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Re: questions about Arabic

From:Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
Date:Tuesday, March 20, 2001, 14:46
En réponse à Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...>:

> > Yup, they're the same root. However, in Hebrew P3L (i usually use {3} > for `ayin when writing roots) means "to act" or "to labor", the word > used > for "to do" is 3SsH ({ss} = ssin, cognate to Arabic shin i think).
Well, the connection between "to act" and "to do" is quite obvious :) , at least more obvious than the connection between "to be" and "to aim" for the root KWN. The
> present-tense-verb/noun form, _po`eil_, means "laborer". An adjective > based on the root, _pa`il_, means "active" - for instance, _pa`al, > pi`eil, vehif`il heim binyanim PE`ILIM_ = "pa`al, pi`eil, and hif`il are > ACTIVE paradigms". The word for passive is _savil_, from SBL "to carry, > suffer" and "reflexive" is _hhozeir_ "returning". >
I don't know how to say "active" in Arabic, but "passive" is "majhûl" (root JHL), a passive participle meaning "unknown", because it's normally used only when the subject is unknown (and Modern Standard Arabic doesn't have a way to translate the agent of a passive verb, even though some dialects have evolved such a construction because of influence of other languages). Christophe. http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr