James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 3hHmmm….is that something I need to turn on? Will email you anyway. 100
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 3hHi Ola—I’m interested that you’re saying things about ḏbꜢ.t. I’m writing up some bits and pieces for publication at the moment and have a footnote on ḏbꜢ.t. Would you mind taking a look at it and telling me if there are things that you think I’ve missed (or misunderstood)? 111
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 5hI.e., Do these names preserve a non-Canaanite-Shifted Canaanite GN, or do we have a conventional correspondence of Canaanite -ōn and -ān in Arabic toponyms that effectively undoes the Shift? 120
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 6hMakes sense. And so what about the *-ān of Asqalān, ʕAmmān, etc.? Sound correspondences there? Interestingly, I think there’s an *Idām- for Edom preserved in Greek somewhere (Ιδαμ-). 120
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 7hSeparately, do you think this could apply to loans? E.g., is this why we have Arabic sabt? 131
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 7hWouldn’t there need to be at least some element of that? We’re not (presumably) saying that the -ān of Asqalān has been preserved in non-Canaanite dialects since the 2nd mill. BC? 121
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 7hAh interesting. I thought that things like Asqalān things had been (subconsciously) back-engineered on the basis of regular correspondences such as NWS /š/ ~ Arabic /s/. 121
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 9hThanks for this—really helpful! Could you expand a bit on the borrowing of Aramaic š as either š or s in Arabic place names. What exactly is being posited here, and when? 142
Reposted by James BejonBenjamin Suchard @bnuyaminim.bsky.social · 10hbnuyaminim.wordpress.comSome talks from EABS and NACALToday’s deal: 2-for-1 on conference reports. European Association for Biblical Studies Annual Conference, 20-23 July 2026, Leuven This was my first time visiting this conference, prompted by … 3106
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 9hInteresting. This kind of thing strikes me as very intuitive. 010
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Thanks. Right—agreed. I recall coming across a paper where a word for a lion—maybe فرناس or something—was explained in three or four different ways—r infix, n infix, -ās suffix, and some others I think—, all of which seemed plausible in their own way. 110
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026I don’t know Aramaic well enough to say. I’d guess it would be the main one, but would be surprised if there weren’t others. I know at least קבורה as a burial place. 010
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Perhaps just as a maqtī̆l form with the article—mašqīṯā = ‘place of watering/drinking, banquet’—, comparable to toponyms in ساقية? 120
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026חרגול = ‘locust’ (?), סרעפה (by-form of סעפה = ‘branch’?), Aramaised שרביט (from שבט = ’sceptre’), עֲרָפֵל = ‘darkness’ (somehow from אפל = ’dark’?). Cc. @shjsat.bsky.social 110
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Anyone aware of good studies on quadriliteral formation in Semitics? Thinking about Hebrew, there seem to be some observable patterns. E.g., many have r/l as a second letter: גלמוד = ‘barren’ (جرد = ‘hard’?), זלעפה = ‘scorching wind’ (root זע׳׳ף?), גלבוע (name of a mountain, root גב׳׳ע?),… 250
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 25/09/2026The Hebrew שֶׁנְהַבִּים (‘a tooth of elephants’) seems to be a kind of loanblend—Semitic ‘tooth’ (שֵׁן/שִׁנַּיִם) plus Egyptian Ꜣbw (‘elephant’, which is why Elephantine is called Yev today). Egyptian Ꜣ > Hebrew h is odd. Could the unusual name Shinab (שִׁנְאָב) reflect a more standard correspondence? 000
Reposted by James BejonIntenudas @izmarasan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026There used to be rhinoceroses in what is now the Sahara desert , and the people who lived there depicted them on stones ! 3418
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 17/09/2026An interesting phenomenon for ignorant Semiticist folk such as myself: s > h in Ancient Greek. 020
Reposted by James BejonSafaitic @safaitic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026BES26 has concluded. Incredible new discoveries. Some will go directly up on OCIANA and others will require full-length publications. Stay tuned. 0219
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 14/09/2026I keep coming across the word תקף = ‘deed of entitlement’ in Nabataean inscriptions. This reminds me of Daniel’s לְקַיָּמָה קְיָם וּלְתַקָּפָה אֱסָר (‘decreeing a decree, enforcing an obligation’). Question: Since תק׳׳ף means ‘to strengthen’, is the otherwise unusual להגביר ברית (Dan. 9.27) an Aramaic calque? 120
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Hmmm…Saqba is a Syrian toponym, right? Classical Arabic has that as ‘a newborn foal’ (or similar). Could something weird have happened here? Broken plural suqūb acquired an additional Aramaic plural? This sort of double pluralising isn’t unknown. And toponyms like to pluralise. 120
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Do we know roughly when lenition happened in Aramaic? (Are there dialects of Neo-Aramaic where it’s not happened at all?) 120
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 08/09/2026That’s really interesting—thanks. I’ve often wondered about these kinds of quadriliterals. @shjsat.bsky.social and I had a v. interesting discussion about them a while back. The number of theories re infixes/suffixes that have formed them makes it quite hard to know what to make of it all. 020
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Rather intrigued by the word שְׁקַעֲרוּרָה—‘a dip/hollow’. Sort of looks like שק׳׳ע = ‘to sink’ combined with ق-ع-ر = ‘to be deep, hollowed out’. Is this a thing in Semitics?—a portmanteau? One that comes to mind from modern Hebrew is דחפור = ‘bulldozer’, combining דח׳׳ף = ‘push’ and חפ׳׳ר = ‘dig’. 130
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Maybe the pattern could be the faʕʕūl diminutive? That’s quite productive in Syrian Arabic, right? 110
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Thanks—that’s helpful. Regular sound change happening in literary languages is an interesting idea. It’s presumably, therefore, relevant that this particular change could take place within the constraints of the consonantal text, i.e., ʕaṣfūr could become ʕuṣfūr but still be written عصفور? 020
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Thanks—that’s helpful. Although I don’t have much of a conception of what that means. A sound change that took place among speakers where and when (very roughly and hypothetically)? 100
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Interesting. But how and when would you envisage this happening? 000
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 04/09/2026@shjsat.bsky.social Do you understand what Dr. van Putten is saying here? Classical Arabic seems to have absorbed lexemes from all over the place. Why would you have a phonological change in Classical Arabic and yet not in any dialects? 100
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Right, I wondered about that. Was curious if you would as well. 010
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Or Ra's Masāndim? www.getamap.net/maps/oman/mu...getamap.netRa's Masandim (Masandim Ras) Map, Weather and Photos - Oman: headland - Lat:26.3867 and Long:56.5275Ra's Masandim (Masandim Ras) (Oman) Map, Weather and Photos. Ra's Masandim (Masandim Ras) is a headland (a high projection of land extending into a large body of water beyond the line of the coast) an... 110
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 03/09/2026How about this as an example in a toponym? Ğaqālğiq. No idea of its origins! mapcarta.com/12684042mapcarta.comJaqaljiqJaqaljiq is a village in Latakia Governorate, Syria. Mapcarta, the open map. 110
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 03/09/2026If you get it, please let me know what it says about them! I think my money would simply be on CaCāCCiC. 220
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 03/09/2026But CāCvC regularly becomes CawāCiC in Classical Arabic, right? So is it just a case of bāgīr > bawāgīr but adapted to allow for the d (and long i)? 100
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Not sure. They kind of just look like broken plurals, right? Though they remind me of the way in which Modern South Arabian forms diminutives via a /w/ infix (iirc). A question in return. Why is tank borrowed with a long vowel (tānki)? Is this regular? 110
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 02/09/2026Interesting. Is this -ōn ending common? Do you know anything about its origins? 100
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 02/09/2026Apologies—I can't follow this sentence. Can you think of another way of putting it? 100
Reposted by James BejonJames Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 01/09/2026THREAD: Below is a neat word—the Ruus Al Jibal šamrūḫ = ‘the stalk of a bunch of dates’ (or something like that). Its Classical form is šumrūḫ. If I recall, @phdnix.bsky.social has shown that Cv₁CCv̄₂C > Cv₂CCv̄₂C (in a pre-Classical dialect?),… 1102
James Bejon @jamesbejon.bsky.social · 01/09/2026Whoever our friend S²mrḫ is, he seems to like drawing animals. Below is another one of his. Apparently, ʕyr isn’t a plural, which means you wouldn’t expect it to be written ʕyr. Maybe it reflects a diminutive—ʕuyayr? ociana.osu.edu/inscriptions... 030
