Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/warḫ-

This Proto-Semitic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Semitic

Etymology

Compare Egyptian jꜥḥ, Hausa wata and Proto-Berber *a-ʔyur.

Noun

*warḫ- m

moon
month

Inflection

Declension of *warḫ-
case	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*warḫum	*warḫāna	plural stem + *-ūna
accusative	*warḫam	*warḫayna	plural stem + *-īna
genitive	*warḫim	*warḫayna	plural stem + *-īna

possessive forms
1^st person	warḫī / warḫVya	—	*warḫVni
2^nd person m	*warḫVka	warḫVkumā / warḫVkumay	*warḫVkum(ū)
2^nd person f	*warḫVki	warḫVkumā / warḫVkumay	*warḫVkin(ā)
3^rd person m	*warḫVšu	warḫVšumā / warḫVšumay	*warḫVšum(ū)
3^rd person f	*warḫVša	warḫVšumā / warḫVšumay	*warḫVšin(ā)

the endings -m and -na are dropped in the bound form, which may also undergo syncopation of an unstressed final vowel where possible. Note: the ending -V before the possessive endings responds to case: *warḫuya for nom. case, *warḫiya for gen. case, *warḫaya for acc. case, etc.

Reconstruction notes

Huehnergard reconstructs this item as *wariḫ-, with the unbound form *wariḫum alternating with the bound form *warḫu. The semantic extension from "moon" to "month" is comparable to those of Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s, Proto-Sino-Tibetan *sr-la, Proto-Mongolic *sara, Proto-Turkic *āy, Proto-Japonic *tukuy, Proto-South Dravidian *tinkaḷ, Proto-Austronesian *bulaN, Proto-Tai *ɓlɯənᴬ, Proto-Mon-Khmer *khəjʔ and Sumerian 𒌗 (itu, itud, iti, itid /⁠itud, itid⁠/) since the moon's orbital period was used for defining a month.

Descendants

East Semitic:
- Akkadian: 𒌚 (warḫum, “month”)
West Semitic:
- Central Semitic:
  - Safaitic: 𐪅𐪇𐪍 (wrẖ, “month”)
  - Northwest Semitic:
    - Aramaic:
      Imperial Aramaic: 𐡉𐡓𐡇𐡀 (yrḥʾ)
      - Western Middle Aramaic:
        Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: יְרַח (yrḥ /⁠yəraḥ⁠/, “moon”); יַרְחָא (yarḥā, “month”)
        
        Christian Palestinian Aramaic: ܝܪܚܐ (yrḥʾ, “moon; month”)
        
        Nabataean Aramaic: 𐢍𐢛𐢊 (yrḥ)
      - Eastern Middle Aramaic:
        Hatran Aramaic: 𐣩𐣣𐣧 (yrḥ)
        
        Palmyrene Aramaic: 𐡩𐡴𐡧 (yrḥ /⁠yraḥ⁠/, “moon”)
        
        Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: ירח (yrḥ /⁠yəraḥ⁠/, “moon”); ירחא (yarḥā, “month”)
      - Classical Mandaic: [script needed] (iahra, “moon”) (metathesized)
      - Classical Syriac: ܝܰܪܚܳܐ (yarḥāʾ, “month”)
      - Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܝܲܪܚܵܐ (yarḥā)
    - Canaanite:
      - Hebrew: יָרֵחַ (yaréakh, yārḗaḥ)
      - Phoenician: 𐤉𐤓𐤇 (yrḥ, “moon”)
        Punic: 𐤉𐤓𐤇 (yrḥ)
    - Ugaritic: 𐎊𐎗𐎃 (yrḫ /⁠yarḫu⁠/, “moon, month”)
  - Old South Arabian:
    - Old South Arabian: 𐩥𐩧𐩭 (wrḫ)
      - Arabic:
        >? Arabic: تَارِيخ (tārīḵ, “date, history”) (see there for further descendants)
- Ethiopian Semitic:
  - North Ethiopian:
    - Ge'ez: ወርኅ (wärḫ)
    - Tigrinya: ወርሒ (wärḥi, “month”); ዋርሒ (warḥi, “moon”)
    - Tigre: ወርሕ (wärəḥ)
  - South Ethiopian:
    - Amharic–Argobba:
      - Amharic: ወር (wär, “month”)
      - Argobba: ወርሕ (wärəḥ)
    - Gurage: ወር (wär)
    - Harari: ወርሒ (wärḥi), ዋርሒ (warḥi)
- Modern South Arabian:
  - Mehri: warḫ (“month”)
  - Shehri: ɔ́rx, írəx (“month”)
  - >? Shehri: ʾɛrə́t (“moon”)
  - >? Soqotri: ʾére (“moon”) – if not instead cognate to Hebrew אוֹר (ʾôr, “light”), Akkadian 𒌓𒁕 (urrum, “light; daylight, shining after a period of darkness”), or to Arabic شَهْر (šahr, “month”)

References

Kogan, Leonid (2015) Genealogical Classification of Semitic. The Lexical Isoglosses, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN
Huehnergard, John (2019) “Proto-Semitic”, in Huehnergard, John and Na'ama Pat-El, editors, The Semitic Languages, 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN