Compare Egyptian jꜥḥ , Hausa wata and Proto-Berber *a-ʔyur .
*warḫ- m
moon
month
Declension of *warḫ-
Case
Singular
Dual
Plural
Nominative
*warḫum
*warḫāna
plural stem + *-ūna
Genitive
*warḫim
*warḫayna
plural stem + *-īna
Accusative
*warḫam
possessive forms
1st person
*warḫī / *warḫVya
—
*warḫVni
2nd person m
*warḫVka
*warḫVkumā / *warḫVkumay
*warḫVkum(ū)
2nd person f
*warḫVki
*warḫVkin(ā)
3rd person m
*warḫVšu
*warḫVšumā / *warḫVšumay
*warḫVšum(ū)
3rd person f
*warḫVša
*warḫVšin(ā)
Note: the endings -m and -na are dropped in the bound form , which may also undergo syncopation of an unstressed final vowel where possible.
Note: the ending -V before the possessive endings responds to case: *warḫuya for nom. case, *warḫiya for gen. case, *warḫaya for acc. case, etc.
Declension of 2sg m. possessive form (your/thy m.) *warḫ-
Singular
Dual
Plural
Nominative
*warḫuka
*warḫāka
plural stem + *-ūka
Genitive
*warḫika
*warḫayka
plural stem + *-īka
Accusative
*warḫaka
Declension of 2sg f. possessive form (your/thy f.) *warḫ-
Singular
Dual
Plural
Nominative
*warḫuki
*warḫāki
plural stem + *-ūki
Genitive
*warḫiki
*warḫayki
plural stem + *-īki
Accusative
*warḫaki
Reconstruction notes [ edit ]
Huehnergard reconstructs this item as *wariḫ- , with the unbound form *wariḫum alternating with the bound form *warḫu . The semantic extension from "moon" to "month" is comparable to those of Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s and Proto-Japonic *tukuy , since the moon's orbital period was used for defining a month.
East Semitic:
Akkadian: 𒌚 ( warḫum , “ month ” )
West Semitic:
Central Semitic:
Safaitic: 𐪅𐪇𐪍 ( wrẖ , “ month ” )
Northwest Semitic:
Aramaic:
Imperial Aramaic: 𐡉𐡓𐡇𐡀 ( yrḥʾ )
Western Middle Aramaic:
Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: יְרַח ( yrḥ /yəraḥ/ , “ moon ” ) ; יַרְחָא ( yarḥā , “ month ” )
Christian Palestinian Aramaic: ܝܪܚܐ ( yrḥʾ , “ moon; month ” )
Nabataean Aramaic: 𐢍𐢛𐢊 ( yrḥ )
Eastern Middle Aramaic:
Hatran Aramaic: 𐣩𐣣𐣧 ( yrḥ )
Palmyrene Aramaic: 𐡩𐡴𐡧 ( yrḥ /yraḥ/ , “ moon ” )
Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: ירח ( yrḥ /yəraḥ/ , “ moon ” ) ; ירחא ( yarḥā , “ month ” )
Classical Mandaic: [script needed] ( iahra , “ moon ” ) ( metathesized )
Classical Syriac: ܝܰܪܚܳܐ ( yarḥāʾ , “ month ” )
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܝܲܪܚܵܐ ( yarḥā )
Canaanite:
Hebrew: יָרֵחַ ( yaréakh, yārḗaḥ )
Phoenician: 𐤉𐤓𐤇 ( yrḥ , “ moon ” )
Ugaritic: 𐎊𐎗𐎃 ( yrḫ /yarḫu/ , “ moon, month ” )
Old South Arabian:
Old South Arabian: 𐩥𐩧𐩭 ( wrḫ )
Arabic:
> ? Arabic: تَارِيخ ( tārīḵ , “ date, history ” ) (see there for further descendants )
Ethiopian Semitic:
North Ethiopian:
Ge'ez: ወርኅ ( wärḫ )
Tigrinya: ወርሒ ( wärḥi , “ month ” ) ; ዋርሒ ( warḥi , “ moon ” )
Tigre: ወርሕ ( wärəḥ )
South Ethiopian:
Amharic–Argobba:
Amharic: ወር ( wär , “ month ” )
Argobba: ወርሕ ( wärəḥ )
Gurage: ወር ( wär )
Harari: ወርሒ ( wärḥi ) , ዋርሒ ( warḥi )
Modern South Arabian:
Mehri: warḫ ( “ month ” )
Shehri: ɔ́rx , írəx ( “ month ” )
> ? Shehri: ʾɛrə́t ( “ moon ” )
> ? Soqotri: ʾére ( “ moon ” ) – if not instead cognate to Hebrew אוֹר ( ʾôr , “ light ” ) , Akkadian 𒌓𒁕 ( urrum , “ light; daylight, shining after a period of darkness ” ) , or to Arabic شَهْر ( šahr , “ month ” )
Kogan, Leonid (2015 ) Genealogical Classification of Semitic. The Lexical Isoglosses , Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN
Huehnergard, John (2019 ) “Proto-Semitic”, in Huehnergard, John and Na'ama Pat-El, editors, The Semitic Languages , 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN