The Month ʾdr in Safaitic and the Status of Spirantisation in ‘Arabian’ Aramaic

Abstract

Abstract This article discusses the status of spirantisation in the Aramaic of Arabia based on transcriptions in Safaitic and other ancient Arabian languages. I suggest that ‘Arabian’ Aramaic pronunciation stems from an archaic variety of the language introduced by the Babylonians and Achaemenids in the mid-first millennium BCE. This variety lacked post-vocalic spirantisation and formed the basis for the local pronunciation of later Aramaic varieties, accounting for the archaic phonology of Aramaic loans into Arabian languages.