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Ugaritic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Extinct Northwest Semitic language
Not to be confused withUgric languages.
Ugaritic
Clay tablet of Ugaritic alphabet
Native toUgarit
Extinct12th century BC[1]
Ugaritic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-2uga
ISO 639-3uga
uga
Glottologugar1238
This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA.
This article containsUgaritic text. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUgaritic alphabet.

Ugaritic[2][3] (/ˌ(j)uːɡəˈrɪtɪk/(Y)OOG-ə-RIT-ik)[4] is an extinctNorthwest Semitic language known through theUgaritic texts discovered by Frencharchaeologists in 1928 atUgarit,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] including several major literary texts, notably theBaal cycle.[11][12]

Ugaritic has been called "the greatest literary discovery from antiquity since the deciphering of theEgyptian hieroglyphs andMesopotamian cuneiform".[13]

Corpus

[edit]
Main article:Ugaritic texts

The Ugaritic language is attested in texts from the 14th through the early 12th century BC. The city of Ugarit was destroyed roughly 1190 BC.[14]

Literary texts discovered at Ugarit include theLegend of Keret or Kirta, the legends ofDanel (AKA 'Aqhat), theMyth of Baal-Aliyan, and theDeath of Baal. The latter two are also known collectively as theBaal Cycle. These texts reveal aspects of ancient Northwest Semitic religion in Syria-Palestine during the Late Bronze Age.

Edward Greenstein has proposed that Ugaritic texts might help solvebiblical puzzles such as theanachronism ofEzekiel mentioningDaniel inEzekiel 14:13–16[11] actually referring toDanel, a hero from the UgariticTale of Aqhat.

Phonology

[edit]

Ugaritic had 28 consonantalphonemes (including twosemivowels) and eightvowel phonemes (three short vowels and five long vowels):a ā i ī u ū ē ō. The phonemesē andō occur only as long vowels and are the result ofmonophthongization of thediphthongsаy andaw, respectively.

Consonants[citation needed]
LabialInterdentalDental/AlveolarPalatalVelarUvularPharyngealGlottal
plainemphatic
Nasalmn
Stopvoicelesspttˤkqʔ
voicedbdɡ
Fricativevoicelessθssˤʃxħh
voicedðzðˤ(ʒ)[1]ɣ[2]ʕ
Approximantljw
Trillr
  1. ^The voiced palatal fricative [ʒ] occurs as a late variant of the voiced interdental fricative /ð/.
  2. ^The voiced velar fricative /ɣ/, while an independent phoneme at all periods, also occurs as a late variant of the emphatic voiced interdental /ðˤ/.

The following table showsProto-Semiticphonemes and their correspondences among Ugaritic,Akkadian,Classical Arabic andTiberian Hebrew:

Proto-SemiticUgariticAkkadianClassical ArabicTiberian HebrewImperial Aramaic
b[b]𐎁bbبb[b]בb/ḇ[b/v]𐡁b/ḇ[b/v]
p[p]𐎔ppفf[f]פp/p̄[p/f]𐡐p/p̄[p/f]
ḏ[ð]𐎏d;
sometimesḏ[ð]		zذḏ[ð]זz[z]𐡃 (older 𐡆)d/ḏ[d/ð]
ṯ[θ]𐎘ṯ[θ]šثṯ[θ]שׁš[ʃ]𐡕 (older 𐡔)t/ṯ[t/θ]
ṱ[θʼ]𐎑ẓ[ðˤ];
sporadicallyġ[ɣ]		ṣظẓ[ðˤ]צṣ[sˤ]𐡈 (older 𐡑)ṭ[tˤ]
d[d]𐎄ddدd[d]דd/ḏ[d/ð]𐡃d/ḏ[d/ð]
t[t]𐎚ttتt[t]תt/ṯ[t/θ]𐡕t/ṯ[t/θ]
ṭ[tʼ]𐎉ṭ[tˤ]ṭطṭ[tˤ]טṭ[tˤ]𐡈ṭ[tˤ]
š[s]𐎌š[ʃ]šسs[s]שׁš[ʃ]𐡔š[ʃ]
z[dz]𐎇zzزz[z]זz[z]𐡆z[z]
s[ts]𐎒ssسs[s]סs[s]𐡎s[s]
ṣ[tsʼ]𐎕ṣ[sˤ]ṣصṣ[sˤ]צṣ[sˤ]𐡑ṣ[sˤ]
l[l]𐎍llلl[l]לl[l]𐡋l[l]
ś[ɬ]𐎌ššشš[ʃ]שׂś[ɬ]→[s]𐡎 (older 𐡔)s[s]
ṣ́[(t)ɬʼ]𐎕ṣṣضḍ[ɮˤ]→[dˤ]צṣ[sˤ]𐡏 (older 𐡒)ʿ[ʕ]
g[ɡ]𐎂ggجǧ[ɡʲ]→[dʒ]גg/ḡ[ɡ/ɣ]𐡂g/ḡ[ɡ/ɣ]
k[k]𐎋kkكk[k]כk/ḵ[k/x]𐡊k/ḵ[k/x]
q[kʼ]𐎖qqقq[q]קq[q]𐡒q[q]
ġ[ɣ]𐎙ġ[ɣ]ḫغġ[ɣ]עʿ[ʕ]𐡏ʿ[ʕ]
ḫ[x]𐎃ḫ[x]خḫ[x]חḥ[ħ]𐡇ḥ[ħ]
ʿ[ʕ]𐎓ʿ[ʕ]ḫ/ eعʿ[ʕ]עʿ[ʕ]𐡏ʿ[ʕ]
ḥ[ħ]𐎈ḥ[ħ]eحḥ[ħ]חḥ[ħ]𐡇ḥ[ħ]
ʾ[ʔ]𐎛ʾ[ʔ]∅ /ʾءʾ[ʔ]אʾ[ʔ]𐡀/∅ʾ/∅[ʔ/∅]
h[h]𐎅h∅هh[h]הh[h]𐡄h[h]
m[m]𐎎mmمm[m]מm[m]𐡌m[m]
n[n]𐎐nnنn[n]נn[n]𐡍n[n]
r[r]𐎗rrرr[r]רr[r]𐡓r[r]
w[w]𐎆wwوw[w]וw[w]𐡅w[w]
y[j]𐎊yyيy[j]יy[j]𐡉y[j]

Writing system

[edit]
Main article:Ugaritic alphabet
Table of Ugaritic alphabet

TheUgaritic alphabet is acuneiform script used beginning in the 15th century BC. Like most Semitic scripts, it is anabjad, where each symbol stands for a consonant, leaving the reader to supply the appropriate vowel. Only after an aleph the vowel is indicated (’a, ’i, ’u). With other consonants one can often guess the unwritten vowel, and thus vocalize the text, from (a) parallel cases with an aleph, (b) texts where Ugaritic words are written inAkkadian cuneiform syllables, (c) comparison with other West-Semitic languages, for example Hebrew and Arabic, (d) generalized vocalization rules,[15] and (e), in poetry,parallellisms are also helpful to interpret the consonantal skeleton.[16]

Although it appears similar to Mesopotamian cuneiform (whose writing techniques it borrowed), its symbols and symbol meanings are unrelated. It is the oldest example of the family of West Semitic scripts such as thePhoenician,Paleo-Hebrew, andAramaic alphabets (including theHebrew alphabet). The so-called "long alphabet" has 30 letters while the "short alphabet" has 22. Other languages (particularlyHurrian) were occasionally written in the Ugarit area, although not elsewhere.

Clay tablets written in Ugaritic provide the earliest evidence of both the Levantine ordering of the alphabet, which gave rise to the alphabetic order of theHebrew,Greek, andLatin alphabets; and the South Semitic order, which gave rise to the order of theGe'ez script. The script was written from left to right.

Grammar

[edit]

Ugaritic is aninflected language, and as aSemitic language its grammatical features are highly similar to those found inClassical Arabic andAkkadian. It possesses twogenders (masculine and feminine), threecases fornouns andadjectives (nominative,accusative, andgenitive [also, note the possibility of a locative case]); three numbers: (singular, dual, and plural); andverb aspects similar to those found in other Northwest Semitic languages. The word order for Ugaritic isverb–subject–object (VSO),possessed–possessor (NG), andnoun–adjective (NA). Ugaritic is considered a conservative Semitic language, since it retains most of theProto-Semiticphonemes, the basic qualities of thevowel, the case system, the word order of the Proto-Semitic ancestor, and the lack of thedefinite article.

Theword order for Ugaritic isverb–subject–object (VSO) andsubject–object–verb (SOV),[17]possessed–possessor (NG), andnoun–adjective (NA). Ugaritic is considered aconservative Semitic language, since it retains most of thephonemes,the case system, and the word order of the ancestralProto-Semitic language.[18]

Word order

[edit]

The word order for Ugaritic isSubjectVerbObject (SVO),VerbSubjectObject (VSO),possessed–possessor (NG), andnoun–adjective (NA).

Morphology

[edit]

Ugaritic, like allSemitic languages, exhibits a unique pattern of stems consisting typically of "triliteral", or 3-consonant consonantalroots (2- and 4-consonant roots also exist), from whichnouns,adjectives, andverbs are formed in various ways: e.g. by insertingvowels, doublingconsonants, and/or addingprefixes,suffixes, orinfixes.

Verbs

[edit]
Introduction
[edit]

Ugaritic verbs are based on mostlythree-literal roots (like allSemitic languages) (a few verbs have two- or four-consonant roots). For example,RGM, ‘to say’. By addingprefixes,infixes, andsuffixes, and varying the vowels, the various verbal forms are formed. (Because in Ugaritic vowels are hardly written, these vowel variations often are not clearly visible).

Verbs can take several of a dozenstem patterns, orbinyanim, that change the basic meaning of the verb, and make it for example passive, causative, or intensive. The basic form (in German:Grundstamm) is the G stem.

The verbal forms for each stem can be divided infive verbal form groups:

  • the suffix conjugation, also calledqtl (pronouncedqatal), or Perfect;
  • the prefix conjugation, also calledyqtl (pronouncedyiqtol), or Imperfect;
  • imperatives;
  • two different infinitives;
  • an active and a passive participle.

Verbs have one of three differentvowel patterns,-a-, -i-, and-u-:

  • in theqtl (G stem):qatala,qatila, orqatula (cf. Hebrewqaṭal,kavēd,qaṭon);
  • in theyqtl (G stem):yiqtalu,yaqtilu, oryaqtulu.

There is no one-on-one link between morphology and tense. This is because Ugaritic is anaspect language: verbal forms do not primarily indicate the timing of activities (in the past, present or future), but they indicateaspect: the suffix conjugation (qtl) hasperfective aspect, it is used when viewing an activity as having a beginning and an end; the prefix conjugation (yqtl) hasimperfective aspect, it is used when it is deemed irrelevant whether the activity has an end or beginning.

Ugaritic verbs can have severalmoods, bothindicative and injunctive (jussive,cohortative).Moods are most clearly visible in the prefix conjugation (see below).

Suffix conjugation
[edit]

The suffix conjugation (qtl) has perfective aspect. Taking therootRGM (which means "to say") as an example,ragama may be translated as “he says” (at this very moment), or “he has said” (and has finished speaking).

The vowel between the second and third root consonant can be-a-, -i-, or-u-. Most verbs describe an activity (so-called “active verbs”) and have-a-. Verbs describing a state or property (“stative verbs”) have-i- or (rarely)-u-.

The paradigm of the suffix conjugation (or Perfect) is as follows for thea-verbRGM, thei-verbŠB‘ (“to be (become) satiated”), and theu-verbMRṢ (“to fall ill”):

Morphology of the Ugaritic suffix conjugation (in the simple active pattern, G stem)
modela-verbi-verbu-verb
Singular1stmasc. & fem.STEM-tu
(orSTEM-tī?)		rgmtRaGaMtu
(orRaGaMtī?)		“I say, have said”šabi‘tu
(oršabi‘tī?)		“I am
satiated”		maruṣtu
(ormaruṣtī?)		“I fall ill,
have fallen ill”
2ndmasculineSTEM-targmtRaGaMta“you (m.) say”šabi‘ta(etc.)maruṣta(etc.)
feminineSTEM-tirgmtRaGaMti“you (f.) say”šabi‘timaruṣti
3rdmasculineSTEM-argmRaGaMa“he says”šabi‘amaruṣa
feminineSTEM-atrgmtRaGaMat“she says”šabi‘atmaruṣat
Dual1stmasc. & fem.STEM-nayārgmnyRaGaMnayā“the both of us say”šabi‘nayāmaruṣnayā
2ndmasc. & fem.STEM-tumārgmtmRaGaMtumā“you two say”šabi‘tumāmaruṣtumā
3rdmasculineSTEM-ārgmRaGaMā“they both (m.) say”šabi‘āmaruṣā
feminineSTEM-atārgmtRaGaMatā“they both (f.) say”šabi‘atāmaruṣatā
Plural1stmasc. & fem.STEM-nūrgmnRaGaMnū“we say”šabi‘nūmaruṣnū
2ndmasculineSTEM-tum(u)rgmtmRaGaMtum(u)“you (m. Pl.) say”šabi‘tum(u)maruṣtum(u)
feminineSTEM-tin(n)argmtnRaGaMtin(n)a“you (f. Pl.) say”šabi‘tin(n)amaruṣtin(n)a
3rdmasculineSTEM-ūrgmRaGaMū“they (m.) say”šabi‘ūmaruṣū
feminineSTEM-ārgmRaGaMā“they (f.) say”šabi‘āmaruṣā
Prefix conjugation
[edit]

The prefix conjugationyqtl- takes three forms:yiqtal-, yaqtil-, andyaqtul-. There is no simple one-on-one relation with the threeqtl forms,qatal, qatil, andqatul. For example, the following three verbs are all of theqatal type, but have differentyqtl patterns:

verbqtltypeyqtl
QR’“to call, invoke”qara’a“he calls”yiqtal-yiqra’u“he will call”
YRD“to go down”yarada“he goes down”yaqtil-yaridu“he will go down”
RGM“to say, speak”ragama“he says”yaqtul-yargumu“he will say”

The Imperfect paradigms for the three patterns are as follows, for the verbsRGM, “to say” (yaqtul- pattern),Š’iL, “to ask” (yiqtal- pattern), andYRD, “to go down” (yaqtil pattern):

Morphology of the Ugaritic prefix conjugation (in the simple active pattern, G stem)[1]
modelyaqtul patternyiqtal patternyaqtil pattern
Singular1stmasc. & fem.’a/’i-STEM-’argm’aRGuMu“I will say”’iš’alu“I will ask”’aridu“I will go down”
2ndmasculineta/ti-STEM-trgmtaRGuMu“you (m.) will say”tiš’alu(etc.)taridu(etc.)
feminineta/ti-STEM-īnatrgmntaRGuMīna“you (f.) will say”tiš’alīnataridīna
3rdmasculineya/yi-STEM-yrgmyaRGuMu“he will say”yiš’aluyaridu
feminineta/ti-STEM-trgmtaRGuMu“she will say”tiš’alutaridu
Dual1stmasc. & fem.na/ni-STEM-ānrgmnaRGuMā“the both of us will say”niš’alānaridā
2ndmasc. & fem.ta/ti-STEM-ā(ni)trgm(n)taRGuMā(ni)“you two will say”tiš’alā(ni)taridā(ni)
3rdmasculineya/yi-STEM-ā(ni)yrgm(n)yaRGuMā(ni)“they both (m.) will say”yiš’alā(ni)yaridā(ni)
feminineta/ti-STEM-ā(ni)trgm(n)taRGuMā(ni)“they both (f.) will say”tiš’alā(ni)taridā(ni)
Plural1stmasc. & fem.na/ni-STEM-nrgmnaRGuMu“we will say”niš’alunaridu
2ndmasculineta/ti-STEM-ū(na)trgm(n)taRGuMū(na)“you (m. Pl.) will say”tiš’alū(na)taridū(na)
feminineta/ti-STEM-natrgmntaRGuMna“you (f. Pl.) will say”tiš’alnataridna
3rdmasculineya/yi-STEM-ū(na)yrgm(n)yaRGuMū(na)“they (m.) will say”yiš’alū(na)yaridū(na)
feminineta/ti-STEM-natrgmntaRGuMna“they (f.) will say”tiš’alnataridna
  1. ^These are reconstructed for the Imperfect.

The prefix conjugation takes four or five different endings (yqtl, yqtlu, yqtla, yqtln). There are three clearmoods (indicative,jussive, andvolitive orcohortative). The so-called energic forms,yqtln, with an-n suffix (-an, -anna; possibly also-un, -unna), apparently have the same meaning as the shorter forms without the-n suffix.[19]

FormNameMoodTenseAspectExampleTranslationNotes
yqtluImperfectIndicativePresent - Futureimperfectiveyargumu“he says, will say”
Pastcontinued action“he used to say, is wont to say”
yqtl‘short form’IndicativePastimperfectiveyargum“he said”
Jussive——“may he say, let him say”
yqtlaVolitiveVolitive (Cohortative, Subjunctive)——yarguma“may he say, he shall say”
yqtlnEnergicJussive——yarguman(na)“may he say”
Energic #2IndicativePastimperfectiveyargumun(na)“he said, says”existence doubted
Imperative
[edit]

The imperative probably takes three forms,qatal,qutul, and *qitil, where the vowels correspond with the vowels in the imperfect.

Examples (the verbYRD “to go down, to descend” is a so-called ‘weak’ verb, the first consonantY disappears in the imperative):

a-typei-typeu-type
verb:PTḤ, “to open”YRD, “to descend”RGM, “to say, speak”(speaking to:)
(Imperfect, 3 Sg. m.:)yiptaḥu“he will open”yaridu“he will descend”yargumu“he will say”
Imperative,
2 Singular		masculinepataḥ“open!”rid“descend!”rugum“say!”, “speak!”a man
femininepataḥīridīrugumīa woman
2 Dualmasculinepataḥā?rugumātwo men
feminine???two women
2 Pluralmasculinepataḥūridūrugumūthree or more men,
or men and women
femininepataḥā (?)?rugumā (?)three or more women
Participles
[edit]

The paradigm of the active participle (G stem, verbMLK, “to be king”) is as follows:

Singularmasculinemāliku“reigning (king)”
femininemalik(a)tu“reigning (queen)”
Pluralmasculinemalikūma“reigning (kings)”
femininemālikātu“reigning (queens)”

The passive participle is quite rare. There seem to be two forms (verbsRGM “to say”,ḤRM “to divide”):

u-formi-form
Singularmasculineragūmu“said, spoken”ẖarimu“divided”
feminineragūm(a)tuẖarim(a)tu
Pluralmasculine??
feminineragūmātuẖarimātu
Infinitives
[edit]

Like other Semitic languages, Ugaritic has two infinitives, theinfinitive absolute and theinfinitive construct. However, in Ugaritic the two have an identical form. The usual form ishalāku (“to go”, verbhlk), but a few verbs use an alternative form *hilku, for exampleniģru, “to guard” (verbnģr).

The infinitive absolute is often used preceding a perfect or imperfect verbal form, to put emphasis on that following verbal form. Such an infinive absolute may be translated as “verily, certainly, absolutely”. For example,halāku halaka, “he certainly goes” (literally, “to go! he goes”). An isolated infinitive absolute may also be used instead of any perfect, imperfect, or imperative verbal form.

The infinitive construct is often used after the prepositionsl (“to”) andb (“in, by”):bi-ša’āli “in asking, by asking, while asking” (verbš’al “to ask”; note that after the prepositionb (bi) the genitive of the infinitive is used).

Weak Verbs
[edit]

In Ugaritic, "weak verbs" are verbs whose roots contain a weak consonant, that is, a consonant that may disappear in some forms, or change into another consonant. Weak consonants arew andy, and alson,h, and in one casel (lqḥ, “to take”), if these are the first root consonant. Weak verbs exhibit irregular patterns in their conjugation due to the inherent instability of the weak consonants, often leading to phonetic variations. This phenomenon is akin to that observed in other Semitic languages, including Hebrew.

For instance, the Ugaritic verbyrd, “to go down”, is a weak verb: its imperative isrd /rid/ “go down!”, without they consonant. The verbhlk, “to go”, has the imperativelk /lik/ “go!”, without theh. Due to their weak consonants, weak verbs can undergo phonetic changes, such as the assimilation of waw (w) to yod (y), especially in the absence of an intervening vowel. This characteristic impacts the verb's inflection, resulting in variations that are atypical compared to regular (strong) verbs.[20]

In Ugaritic there also exist "doubly weak verbs", which contain two weak consonants.

Patterns (stems)
[edit]

Ugaritic verbs occur in about a dozen reconstructed patterns orbinyanim (verbP‘L, “to make, do”):

Verb Patterns
Hebrew equivalentActive voicePassive voice
Perfect (3rd sg. masc.)Imperfect (3rd sg. masc.)Perfect (3rd sg. masc.)Imperfect (3rd sg. masc.)
G stem (simple) andGp (passive)qal andqal passivepaʻala,paʻila,paʻulayipʻalu,yapʻilu,yapʻulupuʻilayupʻalu
(?)C stem (causative internal pattern)(?)yapʻilu[1](?)(?)
Gt stem (simple reflexive)ʼiptaʻalayaptaʻalun/a
N stem (reciprocal or passive)niphʻalnap(a)ʻalayappaʻilu (< *yanpaʻilu)n/a
D stem (factitive) andDp (passive)piʻʻel andpuʻʻalpaʻʻalayapaʻʻilupuʻʻilayupaʻʻalu
tD stem (factitive reflexive)hithpaʻʻeltapaʻʻalayatapaʻʻalun/a
L stem (intensive or factitive) andLp (passive)pôlel andpôlalpāʻalayupāʻilu(?)(?)
Š stem (causative) andŠp (passive)hiphʻil andhophʻalšapʻalayašapʻilu[2]šupʻilayušapʻalu
Št stem (causative reflexive)hištaph‘alʼištapʻalayaštapʻilun/a
R stem (factitive) (reduplicated roots)[3]paʻlala (e.g.karkara)yapaʻlalu (e.g.yakarkaru)(?)(?)
  1. ^The i-form imperfect of the G stem (or D stem?) sometimes has causative meaning. It probably is not a separate stem: Daniel Sivan,A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language (HdO 28; Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, 2001) pp. 116-117.
  2. ^Gordon, Cyrus (1947).Ugaritic Handbook, I. Pontifical Biblical Institute. p. 72.
  3. ^This includes reduplicated bi- (likeKRKR, “to twiddle one's fingers”) and triconsonant roots (ṢḤRR, “to scorch”), as well as other four-consonant roots (PRSḤ, “to bow, collapse(?)”). A factitive-reflexivetR orRt stem may also exist (attested only once: Pierre Bordreuil & Dennis Pardee,A manual of Ugaritic (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2009), pp. 44-45).

Nouns and adjectives

[edit]
Paradigm
[edit]

Nouns (substantives,adjectives, personal names) in their basic form (nominativesingular) end in-u. Nominal forms are categorized according to theirinflection into:cases (nominative,genitive, andaccusative), state (absolute and construct),gender (masculine and feminine), andnumber (singular,dual, andplural).

Here is the full paradigm for a masculine substantive (malku, “king”) and a feminine substantive (malkatu, “queen”).[21][22]

MasculineFeminine
endingmalku, “king”endingmalkatu, “queen”
numbercaseabs. statecs. stateabsolute stateconstruct stateabs. statecs. stateabsolute stateconstruct state
Singularnominative-umlkmalku-umlktmalkatu
genitive-imlkmalki-imlktmalkati
accusative-amlkmalka-amlktmalkata
Dualnominative-āma (or-āmi?)-āmlkmmalkāma / malkāmimlkmalkā-āma / -āmi-āmlktmmalkatāma / malkatāmimlktmalkatā
gen. & acc.-êma (or-êmi?)-êmlkmmalkêma / malkêmimlkmalkê-êma / -êmi-êmlktmmalkatêma / malkatêmimlktmalkatê
Pluralnominative-ūma-ūmlkmmal(a)kūmamlkmalakū(*)-umlktmal(a)kātu
gen. & acc.-īma-īmlkmmal(a)kīmamlkmalakī(*)-imlktmal(a)kāti

Note (*): with lengthening of the final vowel of the stem:mal(a)kat- >mal(a)kāt-.

Case
[edit]

Ugaritic has threegrammatical cases corresponding to:nominative,genitive, andaccusative. Normally,singularnouns take the ending -u in thenominative,-i in thegenitive and -a in theaccusative.

As inArabic, some exceptional nouns (known asdiptotes) have thesuffix-a in thegenitive. There is no Ugaritic equivalent for Classical Arabicnunation or Akkadian mimation.

State
[edit]

Nouns in Ugaritic occur in twostates:absolute andconstruct.The construct (or ‘bound’) state indicates that a noun is closely linked to the following noun. For example, “the house of the king” could in Ugaritic in principle be expressed in two ways:

1. “the house” (absolute state) “of the king” (absolute state, genitive). This might be called the ‘Latin’ way of expression (domus regis);

2. “the houseof” (construct state) “the king” (absolute state, genitive). This might be called the ‘Hebrew’ way of expression (bēt hammelek).

The construct state is also the basic form used when a personal pronoun is suffixed:malakūma = “(the) kings” (absolute state, nominative) >malakū (construct state) >malakūhu = “his kings”; similarlymalakĩhu = “(of) his kings” (genitive, accusative).

Ugaritic, unlikeArabic andHebrew, has nodefinitearticle.

Gender
[edit]

Nouns which have nogendermarker are for the most part masculine, although some femininenouns do not have a femininemarker. However, these denote feminine beings such as ʼumm- (mother). /-t/ is the feminine marker which is directly attached to the base of the noun.

Number
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Ugaritic distinguishes betweennouns based on quantity. Allnouns are eithersingular when there is one,dual when there are two, andplural if there are three or more.

Singular
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Thesingular has nomarker and isinflected according to itscase.

Dual
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The marker for thedual in theabsolute state appears as /-m/. However, thevocalization may be reconstructed as /-āma/ or /-āmi/ in thenominative (such asmalkāma, malkāmi "two kings") and /-êma/ or /-êmi/ for thegenitive andaccusative (e.g.malkêma, malkêmi). For theconstruct state, it is /-ā/ and /-ê/ respectively.

Plural
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Ugaritic has only regularplurals (i.e. nobroken plurals). Masculineabsolute stateplurals take the forms /-ūma/ in thenominative and /-īma/ in thegenitive andaccusative. In theconstruct state they are /-ū/ and /-ī/ respectively. The female afformativeplural is /-āt/ with acasemarker probably following the /-t/, giving /-ātu/ for thenominative and /-āti/ for thegenitive andaccusative in bothabsolute andconstruct state.

Adjectives
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Adjectives follow thenoun and aredeclined exactly like the precedingnoun.

Pronouns

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Independent personal pronouns
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Independentpersonal pronouns in Ugaritic are as follows (some forms are lacking because they are not in thecorpus of the language):

personSingularDualPlural
1stʼanā, ʼanāku"I"ʼanaḥnu"we"
2ndmasculineʼatta“you”ʼattumā“you two”ʼattumu“you all”
feminineʼatti“you”ʼattina“you all”
3rdmasculinehuwa[1]“he”humā“them two”humu[1]“they”
femininehiya[1]“she”hinna“they”
  1. ^abc3rd person independentpronouns can occur in thegenitive oraccusative but aresuffixed with a /-t/.
Suffixed (or enclitic) personal pronouns
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Suffixed (orenclitic) pronouns (mainly denoting thegenitive andaccusative) are as follows:

PersonSingularDualPlural
1st-ya[1]“my”-nayā“our”-na, -nu“our”
2ndmasculine-ka“your”-kumā“your”-kum-“your”
feminine-ki“your”-kin(n)a“your”
3rdmasculine-hu“his”-humā“their”-hum-“their”
feminine-ha“her”-hin(n)a“their”
  1. ^-nī is used for thenominative, i.e. following averb denoting thesubject.

Numerals

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The following is a table of Ugariticnumerals:

NumberMasculineFeminine
1ʼaḥḥaduʼaḥattu
2ṯinā[1]ṯittā[1]
3ṯalāṯuṯalāṯatu
4ʼarbaʻuʼarbaʻatu
5ḫam(i)šuḫam(i)šatu
6ṯiṯṯuṯiṯṯatu
7šabʻušabʻatu
8ṯamānuṯamānītu
9tišʻutišʻatu
10ʻaš(a)ruʻaš(a)ratu
20ʻašrāma[2]
30ṯalāṯūma[2]
100miʼtu
200miʼtāma
1000ʼalpu
10000ribbatu[2]
  1. ^abSegert, Stanislav (1984).A Basic Grammar of Ugaritic Language. University of California Press. p. 53.ISBN 9780520039995.
  2. ^abcSegert,A Basic Grammar of Ugaritic Language, p. 54
Ordinals
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The following is a table of Ugariticordinals:

NumberMasculineFeminine
1prʿprʿt
2ṯanūṯanītu[1]
3ṯalīṯuṯalīṯatu
4rabīʻurabīʻatu
5ḫamīšuḫamīšatu
6ṯadīṯuṯadīṯatu
7šabīʻušabīʻatu
8ṯamīnuṯamīnatu
9tašīʻutašīʻatu
  1. ^These are reconstructed for the imperfect simple active pattern (G stem).

Particles

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Among particles in Ugaritic the so-calledenclitic particles deserve special note, especially-n (-na) and-m (-ma). These particles do not seem to change the meaning of words, but create confusion between different forms, and thus complicate the analysis and interpretation of words, in particular verbal forms. For example,rgmtm can beragamtumu, “you (plural) say”, but it can also beragamtu-ma, an extension ofragamtu, “I have said”. Andmlkm (malkuma), can be the pluralmalkûma, “kings”, but it can also be an extended singular,malku-ma, “the king”.

The enclitic particles can be stacked on top of each other. An extreme example ishnny (hannaniya), “behold!, here is”, that is analyzed as a four-step extension of the presentative particleh (ha):hnny (hannaniya) =ha + -n + -na + -ni + -ya.h andhnny have the same meaning, “behold!, here is”.

Sample Texts

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Here is a fragment from the epic“Baal” cycle (KTU tablet 1.4 column 5).Ba‘al, son of Supreme God El, has rebelled, he wants a palace of his own. After some blackmail - Ba‘al withholds his rain from the land - El agrees. Ba‘al's sister Anat brings him the good news:

Ugaritic[a][23]vocalizedEnglish
(25)ṣḥq . btlt . ‘nt . tš’uṣaḥāqu batūl(a)tu ‘Anatu ; tišša’uMaiden Anat laughed, she raised
(26)gh . w tṣḥ . tbšr b‘lgâha wa-taṣīḥu : tabaššir Ba‘lu ;(her) voice and cried out: “Receive the good news, Baal!
(27)bšrtk . yblt . y[tn]bašūr(a)­tūka yabiltu ; yû[tanu]Good news for you I bring; there will be gi[ven]
(28)bt . lk . km . ’aḫk . w ḥẓrbêtu lêka kamā ’aḫḫûka , wa-ḥaẓiruto you a house like your brothers, and a court
(29)km . ’aryk . ṣḥ . ḫrnkamā ’aryuka . ṣiḥ ḫarrānalike your clansmen. Call a caravan (or wooden planks?)
(30)b bhtk . ‘ḏbt . b qrbbi bahatūka , ‘ḎBT(?) bi qirbiinto your house, supplies(?) into
(31)hklk . tblk . ġrmhēkalika ; tabilūka ġūrūmayour palace; the mountains will bring you
(32)m’id . ksp . gb‘m . mḥmdma’da kaspa , gab(a)‘ūma maḥmadamuch silver, the hills [will bring] desirable
(33)ḫrṣ . w bn . bht . kspḫurāṣa , wa-banā bahātī kaspigold, and build houses of silver
(34)w ḫrṣ . bht . ṭhrmwa-ḫurāṣi , bahātī ṭuḥūrīmaand gold, houses of pure
(35)’iq­n’im’iqn’īma [...]lapis lazuli.”

From a list describing the organization of wine deliveries for royal sacrificial rites (KTU 1.91). Wine is to be consumed when ...:

k t‘rb ‘ṯtrt sd bt mlk
k t‘rbn ršpm bt mlk		kî ta‘rubu ‘Aṯtaratu-Sadi bêta malki,
kî ta‘rubūna Rašapūma bêta malki		“... when Athtart of the Field enters the house of the king,
when the Reshaphim enter the house of the king [...]”

From a letter (KTU 2.19):

nqmd mlk ’ugrt ktb spr hndNiqmaddu malku ’Ugarīti kataba sipra hānādū“Niqmaddu, king of Ugarit, has written this document.”

From a “contract” (KTU 3.4):

l ym hnd ’iwr[k]l pdy ’agdnle-yômi hānādū ’Iwrikallu padaya ’Agdena“From this day, Iwrikallu has redeemed Agdenu.”

See also

[edit]

Notes

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Constructs such asibid.,loc. cit. andidem arediscouraged byWikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Pleaseimprove this article by replacing them withnamed references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title.(November 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
  1. ^Ugaritic text does not include many vowels which would have been present in spoken language

References

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Citations
  1. ^"Ugaritic". Archived fromthe original on 22 March 2021. Retrieved2024-04-07.
  2. ^Rendsburg, Gary A. (1987)."Modern South Arabian as a Source for Ugaritic Etymologies".Journal of the American Oriental Society.107 (4):623–628.doi:10.2307/603304.JSTOR 603304. Archived fromthe original on 2023-11-26. Retrieved2023-11-26.
  3. ^Rendsburg, Gary A. “Modern South Arabian as a Source for Ugaritic Etymologies”. In:Journal of the American Oriental Society 107, no. 4 (1987): 623–28.https://doi.org/10.2307/603304.
  4. ^"Ugaritic".Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
  5. ^Watson, Wilfred G. E.; Wyatt, Nicolas (1999).Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Brill. p. 91.ISBN 978-90-04-10988-9.
  6. ^Ugaritic is alternatively classified in a "North Semitic" group, seeLipiński, Edward (2001).Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar. Peeters Publishers. p. 50.ISBN 978-90-429-0815-4.
  7. ^Woodard, Roger D. (2008-04-10).The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia. Cambridge University Press. p. 5.ISBN 9781139469340.
  8. ^Goetze, Albrecht (1941). "Is Ugaritic a Canaanite Dialect?".Language.17 (2):127–138.doi:10.2307/409619.JSTOR 409619.
  9. ^Kaye, Alan S. (2007-06-30).Morphologies of Asia and Africa. Eisenbrauns. p. 49.ISBN 9781575061092.
  10. ^Schniedewind, William;Hunt, Joel H. (2007).A Primer on Ugaritic: Language, Culture and Literature. Cambridge University Press. p. 20.ISBN 978-1-139-46698-1.
  11. ^abcGreenstein, Edward L. (November 2010)."Texts from Ugarit Solve Biblical Puzzles".Biblical Archaeology Review.36 (6):48–53, 70. Retrieved16 July 2019.
  12. ^Ford, J. N. (2013). "Ugaritic and Biblical Hebrew". InKhan, Geoffrey; Bolozky, Shmuel; Fassberg, Steven;Rendsburg, Gary A.;Rubin, Aaron D.; Schwarzwald, Ora R.; Zewi, Tamar (eds.).Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics.Leiden andBoston:Brill Publishers.doi:10.1163/2212-4241_ehll_EHLL_COM_00000287.ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3.
  13. ^Gordon, Cyrus H. (1965).The Ancient Near East. Norton. p. 99.
  14. ^Huehnergard, John (2012).An Introduction to Ugaritic. Hendrickson Publishers. p. 1.ISBN 978-1-59856-820-2.
  15. ^An example of this last method in Sivan,A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language, p. 116: "[The] pattern of correspondences between the thematic vowel with the second radical and the prefix vowel (thematicu andi taking prefix vowela; thematica taking prefixi) is helpful in reconstructing the vocalized forms of the G stem prefix conjugation." Two more examples of rules of thumb are: abstract nouns preferably have the vowel -u- (Pierre Bordreuil & Dennis Pardee,A Manual of Ugaritic (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2001) p. 33); and stative verbs in the perfect use theqatila vowel pattern.
  16. ^Coogan, Michael D.; Smith, Mark S. (2012).Stories from Ancient Canaan (2nd ed.). Louisville Kentucky: WJK. p. 9.ISBN 9780664232429.
  17. ^Wilson, Gerald H. (1982). "Ugaritic Word Order and Sentence Structure in KRT".Journal of Semitic Studies.27 (1):17–32.doi:10.1093/jss/27.1.17.
  18. ^Segert, Stanislav (March 1985).A Basic Grammar of Ugaritic Language by Stanislav Segert – Hardcover – University of California Press.ISBN 9780520039995.
  19. ^Daniel Sivan, A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language (HdO 28; Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, 2001), pp. 99-106, 116-119.
  20. ^Gordon, Cyrus Herzl (1998).Ugaritic Textbook. Roma: Gregorian Biblical BookShop. p. 13.ISBN 88-7653-238-2.
  21. ^Bordreuil, Pierre; Pardee, Dennis (2009).A Manual of Ugaritic. WInona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. pp. 28–35.ISBN 978-1-57506-153-5.
  22. ^SIvan, Daniel (2001).A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language (2nd ed.). Leiden / Boston / Köln: Brill. pp. 61–85.ISBN 9004122931.
  23. ^Sivan, Daniel (2001).A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language.Brill. pp. 207–210.
Bibliography
  • Bordreuil, Pierre & Pardee, Dennis (2009).A Manual of Ugaritic: Linguistic Studies in Ancient West Semitic 3. Winona Lake, IN 46590: Eisenbraun's, Inc.ISBN 978-1-57506-153-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  • Cunchillos, J.-L. & Vita, Juan-Pablo (2003).A Concordance of Ugaritic Words. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.ISBN 978-1-59333-258-7.
  • del Olmo Lete, Gregorio & Sanmartín, Joaquín (2004).A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition. Brill Academic Publishers.ISBN 978-90-04-13694-6. (2 vols; originally in Spanish, translated by W. G. E. Watson).
  • Gibson, John C. L. (1977).Canaanite Myths and Legends. T. & T. Clark.ISBN 978-0-567-02351-3. (Contains Latin-alphabettransliterations of the Ugaritic texts and facing translations in English.)
  • Gordon, Cyrus Herzl (1965).The Ancient Near East. W. W. Norton & Company Press.ISBN 978-0-393-00275-1.
  • Greenstein, Edward L. (1998). Shlomo Izre'el; Itamar Singer; Ran Zadok (eds.)."On a New Grammar of Ugaritic" in Past links: studies in the languages and cultures of the ancient near east: Volume 18 of Israel oriental studies. Eisenbrauns.ISBN 978-1-57506-035-4. Found atGoogle Scholar.
  • Hasselbach-Andee, Rebecca (2020).A Companion to Ancient Near Eastern Languages. Wiley Blackwell.ISBN 978-1119193296.
  • Huehnergard, John (2011).A Grammar of Akkadian, 3rd ed. Eisenbrauns.ISBN 978-1-5750-6941-8.
  • Moscati, Sabatino (1980).An Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of Semitic Languages, Phonology and Morphology. Harrassowitz Verlag.ISBN 3-447-00689-7.
  • Pardee, Dennis (2003).Rezension von J. Tropper, Ugaritische Grammatik (AOAT 273) Ugarit-Verlag, Münster 2000: Internationale Zeitschrift für die Wissenschaft vom Vorderen Orient. Vienna, Austria: Archiv für Orientforschung (AfO).P. 1-404Archived 2014-01-07 at theWayback Machine.
  • Parker, Simon B. (ed.) (1997).Ugaritic Narrative Poetry: Writings from the Ancient World Society of Biblical Literature. Atlanta: Scholars Press.ISBN 978-0-7885-0337-5.{{cite book}}:|author= has generic name (help)
  • Schniedewind, William M. & Hunt, Joel H. (2007).A Primer on Ugaritic: Language, Culture and Literature. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-5217-0493-9.
  • Segert, Stanislav (1997).A Basic Grammar of the Ugaritic Language. University of California Press.ISBN 0-520-03999-8.
  • Sivan, Daniel (1997).A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language (Handbook of Oriental Studies/Handbuch Der Orientalistik). Brill Academic Publishers.ISBN 978-90-04-10614-7. A more concise grammar.
  • Tropper, Josef (2000).Ugaritische Grammatik. Ugarit Verlag.ISBN 978-3927120907.
  • Woodard, Roger D. (ed.) (2008).The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-68498-9.{{cite book}}:|author= has generic name (help)

Further reading

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External links

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