Editing Sabaic (section)

{{Short description|Sayhadic language spoken in Yemen}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Sabaic
| states           = [[Yemen]]
| region           = [[Arabian Peninsula]]
| extinct          = 6th century
| familycolor      = Afro-Asiatic
| fam2             = [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]
| fam3             = [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]]
| fam4             = [[South Semitic languages|South Semitic]]?
| fam5             = [[South Semitic languages|Western]]
| fam6             = [[Old South Arabian|Sayhadic]]
| script           = [[Ancient South Arabian script|Ancient South Arabian]]
| iso3             = xsa
| glotto           = saba1279
| glottorefname    = Sabaic
| linglist         = xsa
| map              = 
| mapcaption       = 
| era              = 1200 BC - 6th century
| ethnicity        = [[Sabaeans]]
| imagecaption     = Votive stele with Sabaic inscription addressed to the main Sabaean deity [[Almaqah]], mentioning five other South Arabian gods, two reigning sovereigns and two governors: "Ammī'amar son of Ma'dīkarib dedicated to Almaqah Ra'suhumū. With 'Athtar, with Almaqah, with dhāt-Ḥimyam, with dhât-Ba'dân, with Waddum, with Karib'īl, with Sumhu'alī, with 'Ammīrayam and with Yadhrahmalik." Alabaster, c. 700 BC, Yemen, area of Ma'rib (?).
| image            = Panel Almaqah Louvre DAO18.jpg
| altname          = Sabaean
}}

'''Sabaic''', sometimes referred to as '''Sabaean''', was a [[Old South Arabian|Sayhadic]] language that was spoken between c. 1000 BC and the 6th century AD by the [[Sabaeans]]. It was used as a written language by some other peoples of the ancient civilization of [[South Arabia]], including the [[Himyarites|Ḥimyarites]], Ḥashidites, Ṣirwāḥites, Humlanites, Ghaymānites, and Radmānites.<ref>{{cite book |first=Andrey |last=Korotayev |author-link=Andrey Korotayev |title=Ancient Yemen |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1995 |url=https://www.academia.edu/32711023 |isbn= 0-19-922237-1}}</ref> Sabaic belongs to the South Arabian [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] branch of the [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]] language family.{{sfn|Kogan|Korotayev|1997}} Sabaic is distinguished from the other members of the [[Old South Arabian|Sayhadic]] group by its use of ''h'' to mark the [[grammatical person|third person]] and as a [[causative]] prefix; all of the other languages use ''s<sub>1</sub>'' in those cases. Therefore, Sabaic is called an ''h''-language and the others ''s''-languages.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite book |last1=Nebes |first1=Norbert |last2=Stein |first2=Peter |chapter=Ancient South Arabian |editor-first=Roger D. |editor-last=Woodard |title=The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |date=2008 |isbn=9780511486890 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511486890 |pages=145–178 |url=http://e-learning.tsu.ge/pluginfile.php/5868/mod_resource/content/0/dzveli_armosavluri_enebi_-ugarituli_punikuri_arameuli_ebrauli_arabuli.pdf}}</ref> Numerous other Sabaic inscriptions have also been found dating back to the [[Sabean colonization of Africa]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=22gaTnnU-F0C&dq=sabean+yeha&pg=PA88 |title=The Athenaeum |date=1894 |publisher=J. Lection |pages=88 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Radner |first1=Karen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TPGxEAAAQBAJ&dq=sabean+yeha&pg=PA352 |title=The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East: Volume V: the Age of Persia |last2=Moeller |first2=Nadine |last3=Potts |first3=Daniel T. |date=2023-04-07 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-068766-3 |pages=353 |language=en}}</ref>

Sabaic is very similar to [[Arabic]] and the languages may have been mutually intelligible.<ref>Robin, C. J. (2010). [https://www.academia.edu/37659418/_Langues_et_%C3%A9critures_dans_Routes_dArabie_Arch%C3%A9ologie_et_histoire_du_royaume_dArabie_s%C3%A9oudite_sous_la_direction_de_Ali_Ibrahim_Al_Ghabban_B%C3%A9atrice_Andr%C3%A9_Salvini_Fran%C3%A7oise_Demange_Carine_Juvin_et_Marianne_Cotty_Paris_Louvre_%C3%A9ditions_et_Somogy_%C3%A9ditions_dart_2010_pp_118_131 Langues et écritures]. In A. Al‐Ghabban (Ed.), Routes d’Arabie. Editions du musée du Louvre. Pp. 123–124.</ref>