Shared Vocabulary
Following are some examples of Afroasiatic cognates, including ten pronouns, three nouns, and three verbs.
- Source: Christopher Ehret, Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995).
- Note: Ehret does not make use of Berber in his etymologies, stating (1995: 12): "the kind of extensive reconstruction of proto-Berber lexicon that might help in sorting through alternative possible etymologies is not yet available." The Berber cognates here are taken from previous version of table in this article and need to be completed and referenced.
- Abbreviations: NOm = 'North Omotic', SOm = 'South Omotic'. MSA = 'Modern South Arabian', PSC = 'Proto-Southern Cushitic', PSom-II = 'Proto-Somali, stage 2'. masc. = 'masculine', fem. = 'feminine', sing. = 'singular', pl. = 'plural'. 1s. = 'first person singular', 2s. = 'second person singular'.
- Symbols: Following Ehret (1995: 70), a caron ˇ over a vowel indicates rising tone, a circumflex ^ over a vowel indicates falling tone. V indicates a vowel of unknown timbre. Ɂ indicates a glottal stop. * indicates reconstructed forms based on comparison of related languages.
| Proto-Afroasiatic | Omotic | Cushitic | Chadic | Egyptian | Semitic | Berber |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *Ɂân- / *Ɂîn- or *ân- / *în- ‘I’ (independent pronoun) | *in- ‘I’ (Maji (NOm)) | *Ɂâni ‘I’ | *nV ‘I’ | — | *Ɂn ‘I’ | Nekki- Nechi- I am |
| *i or *yi ‘me, my’ (bound) | i ‘I, me, my’ (Ari (SOm)) | *i or *yi ‘my’ | *i ‘me, my’ (bound) | -i (1s. suffix) | *-i ‘me, my’ | ino - my |
| *Ɂǎnn- / *Ɂǐnn- or *ǎnn- / *ǐnn- ‘we’ | *nona / *nuna / *nina (NOm) | *Ɂǎnn- / *Ɂǐnn- ‘we’ | — | inn ‘we’ | *Ɂnn ‘we’ | nehni - we |
| *Ɂânt- / *Ɂînt- or *ânt- / *înt- ‘you’ (sing.) | *int- ‘you’ (sing.) | *Ɂânt- ‘you’ (sing.) | — | ntt IInd pers fem | *Ɂnt ‘you’ (sing.) | kečč/kem - you |
| *ku, *ka ‘you’ (masc. sing., bound) | — | *ku ‘your’ (masc. sing.) (PSC) | *ka, *ku (masc. sing.) | -k (2s. masc. suffix) | -ka (2s. masc. suffix) (Arabic) | ek-innek - your |
| *ki ‘you’ (fem. sing., bound) | — | *ki ‘your’ (fem. sing.) | *ki ‘you’ (fem. sing.) | -ṯ (fem. sing. suffix, < *ki) | -ki (2s. fem. sing. suffix) (Arabic) | im/inem - your (feminin) |
| *kūna ‘you’ (plural, bound) | — | *kuna ‘your’ (pl.) (PSC) | *kun ‘you’ (pl.) | -ṯn ‘you’ (pl.) | *-kn ‘you, your’ (fem. pl.) | kunwi/kumenti - your (plural) |
| *si, *isi ‘he, she, it’ | *is- ‘he’ | *Ɂusu ‘he’, *Ɂisi ‘she’ | *sV ‘he’ | sw ‘he, him’, sy ‘she, her’ | *-šɁ ‘he’, *-sɁ ‘she’ (MSA) | is-ines -his/her/theirs |
| *ma, *mi ‘what?’ | *ma- ‘what?’ (NOm) | *ma, *mi (interr. root) | *mi, *ma ‘what?’ | m ‘what?’, ‘who?’ | mā ‘what?’ (Arabic) | Ma/Min- what? |
| *wa, *wi ‘what?’ | *w- ‘what?’ | *wä / *wɨ ‘what?’ (Agaw) | *wa ‘who?’ | wy ‘how ...!’ | — | |
| *dîm- / *dâm- ‘blood’ | *dam- ‘blood’ (Gonga) | *dîm- / *dâm- ‘red’ | *d-m- ‘blood’ (West Chadic) | i-dm-i ‘red linen’ | *dm ‘blood’ | idammen |
| *îts ‘brother’ | *itsim- ‘brother’ | *itsan or *isan ‘brother’ | *sin ‘brother’ | sn ‘brother’ | — | |
| *sǔm / *sǐm- ‘name’ | *sum(ts)- ‘name’ (NOm) | *sǔm / *sǐm- ‘name’ | *ṣǝm ‘name’ | smi ‘to report, announce’ | *smw ‘name’ | ism |
| *-lisʼ- ‘to lick’ | litsʼ- ‘to lick’ (Dime (SOm)) | — | *alǝsi ‘tongue’ | ns ‘tongue’ | *lsn ‘tongue’ | ils |
| *-maaw- ‘to die’ | — | *-umaaw- / *-am-w(t)- ‘to die’ (PSom-II) | *mǝtǝ ‘to die’ | mwt ‘to die’ | *mwt ‘to die’ | mmet |
| *-bǐn- ‘to build, to create; house’ | bin- ‘to build, create’ (Dime (SOm)) | *mǐn- / *mǎn- ‘house’; man- ‘to create’ (Beja) | *bn ‘to build’; *bǝn- ‘house’ | — | *bnn ‘to build’ | *bn |
There are two etymological dictionaries of Afroasiatic, one by Christopher Ehret, and one by Vladimir Orel and Olga Stolbova. The two dictionaries disagree on almost everything. The following table contains the less than thirty roots (out of thousands) that represent a fragile consensus of present research.
1 *ʔab Father Semitic, Berber, Chadic, Cushitic
2 (ʔa-)bVr Bull Semitic, Egyptian, Chadic, Cushitic
3 (ʔa-)dVm Red ; blood Semitic, Berber, Chadic, Cushitic
4 *(ʔa-)dVm Land, field, soil Semitic, Chadic.
5 ʔa-pay- mouth Semitic, Cushitic.
6 ʔigar/ *ḳʷar- house, enclosure Semitic, berber, Chadic, Cushitic.
7 *ʔil- eye Berber, Chadic, Cushitic.
8 (ʔi-)sim-name Semitic, Berber, Chadic.
9 *ʕayn- eye Semitic, Egyptian
10 *baʔ- go Semitic, Chadic Cushitic
11 *bar- son Semitic, Berber, Chadic
12 *gamm- Mane, beard Semitic, Chadic, Cushitic
13 *gVn Cheek, chin Semitic, Chadic
14 *gʷarʕ- throat Semitic, Chadic, Cushitic
15 *gʷinaʕ-Hand Chadic, Cushitic
16 *kVn- Co-wife Semitic, Berber, Chadic
17 *kʷaly kidney Semitic Chadic, Cushitic, Omotic
18 *ḳa(wa)l-/ *qʷar- Say, call Semitic, Chadic
19 *ḳas- bone Berber, Egyptian, Chadic
20 *libb heart Semitic, Chadic, Cushitic
21 *lis- tongue Semitic, Berber, Chadic
22 *maʔ- water Semitic, Egyptian, Chadic and Berber "aman"
23 *mawVt- To die Semitic, Berber, Egyptian, Chadic
24 *sin- tooth Semitic, Berber, Chadic
25 *siwan- Know Berber, Egyptian, Chadic
26 *inn- I, we Semitic, Egyptian, Berber, Cushitic
27 *-k- thou Semitic, Berber, Chadic, Cushitic
28 *zwr seed Semitic, Cushitic
29 *ŝVr root Semitic, Chadic.
- paras - horse (Semitic, Chadic, Cushitic) is a very old loanword and does not belong here.
Read more about this topic: Afroasiatic Languages
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