Semitic etymology : Query result

Number: 85

Proto-Semitic: *dVb(V)r-

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: back, hind part

Mandaic Aramaic: dibra 'back, tail' [DM 106]

Arabic: dubr- 'partie postérieure, derrière; dos; nuque' [BK 1 665]; dabr- 'derrière, partie postérieure d'une chose', dubur- 'partie postérieure; derrière; dos; cul' [ibid.]

Amharic: žǝbär 'backbone' [K 1864].

Not quite reliable, since ž may continue ETH *z, *d and *g. Note also ǯärba (žärba) 'back' etc. (below)

Notes: As an anatomic term has a scarce attestation. Unseparable from such verbal stems as *dbr (1) 'to turn the back': HBR dbr (pi.) 'to turn aside', (hip.) 'to drive back' [ibid. 209]; MHR adōber 'to turn the back' [JM 63], HRS adēber 'to turn away from' [JH 22], JIB s̃ǝdbér 'to turn one's back' [JJ 43] (erroneously placed by Johnstone under dwr); and (2) 'to lie on one's back': GEZ tadabbara [LGz 121]; cf. also UGR dbr 'guiar, hacer marchar' [DLU 128] (with a remark: "existen numerosas alternativas de interpretación").

Besides, there are a few likely derived nominal stems, with diverse meaning shifts: AKK dubur 'Fundament' [AHw 174] considered by Soden a Sumerism (equated with išdu in a Syn. list; see in *šVt-, *ʔi-šVt-, No. ), though, on the contrary, rather a source of SUM du-burçBIRß [IK I 227]; HBR dǝbīr 'Holy of Holies' (back-room of the temple) [KB 208] (also dybr 'inner sanctuary' in DSS HBR [DCH II 384]); GEZ dabarbir 'heap of earth on which monks lean for sleeping, backrest, including place for the back, lying on the back' [LGz 121] (one wonders whether it may be an ironical play of words: dābe/ir means 'shrine, sanctuary, innermost room' [ibid.]; borrowed from HBR).

JIB dǝbrɛ́t 'swelling under the skin on a camel's back' [JJ 43] is obviously a borrowing from ARB dabarat- 'plaie, ulcère au dos d'un chameau' [BK 1 666] (in both cases a contamination with *da/ib(a)r'plague', No. , is possible).

Cf. what may be a metathetic term in ETH: AMH ǯärba and žärba 'back (part of the body), loins' [K 1859] (ž < *d ?) and TNA däräb 'ventre, pancia' [Bass 763] (with a semantic shift?).

Cf. MSA: MHR ʔārdyīb [JM 27], HRS ʔardīb [JH 9], JIB ʔardōt [ibid.] 'nape of the neck and the top of the shoulders' (there is also JIB ʔardéb 'nuque' [LS 326] compared by Bittner with ARB dubr[ibid.]; not in [JJ]), SOQ ʕarédeb 'tresse qui tombe sur la nuque' [LS 326]. It is not clear what MSA protoform should be reconstructed: *ʕardīb with ʕ relying on SOQ ʕ (so in [SSL 5 268-9]) or *ʔardīb with ʔ relying on JIB ʔ (SEM *ʕ > HRS MHR ʔ, but > JIB SOQ ʕ); *ʔardīb may in principle be regarded as metathetic from *dVb(V)r-, with the prefixed ʔa-, while in *ʕardīb, ʕ will be difficult to explain (may it be due to contamination with MSA *ɣārib 'baсk of the neck'? see in *ɣarVb/p'back of the neck, occiput', No. ).

[Fron 266]: (*dabir'posteriore', *dubr'parte posteriore'; both unconvincingly related to such terms for 'pasture, field, mountain' as GEZ dabr, HBR dōbär); [DRS 212]: MND, ARB, MSA (MHR ardīb etc.), GEZ (tadabbara), AMH (ǯärba) (with a compendious discussion on many other semantic developments of this root); [DM 106]: MND, ARB; [LGz 121]: GEZ (tadabbara), ARB, HBR (dbr, piʕ), MND (rightly doubts the connection with GEZ dabr 'mountain' suggested by some authors)