Proto-Semitic root

*ša

‘who, which, that (determinative-relative pronoun)’

di Mino’s gloss: who, which, that

In Linear A1 entry

SI-JA-SEšī-yāṣēwhich goes out (disbursement marker)—relative particle šī + 3ms imperfect √y-ṣ-ʾ "to go…CandidateSemitic2

Notes

Originally a determinative pronoun, weakened to a relative in Phoenician and Hebrew (HALOT 1365). Ugaritic š only in the personal name šbʿl ‘the one of Baal’; the Ugaritic relative is d/dt (HALOT 1365; K0877). Tomback (T 34) compares Amm. ʾš.

Reflexes5 languages

East Semitic1

Akkadianša, šu (HALOT 1365; AHw 1118)

Northwest Semitic4

Hebrewšě- (HALOT 1365)gloss withheld
Phoenicianʾš, š (HALOT 1365)šl- (Krahmalkov 461)gloss withheld
Punicʾš, š (HALOT 1365)ʾ, ʿš (T 34–35)
AramaicEmpArm. š (HALOT 1365)

† Gloss withheld: the cited dictionary’s licence is closed, so its form and page stand without its gloss.