--- title: "Opuscula Ugaritico-Accadico-Hebraica: Relative particles, paʿam, and Amraphel — Wikander 2019" description: "Two comparative-Semitic etymology studies." authors: ["Ola Wikander"] year: 2019 venue: "Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 19" source: "https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29553" doi: "10.5508/jhs29553" licence: "CC BY 2.5 (Journal of Hebrew Scriptures)" licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/" summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/wikander-2019-opuscula-ugaritico-accadico-hebraica-relative/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/wikander-2019-opuscula-ugaritico-accadico-hebraica-relative/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [2019](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2019/page/5/) / Opuscula Ugaritico-Accadico-Hebraica: Relative particles, paʿam, and Amraphel # Opuscula Ugaritico-Accadico-Hebraica: Relative particles, paʿam, and Amraphel **Authors:** Ola Wikander · **Year:** 2019 · **Venue:** Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 19, article 8 **Link:** [jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/view/29553](https://jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/view/29553) (DOI [10.5508/jhs29553](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29553)) · **Licence:** [CC BY 2.5](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/) [**1** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2954395516) OpenAlex, 2026-10-14 · [Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 19](https://openalex.org/S2764683527) · [licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/) - [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29553) - [PDF](https://jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/download/29553/21566) - [DOI 10.5508/jhs29553](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29553) - [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2954395516) **Authors (1)** 1. [Ola Wikander](https://openalex.org/A5005698237) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6906-1926) · [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org/author/69844673) · h 3 · 33 citations · 93 works Citations and author metrics: OpenAlex, 2026-10-14; authors with the same name are not always told apart. ## What it is about Two comparative-Semitic etymology studies. The first takes up why Biblical Hebrew has two relative particles, אֲשֶׁר and the short שֶׁ־/שַׁ־ (plus rare זוּ). Building on Huehnergard, the author agrees that שֶׁ־ is an unstressed short form of אֲשֶׁר (originally a noun "place", cf. Ugaritic aṯr) and not a loan from Akkadian ša, but argues it also merged with the old accusative form of the Semitic relative pronoun *ðā; that would explain its a/e vowel wavering (שַׁ־ in Judg 5:7, both in Song 1:7) and why it lives, like זוּ, mainly in poetry and late prose, while classical prose uses אֲשֶׁר. The second study links Hebrew פַּעַם ("time" as in "three times", rarely "foot/step") with Ugaritic pamt "time" and pʿn "foot", and with the name Amraphel (Gen 14:1), explaining the irregular sound correspondences by a Levantine scribal pronunciation that confused ʿayin. ## Ideas - I1. Give the Torah dictionary an etymology line for אֲשֶׁר (from "place"; short form שֶׁ־; not from Akkadian ša) and for פַּעַם (concrete "foot/step" > "occurrence, time"), marked as a scholarly proposal with this source. - I2. Count the relative markers in the Torah (אֲשֶׁר vs שֶׁ־ vs זוּ, and the archaic poetic זוּ in Exod 15) by register (prose vs the poems: Gen 49, Exod 15, Num 23–24, Deut 32–33) to show the poetry/prose split the paper relies on. - I3. In the polysemy section, use פַּעַם as a model case of a body-part noun becoming a counter ("this time", "three times"); the trees can separate the two by whether a numeral or demonstrative modifies it. ## For Mova I1 and I3 belong to the dictionary builder and [languages/hbo/10-lexicon.md](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/10-lexicon/) (roots, polysemy, names: Amraphel). I2 is a count for `05-pronouns-particles.md` (the relative) and `12-biblical-mishnaic-modern.md` (שֶׁ־ is the Mishnaic relative), using the register label of the poems. ## Institutions [🎓**Lund University** Lund · Sweden 7 works · 1,229 citations](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/universities/lund-university/) Also on the byline: [Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study](https://ror.org/03gc71b86). Topics[Hebrew & Aramaic](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/hebrew-aramaic/) · [Semitic languages](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/semitic-languages/) ## Cite Cite as Ola Wikander. 2019. Opuscula Ugaritico-Accadico-Hebraica: Relative particles, paʿam, and Amraphel. Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 19. The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.5508/jhs29553](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29553) ```bibtex @article{wikander2019opuscula, title = {{Opuscula Ugaritico-Accadico-Hebraica: Relative particles, paʿam, and Amraphel}}, author = {Ola Wikander}, journal = {Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 19}, year = {2019}, doi = {10.5508/jhs29553}, url = {https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29553} } ``` - [← previous Interfacing the Hebrew Bible: past, present and future applications for the BHSA](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/winther-nielsen-2019-interfacing-hebrew-bible-past-present/) - [next → The East Syriac Psalm Headings in Manuscript 18>8dt1: Manchester, John Rylands Library, Rylands Syriac Manuscript 4](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/rooy-2019-east-syriac-psalm-headings-manuscript/) - [↑ back to papers of 2019](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/2019/page/5/)