Nunation and mimation in Semitic

Miguel Carrasquer Vidal, October 2013, revised November 2015.

In most Ancient Semitic languages, a phenomenon can be observed whereby -n (nunation) or -m
(mimation) is suffixed to certain forms (states) of the noun.
The construct state never has nunation or mimation. Other states of the noun may or may not be
affected, as follows:
Akkadian
sg.
nom.
acc.
gen.
pl.
nom.
obl.
du.
nom.
obl.
Arabic
sg.
nom.
acc.
gen.
pl.
nom.
obl.
du.
nom.
obl.

construct
m. f.
- -at
- -at
-i
-ati

det./indet.
m.
f.
-um -atum
-am -atam
-im -atim

-
-

-t
-ti

-
-

-
-

-at -n
-at -n

-atn
-atn

construct
m. f.
-u -atu
-a -ata
-i
-ati

det.
m.
-u
-a
-i

f.
-atu
-ata
-ati

indet.
m.
-un
-an
-in

f.
-atun
-atan
-atin

-
-

-na
-na

-tu
-ti

-na
-na

-tun
-tin

-tu
-ti

- -at -ni -atni -ni -atni

-ay -atay -ayni -atayni -ayni -atayni

Sabaean construct
m.
f.
sg.
-
-t
pl.
-w, -y -t
du.
-y
-ty

-tum
-tim

det.
m.
-n
-n
-nhn1

f.
-tn
-tn
-tnhn

indet.
m.
-m
-n
-n

f.
-tm
-tm
-tn

The grapheme <h> should be read as //, <y> and <w> as // (//) and // (//).

Ugaritic
sg.
nom.
acc.
gen.
pl.
nom.
obl.
du.
nom.
obl.

construct
m. f.
-u -at
-a -at
-i
-ati

det.
m.
-u
-a
-i

-
-

-t
-ti

-ma -tu
-ma -ti

-
-

-at -m
-at -m

Hebrew construct
m. f.
sg.
- -at
pl.
- -t
du.
- -t
Aramaic construct
m. f.
sg.
- -at
pl.
- -t
du.
- *-t

f.
-atu
-ata
-ati

-atm
-atm

det.
m.
-
-m
-ayim

f.
-(h)
-t
-tayim

det.
m.
-
-n
-ayin

f.
-h
-n
-tayin

We can draw the following conclusions:

1. Phonetically, there is only a single suffix *-n. This became *-m after *u (*) in the Auslaut, for
which we can compare for instance the Semitic suffixed verbal forms in *-kun, *-tun > *-kum,
*-tum:
Akk.
Ugar. Hebr. Aram. Arab. Mehri Geez
2pl.m. -tunu -tum -tem -tn
-tum
-km -kmmu
2pl.f. -tini
-tin
-ten
-tn
-tunna -kn
-kn
The development *-un > *-um in these forms is attested everywhere except in Akkadian and
Aramaic. Mimation in the noun, as we saw above, is lacking in Aramaic and Arabic. We can
therefore conclude that the soundlaw affected the whole of Semitic, except perhaps
Aramaic. In Arabic, nunation was generalized. In Ugaritic/Hebrew, mimation was generalized.
Akkadian, and in part Sabaean, generalized -m where -um occurred in the paradigm (in the sg
and pl.), but in the dual retained *-n.
2. Semantically, there are two suffixes: indeterminate *-n and determinate *-n. Indeterminate
*-n occurs on all forms of the noun. Determinate *-n occurs only in the masc. plural and in
the dual (an exception is Sabaean, where *-n has been extended to all determinate forms).
The absence in the Akkadian masc. pl. is due to loss of -m (but not -n) after a long vowel: the
plural adjectives in -tu do show mimation (-tum, -tim).

3. Only Arabic and South Arabian have retained both determinate and indeterminate *-n. In
Sabaean, the two are distinguished by generalization of *-n in the determinate2. In Akkadian
the two have merged (or rather the indeterminate has replaced the determinate), elsewhere
(NW Semitic, Aramaic) only the determinate forms are attested.
4. The indeterminate suffix may be interpreted as an indefinite article.
5. The determinate suffix is a plural definite article. If the absence of *-u/*-a in the Akkadian
construct state is an archaism, the determinate suffix is simply the plural of a postfixed
definite article:
Proto-Semitic
sg. pl.
du.
nom. *-u *-un *-an
obl.
*-a *-in *-ain
6. The Proto-Semitic forms can be reconstructed as follows:
P-Sem
sg.
nom.
acc.
gen.
pl.
nom.
obl.
du.
nom.
obl.

construct
m. f.
- -at
- -at
(-i) (-at-i)

determinate
m.
f.
-u
-at-u
-a
-at-a
-i
-at-i

indeterminate
m.
f.
-un > -um -at-un > -atum
-an
-at-an
-in
-at-in

-
-

-t
-t-i

-n > -m -t-u
-n
-t-i

-n > -m -t-un > -tum

-n
-t-in

-
-ai

-at-
-at-ai

-n
-ain

-at-n -n
-at-ain -ain

-at-n
-at-ain

The absence of the definite article (mimation/nunation) from the fem. pl. seems to be an
inherited feature. The nunation/mimation does occur in the determinate fem. dual.
This indicates that the fem. pl. in *-t should be regarded as a broken plural, i.e.
grammatically a singular form. Only in Aramaic is there a special form -n for the
determinate fem. pl.

References
Lipiski, Edward, 1997, Semitic languages: Outline of a comparative grammar, Leuven/Louvain.
Rets, Jan, 2000, mtyabs: Introduction to Sabaean, Gteborg.

The use of *-n in the indet. masc. pl. probably reflects the oblique *-n.