A Primer on Ugaritic: Language, Culture, and Literature - enenuru

Letters 51
the active use of the language by several centuries. The use of the
preposition /le-/ (syllabic le-e in Ug 5 130 III, 5´) here may be
described as a l(amed) of advantage, for it indicates the person for
whom the wish is intended (see Sivan, Grammar, 195–97)
regarding the nuances of the word “to”).
A line incised on the tablet after this line indicates that the Type
II introduction concludes with this word, the first Ugaritic verb you
have encountered. rgm is a basic form of the verb, which we will
call the G, which comes from the German Grundstamm, or“basic
stem” (cp. the Hebrew Qal; see overview of Ugaritic verbal stems
in §7.6). It is a second person, masculine, singular imperative. This
information may be abbreviated as G 2ms impv.
The imperative is related to a short prefixed verb form called
the jussive, but the imperative lacks a prefix. The prefix is
unnecessary since all imperative forms indicate second person;
e.g., tn.ks.yn, “give a cup of wine!”, sûpsû.}um.ql.bl, “OSun, my
mother, carry the message!” For vocalization the imperative uses
the theme vowel of the prefix conjugation (i.e., the Hebrew
“imperfect”). There are three possible theme vowels: u, i, and a (as
in -qtul, -qtil, and -qtal). As the following chart indicates, the
imperative form varies depending upon the gender and number of
the subject of the verb.
u-stem i-stem a-stem
ms /*qutul, qutla/ /*qitil, qitla/ /*qatal, qatla/
fs /*qut(u)lˆä/ /*qit(i)lˆä/ /*qat(a)lˆä/
mp /*qut(u)luœ/ /*qit(i)luœ/ /*qat(a)luœ/
dual /*qut(u)laœ/ /*qit(i)laœ/ /*qat(a)laœ/
Figure 3.4 G Imperative
Note that the internal vowels of the different forms of G impv
are identical. A “helping vowel” is inserted between the first two