ON THE ORIGIN OF THE VERB “TO WRITE” IN CHADIC LANGUAGES

Chadic, Semitic, Egyptian, Berber, Kushitic and Omotic languages comprise the Afroasiatic (Hamito-­Semitic) macro-family. The paper is aimed to clarify the origin of the verb ‘to write’ in different Chadic languages. Two main sources: semantic shifts and borrowings will be in the focus of the study. The phonological diversity of corresponding lexical forms is also of special interest. Numerous examples allow us to trace a long chain of semantic shifts ending in the verb ‘to write’. In almost all cases verbs ‘to cut’ or ‘to scratch’ have been identified as the first units of these semantic transformations. A ‘one-step’ semantic shift: ‘to put’ > ‘to write’ was active only in a few Central Chadic languages. Loans from Arabic and Fulfulde (Niger-Congo family) into different Chadic languages are listed. Of special interest is the derived noun ‘writing’, borrowed form from Kanuri (Nilo-Saharan family) into Chadic. J. Greenberg’s arguments, indicating Kanuri as the donor-language [Greenberg 1960, p. 209–210] and supporting evidence are under discussion. Typological parallels to the above-mentioned semantic shifts can be traced outside the Afroasiatic family, namely, in Indo-European and Nilo-Saharan languages. The whole amount of Chadic data and external parallels prove the independent origin of the verb ‘to write’ in different Chadic languages. Only in a few cases the verb ‘to write’ can be identified on a sub-group level.