Semitic etymology : Query result

Number: 2194

Proto-Semitic: *si/anṗ- 'lung'

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: lung

Akkadian: sinibtu, siniptu 'part of sheep's lung' SB [CAD s 5], [AHw 1047]

Hebrew: PB simpōn 'ramified blood-vessel, artery; bronchiae' [Ja 982]

Judaic Aramaic: simpōnā do. [ibid.] (borrowed from or to HBR PB?)

Geʕez (Ethiopian): sanbuʔ, sambuʕ 'lung' [LGz 505].

Note also sǝmbāḥ do. [ibid.]

Tigre: sänbuʔ, sämbuʔ 'lungs, pulmonary desease' [LH 173]

Tigrai (Tigriñña): sanbuʔ, sambuʔ, samba, sambo 'lung' [Bass 174; 191]

Amharic: sämba, sǝmbäb, sǝnbäb 'lung; asthma; panting, gasping' [K 427; 538]

East Ethiopic: WOL sambä, SEL ZWY sāmba 'lung' [LGur 546].

Cf. also WOL sǝnäbäbä, SEL sinäbäbä 'to have a cold combined with coughing, cough' [ibid. 550]

Gurage: CHA EŽA GYE MUH MSQ sämba, ENN MUH GOG sambʷä, SOD sambo, END sambä 'lung' [ibid. 546]

Notes: Probably <*sinṗ-

Note SYR sabbōlā (<*san/mb-āl- ?) 'arteria trachealis' [Brock 455] (according to Brockelmann, the primary meaning is 'portator' < sbl 'portare'); can sabbōlā be a contamination, a kind of folk etymology, of *sVmb- 'lung' and a verbal noun derived from sbl 'to carry' ? One wonders whether this SYR term can be alternatively compared to ETH EAST: SEL šǝmbinnä, WOL čǝmbillä; GUR: MUH čǝmbilla, CHA čǝmbina, EŽA čǝmbinna, END šǝppitnä, GYE šǝmpǝna, ENN šǝmpǝnʔa t- 'vein of the leaf of the äsät' [LGur 173]; all < *šǝmpill/nn- (on alternance č:š see [ibid. LXII]).

Cf. ARB sināb-, ṣināb- (ṣ assimilated to *ṗ ?) 'qui a le dos allongé, long' [BK 1 1148; 1374]; cf. also sanbāʔ 'anus' [ibid 1148] (a structural similarity with N. ETH is remarkable); probably related, though in both cases a semantic shift from 'lung' is difficult to prove.

Note an Auslaut in -uʔ/ʕ in N. ETH. Cf. MOD ETH *sVmbVr- 'part of the animal's stomach': TGR sǝmbǝr 'one of the four stomachs of the ruminants' [LH 173], TNA sǝmbǝr 'parte interna dello stomaco dei ruminanti' [Bass 173], AMH sämbär, sǝmbär 'callosity of the internal wall of the animal's stomach'' [K 538-9], GUR: END sämbär 'fat part of the stomach' [LGur 546].

There is SOQ ʕámb 'poumon' [LS 312]; according to [SSL LS 1458] ɣamb, pl. ɣināb. Leslau thinks that SOQ ʕamb 'lung' is perhaps to be connected with the ETH and CUSH roots; in this case s- of the latter ones should be looked at as an agglutinated prefix [LGur 546]. Though this kind of comparison implying prefixed s- in all of the AFRASIAN forms is far-fetched, one cannot help suspecting some kind of connection. Can ɣ in this isolated SOQ example be a result of contamination or some other unique development?