Status constructus

The status constructus is a special form that a noun has in Semitic languages when another noun follows, which limits the meaning of the first and thus makes it more precise. The two nouns are related to each other in a similar way as in the German or Latin genitive , only that it is not the second, delimiting (the noun rectum ) that has a special form, but the first, which is delimited (the noun regens ). If there are more than two nouns connected in this way, all but the last are in the status constructus.

The status absolutus is the form of a noun that is neither in the status constructus nor is it determined by an attached possessive suffix.

Status constructus is an abbreviation for the entire construction, which is often also called the genitive connection. It is common in Semitic languages and can also be reconstructed for the Proto- Semitic . The modern languages with status constructus include Arabic , Hebrew and Maltese . It is characteristic of status constructus connections that only the last component can be marked with regard to its definiteness . Certain constructions in other Afro-Asian languages, such as Egyptian , are similar, but the limitations for marking definiteness do not apply to them.

Arabic

In Arabic grammar, the status constructus الإضافة / al-iḍāfa (literally "addition, annexation") called.

It is expressed in genitive connections and can be both definite (determined) and indefinite (indefinite) in them . If the noun rectum of the genitive connection (e.g. the owner) is definitive, the noun regens in the status constructus is also definitive in its meaning. Conversely, if the noun rectum is indefinite, so is the noun regens.

Example:

بِنْتٌ bintun is the indefinite form: a girl
اَلْبِنْتُ al-bintu is the definite form: the girl

In the status constructus, the specific form is always used formally for the noun rectum, but without the article ال al- . The certainty can only be recognized by the owner:

أُمٌّ ummun : a mother
بِنْتُ أُمٍّ bintu ummin is indefinite: a mother's girl
بِنْتُ الْأُمِّ bintu l-ummi is definitely: the mother's girl

Expressions like a mother 's girl or a mother's girl cannot be formed using the genitive connection .

Hebrew

In the Hebrew grammar of the construct state is as Smichut referred (סמיכות, literally. "Support"). The first noun in the compound is referred to as Nismach ("supported becoming"), the second noun as Somech ("supporting").

בית bajit - "a house"
ה בית ha Bajit - "the house"
בית bet - “a house of ...; the house of ... "
ספר sefer - "book"
בית־ספר bet sefer - "a school" ("a book house", lit. "a house of a book")
בית־ ה ספר bet ha Sefer - "the school" ("the book house", lit. "the house of the book")

Definiteness

A single noun or the somech of a status constructus connection is definite if it is a name or a noun with the article ha- or with a possessive ending .

In Biblical Hebrew, the rules for definiteness are the same as described above for Arabic : the definiteness of Somech, i.e. the last link in a chain of two or more links, is also the definition of all chain links, so that, for example, “a psalm (indef.) Davids (def.) “cannot be expressed with a status constructus. The numerous Psalm headlines this content loud mismor leDavid , literally "a psalm of David," that is "a psalm, [of] David [is one]."

In modern Hebrew there is the preposition schel , which corresponds very precisely to the German “von”; it consists of the relative pronoun sche- and the preposition le- . In contrast to the status constructus, it allows the definition of nouns to be determined independently of one another through articles or possessive endings ( sefer schel haMore : a book of the teacher; haSefer schel more : the book of a teacher; sifro schel haMore : the book of the teacher, lit. : his book from the teacher). In colloquial language, it often replaces the status constructus, except for compound words such as “book house” (= school) in the example above. The definiteness of a compound is semantically given only by that of Nismach, but is not marked there, but on the Somech.

In Luther's translation

In contrast to the German or Latin genitive, the noun regens is bent (here: bajit → bet ); the noun rectum (that is, the word that would appear in the genitive) is at most changed by the preceding article ha- , not at all for names. Luther imitated this in his German translation of the Bible by not using the German genitive for names - in contrast to other nouns: "Kinder Israel" instead of "Kinder (= descendants) of Israel", "Haus David" instead of "Haus Davids" , "Rotte Korach" instead of "Rotte (= followers) Korach", analogous to "Noah's Ark" instead of "Noah's Ark"; in the version of 1545 also “the God Abraham / the God Jsaac / the God Jacob” instead of “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob”. These forms are gradually being replaced in newer editions, taking into account that some of them have become fixed expressions in everyday German.

Akkadian

Also in Akkadian , where there are still three cases (nom., Gen., Acc.), The stat. constr. in genitive connections. In contrast to Western Semitic languages with a preserved case system, Akkadian nouns in the Constructus status do not have a case ending.

The formation takes place differently depending on the noun:

by omitting the case ending
- bāb-um - "door", ekall-um - "palace"
- Status constructus: bāb ekall-im - "palace gate"
for double consonants: by deleting the nominative ending -u (m) and either simplifying the double consonance or inserting -i:
- ummum - "mother", bētum or bītum - "house"
- Status constructus: um bītim - "the mother of the house"
If a nominal root ends in two different consonants, an auxiliary vowel is inserted between both consonants that corresponds to the root vowel:
- alpum - "cattle", awīlum - "human"
- Status constructus: alap awīlim - "human beings"
Multi-syllable feminine ending in a consonant and the -t- of the feminine ending form the stat. constr. by adding an auxiliary vowel –i:
- napištum - "life", awīlum - "man"
- Status constructus: napišti awīlim - "human life"
There are also some irregular status constructi like:
- ālum - "city", St. c. āl or āli.
- bītum - "house", St. c. bīt or bīti.