Светлой памяти Нины Макаровны Чередеевой-


-----Солнце языкаLe Soleil du langageشمس اللغةEl Sol del lenguajeThe Sun of Language

ܝܬܝܪ ܡܢ ܐܪܒܥܝܢ ܓܒܪܝܢ ܡܢܗܘܢ ܢܛܪܝܢ ܠܗ

The above New Testament Aramaic passage reads: 'more than forty men of them are watching him' – in another version, 'are lying in wait for him'. Two words – **ܡܢܗܘܢ** [mnhun] 'from among them' and **ܢܛܪܝܢ** [naṭrīn] 'are watching; waiting' (respectively corresponding to Arabic **منهم** [mínhum] and **منتظرون** [muntaÐirūn]) – cannot escape the attention of anyone familiar with Levantine, both words representing exact matches of present-day (particularly Mount-Lebanon) **منهن** [mnhun] 'of them' and **ناطرين** [naṭrīn] 'are waiting', at once revealing the Aramaic substrate of the latter and pointing to the shift in meaning from the original 'watch' to the more abstract 'wait' (cf. **ناطور** [naṭūr] 'guard; concierge' vs. **ناطر** [nāṭir] 'waiting'). English *wait* itself attests to the same shift, as does its cognate *wachten* (cf. German/ Middle Dutch *wachten* 'watch' vs. Modern Dutch *wachten* 'wait'). The Arabic cognate of Levantine **نطر** [naṭar] (from Syrian ܢܛܪ [nṭar] 'watch') is **نظر** [naÐara] 'look' – hence **انتظر** [intaÐara] 'wait' (literally 'look out for') and **ناظر** [nāÐir] 'supervisor' (counterpart of Levantine **ناطور** [naṭūr] 'guard; concierge').

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