Journal of Semitic Studies LIX/1 Spring 2014 doi: 10.1093/jss/fgt032 © The author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the University of Manchester. All rights reserved. 1 THE WORD FOR ‘ONE’ IN PROTO-SEMITIC 1 AREN WILSON-WRIGHT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN Abstract Traditionally, scholars have reconstructed *waÌad or some variant thereof as the word for ‘one’ in Proto-Semitic. In this paper, I argue that *‘ast- is a better candidate because it is attested as a number in both East and West Semitic. *waÌad, by contrast, was most likely an adjective meaning ‘lone’ as in Akkadian. Along the way, I will review some methodological criteria that may prove useful in the ongoing effort to reconstruct Proto-Semitic. 1. A Different Scenario The treatment of the number one follows a set pattern in comparative grammars of the Semitic languages: a long section on *waÌad and its relatives precedes a brief section on its less common rival *‘ast-. This organizational pattern, in turn, reflects a common assumption about the nature of Proto-Semitic. Most scholars reconstruct *waÌad or some variant thereof as the first cardinal number. 2 But, in this paper, I argue that *‘ast- is original. Along the way, I will review some meth- odological criteria that may prove useful in the ongoing effort to reconstruct Proto-Semitic. 1 An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 40 th meeting of the North American Conference on Afro-Asiatic Linguistics. I would like to thank the audi- ence members for their insightful feedback. I would also like to thank John Huehnergard and Na‘ama Pat-El for commenting on earlier iterations of this paper. Any remaining errors are mine alone. 2 Kienast 2001: §165.3; Brockelmann 1908: §249a. Edward Lipinski is an exception. He reconstructs two Proto-Semitic words for the number one: *‘ist- and *Ìad. Although it is unlikely that Proto-Semitic had two functionally identical words for the same number, Lipinski’s work does raise questions about earlier recon- structions of the number system (Lipinski 2001: 289–92). by guest on March 22, 2014 http://jss.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded from