Page:Compendious Syriac Grammar.djvu/66

Rh D. In the middle of the word, ya becomes ī in the adverbial ending āīth, from and along with āyath (§ 155 A). , which appears as an initial letter without a full vowel only in "and" (A supra), is sometimes treated within a word just like. Thus from remote times there appear as alternative forms ḥaiwe̊thā and  ḥayūthā "animal";  and  "joy" (§§ 40 D; 101; 145 F) : forms with ū in these cases have become more usual; while other forms,—for instance,  along with   "weariness",  (East-Syrian) along with  "that they may have room"—occur only in isolated cases.

E. A after ā, and before another vowel, is pronounced by the East-Syrians like, thus  "lives",  "at last", like ḥāē, ḥe̊rāath, &c. (thus the converse of § 33 B). Perhaps old modes of writing, like for  "spiritual" (pl.), are founded upon this. If the vowel succeeding, after a or ā, is e or i, then the difference between the highly vocal y and is hardly perceptible. Whence come the interchangeable forms and  "dead";  "remaining" and  (§ 118);  and, "give me to drink" (§ 196) &c.: Thus old MSS. have for  "truly" (§ 155 A).

F. In the same way awu and aʾu are scarcely distinguishable by the ear. Accordingly we find, for example, or even  for  "they threw" (§ 176 E),  or  for  "they struck him" (§ 192), &c. Similarly, as well as  "matter".

G. serves in rare cases as a mark of a vowel and a consonant at one and the same time; e. g. in  ne̊vīyā "prophet" (in which the conclusion must have a sound differing very little indeed from that in  "come", &c);  šīyūthā "form"; and in the before-mentioned  ašqāyīn. Similarly for  quryāyīn "" (to avoid the triple ).

H. The Greek ια, ιω, &c. are sometimes treated as monosyllables, sometimes as dissyllables, for instance: ;  ,