Sabaic hrws2 in light of Ancient South Arabian and other Semitic parallels

Abstract

The Sabaic hapax legomenon hrws2, which appears in the inscription al-Miʿsā l 6, is here discussed for the first time. It is compared to the well-known Ancient South Arabian root √rws1, by revaluating some of its occurrences. The distribution of cognate roots in all other Semitic languages which retain them is also analysed. This study allows us not only to reconstruct the semantic value of hrws2, but also to assert the existence of a pair of allomorphic roots in Proto-Semitic.