Editing Proto-Semitic language (section)

=== Numerals ===
Reconstruction of the cardinal numerals from one to ten (masculine):<ref>{{cite book|author=Weninger S.|title=The Semitic languages|chapter=Reconstructive Morphology|place=Berlin — Boston|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=2011|pages=167|isbn=978-3-11-018613-0}}</ref><ref name="Lipiński282">{{cite book|author=Lipiński E.|title=Semitic languages:Outline of a Comparative Grammar|place=Leuven|publisher=Peeters|year=1997|pages=282|isbn=90-6831-939-6}}</ref><ref name="Huehnergard241">{{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=241|isbn=978-0-511-39338-9}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
!rowspan="2"|
!colspan="4"|Languages
!colspan="3"|Reconstruction
|-
! Akkadian
! Ugaritic
! Arabic
! Sabean
! Weninger
! Lipiński
! Huehnergard
|-
! One
| ištēnum
| ʔaḥd
| wāḥid
| ’ḥd
| *’aḥad-
| *ḥad-, *‘išt-
| *ʔaħad-
|-
! Two
| šena/šina
| ṯn
| iṯnān
| ṯny
| *ṯinān
| *ṯin-, *kil’-
| *θin̩-/*θn̩-
|-
! Three
| šalāšum
| ṯlṯ
| ṯalāṯ
| s<sub>2</sub>lṯ
| *śalāṯ-
| *ślaṯ-
| *θalaːθ-
|-
! Four
| erbûm
| ʔarbʻ
| ’arbaʻ
| ’rbʻ
| *’arbaʻ-
| *rbaʻ-
| *ʔarbaʕ-
|-
! Five
| ḫamšum
| ḫmš
| ḫams
| ḫms<sub>1</sub>
| *ḫamš-
| *ḫamš-
| *xamis-
|-
! Six
| ši/eššum
| ṯṯ
| sitt
| s<sub>1</sub>dṯ/s<sub>1</sub>ṯ-
| *šidṯ-
| *šidṯ-
| *sidθ-
|-
! Seven
| sebûm
| šbʻ
| sabʻ
| s<sub>1</sub>bʻ
| *šabʻ-
| *šabʻ-
| *sabʕ-
|-
! Eight
| samānûm
| ṯmn
| ṯamānī
| ṯmny/ṯmn
| *ṯamāniy-
| *ṯmān-
| *θamaːniy-
|-
! Nine
| tišûm
| tšʻ
| tisʻ
| ts<sub>1</sub>ʻ
| *tišʻ-
| *tišʻ-
| *tisʕ-
|-
! Ten
| ešrum
| ʻšr
| ʻašr
| ʻs<sub>2</sub>r
| *ʻaśr-
| *ʻaśr-
| *ʕaɬr-
|-
|}

All nouns from one to ten were declined as singular nouns with the exception of the numeral ‘two’, which was declined as a dual. Feminine forms of all numbers from one to ten were produced by the suffix ''*-at''. In addition, if the name of the object counted was of the feminine gender, the numbers from 3 to 10 were in the masculine form and vice versa.<ref name="Huehnergard240">{{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=240|isbn=978-0-511-39338-9}}</ref>

The names of the numerals from 11 to 19 were formed by combining the names of the unit digits with the word ‘ten’. 'Twenty’ was expressed by the dual form of ‘ten’, and the names of the ten digits from 30 to 90 were plural forms of the corresponding unit digits. Proto-Semitic also had designations for hundred (''*mi’t-''), thousand (''*li’m-'') and ten thousand (''*ribb-'').<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=117–118}}</ref><ref name="Lipiński282"/>

Ordinal numerals cannot be reconstructed for the protolanguage because of the great diversity in the descendant languages.<ref name="Huehnergard241"/>