RAS SHAMRA— HARRIS 501 



group, but it also exhibits a special change which is peculiar to that 

 group, the change of initial w- to y-.^ Within this group, Ugaritic 

 has certain features peculiar to Canaanite: the mascuUne plural in -m 

 which it shares with Phoenician and Hebrew even against Moabite, 

 and against Aramaic, and against most other Semitic languages ; also 

 many vocabulary features, such as ben "son" against Aramaic bar. 

 There are also interesting affinities between Ugaritic and Akkadian, 

 and between Ugaritic and Aramaic, especially in the verbal system. 

 The only way to decide the historic weight of all these affinities is to 

 determine which are genetic, i. e., due to a primitive period of common 

 development as one language, and which are either old proto-Semitic 

 features which had spread to both languages at that time, or late 

 changes which had spread from one language to the other in 

 historical times. The preterite, which Akkadian and Ugaritic have in 

 contradistinction to the others, is a proto-Semitic form, since we have 

 traces of it in Hebrew and Arabic. The restricted use of the perfect is 

 merely an early stage of its development throughout West Semitic. 

 The stem-system of the verb is of generally Northwest Semitic type, 

 rather than Akkadian. The change of dto d has no direct connection 

 with the same change in Aramaic, for the latter did not begin till much 

 later. The change of a to e before aleph is also found in Aramaic, 

 and, under different conditions, in Akkadian; but it also took place 

 in some northern Hebrew dialects, so that it may have been one of 

 those late linguistic changes which spread across dialect and language 

 boundaries. On the other hand, the vocabulary and the bulk of 

 linguistic facts noted above point to a genetic relation with the 

 Canaanite group of Northwest Semitic. It may be that the Amorite 

 language was very similar to Ugaritic, but we know very little of it. 

 In the present state of our knowledge, Ugaritic may best be considered 

 to be North Canaanite. 



Thus far the finds of Has Shamra can take us. A considerable 

 literature has already grown around the culture and language of this 

 single mound. But most of the mound is stiU untouched, and all 

 present conclusions must be held as tentative. The coming years 

 should bring to light much additional information on the society of 

 Ugarit and on its language. 



SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY 

 Bauer, H. 



1936. Die alphabetisclien Keilschrifttexte von Ras Shamra (texts). 



DuSSAtTD, R. 



1937. Les d^couvertes de Ras Shamra et I'Ancien Testament (archeological 



and mythological discussion). 

 Friedbich, J. 



1933. Ras Shamra, ein UeberbUck (linguistic and historical discussion). 

 Der Alte Orient, vol. 33. 



» Bergstrasser, O., Hebraische Qrammatik I, jlVb, §30b. 



