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Systematic metathesis in Mandaic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Joseph L. Malone
Joseph L. Malone*
Affiliation:
Barnard College and Columbia University
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Abstract

Classical Mandaic manifests two types of systematic metathesis, both of which have interesting repercussions for Semitic and general linguistics. (1) t of the reflexive prefix metathesizes with an immediately following sibilant; e.g. *ˀitsamika > éstәmex ‘he was reassured’. Though this change must be posited to have occurred in Common NW Semitic, there is evidence that it recurred centuries later in Mandaic. (2) h as third radical metathesizes with an immediately preceding simple consonant, and then optionally undergoes total assimilation to that consonant; e.g. *mišhit > méhšeθ ~ méššeθ ‘I anointed’. But if these changes are posited as having been somewhat more general, a natural explanation is suggested for certain instances of vowel length, not only in Mandaic but perhaps also in Akkadian. This nexus of developments is strikingly similar to a complex of changes posited by Kiparsky 1967 for Greek.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , June 1971 , pp. 394 - 415
Copyright
Copyright © 1971 Linguistic Society of America

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