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# 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 · 2026-10-18[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) · h 3 · 33 citations · 93 works

Citations and author metrics from openalex (2026-10-18); 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 `macula dict` and [The lexicon](https://md.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.

Topics: [Akkadian and cuneiform NLP](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/topics/akkadian-cuneiform-nlp/)

## Cite

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)

```
@article{wikander2019opuscula,
  title = {{Opuscula Ugaritico-Accadico-Hebraica: Relative particles, paʿam, and Amraphel}},
  author = {Wikander, Ola},
  journal = {Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 19},
  year = {2019},
  doi = {10.5508/jhs29553},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29553}
}
```

- [← previous Sound Changes in the (Pre-)Masoretic Reading Tradition and the Original Pronunciation of Biblical Aramaic](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/hbo-2019-suchard-sound-changes-pre-masoretic-reading/)
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