A Corpus-Based Swadesh Word List for Literary Christian Urmi (New Alphabet Texts)

Alexey Lyavdansky1

1. Introduction

The aim of this paper is to compile a basic word list for the literary Neo-Aramaic dialect of the Christians of Urmi and establish their etymologies. This study is intended as a starting point for a comparison of the lexicon in all dialects of the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) subgroup. Literary Christian Urmi is chosen for this study because it is attested in a very large corpus of texts.

Research of Neo-Aramaic in recent decades has produced descriptions of many dialects, especially within the NENA dialect subgroup.2 We are now, therefore, in a good position to attempt to understand the genealogical relationships between the dialects.

Hoberman (1988) has suggested a reconstruction of the proto-NENA pronominal system. One of the conclusions of Hoberman’s study was that the dialects of Northern Iraqi Kurdistan share some morphological innovations, which may help to single them out as a cohesive subgroup. Fox (1994) attempts to explore relationships within NENA according to selected phonological, morphological and lexical features. The outcome of Fox’s study was the identification of three major clusters of isoglosses, which, however, need to be checked with a broader range of data.3

In this paper I shall present a Swadesh list of 110 basic words (following the version of Kassian et al. 2010) that are attested in a corpus of literary Christian Urmi.

The corpus used for this purpose consists of a collection of books and newspapers issued in the latinised alphabet in Soviet Russia and Georgia from 1929 to 1938. This corpus was chosen on the assumption that these textual data provide sufficient documentation needed to create a basic word list. There are certain drawbacks in using literary texts for this purpose, because the language of literature and journalism may not reflect the true usage of a natural spoken language. The lexical features of the literary register, however, usually do not affect the usage within the scope of word lists consisting of 100 or even 200 words. It is important to note, however, that data c ollected from fieldwork are usually restricted in volume. The currently largest collection of spoken narrative texts of a Neo-Aramaic dialect (Khan 2016) amounts to approximately 70,000 words.

2. The Corpus4

The books and newspapers in the Assyrian new alphabet (Novij Alfavit, henceforth NA) were published in Moscow and Tbilisi from 1929 to 1938. This project was an integral part of the latinisation campaign in the Soviet Union (Smith 1998, 121–42). After 1938 the publication of Assyrian books and the newspaper in NA ceased because most of the authors, editors and translators had been condemned to death by the Stalinist regime.

It is important to note that the books dated 1929–1931 were printed using the earlier variety of the Assyrian new alphabet, which is basically Cyrillic with the admixture of some Latin letters (t, d, j, l). A modified variety of the Assyrian NA was introduced in 1931 and was used later as a standard, with some further changes adopted in 1933. A table of correspondences between the transcription notations used by various scholars and the graphemes of the Assyrian NA is given in the appendix to this paper.

The corpus includes 172 books and approximately 270 issues of the newspaper Kokhva d Madinkha with the texts in NA.5 The genres of the books are the following: translations of Russian literary texts (the largest part of the corpus), original literary fiction in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, school textbooks, popular scientific texts, Soviet propagandistic and atheistic literature. Currently the corpus of digitised texts amounts to approximately 630,000 words from the 46 books.6 The word ‘digitised’ here means that the texts are available in the doc/txt formats and electronically searchable. Recently the morphologically tagged corpus of the texts in NA has been made available for queries at: .

3. The Method of Presentation of the Results

Two kinds of queries were performed in order to determine the exponents of the meanings of the basic word list. First, the meanings of the word list were searched for in the Russian originals of the translated texts.7 The corresponding exponent was checked in the Neo-Aramaic translation. Second, the word count of the exponents was performed on the basis of the textual database of approximately 630,000 words. In some cases I searched in the literature beyond the digitised corpus. I did this, for example, for anatomical terms such as foot. They were found in a school textbook on natural science. In the case of the words with high frequency, the word count was made on a sample textual file of 37,000 words.

Each entry in the following list of basic words consists of:

the meaning
the exponent
the etymological data on the exponent
textual examples
discussion

For the lexemes with clear Aramaic origin the comparative data are adduced in the following order: Classical Syriac, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, Classical Mandaic. These three languages are subsumed under the term ‘Middle Eastern Aramaic’ (henceforth MEA).8

4. The 110 Swadesh List

The 110 Swadesh word list for the corpus of Neo-Aramaic texts in the New Alphabet is as follows.

(1)	all
	kul, kull-. > 50×.
	MEA: kul, kol ‘all’ (SL 622); kullā (DJBA 559); kul (MD 206).

(2)	ash
	qьţma. 34×.
	MEA: qeṭmā ‘ash’ (SL 1353); qiṭmā ‘ash’ (DJBA 1011); giṭma, gaṭma ‘ash’ (MD 89).

(3)	bark
	qəlpə. 16×.
	MEA: qlāp̄tā ‘bark, shell’ (SL 1375); qlāp̄ṯā ‘peel, shell’ (DJBA 1022); qlapta ‘shell, hard casing’ (MD 413).
	çuluxtə. 4×.
	< Kurd. çûlik ‘peau, pelure, coquille, écorce’ (DKF 318).

In most of its uses qəlpə refers to objects similar to the bark of the tree: eggshell, nutshell, watermelon rinds, or, metaphorically, the turtle shell. There is only one clear usage of qəlpə in a translated text: Kirvijşi d meşə в leləvəti ki axlьj qəlpə d ijləni ‘The hares feed at night on tree bark’ (THH 21/1). The other one renders original Russian кора ‘bark’, but the text speaks metaphorically about the turtle shell (THH 10/4).

(4)	belly
	kisə. > 50×.
	MEA: karsā ‘belly, stomach’ (SL 655); karsā ‘stomach, rumen, womb’ (DJBA 603); karsa ‘belly, stomach; womb, uterus’ (MD 201). For the loss of the consonant *r in the same position, cf. qənə ‘horn’ < MEA qarnā.9

(5)	big
	gura. > 50×.
	< ? Kurd. (K) gir ‘gros, grand’ (DKF 568); gir, gur ‘large, big’ (Chyet 213); Kurd. (S) gewre ‘grand, gros’ (DKF 557). The Kurdish etymology for C. Urmi gura is suggested in (Khan 2016, vol. 3, 169) with a question mark.

(6)	bird
	ţera. > 50×.
	MEA: ṭayrā ‘bird’ (SL 528).

(7)	to bite
	qraţa. 10×.
	MEA: qrṭ pe.‘to gnaw, to wound with the beak’ (SL 1405); ṭrq pe. ‘to hit, sting, bite’ (DJBA 519).
	njasa. 4×.
	The etymology is uncertain. Cf. ngs pe. ‘to eat’ (DJPA 340; Mutzafi 2004, 234).

(8)	black
	kumə. > 50×.
	MEA: kōmā ‘black’ (SL 608); ʾukkāmā ‘black’ (SL 15); ʾukkām ‘black’ (DJBA 88); ʿukma ‘blackness’ (MD 343).

(9)	blood
	dimmə. > 50×.
	MEA: dmā ‘blood’ (SL 307); dmā ‘blood’ (DJBA 340); dma, adma ‘blood’ (MD 111, 8).

(10)	bone
	gərmə. > 50×.
	MEA: garmā ‘bone’ (SL 261); garmā ‘bone’ (DJBA 302); girma (MD 92).

(11)	breast (chest)
	sadra. > 50×.
	Pers. ṣadr ‘breast’ (CPED 783) < Arab. ṣadr ‘Brust’ (AWSG 701).

(12)	to burn (intr.)
	qjədə. > 50×.
	MEA: yqd ‘to burn’ (intr.) (MD 193); yqd af ‘to burn’ (tr.) (SL 580); yqd af ‘to set on fire’ (DJBA 540).

(13)	cloud
	ajva. > 50×.
	MEA: ʿaybā ‘obnubilatio, nubes humidae’ (TS 2824); ʿēḇā ‘dark cloud, cloudiness’ (DJBA 850); aiba ‘cloud, fog, mist, darkness’ (MD 14).

(14)	cold
	qajra. > 50×.
	MEA: qrr pe. ‘to be cold, frosty’ (SL 1417); qrr pe. ‘to cool down’ (DJBA 1047).
	qarьjra. 23×.
	MEA: qarrirā ‘cold’ (SL 1409); qarrīr ‘cold’ (DJBA 1043); qarir (MD 403).

(15)	to come
	təjə. > 50×.
	MEA: ʾty ‘to come’ (SL 110); ʾty ‘to come’ (DJBA 176); ata (MD 41).

(16)	to die
	mjətə. > 50×.
	MEA: mwt ‘to die’ (SL 731); mwt ‘to die’ (DJBA 650); mut ‘to die’ (MD 263).

(17)	dog
	kəlвə. > 50×.
	MEA: kalbā ‘dog’ (SL 622); kalbā ‘dog’ (DJBA 580); kalba ‘dog’ (MD 197).

(18)	to drink
	ştəjə. > 50×.
	MEA: šty ‘to drink’ (SL 1614); šty ‘to drink’ (DJBA 1184); šta ‘to drink’ (MD 476).

(19)	dry
	вəruzə. > 50×.
	The etymology is uncertain. Cf. Arab. barāz- ‘champ, vaste plaine sans arbres’ (BK 110; Mutzafi 2008, 340).

(20)	ear
	nətə. > 50×.
	Syr. ʾeḏnāṯā, pl. of ʾeḏnā ‘ear’ (SL 10); cf. 17 cent. Telkepe nhāṯa < Syr. ʾeḏnāhāṯā (Mutzafi 2005, 84, n. 5; Mutzafi 2008, 366).

(21)	earth
	uprə. > 50×.
	MEA: ʿap̄rā ‘dust; earth, soil’ (SL 1124); ʿap̄rā ‘earth, dust, powder’ (DJBA 875); apra ‘dust, ashes’ (MD 32).

(22)	to eat
	xala. > 50×.
	MEA: ʾkl ‘to eat’ (SL 41), ʾkl ‘to eat’ (DJBA 129); akl ‘to eat’ (MD 16).

(23)	egg
	вitə. 24×.
	MEA: bēʿṯā ‘egg’ (SL 143); bayʿṯā, bēṯā ‘egg’ (DJBA 204); bita ‘egg’ (MD 64).

(24)	eye
	ajna. > 50×.
	MEA: ʿaynā ‘eye’ (SL 1097); ʿēnā ‘eye, sight’ (DJBA 855); ayna ‘eye’ (MD 15).

(25)	far
	rixqə. > 50×.
	< MEA: rḥq ‘to go away’ (SL 1458); rḥq ‘to be far away’ (DJBA 1071); rhq ‘to be far’ (MD 427).

(26)	fat
	tərвə. 8×.
	< MEA: tarbā ‘fat’ (SL 1663f.); tarbā ‘fat’ (DJBA 1230); tirba ‘fat of animals’ (MD 486).

(27)	feather
	pərrə. 14×.
	< Pers. par, parr ‘a wing, a feather’ (CPED 239); Kurd. p’er̄ ‘feather, wing’ (Chyet 439); Azer. pər ‘Flügel’ (ADW 512).

(28)	fire
	nurə. > 50×.
	MEA: nūrā ‘fire’ (SL 904); nūrā ‘fire’ (DJBA 738); nura ‘fire’ (MD 294).

(29)	fish
	nunə. > 50×.
	MEA: nūnā ‘fish’ (SL 900); nūnā ‘fish’ (DJBA 737); nuna ‘fish’ (MD 294).

(30)	to fly
	prəxə. > 50×.
	MEA: prḥ pe. ‘to fly’ (SL 1235); prḥ pe. ‘to fly’ (DJBA 930); phr pe. ‘to fly’, pra pe. ‘to fly’ (MD 366, 377).

(31)	foot
	pənçə. 3×.
	< Pers. panj ‘five’ (CPED 256). For this etymology, see Khan (2016, vol. 3, 249). Əqlə itlə ьţma, şəqə u pənçə. ‘The leg consists of the thigh, the shin and the foot’ (TEK II 74/23).

(32)	full
	miljə. > 50×.
	MEA: mly ‘to fill up’ (SL 768); mly ‘to be full’ (DJBA 678); mla ‘to fill, be full’ (MD 272).

(33)	to give
	jəvə. > 50×.
	MEA: yhb ‘to give’ (SL 565); yhb ‘to give’ (DJBA 526); yhb ‘to give’ (MD 189).

(34)	to go
	zələ. > 50×.
	MEA: ʾzl ‘to go’ (SL 24); ʾzl ‘to go, travel’ (DJBA 100); azl ‘to go, move on’ (MD 12).

(35)	good
	spaj. > 50×.
	< Kurd. spehî ‘beau, belle, joli’ (DKF 1539).

(36)	green
	qijnə. > 50×.
	The etymology is unclear.
	mijlənə. 10×.
	< Pers. mīnā ‘a blue, blueish green, green colour’ (CPED 1364; Khan 2016, vol. 3, 220).

(37)	hair
	kosə. 37×.
	< Syriac sawkā ‘branch, twig’ (SL 978f.).10
	mьsta. 27×.
	MEA: mezṯā ‘hair’ (SL 736); mazzyā ‘(coll.) hair’ (DJBA 652); manza ‘hair’ (MD 248). In some cases mьsta is used as nomen unitatis for ‘hair’.

(38)	hand
	ijdə. > 50×.
	MEA: īḏā ‘hand’ (SL 31); yḏā ‘hand, possession’ (DJBA 523); ʿda ‘hand’ (MD 341).

(39)	head
	rişə. > 50×.
	MEA: rēšā ‘head’ (SL 1462); rēšā ‘head, top part’ (DJBA 1078); riša ‘head, top’ (MD 434).

(40)	to hear
	şmaja. > 50×.
	MEA: šmʿ ‘to hear, listen to’ (SL 1574); šmʿ ‘to hear’ (DJBA 1158); šma ‘to hear, listen’ (MD 469).

(41)	heart
	liввə. > 50×.
	MEA: lebbā ‘heart’ (SL 666); libbā ‘heart’ (DJBA 623); liba ‘heart’ (MD 234).

(42)	heavy
	jaqura. > 50×.
	MEA: yqr ‘to be heavy’ (SL 582); yqr ‘to increase in value’ (DJBA 540); MD yqr ‘to honor, respect’.

(43)	horn
	qənə. 41×.11
	MEA: qarnā ‘horn’ (SL 1412); qarnā ‘horn’ (DJBA 1044); qarna ‘horn’ (MD 403).

(44)	I
	ənə.> 50×.
	MEA: enā ‘I’ (SL 58); ănā ‘I’ (DJBA 143); ana ‘I’ (MD 24).

(45)	to kill
	qţala. > 50×.
	MEA: qṭl ‘to kill’ (SL 1352); qṭl ‘to kill’ (DJBA 1006); gṭl ‘to kill’ (MD 87).

(46)	knee
	вirkə. > 50×.
	MEA: burkā ‘knee’ (SL 131); birkā ‘knee’ (DJBA 206); burka ‘knee’ (MD 57).

(47)	to know
	daja. > 50×.
	MEA: ydʿ ‘to know’ (SL 563); ydʿ ‘to know’ (DJBA 525); yda ‘to know’ (MD 188).

(48)	leaf
	ţarpa. 22×.
	MEA: ṭarpā ‘leaf’ (SL 555); ătarpā ‘leaf’ (DJBA 108); aṭirpa ‘leaf’ (MD 13).

(49)	to lie (a stative situation)
	dməxə. > 50×.
	MEA: dmk ‘to sleep’ (SL 310); dmk ‘to lie’ (DJBA 343).

(50)	liver
	çigar. 2×.12
	< Azer. ciyər, qara ciyər ‘Leber’ (ADW 184).

(51)	long
	jarьjxa. 51×.
	MEA: arrīḵ ‘long’ (SL 99); arīḵ ‘tall, long’ (DJBA 167); arika ‘long’ (MD 37).

(52)	louse
	qəlmə. 6×.
	MEA: qalmā ‘louse’ (SL 1372); qalmṯā ‘vermin’ (DJBA 1021).

(53)	man (male)
	urzə. > 50×.
	The etymology is uncertain. For the suggestion to derive it from Sanskrit vr̥ṣán ‘big, strong, male, ox’, see Nöldeke (1868, 385).13
	gorə. It is not yet clear, perhaps gorə should be included as a synonym, but it refers to ‘husband’ in most cases.

(54)	man (human being)
	nəşə. > 50×.
	MEA: nāšā ‘man, human beings’ (SL 65); ināšā ‘man’ (DJBA 120); (a)naša ‘human being’ (MD 24).
	вarnəşə. > 50×.
	The ratio of the usage of nəşə to вarnəşə is 10:1. Therefore, nəşə is the main exponent of the meaning in question.

(55)	many
	raвa. > 50×.
	MEA: rābā ‘great, large’ (SL 1425).

(56)	meat
	вьsra. > 50×.
	MEA: besrā ‘flesh, meat’ (SL 167); bisrā ‘flesh, meat’ (DJBA 207); bisra ‘flesh, meat’ (MD 62).

(57)	moon
	sara. > 50×.
	MEA: sahrā ‘moon’ (SL 974); sehrā ‘moon’ (DJBA 800); sira ‘moon’ (MD 329).

(58)	mountain
	ţura. > 50×.
	MEA: ṭūrā ‘mountain’ (SL 521); ṭūrā ‘mountain’ (DJBA 498); ṭura ‘mountain, hill’ (MD 178).

(59)	mouth
	pummə. > 50×.
	MEA: pūmā ‘mouth’ (SL 1165); pūmā ‘mouth’ (DJBA 889); puma ‘mouth’ (MD 368).

(60)	nail
	ţupurta. 14×.
	MEA: ṭep̄rā ‘nail, claw, talon’ (SL 548); ṭup̄rā ‘fingernail, toenail’ (DJBA 498); ṭupra ‘claw, nail’ (MD 178).

(61)	name
	şimmə. > 50×.
	MEA: šmā ‘name’ (SL 1569); šmā ‘name’ (DJBA 1153); šuma ‘name, reputation’ (MD 454).

(62)	near
	qurвə. 10×.
	MEA: qrb ‘to approach to, be near’ (SL 1400); qrb ‘to come near, bring near’ (DJBA 1037); qrb ‘to approach, draw near’ (MD 415).

(63)	neck
	qdələ. > 50×.
	MEA: qḏālā ‘neck’ (SL 1317); qḏālā ‘neck’ (DJBA 984).

(64)	new
	xətə. > 50×.
	MEA: ḥaṯā ‘new’ (SL 418); ḥăḏaṯ ‘new’ (DJBA 433); hadta ‘new’ (MD 116).

(65)	night
	leli. > 50×.
	MEA: lelyā ‘night’ (SL 691); lelyā ‘night’ (DJBA 626); lilia ‘night’ (MD 236).

(66)	nose
	nəxijrə. 34×.
	MEA: nḥīrā ‘nasus’ (TS 2340); nḥīrā ‘nostril’ (DJBA 741); nhira ‘nose’ (MD 291).

(67)	not
	lə, le. > 50×.
	MEA: lā ‘no’ (SL 665); lā ‘no’ (DJBA 613); lā ‘no, not’ (MD 227).

(68)	one
	xə. > 50×.
	MEA: ḥaḏ ‘one’ (SL 413); ḥaḏ ‘one’ (DJBA 430); had ‘one, single’ (MD 116).

(69)	rain
	mьţra. > 50×.
	MEA: meṭrā ‘rain’ (SL 749); miṭrā ‘rain’ (DJBA 665); miṭra ‘rain’ (MD 266).

(70)	red
	smuqə. > 50×.
	MEA: summāqā ‘red’ (SL 981); summāq ‘red object, redness’ (DJBA 794); s(u)maq(a) ‘red, ruddy’ (MD 322).

(71)	road
	urxə. > 50×.
	MEA: ʾurḥā ‘road’ (SL 21).

(72)	root
	ьqra. 17×.
	MEA: ʿeqqārā ‘root’ (SL 1132).

(73)	round
	glulə. 32×.
	MEA: glālā ‘round’ (SL 238);14 glālā ‘stone-shaped object’ (DJBA 288); glala 1 ‘stone, rock, hailstone’, glala 2 ‘something round, ball’ (MD 91).

(74)	salt
	milxə. 40×.
	MEA: melḥā ‘salt’ (SL 767); milḥā ‘salt’ (DJBA 667); mihla ‘salt’ (MD 266).

(75)	sand
	silə. 44×.
	< Kurd. seylak ‘sable’ DKF 1495; sêl DKF 1498; sêlak DKF 1498; sêlax DKF 1498; sêleh DKF 1498; sêlix DKF 1498; sîlewan DKF 1524; sîlik DKF 1524. The mixed source background of DKF (Sorani-Kurmanji) suggests that the words in question are mostly used by Sorani speakers. The corresponding Kurmanji terms with the basic meaning ‘sand’ would be xîz (Chyet 665) and qûm (Chyet 498). Therefore, C. Urmi silə must have been borrowed from Sorani Kurdish.

(76)	to say
	mərə. > 50×.
	MEA: ʾmr ‘to say’ (SL 57); ʾmr ‘to say, tell’ (DJBA 140); amr ‘to say, speak’ (MD 23).

(77)	to see
	xzəjə. > 50×.
	MEA: ḥzy ‘to see’ (SL 438); ḥzy ‘to see, look at’ (DJBA 444); hza ‘to see, look’ (MD 138).

(78)	seed
	вarzarra. 8×.
	MEA: bar zarʿā ‘seed’ (SL 180); bazrā, bizrā ‘seed’ (DJBA 195); bazira, bazra ‘seed’ (MD 46).

(79)	short
	kirjə. > 50×.
	MEA: karyā ‘short’ (SL 651).

(80)	to sit
	tjəvə. > 50×.
	MEA: ytb ‘to sit’ (SL 587); ytb ‘to sit’ (DJBA 545); ytb ‘to sit, stay’ (MD 193).

(81)	skin
	gildə. > 50×.
	MEA: geldā ‘skin, leather’ (SL 233); gildā ‘scab, hide’ (DJBA 280); gilda ‘leather’ (MD 90).

(82)	to sleep
	dməxə. > 50×.
	MEA: dmk ‘to sleep’ (SL 310); dmk ‘to lie’ (DJBA 343).
	ţləjə >50×.
	MEA: ṭlʿ etpa. ‘to suffer from sleepiness’ (SL 534); ṭulāʿā ‘deep sleep, torpor’ (SL 517); mṭalaʿ ‘heavy (sleep)’ (SL 747), mṭalʿānā ‘soporific’ (SL 747).

The character of the Classical Syriac sources that use derivatives of ṭlʿ with the meanings relating ‘to sleep’ (Bar Bahlul dictionary, The Book of Medicines) point to a probable Neo-Aramaic background of these terms in these dictionaries of CS.

The verb ţlaja has the meaning ‘to fall asleep’ in most of its uses. Nevertheless, the verb ţlaja clearly has the meaning ‘to sleep’ in a number of instances: Lə gəşəqtə l dəhə, в leləvəti Fritjof qujə вьţlajьva ‘Despite that, at night Fritjof was sound asleep’ (FNA 27/2); Bopre go otax al qaravat ţьljьva b şintǝ dlǝ gnǝhǝ. ‘[At this moment] Bopre was innocently sleeping in the room on the bed’ (PBQ 7/22).

(83)	small
	surə. > 50×.
	MEA: zāʿorā ‘small’ (SL 390); zʿer ‘small, young’ (DJBA 418).

(84)	smoke
	tinnə. > 50×.
	MEA: tennānā ‘smoke’ (SL 1656); tnnʾ ‘smoke’ (DJBA 1223).

(85)	snake
	xuvvi. 24×.
	MEA: ḥewyā ‘snake’ (SL 424); ḥiwyā ‘snake’ (DJBA 450); hiuia ‘serpent, snake’ (MD 142).

(86)	to stand
	kləjə. > 50×.
	MEA: kly ‘to impede, prevent’ (SL 624); kly ‘to be finished’ (DJBA 582); kla ‘to keep enclosed, hold back’ (MD 216).

(87)	star
	koxvə. > 50×.
	MEA: kawkḇā ‘star’ (SL 606); koḵḇā ‘star’ (DJBA 558); kukba ‘star’ (MD 206).

(88)	stone
	kipə. > 50×.
	MEA: kēp̄ā ‘stone’ (SL 594); kēp̄ā ‘stone’ (DJBA 577).

(89)	sun
	şimşə. > 50×.
	MEA: šemšā ‘sun’ (SL 1576); šimšā ‘sun, sunlight’ (DJBA 1136); šamšā ‘sun’ (MD 443).

(90)	to swim
	mxəjə sьxvь/sьxva. 29×.
	sьxvь < MEA: sḥy ‘to wash o.s., bathe’ (SL 992); sḥy ‘to wash oneself, bathe’ (DJBA 797); saa ‘to wash, perform ablutions’ (MD 308). The periphrastic verb is modelled after Kurmanji ajnê kirin (Chyet 3) or Sorani mele kirin (DKF 972).

(91)	tail
	ţuprə. 27×.
	There is no clear etymology. Possibly related to MEA: ṭep̄rā/ṭup̄rā ‘nail, claw’.15

(92)	that (ms.)
	av. > 50×.
	MEA: haw ‘that one’ (SL 333).

(93)	thin
	nəqijdə. 20×.
	Cf. MEA nqd: naqḏā ‘clean; (gramm.) tenuis’ (SL), naqdonā ‘delicate’ (SL 945); nquḏtā ‘dot’ (DJBA 772).

(94)	this (ms.)
	əhə. > 50×.
	For the etymology of this see Khan (2016, vol. 1, 239) and also Militarev (2014, 172).

(95)	tongue
	lişənə. > 50×.
	MEA: leššānā ‘tongue’ (SL 698); liššānā ‘tongue’ (DJBA 627); lišana ‘tongue’ (MD 237).

(96)	tooth
	kikə. > 50×.
	MEA: kakkā ‘molar tooth’ (SL 621). On this word, see Mutzafi (2014, 113).

(97)	tree
	ijlənə. > 50×.
	MEA: ʾīlānā ‘tree’ (SL 35).

(98)	two
	tre. > 50×.
	MEA: trēn ‘two’ (SL 1666); trē(n) ‘two’ (DJBA 1233); trin ‘two’ (MD 490)

(99)	warm
	şəxijnə. > 50×.
	MEA: šḥn ‘to be inflamed’, pa. ‘to warm, heat’ (SL 1544); šḥn ‘be inflamed, heat’ (DJBA 1128); šḥn ‘to become hot’ (MD 451).

(100)	water
	mijə. > 50×.
	MEA: mayyā ‘water’ (SL 750); mayyā ‘water’ (DJBA 662); mai ‘water’ (MD 242).

(101)	we
	əxnən. > 50×.
	MEA: ḥnan, ʾnḥnn ‘we’ (SL 472, 60); ănan ‘we’ (DJBA 145); anin, anʿn ‘we’ (MD 27).

(102)	what?
	mudij, mu. > 50×.
	MEA: mā ‘what?’ (SL 700), dēn ‘then’ (SL 296), see Nöldeke (1868, 82).

(103)	white
	xvara. > 50×.
	MEA: ḥewwārā ‘white’ (SL 432); ḥiwwār ‘white’ (DJBA 450); hiuara ‘white’ (MD 142).

(104)	wind
	poxə. > 50×.
	MEA: pwḥ pe. ‘to blow, to breathe’ (SL 1160), pāwḥā ‘odour, smell’ (SL 1161); pwḥ pe. ‘to breathe, blow up’ (DJBA 888).

(105)	who?
	mən, mənij. > 50×.
	MEA: man ‘who?’ (SL 778); man ‘who’ (DJBA 636); man ‘who’ (MD 246).

(106)	woman
	вəxtə. > 50×.
	There is no clear etymology. For the discussion of the possible origin of this word see Khan (1999, 146–147).

(107)	worm
	tьvьlta. 5×.16
	MEA: tawlʿā ‘worm’ (SL 1630); tōlaʿtā ‘worm’ (DJBA 1197); tulita ‘worm, embryo’ (MD 483).

(108)	year
	şitə. > 50×.
	MEA: šattā ‘year’ (SL 1581); šattā ‘year’ (DJBA 1183); šita ‘year’ (MD 464).

(109)	yellow
	zərdə. > 50×.
	< Pers. zard ‘yellow’ (CPED 614)

(110)	you (s.)
	ət. > 50×.
	MEA: at ‘you (s.)’ (SL 66); ant ‘you (ms.) (DJBA 146); anat ‘thou’ (MD 24).

5. Conclusions

The digitised corpus for literary Christian Urmi of approximately 630,000 words has been shown to be sufficient to establish the basic 110 word list with 117 exponents. More than 70 percent of the entries (87/117) have more than 50 attestations in the corpus.

There are seven meanings that have two exponents: bark (qəlpə, çuluxtə), to bite (qraţa, njasa), cold (qajra, qarьjra), green (qijnə, mijlənə), hair (kosə, mьsta), man (nəşə, вarnəşə); to sleep (dməxə, ţlaja). In the cases of cold and green the problem may be solved by statistical data: the exponents qajra for cold and qijnə for green have considerably more attestations in the corpus than the alternative exponents qarьjra and mijlənə. On the other hand, bare statistical data do not help in the case of bark (see the discussion of no. 3).

More than 90 percent of the meanings (94/110) have exponents with reliable Middle Eastern Aramaic etymologies. Four meanings have exponents that originate from Persian (sadra ‘breast’ < Pers. ṣadr; pərrə ‘feather’ < Pers. par; pənçə ‘foot’ < Pers. panc; zərdə ‘yellow’ < Pers. zard). The exponents of two meanings have Kurdish etymologies (spaj ‘good’ < Kurd. spehî; silə ‘sand’ < Kurd. sêl). One meaning is expressed by a word originating from Azeri Turkish (çigar ‘liver’ < Azer. ciyər). Three meanings have each two exponents with different etymologies: bark (qəlpə MEA; çuluxtə < Kurd. çûlik), bite (qraţa MEA, njasa—of uncertain etymology), green (qijnə—of uncertain etymology; mijlənə < Pers. mīnā). A special case is the meaning to swim, which is expressed by a compound verb mxəjə sьxvь/sьxva. Both members of this construction have Aramaic origin, but this verb is a loan translation from Kurdish (no. 90). Six meanings have exponents with uncertain or unknown etymologies (5. big gurə; 22. dry вəruzə; 53. man (male) urzə; 91. tail ţuprə; 94. this əhə; 196 woman вəxtə).

General Abbreviations

af.	afʿel
C.	Christian
J.	Jewish
K	Kurmanji Kurdish
MEA	Middle Eastern Aramaic
NA	New Alphabet
NENA	North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic
pa.	paʿʿel
pe.	peʿal
S	Sorani Kurdish

Bibliographical Abbreviations

ADW	Rahmati, Nemat. 1999. Aserbaidschanisch-deutsches Wörterbuch: unter Berücksichtigung der Besonderheiten des Nord- und Südaserbaidschanischen. Engelschoff: Verlag auf dem Ruffel.
AWSG	Wehr, Hans. 1985. Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
BK	de Biberstein-Kazimirski, Albert. 1860. Dictionnaire arabe‒français. Paris: Maison-neuve et cie.
Chyet	Chyet, Michael L. 2003. Kurdish-English Dictionary. New Haven–London: Yale University Press.
CPED	Steingass, Francis J. 1892. A Comprehensive Persian English Dictionary. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
DJBA	Sokoloff, Michael. 2002. A Dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic of the Talmudic and Geonic Periods. Ramat-Gan, Israel: Bar Ilan University Press.
DJPA	Sokoloff, Michael. 1992. A Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period. Ramat-Gan, Israel: Bar Ilan University Press.
DKF	Bedir Khan, Kamuran A., Joséfa Bertolino and Kendal Nezan. 2017. Dictionnaire Kurde-Français. Paris: Riveneuve.
JNAD	Sabar. Yona. 2002. A Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dictionary. Dialects of Amidya, Dihok, Nerwa and Zakho, Northwestern Iraq. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
MD	Drower, Ethel S. and Rudolph Macuch. 1962. A Mandaic Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon.
MXM	Marogulov, Qonstantin. 1935. Xrestomatija d saprajuta. Moskva: Ucpedgiz.
MPX	Marogulov, Qonstantin. u Petrosov, Dəvid. 1935. Xrestomatija d saprajuta. Qə mədrəsə d şuraja. Səmə I. Moskva: Ucpedgiz.
SL	Sokoloff, Michael. 2009. A Syriac Lexicon. Winona Lake & Piscataway: Gorgias Press.
TEK II	Tetjurev, Vladimir. 1937. Elm kjənetə. Səmə II. Qə klas rvьeta d mədrəsə d şuraja. Puşəqə d U. A. Bedrojev. Moskva: Detizdat.
THH	Tolstoj, Lev N. 1935. Həqətti but hejvanь. Puşəqə d A. Minasov. Moskva: OGIZ-Detgiz.
TS	Payne Smith, Roberth. 1879–1901. Thesaurus Syriacus, T. 1–2. Oxford: Clarendon.
VEG	Vegin, Sergej. 1933. Go səmi ьllajь d’Diqlət. Puşəqə d’Bedrojev. Moskva: GIXL.

References

Fischer, Wolfdietrich. 2002. A Grammar of Classical Arabic, 3rd edition, New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Fassberg, Steven. 2010. The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Challa. Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 54. Leiden: Brill.

Fox, Samuel. 1994. ‘The Relationship of the Eastern Neo-Aramaic Dialects’. Journal of the American Oriental Society 114: 154–162.

———. 1997. The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Jilu. Semitica Viva 16. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Hoberman, Robert D. 1988. ‘The history of the Modern Aramaic pronouns and pronominal suffixes’. Journal of the American Oriental Society 108.4: 557–75.

Jastrow, Otto. 1990. ‘Personal and Demonstrative Pronouns in Central Neo-Aramaic’. In Studies in Neo-Aramaic, edited by Wolfhart Heinrichs, 89–103. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press.

Kassian, Alexei, George Starostin, Anna Dybo, and Vasiliy Chernov. 2010. ‘The Swadesh Word List. An Attempt at Semantic Specification’. Journal of Language Relationship 4: 46–89.

Khan, Geoffrey. 1999. A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic: The Dialect of the Jews of Arbel. Boston, MA: Brill.

———. 2008. The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Barwar. 3 vols. Leiden–Boston: Brill.

———. 2016. The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of the Assyrian Christians of Urmi. 4 vols. Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 86. Leiden–Boston: Brill.

Lyavdansky, Alexey. Forthcoming. ‘Neo-Aramaic Texts in the New Alphabet Published in the Soviet Union 1929–1938’. In A Handbook of Neo-Aramaic, edited by Steven E. Fassberg, Simon Hopkins and Hezy Mutzafi.

Marogulov, Qonstantin I. 1976. Grammaire néo-syriaque pour écoles d’adultes (dialecte d’Urmia). Translated by Olga Kapeliuk. Comptes rendus du Groupe Linguistique d’Études Chamito-Sémitiques, 5. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste P. Geuthner.

Militarev, Alexander. 2014. ‘A Complete Etymology-based Hundred Word List of Semitic Updated: Items 75–100’. Journal of Language Relationship 11: 159–185.

Mutzafi, Hezy. 2004. The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Koy Sanjaq (Iraqi Kurdistan). Semitica Viva 32. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

———. 2005. ‘Etymological Notes on North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic’. Aramaic Studies 3 (1): 83–107.

———. 2006. ‘On the Etymology of Some Enigmatic Words in North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic’. Aramaic Studies 4 (1): 83–99.

———. 2008. The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Betanure (Province of Dihok). Semitica Viva 43. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

———. 2014. Comparative Lexical Studies in Neo-Mandaic. Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 73. Leiden: Brill.

Napiorkowska, Lidia. 2015. A Grammar of the Christian Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Diyana-Zariwaw . Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 81. Leiden: Brill.

Nöldeke, Theodor. 1868. Grammatik des Neusyrischen Sprache am Urmia-See und in Kurdistan. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.

Rosenthal, Franz. 1939. Die Aramaistische Forschung seit Th. Nöldeke’s Veröffentlichungen. Leiden: Brill. 1939.

Smith, Michael G. 1998. Language and Power in the Creation of the USSR, 1917–1953. Berlin–New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Talay. Shabo. 2008. Die Neuaramäischen Dialekte der Khabur-Assyrer in Nordostsyrien: Einführung, Phonologie und Morphologie. Semitica Viva 40. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Appendix: Correspondences of Transcriptions

New Alphabet	Kapeliuk17	Khan (2008)18	Khan (2016)
a	a	a	a
в, b	b	b	b
c	č	č	č, č̭
ç	ğ	j	j
d	d	d	d
e	e	e	e
ə	ä	a	a
f	f	f	f
g	g	g	ɟ
h	h	h	h
i	i	i	i
j	y	y	y
ь	ə	ə	i, ə
k	k	k	c, c̭
l	l	l	l
m	m	m	m
n	n	n	n
o	o	o	o
p	p	p	p
q	q	q	k̭
r	r	r	r
s	s	s	s
ş	š	š	š
t	t	t	t
ţ	ṭ	ṭ	ṱ
u	u	u	u
v	v	v	v
x	kh	x	x
z	z	z	z
ƶ	ž	ž	ž

1 HSE University, Moscow. The research has been supported by RFBR grant No. 17-04-00472.

2 For a bibliography of these dialect descriptions see: Napiorkowska (2015, 583–594). There are 137 NENA dialects listed in (https://nena.ames.cam.ac.uk/dialects/ Date of Access 28.01.2018).

3 Fox (1994) uses data from a sample of only eleven NENA dialects.

4 For a detailed discussion of this corpus, see Lyavdansky, (forthcoming).

5 Most of the texts in this newspaper are printed in Syriac script.

6 The expected volume of the textual corpus after its full digitisation is more than 2 million words.

7 More than 80 percent of the searchable textual corpus are translations from Russian into Neo-Aramaic.

8 The term is based on one of the classifications of Aramaic languages which divides the Aramaic languages of the Middle period into Western and Eastern branches (Rosenthal 1939).

9 Cf. the attestations of this word in other NENA dialects: J. Challa kāsa (Fassberg 2010, 282), J. Lishana Deni kāsa (JNAD 180), J. Betanure kāsa (Mutzafi 2008, 356), C. Tiyari časa (Talay 2008, 100), C. Txuma časa (Talay 2008, 101), C. Qočanəṣ kisa (Talay 2008, 339).

10 See Mutzafi (2006, 89–9).

11 Two attestations were found beyond the digitised corpus: MPX 13/6, VEG 44/17.

12 The only attestation is MXM 63/25, which is currently outside the digitised corpus.

13 The etymological note of Yona Sabar on this word (K < Sanskrit vrśa) may be interpreted that the author in fact proposes a Kurdish etymon derived from O.Ind. vṛṣán (JNAD 91).

14 Syriac glultā pl. glulē ‘pair of compasses; globe, ball’ is attested only in the lexicon of Bar Bahlul. It may be a borrowing from Modern Aramaic.

15 For references, see no. 60.

16 One of the attestations of this word was found in the text MPX 90/28, which is not yet digitised.

17 Marogulov (1976).

18 The transcription in Khan (2008 and 2016) is representative of the transcriptions used in the descriptions of Neo-Aramaic dialects.