Qatabānian (or Qatabānic), one of the four better-documented languages of the Old South Arabian (or "Ṣayhadic") sub-group of South

Semitic Semitic most commonly refers to the Semitic languages, a name used since the 1770s to refer to the language family currently present in West Asia, North and East Africa, and Malta. Semitic may also refer to: Religions * Abrahamic religions ** ...

, was spoken mainly but not exclusively in the kingdom of Qatabān, located in central Yemen. The language is attested between 500 BC and 200 AD. Some two thousand inscriptions are known written in the Ancient South Arabian Monumental Script, known as ''Musnad''. These inscriptions are mainly found in Wādī Bayhān and Wādī Ḥārib to the south-east of Ma'rib, and from the plateau to the south of that area. Qatabanian inscriptions increase after the beginning of the 4th century BC when the Sabaeans ceased to dominate the area, and Qatabān became an independent kingdom. Qatabanian was spoken in an area across the kingdom of Qatabān as far as Jabal al-'Awd (near Zafar) in the southwest, and if we are to believe the Greek and Latin writers, it went as far as Bāb al-Mandab on the Red Sea. At the end of the 2nd century AD,

Saba' The Sabaeans or Sabeans (Sabaean:, ; ar, ٱلسَّبَئِيُّوْن, ''as-Sabaʾiyyūn''; he, סְבָאִים, Səḇāʾīm) were an ancient group of South Arabians. They spoke the Sabaean language, one of the Old South Arabian langua ...

and Ḥaḑramawt finally defeated Qatabān, and the inscriptions ended. The language used to write inscriptions in the kingdom of Awsān, known as Awsānian (or Awsānite) is virtually identical to Qatabānic, but it is so badly attested (25 inscriptions), that it remains uncertain whether it is a Qatabānic dialect or a distinct language.

Numerals

Qatabānian has an unusual form for the cardinal number "one" - ''ṭd'' / fem. ''ṭt'' ; this has no known cognates in any of the ancient Semitic languages, although it does appear in modern South Arabian languages (cf. Jibbālī ''ṭad'', fem. ''ṭit''). Qatabānian also has another word for "one", ''ˤs₁tn'', which is cognate with the Minaean ''ˤs₁t'' (and with forms in

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

, Ugaritic and Hebrew). The Qatabānian forms for "three" and "six" are the same as the Old Sabaean words: ''s₂lṯ'' (fem. ''s₂lṯt'') and ''s₁dṯ'' (fem. ''s₁dṯt''). Qatabānian expresses distributives by repeating the number, thus: b-ˤs₂r ˤs₂r ḫbṣtm mṣˤm l-ṭt ṭt ywmm "ten full Ḫabṣat coins each for each day".

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{cite book , last1=Stein , first1=Peter , chapter=Ancient South Arabian , editor-first=Stefan , editor-last=Weninger , title=The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook , publisher=

De Gruyter Mouton Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

, location=Berlin , date=2011 , isbn=3110186136 , pages=1042–1073 Languages attested from the 5th century BC Old South Arabian languages Languages of Yemen