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Copyright

Lutz Edzard;

Published On

2025-03-07

Page Range

pp. 555–576

Language

  • English

Print Length

22 pages

Loan Translation or Independent Development

The Figura Etymologica in Semitic and in Yiddish

  • Lutz Edzard (author)
Chapter of: Interconnected Traditions: Semitic Languages, Literatures, Cultures—A Festschrift for Geoffrey Khan: Volume 1: Hebrew and the Wider Semitic World(pp. 555–576)
The study examines the figura etymologica, particularly the tautological infinitive, in Semitic and Yiddish. It evaluates whether this linguistic phenomenon arises from loan translation, as with Semitic influence on Jewish languages, or through independent development across languages. Examples from classical Semitic languages, like Akkadian, Arabic, and Hebrew, as well as Yiddish, German dialects, and Indo-European languages, illustrate the construction’s versatility. While the tautological infinitive often emphasises intensity or stylistic reinforcement, it also serves other discourse functions. In Yiddish, arguments for Semitic origin, especially through Hebrew influence, compete with claims for an autochthonous development rooted in Germanic dialects and broader typological trends. The analysis supports a hybrid understanding, recognising both external influences and independent emergence within Yiddish and other languages.

Contributors

Lutz Edzard

(author)
Officer for the Prevention of Antisemitism and Professor of Arabic and Semitic linguistics at University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Lutz Edzard (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) is Officer for the Prevention of Antisemitism and Professor of Arabic and Semitic linguistics at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. His research interests include comparative Semitic and Afroasiatic linguistics with a focus on phonology, Arabic and Hebrew linguistics, and the history of diplomatic documents in Semitic languages. He is the editor, together with Rudolf de Jong, of the Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics online at Brill, and, with Stephan Guth, of the online Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies. He serves as the Semitics editor for Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft and, with Stephan Guth, as the editor for the series Porta Linguarum Orientalium at Harrassowitz.