Nabataean Arabic

Short description: Language in classical antiquity

Nabataean Arabic

Nabatean, Northern Arabian[1]
Region| Levant, Sinai Peninsula and northwestern Arabia
Era| 4th century BCE to 1st century CE

Language family

Afroasiatic

* Semitic
* West Semitic
* Central Semitic
* North Arabian?
* Arabic
* Old Arabic
* Nabataean Arabic

Writing system

| Nabataean
Language codes
ISO 639-3| None (`mis`)

Linguist List

| `qhy-nor`
Glottolog| None

Nabataean Arabic was the dialect of Arabic spoken by the Nabataeans in antiquity.

In the first century AD, the Nabataeans wrote their inscriptions, such as the legal texts carved on the façades of the monumental tombs at Mada'in Salih, ancient Ḥegrā, in Nabataean Aramaic.

It is probable, however, that some or all of them, possibly in varying proportion depending on the region of the Nabataean Kingdom where they lived, spoke Arabic.[2]

The term Nabataean Arabic may also refer to the script that succeeded Nabataean Aramaic and preceded Paleo-Arabic.[3]

## Contents

* 1 Phonology
* 1.1 Consonants
* 1.2 Vowels
* 2 Grammar
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## Phonology

### Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Nabataean Arabic  | Labial  | Dental  | Denti-alveolar  | Palatal  | Velar  | Pharyngeal  | Glottal

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

plain  | lateral
Nasal  | [m] m ⟨م⟩ |  | [n] n ⟨ن⟩ |  |  |  |  |
Stop  | voiceless  | [pʰ] p ⟨ف⟩ |  | [tʰ] t ⟨ت⟩ |  |  | [kʰ] k ⟨ك⟩ |  | [ʔ] ʾ ⟨ء⟩
voiced  | [b] b ⟨ب⟩ |  | [d] d ⟨د⟩ |  |  | [g] g ⟨ج⟩ |  |
emphatic  |  |  | [tʼ] ṭ ⟨ط⟩ |  |  | [kʼ] q ⟨ق⟩ |  |
Fricative  | voiceless  |  | [θ] ṯ ⟨ث⟩ | [s] s ⟨س⟩ | [ɬ] s[lower-alpha 1] ⟨ش⟩ |  | [x] ẖ ⟨خ⟩ | [ħ] ḥ ⟨ح⟩ | [h] h ⟨ه⟩
voiced  |  | [ð] ḏ ⟨ذ⟩ | [z] z ⟨ز⟩ |  |  | [ɣ] ġ ⟨غ⟩ | [ʕ] ʿ ⟨ع⟩ |
emphatic  |  | [sˁ] ṣ[lower-alpha 1] ⟨ص⟩ | [ɮˤ] ḍ[lower-alpha 2] ⟨ض⟩ |  |  |  |
Rhotic  |  |  | [r] r ⟨ر⟩ |  |  |  |  |
Approximant  |  |  |  | [l] l ⟨ل⟩ | [j] y ⟨ي⟩ | [w] w ⟨و⟩ |  |

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 There is evidence that [tsʼ] had deaffricated and pharyngealized to [sˁ].[4]
2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `a`

### Vowels

Monophthong phonemes  | Short  | Long

|
|

Front  | Back  | Front  | Back
Close  |  | iː | uː
Mid  | e | o |
Open  | a | æː | aː

In contrast with Old Hejazi and Classical Arabic, Nabataean Arabic may have undergone the shift [e] < *[i] and [o] < *[u], as evidenced by the numerous Greek transcriptions of Arabic from the area. This may have occurred in Safaitic as well, making it a possible Northern Old Arabic isogloss.

Nabataean א in دوسرا (dwsrʾ) does not signal [aː]; it would seem that *ay# collapsed to something like [æː]. Scribes must have felt that this sound was closer to א when the spelling conventions of Nabataean were fixed. In Greek transcription, this sound was felt to be closer to an e-class vowel, yielding Δουσαρης.[4]

## Grammar

Proto-Arabic (unattested)  | Triptote  | Diptote  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|
|

Masculine  | Feminine
Nominative  | -un | -u | -āni | -ūna | -ātun
Accusative  | -an | -a | -ayni | -īna | -ātin
Genitive  | -in

Proto-Arabic nouns could take one of the five above declensions in their basic, unbound form. The definite article spread areally among the Central Semitic languages and it would seem that Proto-Arabic lacked any overt marking of definiteness.

Pre-Nabataean Arabic (unattested)[5] | Triptote  | Diptote  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|
|

Masculine  | Feminine
Nominative  | -u | -∅ | -ān | -ūn | -ātu
Accusative  | -a | -ayn | -īn | -āti
Genitive  | -i

Final short vowels were lost, then nunation was lost, producing a new set of final short vowels. The definite article /ʾal-/ entered the language shortly after this stage.[5]

Nabataean Arabic (ʿEn ʿAvdat, c. 125 CE)  | Triptote  | Diptote  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|
|

Masculine  | Feminine
Nominative  | (ʾal-)...-o | -∅ | *(ʾal-)...-ān | *(ʾal-)...-ūn | *(ʾal-)...-āto?
Accusative  | (ʾal-)...-a | *(ʾal-)...-ayn | *(ʾal-)...-īn | *(ʾal-)...-āte?
Genitive  | (ʾal-)...-e

The ʿEn ʿAvdat inscription shows that final [n] had been deleted in undetermined triptotes, and that the final short vowels of the determined state were intact. The reconstructed text of the inscription is as follows:[6]

1. pa-yapʿal lā pedā wa lā ʾaṯara
2. pa-kon honā yabġe-nā ʾal-mawto lā ʾabġā-h
3. pa-kon honā ʾarād gorḥo lā yorde-nā[5]

Translation: "And he acts neither for benefit nor favour and if death claims us let me not be claimed. And if an affliction occurs let it not afflict us".[7]
Nabataean Arabic (JSNab 17, 267 CE)  | Triptote  | Diptote  | Dual  | Plural

|
|
|
|

Masculine  | Feminine
Nominative  | (ʾal-)...-o | -∅ | ? | ? | ?
Accusative
Genitive

In JSNab 17, All Arabic triptotes terminate in w regardless of their syntactic position or whether they are defined.

## See also

* Proto-Arabic language

## References

1. ↑ "Pre-Islamic North and East Arabian". LINGUIST List. http://multitree.org/codes/xna.
2. ↑ "Arabic in Context | Brill" (in en). http://www.brill.com/products/book/arabic-context.
3. ↑ Nehmé, Laïla (2020). "The religious landscape of Northwest Arabia as reflected in the Nabataean, Nabataeo-Arabic, and pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions" (in fr). Semitica et Classica 13: 127–154. doi:10.1484/J.SEC.5.122984. ISSN 2031-5937. https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/10.1484/J.SEC.5.122984.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `:0`
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2022). "One wāw to rule them all: the origins and fate of wawation in Arabic and its orthography" (in en). Scripts and Scripture: Writing and Religion in Arabia circa 500-700 CE. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. ISBN 978-1-61491-073-2. https://www.academia.edu/33017695.
6. ↑ Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2015). "Echoes of the Baal Cycle in a Safaito-Hismaic Inscription". Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 15 (1): 5–19. doi:10.1163/15692124-12341267. https://www.academia.edu/16094901. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
7. ↑ Fisher, Greg (2015). Arabs and Empires Before Islam. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-965452-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=GhAxCgAAQBAJ.

## External links

* v
* t
* e

Varieties of Arabic

Pre-Islamic|

* Proto-Arabic
* Old Arabic

Modern literary|

* Classical
* Modern Standard

Modern dialects|

| Peninsular|

| Central-Eastern|

* Baharna
* Gulf
* Bahraini
* Kuwaiti
* Najdi

|

Western|

* Hejazi
* Sedentary
* Bedouin

Southern|

* Bareqi
* Yemeni
* Hadhrami
* Sanʽani
* Taʽizzi-Adeni
* Tihami
* Judeo-Yemeni
* Omani
* Shihhi
* Dhofari

Northwestern|

* Bedawi

Nilo-Egyptian|

| Northern|

* Egyptian
* Saʽidi

|

Central|

* Chadian
* Sudanese

Mesopotamian|

| Northern|

* Moslawi
* Judeo-Iraqi
* Cypriot
* Anatolian

|

Southern|

* Iraqi
* Baghdad Koiné
* Khuzestani

Levantine|

| Northern|

* North Levantine
* Aleppine
* Damascene
* Lebanese
* Cilician

|

Southern|

* South Levantine
* Jordanian
* Palestinian

Maghrebi|

| North Africa|

| Pre-Hilalian|

* Urban
* North-Eastern Tunisian
* Eastern Village
* Sahel
* Sfaxian
* Lesser Kabylia
* Western Village
* Traras-Msirda
* Mountain
* Judeo-Maghrebi Arabic
* Judeo-Moroccan
* Judeo-Tripolitanian
* Judeo-Tunisian

|

Hilalian|

* Sulaym
* Libyan koiné
* Eastern Hilal
* Tunisian koiné
* Central Hilal
* Algerian koiné
* Algerian Saharan
* Eastern Algerian
* Maqil
* Western Moroccan
* Eastern Moroccan
* Western Algerian
* Hassānīya
* Moroccan koiné

Mediterranean|

* Andalusian
* Sicilian
* Maltese

Peripheries|

* Central Asian
* Bakhtiari
* Bukhara
* Kashkadarya
* Khorasani
* Shirvani

Judeo-Arabic|

* Judeo-Iraqi
* Baghdadi
* Judeo-Moroccan
* Kjal
* Wqal
* Judeo-Tripolitanian
* Judeo-Tunisian
* Tunisene
* Judeo-Yemeni
* Adeni
* Beda
* Habban
* Sanʽani

Creoles and pidgins|

* Bimbashi
* Juba
* Maridi
* Nubi
* Turku

Italics indicate extinct languages.

Template:Nabataean Arabs topics

* v
* t
* e

Semitic languages

East Semitic languages

* Akkadian
* Eblaite

West Semitic and Central Semitic languages

Northwest

Canaanite|

| Hebrew|

* Biblical
* Mishnaic
* Medieval
* Mizrahi
* Yemenite
* Sephardi
* Ashkenazi
* Samaritan
* Modern

|

Phoenician|

* Punic

Others|

* Ammonite
* Moabite
* Edomite

Aramaic|

| Western|

* Jewish Palestinian
* Samaritan
* Christian Palestinian
* Nabataean
* Palmyrene
* Western Neo-Aramaic

Eastern|

* Biblical
* Hatran
* Syriac
* Jewish Babylonian Aramaic
* Chaldean Neo-Aramaic
* Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
* Senaya
* Koy Sanjaq Surat
* Hértevin
* Turoyo
* Mlahsô
* Mandaic
* Judeo-Aramaic
* Syriac Malayalam

Others|

* Ancient North Arabian
* Dadanitic
* Taymanitic
* Amorite
* Ugaritic
* Eteocypriot
* Himyaritic
* Sutean

Arabic

Literary|

* Arabic
* Classical
* Modern Standard

Dialects|

| Mashriqi (Eastern)|

| Arabian Peninsular|

* Dhofari
* Gulf
* Bahrani
* Kuwaiti
* Shihhi
* Hejazi
* Najdi
* Omani
* Yemeni
* Judeo-Yemeni

|

Bedouin|

* Eastern Egyptian and Peninsular Bedawi

Others|

* Egyptian
* Sa'idi Arabic
* Levantine
* Cypriot
* Lebanese
* Palestinian
* Mesopotamian
* North Mesopotamian
* Judeo-Iraqi
* Sudanese
* Central Asian
* Tajiki
* Uzbeki
* Shirvani

Maghrebi (Western)|

* Algerian
* Saharan
* Shuwa
* Hassānīya
* Andalusian
* Libyan Arabic
* Judeo-Tripolitanian
* Sicilian
* Maltese
* Moroccan Arabic
* Judeo-Moroccan
* Tunisian Arabic
* Judeo-Tunisian

Others|

* Old Arabic
* Nabataean Arabic
* Pre-Classical Arabic

South Semitic languages

Western South|

| Old South|

* Razihi
* Faifi
* Sabaean
* Minaean
* Qatabanian
* Awsānian
* Hadramautic

|

Ethiopic|

| North|

* Ge'ez
* Tigrinya
* Tigre
* Dahalik

|

South|

| Amharic|

* Argobba

|

Harari|

* Silt'e (Wolane, Ulbareg, Inneqor)
* Zay

Outer|

| n-group|

* Gafat
* Soddo

|

tt-group|

* Mesmes
* Muher
* West Gurage
* Mesqan
* Ezha
* Chaha
* Gura
* Gumer
* Gyeto
* Ennemor
* Endegen

Modern South Arabian|

* Bathari
* Harsusi
* Hobyot
* Mehri
* Shehri
* Soqotri

Italics indicate extinct languages, excluding liturgical languages.

Template:Pre-Islamic Arabia

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