Art. IX.—Remarks on the Etymology of Ŝabbāth

Extract

The latest researches on the noun in Semitic languages, in particular those of Prof. Barth and the late Prof. Lagarde, have opened up a vast field for discussion. Although starting from quite heterogeneous principles, yet, as they develop, they show many a point in common if examined more closely. The greater or lesser inclination of the student for speculative philology will lead him to devote his main interest to one of the two theories, but it will not absolve him from bestowing full attention on the other also, on account of its numerous important details. It would, however, be a delusion to think that either theory has completely solved the questions of the Semitic noun. No language allows itself to be confined by hard and fast rules, and Hebrew, like others, has developed many words which will not bear uniform treatment. In particular, words which lived in everybody's mouth, and had to undergo constant wear and tear, defy, more or less, violent attempts to force them within concise rules. An instance of those will form the object of the following remarks.