Number: 93
Proto-Semitic: *(ʔi-)š/sayb- ~ *š/sabib-
Meaning: tuft of hair
Arabic: ʔisb- 'pubis, poil autour des parties naturelles et de l'anus' [BK 1 31]; sayb- 'crins de la queue du cheval' [BK 1 1173]; sabīb- 'crin de la queue, ou de la crinière, ou du toupet (du cheval)' [ibid. 1039]. Cf. (dial.) sabāsib- (pl.) 'dishevelled hair'. Cf. sbt (i/u) 'shave (head), let hair down' .
Tigre: (?) šäbib 'hair (of the head, of the tail)' [LH 217] (in spite of š vs. ARB s, rather an Arabism)
East Ethiopic: SEL šǝbäññä, WOL šǝbǝññe [LGr 571], ZWY saʔbi [ibid. 530]
Gurage: MUH MSQ šǝbǝññä, CHA šǝmnä, GOG šǝbuññä, EŽA šǝbǝnnä, SOD šǝmuñña [ibid. 571], END šombä do. [ibid. 579]
Mehri: mǝnsōb [JM 299]
Jibbali: mɔ́sɔ̄t [JJ 192] (<*mVsVb-Vt)
Soqotri: mǝ́nsub [ibid.] (cf. also [LS 268; SSL LS 1467]); QALAN-V ʔǝ́nsöb [SSL 4 96]
Notes: Problematic; scarce attestation only in Southern SEM area in the languages which do not differentiate between *š {} *s and *s {} *c.
According to Leslau, S. ETH examples are Cushitisms, but in view of similar SEM forms, they are rather not (probably with the exception of END šombä < E. CUSH HADIYA šṓmba do.).
The MSA examples of the *mVnsub type look like forms with a prefixed m- and a secondary -n- (cf. ʔǝ- prefixed and -n- in SOQ QALAN-V ʔǝ́nsöb and the JIB example with no traces of -n-).
Cf. a striking parallel to the MSA form in SUM munšub, munsub and similar forms 'behaarte Haut, Haar, etc.' [IK 693].
Cf. SOQ QALAN-V mǝsī́mbǝhǝr 'moustaches longues' [SSL 4 89] (related with a prefixed mand suffixed -r?)
