# Aramaic: binyan corresponding to הִשְׁתַּקְטֵל



## amirsherman

Shalom everyone,

In Hebrew the binyan הִשְׁתַּקְטֵל exists (for example הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה) and in Arabic there is استفعل (tenth binyan).

Does it exist in Aramaic too?

Thank you in advance


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## radagasty

This is the so-called Št stem, the passive-reflexive corresponding to the causative Š stem marked by a preformative ש. The latter does not exist in Hebrew, and the former may barely be said to do so, given that הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה is its sole representative.

They are foreign to both Hebrew and Aramaic, seemingly a borrowing from Akkadian, but they were adopted to a greater extent in Aramaic, _e.g._, הִשְׁתַּכְלַל / שַׁכְלֵל _to finish_/_be finished_, owing perhaps to its greater exposure to Akkadian, and, in later stages of the language, even came to be somewhat productive as stems.


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## fdb

radagasty said:


> This is the so-called Št stem, the passive-reflexive corresponding to the causative Š stem marked by a preformative ש. The latter does not exist in Hebrew, and the former may barely be said to do so, given that הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה is its sole representative.
> 
> They are foreign to both Hebrew and Aramaic, seemingly a borrowing from Akkadian, but they were adopted to a greater extent in Aramaic, _e.g._, הִשְׁתַּכְלַל / שַׁכְלֵל _to finish_/_be finished_, owing perhaps to its greater exposure to Akkadian, and, in later stages of the language, even came to be somewhat productive as stems.


For example, Syriac and other Middle Aramaic languages have ʾeštaʽbaḏ “to be enslaved”, Št stem from ʽbd, though seemingly reinterpreted as a quadriliteral. In any case, not Akkadian.

Otherwise, the Arabic stem X (istaf͉ʽala) corresponds formally to Aramaic ettaqṭal.


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## radagasty

fdb said:


> For example, Syriac and other Middle Aramaic languages have ʾeštaʽbaḏ “to be enslaved”, Št stem from ʽbd, though seemingly reinterpreted as a quadriliteral. In any case, not Akkadian.



I'm not sure what you are getting at here. The Š/Št stems are foreign to both Aramaic and Hebrew, since the reflex of the PS causative stems in these languages are C and Ct, following the shift /š/ → /h/. The two sets of stems are therefore formally cognate. They seem to be a loan from Akkadian, insofar as only verbs with a corresponding form in Akkadian appear in Middle Aramaic in the Š/Št stem, which are not many. They came to be incorporated into its morphology, becoming somewhat productive in later stages of the language, such that, in Syriac, for instance, new verbs had been created in these stems. It remains howbeit that the Š/Št stems are not native to Aramaic.


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## Ali Smith

Is הִשְׂתַּכַּל 'to observe' an example of this binyan?

מִשְׂתַּכַּ֨ל הֲוֵ֜ית בְּקַרְנַיָּ֗א וַ֠אֲלוּ קֶ֣רֶן אָחֳרִ֤י זְעֵירָה֙ סִלְקָ֣ת [בֵּינֵיהֹון כ] (בֵּֽינֵיהֵ֔ן ק) וּתְלָ֗ת מִן־קַרְנַיָּא֙ קַדְמָ֣יָתָ֔א [אֶתְעֲקַרוּ כ] (אֶתְעֲקַ֖רָה ק) מִן־ [קֳדָמַיַּהּ כ] (קֳדָמַ֑הּ ק) וַאֲל֨וּ עַיְנִ֜ין כְּעַיְנֵ֤י אֲנָשָׁא֙ בְּקַרְנָא־דָ֔א וּפֻ֖ם מְמַלִּ֥ל רַבְרְבָֽן׃
(Dan 7:8)


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## radagasty

Ali Smith said:


> Is הִשְׂתַּכַּל 'to observe' an example of this binyan?



No, this is a _Hithpael_ of the root שׂכל, which exhibits metathesis of the ת with a sibilant first radical.
Note also that the _Shaphel-Hishtaphel _stems have שׁ and not שׂ, as in הִשְׁתַּכְלַל / שַׁכְלֵל.


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