Phonizisch-punische grammatik.

• Author: Schmitz, Philip C.
• Position: Review

Phonizisch-Punische Grammatik. By JOHANNES FRIEDRICH and WOLFGANG ROLLIG. Third edition, revised by MARIA GIULIA AMADASI GUZZO with the assistance of Werner R. Mayer. Analecta Orientalia, vol. 55. Rome: EDITRICE PONTIFICIO ISTITUTO BIBLICO, 1999. Pp. xxxviii + 266, plates. LIt 70,000, $43 (paper).

The third edition of Phonizisch-Punische Grammatik is an exhaustive revision. As W. Rollig, who in 1970 produced the second edition of J. Friedrich's original publication (1951). explains in the forward to this third edition, his own notes for a revision were reworked and augmented by M. G. Amadasi Guzzo, with additional contributions by W. R. Mayer. Scholars of Phoenician-Punic grammar will instantly recognize that this volume renders all previously published grammars of the language obsolete. At each linguistic level the reader encounters satisfying resolutions of old problems and sophisticated interpretations of newer ones.

The third edition is about thirty percent larger than the second. The numbered sections have been augmented with continuations in twelve cases (79 bis, 92 bis, 96 bis. 124 bis, 145 bis, 145 ter, 185 bis, 192 bis, 243 bis, 298 bis, 316 bis, 322 bis), and two new sections have been added at the end (331, 332 [the section heading in the table of contents under "3. Teil. Syntax" (p. xviii) should be corrected to reflect this]). Two paragraphs (88, 307) from the second edition have been stricken from the third (pars. 59 and 276 were removed in the second edition). Numerous sections have been revised, some completely rewritten. Hebrew letters have been set in a handsome font, and pointing, sparingly used, is much more legible in this edition. Basic literacy in Hebrew and Greek continues to be assumed by the editors, as well it should be; abundant Roman-letter vocalizations of Semitic words make the volume accessible to non-specialist linguists as well.

The relevance of Amarna Canaanite and Ugaritic has diminished, Rollig points out (p. ix). Phonological and morphological description have advanced because of intensive study of Northwest Semitic personal names (especially by Benz, Vattioni, Jongeling, and Zadok), interpretation of the Punic passages of Plautus' Poenulus (Sznycer, Gratwick, Krahmalkov), and grammatical analysis of the Neo-Punic inscriptions written in Latin letters (bibliography, p. xxxviii). In this last area, Charles Krahmalkov has made the most significant gains (p. 2). Because Latino-Punic inscriptions reveal the...