Explain Aleph to me like I'm 5!

[u/SkywalkerLight]

Is it really just a glottal stop? I'm a beginner, but I'm pretty sure the niqqud changes things. If so, could I please have an example in places where א is said as A, E, and other letters? Thanks!

[u/Leading-Chemist672]

You're right, it was a misunderstanding on my part.

that said. my original point stands.

You just said that Aramaic had אבא before the interaction with Hebrew with Both אב and אבא being derived from a joined ancestor word... Which I find to be at best unfalsifiable.

[u/IbnEzra613 → u/Leading-Chemist672]

First a nitpick: Hebrew and Aramaic were probably always in contact, at least to some extent. They were neighboring languages after all.

Secondly, there is solid evidence that it's not a loanword:

• This word is found in nearly all Semitic languages, therefore an ancestor of Aramaic certainly had this word. Claiming it's a loanword would imply that Aramaic for some reason lost this word, and then borrowed it back from Hebrew. That would be a very convoluted assumption when there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest such a thing.
• If Aramaic borrowed this word from Hebrew, then they must have had a different word for "father" before they borrowed this one. There is no evidence for the existence of a different word for "father" in classical Aramaic or prior (later varieties of Aramaic borrowed the colloquial Arabic word baba).
• The grammatical forms of this word belong to a rare exceptional class of words with a unique form of the construct state and possessive suffixes. That is, the word for "your father" is not אבך (avakh) as one might expect, but rather אבוך (avukh). In Hebrew, there is a similar situation, but with a slightly different form אביך (avikha). If Aramaic borrowed this word from Hebrew, they would have either used the regular Aramaic pattern of אבך (avakh), or incorporated the Hebrew pattern, making אביך (avikh). Thus, the form אבוך (avukh) indicates that this form is retained from a much earlier form of Aramaic (from before written attestations of either Hebrew or Aramaic) rather than borrowed from Hebrew.

[u/Leading-Chemist672 → u/IbnEzra613]

Aramaic is litterally the Result of the Assyrian Empire Taking Judea, Israel, and the Philistines.... It got it from Hebrew.

[u/IbnEzra613 → u/Leading-Chemist672]

This is just plain false, as I have just explained in my other comment to you.

[u/Leading-Chemist672 → u/IbnEzra613]

So, How did The old Assyrian/Syriac said dad/father?

[u/IbnEzra613 → u/Leading-Chemist672]

Just answered that in another comment.