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

54
Ugaritic <strong>Primer</strong>
verbs with an aleph as part of the root indicates that the theme
vowel of the D-stem is /i/. There is some debate whether the prefix
vowel of the derived stems should be /a/ or /u/. It is reasonable to
think that Ugaritic followed Akkadian, which uses /u/ for the
prefix of the derived stems of verbs. Of course, the student should
recognize that we are dealing with the tricky question of what was
spoken on the basis of what was written, and colloquialisms can
vary considerably from locale to locale. The only native Ugaritic
evidence for vocalization comes from the 1cs prefixed D forms, in
which the aleph gives witness to the prefix vowel /a/. Thus, }abqt
/}abaqqitu/, “I will seek” (KTU 1.6 IV, 20); }arh˙p /}arah˙h˙ipu/, “I
will soar” (KTU 1.18 IV, 21); }aqrbk /}aqarribuka/, “I will bring
you near” (KTU 1.6 IV, 20). The /a/ vowel in 1cs, however, does
not fix the vowel of the other persons.
The D-stem is often described as factitive or resultative, in
which the verb expresses the bringing about of a state (see §7.6.2).
In this instance, the verb would express a wish for the person to
experience peace. This D verb form and meaning would seem to fit
the context of the letter. The only caveat for interpreting this form
as the D jussive is that D appears to occur with the greetings that
include a designation of the agents involved in the blessing and
which denote a direct object, rather than an indirect object. In other
letters, such as 2.11:7–9: }ilm tgérk tsûlmk /}iluœma tagégéuruœki
tasûallimuœki/, “May the gods protect you, may they preserve you,”
the greeter invokes the gods to guard and bring peace to the
recipient.
2.10:5–8a l.trgéds w.l.klby sûm{t.h˙t}i nh˙t}u.
/le-targéadassi walekalbiya sûami{tu h˙it}eä nah˙ta}uä/
From Targéadassi and from Kalbiya I have heard of the defeats by
which they were defeated.
Lines 5–6
These two lines begin the Situation Report. These words are joined
by the conjunction wa, “and.” The preposition /le-/ is separative,