Editing Samaritan Hebrew

{{Short description|Reading tradition used liturgically by the Samaritans}}
{{distinguish|Samaritan Aramaic}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Samaritan Hebrew
| nativename       = {{Script|Samr|ࠏࠁࠓࠉࠕ}} {{Transliteration|smp|Îbrit}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|he|iːbrit|}}
| region           = [[Israel]] and [[Palestine]], predominantly in [[Nablus]] and [[Holon]]
| extinct          = c. 2nd century
| speakers2        = survives in liturgical use
| ref              = e18
| 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]]
| fam8             = [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]
| fam9             = [[Biblical Hebrew]]
| script           = [[Samaritan script]]
| iso3             = smp
| lingua           = 12-AAB
| glotto           = sama1313
| glottorefname    = Samaritan
| notice           = IPA
}}

'''Samaritan Hebrew''' ({{langx|smp|ࠏࠨࠁࠬࠓࠪࠉࠕ|ʿÎbrit|links=no}}) is a reading tradition used liturgically by the [[Samaritans]] for reading the [[Biblical Hebrew|Ancient Hebrew language]] of the [[Samaritan Pentateuch]].

For the Samaritans, Ancient Hebrew ceased to be a spoken everyday language. It was succeeded by [[Samaritan Aramaic]], which itself ceased to be a spoken language sometime between the 10th and 12th centuries and was succeeded by [[Levantine Arabic]] (specifically, the Samaritan variety of [[Palestinian Arabic]].

The [[phonology]] of Samaritan Hebrew is very similar to that of Samaritan Arabic and is used by the Samaritans in prayer.{{sfn|Ben-Ḥayyim|2000|p=29}} Today, the spoken vernacular among Samaritans is evenly split between [[Modern Hebrew]] and [[Samaritan Arabic]], depending on whether they reside in [[Holon]] or [[Kiryat Luza]]

==History and discovery==
The early history of Samaritan Hebrew is poorly documented, though it cannot be easily associated with early [[Israelian Hebrew]]. Because of the relatively late divergence of [[Samaritanism]] from mainstream [[Judaism]] its only by the first century BCE that there was definitely a separate Samaritan dialect. The roots of the Samaritan dialect are  likely older than this, but were not at this point distinctly Samaritan.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Saenz-Badillos |first=Angel |title=A History of the Hebrew Language |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=147–148 |language=en |translator-last=Elwolde |translator-first=John}}</ref>

The dialect did not survive long in a literary form as by the first century CE, it was already being supplanted by [[Samaritan Aramaic]]. Though it remained in liturgical use, Samaritan Hebrew eventually nearly stopped being used as a language for new literary compositions.

Starting in the 1300s, a liturgical revival of Samaritan Hebrew began, which resulted in new Hebrew ''[[piyyut]]im''.<ref name=":0" />[[File:Samaritan letters and Jerusalem coin, Guillaume Postel 1538, Linguarum duodecim characteribus differentium alphabetum, introductio.png|thumb|In 1538 [[Guillaume Postel]] published the Samaritan alphabet, together with the first Western representation of a coin of the [[First Jewish Revolt]].<ref name=Madden>[[Frederic Madden]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=T2JRAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR16 History of Jewish Coinage and of Money in the Old and New Testament], page ii</ref>]]
[[File:Genesis 5 18 as published by Jean Morin in 1631 in the first publication of the Samaritan Pentateuch.png|thumb|left|Genesis 5:18–22 as published by Jean Morin in 1631 in the first publication of the Samaritan Pentateuch]]
The Samaritan language first became known in detail to the Western world with the publication of a manuscript of the [[Samaritan Pentateuch]] in 1631 by [[Jean Morin (theologian)|Jean Morin]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=IOAtAAAAYAAJ Exercitationes ecclesiasticae in utrumque Samaritanorum Pentateuchum], 1631</ref> In 1616 the traveler [[Pietro Della Valle]] had purchased a copy of the text in [[Damascus]]. This manuscript, now known as Codex B, was deposited in a [[Paris]]ian library.{{sfn|Flôrenṭîn|2005|p=1|ps=: "When the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch was revealed to the Western world early in the 17th century... [footnote: 'In 1632 the Frenchman Jean Morin published the Samaritan Pentateuch in the Parisian Biblia Polyglotta based on a manuscript that the traveler Pietro Della Valle had bought from Damascus sixteen years previously.]"}}

In five volumes between 1957 and 1977, [[Ze'ev Ben-Haim]] published his monumental Hebrew-language work on the Hebrew and Aramaic traditions of the Samaritans. Ben-Haim, whose views prevail today, proved that modern Samaritan Hebrew is not very different from the Hebrew spoken by other local groups in the [[Second Temple period]] before [[Middle Aramaic]] supplanted it.{{sfn|Flôrenṭîn|2005|p=4|ps=: "A completely new approach which prevails today was presented by Ben-Hayyim, whose scientific activity was focused on the languages of the Samaritans—Hebrew and Aramaic. Years before the publication ol his grammar, with its exhaustive description of SH, he indicated several linguistic phenomena common to SH on the one hand, and Mishnaic Hebrew (MH) and the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls (HDSS), on the other. He proved that the language heard today when the Torah is read by the Samaritans in their synagogue is not very different from the Hebrew which once lived and flourished among the Samaritans before, during and after the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. The isoglosses common to SH. MH and HDSS led him to establish that the Hebrew heard in the synagogue by modernday Samaritans is not exclusively theirs, but rather this Hebrew or something resembling it, was also the language of other residents of Eretz Israel before it was supplanted by Aramaic as a spoken language."}}

==Orthography==
{{main|Samaritan alphabet|Samaritan vocalization}}
[[File:Samaritan Pentateuch (detail).jpg|right|thumb|300px|Detail of the Nabul [[Samaritan Pentateuch]] in Samaritan Hebrew]]

Samaritan Hebrew is written in the [[Samaritan alphabet]], a direct descendant of the [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet]], which in turn is a variant of the earlier [[Proto-Sinaitic script]].

The Samaritan alphabet is close to the script that appears on many Ancient Hebrew coins and inscriptions.<ref>{{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Samaritan Language and Literature}}</ref>  By contrast, all other varieties of Hebrew, as written by [[Jews]], employ the later [[Ktav Ashuri|square Hebrew alphabet]], which is in fact a variation of the [[Aramaic alphabet]] that Jews began using in the [[Babylonian captivity]] following the exile of the Kingdom of Judah in the 6th century BCE. During the 3rd century BCE, Jews began to use this stylized "square" form of the script used by the [[Achaemenid Empire]] for [[Imperial Aramaic]], its chancellery script<ref name="A History of the Hebrew Language">{{cite book|year=1993 |title=A History of the Hebrew Language |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, England |isbn=0-521-55634-1}}</ref> while the Samaritans continued to use the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet, which evolved into the Samaritan alphabet.

In modern times, [[Cursive Hebrew#Samaritan Hebrew|a cursive variant]] of the Samaritan alphabet is used in personal affects.

===Letter pronunciation===
'''Consonants'''
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|Name
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Aleph (letter)#Hebrew|A'laf]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Beth (letter)#Hebrew Bet / Vet|Bit]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Gimel (letter)#Hebrew gimel|Ga'man]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Daleth#Hebrew dalet|Da'lat]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[He (letter)#Hebrew He|Iy]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Waw (letter)#Hebrew Waw|Baa]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Zayin#Hebrew zayin|Zen]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Heth (letter)#Hebrew Ḥet|It]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Teth#Hebrew Tet|Ṭit]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Yodh#Hebrew yod|Yut]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Kaph#Hebrew kaf|Kaaf]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Lamedh#Hebrew Lamed|La'bat]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Mem#Hebrew mem|Mim]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Nun (letter)#Hebrew nun|Nun]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Samekh#Hebrew samekh|Sin'gaat]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Ayin#Hebrew ayin|In]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Pe (Semitic letter)#Hebrew pe|Fi]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Tsade#Hebrew Tsadi|Tsaa'diy]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Qoph#Hebrew Qof|Quf]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Resh#In Hebrew|Rish]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Shin (letter)#Hebrew shin/sin|Shan]]}}
|{{Transliteration|he|[[Taw (letter)#Hebrew tav|Taaf]]}}
|-
|Samaritan Letter
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠀ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠁ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠂ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠃ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠄ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠅ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠆ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠇ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠈ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠉ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠊ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠋ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠌ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠍ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠎ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠏ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠐ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠑ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠒ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠓ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠔ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{Script|Samr|ࠕ}}
|-
|Square Hebrew ([[Ktav Ashuri]]) letter
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|א}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ב}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ג}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ד}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ה}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ו}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ז}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ח}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ט}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|י}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|כ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ל}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|מ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|נ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ס}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ע}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|פ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|צ}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ק}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ר}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ש}}
|  style="height:40px; font-size:150%; vertical-align:top;"| {{script|Hebr|ת}}
|-
|Pronunciation
|{{IPAblink|ʔ}}
|{{IPAblink|b}}
|{{IPAblink|ɡ}}
|{{IPAblink|d}}
|{{IPAblink|ʔ}}
|{{IPAblink|b}}, {{IPAblink|w}}
|{{IPAblink|z}}
|{{IPAblink|ʔ}}, {{IPAblink|ʕ}}
|{{IPAblink|tˤ}}
|{{IPAblink|j}}
|{{IPAblink|k}}
|{{IPAblink|l}}
|{{IPAblink|m}}
|{{IPAblink|n}}
|{{IPAblink|s}}
|{{IPAblink|ʔ}}, {{IPAblink|ʕ}}
|{{IPAblink|f}}, {{IPAblink|b}}
|{{IPAblink|sˤ}}
|{{IPAblink|q}}, {{IPAblink|ʔ}}
|{{IPAblink|r}}
|{{IPAblink|ʃ}}
|{{IPAblink|t}}
|}

'''Vowels'''
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|Niqqud with {{Script|Samr|ࠌ}}/מ
|style="font-family: 'david'; font-size:250%" height=40 valign=top| [[Image:Sam voc a.jpg|50px]]
|style="font-family: 'david'; font-size:250%" height=40 valign=top| [[Image:Sam voc e.jpg|50px]]
|style="font-family: 'david'; font-size:250%" height=40 valign=top| [[Image:Sam voc i.jpg|50px]]
|style="font-family: 'david'; font-size:250%" height=40 valign=top| [[Image:Sam voc o.jpg|50px]]
|style="font-family: 'david'; font-size:250%" height=40 valign=top| [[Image:Sam voc dagesh.jpg|50px]]
|style="font-family: 'david'; font-size:250%" height=40 valign=top| [[Image:Sam voc ayinpatah1.jpg|50px]], [[Image:Sam voc ayinpatah2.jpg|50px]], [[Image:Sam voc ayinpatah3.jpg|50px]]
|-
|value
|{{IPA|/a/, /ɒ/}}
|{{IPA|/e/}}
|{{IPA|/e/, /i/}}
|{{IPA|/o/, /u/}}
|([[geminate]] consonant)
|{{IPA|/ʕa/}}
|}

==Phonology==
[[File:Mezuzah IMG 2124.JPG|thumb|Samaritan Mezuzah, Mount Gerizim]]

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+ Samaritan Hebrew consonants{{sfn|Ben-Ḥayyim|2000|pp=31,37}}
|-
!rowspan=2 colspan=2|
!rowspan=2| [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
!colspan=2| [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
!rowspan=2| [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
!colspan=2| [[Velar consonant|Velar]]~[[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
!rowspan=2| [[Pharyngeal consonant|Pharyn-<br>geal]]
!rowspan=2| [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! <small>plain</small>
! <small>[[Emphatic consonant|emp.]]</small>
! <small>plain</small>
! <small>[[Emphatic consonant|emp.]]</small>
|-
!colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| || || || || ||
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
! <small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
|
| {{IPA link|t}}
| {{IPA link|tˤ}}
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
| {{IPA link|q}}
|
| {{IPA link|ʔ}}
|-
! <small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
| ||
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
| || ||
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! <small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
| {{IPA link|sˤ}}
| {{IPA link|ʃ}}
| || || ||
|-
! <small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|
| {{IPA link|z}}
| || || ||
| {{IPA link|ʕ}}
|
|-
!colspan=2| [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
| {{IPA link|w}}
| || ||
|-
!colspan=2| [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
| || || || || ||
|}
Samaritan Hebrew shows the following consonantal differences from Biblical Hebrew: The original phonemes {{IPA|*/b ɡ d k p t/}} do not have spirantized allophones, though at least some did originally in Samaritan Hebrew (evidenced in the preposition "in" ב- {{IPA|/av/}} or {{IPA|/b/}}). {{IPA|*/p/}} has shifted to {{IPA|/f/}} (except occasionally {{IPA|*/pː/}} > {{IPA|/bː/}}). {{IPA|*/w/}} has shifted to {{IPA|/b/}} everywhere except in the conjunction ו- 'and' where it is pronounced as {{IPA|/w/}}. {{IPA|*/ɬ/}} has merged with {{IPA|/ʃ/}}, unlike in all other contemporary Hebrew traditions in which it is pronounced {{IPA|/s/}}. The laryngeals {{IPA|/ʔ ħ h ʕ/}} have become {{IPA|/ʔ/}} or null everywhere, except before {{IPA|/a ɒ/}} where {{IPA|*/ħ ʕ/}} sometimes become {{IPA|/ʕ/}}. {{IPA|/q/}} is sometimes pronounced as {{IPA|[ʔ]}}, though not in Pentateuch reading, as a result of influence from Samaritan Arabic.<ref name="bhq">{{harvnb|Ben-Ḥayyim|2000|pp=34–35}}</ref> {{IPA|/q/}} may also be pronounced as {{IPA|[χ]}}, but this occurs only rarely and in fluent reading.<ref name="bhq" />

===Vowels===
{|class="wikitable"
|+Samaritan vowels{{sfn|Ben-Ḥayyim|2000|pp=43–44, 48}}
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| align=center | [[Close front unrounded vowel|i iː]]
| align=center | [[Close back rounded vowel|u uː]]
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| align=center | [[Close-mid front unrounded vowel|e eː]]
| align=center | ([[Close-mid back rounded vowel|o]])
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| align=center | [[Open front unrounded vowel|a aː]]
| align=center | [[Open back rounded vowel|ɒ ɒː]]
|-
! Reduced
| colspan=2 align=center | ([[Mid central vowel|ə]])
|}

Phonemic length is contrastive, e.g. {{IPA|/rɒb/}} רב 'great' vs. {{IPA|/rɒːb/}} רחב 'wide'.<ref name="bh47-48">{{harvnb|Ben-Ḥayyim|2000|pp=47–48}} (while Ben-Hayyim notates four degrees of vowel length, he concedes that only his "fourth degree" has phonemic value)</ref> Long vowels are usually the result of the elision of guttural consonants.<ref name="bh47-48" />

{{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/e/}} are both realized as {{IPA|[ə]}} in closed post-tonic syllables, e.g. {{IPA|/bit/}} בית 'house' {{IPA|/abbət/}} הבית 'the house' {{IPA|/ɡer/}} גר {{IPA|/aɡɡər/}} הגר.<ref name="bh49">{{harvnb|Ben-Ḥayyim|2000|p=49}}</ref> In other cases, stressed {{IPA|/i/}} shifts to {{IPA|/e/}} when that syllable is no longer stressed, e.g. {{IPA|/dabbirti/}} דברתי but דברתמה {{IPA|/dabbertimma/}}.<ref name="bh49" /> {{IPA|/u/}} and {{IPA|/o/}} only contrast in open post-tonic syllables, e.g. ידו {{IPA|/jedu/}} 'his hand' ידיו {{IPA|/jedo/}} 'his hands', where {{IPA|/o/}} stems from a contracted diphthong.<ref name="bhou">{{harvnb|Ben-Ḥayyim|2000|pp=44, 48–49}}</ref> In other environments, {{IPA|/o/}} appears in closed syllables and {{IPA|/u/}} in open syllables, e.g. דור {{IPA|/dor/}} דורות {{IPA|/durot/}}.<ref name="bhou" />

===Stress===
[[File:SamaritanTorahScroll.jpg|thumb|Samaritan Torah Scroll]]
Stress generally differs from other traditions, being found usually on the penultimate and sometimes on the ultimate.

==Grammar==
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2024}}

===Pronouns===

====Personal====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2" | 
! singular
! plural
|-
! colspan="2" | 1st person
| {{Script|Samr|ࠀࠍࠊࠉ}} ''ā̊nā̊ki''
| {{Script|Samr|ࠀࠍࠇࠍࠅ}} ''ā̊nā̊nnu''
|-
! rowspan="2" | 2nd person
! male
| {{Script|Samr|ࠀࠕࠄ}} ''åttå''
| {{Script|Samr|ࠀࠕࠌ}} ''attimma''
|-
! female
| {{Script|Samr|ࠀࠕ(ࠉ)}} ''åtti'' (note the final ''[[yodh]]'')
| {{Script|Samr|ࠀࠕࠍ}} ''attən''
|-
! rowspan="2" | 3rd person
! male
| {{Script|Samr|ࠄࠅࠀ}} ''ū''
| {{Script|Samr|ࠄࠌ}} ''imma''
|-
! female
| {{Script|Samr|ࠄࠉࠀ}} ''ī''
| {{Script|Samr|ࠄࠍࠄ}} ''inna''
|}

====Demonstrative====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2" | 
! this
! that
|-
! rowspan="2" | singular
! masc
| {{Script|Samr|ࠆࠄ}} ''zē''
| rowspan="3" | alaz (written with a ''he'' at the beginning).{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}
|-
! fem
| {{Script|Samr|ࠆࠀࠕ}} ''zē'ot''
|-
! colspan="2" | plural
| {{Script|Samr|ࠀࠋࠄ}} ''illa''
|}

====Relative====

Who, which: éšar.

====Interrogative====
* Who? = {{Script|Samr|ࠌࠉ}} ''mī''.
* What? = {{Script|Samr|ࠌࠄ}} ''mā̊''.

===Noun===
When suffixes are added, ē and ō in an unstressed syllable may become ī and ū: bōr (Judean ''bohr'') "pit" > buˈrōt "pits". Note also af "anger" > ˈeppa "her anger".

[[Segolate]]s behave more or less as in other Hebrew varieties: ˈbeṭen "stomach" > ˈbaṭnek "your stomach," ke′seph "silver" > ke′sefánu (Judean Hebrew ''kasˈpenu'') "our silver," ˈderek > dirkaˈkimma "your (m. pl.) road" but ˈareṣ (in Judean Hebrew: ''ˈʾereṣ'') "earth" > ˈarṣak (Judean Hebrew ''ˈʾárṣeḵa'') "your earth".

====Article====

The [[definite article]] is a- or e-, and causes [[gemination]] of the following consonant unless it is a [[guttural]]; it is written with a ''he'', but as usual, the ''h'' is silent. Thus, for example: ˈennar / ˈannar = "the youth"; elˈlēm = "the meat"; aˈʾemor = "the donkey".

====Number====

Regular plural suffixes are
* masc: -ˈēm (Judean Hebrew -im)
** eyyaˈmēm "the days"
* fem: -ˈt (Judean Hebrew: -oth.)
** elaˈmōt "dreams"

Dual is sometimes -aˈyem (Judean Hebrew: -ˈayim), šenatayem "two years," usually -ˈēm like the plural yeˈdēm "hands" (Judean ''yaˈḏayim''.)

===Tradition of the Divine Name===
{{see also|Names of God in Judaism}}
Similar to Jews, Samaritans have the tradition of taboo avoidance of the [[Tetragrammaton]], either spelling out loud with the Samaritan letters: "Yoḏ Ye Bā Ye", or saying ''Shema'' "the Name" in Aramaic, similar to Judean [[names of God in Judaism|HaShem]].

===Verbs===
{| class="wikitable"
|+ [[Affix]]es
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" | 
! colspan="2" | perfect
! colspan="2" | imperfect
|-
! singular || plural
! singular || plural
|-
! colspan="2" | 1st person
| -ti
| -nu
| e-
| ne-
|-
! rowspan="2" | 2nd person
! male
| -ta
| -tímma
| ti-
| te- -un
|-
! female
| -ti
| -tên
| ti- -i
| te- -na
|-
! rowspan="2" | 3nd person
! male
| -
| -u
| yi-
| yi- -u
|-
! female
| -a
| ?
| ti-
| ti- -inna
|}

===Particles===

====Prepositions====

"in, using", pronounced:
* b- before a vowel (or, therefore, a former guttural): b-érbi = "with a sword"; b-íštu "with his wife".
* ba- before a [[bilabial consonant]]: bá-bêt (Judean Hebrew: ba-ba′yith) "in a house", ba-mádbar "in a wilderness"
* ev- before other consonant: ev-lila "in a night", ev-dévar "with the thing".
* ba-/be- before the [[definite article]] ("the"): barrášet (Judean Hebrew: Bere'·shith') "in the beginning"; béyyôm "in the day".

"as, like", pronounced:
* ka without the article: ka-demútu "in his likeness"
* ke with the article: ké-yyôm "like the day".

"to" pronounced:
* l- before a vowel: l-ávi "to my father", l-évad "to the slave"
* el-, al- before a consonant: al-béni "to the children (of)"
* le- before l: le-léket "to go"
* l- before the article: lammúad "at the appointed time"; la-şé'on "to the flock"

"and" pronounced:
* w- before consonants: wal-Šárra "and to Sarah"
* u- before vowels: u-yeššeg "and he caught up".

Other prepositions:
* al: towards
* elfáni: before
* bêd-u: for him
* elqérôt: against
* balêd-i: except me

====Conjunctions====

* u: or
* em: if, when
* avel: but

====Adverbs====

* la: not
* kâ: also
* afu: also
* ín-ak: you are not
* ífa (ípa): where?
* méti: when
* fâ: here
* šémma: there
* mittét: under

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*J. Rosenberg, ''Lehrbuch der samaritanischen Sprache und Literatur'', A. Hartleben's Verlag: Wien, Pest, Leipzig.
*{{cite book|last=Ben-Ḥayyim|first=Ze'ev|author-link=Ze'ev Ben-Haim|title = A Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew|year = 2000|publisher = [[The Hebrew University Magnes Press]]|location= Jerusalem|isbn=1-57506-047-7}}
*{{cite book|title=Late Samaritan Hebrew: A Linguistic Analysis Of Its Different Types|first=Moše|last=Flôrenṭîn|publisher=BRILL|year=2005|isbn=9789004138414|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1dNk_b1uDzUC}}

==External links==
* {{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Samaritan Language and Literature |short=x}}
* {{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Samaritan Language and Literature |short=x}}

{{Hebrew language}}
{{Samaritans|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Hebrew language|Hebrew]]
[[Category:Canaanite languages]]
[[Category:Language and mysticism]]
[[Category:Samaritan culture and history]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 2nd century]]
[[Category:Central Semitic languages]]
[[Category:Northwest Semitic languages]]