In view of no other ETH examples can be suspected of being an Arabism
Mehri:bǝhyōḳ 'a condition in which the sufferer has colourless patches on his skin' [JM 45]
Jibbali:bhɔḳ 'white patches on the skin' [JJ 24].
Cf. also bhɛṣ̃ 'having a patchy haircut' [ibid.]; ṣ̃ is < *ḳ
Harsusi:bihōḳ 'the state of having uncoloured patches on the skin' [JH 16]
Notes:Compared in [DRS 49] to AKK epḳu (and ibḳu, to be found neither in [CAD] nor in [AHw]) 'leprosy' and linked to *bhḳ 'to shine, be white'. Though this meaning shift is quite plausible, note a more limited circulation of the verb (only in HBR PB, ARM and ARB [DRS 49]) than of the noun under discussion. As for AKK epḳu, it is better compared to ETH *ʕ/ʔabaḳ- forming another SEM root (see *ʕap/baḳ- 'sores, scabies, leprosy', No. ), probably eventually related to the present one.
An interesting case is represented by what can in principle be regarded as an independent SEM nominal root, though likely related eventually to the present one: ARM: JUD bahăḳā, bahăḳī, bahăḳīt_ā 'bright white spot on the skin' [Ja 142]; ETH: AMH boḳa 'blaze, white spot on the forehead of a horse or a cow' [K 906], GUR: MUH boḳa in: dama boḳa 'brown (horse or sheep) with a white spot' [LGur 147].
Cf. GEZ bak, bok 'scab, wound' [LGz 93], with -k instead of the expected -ḳ; see, however, the AFRASIAN data.
Notes:Scarce attestation: ARB and ESA only (interpretation of both terms as 'phallus' is problematic); possibility of an inter-borrowing cannot in principle be ruled out.
Arabic:ɣabab- 'chair pendante sous le menton (chez certains animaux), fanon (chez les boeufs, barbe (chez le coq), gorge (chez l'homme)' [BK 2 429]; ɣabɣab- 'fanon, barbe, gorge' [ibid. 433] (redupl.)
Modern Arabic:Cf. ʕubb- 'creux de l'aisselle; sein' in [Belot 468] marked as a (Syro-Palestinian) dialectal form (not in [BK])
Amharic:ǝmbiya 'chest (of an equine or other animal not considered licit to eat)' [K 1330].
-bb- > -mb- is not unfrequent in Amh
Notes:Note -m- in MND and AMH which may imply the proto-form *ɣa/umb.
Cf. GUR: MSQ ǝbba č̣orä, GOG ǝbba ṭorä, SOD ǝbba ṭäwwärä 'to carry; carry a child on the back' [LGur 5]; the meaning of ǝbba is not clear, but it is quite likely to mean 'back' or 'shoulders', while č̣orä, ṭorä and ṭäwwärä mean 'to carry loads on the back or on the head or on the shoulders' [ibid. 637]; cf. also GYE ambe, EZ̆A yambe 'cut of meat' [LGur 42].
Notes:Usually regarded as related to, or derived from, SEM *blʕ 'to swallow' (cf. [DRS 68], [LGz 92-95]); this verb, however, definitely points to ʕ (so in ARB and MSA), while the noun under consideration shows oscillation ʕ/ɣ in JIB, SOQ and, likely, ARB.
Note variant stems with *-am in ARB (cf. also blʕm and blʕ 'avaler' [BK 1 161) and SOQ (the MND example is likely an Arabism), which may probably be regarded as common SEM, and *ta- in MSA.
Epigraphic South Arabian:SAB nfs1 'soul, life, person, self, etc.' [SD 93], QAT nfs1 do. [Ricks 109], MIN nfs1 'âme, personne, soi-même' [LM 66] (cf. also SAB mnfs1 'water distributor or distribution system' [Biella 310] translated as 'sluice? settling basin' in [SD 93] and MIN mnfs1 'installation destinée à reporter et conduire l'eau provenant d'une grande citerne' [LM 66]; for the semantic shift cf. SAB mnfh_t 'water-distributor' in *nph_ 'to blow, breath, inflate', No. )
Soqotri:néfoš 'respirer, vivre, se ranimer' [LS 271]; nófoš, pl. of nafh- 'âme; pronom réfléchi de la 1re personne' [LS 271, 260], nefs 'âme' [ibid. 270] (looks very much like an Arabism; cf. also fonŝ 'souffle, âme, vent' [ibid. 338]: a variant root with metathesis?)
Notes:For *-i- see AKK and ZWY. Unseparated from a common SEM noun *nap(i)š- 'soul; vitality, life; person, personality; self' (for *-i- see AKK and ZWY): AKK napištu (napuštu, napaštu, napšatu) 'life, vigor, vitality; breath; throat, neck' OAkk on [CAD n1 296], [AHw 738]; EBLA na-pu-uš-tu-um [KB 711, apud Pettinato] ('soul' ?); UGR npš 'Appetit, Begehren; Seele; Lebewesen, Mensch; 'Rachen, Kehle, Schlund' [Aist 211]; CAN: PHO npš 'self, desire, person, gravestone' [T 218], HBR näpäš 'throat, neck; breath; soul; life; living being' [KB 711-2]; ARM: SAMAL OLD OFF NAB PLM HTR npš 'life, person, funerary monument' [HJ 744-9], JUD nǝpaš, napšā 'soul; will' [Ja 927] (cf. npš 'rest' [Sok 358]), SYR napšā 'animus, persona; pyramis funeraria' [Brock 441], MND napša 'soul, personality, self' [ibid. 285]; ARB nafs- 'âme, principe vital; sang; personne' [BK 2 1310]; ESA: SAB nfs1 'soul, life, person, self, etc.' [SD 93], QAT nfs1 do. [Ricks 109], MIN nfs1 'âme, personne, soi-même' [LM 66] (cf. also SAB mnfs1 'water distributor or distribution system' [Biella 310] translated as 'sluice? settling basin' in [SD 93] and MIN mnfs1 'installation destinée à reporter et conduire l'eau provenant d'une grande citerne' [LM 66]; for the semantic shift cf. SAB mnfh_t 'water-distributor' in *nph_ 'to blow, breath, inflate', No. ); ETH: GEZ nafs 'soul, spirit, breath, life, etc.' [LGz 389], TGR näfs 'soul, life' [LH 346], TNA näfsi 'anima' [Bass 468], AMH näfs 'soul, spirit, life' [K 1083], EAST: SEL WOL näfs, ZWY näfis 'soul' [LGur 452], GUR: CHA EZHA END ENN GYE MUH MAS GOG SOD näfs do. [ibid.]; MSA (possibly Arabisms): MHR nǝfsēt 'individual, soul', HRS nefesét 'soul' [JH 94], JIB nǝfsɛ́t 'soul' [JJ 182], SOQ nófoš, pl. of nafh- 'âme; pronom réfléchi de la 1re personne' [LS 271, 260], nefs 'âme' [ibid. 270] (looks very much like an Arabism; cf. also fonŝ 'souffle, âme, vent' [ibid. 338]: a variant root with metathesis?).
Cf. forms with -b- in various SEM, probably making a variant nominal root *nabš- {} *nabs- (see also *nšb {} *nsb 'to breathe', with metathesis): CAN: PHO nbš 'self, desire, person, gravestone' [T 218]; ARM: SAMAL OLD nbš 'life, person, funerary monument' [HJ 744-9]; ETH GUR: MAS GOG SOD näbs 'soul' [LGur 452].
Epigraphic South Arabian:SAB f 'voice, authority' [SD 43].
Note a meaning shift
Tigre:ʔaf, pl. ʔafäyǝt 'mouth (of men and animals); nostril; edge (of sword), point (of lance); end' [LH 388].
Note the base ʔafu- with suffixes [ibid.]
Amharic:ʔaf 'mouth, beak, muzzle' [K 1346]
Harari:af [LHar 19]
East Ethiopic:SEL WOL ZWY af 'mouth, language' [LGur 19]
Gurage:MUH MSQ GOG SOD af, CHA EŽA ãf, ENN END GYE ãfʷ do. [LGur 19]
Notes:Reconstruction very tentative, *pVw- being an alternative one: note that in ARB the second radical is understood as w (pl. ʔafwāh-).
Marked by unusual developments, still lacking explanation, such as vestiges of 'mimation' in ARM *pūm- (<*pay/w-u-m, with the Nominative case -u ending and the suffixed -m article) and ARB, where vestiges of PSEM three case nominal paradigm with the postpositional -m article ('mimation') are likely preserved, due to some unknown factor, as variant nominal forms.
The related ARB term for 'mouth', fūh- (constr. Nom. fū-, Acc. fā, Gen. fī) [ibid. 650] may be analysed as *fay- with the suffixed possesive 3rd pers. masc. pronoun -hu ('his mouth') again, for some undetermined reason, incorporated into the stem; another possible explanation is that h sometimes serves, both in ARB and other SEM, as a "triconsonantizer", cf. ARB miyāh-, šifāh- (broken plurals from māʔ- 'water' and šaf-at- 'lip'), SEM *ʔilāh- 'God' evidently related to *ʔil- etc.
On morphological problems posed by this root in ARB, cf. [Wright 1 239, 249, 252].
ETH is thought by some authors to be borrowed from CUSH (see [LGz 9] for references), but is rather to be explained from SEM *paw/y- with the ʔa- prefix: cf. the base ʔafu- in GEZ and TGR and the plural forms ʔafaw in GEZ and ʔäfäyǝt in TGR. For SEM origin of the ETH examples also speak vestiges of the case system in GEZ and TGR similar to those in ARB and HBR. Another possible explanation of the Anlaut in ETH *ʔaf(w)- is a contamination with ETH *ʔanf- 'nose', cf. ãf 'mouth' < *ʔanf in part of GUR. As to CUSH forms for 'mouth' [Dolgopolsky 230-31], they are likely related to the present SEM root.
Cf. SEM forms which originally might mean 'mouth, opening': AKK aptu 'window, window opening; opening of the ear' OB on [CAD a2 197], [AHw 61] (that -t is a feminine marker and not part of the root, is seen from the plural apāti), apu 'hole, opening in the ground' NA [CAD a2 201] (neither aptu nor apu is likely to be a borrowing from SUM ab 'window, opening' as is supposed with a question mark in both [CAD] and [AHw]); ARM MND aputa 'opening, mouth (of vessel)' [DM 30] (less likely from PTA < *ptḥ 'to open', as suggested [ibid.]).
Cf. forms with -m as a third radical either related to, or contaminated with, the present root: ARB fʔm 'se remplir la bouche d'herbes (se dit d'un chameau, etc.)' [BK 2 530]; GEZ ʔafʔama 'to put a morsel of food in another's mouth', fāʔm 'morsel', AMH fämma (<*fmʔ <*fʔm ?), GAF (tä)famä 'to take a mouthful' [LGz 154].
Note a rather unusual semantic shift which must have taken place as early as in PSEM, namely 'mouth' > 'edge (of a sword)', in AKK, HBR, SYR and ETH. Cf. the same meaning shift in Copt. tapro (Sah.), tapra (Fay) <tap-r/lV 'tranchant d'épée'
Akkadian:pānu 'Vorderseite', pl. 'Gesicht' OAkk on [AHw 818].
One wonders on what grounds the long ā is traditionally postulated for this AKK word
Ugaritic:pn; also pl. pnm 'Antlitz' [Aist 256]
Canaanite:MOAB pny (pl.constr.) [HJ 918]
Phoenician:pn [T 265]
Hebrew:pānīm (pl.tant.) [KB 937].
Curiously enough, the derived adverb pǝnī́mā means 'inside, inward'
Aramaic:OFF pnh, l-pnmh [HJ 918]
Jibbali:fɛ́nɛ (also 'front part') [JJ 59]
Soqotri:fáne (féne) [LS 337], [SSL LS 1455-56]
Notes:Often in the plural.
Cf. very likely derived ARB fināʔ- 'cours devant une maison' [BK 2 640]; SAB fnw 'space outside, immediate surroundings, front of building' [SD 45], MIN fnwt 'champ, espace extérieur; environs immédiats; fac̣ade d'un édifice' [LM 33].
Derived from 'face' are also MSA: MHR fǝnfǝnw- (redupl.) 'earlier; in front of, before', fōnǝh 'earlier' [JM 96] and HRS fēn 'before, in front of', fenōhen 'forward, earlier' [JH 33].
Leslau [LGz 163] compares GEZ fannawa 'to send away' and related ETH terms to ARB fny 'to turn to, turn away' (in [BK 2 639] 'disparaître') and related SEM verbs with the meanings 'to turn towards, go to' [ibid.], which he, following a Semitological tradition, qualifies as denominatives from 'face, front' (for a similar semantic shift, see ARB waǯǯaha 'diriger, tourner' [BK 2 1494] < waǯh- 'face, visage' [ibid.]); AFRASIAN data, however, seems to point to two different roots.
[Fron 44] (*panw- 'faccia' /SOQ, ARB fināʔ- 'corte esterna', SYR panǝtō 'dorso della nabi mano', HBR,UGR,AKK/); [Holma 13] (referring to HBR and SYR: "Die Verba pānā, pǝnā 'wenden' sind sicher erst davon denominiert"): AKK, HBR, SYR (pǝnītā 'Richtung'), ARB (fināʔ-) ; [KB 937]: HBR, PHO, MOAB, ARM OFF, UGR, AKK, SYR (pǝnītā), ARB (fināʔ-), SAB (pnwt 'in front of', erroneously transcribed with p-); [LS 337]: SOQ, HBR, AKK
Notes:Poorly attested; the MSA forms may in principle be Arabisms. There are, however, HBR examples usually compared to this root, which probably support its common SEM origin: tāpēl 'Ungesalzenes, Fades', tpl 'albern, unsinnig reden' [KB deutsch 1634].
Cf. *tpp; may it be the source for the present root with suffixed -l?
