The Contribution of South Semitics to Hebrew Lexicography

Author(s): Edw. Ullendorff

Source: Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 6, Fasc. 2 (Apr., 1956), pp. 190-198
Published by: Brill
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1515723
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 THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOUTH SEMITICS
TO HEBREW LEXICOGRAPHY *)

BY

EDW. ULLENDORFF
St. Andrews

The object of this short paper is to investigate, with the aid of a

few representative examples, the contribution which the South
Semitic languages have to offer to the elucidation of the Hebrew
vocabulary. Under "South Semitic" I propose to subsume classical
Ethiopic (or Ga'az) and Old or Epigraphic South Arabian (abbrevia-
ted ESA), in the first place, and some of their modern tongues, in
the second instance. Among these latter I am thinking primarily of
Tigrifia, Tigre, and Amharic, in the Ethiopian sphere, and of Soqotri,
Mehri, and Shauri, on the South Arabian side. The term 'Hebrew
lexicography' will cover mainly the Old Testament (for I am con-
scious, in addressing this Society, of the Rabbinic maxim n nn3 St
?Y= nnx 'know before whom thou toilest'), but will not altogether
exclude post-biblical phases of Hebrew.
The close connexion between Ethiopic and Hebrew had already
been recognized by the great Job LUDOLF in the 17th century - in-
cidentally, one of the most remarkable Orientalists and linguists of
any period whose writings remain a mine of recondite information
to this day 1). Thereafter, we only find the occasional reference to
Ethiopic in Hebrew grammars and dictionaries. In 1825, the theolo-
gian, Hebraist, and Orientalist, H. HUPFELD, published his Exercita-
tiones Aethiopicae, and other distinguished grammarians of Hebrew,
among them GESENIUS 2), EWALD 3), and K6NIG 4), began to give

*) Text of a paper read to the winter meeting of the Society for Old Testament
Study, London, January 1956.
1) See J. FLEMMING, "Hiob Ludolf, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der orientali-
schen Philologie", in Beitrdge zur Assyriologie, vols. I and II, 1889.
2) Hebrdisches Elementarbuch, later Hebraische Grammatik.
3) Ausfiihrliches Lehrbuch der hebrdischen Sprache.
4) Neue Studien uiber Schrift, Aussprache, und allgemeine Formenlehre des Aethiopi-
schen.

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 CONTRIBUTION OF SOUTH SEMITICS TO HEBREW 191

attention to the claims of Ethiopic. The greatest student of

in modern times, August DILLMANN, also came to this d
from theology and the Old Testament 1).
The discovery and development of South Arabian studi
initiated by men who were primarily travellers and Orienta
at least two of the early explorers in this field, Joseph HAL
D. H. MiLLER, were also outstanding Old Testament Schol
at the present time the handful of students of South Arabi
been strengthened by the recent labours of W. F. ALBRIGH
domain.

In focussing attention on the contribution of South Semitics to

Hebrew studies, we must, of course, allow that the inverse process,
the impact of Hebraic-Jewish elements on the South Semitic area, is
a good deal more pronounced. I have recently subjected that impact
to a detailed examination which is to appear in the new Journal of
Semitic Studies.

The major dictionaries of O.T. Hebrew have, of course, long included

at least some Ethiopic and South Arabian material. And DILLMANN'S
monumental Lexicon Linguae Aethiopicae contains a very large number
of comparative Hebrew etymologies, many of which will not,
however, withstand critical examination in the light of modern ling-
uistic knowledge. GESENIUS' Handworterbuch to the O.T. and BROWN,
DRIVER, BRIGGS' dictionary include ample and generally sound refer-
ences to the South Semitic languages, but KOEHLER'S recent Lexicon
represents, at least in this respect, a retrograde step - and, in-
cidentally, a very large proportion of the Ethiopic words listed in
it appear in very oddly mis-spelt forms (a criticism which does not
apply to BAUMGARTNER'S Aramaic part).
Here are a few examples of the value that will accrue to Hebrew
lexicography through closer examination of the South Semitic
languages:
The root 'dm connotes in Hebrew, Arabic, Ugaritic, etc., 'to be
red' or 'brown' or generally the colour of the human skin (so also in
some of the Cushitic languages 2). In Ethiopic this root appears in
this particular meaning only as an Arabic loan-word 'adim 'of red
skin'; the usual word for 'red' is qyh in the Abyssinian languages.

1) Cf. the valuable biographical sketch of DILLMANN by Enno LITTMANN,

now reprinted in the latter's Ein Jahrhundert der Orientalistik, Wiesbaden 1955.
2) Cf. M. COHEN, Essai comparatif sur le vocabulaire et la phonetique du Chamito-
Semitique, Nos. 15 and 74.

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192 E. ULLENDORFF

The meaning of the word 'dm (and its derivatives)

'to be pleasant', 'to enjoy', 'voluptate afficere' (DILLMA
col. 800). There can be little doubt, in my view, of the
nexion between the colour 'red' and the 'pleasant, enjo
ful'. Esau asks Jacob to give him trmn In (Gen. xxv 30
'pleasant smelling', the 'delicious', the 'red stuff'. In Son
we find: lrrm ns 'T7n 'my beloved is white and ruddy'
is 'milk-white', 'pure-white' 1), 'ador might well be 'ple
ble' in this particular context. That 'red' was consider
'pleasant', becomes also clear from the description
1 Sam. xvi 12 as 'Xi nt= wTrs ;1v nt 3w n1nm 'reddish
and good looks'.
There exist quite a few well-attested instances of 'irr
gal and sibilant correspondences between Hebrew and
but we cannot go into the details and causes of this p
the present context2). May it suffice here to ment
known roots as gr' 'to sow' in Hebrew, Arabic, Sy
dr') 3), but r)' in Ethiopic and dr' in South Arabian
'young bull', 'young animal', but Ethiopic 'og"al, etc.,
this matter because I have not hitherto seen it poi
Hebrew lehem 'bread', Arabic lahm 'meat', should be p
with Ethiopic lahm 'cow'. Thus the root Ihm expre
simply the staple-diet and would, therefore, vary in
regions. In Ugaritic the verb Ihm is 'to eat' 4) and
possibly signify nothing more definite than 'food'
the South Arabian language of the island of Soqotr
'fish'.
Somewhat similar considerations apply to Hebrew 'aryeh 'lion',
for Accadian aru is 'eagle', Arabic L;)I 'mountain-goat'. In Gecez
'arwe is a 'wild beast'. There is no reason to think, as KOEHLER does,
that 'aryeh is an African loan-word: the Ethiopic word for 'lion' is
'anbasa. Since the animal which we now call 'lion' was not indigenous
in Palestine, we may, in fact, doubt whether 'aryeh always and necessa-
rily describes that particular animal - or might, perhaps, be the gene-

1) See GORDIS, Song of Songs, p. 89.

2) See, however, the present writer's Semitic Languages of Ethiopia, London 1955,
p. 29 et seqq.
3) Cf. now also the remarks in GORDON, Ugaritic Manual, 1955, p. 22-23,
? 5, 3-4.
4) GORDON, Ugaritic Manual, p. 284.

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 CONTRIBUTION OF SOUTH SEMITICS TO HEBREW 193

ric term for the principal wild and strong beast of th

fauna.

Already on a previous occasion 1) I had briefly invit

to the connexion between Hebrew pittah 'to seduce
fdtdwd 'to desire, love'. In Ugaritic, pt' is attested
meaning of 'to copulate' 2). In Arabic fty is 'to be yout
thus suppose that the general Ethiopic idea of 'desire,
source of the semasiological development of this w
Failure to distinguish between two different roots ha
(and some of his predecessors) to describe Hebrew ham
'red animal'. But in post-biblical Hebrew and in A
'to load, to carry'; hehmir is 'to render heavy, difficul
dry measure which is equivalent to the 'load of an ass
the word is not 'wanting', as KOEHLER asserts, bu
variant of the basic connotation of 'loading', 'carrying'
of 'ship' (hamdr) 3). Thus hamor is undoubtedly the b
par excellence and derived from the root hmrr which is
hml (by an exchange of final liquids) possessing a s
meaning in Arabic. In this way we can clearly see
between the Hebrew hamor 'ass' and the Ethiopic ham
resides in the Semitic hmr 'to carry, to load'; and we als
fanciful explanation of the donkey as the 'red animal
LUDOLF, in the 17th century, had already collected
of Hebrew words which, in his opinion, could best be
having recourse to Ethiopic. From this list I shall n
or two examples and offer certain amplifications.
.:. is a word which occurs only twice in the O.T.
in for instance Is. xxx 14, is usually guessed from t
.:.n t3 jitr vn1_ 'to drain water out of the pit', 'out o
In the Ethiopian languages and in South Arabian t
frequent and well-known; it means 'to collect'. It c
fact, exactly to the Hebrew qwh which is used for th
the water in Gen. i 9; thus Kl. closely resembles mlj?7

1) In a paper read to the 23rd International Congress of Orient

1954, and published in Africa 1955, p. 158.
2) GORDON, op.cit., text 52, 39.
3) For the meanings of 'donkey' and 'part of a ship' in Accadian
Assyrisches Handworterbuch, p. 91-92.
4) Ad suam Historiam Aethiopicam Commentarius, 1691, p. 2
Vetus Testamentum VI 13

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194 E. ULLENDORFF

Or Hebrew Qr5.s 'of two kinds', which is attested also in other

North Semitic languages, appears in the form kal'e as the numeral

'two' in Ethiopic.
D. WINTON THOMAS has shown 1) that Hebrew mkr does not
always mean 'to sell'. A particularly instructive instance of the uses
of this root was discovered by LUDOLF in the famous crux in Gen. xlix
5: nr-nir'n 0on ,?D trnN ,11 prvn though commentators do not
seem to have paid attention to his interpretation, and KOEHLER
still lists this word (r'nirm) as 'unexplained'. In Ethiopic mkr is
'to counsel' - a word of frequent occurrence - and our verse can
thus be rendered: 'Simeon and Levi are brothers; strong weapons
are their counsels'.

In 1 Sam. xix 20 we hear that Saul sent messengers to take David

and that they saw ar: 3nl nDpib which is commonly rendered as
'the company of the prophets'. ;jp;7 is an aroca Xy60o'rvov and is
usually explained as a metathesis of rlrnp, but the root Ihq is well
attested in Ethiopic where it means 'to be old, senior' 2). The noun liq
(contracted from lahiq) connotes 'senior, princeps' and occurs prin-
cipally in such expressions as liqd mdla'akt 'archangel', liqd kahnat
'high priest', etc. There seems to me little doubt, therefore, that ;np,1
is not a metathesis of n;lp and does not refer to an 'assembly of
prophets', but rather to the 'senior ones among the prophets' 3).
Hebrew rkb generally means 'to ride', and that meaning is, of
course, also found in Accadian, Ugaritic, and elsewhere. In Ethiopic
rkb is 'to find, come upon, get hold of'. Now, in post-biblical Hebrew
and also in Aramaic, rkb (especially in the hif'il as hirkib) means 'to
graft upon, to join, to connect'. The link between the meaning variants
in these two phases of Hebrew may well be seen in the South Semitic
connotation of 'to come upon, gather, collect'. In the Ugaritic hymns
rkb 'rpt (parallel to the expression nm:sn :1i in Ps. lxviii 5) should
probably be compared to the Homeric vpCeXyrsp?&s-, 'the cloud-
1) JTS 1936 and 1952.
2) Cf. Arabic Ihq 'to be snow-white'.
3) So already well explained by LUDOLF (Lexicon, 2nd ed., 1699, col. 635) as
'senatus prophetarum'. I am indebted to my research student and colleague,
Mr. David HUBBARD, M. Th., for drawing my attention to this reference.
It was only after these observations had been committed to paper that I noticed
that the same suggestion had already been made by G. R. DRIVER in the JTS
XXIX (1927), p. 394, in an article which contains also other important remarks
on the value of the South Semitic vocabulary for Hebrew lexicography. See
also D. WINTON THOMAS on Prov. xxx, 17 in JTS, July-Oct. 1941.

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 CONTRIBUTION OF SOUTH SEMITICS TO HEBREW 195

gatherer' 1). The connexion between 'to gather, to join

of course, to be found in the action of harnessing (best ex
Greek ?U6yvuuL); and DILLMANN was probably right
the opinion that 'potestas radicis prima in ... com
videtur' (Lexicon, col. 302).
The root mhr in Hebrew appears to connote 'haste,
the verb mhr in Ethiopic means 'to teach' and in the
'to learn'. It is probable that the basic meaning of this
'to be skilled' which, of course, implies both an ele
(Hebrew) as well as of knowledge (Ethiopic). It is,
known that the Hebrew adjective mahir (which occur
the O.T.) means 'practised, expert, skilled', and it i
dictionaries dispensed with the rendering 'quick'. i
(Prov. xxii 29) is, of course, a 'man skilled in his wor
not necessarily 'quick'. And when Ezra is describe
;nv rnirln3, it is his 'knowledge' that is stressed and
Arabic ;^ and Syriac mahird, too, convey 'skill' an
In South Arabian the element mhr occurs in some prop
again would suggest in that context 'skill' and 'exp
than 'haste'. It is interesting to compare the curiously
ment in the root lmd which in Hebrew means 'to learn
'to be accustomed', almost exactly the opposite semant
Of course, in expressions such as nI.n 1 '.? (Jer. xiii 2
to do evil' the basic root meaning appears also in Heb
DILLMANN 2) had already drawn attention to the fac
and Ethiopic share a fairly large number of importan
either do not appear in Arabic at all or in very diffe
Among these may be mentioned:

f 00Y AM? -vr

CX4 1W X On iw
(C3 nT (oah NSr

These also exists an imp

and South Arabian for
in the other Semitic lan
meanings as to make th

1) Compare my note in Or
2) Ethiopic Grammar, 2nd

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196 E. ULLENDORFF

As these correspondences have not, to my knowledg

collected, I feel justified in offering a somewhat m
sample 1):

Hebrew ESA

's and !ys 'man';

'ti'T dd 'uncle';
Xt~
nin dt ' 'spring';
nnt
drh 'to shine' 2)
hdr 'ornament';
hrg 'to slay';
hrs 'to attack, to tear down';

n
wrw 'to shoot' 3);
wsf 'to add' 4);
hms 'army';
n'Tn h/ (-.) 'to be weak, ill'5);
5rn
^-Tn hdl 'to abstain, neglect';
.. .
hm't 'butter' 6);
y_ t ' 'salvation'7);
nt' 'to plant' 8);
'DR'L n. pr. 9);
'Is 'to rejoice' (m'ls 'joy') 10);
'r ('city') 'castle' 11);
qhl 'assembly' 12);

1) It needs scarcely be pointed out that South Arabian is the main beneficiary in
such a comparative investigation, though the value to Hebrew must not be
underestimated, especially in words of infrequent occurrence and difficult context.
2) Cf. the proper names tlInIT and ESA DRH'L.
3) Ethiopic wrw 'to throw'.
4) Especially in such remarkably similar standard expressions as ;It?S 1O
9"l f1( (1 Sam. iii 17, etc.) and wlwsfhmw Idt ncmt wtn'mn (CIH 197, 11, etc.).
5) This correspondence seems to me fairly certain despite the difficulty over
the 'irregular' sibilant. Apart from Aramaic, this root does not appear to be
attested in any other Semitic language.
I now notice that M. COHEN, Essai (see note 2 on p. 191), No. 119, had already
considered this equation and apparently found it admissible.
6) Ugaritic bm't.
7) In names such as 1;1W - YTc 'L, 1t1;1H - HYT' 'L, etc.
8) Until recently attested in Hebrew and ESA only, but now also in Ugaritic.
9) 1 Sam. xviii 19; CIH 831.
10) Otherwise only in Accadian elesu.
1) Otherwise only in Ugaritic 'r and Sumer. uru.
12) This very frequent O.T. word is nowhere else attested - except in ESA.

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 CONTRIBUTION OF SOUTH SEMITICS TO HEBREW 197

Hebrew ESA

b~~ -- rkl 'to go about as a trader';

'TO sidw 'field' 1);
ntr -- sft 'to give' (in Hebrew: 'to place,
set') 2);

It is interesting to find that there is a close parallel to the post-

biblical :an zl*snm nrn iiYwn in the South Arabian b'lmn b'dn wqrbn
(CIH 539,2).
To this list (which is, of course, by no means complete) many
proper names could be added, and there are some very startling
resemblances between O.T. and ESA onomastics, especially in the
sphere of theophoric names ('LRM - trnT'r; RF"L - bxK
etc. 3).
I have considered the possibility that the contribution of South
Semitics to Hebrew lexicography may conceivably affect some areas
of the vocabulary more than others, but I have been unable to iden-
tify any such special spheres.
At first sight it might, perhaps, appear odd that the South Semitic
languages should be in a position to make a notable contribution
to the elucidation of the Hebrew vocabulary. But such a query would
not be well founded, for we frequently encounter astonishing resem-
blances between geographically widely separated language groups.
C. RABIN has recently collected a list of some 28 instances of words
common to the Yemenite or 'Himyaritic' dialect and to North-West
Semitic, especially Hebrew 4). The habitat of the Semitic peoples as
it appears in historical times may well effectively disguise true genetic
connexions, and later geographical distribution offers scant indication
of special affinities and relationships which may originally have exis-
ted. Moreover, it frequently happens that one language has preserved
a word or a meaning-variant which was accidentally lost from another.
I can think of at least one instance (and there are, of course, more)
where two Semitic languages which are at the extreme opposites in
both place and time, Ugaritic and Tigrifa, share a word which is not
otherwise found 5).

1) Accadian sadu 'mountain'; now also Ug. sd 'field'.

2) Nowhere else attested.
3) I have collected some further instances in Orientalia, 1954, p. 325 et se
4) Ancient West-Arabian, p. 26-28.
5) nfr 'to fly', 'bird' (Orientalia, 1951, p. 273-4).

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198 E. ULLENDORFF, CONTRIBUTION OF SOUTH SEMITICS

It is, of course, also outside the sphere of the dictionary that the
evidence of the South Semitic tongues may be relevant to a better
understanding of Hebrew, but in the nature of things South Arabian
is here virtually excluded from consideration on account of the very
fragmentary form in which it has come down to us. Ethiopic, on the
other hand, can contribute quite a few matters falling within the fields
of the phonology, morphology, and syntax -though that is beyond
my theme today. But I should at least mention in passing the profound
importance of a study of Ethiopian lore and customs in which so
very much of the atmosphere and spirit of the Old Testament has been
preserved. Perhaps in no other country in the world are Hebraic and
Semitic forms and expressions so deeply implanted as in Ethiopia.
In the forthcoming article in the Journal of Semitic Studies (to which I
have already referred before) I am endeavouring to show to what
extent Ethiopia may shed some light on such Hebraic-Jewish pro-
blems as the Ark of the Covenant, musical instruments in the Old
Testament, observance of the Sabbath, ritual cleanness, magic, litera-
ture, etc.
The story of the Queen of Sheba, based on 1 Kings x, is a profound
reality in Ethiopia, and the world of the Old Testament is not merely
studied and known in that country, but actually lived and practised.
Archbishop David MATHEW has well said: 'In Ethiopia the past
lies heavy, very remote, actual and indecipherable' 1).
To the languages of the Old Testament the tongues of Abyssinia
can, perhaps, contribute some matters of detail only, but to an
understanding of the life and spirit of the Old Testament the country
and people of Ethiopia can offer much of their own life and spirit.

1) Ethiopia, the study of a polity, p. 5.

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