Page:Compendious Syriac Grammar.djvu/88

Rh a consonant preceded by a long vowel, a doubled consonant, or two consonants. Thus "bundle", pl. ;  "tunic", pl., ;   "place"; pl. , ;  "tail"; pl. , and many others. This formation is of more frequent occurrence in later times. Some have secondary forms, e. g. "knife"; pl. and (as well as ).

§ 72. The plural-ending in the emphatic state was properly aiyā (from ai + ā): this ending is still shown in the short words  "sons";  "years";  "kinds";  "breasts";   (=  ) as well as  "hands";  "curtain" (=  "face"). For all these words v..

Aiyā appears farther in the plural emphatic state,—through blending the final vowel of the root,—in adjectives and participles in ē and ai (yā in Emph. st. sing.), with the emphatic ending: "hard" (Emph. st. ), ;  (st. abs. ) "fool", ;  "lamed",, &c.

So with the substantives "kid", ;  "a talent (weight)", ;  "reed", ;  "bowels", ; and so with the ''Plur. tantum'' "water" (and,  "heaven" ); farther  "young (of animal)",  (later formation  );  "image",  "price" (later formation  "images").—But not with the abstract nouns— "a rent",  (as against  "one who is torn", );  "cold",.

§ 73. In the absolute state of the plural, such substantives have īn, so far as they appear in it at all: ; ; ; ;. Thus too the pronunciation of the very rare word must be še̊mīn and not še̊mēn. But the Adjectives have ēn:, ; (from  and from ) &c.

In the construct state of the plural, such Substantives have ai: ; ; ; ; but the Adjectives, yai: ; "herdsmen";  "criers":  "pointing out", &c. (cf. with this section infra).

§ 74. The following Masculines form their plural from enlarged forms in ān. They are to some extent words of closely related meaning:—