fricative and prescribes the pronunciation of c as in Upper dialect and s as in Lower dialect.

In beletry, the dialect or sociolect of the speaking person can be marked in the direct speech:

unmarked speech	c	s
standard speech	c	s"
archaic speech	c	ß
coloquial speech	ß	s"
debased speech	ß	ß

• The standard speech is used by priests, actors, teachers, heralds, politicians, publicists.
• The archaic speech is used by villagers, especially by elderly persons living in outlying areas of the Upper Land.
• The coloquial speech is used especially by urban folk.
• The debased speech is used mainly in slums.

Along the East Coast, there is a continuum of dialects in which the northern sound g changes unconditionally through d" and g" to southern z".

In the Perhati dialect, g and k are palatalized before i to d" and t" respectively.

Morphology

Declension

• sg.
  • nom. beºhlu "a lord", beºhlatu "a lady"
  • gen. beºhli "of a lord", beºhlati "of a lady"
  • acc. beºhla "a lord", beºhlata "a lady"
  • dat. beºhlo "to a lord", beºhlato "to a lady"
• pl.
  • nom. beºhlú < *beºhluwu "lords", beºhlátu < *beºhluwatu "ladies"
  • gen. beºhlí < *beºhluwi "of lords", beºhláti < *beºhluwati "of ladies"
  • acc. beºhlá < *beºhluwa "lords", beºhláta < *beºhluwata "ladies"
  • dat. beºhló < *beºhluwo "to lords", beºhláto < *beºhluwato "to ladies"
• du.
  • nom. beºhlujwu "a pair of lords", beºhlujwatu "a pair of ladies"
  • gen. beºhlujwi "of a pair of lords", beºhlujwati "of a pair of ladies"
  • acc. beºhlujwa "a pair of lords", beºhlujwata "a pair of ladies"
  • dat. beºhlujwo "to a pair of lords", beºhlujwato "to a pair of ladies"

Articles

Using of articles is not obligatory; definite article is nothing else than a deictic pronoun and the indefinite article is nothing else than a variant of the numeral "one".

The indefinite article is also known as the existential quantifier; the general quantifier is kelu which with appositive case means "whole", with gen.pl. "all" and with gen.sg. "every":

• kelu jewmu "every day"
• kelu jewmí "all days"
• kelu jewmi "whole day"

In addition to the definite article su "the", there is also the article ¨hu which is glossed as "The" or "He"; it marks uniqueness (absolute or local):

• beºhlu "a lord", ¨hu-beºhlu "the Lord"
• ¨elu "a god", ¨hu-¨elu "the God"
• ¨erç'u "earth", ¨hu-¨erç'u "the Earth"
• þelþu "three", ¨hu-þelþu "the Trinity"
• gedu "a grandfather", ¨hu-gedu"our forefather"
• melku "a king", ¨hu-melku "our king"
• peru "mansion", ¨hu-peru "our king's residence"

Also "the Church (catholic)"; "the Party (comunistic)"; "the Prophet (Muhammad)"; "the Cross"; "our duke"; "our president"; "our director"; "our chief, captain, principal"; "our boss"; "our empire"; "our shire"; "our capital"; "our city"; "our village".

As any other appositive attribute, it may be placed also after the word:

• ¨hu-beºhlu = beºhlu-¨hu "the Lord"
• ¨hu-¨elu = ¨elu-¨hu "the God"
• ¨hu-gedu = gedu-¨hu "our forefather"
• ¨hu-peru = peru-¨hu "our king's residence"

Mimation

The -m placed at the end of a nominal form marks the end of a phrase. Mimation is absent before an attribute (appositive or genitive) and before pause (comma or full stop).

• ¨Hu-ðum c'aru danu. "This is a mighty prince."
• ¨Hu-ðhu c'arum danu. "This prince is mighty."
• ¨Hu-ðum beºhlatu bejti. "This is the lady of the house."
• ¨Hu-ðu beºhlatum bejti. "This lady is at home."

Appositive

Unlike most Sem. and IE. languages, there is no congruency, but the second word is in the appositive case, which is formally identical with the nominative.

OBab. "mighty king", "mighty queen"
sg.nom. šarrum dannum, šarratum dannatum
sg.gen. šarrim dannim, šarratim dannatim
sg.nom. šarram dannam, šarratam dannatam
pl.nom. šarru: dannu:tum, šarra:tum danna:tum
pl.gen. šarri: dannu:tim, šarra:tim danna:tim

Gd. "mighty prince", "mighty princess"
sg.nom. c'aru danu, c'aratu danatu
sg.gen. c'ari danu, c'arati danatu
sg.nom. c'ara danu, c'arata danatu
pl.nom. c'aru: danu:, c'ara:tu dana:tu
pl.gen. c'ari: danu:, c'ara:ti dana:tu

The word order may be reversed:

sg.nom. danu c'aru, danatu c'aratu
sg.gen. dani c'aru, danati c'aratu
sg.nom. dana c'aru, danata c'aratu
pl.nom. danu: c'aru:, dana:tu c'ara:tu
pl.gen. dani: c'aru:, dana:ti c'ara:tu

Locative

The locative case is formally identical with genitive, but is always the first member of the phrase, whereas the genitive is allways preceded by another noun.

• ¨Hu-ðum beºhlatu bejti. "This is the lady of the house."
• ¨Hu-ðu beºhlatum bejti. "This lady is at home."

Terminative

The terminative is identical with the dative.

• ¨elek bejto "go home"

Several terminative forms was retained also in Hebrew:

• hero "to a mountain"; Hebr. h>era:H
• meçruwjo "into Egypt"; Hebr. mis.r>ajma:H
• ºhejro "into a/the city"; Hebr. ha:¿>iJra:H "into the city"

Plural

Plural suffix for nouns is -uw- inserted before the nominal gender marker (na. -it-, f. -at-, ni. -ot-).

Plural suffix for pronouns is -n placed after the pronominal gender marker (m. -a-, f. -i-). It is ancient AA. feature.

• 1p.sg. -j "my" (Eg. .i)
• 1p.pl. -jun"our" (Eg. .n)
• 2p.sg. -k, m. -ka¨, f. -ki¨ "thy" (Eg. m. .k, f. t_)
• 2p.pl. -kun, m. -kan, f. -kin "your" (Eg. .t_n)
• 3p.sg. -s, m. -sa¨ "his", f. -si¨ "her" (Eg. m. .f, f. .s)
• 3p.pl. -sun, m. -san, f. -sin "your" (Eg. .sn)

It seems that Eg. t_ is from AA. k palatalised before f. pronomial marker i.

Dual

Compare the form of Ged¨hi dual with Egyptian:

• sg. ¨exu "brother", ¨exatu "sister", (Eg. sn, snt)
• pl. ¨exú < ¨exuwu "brothers", ¨exátu < ¨exuwatu "sisters", (Eg. snw, snwt)
• du. ¨exujwu "2 brothers", ¨exujwatu "2 sisters", (Eg. snwj, sntj)

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns have in nominative different stem than in other cases. Standalone nominatives have its stems prefixed by ¨en-. In other Sem. languages, the final n of the preffix was assimilated to t of the 2p.

The 3rd person pronoun can take either personal endings or nominal endings.

Other Sem. languages have only one, common gender in 1p. and two genders, m. and f., in 2nd and 3rd person. Ged¨hi can use all three genders (c., m., f.) in all three persons. Masculine form of 3p. is in other Sem. languages similar to the common form in Ged¨hi.

sg.	1p.	2p.	3p.
nom.	¨en¨u, ¨-	¨entu, t-	¨enju, j-
gen.	ji	ki	si
acc.	ja	ka	sa
dat.	jo	ko	sa

sg.1p. ¨en¨u¨u "I" (OBab. ana:ku; Hebr. ?a:|no:kiJ, ?/aniJ)

sg.1p.m ¨en¨a¨u

sg.1p.f ¨en¨i¨u

sg.2p. ¨entu¨u "thou"

sg.2p.m. ¨enta¨u (OBab. atta:; Hebr. ?atta:H)

sg.2p.f. ¨enti¨u (OBab. atti:; Hebr. ?att/ < :attiJ)

sg.3p. ¨enju¨u, su¨u (OBab. šu:; Hebr. hU2?)

sg.3p.m. ¨enja¨u, sa¨u, su "he"

sg.3p.f. ¨enji¨u, si¨u, satu "she" (OBab. ši:; Hebr. hiJ?)

sg.3p.n. sotu "it"

pl.1p. ¨en¨unu "we" (OBab. ní:nu; Hebr. ?a/n>ah.nU2)

pl.2p. ¨entunu "ye" (OBab. attunu; Hebr. ?attem)

pl.2p.m. ¨entanu

pl.2p.f. ¨entinu (OBab. attina; Hebr. ?atten)

pl.3p. ¨enjunu, sunu "they" (OBab. šunu; Hebr. h>e:mma:H, he:m)

pl.3p.m. ¨enjanu, sanu, su:

pl.3p.f. ¨enjinu, sinu, sa:tu (OBab. šina; Hebr. h>e:nna:H, he:n)

Possessive pronouns

Possessive forms are double declined - another case ending is added after the genitive ending with mimation.

sg.1p.m.sg.m.nom. kimu "thy" (OBab. ku^m)

sg.1p.m.sg.m.gen. kimi (OBab. ke^m)

sg.1p.m.sg.m.acc. kima (OBab. ka^m)

sg.1p.f.sg.m.nom. katimu (OBab. kattum)

pl.1p.m.sg.m.nom. kímu "your" (OBab. kuttun)

pl.1p.f.sg.m.nom. kátimu (OBab. *kattun)

Also nouns can occur in possessive form:

Beºhlatimo (¨heklu) "to Lady's (temple)"

Conjugation

imv. weseb "sit"

abstr. wesebu "sitting"

ger. liweseb "a-sitting"

inf. loweseb "to sit"

pret. jawseb "he sat"

pres. jaweseb "he sits"

• basic stem (peºhelu "doing")
  • jawseb "he sat"
  • tawseb "thou sat"
  • ¨awseb "I sat"
  • jawseban "they sat"
  • tawseban "ye sat"
  • ¨awseban "we sat"
• heavy stem, intensive (mupeºhelu "doing heavily")
  • juwseb "he sat heavily"
  • tuwseb "thou sat heavily"
  • ¨uwseb "I sat heavily"
  • juwseban "they sat heavily"
  • tuwseban "ye sat heavily"
  • ¨uwseban "we sat heavily"
• light stem (mipeºhelu "doing slightly")
  • jiwseb "he sat slightly"
  • tiwseb "thou sat slightly"
  • ¨iwseb "I sat slightly"
  • jiwseban "they sat slightly"
  • tiwseban "ye sat slightly"
  • ¨iwseban "we sat slightly"
• causative stem (sipeºhelu "causing to do")
  • jasiwseb "he set"
  • tasiwseb "thou set"
  • ¨asiwseb "I set"
  • jasiwseban "they set"
  • tasiwseban "ye set"
  • ¨asiwseban "we set"
• causative pasive stem (supeºhelu "being caused to do")
  • jasuwseb "he was set"
  • tasuwseb "thou wert set"
  • ¨asuwseb "I was set"
  • jasuwseban "they were set"
  • tasuwseban "ye were set"
  • ¨asuwseban "we were set"
• causative reflexive stem (sapeºhelu "causing self to do")
  • jasiwseb "he set himself"
  • tasiwseb "thou set thyself"
  • ¨asiwseb "I set mysels"
  • jasiwseban "they set themselves"
  • tasiwseban "ye set yourselves"
  • ¨asiwseban "we set ourselves"

• basic stem (peºhelu "doing")
  • jawbel "he brought"
• pasive stem (nupeºhelu "being done")
  • januwbel "he was brought"
• reflexive stem (napeºhelu "doing self")
  • janawbel "he brought himself"

Numerals

1. ºhedu "one"
2. þenu "two"
3. þelþu "three"
4. rebºhu "four"
5. xemsu "five"
6. sedsu "six"
7. sebºhu "seven"
8. þemnu "eight"
9. tesºhu "nine"
10. ºhes'ru "ten"

1. meAhrimu, re¨simu "first"
2. þenenu "second"
3. þeleþu "third"
4. rebeºhu "fourth"
5. xemesu "fifth"
6. sedesu "sixth"
7. sebeºhu "seventh"
8. þemenu "eighth"
9. teseºhu "nineth"
10. ºhes'eru "tenth"

Vocabulary

The small Ged¨hi Dictionary contains now about 250 words. It contains nearly all PSem. roots mentioned by John Huehnergard in Proto-Semitic Language and Culture.

411 of Proto-Semitic roots can be found in Semitic Roots Index of The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language.

How to determine Ged¨hi words from cognates in other languages

Cognates in Old Babylonian

Merged sounds:

• OBab. z may correspond also to Ged¨hi ð (for example: uznum, axa:zum)
• Late OBab. m may correspond also to w (for example: ami:lum < awi:lum)
• OBab. s. may correspond also to
  • Ged¨hi þ¸
  • Ged¨hi ç'
• OBab. š may correspond not only to also to Ged¨hi s but also
  • to Ged¨hi þ (for example: šala:š)
  • or to Ged¨hi s' (for example: šarrum)

Lost sounds:

• OBab. initial a- usually corresponds to Ged¨hi ¨a-, but also
  • Late OBab. initial a- may correspond to Ged¨hi wa-
• OBab. e may be a result of coloring by a lost ºh (for example: be:lum < *baºhlum, eli < *ºhali)
• OBab. initial i- usually corresponds to Ged¨hi ja-
• OBab. initial u- may correspond to Ged¨hi ju-
• Colored or contracted vowels may be results of lost ¨, gh, ¨h, ªh, j or ºh
  • (OBab. j survived only when it was doubled.)

Different orthography:

• OBab. s is written in Ged¨hi as c

Cognates in Hebrew

Merged sounds:

• Hebr. z may correspond also to Ged¨hi ð (for example: ?>o:zen <* ?a:ðinu, ?a:h.az)
• Hebr. h. may correspond also to Ged¨hi x
• Hebr. j may correspond also to Ged¨hi w (for example: Hebr. j>eleð), because in Hebr. and Aram., w at the beginning of words became j
• Hebr. ¿ may correspond also to Ged¨hi gh
• Hebr. s. may correspond
  • not only to Ged¨hi ç
  • but also to Ged¨hi þ¸
  • or Ged¨hi ç'
• Hebr. š may correspond
  • not only to Ged¨hi s
  • but also to Ged¨hi þ

Lossless sound changes:

• Hebr. fricatives v, gh, ð, x, f, þ correspond to Ged¨hi plosives b, g, d, k, p, t, because Hebr. and Aram., the non-emphatic stops become fricatives after wovels, unless they are doubled.

Different orthography:

• Hebr. s is written in Ged¨hi as c

Cognates in Aramaic

Merged sounds:

• Aram. d may correspond also to Ged¨hi ð
• Aram. h. may correspond also to Ged¨hi x
• Aram. t. may correspond also to Ged¨hi þ¸
• Aram. j may correspond also to Ged¨hi w, because in Aram. and Hebr., w at the beginning of words became j
• Aram. s may correspond not only to Ged¨hi c but also to Ged¨hi s'
• Aram. ¿ may correspond also to Ged¨hi gh
• Aram. t may correspond also to Ged¨hi þ

Lossless sound changes:

• Aram. fricatives v, gh, ð, x, f, þ correspond to Ged¨hi plosives b, g, d, k, p, t, because Aram. and Hebr., the non-emphatic stops became fricatives after wovels, unless they were doubled.

Different orthography:

• Aram. š is written in Ged¨hi as s

Cognates in Arabic

Merged sounds:

• Arabic s may correspond
  • not only to Ged¨hi s
  • but also to Ged¨hi c

Lossless sound changes:

• Arabic palatalized or postalveolarized g (pronounced [g], [J], [d_Z] or [Z]) is often transcribed j (jiim) or gˇ or ž; it corresponds to Ged¨hi g (whereas Arabic [j] is often transcribed y (yaa') and corresponds to Ged¨hi j)
• Arabic z. (z.a') corresponds to Ged¨hi þ¸
• Arabic d. (d.ad) corresponds to Ged¨hi ç'
• Arabic f corresponds to Ged¨hi p
• Arabic š (šiin) corresponds to Ged¨hi c' (for example: šams)

Cognates in Ethiopic

Merged sounds:

• Ethiopic z may correspond also to Ged¨hi ð
• Ethiopic s. may correspond also to Ged¨hi þ¸
• Ethiopic s may correspond
  • not only to Ged¨hi c
  • but also to Ged¨hi s

Lossless sound changes:

• Ethiopic f corresponds to Ged¨hi p

Ancient borrowings from other language families

Ancient borrowings from Sumerian

• ¨heklu "palace" (Sum. É.GAL; OBab. ekallum; Hebr. heJxa:l "temple, palace")
• se¨u "grain" (Sum. ŠE; OBab. še'um)

Ancient borrowings from Egyptian

• pereºh¨u "farao" (Eg. pr.3 lit. "great house")
• peru "mansion" (Eg. pr "house")

Words shared with PIE.

• þewru "bull" (PIE. tawr-o-z; Hebr. šUo:r; Arab. t_awr)
• ªheþteratu "Venus" (PIE. H2ster "star"; )

Appendices

Abbreviations

The appendix lists Abbreviations used for grammatical terms and names of languages.