Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/ʔayy-

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Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/ʔayy-

This Proto-Semitic entry contains reconstructed terms 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-Semitic

Pronoun

*ʔayy-

1. Used to form questions: which, what, when, where, how, etc.

Inflection

Declension of *ʔayy-

Case	Singular		Dual		Plural
	m	f	m	f	m	f
Nominative	*ʔayyum	*ʔayyatum	*ʔayyāna	*ʔayyatāna	*ʔayyūna	*ʔayyātum
Genitive	*ʔayyim	*ʔayyatim	*ʔayyayna	*ʔayyatayna	*ʔayyīna	*ʔayyātim
Accusative	*ʔayyam	*ʔayyatam

Descendants

• East Semitic:
  • Akkadian: 𒀀𒀀𒌑𒌝 (ayyum, “which”)
• West Semitic:
  • Central Semitic:
    • Arabic: أَيّ‎ (ʾayy, “which”)
    • Northwest Semitic:
      • Aramaic:
        • Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַיְנָא‎ (ʾaynā, “who, which, what”)
        • Classical Syriac: ܐܰܝܢܳܐ‎ (ʾaynā, “who, which, what”)
      • Canaanite:
        • Hebrew: אֵי‎ (e, ʾê, “where”), אַיֵּה‎ ('ayé, ʾayyê, “where”)

          Hebrew: אֵיזֶה‎ ('éze, ʾếzê, “which, what”), אֵיפֹה‎ (efo, ʾêp̄ô, “where”), הֵיכָן‎ (hékhan, hêḵān, “where”), אֵימָתַי‎ ('ematáy, ʾêmāṯay, “when”), כֵּיצַד‎ (ketsád, kêṣaḏ, “how”), אֵיך‎ (ékh, ʾêḵ, “how”)

      • Ugaritic: 𐎛𐎊 (ỉy /ʾē/) / 𐎛 (ỉ /ʾēyy/, “where”)
    • Old South Arabian:
      • Minaean: 𐩱𐩺‎ (ʾy, “whichever”)
      • Qatabanian: 𐩱𐩺‎ (ʾy, “whichever”)
      • Sabaean: 𐩱𐩺‎ (ʾy, “which”)
  • Ethiopian Semitic:
    • Ge'ez: አይ (ʾäy, “which, what”)
    • Tigre: አዪ (ʾäyi, “which”)
    • Tigrinya: -አይ (-äy) (suffixed to interrogatives)

References

• Eran Cohen (2019), “The Interrogative Element *ʾayy- in Semitic”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft‎, volume 169, issue 2, pages 327-342