Lesson 11

II-weak Verbs

The second consonant of the verbal root is no longer preserved. Alternately, these roots may be considered biradical, i.e., having only two consonants.

√Š-T, ‘to put, place’

Notice that the vowel between the verbal stem and the pronominal element in the SC is /ā/. If there were no vowel in this position (like in the strong root, katabtu), the pronominal element of suffix conjugation of √Š-T would combine with the final consonant of the verbal root along the following lines: šāt + tu (1cs) > šāttu > šattu, written as {št}. But the preservation of the pronominal element indicates that there must have been a vowel between the verbal root and pronominal element. The vowel probably corresponds to the /ō/ in Biblical Hebrew II-weak verb Hiphil prefix conjugation –ôt–. One may also compare the vowel that occurs in the Akkadian paris stative paradigm: parsāta, parsāti, parsāku.

Relative Clause

A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies or replaces a noun. In Ugaritic, a relative clause can be introduced by the relative pronoun {d(t)} or it can be unmarked. As introduced in Lesson 3, this pronoun is used in genitive and relative clauses.

When introducing a relative clause, the pronoun modifies a preceding word and means ‘who’, ‘which’, ‘that’, etc. The pronoun can serve as the subject or object of the subordinate clause.

Subject of an adverbial predicate:

bnšm dt l mlk, ‘men who are (returning) to Mulukku’ (RS 18.026:17)

Subject of a verbal predicate:

ṯṯtm . ḫzr dt . tbʿln b . gt . ḥrṯm, ‘Twelve personnel who are working in the estate of the plowmen’ (RS 15.022+:9-11)

Object of a verb:

ksp d lqḥ bdn, ‘silver that Badunu took’ (RIH 83/22:10)

ı͗ky . lḥt spr . d lı͗kt, ‘How is it with the written tablet(s) that I sent?’ (RS Varia 4: 6-7)

 In the final example above, the relative pronoun dā modifies sipri, ‘letter’. The relative pronoun is vocalized in the accusative because it serves as the direct object of the verb laʾiktu, ‘I sent’. In the following example, the relative pronoun dātu modifies ʾanuyukana, ‘your ship’. One can remove the relative clause and still make sense of the independent clause, ‘your ship is here in Tyre’. In this letter, the sender wanted to further clarify that ‘your ship—specifically the one that you sent to Egypt—is here in Tyre’.

a͗nykn . dt lı͗kt . mṣrm hndt . b . ṣr, /ʾanuyukana dātu laʾikta miṣrêmū hannadata bi ṣuri/, ‘Your ship that you sent to Egypt is here in Tyre.’ (RS 18.031:10-12)

 In the following example from a legal document, the relative clause specifies which mrzḥ is at issue. The relative clause runs on so long that the author felt compelled to mark clearly the resumption of the main clause by use of the conjunction w.

mrzḥ d qny šmmn b . btw w št . ı͗bsn lwm, /marziḥu dū qanaya šamumānu bi . bêtiwu wa šāta ʾibūsāna lêwumu/, ‘As for the marziḥu-club that Šamumānu established in his house, indeed he has established the storehouse for them.’ (RS Varia 14:1-6)

 In the following example from the Baal Myth, the relative clause functions as an apposition to the preceding noun.

a͗bn . brq . d l . tdʿ . šmm, /ʾabīnu burqa dā lā tidaʿū šamêma/, ‘I understand lightning, that which the heavens do not understand.’ (RS 2.[014]+  iii 26)

 In the next example, the relative clause further modifies a noun that is in apposition.

ı͗l mlk . d yknnh, ‘El, the king who established him’ (RS 2.[014]+ v 36)

Conditional Clause

A conditional clause may consist of two elements, a protasis and an apodosis. The protasis is the conditional proposition of the statement and is usually introduced by a conditional conjunction.

            {ı͗m}, /ʾimma/, conditional conjunction ‘if’ (also used as a disjunctive ‘or’)

            {hm}, /himma/, conditional conjunction, ‘if’

The apodosis may be unmarked. However, it can also be introduced by the conjunction w. In cases where the w is not used, one sometimes finds the enclitic particle m attached to the end of the first word of the apodosis.

hm ı͗ṯ lk yn w tn w nšt, /himma ʾiṯu lêka yênu wa tina w ništa/, ‘If you have some wine, then give (us some) that we may drink.’ (RS 2.002:72, partially reconstructed)

w . hm . ḫt . ʿl . w . lı͗kt ʿmk, /wa himma ḫattu ʿalâ wa laʾiktu ʿimmaka/, ‘If Hatti comes up, then I will send (a message) to you’ (RS 16.379:16-18)

 Not every conditional clause is part of a protasis-apodosis construction.

bʿl . yṯbr . dı͗y hmt . hm . tʿpn . ʿl . qbr . bny,

/baʿlu yaṯbura daʾyī humuti himma taʿūpūna ʿalê qibri biniya/,

‘May Baal break their limbs if they fly over the grave of my son!’

(RS 3.322+ iii 43-44)

Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers are adjectives. Therefore, they would be expected to follow the noun they modify. However, one cannot produce convincing examples of this syntax. More common are examples where the counted noun is omitted or examples of inverted syntax where the ordinal number precedes the noun it modifies.

ḫmš . ṯdṯ . ym . tı͗kl ı͗št . b bhtm, /ḫamiša ṯādiṯa yōma tiʾkalu ʾišatu bi bahatīma/, ‘for a fifth and sixth day fire consumed in the houses’ (CAT 1.4 vi 29-30)

mġd . ṯdṯ . yrḫm, /maġdâ ṯādiṯi yaraḫīma/, ‘nourishment for the sixth month’ (RS 2.[003]+ ii 31)

In these cases, the ordinal number is analyzed as a nominalized adjective, ‘the sixth one’ followed by a noun in an unmarked adverbial syntax, ‘as regards days’. One may observe that these two examples occur in poetry. In many examples, the word ym, ‘day’, is omitted and the ordinal number communicates ‘the sixth day’. This occurs in economic texts as well as literary texts.

Vocabulary

Verbs:

√B-N, yabīn-, ‘to understand’

√P-Q, yapūq-, ‘to obtain, acquire, possess’

√K-N, yakūn-, ‘to be established, to be’

√M-T, yamūt-, ‘to die’

Proper Nouns:

bdn, /Badunu/, a personal name

Exercises

Exercises
A. Vocalize and Translate RIH 83/22:8-13

            8.         a͗rbʿ . ma͗t . ḫmšm

            9.         šbʿt . w nṣp . kbd

            10.       ksp . d . lqḥ . bdn

            11.       b mlk . w ʿl

            12.       ḥwt . l ḥṯb

            13.       d a͗nyt . grgmšh

B. Transliterate RS 2.[003]+ i 7-25

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