Edomite language
Ancient Semitic language of Edom (Jordan)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edomite is a Northwest Semitic Canaanite language, very similar to Biblical Hebrew, Ekronite, Ammonite, Phoenician, Amorite and Sutean, spoken by the Edomites in Idumea (modern-day southwestern Jordan and parts of Israel) in the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. It is extinct and known only from an extremely small corpus,[2] attested in a scant number of impression seals, ostraca, and a single late 7th or early 6th century BC letter, discovered in Horvat Uza.[2][3][4][5]
Like Moabite, but unlike Hebrew, it retained the feminine ending -t in the singular absolute state. In early times, it seems to have been written with a Phoenician alphabet. However, by the 6th century BC, it adopted the Aramaic alphabet. Meanwhile, Aramaic or Arabic features such as whb ("gave") and tgr/tcr ("merchant") entered the language, with whb becoming especially common in proper names.[6]
Like many other Canaanite languages, Edomite features a prefixed definite article derived from the presentative particle (for example as in h-ʔkl ‘the food’). The diphthong /aw/ contracted to /o/ between the 7th and 5th century BC, as foreign transcriptions of the divine name "Qos" indicate a transition in pronunciation from Qāws to Qôs.[7]
Examples
| Edomite as transcribed in Square script[8] | Reconstructed transliteration (per Ahituv 2008) | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| אמר למלך אמר לבלבל | ʾōmēr lammeleḵ ʾĕmōr ləḆīlbēl | (Thus) said to the king: Say to Bilbel, |
| השלם את והברכתך | hăšālōm ʾattā wəhīḇraḵəttīḵā | "Are you well?" and "I bless you |
| לקוס ועת תן את האכל | ləQōs wəʿattā tēn ʾet hāʾoḵel | by Qos." And now give the food |
| [ ] אשר עמד אחאמה | ʾăšer ʿīmmaḏ ʾĂḥīʾīmmō [...] | that Ahi'immoh [...] |
| והרם ש[א]ל על מז[בח קוס | wəhērīm Šā[ʾu]l ʿal mīz[baḥ Qōs | And may Sa[u]l lift [it] (up) upon (the) al[tar of Qos, |
| פן י]חמד האכל | pen ye]ḥmad hāʾoḵel | lest] the food become leavened |
