Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/ʾil-Definition and word information from Wiktionary.
AlephAleph (also spelled alef or alif, transliterated ʾ) is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenicianʾālep𐤀, Hebrewʾālefא, Aramaicʾālap𐡀, Syriacʾālap̄ܐ, Arabicʾalifا, and North Arabian𐪑. It also appears as South Arabian𐩱 and Ge'ezʾälefአ. These letters are believed to have derived from an Egyptian hieroglyph depicting the head of an ox to describe the initial sound of *ʾalp, the West Semitic word for "ox" (compare Biblical Hebrewאֶלֶףʾelef, 'ox'). The...
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic, including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic, which is derived from Classical Arabic. This distinction is primarily made by Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refe...
UgaritUgarit (; Ugaritic: 𐎜𐎂𐎗𐎚, ủgrt /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient Levantine coastal city located in what is today northern Syria, at a site known in Arabic as Ras Shamra or Tell Shamra. Since its discovery in 1928, the site has revealed the oldest known systematic use of an alphabet. Ugaritic texts were written in a previously unknown Northwest Semitic tongue—the Ugaritic language. Archaeological excavations of Ugarit show evidence of occupation since the 8th millennium BC. Research has focused on the ...*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.