Editing Proto-Semitic language (section)

=== Nouns ===
Three cases are reconstructed: nominative (marked by ''*-u''), genitive (marked by ''*-i''), accusative (marked by ''*-a'').<ref>{{cite book|author=Weninger S.|title=The Semitic languages|chapter=Reconstructive Morphology|place=Berlin — Boston|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=2011|pages=165|isbn=978-3-11-018613-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Huehnergard J.|title=The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia|chapter=Afro-Asiatic|place=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2008|pages=235|isbn=978-0-511-39338-9}}</ref>

There were two genders: masculine (marked by a zero morpheme) and feminine (marked by ''*-at''/''*-t'' and ''*-ah''/''-ā'').<ref>{{cite book|author=Moscati S., Spitaler A., Ullendorff E., von Soden W.|title=An Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages| place=Wiesbaden|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz|year=1980|pages=84–85|isbn=}}</ref><ref name="Weninger166">{{cite book|author=Weninger S.|title=The Semitic languages|chapter=Reconstructive Morphology|place=Berlin — Boston|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=2011|pages=166|isbn=978-3-11-018613-0}}</ref> The feminine marker was placed after the root, but before the ending, e.g.: ''*ba‘l-'' ‘lord, master’ > ''*ba‘lat-'' ‘lady, mistress’, ''*bin-'' ‘son’ > ''*bint-'' ‘daughter’.<ref name="Huehnergard2067">{{cite book|author=Huehnergard J.|title=Proto-Semitic Language and Culture|url=https://www.academia.edu/1421136|volume=The American Heritage dictionary of the English Language|year=2011|pages=2067}}</ref> There was also a small group of feminine nouns that had no formal markers: ''*’imm-'' ‘mother’, {{transliteration|mis|*laxir-}} ‘ewe’, ''*’atān-'' ‘she-donkey’, ''*‘ayn-'' ‘eye’, ''*birk-'' ‘knee’<ref>{{cite book|author=Huehnergard J.|title=The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia|chapter=Afro-Asiatic|place=New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2008|pages=234|isbn=978-0-511-39338-9}}</ref>

There were three numbers: singular, plural and [[dual (grammatical number)|dual]].<ref name="Weninger166"/>

There were two ways to mark the plural:<ref>{{cite book|author=Moscati S., Spitaler A., Ullendorff E., von Soden W.|title=An Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages| place=Wiesbaden|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz|year=1980|pages=87–92|isbn=}}</ref>
* affixation
** masculine nouns formed their nominative by means of the marker ''*-ū'', their genitive and accusative by ''*-ī'', i.e., by lengthening the vowel of the singular case suffix;
** feminines also formed their plural by lengthening a vowel — namely, by means of the marker ''*-āt'';
* apophonically (by changing the vocalisation pattern of the word, as seen e.g. in Arabic: ''kātib'' ‘writer’ — ''kuttāb'' ‘writers’) — only in the masculine.

The dual was formed by means of the markers ''*-ā'' in the nominative and ''*-āy'' in the genitive and accusative.<ref>{{cite book|author=Moscati S., Spitaler A., Ullendorff E., von Soden W.|title=An Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages| place=Wiesbaden|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz|year=1980|pages=93|isbn=}}</ref>

The endings of the noun:<ref>{{cite book|author=Moscati S., Spitaler A., Ullendorff E., von Soden W.|title=An Introduction to the Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages| place=Wiesbaden|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz|year=1980|pages=94|isbn=}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
 !
 !Singular
 !Plural
 !Dual
 |-
 !Nominative
 | *-u
 | *-ū
 | *-ā
 |-
 !Genitive
 | *-i
 | *-ī
 | *-āy
 |-
 !Accusative
 | *-a
 | *-ī
 | *-āy
 |}