Abstract
Mandaic is an Aramaic language with its own unique script and a relatively large scriptural corpus, nearly all of which comprises original compositions rather than translations. In this regard, it serves as a valuable resource for the Aramaic lexicon. At first glance, the Mandaic lexicon is characterized by a wealth of loan vocabulary from various languages (chiefly Semitic and Iranian), even within these original compositions; its conservative nature and its value for etymology are less evident, due in large part to the influence of other Semitic languages (chiefly Akkadian and Arabic), which has obscured the sound correspondences between Mandaic and its sister languages and complicated the process of reconstructing etymological provenances. In this article, I propose to control for this contact influence with data from other Semitic languages, and particularly one for which no contact with Mandaic can be demonstrated, viz., Gəʿəz. Drower and Macuch (1963) and Leslau (1991) all juxtapose Gəʿəz and Mandaic lexical data towards explicitly etymological ends, albeit in an unsystematic manner. Considering the lack of direct or even mediated contact between these two languages, I hypothesize that it is possible to employ data from them to establish clear and systematic sound correspondences, reconstruct etymological provenances, and draw conclusions regarding their phonemic and semantic evolution.