# Aramaic: qatl/qitl/qutl vs qatal/qital/qutal



## risotto

Hello, everyone.

Proto-Semitic nouns of the form qatl/qitl/qutl are distinguishable from qatal/qital/qutal nouns in Hebrew, because the former type turn into segolate nouns while the latter do not. But in Aramaic it seems that all of six of them collapse onto the same form, namely קְטַל, e.g. כְּסַף and דְּהַב. Is there any way to distinguish them in Aramaic?

Thank you.


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## Ali Smith

Yes. They don't always have the same vowel. For example, דְּהַב has a פתח because a פתח is what it had in that position originally (its base is qatal). By contrast, words whose base is qatl/qitl/qutl, i.e. words whose base is qvtl (where _v_ is any short vowel) have a צירי unless, of course, the final consonant is a guttural or resh.


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## zj73

Then why do we not have a tserey in כְּסַף?


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## Ali Smith

You're right. It should be כְּסֵף. I have no idea why there's a פתח there in the MT.


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## zaw

What about קְשֹׁט? Why does it not have a tserey?

There are too many exceptions. I don't think it's true that the general rule is that they became qtel (with tserey).


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