Verse:Tdūrzů/Knench/Ancient

Ancient Knench
*hak-kana3nījō
Created by	IlL
Setting	Verse:Irta
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Canaanite Ancient Knench

Ancient Knench, also called "Punic" in Irta (natively *hal-lasūn hak-kana3nījō 'the Canaanite language') is the earliest attested stage of Knench, first attested in the era of Biblical Hebrew. Post-Christianity it underwent drastic changes in mere centuries, thus ushering in the era of modern Knench. Ancient Knench was spoken in Iberia. Its premise is "Phoenician or Punic but a bit more Proto-Germanic".

Ancient Knench developed in isolation from Hebrew and was influenced by Azalic languages and Latin. It is a separate lineage from the dialect of Canaanite that eventually gave rise to Tiberian Hebrew and the modern Jewish Hebrew reading traditions in Irta.

Ancient Knench speakers were mostly Azalic speakers who adopted a Canaanite language. As such their religion differed markedly from ancient Hebrew polytheism (and seems to have adopted Semitic religious terms for concepts that were very different).

Surviving literature in Ancient Knench are attested in the Phoenician alphabet and in transcriptions into Greek or Latin. It includes a portion of the epic *Tabarē [?] (Tales of [?]) and some incantations.

(Grimm should happen during Old Knench stage)

Todo

• When should matres lectionis be used?
• some a-priori roots
• Vowel reduction:
  • final originally unstressed long > short

Phonology

Orthography

Ancient Knench was written in an abjad descended from the Proto-Hebrew script, and sometimed used a native invented vocalization system. Incantations were completely vocalized, other religious texts less so.

Since Ancient Knench merged /ʔ/ and /h/ completely, the letters aleph (half) and he (hê) are confused in earlier texts. Eventually the letter he was only used for a few function words and particles such as the definite article haC-.

Consonants

Out of the 25 consonants of Proto-Canaanite, Ancient Knench merged:

• /x/ with /ħ/ into /ħ/
• /ʕ/ and /ɣ/ into /ɣ̃/
• /h/ and /ʔ/ into /ʔ~ɦ~h~Ø/ ([h] was an allophone used for emphasis.)
• /s/ and /š/ into /s/

/m p b n t d t(phar) ts s(retracted) ts(phar) ɬ (Philly L) ħ k g q l w j r ʔ~ɦ~h~Ø/ ⟨m p b n t d ᴛ z s c ś ȝ ħ k g ᴋ l w y r h⟩

Vowels

Ancient Knench retained Proto-Canaanite vowel length and developed overlong vowels. It had the chain shift ā > ō > ū, similar to our timeline's Punic, and developed a new ā from compensatory lengthening.

a e i u ā ē ī ō ū ê î ô û /a ɛ~e ɪ~ɨ ʊ~o aː ɛː iː ɔː uː ɛːː iːː ɔːː uːː/

Minimal pairs and triples for overlong vowels in Ancient Knench:

• malkō 'a queen', malkô 'her king'
• sufrī 'count! (f.sg.)', sufrî 'literary, written'
• harbi! 'do something a lot! (m.sg.)' harbī! 'ibid., f.sg.' harbî 'numerous'
• dammim 'bleed!', dammīm 'bloodshed', dammîm 'bloody, of or like blood (masculine plural)'
• bētū 'his house', bētû 'his houses'
• rū3ē 'the evils of', rū3ê 'the friends of'

Many instances of long and overlong vowels resulted from dropped aleph and he and instances of lost gemination in grammatical affixes. For example: bû 'come! (m.sg.)' (from *būʔ < *buʔ, Tiberian Hebrew /bo:/)

Morphology

Pronouns

Independent

• 1sg: hani, ni
• 2sg: hatta, ta (m); hatte, te (f)
• 3sg: hū (m); hī (f)
• 1pl: haħnu
• 2pl: hattemma, temma (m); hattenna, tenna (f)
• 3pl: hemma (m), henna (f)

Nouns

Inflection

The definite article was ʔaC- (~ Biblical Hebrew *haC-). It caused gemination of the following consonant; if the following consonant was a guttural and thus could not geminate, it was lengthened to ʔō-.

Unstressed -ō corresponds to the Biblical feminine singular ending *-ā. -t was a much less common ending than in Biblical Hebrew. Eventually stress shifted away from gender/number suffixes across the board: The regular masculine and feminine plural endings were unstressed -īn and unstressed -ūt, ~ Biblical Hebrew *-ī́m and *-ṓt.

Often -ō is found where Hebrew has -t.

The construct state was much more predictable than in Tiberian Hebrew.

Other inflections

The directive he reflects as -a.

Adjectives

Adjectives are very similar to pre-exilic Biblical Hebrew. Adjectives can be put in construct state: e.g. ħṓli hṓbō 'lovesick (m.sg.)' (ħṓli is the construct of ħṓlē 'sick').

A common way to express 'very, extreme(ly), great(ly)' was to use the clitic rū- (which caused mutation; borrowed from Proto-Celtic *ɸro-; cognate to Irish ró-, Welsh rhy, both 'too, excessively'). At first only adjectives could take this prefix, but later it was also used on nouns to indicate numerousness or intensity (influenced by רוב *rubb 'multitude' used before a noun).

Verbs

todo: get rid of 3fp forms

Ancient Knench used all 7 binyanim of Biblical Hebrew; another stem (the L-stem; TibH פולל polėl and polal) remained fully productive in Ancient Knench.

Verbs inherited the following forms from pre-Biblical Hebrew:

• preterite independent (~ BH waw-consecutive preterite)
• present independent (~ BH waw-consecutive imperfect)
• preterite dependent (~ BH perfect)
• present dependent (~ BH imperfect)
• imperative
• cohortative -a
• infinitive construct
• participles

The following verb forms lost their productivity:

• emphatic m.sg. imperative -a
• jussive (only survives in hajō 'to be')
• infinitive absolute

The waw-consecutive came to play a purely syntactic role: The waw-consecutive is used as the default form, and the non-waw forms are used when a pre-verbal particle is attached (such as lū 'not', him 'if; definitely not', ha- 'question particle', kī 'when', (wa)hinni 'but; but then'). This is similar to Old Irish verbal allomorphy between independent and dependent forms.

Independent vs. dependent forms: example

	independent	dependent
preterite	waw-preterite: wayyūγal 'he ate'	perfect: lū haγal 'he did not eat'
present	waw-stative: wōhaγal 'he eats'	imperfect: lū yūγal 'he does not eat'

Binyan faȝal (paʕal)

samar 'he kept'

→ Person ↓ Tense		1s	2ms	2fs	3ms	3fs	1p	2mp	2fp	3mp	3fp
preterite	indep.	wêsmur	waθθesmur	waθθesmurī	wajjesmur	waθθesmur	wannesmur	waθθesmurū	waθθesmurna	wajjesmurū	waθθesmurna
	dep.	samarθi	samarθa	samarθe	samar	samarō	samarnu	samarθem	samarθen	samarū
present	indep.	wassamarθi	wassamarθa	wassamarθe	wassamar	wassamarō	wassamarnu	wassamarθem	wassamarθen	wassamarū
	dep.	hesmur	θesmur	θesmurī	jesmur	θesmur	nesmur	θesmurū	θesmurna	jesmurū	θesmurna
imperative		-	simur!	simurī!	-	-	-	simurū!	simurna!	-	-
active participle		sūmḗr
passive participle		samȳ́r
infinitive		simṓr

Binyan nivȝal (nifʕal)

nixθab 'it was written'

→ Person ↓ Tense		1s	2ms	2fs	3ms	3fs	1p	2mp	2fp	3mp	3fp
preterite	indep.	wêxxaδib	waθθixxaδib	waθθixxaδibī	wajjixxaδib	waθθixxaδib	wannixxaδib	waθθixxaδibū	waθθixxaδibna	wajjixxaδibū	waθθixxaδibna
	dep.	nixθabθi	nixθabθa	nixθabθe	nixθab	nixθabō	nixθabnu	nixθabθem	nixθabθen	nixθabū
present	indep.	wannixθabθi	wannixθabθa	wannixθabθe	wannixθab	wannixθabō	wannixθabnu	wannixθabθem	wannixθabθen	wannixθabū
	dep.	hixxaδib	θixxaδib	θixxaδibī	jixxaδib	θixxaδib	nixxaδib	θixxaδibū	θixxaδibna	jixxaδibū	θixxaδibna
imperative		-	hixxaδib!	hixxaδibī!	-	-	-	hixxaδibū!	hixxaδibna!	-	-
participle		nixθōb
infinitive		hixxaδib

Binyan fiȝȝil (piʕʕel)

kittil 'he grew (sth)'

→ Person ↓ Tense		1s	2ms	2fs	3ms	3fs	1p	2mp	2fp	3mp	3fp
preterite	indep.	wôgattil	waθθagattil	waθθagattilī	wajjagattil	waθθagattil	wannagattil	waθθagattilū	waθθagattelna	wajjagattilū	waθθagattelna
	dep.	kittelθi	kittelθa	kittelθe	kittil	kittilō	kittelnu	kittelθem	kittelθen	kittilū
present	indep.	wakkittelθi	wakkittelθa	wakkittelθe	wakkittil	wakkittilō	wakkittelnu	wakkittelθem	wakkittelθen	wakkittilū
	dep.	hagattil	θagattil	θagattilī	jagattil	θagattil	nagattil	θagattilū	θagattelna	jagattilū	θagattelna
imperative		-	kattil!	kattilī!	-	-	-	kattilū!	kattelna!	-	-
participle		mugattil
infinitive		kattil

Binyan hivȝil (hifʕil)

hibdil 'he separated'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1s	2ms	2fs	3ms	3fs	1p	2mp	2fp	3mp	3fp
preterite indep.	wôbdil	waθθabdil	waθθabdilī	wajjabdil	waθθabdil	wannabdil	waθθabdilū	waθθabdelna	wajjabdilū	waθθabdelna
preterite dep.	hibdelθi	hibdelθa	hibdelθe	hibdil	hibdilō	hibdelnu	hibdelθem	hibdelθen	hibdilū
present indep.	wêbdelθi	wêbdelθa	wêbdelθe	wêbdel	wêbdelō	wêbdelnu	wêbdelθem	wêbdelθen	wêbdelū
present dep.	habdil	θabdil	θabdilī	jabdil	θabdil	nabdil	θabdilū	θabdelna	jabdilū	θabdelna
imperative	-	habdel!	habdelī!	-	-	-	habdelū!	habdelna!	-	-
participle	mabdil
infinitive	habdil

Binyan hiðvaȝȝil (hithpaʕʕel)

hiθnaᴋᴋim 'he resented'

→ Person ↓ Tense	1s	2ms	2fs	3ms	3fs	1p	2mp	2fp	3mp	3fp
preterite indep.	wôθnaᴋᴋim	waθθiθnaᴋᴋim	waθθiθnaᴋᴋimī	wajjiθnaᴋᴋim	waθθiθnaᴋᴋim	wanniθnaᴋᴋim	waθθiθnaᴋᴋimū	waθθiθnaᴋᴋemna	wajjiθnaᴋᴋimū	waθθiθnaᴋᴋemna
preterite dep.	hiθnaᴋᴋemθi	hiθnaᴋᴋemθa	hiθnaᴋᴋemθe	hiθnaᴋᴋim	hiθnaᴋᴋimō	hiθnaᴋᴋemnu	hiθnaᴋᴋemθem	hiθnaᴋᴋemθen	hiθnaᴋᴋimū
present indep.	wêθnaᴋᴋemθi	wêθnaᴋᴋemθa	wêθnaᴋᴋemθe	wêθnaᴋᴋim	wêθnaᴋᴋimō	wêθnaᴋᴋemθnu	wêθnaᴋᴋemθem	wêθnaᴋᴋemθem	wêθnaᴋᴋimū
present dep.	haθnaᴋᴋim	θiθnaᴋᴋim	θiθnaᴋᴋimī	jiθnaᴋᴋim	θiθnaᴋᴋim	niθnaᴋᴋim	θiθnaᴋᴋimū	θiθnaᴋᴋemna	θiθnaᴋᴋimū	θiθnaᴋᴋemna
imperative	-	hiθnaᴋᴋim!	hiθnaᴋᴋimī!	-	-	-	hiθnaᴋᴋimū!	hiθnaᴋᴋemna!	-	-
participle	muθnaᴋᴋim
infinitive	hiθnaᴋᴋim

Object suffixes

• 1sg: -ni
• 2sg: -γa (m); -γe (f)
• 3sg: -w (after most V), -vu (after u or ȳ), -ū (after C) (m); -ô, -hô (f)
• 1pl: -nu
• 2pl: -γem (m); -γen (f)
• 3pl: -hem, -m, -im, -mu, -imu (m); -hen, -n, -in (f)

Gzarot

Main article: Ancient Knench/Gzarot

Prepositions

• jūt = direct object marker
• li- = to, for, of
• bi- = in, at, by, with (inst.)
• dum la- = like, as
• miC- = from
• ȝim, hit = with (comit.)
• wēn = without
• jaȝn = because of
• ȝalē = on

Conjunctions

• ka- = and ('like' > 'and')
• ja3n = because

Syntax

Ancient Knench syntax is similar to Bibical Hebrew but appears more streamlined from an IE perspective. Basic word order was retained as VSO (unlike in spoken Biblical Hebrew).

Tense constructions

Ancient Knench preserved Biblical Hebrew-like verb conjugation quite well (even retaining the waw-consecutive), but also innovated tense constructions. This came from the fact that Celtic speakers attempting to use the aspect-based grammar of Canaanite wanted to indicate tense unambiguously. The choice of whether to use the non-waw or the waw forms is purely syntactic; it depends on whether there is a preverb or not.

• Pluperfect: hajō or wajjê + perfect
• Preterite: perfect or waw-preterite
• Past imperfect: hajō or wajjê ('was') + imperfect is used to specifically indicate past imperfect
• Present: imperfect or waw-stative
  • Jussive uses the present dependent
• Future imperfective: jî or wājō + imperfect
• Future perfective: wājō + perfect (~ BH *wahajō, waw-consecutive + suffix conjugation)
• As in Hebrew, positive imperatives use the imperative but negative imperatives use hal + 2nd person present dependent.

Uses of the infinitive construct

Many of the Biblical or quasi-Biblical uses of the infinitive construct were retained:

1. la + IC may be used to indicate purpose
2. there were many verbs after which either la + IC or bare IC were commonly used
3. ba- or xa- + IC + NOUN = "when possessor VERBs/VERBed..."
4. more generally clauses with IC serve to point to an action in a tenseless way, like "for NOUN to VERB": lū jūʕil hiwwasifū lat-tessuᴋō = 'It is not worth it for him to join the fight'

Narratives

As in Biblical Hebrew, narratives tend to use the waw-preterite. A narrative is commonly introduced by wayyê 'it was' (often to give background info).

Hypothetical example:

wajjê faȝm wattê lāħamō, būdīkō smô. wattê ȝazzat tessuᴋō, hinni hajōt rū-ħūljat hābō.

Once there was a woman of war named Boudica. She was mighty in the art of battle, but she was greatly lovesick.

Wishes

Wishes and prayers use a form of ħajj 'alive' + subject + wa + verb in present dependent (from the jussive). This is an evolution of an oath formula ħayy X... 'I swear by X'.

ħajjūt hō-hasirūt wa jagallū niᴛafūt ham-mumallihūt bō-harc kullô wa bat-tūruκō bô.

May the tree-spirits reveal mystical insights pervading the whole earth and the lush vegetation in it.

A somewhat less common option is to use mī jeθθin wa + present dependent (lit. who will give that...).

One can also simply use the present dependent.

Vocabulary

Ancient Knench vocabulary was mostly Semitic, but with many Azalic loans and a few Celtic loans. The inherited Semitic vocabulary shows some semantic drift relative to Biblical Hebrew, as well as additional coinages.

Derivation

Mishkalim

• ᴋaᴛōl, ᴋaᴛēl, ᴋaᴛūl = common noun and adjective pattern for basic words
• ᴋaᴛīl = adjective pattern
• ᴋaᴛīlō = noun pattern
• masculine segolates: ᴋaᴛl, ᴋiᴛl, ᴋuᴛl, pl. ᴋVᴛalīn (ᴋuᴛl is often used for nouns of quantity and quality)
• feminine segolates: ᴋaᴛlō, ᴋiᴛlō, ᴋuᴛlō, pl. ᴋVᴛalūδ
• ᴋaᴛalō (paraγō 'good fortune, auspiciousness')
• ᴋaᴛilō
• ᴋaᴛulō (kadulō 'magnificence', zaruħō 'radiance')
• ᴋaᴛalᴛal(ō) = diminutive
• meᴋᴛal(ō) = often place
• maᴋᴛel(ō) = instrument
• meᴋᴛūl
• meᴋᴛul(ō)
• θaᴋᴛilō, θeᴋᴛulō
• ᴋaᴛlūn
• ᴋiᴛᴛalūn
• ᴋaᴛᴛal(ō) = agentive
• ᴋaᴛᴛelō = disease
• ᴋaᴛᴛulō
• θaᴋᴛelō
• θeᴋᴛulō = system of, art of, study of

Affixes

• -î (feminine -īyō): adjective-forming affix
• -ȳδ: abstract noun suffix
• hī-: un-, non-

Sample texts

An incantation

The following incantation has 4 stressed syllables per line (Prosody in Ancient Knench poetry is based on the number of stressed syllables per line):

[...]

Ha'azinu

TODO: weight sensitive stress after stress shift to penultimate and final vowel loss; verbs have earlier stress than nouns

hāzī́nū, has-samḗm, bi-dábbirī; súmȝī, hā-harc, jūt millū́lē fî.
tésᴛuf líᴋħī dum lam-maᴛár, tézzal hímratī dum laᴛ-ᴛal,
dum la-natz ȝálē dās, ka dum la-rubb-neᴛī́fō ȝálē ȝiśb.

Lexicon

h

• hōbō = love
• hilû (pl. hiūhīm) = an animistic spirit, like a Japanese kami
• hasírō = the spirit of a tree
• hinni = but

b

• bēt = house

z

• zadō = injustice, wrong (זדה is a hapax legomena in the Siloam inscription)
• zaruħō = radiance

ħ

• ħabab = to love (stative)
• ħabaᴋ = to hug, to embrace
• ħawō = to live
  • ħawe! = hail! (u > a after a guttural first consonant) (Source of Latin ave in Irta)

k

• k-b-d
  • kabed 'liver'
  • kabid 'heavy'
  • kabūd 'honor'
  • kibbid 'to honor'
  • kabudō 'esteemed position'
    • hak-kabudō 'sir, ma'am'
  • makped 'scale, balance'
• kin, ka- 'and'

n

• n-ᴛ-f
  • níᴛfō = spiritual intuition or inspiration (from a root meaning 'dropping, prophecy' in BH)

ȝ

• ȝarábō = willow

p

• párrō = cow

r

• rimmūn = pomegranate