Page:Compendious Syriac Grammar.djvu/80

Rh § 58. Weak roots vary a good deal in their weak letters. Thus ,&lrm; ,&lrm; ,&lrm; (to which is added another secondary form ) are essentially modifications only of the same fundamental root, which means "hot". In particular, roots and  are very closely related. Thus also in Syriac they very readily change into one another: the substantive belonging to "to err" (Perf., Impf. ) is , as if from ; and along with the frequently occurring  "to pity"  is found (Perf. , Impf. ), and with  "to bend", , &c.

§ 59. Forms ''med. gem. in Syriac attain like weight with that of the strong forms, by doubling not the second radical, but the first, when it is possible, i. e.'' when a prefix ending in a vowel precedes it. Thus from "to shear"  aggez (answering to );  eggoz (= );  negzūn, properly negge̊zūn (= );  "you (fem. pl.) love" (=, from );  "boiler" (from  "to warm" ) ; , ,  "entrance", &c.

Yet in some nouns we find the general Semitic method,—i. e. the method of either directly or virtually doubling the third radical, even with the prefixes mentioned: thus "needle" (not );  or  (East-Syrian) "shield";  "a booth" (me̊ṭalthā, properly me̊ṭalle̊thā), pl. (me̊ṭallē); "sieve";  "a cave"; and, , &c., mostly used adverbially, "completion" , "continually".

Two l's stand beside each other like two different consonants in "speech";  "cover, shelter" (§ 46); and the quadriliteral form  "face". In these formations, however, the l is again dropped in the usual pronunciation (§ 29), so that in point of fact the regular form makes its appearance. Add the peculiar form, &c. "to lament". The following appear to be later formations: "mockery", from  ; and from,  "a prayer". Thus, farther, regularly in the Ethpeel "was shorn" (as compared with  "shore").