Comments on: A Question on KTU 2.16

By: Calvin

Calvin — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:19:05 +0000

For the record, I did some digging of my own, and Sivan says that it is a mater indicating the wrong case (see pg 14 and 84 of his grammar). He also mentions that perhaps Ugaritic was losing its case system by the time 2.16 was written, but he seems to be offering that up along with a shrug as far as I can tell.

Thanks for the comments everyone, its been quite helpful.

By: Doug Mangum

Doug Mangum — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:09:30 +0000

Segert (p. 135-137)says it’s pl. constr. and the y is “apparently a vowel letter.” He adds it could be a postpositive element or a scribal error. Schniedewind in his recent primer thinks the vowel letter explanation is unavoidable here (p. 86 n. 40). Huehnergard also says vowel letter in his outline of Ug grammar. (Sivan probably says it’s a mater, too, but I don’t have him to check.) I don’t like the mater explanation because if they use vowel letters at all, why so rarely and inconsistently? Also other Semitic inscriptions like Heb don’t use maters until 7th century or later. I’d go with the suffix option first, then punt to scribal error or enclitic y before I accepted it as a vowel letter. Don’t knock the scribal error explanation. It happens more often than you’d think in Ugaritic.

By: Jim Getz

Jim Getz — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:12:15 +0000

FWIW Tropper’s Ugaritische Grammatik §§21.134.21 & 54.121.2 seems to think that it's a mater.

By: Duane

Duane — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:20:31 +0000

You might want to look at the letter from Ugarit to the governor of Aphek (Aphek 7:8-12).

ana muhhi abiya bēlīya
lû šulma ilū ša milki rabî bēlīka
ilū ša Ugarit
lūkrubuka
lîşşuruka

To my father, my lord.
Greetings! May the gods of the Great King, your lord,
(and) the gods of Ugarit
bless you (and) keep you.

Hope this helps.

(Sorry, to make this work, I had to play with the font a little.)