Number: 2564
Proto-Semitic: *ŝaʕVr- 1; Eth. *ŝǝr(-n)ay- 2
Meaning: barley; grass, straw 1; wheat 2
Hebrew: ŝǝʕōrā 'the hairy, grainy kernel-fruit, barley' (HAL 1346)
Judaic Aramaic: sǝʕartā 'barley' (Ja. 1010)
Syrian Aramaic: sǝʕārǝtā 'hordeum' (Brock. 489)
Mandaic Aramaic: sara 'barley' (DM 315)
Arabic: cf. šuʕr- coll. 'plantes, arbres (tout ce qui constitue, pour ainsi dire, le poile du sol); safran', šaʕār- 'arbres touffus et entrelacés qui servent d'ombrage l'été et d'abri l'hiver; végétatoin' (BK I 1238)
Geʕez (Ethiopian): śāʕr 'herb, herbage, grass, vegetation, straw, meadow, grassland, pasture' (LGz. 525).
Tigre: saʕarsaʕaro 'green' (LH 194), säʕar 'grass, hay' (LH 194; šǝʕir 'barley' Ibid. 226 is likely an Arabism); šǝrnay, šǝnray 'wheat' (LGz., 534)
Amharic: sar 'grass (either green or dried)' (Kane 1990, 482) , sororro 'white ṭef' (Ibid. 486); sǝnde 'wheat' (LGz., 534)
Argobba: sǝrray 'wheat' (LGz., 534)
Gafat: sǝndä 'wheat' (LGz., 534)
Gurage: *saʔar 'grass' (LGur 530); *sǝre; Cha särimäsǝr 'green' ("like grass" LGur)
Mehri: ŝɛ̄r 'straw' (JM 370); cf. šǝʕīr (JM 391) 'barley', very likely an Arabism.
Jibbali: ŝáʕǝr 'dry grass, straw' (JJ 244); cf. šiʕír (JJ 259) 'barley', very likely an Arabism.
Soqotri: cf. šáʕir 'orge' (LS 420), very likely an Arabism.
Notes: Dolgopolsky explains -ʕ- as the result of contamination, after popular etymology, with Sem. *ŝaʕr- 'hair', which is quite plausible; an alternative explanation is the influence of *ŝi/uʕ(V̄ʕ)- 'barley'
