Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/bV-

Possibly from Proto-Afroasiatic *bǔ (“place”). Compare Beja -b (postposition), having a locative or directional meaning, and Egyptian bw (place, position).

*bV-

1. in

Though this entry is notated with the symbol for an unspecified vowel, ⟨V⟩, in this case it does not mean the vowel is indeterminate. Rather, both *bi- and *ba- existed in opposition and became conflated to various degrees in the descendants, such that it is most parsimonious to unify them under one headword. The same is the case for *lV-.

• East Semitic:
  • fossiziled perhaps Akkadian: 𒅅 (bašûm, “to be or become”), and 𒁉𒊑 (biri), 𒁀𒊑 (bari) as opposed to Proto-West Semitic *bayna where *bV- fused instead with the preposition found as Akkadian 𒀀𒈾 (ana), 𒄿𒈾 (ina), as well as in 𒁀𒇻 (balu), 𒁀𒆷 (bala), 𒁀𒀠 (bal, “without”)
• West Semitic:
  • Central Semitic:
    • Arabic: بِـ (bi-)
    • Northwest Semitic:
      • Aramaic:

        Old Aramaic: 𐤁

        Imperial Aramaic: 𐡁 (b)

        Biblical Aramaic: בְּ־ (bə-)

        Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: ב־

        Christian Palestinian Aramaic: ܒ

        Jewish Literary Aramaic: בְּ־ (bə-)

        Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: בְּ־ (bə-)

        • Classical Syriac: ܒ- (bə-, ba-)
      • Canaanite:
        • Hebrew: בְּ־ (bə-)
        • Phoenician: 𐤀𐤁 (ʾb /⁠eb, ab⁠/), 𐤁 (b /⁠bi⁠/)
          • Punic: 𐤁 (b /⁠bi⁠/), 𐤁𐤉 (by /⁠bi⁠/), 𐤀𐤁 (ʾb /⁠eb, ab⁠/), ef-
      • Ugaritic: 𐎁 (b /⁠bi⁠/)
    • Old South Arabian:
      • Hadrami: -𐩨 (-b)
      • Minaean: -𐩨 (-b)
      • Qatabanian: -𐩨 (-b)
      • Sabaean: -𐩨 (-b)
  • Ethiopian Semitic:
    • North Ethiopian Semitic:
      • Ge'ez: በ- (bä-)
      • Tigre: ብ- (bə-), እብ (ʾəb), ቡ- (bu-) (with meaning differences)
      • Tigrinya: ብ- (bə-) (also postpositionally), አብ (ʾäb) (or only its second part)
    • South Ethiopian Semitic:
      • Amharic: በ- (bä-), ብ- (bə-), ቢ- (bi-) (also postpositionally)
      • Harari: -ቤ (-be, postposition)
      • Gurage:

        Čaha: በ- (bä-)