Proto-Semitic
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Etymology
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Cognate with Egyptian nj ( “ not ” ) .
*lā
not
Interjection
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*lā
no
Descendants
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East Semitic:
West Semitic:
Central Semitic:
Arabic: لَا ( lā ) Gulf Arabic: لَأْ ( laʔ , “ no ” ) , لا ( la , “ don't (used before imperatives) ” ) South Levantine Arabic: لأ ( laʔ ) , لا ( la , “ don't (with imperative or subjunctive) ” ) Maltese: la , le → Swahili: la
Northwest Semitic:
Aramaic: לָא ( lā )
Mandaic: ࡋࡀ ( lā )
Classical Syriac: ܠܳܐ ( lā )
Canaanite:
Hebrew: לֹא ( lo, lōʾ )
Phoenician: 𐤋𐤀 ( lʾ /lū/ )
Ugaritic: 𐎍 ( l /lā-/ )
Modern South Arabian:
Mehri: لَأ ( laʾ )
Harsusi: [script needed] ( laʔ )
References
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Huehnergard, John (2019 ) “Proto-Semitic”, in Huehnergard, John and Na'ama Pat-El, editors, The Semitic Languages , 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN , page 68