Thamudic B is a
Central Semitic
Central Semitic languages are one of the three groups of West Semitic languages, alongside Modern South Arabian languages and Ethiopian Semitic languages.
Central Semitic can itself be further divided into two groups: Arabic and Northwest Semi ...
language and script concentrated in northwestern
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...
, with attestations in Syria, Egypt, and Yemen. A single Thamudic B text mentions the king of
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
, which suggests that it was composed before the fall of the kingdom, in the middle of the 6th century BCE.
Characteristics
# The suffix morpheme of the prefix conjugation in the first person is ''-t'', as in Arabic and
Northwest Semitic
Northwest Semitic is a division of the Semitic languages comprising the indigenous languages of the Levant. It emerged from Proto-Semitic in the Early Bronze Age. It is first attested in proper names identified as Amorite in the Middle Bronze ...
, as opposed to the ''-k'' of
Ancient South Arabian and
Ethiopic.
# The dative preposition is ''nm'', which appears to be an assimilated form of an original *''lima''.
# The consonant /n/ often assimilates to a following contiguous consonant, ''ʔṯt'', from earlier *ʾVnṯat and ''ʔt'', from earlier *
�anta
# Imperatives are often augmented by the energic suffix ''-n''.
References
{{reflist
Arabic languages
Ancient North Arabian