Grammar
Many Syriac words, like those in other Semitic languages, are built out of triliteral roots, collations of three Syriac consonants with variable vowel sets as a "glue". For example, the root ܫܩܠ, ŠQL, has the basic meaning of taking, and so we have the following words that can be formed from this root:
- ܫܩܠ – šqal: "he took"
- ܢܫܩܘܠ – nešqōl: "he will take"
- ܫܩܠ – šāqel: "he takes, he is taking"
- ܫܩܠ – šaqqel: "he has lifted/raised"
- ܐܫܩܠ – ašqel: "he has set out"
- ܫܩܠܐ – šqālâ: "a taking, burden, recension, portion or syllable"
- ܫܩ̈ܠܐ – šeqlē: "takings, profits, taxes"
- ܫܩܠܘܬܐ – šaqlûṯā: "a beast of burden"
- ܫܘܩܠܐ – šûqālâ: "arrogance"
Read more about this topic: Syriac Language
Famous quotes containing the word grammar:
“Like everything metaphysical the harmony between thought and reality is to be found in the grammar of the language.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“The new grammar of race is constructed in a way that George Orwell would have appreciated, because its rules make some ideas impossible to express—unless, of course, one wants to be called a racist.”
—Stephen Carter (b. 1954)
“Grammar is a tricky, inconsistent thing. Being the backbone of speech and writing, it should, we think, be eminently logical, make perfect sense, like the human skeleton. But, of course, the skeleton is arbitrary, too. Why twelve pairs of ribs rather than eleven or thirteen? Why thirty-two teeth? It has something to do with evolution and functionalism—but only sometimes, not always. So there are aspects of grammar that make good, logical sense, and others that do not.”
—John Simon (b. 1925)