Editing Moabite language

{{Short description|Ancient Semitic language of Moab (Jordan)}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Moabite
| region = Formerly spoken in northwestern [[Jordan]]
| era = early half of 1st millennium BC
| ref = linglist
| familycolor = Afro-Asiatic
| fam2 = [[Semitic languages|Semitic]]
| fam3 = [[West Semitic languages|West]]
| fam4 = [[Central Semitic languages|Central]]
| fam5 = [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest]]
| fam6 = [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]]
| fam7 = [[Canaanite languages#South Canaan|South]]
| script = [[Phoenician alphabet]]
| iso3 = obm
| linglist = obm
| glotto = moab1234
| glottorefname = Moabite
}}
The '''Moabite language''', also known as the '''Moabite dialect''', is an extinct sub-language or dialect of the [[Canaanite languages]], themselves a branch of [[Northwest Semitic languages]], formerly spoken in the region described in the Bible as [[Moab]] (modern day central-western [[Jordan]]) in the early 1st millennium BC. 

The body of Canaanite epigraphy found in the region is described as Moabite; this is a [[Ancient text corpora|very small corpus]] limited primarily to the [[Mesha Stele]] and a few seals.<ref name="Young 2011">{{cite book | last=Young | first=I. | title=Diversity in Pre-Exilic Hebrew|publisher=Eisenbrauns | series=Forschungen zum Alten Testament | year=2011 | isbn=978-3-16-151676-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T2WgeomUlVkC | access-date=2023-06-03|page=33|quote=The major problem with the study of the Moabite language is the lack of material upon which to base a study. We are fortunate to have a major inscription in the Mesha Stone . This is a basalt stele found in Diban, Transjordan, dating from sometime after 850 BC, set up by Mesha, king of Moab, to celebrate his victory over Israel. Apart from this text, however, we have only two other fragmentary ninth century inscriptions, with various seals to represent later Moabite. The better preserved of these two inscriptions seems to be a fragment of another inscription by Mesha… the second preserves only a few letters which can be made into a couple of conjectured words…. our knowledge of the grammar and other linguistic features of Moabite is dependent almost completely on one inscription alone.}}</ref>

Moabite, together with the similarly poorly-attested [[Ammonite language|Ammonite]] and [[Edomite language|Edomite]], belonged to the [[dialect continuum]] of the [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite group]] of [[northwest Semitic languages]], together with [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]].<ref>Simon B.Parker, 'Moabite, Ammonite and Edomite' in John Kaltner, Steven L. McKenzie (eds.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=HESFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 ''Beyond Babel: A Handbook for Biblical Hebrew and Related Languages,''] SBL Press, 2019 {{isbn|978-0-884-14384-0}} pp. 43–59 [46ff].</ref>

==History==
An altar inscription written in Moabite and dated to 800 BC was revealed in an excavation in [[Khirbat Ataruz]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.livescience.com/alter-tells-story-of-biblical-war.html |title=Biblical War Revealed on 2,800-Year-Old Stone Altar: The altar reveals new details about a rebellion against the Kingdom of Israel |author=Owen Jarus |date=2019-08-22 |access-date=2019-08-24 |language=en }}</ref> It was written using a variant of the [[Phoenician alphabet]].<ref name="ISBE">{{cite book|first=Geoffrey W. |last=Bromiley|work=The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia|publisher= Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|year= 2007|page= 395 |title=Moab |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zkla5Gl_66oC&pg=PA395|isbn=9780802837851}}</ref> Most knowledge about Moabite comes from the [[Mesha Stele]],<ref name="ISBE" /> which is the only known extensive text in the language. In addition, there is the three-line [[El-Kerak Inscription]] and a few seals. The inscription on Mesha Stele is also referred to as “Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften” ([[Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften|KAI]]), which is German for “Canaanite and Aramaic Inscriptions.” It is to be read from right to left.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Compston |first=H.F.B. |date=1919 |title=The Inscription on the Stele of Mesha |url= |journal=MacMillan}}</ref>

The following table presents the first four lines of the inscription of Mesha Stele including its transliteration and English translation by Alviero Niccacci.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Niccacci |first=Alviero |date=1994 |title=The Stele of Mesha and the Bible: Verbal System and Narrativity |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43076168 |journal=Orientalia |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=226–248 |jstor=43076168 |issn=0030-5367}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Citation |last=Compston |first=Herbert Fuller Bright |title=The Moabite Text in Phœnician Script |date=1919 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Inscription_on_the_Stele_of_M%C3%A9%C5%A1a%CA%BF/The_Moabite_Text_in_Ph%C5%93nician_Script |work=The Inscription on the Stele of Méšaʿ |place=London |publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge |access-date=2022-10-24}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Line Number
!Line Inscription
!Transliteration
!Translation
|-
|1
|𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤌𐤔𐤏 𐤟 𐤁𐤍 𐤟 𐤊𐤌𐤔 ? ? 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤟 𐤄𐤃
|''ʾnk.mšʿ.bn.kmš(...).mlk.mʾb.hd-''
|I am Mesha, son of Kemosh(x), king of Moab, the Di-
|-
|2
|<nowiki>𐤉𐤁𐤍𐤉 | 𐤀𐤁𐤉 𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤟 𐤏𐤋 𐤟 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤟 𐤔𐤋𐤔𐤍 𐤟 𐤔𐤕 𐤟 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊</nowiki>
|''-ybny.ʾby.mlk.ʿl.mʾb.šlšn.št.wʾnk.mlk-''
|<nowiki>-</nowiki>bonite. My father ruled over Moab for thirty years, and I rul-
|-
|3
|<nowiki>[𐤕𐤉 𐤟 𐤀𐤇𐤓 𐤟 𐤀𐤁𐤉 | 𐤅𐤀𐤏𐤔 𐤟 𐤄𐤁𐤌𐤕 𐤟 𐤆𐤀𐤕 𐤟 𐤋𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤟 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 | 𐤁[𐤌𐤎 𐤟 𐤉</nowiki>
|''-ty.ʾhr.ʾb / wʾ.ʿś.hbmt.zʾt.lkmš.bqrḥh / bm(tʾ.y-)''
|<nowiki>-</nowiki>ed after my father. I made this high place for Kemosh in Qerihoh. [A] high pl(ace of salv-)
|-
|4
|...𐤔𐤏 𐤟 𐤊𐤉 𐤟 𐤄𐤔𐤏𐤍𐤉 𐤟 𐤌𐤊𐤋 𐤟 𐤄𐤔𐤋𐤊𐤍
|''-šʿ.ky.hšʿny.mkl.hšʿlkn...''
|<nowiki>-</nowiki>ation because he saved me from all predators...
|}

== Grammar ==
The main features distinguishing Moabite from fellow Canaanite languages such as [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] are: a plural in ''-în'' rather than ''-îm'' (e.g. ''mlkn'' "kings" for [[Biblical Hebrew]] ''məlākîm''), like [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] (also Northwest Semitic) and [[Arabic]] (Central Semitic); retention of the feminine ending ''-at'' or "-ah", which Biblical Hebrew reduces to ''-āh'' only (e.g. ''qiryat'' or ''qiryah'', "town", Biblical Hebrew ''qiryāh'') but retains in the construct state nominal form (e.g. ''qiryát yisrael'' "town of Israel"); and retention of a verb form with infixed ''-t-'', also found in Arabic and [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] (''w-’ltḥm'' "I began to fight", from the root ''lḥm''). Vowel values and diphthongs, which had potential to vary wildly between Semitic languages, were also largely typical of other Semitic tongues: there is inconsistent evidence to suggest that ''ā'' shifted to ''ō'' much like in Hebrew and later Phoenician, at the same time, there is evidence to suggest that the diphthongs /aw/ and /ay/ eventually contracted to ''ō'' and ''ē'', another characteristic shared by Hebrew and later Phoenician.<ref name=":0">{{cite book | author = W. Randall Garr | date = 2004 | title = Dialect Geography of Syria-Palestine, 1000–586 B.C.E. | publisher = Eisenbrauns | pages = 31–39| isbn = 978-1-57506-091-0 | oclc = 1025228731 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=02DaEkaJizMC}}</ref> Moabite differed only dialectally from Hebrew, and Moabite religion and culture was related to that of the [[Israelites]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Moabite {{!}} people |language=en |work=Encyclopedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Moabite |access-date=2018-04-13}}</ref>  On the other hand, although Moabite itself had begun to diverge, the script used in the 9th century BC did not differ from the script used in Hebrew inscriptions at that time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sök på Google |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0805446796 |access-date=2018-04-13 |language=sv-US}}</ref>

=== Arrows ===
In numbered examples, non-Roman script representations are signaled by arrows, namely ⟶ or ⟵, to indicate the text's direction of writing as it is presented in the volume. As for Ugaritic, Hebrew (epigraphic and Tiberian), Phoenician, and Moabite, the arrow will typically point in the same direction as the original writing.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crellin |first=Robert S. D. |title=The Semantics of Word Division in Northwest Semitic Writing Systems |publisher=Oxbow Books  |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-78925-678-9 |location=United Kingdom |page=53 |language=English}}</ref>

=== Numerals ===
The absolute numeral precedes singular (collective) nouns, for instance “thirty years” is expressed as “šlšn.št” in line 2 of [[Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften|KAI]]; it has been transliterated as well as translated by Alvierra Niccani. Others are followed by a plural noun. Numeral phrases can stand in apposition with a noun (phrase) coming before or after. This is seen in KAI's line 17: “ymh.wḥṣy.ymy.bnh.’rb’nšt,” meaning, “his days and half the days of his son, for forty years.”<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Francis I. |date=1966 |title=Moabite Syntax |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43073932 |journal=Orentalia |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=81–120 |jstor=43073932 }}</ref>

== Controversy ==

=== Sentence boundaries ===
In the inscriptions on the [[Mesha Stele]] a vertical stroke, /, appears 37 times. However, its function is the subject of disagreement among researchers. Van Zyl claims that the strokes are used to divide clauses.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Van Zyl |first=A.H. |title=The Moabites |publisher= |year=1960 |location=Leiden |pages=185}}</ref> Similarly, Segert explains that they can be seen as tools for the punctuation of sentences.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Segert |first=Stanislav |date=1961 |title=Die Sprache der moabitischen Königsinschrift |journal=Archiv Orientální |page=235}}</ref> A. Poebel offers a different explanation and states that vertical strokes are used to separate sentences forming a mentally cohesive group.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Poebel |first=Arno |title=Das appositionell bestimmte Pronomen der 1. Pers. Sing. in den westsemitischen Inschriften und im Alten Testament |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1932 |page=9}}</ref> According to Andersen the only two parallels that can be found in accordance with the stroke are in the [[Gezer calendar|Gezer Calendar]]. Rather, he suggest that a dot fulfills the function as a word divider based on its occurrence in a variety of Old Aramaic inscriptions, the [[Siloam inscription|Siloam Inscription]] and other texts of the early Hebrew.<ref name=":12"/>

=== Classification as Canaanite dialects ===
The geography of the dialects of the [[Levant]] has been revised the past few years. Dialects of Canaanite, including Moabite, show differences from one another.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Rainey |first=Anson F. |date=2007 |title=Whence Came the Israelites and Their Language? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27927155 |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=41–64 |jstor=27927155 |issn=0021-2059}}</ref>

==== Isogloss ====
A lexical isogloss exists between the Northwest Semitic languages Aramaic, Hebrew and Moabite. For example, the verb 'to be', from the root(s) *HWY/HYY. The coastal languages, Phoenician and Ugaritic, both used the root *KWN, and that seems to be the case in the mother tongue of the Amarna scribes from Canaan as well; and it is also standard in Arabic.<ref name=":4" />

==== Syntactic features ====
A syntactic feature that Aramaic, Hebrew and Moabite share is the [[Syntagma (linguistics)|syntagma]] of the narrative preterit. Supported by three inscriptions, prefix preterite narrative sequences are found in Moabite as well as Old Southern Aramaic and Hebrew. First, it was discerned in the Old Aramaic inscription of [[Stele of Zakkur|Zakkur]] by king of Hamath and proclaimed to be of Canaanite influence on an Aramaic text.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Millard |first=A.R. |title=The Inscription of Zakkur, King of Hamath |publisher=The Context of Scripture |year=2000 |edition=2nd |location=Leiden; Boston; Cologne}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rainey |first=Anson F. |title=The Sacred Bridge |publisher=Carta's Atlas of the Biblical World |year=2006 |location=Jerusalem |pages=220–221}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Segert |first=S. |title=Aramäische Grammatik |year=1975 |location=Leipzig}}</ref> Second, it occurred in the [[Deir Alla Inscription]]. Finally the prefix preterite, appeared in the [[Tel Dan stele]] with and without the sequential conjunction. This feature is absent in Phoenician, a language that is certain to be Canaanite, which suggests that the classification of Moabite as a Canaanite dialect does not apply.<ref name=":4" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Moabite language| ]]
[[Category:Canaanite languages]]
[[Category:Languages attested from the 1st millennium BC]]
[[Category:1st-millennium BC establishments]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 1st millennium BC]]
[[Category:1st-millennium BC disestablishments]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]