The
rootsThe root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
of verbs and most nouns in the
Semitic languagesThe Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
are characterized as a sequence of consonants or "radicals" (hence also the term
consonantal root). Such abstract consonantal roots are used in the formation of actual words by adding the vowels and non-root consonants (or "
transfixIn linguistic morphology, a transfix is a discontinuous affix, which occurs at more than one position in a word. The prototypical example comes from the Semitic languages, where nearly all word derivation and inflection involves the interdigitation of a discontinuous root with a discontinuous affix...
es") which go with a particular morphological category around the root consonants, in an appropriate way, generally following specific patterns. It is a peculiarity of Semitic linguistics that a large majority of these consonantal roots are
triliterals (although there are a number of
quadriliterals, and in some languages also
biliterals).
Triconsonantal roots
A
triliteral or
triconsonantal root is a root containing a sequence of three consonants.
The following are some of the forms which can be derived from the triconsonantal root
k-t-bK-T-B is a triconsonantal root of a number of Semitic words, typically those having to do with writing.The words for office, writer, and record all reflect this root. Most notably, the Arabic word kitab is also used in a number of Semitic and Indo-Iranian languages, as well as Turkish...
(general overall meaning "to write") in Hebrew and Arabic:
| Semitological abbreviation | Hebrew name | Arabic name | Morphological category | Hebrew Form | Arabic form | Approximate translation |
| G verb stem |
Pa'al (or Qal) |
fa‘ala
(Stem I) |
3rd. masc. sing perfect |
katabh |
kataba |
"he wrote" |
| 1st. plur. perfect |
katabhnu |
katabnā |
"we wrote" |
| 3rd. masc. sing. imperfect |
yikhtobh |
yaktubu |
"he writes, will write" |
| 1st. plur. imperfect |
nikhtobh |
naktubu |
"we write, will write" |
| masc. sing. active participle |
kotebh |
kātib |
"writer" |
| Š verb stem |
Hiph‘il |
af‘ala
(Stem IV) |
3rd. masc. sing perfect |
hikhtibh |
aktaba |
"he dictated" |
| 3rd. masc. sing. imperfect |
yakhtibh |
yuktibu |
"he dictates, will dictate" |
| Št(D) verb stem |
Hitpa‘‘el |
istaf‘ala
(Stem X) |
3rd. masc. sing perfect |
hitkattebh |
istaktaba |
"he corresponded" (Hebrew), "he asked (someone) to write (something), had a copy made" (Arabic) |
| 3rd. masc. sing. imperfect |
yitkattebh |
yastaktibu |
(imperfect of above) |
| Noun with m- prefix and original short vowels: |
maf‘al
|
singular |
mikhtabh |
maktab |
"letter" (Hebrew), "office" (Arabic) |
- Note: The Hebrew fricatives transcribed as "kh" and "bh" above are single phonetic sounds, which can also be transcribed in a number of other ways, such as "ch" and "v" (Eastern-European influenced) or x and [v]. They are transliterated "kh" and "bh" on this page to retain the connection with the pure consonantal root k-t-b.
In Hebrew grammatical terminology, the word
binyan (Hebrew , plural
binyanim) is used to refer to a verb stem or overall verb derivation pattern, while the word
mishqal (or
mishkal) is used to refer to a noun derivation pattern, and these words have gained some use in English-language linguistic terminology. The Arabic terms, called
wazn (plural ,
awzān) for the pattern and
(plural ,
) for the root have not gained the same currency as the Hebrew equivalents, and Western grammarians continue to use "stem"/"form"/"pattern" for the former and "root" for the latter—though "form" and "pattern" are accurate translations of the Arabic grammatical term
wazn (originally meaning 'weight, measure'), and "root" is a literal translation of
jidhr.
Biliteral origin of some triliteral roots
Although most roots in Hebrew seem to be tri-radical, many of them were originally bi-radical, cf. the relation between √ g-z-z ‘shear’, √ g-z-m ‘prune’ and √ g-z-r ‘cut’, as well as between √ p-r-z ‘divide a city’, √ p-r-ţ ‘give change’ and √ p-r-‘ ‘pay a debt’." The
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
root √ sh-q-p "look out/through" deriving from √ q-p "bend, arch, lean towards" (cf. √ q-p-ħ, √ q-p-h, √ q-p-' and √ q-p-y "arch, bend"), and similar verbs fit into the verb-pattern. "This verb-pattern is usually causative, cf. √ sh-ţ-p ‘wash, rinse, make wet’, from √ ţ-p ‘wet’, as well as √ sh-l-k ‘cast off, throw down, cause to go’, from √ l-k ‘go’".
Quadriliteral roots
A
quadriliteral is a consonantal root containing a sequence of four consonants (instead of three consonants, as is more often the case). A quadriliteral form is a word derived from such a four-consonant root. For example, the abstract quadriliteral root t-r-g-m / t-r-j-m gives rise to the verb forms
tirgem in
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
and
tarjama in
ArabicArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, meaning "he translated". In some cases, a quadriliteral root is actually a reduplication of a two-consonant sequence. So in Hebrew
digdeg means "he tickled", and in Arabic
zilzāl means "earthquake".
Generally, only a subset of the verb derivations formed from triliteral roots are allowed with quadriliteral roots. For example, in Hebrew, the Pi``el, Pu``al, and Hitpa``el, and in Arabic, forms similar to the stem II and stem V forms of triliteral roots.
Traditionally in the Semitic languages, forms with more than four basic consonants (i.e. consonants not introduced by morphological inflection or derivation) were occasionally found in nouns — mainly loanwords from other languages — but never in verbs. However, in modern Israeli Hebrew,
syllableA syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
s are allowed to begin with a sequence of two consonants (a relaxation of the situation in early Semitic, where only one consonant was allowed), and this has opened the door to apparent five root-consonant forms, such as
tilgref "he telegraphed". But,
-lgr- always appears as an indivisible cluster in the derivation of this verb, so that these five root-consonant forms do not display any fundamentally different morphological patterns from four root-consonant forms (and the hypothetical term "quinqueliteral" would be misleading if it implied otherwise).
See also
- apophony vs. transfixation (root-and-pattern)
- Arabic grammar
Arabic grammar is the grammar of the Arabic language. Arabic is a Semitic language and its grammar has many similarities with the grammar of other Semitic languages....
- broken plural
In linguistics, a broken plural is an irregular plural form of a noun or adjective found in the Semitic languages and other Afroasiatic languages such as Berber. Broken plurals are formed by changing the pattern of consonants and vowels inside the singular form...
- nonconcatenative morphology
Nonconcatenative morphology, also called discontinuous morphology and introflection, is a form of word formation in which the root is modified and which does not involve stringing morphemes together...
- Phono-semantic matching
Phono-semantic matching is a linguistic term referring to camouflaged borrowing in which a foreign word is matched with a phonetically and semantically similar pre-existent native word/root....
- Proto-Indo-European root
The roots of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language are basic parts of words that carry a lexical meaning, so-called morphemes. PIE roots always have verbal meaning like "to eat" or "to run", as opposed to nouns , adjectives , or other parts of speech. Roots never occur alone in the language...
- transfix
In linguistic morphology, a transfix is a discontinuous affix, which occurs at more than one position in a word. The prototypical example comes from the Semitic languages, where nearly all word derivation and inflection involves the interdigitation of a discontinuous root with a discontinuous affix...
- Khuzdul
Khuzdul is a constructed language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien. It is one of the many fictional language set in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth...
External links