The Samaritan Hebrew language is a descendant of Biblical Hebrew as pronounced and written by the Samaritans. It is used in the reading tradition of the Samaritan Pentateuch.

Writing

It is written in the Samaritan alphabet, a direct descendant of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet (itself a variation of what phoenicians used as a alphabet, see, the Phoenician alphabet), whereas all other varieties of Hebrew are written in the later Hebrew alphabet, a variation on the Aramaic alphabet.

Pronunciation

The Samaritan pronunciation of Hebrew differs in several respects from most others. The laryngeals He and Cheth have disappeared or turned into vowels. Behth and Waw both are pronounced as b (in fact, the letters' names are pronounced Bîhth and Baa), only the waw-conjunctive is pronounced as u. There is no double pronunciation of the Shin like Jewish Hebrew; it is always pronounced sh. Consonants with dagesh are pronounced geminate. Stress is commonly penultimate rather than ultimate.

Phonology

Name

Grammar

Parts of speech

Pronouns

Personal

I	anáki
you (male)	átta
you (female)	átti (note the final yohdh)
he	û
she	î
we	anánu
you (male, plural)	attímma
you (female, plural)	éttên
they (male)	ímma
they (female)	ínna

Demonstrative

This: masc. ze, fem. zéot, pl. ílla.

That: alaz (written with a he at the beginning).

Relative

Who, which: é?ar.

Interrogative

Who? = mi. What? = ma.

Noun

When suffixes are added, ê and ô in the last syllable may become î and û: bôr (Judean bohr) "pit" > búrôt "pits". Note also af "anger" > éppa "her anger".

Segolates behave more or less as in other Hebrew varieties: be?en "stomach" > bá?nek "your stomach", ke?seph "silver" > ke?sefánu (Judean Hebrew kaspe?nu) "our silver", dérek > dirkakimma "your (m. pl.) road" but áre? (in Judean Hebrew: ?e?rets) "earth" > ár?ak (Judean Hebrew ?arts-ekha) "your earth".

Article

The definite article is a- or e-, and causes gemination of the following consonant, unless it is a guttural; it is written with a he, but as usual, the h is silent. Thus, for example: énnar / ánnar = "the youth"; ellêm = "the meat"; a'émur = "the donkey".

Number

Regular plural suffixes are -êm, Judean Hebrew -im) masc., -ôt (Judean Hebrew: -oth.) fem: eyyamêm "the days", elamôt "dreams".

Dual is sometimes -ayem (Judean Hebrew: a?yim) (?enatayem "two years"), usually -êm like the plural (yédêm "hands", Judean Hebrew yadhayim.)

Tradition of Divine name

Samaritans have the tradition of either spelling out loud with the Samaritan letters

"Yohth, Ie', Baa, Ie? "

or saying "Shema" meaning "(The Divine) Name" in Aramaic, similar to Judean Hebrew "Ha-Shem" .

Verbs

Affixes are:

Particles

Prepositions

"in, using", pronounced:

• b- before a vowel (or, therefore, a former guttural): b-érbi = "with a sword"; b-í?tu "with his wife".
• ba- before a bilabial consonant: bá-bêt (Judean Hebrew: ba-ba?yith) "in a house", ba-mádbar "in a wilderness"
• ev- before other consonant: ev-lila "in a night", ev-dévar "with the thing".
• ba-/be- before the definite article ("the"): barrá?et (Judean Hebrew: Bere?·shith?) "in the beginning"; béyyôm "in the day".

"as, like", pronounced:

• ka without the article: ka-demútu "in his likeness"
• ke with the article: ké-yyôm "like the day".

"to" pronounced:

• l- before a vowel: l-ávi "to my father", l-évad "to the slave"
• el-, al- before a consonant: al-béni "to the children (of)"
• le- before l: le-léket "to go"
• l- before the article: lammúad "at the appointed time"; la-?é'on "to the flock"

"and" pronounced:

• w- before consonants: wal-?árra "and to Sarah"
• u- before vowels: u-ye??eg "and he caught up".

Other prepositions:

• al: towards
• elfáni: before
• bêd-u: for him
• elqérôt: against
• balêd-i: except me

Conjunctions

• u: or
• em: if, when
• avel: but

Adverbs

• la: not
• kâ: also
• afu: also
• ín-ak: you are not
• ífa (ípa): where?
• méti: when
• fâ: here
• ?émma: there
• mittét: under

Bibliography

• J. Rosenberg, Lehrbuch der samaritanischen Sprache und Literatur, A. Hartleben's Verlag: Wien, Pest, Leipzig.
• Ben-Hayyim, Ze'ev, and Tal, Abraham, A Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew Based on the Recitation of the Law in Comparison with the Tiberian and Other Jewish Traditions: 2000 ISBN 1-57506-047-7

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