Number: 2377
Proto-Semitic: *d_iʔb-
Meaning: wolf
Akkadian: zību 'jackal, vulture' SB [CAD z 106], [AHw. 1525]. // Exact meaning of the term is not easy to establish. Attestations with the MUS̆EN determinative make the meaning 'kind of bird [of prey]' quite certain (cf. [Salonen Vögel 109, 237, 293] where it is identified with Gyps fulvus, 'Gänsegeier'). Note that a very similar meaning shift in Akk. is supposed for PS *ṣ̂abuʕ- 'hyena', cf. No. ... . On the other hand, serious doubts about z. as a term for a mammal have been expressed. In its radical form, this approach is found in MSL VIII/2 129 (according to Landsberger, z. is never applied to mammals) and is accepted by CAD where the traditional rendering 'jackal' is preserved for some passages only (with a remark that even there the translation 'vulture' is possible or even preferable). A different treatement is found in [AHw] where new textual evidence in favour of the traditional translation are adduced (e.g. kalbū u zībū ina ḳerbīšun ēmidū 'dogs and jackals assembled in their recesses' Iraq 16.192.55). An indirect evidence for the translation 'jackal' is the locust name BURU5 zi-bu-ú equated to Sum. BURU5 KA5.A ('fox-jackal'). In Malku V 44 zi-i-bu = bar-ba-ru (i.e. 'wolf'). As rightly pointed out in [CAD z 106], this usage is to be explained as a WS borrowing or influence (cf. [Landsberger Fauna 78]).
Hebrew: zǝʔēb 'wolf' [KB 260], pB. [Ja. 377]. // A relatively rare poetic term, usually in parallelism with other large predatory mammals (nāmēr, kǝpīr, ʔaryē). Outside the Hebrew Bible cf. Sir 13.17 (mh yḥwbr zʔb ʔl kbš 'what have in common a wolf and a ram?'), probably inverting the phraseology of Isaiah (e.g. wǝgār zǝʔēb ʕim käbäŝ 'and a wolf will dwell with a ram', Is 11.6).
Aramaic: D.-Alla [z]ʔ̣ḅ 'wolf' [Hackett 129]. // In I.10 (reconstruction is not very certain but yields good sense in the context: ʔrnbn ʔklw [z]ʔ̣ḅ 'зайцы сьели волка'). // Off. dʔb, dyb 'wolf' [HJ 237]. // The form dybʔ is found in Frah IX 5 (= gurg), see [Nyberg 73]; dʔb in Aḥiq 199 is not very certain (see references in [HJ]).
Judaic Aramaic: dēbā 'wolf' [Ja. 294], [Levy WT I 169], [Levy WTM I 370], dēb 'wolf', dǝbū 'she-wolf' [Ja. 276], [Levy WTM I 370], dyb 'wolf' [Sok. 144]. // Sam. dyb 'wolf' [Tal 179].
Syrian Aramaic: dēbā, dʔybʔ, dybʔ 'lupus' [Brock. 137], [PS 801].
Mandaic Aramaic: diba 'wolf' [DM 106].
Arabic: d_iʔb-, d_īb- 'loup; chacal' [BK 1 760], [Fr. II 78], [Lane 949], [LA I 377] (for more details see [Hommel 303-4]).
Geʕez (Ethiopian): zǝʔb 'hyena' [LGz. 630] (also zǝbʔ id. [ibid. 630], metathesis).
Tigre: zǝbʔi 'hyena' [LH 498] (most probably borrowed from Tna.).
Tigrai (Tigriñña): zǝbʔi 'iena' [Bass. 732].
Amharic: ǯǝb 'hyena' [K 1863].
Jibbali: d_ib 'loup' [LS 120], díb 'wolf' [Nakano 117].
Soqotri: díb id. [LS 120].
Notes: Note forms with z- in Arm.: Jud. zībā, zēbā 'wolf' [Ja. 390], [Dalman 119] (cf. [Levy WTM I 526]), Mnd. zaba "an older form of diba" 'wolf' [DM 156]. // [Fron. 293]: *d_iʔb- 'lupo' (Gez., Soq., Arb., Syr., Hbr., Akk.); [DRS 324]: Akk., Hbr., Arm., Arb., MSA, Eth.; [KB 260]: Hbr., Arb., Gez., Arm., Akk.; [Brock. 137]: Syr., Arm., Hbr., Akk., Arb.; [LGz. 630]: Gez., Eth., Hbr., Arm., Arb., Akk.; [Firmage 1153]: Akk., Hbr., Arm., Gez., Arb.; [LS 120]: Soq., Jib., Arb., Hbr., Gez., Arm., Akk.
