Page:Compendious Syriac Grammar.djvu/56

Rh like, (to which ,  also belong). So "anger", and the like. With u and o we have, , , &c., overagainst ,. Individual peculiarities are very complicated here, and the tradition occasionally varies. On the whole Q. is preferred after r, l, and š, and R. after ʿ, m &c., in the of the termination  [i. e.  in that feminine termination, is generally sounded hard after r, l, and š, and R. after ʿ, m &c., in the  of the termination  [i. e.  in that feminine termination, is generally sounded hard after r, l, and š, and soft, or with assibilation, after ʿ and m]. The analogy of words of similar form or meaning has exercised great influence here. Something will be said on this head afterwards in treating of the parts of speech.

F. The quite peculiar Q. of, (along with , ) "six", "sixty" points to the loss of a sheva in remote times [v. D&#93;.

G. Like "anger" we also have,  "my, their anger"; here farther, analogy in this way breaks through the old law, that Q. must stand immediately after a consonant [v. C&#93;. Thus, "my, their gold", following  "gold" (from dahăvā), and many others. Thus the of the 3. sing. fem. in the Perf. (at least according to the usual pronunciation) remains always soft: "she has killed him",  "she has killed me" (as against  "I have killed him", &c.). On the other hand the of the 2. pers. in the Perf. is kept hard in all circumstances, thus "thou hast killed" (and  "thou"), as well as  "thou hast revealed",  "thou (f.) hast revealed";,  "Ye (m. and f.) have revealed" &c.

In other respects too we find remarkable deviations from the fundamental rules, e. g. in (§ 149) "they four (f.)" or "the four of them", where  might have been expected. Although the fundamental rules are still clear, they became practically ineffective even at an early stage; and thus it came about that entirely similar cases often received dissimilar treatment. Besides, fluctuations of all kinds in the dialects and in the school-tradition, manifest themselves in the matter of R. and Q.