# Aramaic: ד - relative pronoun



## Ihsiin

Hello everyone. I've noticed that the first phrase in the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic is אבון דבשםיו. I was wondering where the ד prefix here is in fact the relative pronoun, and if it's cognate to the Arabic الذي_._


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## Flaminius

Lord's Prayer (Peshitta Mat 6:9) starts with
אבון דבשמיא

Now the _d-_ in _dvashmaya_ is a relative marker.  It also introduces other clauses such as imperfect verbs and direct speech (Nestle 1900:67, PDF).

For the use of _d-_ in general Aramaic in all its history and range see _The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon_ (s.v. dy).  Syriac uses _d-_ for genitive marker too.


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## JAN SHAR

The full form of ד is דִּי, and it is related to the Hebrew זה‎. It is not related to the Arabic الذي directly. It is related to the Arabic ذو.


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## Ali Smith

Is the following an example of the full form of ד?

וּמַן־דִּי־לָ֥א יִפֵּ֖ל וְיִסְגֻּ֑ד בַּהּ־שַׁעֲתָ֣א יִתְרְמֵ֔א לְגֽוֹא־אַתּ֥וּן נוּרָ֖א יָקִֽדְתָּֽא׃
(דניאל ג ו)

And whoever does not fall and worships in it...


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## radagasty

Yes, that’s an example its full form, very common in Aramaic.



Ali Smith said:


> וּמַן־דִּי־לָ֥א יִפֵּ֖ל וְיִסְגֻּ֑ד בַּהּ־שַׁעֲתָ֣א יִתְרְמֵ֔א לְגֽוֹא־אַתּ֥וּן נוּרָ֖א יָקִֽדְתָּֽא׃
> And whoever does not fall and worships in it...



It should be pointed out, though, that בַּהּ does not mean ‘in it’.
Note the _maqqef_: בַּהּ־שַׁעֲתָא should be taken together, meaning ‘at once’ (lit. ‘at this hour’).


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## WadiH

JAN SHAR said:


> The full form of ד is דִּי, and it is related to the Hebrew זה‎. It is not related to the Arabic الذي directly. It is related to the Arabic ذو.



I think you mean Arabic ذا as in هذا?

By the way ذو and ذي are also used as relative pronouns in Arabic (though not commonly encountered nowadays), and الذي must be derived from those archaic forms, so ultimately yes I think the ذ is cognate across all these words.


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## radagasty

Wadi Hanifa said:


> I think you mean Arabic ذا as in هذا?



That's the same thing! The ذا element in هذا and ذٰلك is essentially ذو, and the vowel /ā/ in ذا may even represent the accusative case.


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