Ammonite is the extinct Canaanite language of the Ammonite people mentioned in the Bible, who used to live in modern-day Jordan, and after whom its capital Amman is named. Only fragments of their language survive—chiefly the 9th century BC Amman Citadel Inscription,[1] the 7th–6th century BC Tel Siran bronze bottle, and a few ostraca. As far as can be determined from the small corpus, it was extremely similar to Biblical Hebrew, with some possible Aramaic influence including the use of the verb ‘bd (עבד) instead of the more common Biblical Hebrew ‘śh (עשה) for 'make'. The only other notable difference with Biblical Hebrew is the sporadic retention of feminine singular -t (’šħt'cistern', but ‘lyh'high [fem.]'.) Ammonite also appears to have possessed largely typical correspondences of diphthongs, with words such as ywmt (יומת*yawmōt, 'days') both preserving /aw/ and showing a shift to /o/, and other words such as yn (ין'wine') exhibiting a shift of /ay/ to ē (yēn < *yayn) much like Hebrew.[2]
It was first described as a separate language in 1970 by Italian Orientalist Giovanni Garbini.[3] Subsequently, a number of inscriptions previously identified as Hebrew, Phoenician, or Aramaic were reclassified, as a result of consensus around the similarity of the Amman Theatre Inscription, Amman Citadel Inscription, Tell Siren Bottle, Heshbon Ostraca, and Tell el-Mazer Ostraca.[4][5]
^Amman Citadel Inscription
^W. Randall Garr (2004). Dialect Geography of Syria-Palestine, 1000-586 B.C.E. Eisenbrauns. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-57506-091-0. OCLC 1025228731.
^Ahituv 1995.
^Aufrecht 2019: "The discovery of the Amman Theatre Inscription, Amman Citadel Inscription, Tell Siren Bottle, Heshbon Ostraca, and Tell el-Mazer Ostraca opened a new chapter in the study of ancient Northwest Semitic inscriptions with the recognition and analysis of the language and script of ancient Ammon. These new discoveries prompted a reclassification of a number of epigraphic materials previously identified as Hebrew, Phoenician, or Aramaic."
^Richelle, Matthieu (2018-01-01). "Revisiting the Ammonite Ostraca". Maarav. 22 (1–2). University of Chicago Press: 45–77. doi:10.1086/mar201822106. ISSN 0149-5712.
Ammonite is the extinct Canaanite language of the Ammonite people mentioned in the Bible, who used to live in modern-day Jordan, and after whom its capital...
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period, and is considered to be the oldest known inscription in the Ammonitelanguage, written in the Phoenician Alphabet. From the Hellenistic Period,...
similarly poorly-attested Ammonite and Edomite, belonged to the dialect continuum of the Canaanite group of northwest Semitic languages, together with Hebrew...
jar. Amman Citadel Inscription – 9th century BC inscription in the Ammonitelanguage, one of the few surviving written records of Ammon. Melqart stele...
by the mutually intelligible Canaanite languages (including Hebrew, Phoenician, Moabite, Edomite and Ammonite, and perhaps Ekronite, Amalekite and Sutean)...
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Amman: Department of Antiquities. "The Tell Siran Inscription", The AmmoniteLanguage of the Iron Age, BRILL, pp. 35–44, 1983-01-01, retrieved 2023-12-31...
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extinct language may be narrowly defined as a language with no native speakers and no descendant languages. Under this definition, a language becomes...
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Eubostrychoceras is a genus of helically wound, corkscrew form, heteromorph ammonite which lived during the Upper Cretaceous (M Turonian - Campanian). The genus...
influenced by them, worshipping and building shrines to the Moabite and Ammonite gods: So the Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned...
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fossils shells of ancient snails and cephalopods, the latter now known as ammonite because of that historical connection. Ammon, eventually Amon-Ra, was a...
Aman during the second millennium BC and served as the capital of the Ammonite Kingdom, centered at the Amman Citadel. In the 3rd century BC, the city...
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