Reconstruction:Proto-Afroasiatic/-t

This Proto-Afroasiatic entry contains reconstructed words and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Afroasiatic

Notes

It has been theorized that the affix was originally a marker of nominal class, *-(a)t-, which later developed into a marker of the feminine gender. It came to partially supplant the older feminine ending *-H̥/i̥ which had long lost its productivity.[1]

Suffix

*-t, *-Vt

Marks nouns as feminine

Descendants

Berber: *-t
Egyptian: -t
Chadic: *-t
? Cushitic: *-t
Semitic: *-t

References

Diakonoff, Igor M. (1988) Afrasian Languages (Languages of Asia and Africa), Moscow: Nauka, pages 57–58.

[1] Diakonoff, Igor M. (1988) Afrasian Languages (Languages of Asia and Africa), Moscow: Nauka, pages 57–58.