The aim of this paper is to revisit the origins of the Arabic negator lāta which occurs once in the Qura’n meaning “it was not”. Unlike the negative copula laysa, it does not conjugate and it is another way to negate a sentence. In the scholarship lāta is generally regarded as a loan or as an Arabic-internal formation, but there is not a certain opinion about its origin and today its etymology is debated. Common opinion regard lāta as a reflection of the combination of North-West Semitic negator *lā “not” and the existential particle *’iṯ “there is/are”. lāta is probably a crystallised form of Aramaic lyt or l’yt “there is/are not” which is attested from Old Aramaic lyšh. This negation particle survived and entered Arabic assuming an arabized form.
Arabic Negator lāta as Token of Aramaic Linguistic Heritage: An Etymological reconsideration
Giuseppe Petrantoni
2023-01-01
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to revisit the origins of the Arabic negator lāta which occurs once in the Qura’n meaning “it was not”. Unlike the negative copula laysa, it does not conjugate and it is another way to negate a sentence. In the scholarship lāta is generally regarded as a loan or as an Arabic-internal formation, but there is not a certain opinion about its origin and today its etymology is debated. Common opinion regard lāta as a reflection of the combination of North-West Semitic negator *lā “not” and the existential particle *’iṯ “there is/are”. lāta is probably a crystallised form of Aramaic lyt or l’yt “there is/are not” which is attested from Old Aramaic lyšh. This negation particle survived and entered Arabic assuming an arabized form.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
