DOI Artikel:
Albright, William Foxwell: The principles of Egyptian phonological development
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12747#0076
66 W. F. ALBRIGHT. [3]
In a monograph prepared for publication in September, 1919, and to appear at
some future date in the Beitràge zur Assyriologie, the writer lias given a synopsis of
his studies in the field of the historical phonology of the Egyptian vowel. Thanks to
a careful examination of ail the available évidence, gained from the survival of Se-
mitic words and grammatical forms in Coptic, and from the development of Semitic
loan-words in later Egyptian, certain principles appeared to be demonstrable. A
comparison of thèse results with the material found in cuneiform transcriptions of
Egyptian names and words from the period i4oo-i25oB.C. confirmed them in
every respect, and showed that the most important changes in the vocalic colouring
of Egyptian took place during the XIX1'1 dynasty and after, while the quantitative
changes had already occurred. The following abstract will make my conclusions clear :
1. Before i3oo ail short accented vowels in open syllables were lengthened.
2. AU accented long vowels in closed syllables were shortened.
3. Ail unaccented vowels in open syllables were reduced to sewà, and ail unac-
cented vowels in closed syllables were cbanged to segôl(e).
k. The short case-endings were ail lost, and the accent was not permitted to fall
before the penult (antepenult, counting the case-ending as a syllable).
5. Where the Proto-Semitic accent fell on penult or antepenult it was retained
on the corresponding ultima and penult of Egyptian words.
6. The colour of the vowels was little altérée! ; long a before e or i was sometimes
changed to ê by epenthesis, and 4 became ew; î, ey, by breaking. Short vowels in
closed accented syllables and long vowels in open accented syllables were unaffected
in gênerai.
7. After i3oo the following transformations took place,
In a closed accented syllable, a>d, î>ôW, ûz>ê^2\
In an open accented syllable, â^ô^\ % = %, ûy>4.
With regard to the fourth and fifth principles, it may be remarked that the same
process took place in Babylonian and in Egyptian Arabie, where, e. g., màdrasalun^>
madrâseh, *âbunatum~^>abûnat{>'i\ The diphthongization of û and î mentioned in 6 is
another illustration of the complète phonetic cycle alluded to above, since in Coptic
ew again becomes û and ey, î. It should also be observed that Egyptian completely
(1) This iaw is also found in Hebrew, though it does not operate so reguiarly as the principle that unac-
cented a, in a closed syllable, is changed to i (Philippi's Law). For the change of « to â cf., e. g., bal,
for *bint, and gai, for *gint (Assyr. gimtu).
(3) This law is also regular in Ethiopie.
(3) This development, which is generally recognized, is found also in Hebrew.
<4) Cf. the writer's remarks, Revue d'Assyriologie, Vol. 16, p. 175.
In a monograph prepared for publication in September, 1919, and to appear at
some future date in the Beitràge zur Assyriologie, the writer lias given a synopsis of
his studies in the field of the historical phonology of the Egyptian vowel. Thanks to
a careful examination of ail the available évidence, gained from the survival of Se-
mitic words and grammatical forms in Coptic, and from the development of Semitic
loan-words in later Egyptian, certain principles appeared to be demonstrable. A
comparison of thèse results with the material found in cuneiform transcriptions of
Egyptian names and words from the period i4oo-i25oB.C. confirmed them in
every respect, and showed that the most important changes in the vocalic colouring
of Egyptian took place during the XIX1'1 dynasty and after, while the quantitative
changes had already occurred. The following abstract will make my conclusions clear :
1. Before i3oo ail short accented vowels in open syllables were lengthened.
2. AU accented long vowels in closed syllables were shortened.
3. Ail unaccented vowels in open syllables were reduced to sewà, and ail unac-
cented vowels in closed syllables were cbanged to segôl(e).
k. The short case-endings were ail lost, and the accent was not permitted to fall
before the penult (antepenult, counting the case-ending as a syllable).
5. Where the Proto-Semitic accent fell on penult or antepenult it was retained
on the corresponding ultima and penult of Egyptian words.
6. The colour of the vowels was little altérée! ; long a before e or i was sometimes
changed to ê by epenthesis, and 4 became ew; î, ey, by breaking. Short vowels in
closed accented syllables and long vowels in open accented syllables were unaffected
in gênerai.
7. After i3oo the following transformations took place,
In a closed accented syllable, a>d, î>ôW, ûz>ê^2\
In an open accented syllable, â^ô^\ % = %, ûy>4.
With regard to the fourth and fifth principles, it may be remarked that the same
process took place in Babylonian and in Egyptian Arabie, where, e. g., màdrasalun^>
madrâseh, *âbunatum~^>abûnat{>'i\ The diphthongization of û and î mentioned in 6 is
another illustration of the complète phonetic cycle alluded to above, since in Coptic
ew again becomes û and ey, î. It should also be observed that Egyptian completely
(1) This iaw is also found in Hebrew, though it does not operate so reguiarly as the principle that unac-
cented a, in a closed syllable, is changed to i (Philippi's Law). For the change of « to â cf., e. g., bal,
for *bint, and gai, for *gint (Assyr. gimtu).
(3) This law is also regular in Ethiopie.
(3) This development, which is generally recognized, is found also in Hebrew.
<4) Cf. the writer's remarks, Revue d'Assyriologie, Vol. 16, p. 175.