Reconstruction talk:Proto-Semitic/ʔalp-

@Fay Freak: is Akkadian 𒀠𒁍𒌝 (al-pu-um) a descendant from this? And what's the relation between this word and the letter aleph? – Tom 144 (𒄩𒇻𒅗𒀸) 19:44, 10 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

No relation to the letter name. And I wouldn’t know why 𒀠𒁍𒌝 (al-pu-um, “ox”) would be related. Maybe @Profes.I. knows what it is. Fay Freak (talk) 20:30, 10 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

It is actually one and the same root; the earliest Semitic alphabet associated each grapheme with a concept beginning with that phoneme. For the letter Alpu the depiction utilized was that of an ox; the root means to join together, to connect, it is the concept of domestication, taming, grouping, and partnership. This is also the connection with the meaning a thousand, a congregation, a group, a herd or flock, many becoming one, coming together. I have been meaning to add etymological entries for the Semitic alphabet whenever the time is found as it is significant for all subsequent alphabet systems. For the most part their names can be found still in use as words in its descendant branches, only a few are debated or regionally varying. For more Proto-Sinaitic Script might be of interest; hope this was of help and answered some of your curiosity into the matter. Profes.I. (talk) 01:16, 11 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

I think now the relation is rather indirect. From the meanings of the verbs related to “uniting” (form II Arabic أَلَّفَ (ʔallafa) means “to compile”, “to unite”, “to join”, apart from “to tame”) one got the meaning of an ox in a yoke. From a different perspective of the verb one also got the meaning “a large amount”, i.e. more in the sense of an Anzahl than a Zahl. The meaning was not fixed to “thousand”. It is not fixed in Ethiopian and usually means “myriad”. While the cattle-word does not seem to have meant a herd. The descendants only (?) mean a single ox. So *ʾalp- “ox” and *ʾalp- “thousand” are not one from the other, but developed independently in Proto-Semitic, though related.

The letter name is of course formed after Proto-Semitic from the name of an ox, but I can’t say which individual language it is which is the origin of the invention. The Phoenician forms, like Phoenician 𐤀𐤋𐤐 (ʾlp), seem to be the origin of the Greek letter names at least, and apparently also of Imperial Aramaic letter names and letter forms and thus also of the Arabic names and forms, but I do not know which language or lang code it is under which you would make the etymological entries else, @Profes.I. The Old South Arabian script does not derive from the Phoenician script but an older layer and from Old South Arabian script the Ethiopian script. Fay Freak (talk) 13:14, 11 June 2019 (UTC)Reply