Notes on Tripolitanian neo-Punic.

In 1960 O. Brogan and J. M. Reynolds published seven newly discovered inscriptions from Roman Tripolitania, among them the dedication of a fortified farmhouse (Gasr Isawi) on the Wadi Migdal.(1) The Latin text of eight lines is inscribed within a tabella ansata, below which is a three-line notice in romanized Punic identifying the lapidary scribe. The Punic illustrates four features of the Tripolitanian dialect that are of considerable grammatical interest: (i) the allomorphs of the possessive pronoun of the third masculine plural in complementary distribution; (ii) the vocalization of the definite article; (iii) the independent personal pronoun of the third person used as a true demonstrative; and (iv) the periphrasis of the passive voice by the third person plural of the active. Inasmuch as the Punic text has never been discussed critically, I present here a concise philological commentary, focusing attention on the new grammatical information it yields for late Punic in general and the dialect of Tripolitania in particular.(2)

The Text

9 BYNOM

10 MRAVSYN AV[R]YS FELV TABVL-

11 A Y BVD BANNOM

Their son Mrausyn is the engraver. This tablet was made by their son.

Notes

BYNOM: 'their son'. The substantive byn with the possessive pronoun -om of the third masculine plural. The substantive is in the nominative case, hence the use of the form -om of the pronoun. In line 11, we find bannom 'their son' in the genitive case (governed by the preposition bud) and, therefore, receiving the allomorph -nom of the pronoun. The allomorphs -om and -nom and the pattern of their distribution are entirely consistent with standard Phoenician and Punic morphology and syntax.(3) This is of considerable interest since the dialect did not retain the allomorphs of the possessive pronoun of the third masculine singular in the pattern of complementary distribution of standard Phoenician-Punic. Thus, standard literary Punic used /-o/ "his" with substantives in the nominative and /-i(m)/ with those in the genitive.(4) In contrast, Tripolitanian had /-i(m)/ with both cases. Nominative: IRT 889.1-2a FLABI DASAMA VYBINIM MACRINE FELV CENTEINARI, "Flavius Dasama and his son Macrinus made (this) fortified farmhouse"; IRT 906.1-2a THANVBDA VBYNE FELV MYNSTYFTH, "Thanubda and his son Nasif made (this) stele"; Genitive: IRT 873.1-5 MYNSTYFTH Y MV FEL BIBI MVTHV-NILIM VINSTEB LIBINIM MVTHVNILIM "This stele is that which Bibi Muthunilim made and erected to his son Muthunilim."(5)

MRAVSYN. Evidently a Libyan name but not elsewhere attested in the Punic inscriptions.

AVRYS: 'the engraver, lapidary scribe'. The G-stem (qal) active participle of the verb /h-r-s/, attested in the Phoenician and Punic inscriptions in the form hrs. The shape /CuCyC/ is characteristic of the participle in Neo-Punic. Compare Tripolitanian buny, 'architect' (IRT 906.4) and Plautine dubyr, 'says' (Poenulus, 936). Prefixed to the substantive is the definite article a-, the same form found in Plautine Neo-Punic aelichoth, 'hospitality' (Poenulus, 937). In this dialect a- /a-/ was the allomorph of y- /yC-/. The former is an open unstressed syllable used with substantives beginning with a vowel, while the latter is a closed unstressed syllable, used with substantives beginning with a consonant. Compare Tripolitanian ybur /ybbur/, 'the tomb', in AI I (1927): 233, lines 1-2a: FEL THYBVR LICINI PISO, "Licinius Piso made (this) tomb."(6)

...