The Aramaeans in Ancient Syria

language and script 99

archaic form without an /m­/ prefix, lost in later aramaic,84 but the tell
fekheriye text consistently uses a by­form based on the pattern /mak­
tab/, which subsequently became the dominant form in aramaic: wlmšmʿ
tṣlwth wlmlqḥ ʾmrt pmh /wa­la­mašmaʿ taṣlūteh wa­la­malqaḥ ʾemrat
pūmeh/ ‘and in order to hear his prayer and to accept the word of his
mouth’ (Kai 309: 9–10, featuring the infinitives of šmʿ ‘to hear’ and lqḥ ‘to
take’). Both are mostly preceded by the preposition /la­/ (less frequently
/ba­/ and /men/) and mark purpose or, occasionally, object clauses. infini­
tives can be construed verbally in the absolute state with a direct object
or nominally in the construct state forming a genitive relationship with a
following noun.85 contrary to official aramaic, old aramaic also has a so­
called “infinitive absolute”, presumably identical to the common Semitic
infinitive pattern /katāb/, but it is confined to paronomastic constructions
with a subsequent finite form of the same root in order to reinforce the
truth of a proposition.86

4.4 Verbal Stems

Situation type (factitive and causative) as well as diathesis (active and
medio­passive) are expressed by a number of derivational categories, or
verbal stems, which underlie the finite conjugations and verbal nouns.
their exact semantic nuance differs by root, and not all verbal stems are
equally productive. Still, some general tendencies vis­à­vis the unmarked
stem (“g­stem”) can be outlined. the d­stem is characterized by a length­
ened middle root consonant and expresses plurality or, with intransitive
verbs, factitivity. the c­stem, by contrast, exhibits a prefix /ha­/, which
later shifted to /ʾa­/, and often renders a causative nuance. the g­, d­, and
c­stems each have a medio­passive variant with a /­t­/ prefix (gt, dt, ct),
which could swap position with a root­initial sibilant.87 this metathesis
did not happen consistently, though, not even in the same text: [ yš]tḥṭ
‘may it be destroyed’ (Kai 222 a: 32, dt­stem from šḥṭ), but ytšmʿ ‘may
it be heard’ (Kai 222 a: 29, gt­stem of šmʿ).88 if later aramaic evidence
proves to be of any significance, the /t/ partially assimilated to /z/ and /ṣ/

84 a fossilized form lʾmr /lɛ̄mar/ ‘saying’ survives in official aramaic but was subse­
quently lost as well (gzella 2008: 97–99).
85 See degen 1969: 117.
86 the examples can be found in degen 1969: 116f; cf. folmer 2011: 148.
87 Most gt, dt, and ct forms cannot be distinguished in unvocalized texts but must be
identified on the basis of the corresponding active counterparts and vocalized traditions.
88 a similar variation is attested in later aramaic as well, see folmer 2003.