The Samaritan Hebrew language is a descendant of Biblical Hebrew as pronounced and written by the Samaritans. Categories: Language stubs | Judaism-related stubs | Canaanite languages | Hebrew language ... Samaritans are both a religious and an ethnic group. ...

Writing

It is written in the Samaritan alphabet, a direct descendant of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet (itself a variation on the Phoenician alphabet), whereas all other varieties of Hebrew are written in the later Hebrew alphabet, a variation on the Aramaic alphabet. The Samaritan alphabet is a direct descendant of the paleo-Hebrew variety of the Phoenician alphabet, the more commonly known Hebrew alphabet having been adapted from the Aramaic alphabet under the Persian Empire. ... The Phoenician alphabet dates from around 1000 BC and is derived from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet. ... The Phoenician alphabet dates from around 1000 BC and is derived from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... The Aramaic alphabet is an abjad alphabet designed for writing the Aramaic language. ...

Pronunciation

The Samaritan pronunciation of Hebrew differs in several respects from most others. The laryngeals aleph, ayin, he, and heth have all disappeared. Beth and Waw can each be pronounced as either b or w (in fact, the letters' names are pronounced Bît and Ba.) Sin is pronounced Shin. Consonants with dagesh are pronounced geminate. Stress is commonly penultimate rather than ultimate. The laryngeals were three consonant sounds that appear in most current reconstructions of the Proto-Indo-European language. ... In phonetics, gemination is when a spoken consonant is doubled, so that it is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a single consonant. ...

Grammar

Pronouns

Personal

Demonstrative

This: masc. ze, fem. zéot, pl. ílla.

That: alaz (written with a he at the beginning).

Relative

Who, which: éšar.

Interrogative

Who? = mi. What? = ma.

Noun

When suffixes are added, ê and ô in the last syllable may become î and û: bôr "pit" > búrôt "pits". Note also af "anger" > éppa "her anger".

Segolates behave more or less as in other Hebrew varieties: beţen "stomach" > báţnek "your stomach", kesef "silver" > kesfánu "our silver", dérek > dirkakimma "your (m. pl.) road" but áreş "earth" > árşak "your earth". Segolates are words in the Hebrew language that end with the consonant-vowel structure CVCVC, where the penultimate vowel receives syllable stress. ...

Article

The definite article is a- or e-, and causes gemination of the following consonant, unless it is a guttural; it is written with a he, but as usual, the h is silent. Thus, for example: énnar / ánnar = "the youth"; ellêm = "the meat"; a'émur = "the donkey". Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzards 1996 performance released on video and CD. The video/DVD and CD performances were both recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, England. ... Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-07-20, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... In articulatory phonetics, the term guttural consonant is sometimes used to describe any of several consonantal speech sounds whose primary place of articulation is near the back of the oral cavity, specifically some velar consonants, uvular consonants, pharyngeal consonants, and epiglottal consonants (q. ...

Number

Regular plural suffixes are -êm masc., -ôt fem: eyyamêm "the days", elamôt "dreams".

Dual is sometimes -ayem (šenatayem "two years"), usually -êm like the plural (yédêm "hands".)

Verbs

Affixes are: An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a base morpheme such as a root or to a stem, to form a word. ...

Particles

Prepositions

"in, using", pronounced:

• b- before a vowel (or, therefore, a former guttural): b-érbi = "with a sword"; b-íštu "with his wife".
• ba- before a bilabial consonant: bá-bêt "in a house", ba-mádbar "in a wilderness"
• ev- before other consonant: ev-lila "in a night", ev-dévar "with the thing".
• ba-/be- before the definite article ("the"): barrášet "in the beginning"; béyyôm "in the day".

"as, like", pronounced: In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzards 1996 performance released on video and CD. The video/DVD and CD performances were both recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, England. ...

• ka without the article: ka-demútu "in his likeness"
• ke with the article: ké-yyôm "like the day".

"to" pronounced:

• l- before a vowel: l-ávi "to my father", l-évad "to the slave"
• el-, al- before a consonant: al-béni "to the children (of)"
• le- before l: le-léket "to go"
• l- before the article: lammúad "at the appointed time"; la-şé'on "to the flock"

"and" pronounced:

• w- before consonants: wal-Šárra "and to Sarah"
• u- before vowels: u-yeššeg "and he caught up".

Other prepositions:

• al: towards
• elfáni: before
• bêd-u: for him
• elqérôt: against
• balêd-i: except me

Conjunctions

• u: or
• em: if, when
• avel: but

Adverbs

• la: not
• kâ: also
• afu: also
• ín-ak: you are not
• ífa (ípa): where?
• méti: when
• fâ: here
• šémma: there
• mittét: under

Sample

Exodus XX.1-6: Exodus is the second book of the Torah (the Pentateuch) and also the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible), and Christian Old Testament. ...

1. Umellel Elâ'e yet kel milleyya aalen elmimar.
2. Ana Šema Eluek deppiqtek men ara Mişrem mibbet awadem.
3. La ya'i lak ela'en uranem al eppi.
4. La tewed lak efsel ukel demu debšumeyya millel wedbaraa millera wedbameyya millera laraa.
5. La tisgad lon ula tešememminon ala anaki Šema elaak el qana fuqed ob awaan al banem wel telitaem wel rewi'a'em elsenai.
6. Wabed esed lalafem elra'emi welnateri fiqqudi.

Notice the similarities with Judeo-Aramaic as found in Targum Onqelos to this same passage (some expressions below are paraphrased, not literally translated): Judæo-Aramaic is a collective term used to describe several Hebrew-influenced Aramaic and Neo-Aramaic languages. ... Categories: Judaism-related stubs | Jewish texts ...

1. וּמַלֵּיל יְיָ יָת כָּל פִּתְגָמַיָּא הָאִלֵּין לְמֵימַר
2. אֲנָא יְיָ אֱלָהָךְ דְּאַפֵּיקְתָּךְ מֵאַרְעָא דְּמִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עַבְדוּתָא
3. לָא יִהְוֵי לָךְ אֱלָהּ אָחֳרָן, בָּר מִנִּי
4. לָא תַּעֲבֵיד לָךְ צֵילַם וְכָל דְּמוּ דְּבִשְׁמַיָּא מִלְּעֵילָא וְדִבְאַרְעָא מִלְּרַע וְדִבְמַיָּא מִלְּרַע לְאַרְעָא
5. לָא תִּסְגּוֹד לְהוֹן וְלָא תִּפְלְחִנִּין אֲרֵי אֲנָא יְיָ אֱלָהָךְ אֵל קַנָּא מַסְעַר חוֹבֵי אֲבָהָן עַל בְּנִין מָרָדִין עַל דָּר תְּלִיתַאי וְעַל דָּר רְבִיעַאי לְסָנְאָי כַּד מַשְׁלְמִין בְּנַיָּא לְמִחְטֵי בָּתַר אֲבָהָתְהוֹן
6. וְעָבֵיד טֵיבוּ לְאַלְפֵי דָּרִין לְרָחֲמַי וּלְנָטְרֵי פִּקּוֹדָי

A careful comparison of the grammar and vocabulary of Samaritan Hebrew indicates that it equally could be considered a dialect of Jewish Aramaic.

Source

• J. Rosenberg, Lehrbuch der samaritanischen Sprache und Literatur, A. Hartleben's Verlag: Wien, Pest, Leipzig.