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On Some Alleged Developments of the Proto-Semitic Phoneme /t/ in Iron Age Canaanite Dialects*
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
This article takes issue with two proposals made in recent scholarship concerning the development of the Proto-Semitic phoneme /t/ in Iron Age Canaanite dialects: 1) retention of this phoneme in the dialects of Transjordan, and 2) its merger with the phoneme /t/ in the Hebrew of northern Cisjordan. The article argues that both proposals are untenable. Proposal (1) is based on a problematic interpretation of Judg. 12:5–6 and of the spellings of an Ammonite royal name in an Ammonite seal impression (b‘ly
‘) and in Jer. 40:14 (Ba‘
lîs). Moreover, this proposal is contradicted by the evidence of Neo-Assyrian spellings of Transjordanian proper names, which testify to the merger of /t/ with //: uruAs-tar-tu (the city of Ashtaroth) and likely also mBa-a'-sa (a royal name which is argued to derive from the original root b‘t). Proposal (2) is contradicted by the evidence of Hebrew inscriptions from northern Cisjordan, which consistently render the Proto-Semitic /t/ with the letter s. It is possible that the phoneme /t/ was initially retained in the Hebrew of northern Cisjordan, but there is no positive evidence to support such a possibility. Hence, it is more reasonable to uphold the view that the merger of /t/ with // was characteristic of all Iron Age Canaanite dialects.
* I wish to express gratitude to my teachers, Profs Mordechai Cogan and Steven E. Fassberg of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who read an earlier draft of this article and offered valuable remarks. Needless to say, the responsibility for all the views presented in this article is exclusively mine.