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Samaritan Hebrew LanguageThe Samaritan Hebrew language is a descendant of Biblical Hebrew as pronounced and written by the Samaritans. 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. 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 Bt and Ba.) Sin is pronounced Shin. Consonants with dagesh are pronounced geminate. Stress is commonly penultimate rather than ultimate. Grammar Pronouns Personal | I | anki | | you (male) | tta | | you (female) | tti (note the final yod) | | he | | | she | | | we | annu | | you (male, plural) | attmma | | you (female, plural) | ttn | | they (male) | mma | | they (female) | nna | Demonstrative This: masc. ze, fem. zot, pl. lla. That: alaz (written with a he at the beginning). Relative Who, which: ar. Interrogative Who? = mi. What? = ma. Noun When suffixes are added, and in the last syllable may become and : br "pit" > brt "pits". Note also af "anger" > ppa "her anger". Segolates behave more or less as in other Hebrew varieties: beţen "stomach" > bţnek "your stomach", kesef "silver" > kesfnu "our silver", drek > dirkakimma "your (m. pl.) road" but reş "earth" > rşak "your earth". 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: nnar / nnar = "the youth"; ellm = "the meat"; a'mur = "the donkey". Number Regular plural suffixes are -m masc., -t fem: eyyamm "the days", elamt "dreams" Dual is sometimes -ayem (enatayem "two years"), usually -m like the plural (ydm "hands".) Verbs Suffixes are: | perfect | imperfect | | I | -ti | e- | | you (male) | -ta | ti- | | you (female) | -ti | ? | | he | - | yi- | | she | -a | ti- | | we | ? | ne- | | you (plural) | -tmma | te- -un | | you (female, plural) | -tn | ? | | they (male) | -u | yi- -u | | they (female) | ? | ti- -inna | Particles Prepositions "in, using", pronounced: - b- before a vowel (or, therefore, a former guttural): b-rbi = "with a sword"; b-tu "with his wife".
- ba- before a bilabial consonant: b-bt "in a house", ba-mdbar "in a wilderness"
- ev- before other consonant: ev-lila "in a night", ev-dvar "with the thing".
- ba-/be- before the definite article ("the"): barret "in the beginning"; byym "in the day".
"as, like", pronounced: - ka without the article: ka-demtu "in his likeness"
- ke with the article: k-yym "like the day".
"to" pronounced: - l- before a vowel: l-vi "to my father", l-vad "to the slave"
- el-, al- before a consonant: al-bni "to the children (of)"
- le- before l: le-lket "to go"
- l- before the article: lammad "at the appointed time"; la-ş'on "to the flock"
"and" pronounced: - w- before consonants: wal-rra "and to Sarah"
- u- before vowels: u-yeeg "and he caught up".
Other prepositions: - al: towards
- elfni: before
- bd-u: for him
- elqrt: against
- bald-i: except me
Conjunctions - u: or
- em: if, when
- avel: but
Adverbs - la: not
- k: also
- afu: also
- n-ak: you are not
- fa (pa): where?
- mti: when
- f: here
- mma: there
- mittt: under
Sample Exodus XX.1-6: - Umellel El'e yet kel milleyya aalen elmimar.
- Ana ema Eluek deppiqtek men ara Mişrem mibbet awadem.
- La ya'i lak ela'en uranem al eppi.
- La tewed lak efsel ukel demu debumeyya millel wedbaraa millera wedbameyya millera laraa.
- La tisgad lon ula teememminon ala anaki ema elaak el qana fuqed ob awaan al banem wel telitaem wel rewi'a'em elsenai.
- Wabed esed lalafem elra'emi welnateri fiqqudi.
Source - J. Rosenberg, Lehrbuch der samaritanischen Sprache und Literatur, A. Hartleben's Verlag: Wien, Pest, Leipzig.
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