Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/ʔayy-

This Proto-Semitic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Semitic

Pronoun

*ʔayy-

1. Used to form questions: which, what, when, where, how, etc.

Inflection

Declension of *ʔayy-

Case	Singular		Dual		Plural
	m	f	m	f	m	f
Nominative	*ʔayyum	*ʔayyatum	*ʔayyāna	*ʔayyatāna	*ʔayyūna	*ʔayyātum
Genitive	*ʔayyim	*ʔayyatim	*ʔayyayna	*ʔayyatayna	*ʔayyīna	*ʔayyātim
Accusative	*ʔayyam	*ʔayyatam

Descendants

• East Semitic:
  • Akkadian: 𒀀𒀀𒌑𒌝 (ayyum, “which”)
• West Semitic:
  • Central Semitic:
    • Arabic: أَيّ (ʔayy, “which”)
    • Northwest Semitic:
      • Aramaic:
        • Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַיְנָא (ʾaynā, “who, which, what”)
        • Classical Syriac: ܐܰܝܢܳܐ (ʾaynā, “who, which, what”)
      • Canaanite:
        • Hebrew: אֵי (e, ʾê, “where”), אַיֵּה ('ayé, ʾayyê, “where”)

          Hebrew: אֵיזֶה ('éze, ʾếzê, “which, what”), אֵיפֹה (efo, ʾêp̄ô, “where”), הֵיכָן (hékhan, hêḵān, “where”), אֵימָתַי ('ematáy, ʾêmāṯay, “when”), כֵּיצַד (ketsád, kêṣaḏ, “how”), אֵיך (ékh, ʾêḵ, “how”)

      • Ugaritic: 𐎛𐎊 (ỉy /⁠ʾē⁠/) / 𐎛 (ỉ /⁠ʾēyy⁠/, “where”)
    • Old South Arabian:
      • Minaean: 𐩱𐩺 (ʾy, “whichever”)
      • Qatabanian: 𐩱𐩺 (ʾy, “whichever”)
      • Sabaean: 𐩱𐩺 (ʾy, “which”)
  • Ethiopian Semitic:
    • Ge'ez: አይ (ʾäy, “which, what”)
    • Tigre: አዪ (ʾäyi, “which”)
    • Tigrinya: -አይ (-äy) (suffixed to interrogatives)

References

• Eran Cohen (2019) “The Interrogative Element *ʾayy- in Semitic”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft‎^[1], volume 169, number 2, pages 327-342