Taymanitic

 ( Ancient North Arabian ) 

Taymanitic was the language and script of the oasis of Tayma in northwestern Arabia, dated to the second half of the 6th century BC.

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Classification Taymanitic does not participate in the key innovations of Proto-Arabic, precluding it from being considered a member of the Arabic languages. It shares one key isogloss with Northwest Semitic: the change w > y in word-initial position. Examples include yrḫ for *warḫum 'moon, month' and ydʿ for wadaʿa 'to know'.

(2026). 9781315147062, Routledge. ISBN 9781315147062

It is clear that Taymanitic script expressed a distinct linguistic variety that is not Arabic and not closely related to Hismaic or Safaitic, while it can tentatively be suggested that it was more closely related to Northwest Semitic.

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Phonology

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Consonants

+Consonant phonemes ! rowspan="2" colspan="2"	! rowspan="2" Bilabial ! colspan="3"	Alveolar ! rowspan="2"	Palatal ! rowspan="2"	Velar consonant ! rowspan="2"	Pharyn- geal ! rowspan="2"	Glottal

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Vowels

+ Monophthong phonemes ! rowspan="2"	! colspan="2"Short ! colspan="2"	Long

There were two diphthongs of a vowel and semivowel: and .

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Characteristics Taymanitic exhibits two major features which are innovative:

1. The change w > y in word-initial position: yrḫ for *warḫum 'moon, month' and ydʿ for wadaʿa 'to know'.
2. The mergers * z, * ḏ > * z; * s, * ṯ > * s; and * ṣ, * ṯ̣ > * ṣ (loss of interdentals).

Unlike Arabic, Taymanitic does not exhibit the merger of Proto-Semitic s and ts.

Categories: Ancient North Arabian, Northwest Semitic Languages, Extinct Languages Of Asia

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