Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/pay-

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

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Afroasiatic. Compare Proto-Cushitic *ʔaf- (“mouth”).

Noun

*pay- m

mouth

Inflection

Declension of *pay-
case	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*payum	*payāna	plural stem + *-ūna
accusative	*payam	*payayna	plural stem + *-īna
genitive	*payim	*payayna	plural stem + *-īna

possessive forms
1^st person	payī / payVya	—	*payVni
2^nd person m	*payVka	payVkumā / payVkumay	*payVkum(ū)
2^nd person f	*payVki	payVkumā / payVkumay	*payVkin(ā)
3^rd person m	*payVšu	payVšumā / payVšumay	*payVšum(ū)
3^rd person f	*payVša	payVšumā / payVšumay	*payVšin(ā)

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: *payuya for nom. case, *payiya for gen. case, *payaya for acc. case, etc.

Descendants

East Semitic:
- Akkadian: 𒅗 (pûm)
West Semitic:
- Central Semitic:
  - Arabic: فَم (fam)
    - Egyptian Arabic: فم (fumm)
    - Hijazi Arabic: فم (famm, fumm)
    - Maltese: fomm
    - Moroccan Arabic: فم (fumm), فا (fā)
    - South Levantine Arabic: تم (tumm, timm)
  - Northwest Semitic:
    - Aramaic:
      Imperial Aramaic: 𐡐𐡌 (pm)
      
      Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: פִּימָא (pemā)
      
      Christian Palestinian Aramaic: ܦܝܡܐ (pemā)
      
      Nabataean Aramaic: 𐢘𐢒 / 𐢘𐢈𐢒 (/⁠pūm⁠/)
      
      Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: פּוּמָא (pumā)
      - Classical Syriac: ܦܾ݁ܘܡܳܐ (pumā)
    - Canaanite:
      - Hebrew: פֶּה (pe, pê)
      - Phoenician: 𐤐 (p /⁠pi⁠/)
        → Ancient Greek: πεῖ (peî)
        → English: pi
    - Ugaritic: 𐎔 (p /⁠pū⁠/)
  - Old South Arabian:
    - Old South Arabian: 𐩰 (f)
- Ethiopian Semitic: *ʾaf-
  - Amharic: አፍ (ʾäf)
  - Argobba: አፍ (ʾäf)
  - Ge'ez: አፍ (ʾäf)
  - Gurage: አፍ (ʾäf)
  - Harari: አፍ (ʾäf)
  - Tigre: አፍ (ʾäf)
  - Tigrinya: አፍ (ʾäf)

References

Nöldeke, Theodor (1910) Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎^[1] (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, →DOI, pages 171–178
Kogan, Leonid (2011) “Proto-Semitic Lexicon”, in Weninger, Stefan, editor, The Semitic Languages. An International Handbook (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft – Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science; 36), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, pages 221–222