Afroasiatic etymology : List with all references

Proto-Afro-Asiatic: *ča/iw(a)r- (?)

Meaning: bull/elephant/rhinoceros

Semitic: *t_awr- 'bull, ox'

Egyptian: šsr (<*čVr-?) 'bull' (?)

Central Chadic: *čiw(-ar)- 'elephant'

Low East Cushitic: (?) *šV̄r- < *čV̄r-? 'hippopotamus'

South Cushitic: *čawr- 'bull'

Omotic: *šawr- (<*čawr-?) 'rhinoceros'

Notes: Cf. HSED, 477: Sem. *t_awr- and Eg. šsr. Cf. also Bla. Eleph., 200

Number: 219

Proto-Semitic: *t_awr-

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: bull, ox

Akkadian: šūru 'bull' Ur III on [CAD š3 369], [AHw. 1287]. A rare term poetic word found in the OB hymn to Adad (šūr šamāʔī 'bull the heavens', CT 15 4 II 3) as well as in Sennaherib inscription OIP 2 45 V 87 (kīma šūrī marûti ša nadû šummannu 'like fattened bulls which were tethered'). In lexical lists equated to alpu. Ur III attestations are in proper names only.

Eblaitic: šu-lum = GU₄.TUR [MEE 4 1386]. Normalized as /t_ō/ūrum/ in [Kreb. 24], rendered as 'Jung(-Stier)' [ibid.], 'toro' in [Sanmartín 210]. The reading ḫum for the second sign proposed by the publisher is not correct.

Ugaritic: t_r 'toro' [DLU 505]. A widely used literary term, also in the fixed expression t_r ʔil 'Ilu the Bull' (cf. hm yd ʔil mlk yḫssk // ʔahbt t_r tʕrrk 'does the love of Ilu the king arouse you? // the love of the Bull excite you?' in 1.4 IV 39). In 1.15 IV 6,8 and 1.15 IV 17,19 t_. appear (together with t_̣by 'deer') as a social designa- tion (cf. [Miller 178]).

Hebrew: šōr 'one single beast, bovid' [KB 1451], pB. [Ja. 1541]. As pointed out in [Péter 492-3], š. is used to denote a single animal (in opposition to the collective bāḳār) without any special stress on gender or sex. As all nomina unitatis, šōr is not used in the plural (šǝwārīm in Hos 12.12 is highly unu- sual and is probably due to text corruption, cf. [Péter 494]).

Aramaic: Sml. šwrh 'cow' [HJ 1118]. In KAI 215:6 (šʔh wšwrh wḥṭh wšʕrh) and the parallel passage ibid. 9. The interpretation of šʔh and šwrh as 'ewe' and 'cow' proposed in [HJ] and recently supported in [Tropper Zincirli 110] is certainly preferable to their identification with some kinds of cereals suggested in [KAI 223, 226]. Anc. swr, šwrh 'ox, bull; cow' [HJ 1118]. The form swr is found in Tell-Fakhariyye 20 (wmʔh swr lhynḳn ʕgl wʔl yrwy 'hundred cows will suckle a calf, but he will not be sated', paralleled by Akk. 1 ME GU₄.ÁB, cf. [STF 66]). The form šwrh occurrs in KAI 222 A:23 и B:1 (wšbʕ šwrh yhynḳn ʕgl wʔl yšbʕ 'seven cows will suckle a calf, but he will not be sated', v. [Fitzmyer 80-1]) and in Bukan 5 (in a similar context, v. [Sokoloff Bukan 107]). Off. twr 'bull, ox' [HJ 1118]. In Frah VII 2 (twrʔ, twlʔ = gai), v. [Nyberg 69]. Plm. twr 'bull, ox' [HJ 1118], 'bull, ox (divine title ?); beef' [PAT 418]. Dem. twr 'bovine' [HJ 1266].

Biblical Aramaic: tōr 'ox, bull' [KB 2005]. In Da 4.22,29,30 и 5.21 (ʕisbā kǝtōrīn lāk yǝṭaʕămūn 'they will feed you with grass like oxen' and similar) and Ezr 6.9,17 and 7.17 (among sacrificial animals).

Judaic Aramaic: tōrā 'ox' [Ja. 1656], twr 'ox, cow' [Sok. 578], twrh (det. twrth) 'cow' [ibid. 578], br twryn 'heifer' [ibid. 101], brt twryn 'female offspring of cattle' [ibid. 112]. Sam. twr 'ox', twrh 'cow' [Tal 945] (šwr 'ox' [ibid. 884] must be a Hebraism).

Syrian Aramaic: tawrā 'taurus', tōrǝtā 'vacca, bos femina' [Brock. 819], [PS 4412].

Mandaic Aramaic: taura 'bull, ox' [DM 478].

Arabic: t_awr- 'taureau; chef, maître', t_awrat- 'vache' [BK 1 242], [Fr. I 234], [Lane 364], [LA IV 111] (v. [Hommel 224ff.]).

Epigraphic South Arabian: Sab. t_wr, t_r 'bull; bull-satuette' [SD 152]. Qat. t_wr 'steer, bull' [Ricks 179]. Min. t_wr 'taureau' [LM 99]. All ESA passages are discussed in [Sima 146-158]. The use of t_wr in the compound divine name t_wr bʕlm is interesting in view of the Ugr. evidence above (note that according to Sima the tra- ditional interpretation of t_wr bʕlm as "Bull of the Arable Lands" is hardly correct).

Geʕez (Ethiopian): sor, ŝor 'ox, bull' [LGz. 511], sǝwār 'fat ox' [ibid.]. The star name sawr 'Taurus' [ibid. 521] is an obvious Arabism (the same is true about Amh. säwr 'Taurus (zodiac)' [K 571]).

Tigre: sor 'ox' [LH 193].

Tigrai (Tigriñña): sor 'castrato di capre' [Bass. 176]. With a meaning shift 'castrated bull' > 'castrated goat'.

Mehri: t_awr 'bull' [JM 419].

Harsusi: t_awer 'bull' [JH 133].

Notes: [Fron. 30]: *t_awr- 'toro' (Gez., ESA, Arb., Syr., Hbr., Ugr., Akk.); [LGz. 511]: Gez., Arb., Akk., Hbr., Arm., Ugr., ESA; [KB 1451]: Hbr., Arm., Arb., Akk., Ugr., ESA, Gez., Tgr., Tna.; [Firmage 1152]: Akk., Hbr., Ugr., Arm., Gez., Arb.; [DLU 505]: Ugr., Hbr., Arb., Ebl., Akk.; [Hommel 224]: *t_awr- 'Stier' (Arb., Gez., Sab., Hbr., Arm., Akk.).

Old Egyptian: šsr (<*čVr-?)

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: 'bull (for slaughtering)' Pyr.

Notes: Acc. to HSED, 477, šs- continues HS *č-

Proto-CChadic: *čiw(-ar)-

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: 'elephant'

Bura: Bura Pele čiwar̃ 'elephant' Bla.Eleph., 200

Chibak: isiwar̃ 'elephant' Bla.Eleph., 200

Kilba: čuwar id. CLR II 12

Ngwaxi: ciwǝ̀r [Kr: 85]

Margi: čúẃar (apud Hoffmann), ciwar̃, EMargi ciwar̃ Kr 'elephant' Bla.Eleph., 200

Wamdiu: čīwàr [Kr: 114]

Hildi=Margi Mbazuwa: čiwarū [Kr: 104]

Higi Nkafa: čuwe CLR II 124

Nzangi: and Kobochi čūāré_ 'elephant' Bla.Eleph., 200; čuwarɛ CLR II 124

Bata: čūé CLR II 125

Notes: Bla. ibid. compares these forms with other CCh. terms without final -r (a loss of -r in Auslaut?) and with final -n, though the correspondence -r ~ n is, to my knowledge, not attested

Proto-Low East Cushitic: *šV̄r- (?)

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: 'hippopotamus'

Boni: šēr 'hippo' Bla. Eleph., 202

Notes: Bla. Eleph., 202, compares this Boni term with NSom. ǯēr/cēr <*OSom *geero- (acc. to Lamberti 1986, 248)

Proto-South Cushitic: *čawr-

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: bull

Ma'a (Mbugu): čurú HRSC 227

Proto-Omotic: *šawr- (<*čawr-?)

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: 'rhinoceros'

Ometo: Kačama šoro 'rhinoceros' Bla Eleph., 201 (compared with other NOm. and Beja terms without final -r "if we accept the loss of -r-" in these languages and if the latter terms are not borrowed from ECush. *warš-; both assumptions seem unsustained)

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