של

Where it comes from

The possessed forms of של were a common Canaanite construction seen also, for example, in Punic 𐤔𐤋𐤉 (šly /⁠sillī⁠/, “my”) and Phoenician 𐤀𐤔 𐤋𐤉 (ʾš ly /⁠ʔas lī⁠/, “my”). These were derived from the relative pronoun *ʔas or prefix *-ʔas in combination with the dative prefix *-l, hence the Hebrew is equivalent to ש־ (she, “which”) + ל־ (l, “to”), thus “which [belongs] to”.

The first use of של as a possessive marker in Hebrew is attested in late parts of the Hebrew Bible, but then still preceded by, and in addition to, a possessive suffix (cf. Canticles 1:6; 3:7). In Mishnaic Hebrew, של־ (shel'-) becomes a true preposition by back-formation. The standalone spelling is a more recent innovation, but the pronoun-including forms are unchanged (which may be seen both in their gemination of the ל, and in the unusual forms of the second- and third-person masculine and feminine plural pronominal suffixes, otherwise found only in the inflections of ל־ (l'-) and ב־ (b'-)).