Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/bV-
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Proto-Semitic
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Possibly from Proto-Afroasiatic *bǔ (“place”). Compare Beja -b (postposition), having a locative or directional meaning, and Egyptian bw (place, position).
Preposition
[edit]*bV-
Reconstruction notes
[edit]Though this entry is notated with the symbol for an unspecified vowel, ⟨V⟩, in this case it does not mean the vowel is indeterminate. Rather, both *bi- and *ba- existed in opposition and became conflated to various degrees in the descendants, such that it is most parsimonious to unify them under one headword. The same is the case for *lV-.
Descendants
[edit]- East Semitic:
- West Semitic:
- Central Semitic:
- Arabic: بِـ (bi-)
- Northwest Semitic:
- Old South Arabian:
- Ethiopian Semitic:
- North Ethiopian Semitic:
- South Ethiopian Semitic:
- Central Semitic: