Himyaritic language

Spoken in

• Afro-Asiatic Semitic? Himjarisch

The himjarische language (Arabic لغة حمير Lughat Himyar, DMG Lugat Himyar, language of Himyar ') is an extinct language, which was in ancient times in what is now Yemen, apparently, spoken by the Himyarites. It belongs to the Semitic languages ​​, but possibly not the Old South Arabian ( sayhadischen ) languages ​​in the strict sense. The detailed classification within the Semitic is unknown due to the paucity of known material.

The Himjarische is known from fragmentary statements by Arab scholars from the first centuries after the spread of Islam, which is as incomprehensible to speakers of Arabic described.

Relationship with the South Arabian

Before the Islamization beginning of the 7th century the Sabaean was in Himyar as written language used, an Old South Arabian language. It is often assumed that the Sabaean in himjarischen heartland served only as a written language, while there had been when known from Arabic sources Himjarischen to the actual spoken language of the Himyarites. This is suggested by differences between Himjarisch and the South Arabian languages, in particular the himjarische specific article am-/an-, which was not present in the known South Arabian languages. Partly also three difficult -to-understand rhyming lyrics are brought into altsüdarabischer font from the 1st to 3rd century AD, with the Himjarischen in conjunction.

Other scholars hold the Himjarische for a later stage of development of the Sabaean, and assume that the written language of Himyarites essentially corresponded to the spoken language.

Dissemination

According to the description of al- Hamdani ( 893-947 ) the Himjarische is still spoken in the 10th century in some areas in the highlands in western Yemen, while Arabic was spoken on the coast and was spoken in large areas in the highlands with himjarischem Arabic influence. In the following centuries the Himjarische was completely supplanted by Arabic; but today's local dialects of Arabic show well himjarischen substrate influence.

Features

The language is distinguished from the other Semitic languages ​​by the definite article am-/an-, the it but with different dialects of Arabic shared in the west of the Arabian Peninsula. In addition, the endings of the suffix conjugation began in the first person singular and the second person with k, while they start with t- in Arabic. This feature had the Himjarische but also together with the South Arabian, the Äthiosemitischen and the Modern South. Both of these features are also found partially in modern Arabic dialects in Yemen, probably by himjarischen or Old South Arabian substrate influence, the article on the other hand, is found also in other dialects in the Arabian Peninsula and in Central Africa.

Language example

There are a few phrases to get Himjarisch. The following sentence should have been said 654/5 AD in Dhamar northeast of Zafar. Since he has survived only in unvokalisierter Arabic script, the exact pronunciation is unclear; the reconstruction is closely related to the classical Arabic.

In addition, a short song is obtained, which is expected to show but Arabic influences. In addition, quoted Al- Hamdani ( 893-947 ) alleged Old South Arabian inscriptions, but they are probably fake, modeled on the Himjarischen.