sometimes coincide with roots of a similar meaning in the Indo-Germanic family of languages (§ 1 h). Of other roots there is definite evidence that Semitic linguistic consciousness regarded them as onomatopoetic, whilst the Indo-Germanie instinct fails to recognize in them any imitation of sound.
[l] (c) Stems with the harder, stronger consonants are in general (§ 6 r) to be regarded as the older, from which a number of later stems probably arose through softening of the consonants; cf. פזר and בזר, צחק and שׂחק, צעק and זעק, עלץ and עלז, עלס; רקק and רכךְ, and the almost consistent change of initial ו to י. In other instances, however, the harder stems have only been adopted at a later period from Aramaic, e.g. טעה, Hebr. תעה. Finally in many cases the harder and softer stems may have been in use together from the first, thus often distinguishing, by a kind of sound-painting, the intensive action from the less intensive; see above קצץ to cut, גזז to shear, &c.
[m] (d) When two consonants are united to form a root they are usually either both emphatic or both middle-hard or both soft, e.g. קץ, קט, כס, גז, גד never כץ, גץ, גט, גס, קז. Within (triliteral) stems the first and second consonants are never identical. The apparent exceptions are either due to reduplication of the root, e.g. דדח (ψ 42, Is 38), Arabic דאדא, or result from other causes, cf. e.g. בבּה in the Lexicon. The first and third consonants are very seldom identical except in what are called concave stems (with middle ו or י), e.g. נון, צוץ; note, however, נגן, נתן, שׁמשׁ, שׁרשׁ, and on עלע Jb 39 see § 55 f. The second and third consonants on the other hand are very frequently identical, see § 67.[1]
[n] (e) The softening mentioned under l is sometimes so great that strong consonants, especially in the middle of the stem, actually pass into vowels: cf. § 19 o, and עֲזָאזֵל Lv 16 ff. if is for עֲזַלְזֵל.
[o] (f) Some of the cases in which triliteral stems cannot with certainty be traced back to a biliteral root, may be due to a combination of two roots—a simple method of forming expressions to correspond to more complex ideas.
[p] 3. Stems of four, or even (in the case of nouns) of five consonants[2] are secondary formations. They arise from an extension of the triliteral stem: (a) by addition of a fourth stem-consonant; (b) in some eases perhaps by composition and contraction of two triliteral stems, by which means even quinquiliterals are produced. Stems which have arisen from reduplication of the biliteral root, or from the mere repetition of one or two of the three original stem-consonants, e.g. כִּלְכֵּל from כול or כיל, סְחַרְחַר from סחר, are usually not regarded as quadriliterals or quinqueliterals, but as conjugational forms (§ 55); so also the few words which are formed with the prefix שׁ, as שַׁלְהֶ֫בֶת flame from לָהַב, correspond to the Aramaic conjugation Šaphʿēl, שַׁלְהֵב.
[q] Rem. on (a). The letters r and l, especially, are inserted between the first and second radicals, e.g. כָּסַם, כִּרְסֵם to eat up; שַׁרְבִּיט = שֵׁ֫בֶט sceptre (this insertion of an r is especially frequent in Aramaic); זַלְעָפָה hot wind from זָעַף
- ↑ Consonants which are not found together in roots and stems are called incompatible. They are chiefly consonants belonging to the same class, e.g. גכ, גק, כק, דט, תט, בף, מף, זד, זס, זץ, צס, אע, חע, &c., or in the reverse order.
- ↑ In Hebrew they are comparatively rare, but more numerous in the other Semitic languages, especially in Ethiopic.
