Characteristics of the OT languages

8.3. Characteristics of the Old Testament languages
Hebrew, Aramaic and the Semitic languages have a few characteristics in common, including some of their vocabulary. A number of words (root letters) which have the same meaning appear in most of the Semitic languages (e.g. the word for ‘father’, ‘day’, ‘blood’). There are also words with similar forms, but with different meanings.
Some of the grammatical similarities between these languages are discussed briefly:
· Root of three consonants. Most words in the Semitic languages are derived from or built upon three consonants. The three consonants may appear in a verb, noun, an adjective or adverb.
· Vowels are added to the three roots and contribute to the meaning of the word. The root mlk (be king) is an example. Depending on the vowels that are added to it, it may mean: melek ‘king’, malak ‘to rule’ (be king), malkut ‘kingdom, reign’, and so on.
· Prefixes, infixes, and suffixes are added to the three consonants to serve as personal pronouns or to indicate the verbal forms (active, passive, etc.).
o Maleku ‘they reigned’.
o Yimlok ‘he will be king’.
o Himlik ‘to install someone as king’.
o Homlak ‘to become king’.
· A root consonant can be doubled to intensify the meaning. The root avad ‘to perish’, for example, can be intensified to ivvad ‘to cause to perish’.
· Semitic languages have consonants which differ from English, and do not have exactly the same sound as an English consonant. They are called gutturals because they are pronounced in the throat.
· Semitic languages have a construction in which two nouns that depend on each other appear together. The construction is called ‘construct state’. It is often used to express possession. Thorat Adonay means ‘law of the Lord’. The word thorat (law of) is in the construct state, and Adonay (the Lord) in the absolute state.