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Modern South Arabian ‘nine’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

David Testen*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago

Extract

There can be little doubt that the stem of the Common Semitic cardinal numeral ‘nine’ is to be reconstructed as *tiš'-.

Among the Modern South Arabian languages, however, we find a set of forms for this numeral which, while clearly reminiscent of those of the remaining Semitic languages, are remarkable for (a) the absence of the initial *ti- and (b) the presence of the sibilant s rather than the expected *š (Johnstone, 1975:23).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1998

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References

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