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363 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Semitic Languages

alongside of the Indo-European. Their most marked peculiarity is their triliteralism; most stems consist of three consonants, on which, by z. Morphol- prefixes, atfixes, infixes, and internal

ogy and vowel-changes, all derived forms are Syntax. made. The noun has gender (mascu line and feminine), number and case. The verb has gender, number and person, but prop erly no distinction of tense (in the sense of time), instead of which there are two forms which denote respectively completedness and ingressiveness of action. The notions of reflection, intensity, causa tion, are expressed by derived verbal stems made by prefixes and infixes. The Semitic syntax is marked by great simplicity of articulation. The different clauses of the sentence are, for the most part, connected by the most general word " and "; ,' there is little or no inversion and transposition for rhetorical effect; and there are no elaborate periods. The structure is commonly and properly described as monumental or lapidary. The most striking special peculiarity of the syntax is the phonetic abridgment of the noun (the construct state; [in Hebrew, where one word is limited by another, not the limiting but the limited word is changed in form to the " construct state," so that the Indo-European genitive relation is in a manner reversed]) to show that it is defined by the following word or clause. The absence of compounds (except in proper names) is another marked feature-an illustration of the isolating character of the thought. The whole conception of the sentence is detached, isolated, and picturesque. Of these general Semitic character istics the Hebrew and Assyrian, which first pro duced literatures, show the most, and the Aramaic and Arabic, whose literary life began late, the least.

The Semitic word-material differs greatly according to the periods and the circumstances of the various peoples. The pre-Christian literary remains are very scanty. From the Israelites

3. Vocabu- there have come down only a few prolary and phetical discourses, historical books,

Style. sacred hymns, and ethical works, together with several law books, no secular productions except the Song of Songs; from the Babylonians and the Assyrians, somewhat moreroyal and commercial inscriptions, geographical, astronomical, grammatical, and religious works, and fragments of epic and other poems; from the Phenicians, a few short inscriptions; and from the others, nothing. The Hebrew vocabulary is full in terms relating to religious feelings and acts, scanty in philosophical and artistic terms and in names of things pertaining to common life; the Assyrian has more of the last, but is almost equally rich in the first. In later times, however, the Aramaic (classical and Jewish), and the Arabic under Greek influence, created larger vocabularies, and developed some power of philosophical expression. The Hebrew vocabulary is now being enlarged in this direction by the Jews. From the nature of the national culture, these languages, though their vocabularies are sometimes (the Arabic especially) very large, do not satisfy the needs of western life. They multiply words for objects and acts which we do not care to particularX.-23

ize, and.are deficient in terms for those which we wish to express with ,precision. The above description of the vocabulary and syntax will serve to characterize the style and thought of the Semitic tongues. The highest artistic shape they have not, either in prose or in poetry. They do not readily lend themselves to philosophy proper or to art. But in the simple expression of emotion, and the condensation of practical wisdom into household words, they are not surpassed by the most highly developed Indo-European languages: in these respects the Bible has an acknowledged preeminence.

V. Literary Products: It will be sufficient here to mention briefly the general characteristics of the literature of the Semitic languages. Of the different forms of poetry the Semites have produced little more than the lyric, as in the Old-Testament Psalms, the Syrian hymns, and the Arabian Kasidas. The old Babylonian inscriptions contain two cosmological poems of great interest, and the Gilgamesh (formerly written Izdubar) cycle of stories has an epic tone; but this cycle has not a definite literary unity like the Iliad, and it is uncertain how much of all the early poetical material is derived from a non-Semitic (that is, Sumerian) source; the rhythmic form is in part Semitic. The Semites have never produced a native drama. Neither the Book of Job nor the Song of Songs is a drama; the former is a colloquy of five men who make long argumentative speeches, and the question is summed up in a group of discourses by Yahweh; the latter is a collection of loosely connected wedding-songs, without plot or movement. The drama of the late poet Ezekiel has been regarded as an imitation of Greek models. The subjective character of the Semitic poetic thought is obvious: actions or phenomena in outward nature or in human life are generally described not for their own sake, but as a part of the feeling of the writer. As poetry it takes high rank. The Hebrew lyrics are sonorous and rhythmical; the Arabian are ingenious and lively; the Syrian, however, are tame. The metrical form of Hebrew poetry (see HEBREW LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, III.), and to some extent of Babylonian, is parallelism of members, and the rhythmic progression is by stress of voice, not by length and number of syllables-a member is defined as having two, three, or four beats; the Arabic, however, has a well-defined system of feet characterized by number and length of syllables. Rime appears first in Syriac Christian hymns, and is feebly represented in Arabic. The historical writing of the Semites has never attained a scientific or artistic form. It is either baldly annalistic (as parts of the Old-Testament Book of Kings, the Assyrian royal inscriptions, and the Arabic histories), or, when it attempts more connected presentation of the facts, it is subjective and pragmatic, arranging the historical facts so as to point a moral or support a theory. In one department, prophetic discourse, the Semitic literature is unrivaled; there is nothing in any other family of languages like the prophetic oratory of the Old Testament, or the declamation of the Koran. In other departments, as fiction and philosophy, the Semites have never been original, but always imitators (Thousand and One Nights, the Arabian philosophy;