Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/56

 Februajit, 1875.] SKETCH OP SAB.EAN GRAMMAR. 43 honour of A'ttar,' and rroja rnro (485, 1), 'he has renovated to the honour of Nakralu' Exam- pies conld easily be multiplied to show this peculiarity, but the preceding' ones are all taken from the Minfoan dialect. The use of the particle ? is less varied, bat more frequent than the others. It occurs — 1st. As sign of the dative : snerr «sa5 (Os. v. 4), ' to the Beni Tahafra' ,' vr> (Fr. lvl), ' to him;' vKtwb (Os. xx. 8), 'to his vassals (lit, men);' n^d^ (Fr. liv.), 'to the honour of Al- maqqalm.' 2nd, To indicate the purpose, the motive : pro pa ish (Ft: liv.), ' for the welfare of the house of Silhin;' pra mrn (Os. xvm. 7), 'on account of, in consideration of this tablet.' A3 in the majority of Semitic languages, the ■> is joined to the verb and makes a precafcive expressing a wish : e.g. rsrvh (Os. rx. 5), ' may he bless them,' strictly ' in order to bless them ;' arm iro npraVs urn 7i (t&, vi. 6-8), ' may Almaq- qahu continue to gratify Anraarm,' When the V of tendency precedes the complet- ed verb the latter takes the j of prolongation : ^cp * (Os. xxvn. 9), pir Vi (lb. xx. 6), rvrrt (H. 147,6); in the plural: pmrert (Os. xxxv- 4). Sometimes, however, also the simple Imperfect occurs: p Vi {Hal. 259, 1), arr Vi (t&. L. 3), tot * (Os. iv. 11-1'2), mn* Vi (*&■ l. 10-11). In all these examples the precative sense is less strong, and we perhaps even have here a simple affir- mation corresponding to the Arabic <J. TJnfor- tuuately the passages from which these exam- ples are taken do not happen to be clear enough to allow of discovering the precise shade of meaning in this particle. o The particle o, abridged from p rr^/*, occurs in several passages : nan Toa...io«rrp (Ft: xvn.) ' Yta'mir..,of the (cultivated) plain of Saba,' n» ais {Hah 681, 5), ' it (the illness) retired from her, abandoned her;' pa pmc Vi {Sal, 412, 3) and with transition to a: Wn mai (Os, xm. 11) ' and above that;' likewise in the preposition nra, equivalent to the Hebrew org. There is yet an interesting peculiarity to be noticed concerning the Vi particles. These particles seem, according to tho analogy of the relative i, to possess the faculty of combining with j without changing their signification. Thus it may be seen that re p {Hal. 221, 2) supersedes the usual formula rsa (Hal. 226, 2, &c.) ; wrran p (Fr. xi. 3), opposite to vrona {Os. vm. 4), rpfn wri p (Crutt. San. i. 17), 'in summer and in winter;' pvra p (Fr. liil 2), which appears to mean 'in the sanctuary.' The last two examples, however, may be explained diti'erently ; in this p the preposition p, ' be- tween,' with the scriptio defectum may be con- cealed* At all events the obscurity of the passages quoted allows of no positive as- sft-tioii. The passages wherein the compound -p appears to supersede the simple ? are more obscure ; a few of them are here sub- mitted to the attention of Semitists : -nro p (Fr. XL 3) ; <nva p (ib, L. 4) ; fawn p (Os. xvm. I) ; it would naturally be more simple if this ft were to be the prefix of the first person plural. Among the isolated prepositions the following occur in the inscriptions : — 1st «to upon, to; this is identical with the Arabic ^1*, and occurs in the folio wing : tffxv TaaVn •*? {Hal. 49, 12), 'who carried help to (=^]*^Jb|) Halikamir.' Also jrm ■ Va *n (HI 152, td, 1 I), • upon all men.' 2nd. p, p from, of: e.g. c'ftp era p (IT. 140, 10), 'of any malediction whatever;' p-irra (16. 1 ."1 1! . 8), jcrvra p (10. 152, 8), 'from this sanc- tuary (?).' The form p is more frequent : toto pro p (Os. xxvi. 9), ' he has preserved him from blows;' isroi pn tt p varm Vi (Os. xvii, 8-10), 1 that ho may conceal them from sickness, from malediction, and from witchcraft.' 3rd. is until, towards : e.g. m -9 w (Fr. i,vt. 2), 'and they came till Maryaba;' cton p P7C3 ts (27a I. 535, 1), 'from the foundations till the roof (?).' This preposition is also spelt •■», e.g. trrra t? psna m» r*d-> rnai (JM. 682, 5, 6), 'and because she has gone out towards impure places _' This iB Halevy's rendering of the phrase trans- lated as follows in the Z. d. B. M. G. : 'and be- cause she kept herself pure in impure places' (nud well sie sich rein hielt in unreinen Orten). In Os. xi. 7, 8 the word ns seems to mean, ' in that which concerns.' In the dialect of Hadramaut the locution -wp appears to correspond to trp tp) (N. H. 1. 2). The inscription of Obne shows also nipo 1* (1- '■>)- 4th. Between, among, amidst ; e.g. firtno p (H. 535, 1), 'between their (two?) towers;' pjjnn n (Os. xiv. 4), ' amidst his sheep.' 5th. ns appears to mean in con-sidcratwu. in exchange : vxvsra ns (Os. 1. 7) ' in consideration of their gift.'