Number: 100
Proto-Semitic: *ŝayṗ-
Meaning: foot, sole of foot; shoe
Akkadian: šēpu, šēpītu 'foot' OAkk on [CAD š2 295], [AHw 1214-1215]
Aramaic: Off. šp 'mesure of length (?)' [HJ 1181] (given as one of possible interpretations)
Syrian Aramaic: šēpā 'scapus (caligae); mucro nasi' [Brock 794] (with š- instead of the expected s-)
Arabic: šabāt- 'chaque côté de la chaussure' [BK 1 1188]; šbb (IV) 'faire faire au cheval un sobresaut et lever à la fois les deux pieds de devant' [BK 1 1181] (also šabūb- 'qui en courant pose les pieds de manière que ceux de derrière laissent des traces au delà de ceux de devant' [ibid.]), šbw 'se cabrer (se dit d'un cheval)' [ibid. 1188]
Tigre: (?) sabo 'inheritance' (poet.) [LH 183]; can this represent a semantic shift from 'foot, trace'?
Amharic: šǝbšäba (redupl.) 'handclapping or stamping on the feet with rythmic movement of the body in time to music' [K 637]
Gurage: (?) ENN GYE čämba, END čämbä 'sole of foot serving as measure' [LGur 173]. Though regarded by Leslau as loans from C. CUSH (QUARA šānba, šanpā, BILIN šanfi etc.), these examples rather represent cases of GUR č rendering *š; see [LGur LXII]
Mehri: ŝaf 'trace, track(s)' [JM 373]
Jibbali: ŝɛf, pl. ɛŝfɔ́f 'trace, track, foot under the ankle' [JJ 246]
Soqotri: ŝab 'pied' [LS 424]. The dual ŝafi (ŝaʔfi) quoted in [JJ 246] as ŝaf on a par with ŝab, is interpreted in [LS 37] as a secondary development allegedly current in SOQ, of b> b_> f before i. Cf. HADIBO ŝab, but QALAN-B ŝhaf 'jambe, pied' et al. [SSL LS 1472]. Cf. ʕAbd-el-Kuri ŝɔ̄f, sāf 'pied, jambe' [SSL 4 97]
Notes: A hypothetic *-ṗ is based first of all on AKK p- vs. SOQ -b (note also cases of -f in MSA) and, with reservations, on GUR -mb; if GUR examples are related, the PSEM form may be reconstructed as *ŝVmṗ- {} *ĉVmṗ-. Other arguments, though weaker because of a presumed meaning change, are ARM -p vs. ARB -b (and, less likely, MOD ETH -b). Cf. CUSH terms meaning 'foot', 'heel' and 'shoe' reconstructed by Dolgopolsky as *ĉV[m]ṗ- [SIFKY 120-21].
Also 'trace, track' (see MSA)
Two other terms, each questionable in a way, may originate from the meaning 'foot as measure': ARM OFF and GUR above.
[LS 424]: SOQ, AKK
semet-proto,semet-prnum,semet-meaning,semet-akk,semet-arm,semet-syr,semet-ara,semet-tgr,semet-amh,semet-gur,semet-mhr,semet-jib,semet-soq,semet-notes,
