Number: 1955
Proto-Semitic: *ʔVrn/m-
Meaning: 'mountain goat'
Akkadian: armu 'buck (of gazelle or mountain goat)' MB on [CAD a2 293], [AHw. 69-70].
Aramaic: Off. ʔrn 'ram' [HJ 110]. // Uncertain, found only in Frah VII 10 (ʔlln(n) = mēš), v. [Nyberg 70] ('caper silvestris').
Syrian Aramaic: ʔarnā 'caper montanus' [Brock. 50], [PS 393].
Arabic: ʔirān- 'oryx mâle' [Blachère 89], [LA XIII 14] (= ʔat_-t_awru; ʔat_-t_awru l-waḥšiyyu). Not in [BK], in [Fr. I 29] only šātu ʔirānin 'taurus'.
Epigraphic South Arabian: Qat. ʔrmm, transl. as 'merchandise, wares' in [Ricks 15] with references to other sources, transl. this term as 'small cattle'
Geʕez (Ethiopian): ʔornā 'kind of antelope' [LGz. 38].
Gurage: Gog. Muh. ǝrrǝññä 'ram, small male sheep' [LGur. 90].
Mehri: ḥā-ráwn 'goats' [JM 7].
Jibbali: ʔɛrún id. [JJ 4].
Harsusi: ḥe-werūn id. [JH 3].
Soqotri: ʔérehon 'moutons, chèvres' [LS 75].
Notes: The Akk. term is to be separated from armû (for which v. No. ...), see [Landsberger Fauna 94-], [Salonen Jagd 179-]. In the present word, -m is from *m and probably has a suffixal origin while in armû it is a regular evolution of w and belongs to the base; the Auslaut is always written defectively differently from the regular plene in armû (though, admittedly, the st. pron. ar-ma-šu in Maqlû VII 25 is quite unexpected and might suggest a contamination of the two terms). // The existence of a fem. counterpart for this term in Akk. (armatu/arantu) is questionable. According to von Soden, both forms are present here. armatu 'Bergziege' [AHw. 69] is thought to be attested as an Akk. loan in Ur III Sumerian documents (AR.MA.TUM, (v. [Limet 82]: H.Limet Documents économiques de la IIIe dynastie d'Ur RA 49 pp. 69-93) and in MB (pl. ar-ma-a-tum). // In both cases the term would represent animal figures, not the animals themselves. As for arantu/arandu 'Bergziege' [AHw. 64], it is postulated (following [Landsberger Fauna 94]) only in the SB divinatory text AfO 9.119.7 (šikitti a-ra-anti/di šakin ḳarnāšu kurrâ 'it [the ewe] looks like a.: its horns are short'). In favour of this approach cf. further [Salonen Jagd 179]. On the contrary, none of the terms is present in [CAD] where armatu is divided into two non-faunal lexemes 'copper part of a door' and 'an ornament' ([CAD a2 291]) while arant/du is translated as 'wild donkey' [ibid. 212] (hardly acceptable, see convincing criticism in [Salonen Jagd 179]). // Cf. Syr. ʔarwānā (pl. ʔarwānītā) 'vitulus, vitula' [Brock. 47], [PS 372], somewhat different semantically (compared to Syr. ʔarnā, Arb. ʔirān- in [PS]). One can hardly agree with Brockelmann in qualifying this term as an Iranian loan (< Avestan *aurvant- 'quick, brave'), cf. [Cianсaglini MS]. // Cf. Qat. ʔrmm translated by some authors as 'small cattle' (v. [Ricks 15] for references; translation accepted by Ricks is 'merchandise, wares'). It would be tempting to compare to the present root Cha. Eža Msq. äram, Gyt. äram, Enm. энм. arãm 'cow' [LGur. 89], but according to Leslau they represent a phonetic evolution of lam. // Likely to be connected with *ʔVrwiy- '(wild) goat; gazelle' No. ... (note especially the MSA forms above where -n is clearly attached on a base ending with a long vowel). // [DRS 33]: Akk., Syr., Arb., Soq. (further compared to terms listed in *ʔVrwiy-, No. ...); [LGz. 38]: Gez., Syr., Akk., Soq., Jib.; [LS 75]: Soq., Syr., Akk.
