Number: 1928
Proto-Semitic: *pVl-
Meaning: kind of insect, louse
Akkadian: uplu 'Kopflaus' OB on [AHw. 1432]. The only OB attestation seems to come from the lexical list Diri (JCS 7 28 III 3 ú-uḫUH_.UH_ = up-lum/lu; a denominative verb uppulum 'lausen' is known from the same list). According to von Soden, another OB example is AbB 5 198:14 (ṣuḫārû ina uplim lā imuttū 'may the servants not die because of the lice!') However, this passage was convincingly reinterpreted in [Stol] (ublum 'drought' < abālu 'to be dry').
Judaic Aramaic: palyā, palyā bēʔārī 'name of a locust on palm-trees' [Ja. 1181] (pālǝyā according to [Levy WTM IV 52]), plyyt ḥywwyyh 'speckled beetle' [Sok. 436].
Arabic: fāliyat- 'sorte d'insecte semblable au scarabée marqué de taches noires et blanches qui accompagne ou précède ordinairement les scorpions ou les vipère' [BK 2 635], [LA 15 164] (only in fāliyatu l-ʔafāʕī: ḫunfasāʔu raḳṣāʔu ḍaḫmatun takūnu ʕinda l-ǯiḥarati ???).
Notes: Obviously related is the verbal root *ply 'to delouse' (Hbr. pB. pālā 'to search one's garments for vermin' [Ja. 1181], Jud. pallē 'to search (garments)' [ibid.], Syr. pǝlā 'purgavit pediculis', pa. 'pediculos undique collegit' [Brock. 569], Arb. fly 'chercher des poux' [BK 2 635], Mhr. fǝlō 'to delouse' [JM 95], Hrs. felō id. [JH 33], Jib. félé id. [JJ 58]). Сf. also Amh. fälla 'to pululate, swarm (insects, ants)' [K 2260], found in particular in the expression ḳǝmal fälabät 'to be swarming with lice' (according to Kane, a secondary semantic development from the main meaning of fälla, namely 'to boil, to ferment'), fälfäl 'swarm of termites which leave the mound at the onset of the rainy season' [ibid. 2272] (according to Kane, derived from a verbal root meaing 'to hatch (locusts)'). Possible WS parallels for Akk. uplu were extensively discussed in [Landsberger Fauna 127] with the following conclusion: "Diese Verba hat schon Delitzsch ... verglichen; er meinte aber, man könne sie mit uplu nicht kombinieren, da in Aram. und Arab. für diese Verba die Bedeutung "untersuchen" primär, "lausen" sekundär wäre. Dies trifft nicht zu, wir haben vielmehr sowohl die akkadischen als die aramäisch-arabischen Verba aus eine zweiradikalige Wurzel pl, etwa "Läuse bekommen" zurückzuführen. Dagegen hat uplu direkt keinen Zusammenhang mit dem aramäisch-arabischen Tiernamen "Lauserin der Schlange"). In our opinion, a term for louse can hardly be derived from a verbal root meaning 'to get louse' whereas a reverse development seems more than natural (cf. Akk. uppulu). As for the Arm. and Arb. insect names, their interpretation as secondary deverbal derivates ("one-whodelouses(-snakes)") proposed e.g. in [Levy WTM IV 52] and supported by Landsberger is not unlikely, though a popular reinterpretation of original faunal terms is also quite conceivable. [DRS 585]: Akk., Arb. (fly 'faire la chasse aux poux')
