Ugaritic and its Promising Insights into Linguistics

I find the similarity in spelling between the Ugaritic word for the self (𐎐𐎔𐎌) and that for the Sun (𐎌𐎔𐎌) very interesting. They share two letters/sounds out of three and the word for self in Ugaritic (𐎐𐎔𐎌) seems to have been coined by replacing a fricative (ʃ) with a nasal (n) . Our understanding of the Ugaritic mythology and belief system might help us understand Ugaritic semantics, which might shed further light and contribute to the linguistic scholarship in regard to the origin of language.

Another thing which attracts my attention is the difference between the Ugaritic word for the Sun and its identical equivalents in both Phoenician (𐤔𐤌𐤔) and Hebrew (שֶׁמֶשׁ). While we have a nasal between two fricatives ( ʃ, m, ʃ) in the Phoenician or Hebrew word, we have a series of three fricatives in the Ugaritic word ( ʃ,f,ʃ).

Rami Ibrahim ©