Number: 166
Proto-Semitic: *ḳaml- ~ *ḳalm-
Meaning: louse
Eblaitic: ga-ma-tum = UH_ [MEE 4 1022]. Interpreted as /ḳalmatum/ 'pidocchio' in [Fron. Ebl. 177]. As rightly pointed out by Fronzaroli, a normalization /kalmatum/ is equally possible which would yield a form identi- cal to kalmatu which is well known from Akkadian (cf. below). This interpretation is adopted in [Civil Ebla 90]. For a tenta- tive interpretation of ga-na-du-um, another Ebl. correspondence to Sum. UH_ cf. No. ...
Aramaic: Anc. ḳml 'louse' [HJ 1013]. Hapax in KAI 222 A 31: ...wyšlḥn ʔlhn mn kl mh ʔkl bʔrpd wbʕmh [yʔkl p]m ḥwh wpm ʕḳrb wpm dbhh wpm nmrh wss wḳml ... 'And may the gods send everything which can eat against Arpad and his people! Let the snake's mouth eat, and the scorpion's mouth, and the bear's mouth, and the leopard's mouth as well as moth and louse...' (cf. [Fitzmyer 88-9] and especially [Tawil 61]).
Judaic Aramaic: ḳalmǝtā 'vermin' [Ja. 1378], [Levy WT II 363].
Syrian Aramaic: ḳalmā 'pediculus; animalculum frumento infestum' [Brock. 668], [PS 3635].
Arabic: ḳaml- 'poux', ḳummal- 'petites fourmis; petites sauterelles qui n'ont pas encore d'aile' [BK 2 816], [Fr. III 500] (also ḳamāl- 'pediculus'), [LA 11 568-9].
Epigraphic South Arabian: Sab. ḳmlt 'insect pests, locusts (?)' [SD 105]. Until recently this term was known from one inscription only, of doubtful authenticity (C 174/4: wl wgybhmw bn bn kl ḳmltm wtḫybm 'in order to protect them from every kind of pest and drought') but now it is attested also in MAFRAY-al-Bayḍāʔ 100/7 (cf. [Sima 129ff.] for details). Sab. ḳlm, ḳlmt 'insect pest, locusts (?)' [SD 105]. Qat. ḳlm 'Lausbefall' [Sima 131]. More details on the ESA forms see in [Sima 131ff.] (in par- ticular, the only Qat. attestation Bāfaqīh-Bāṭāyiʕ 7/2: bn kl ḳlmm 'from every harmful insect'). A related verbal form h-ḳlm 'to be ravaged (land) by insect pests' [SD 105] seems to be at- tested in S̆araf ad-Dīn 8/13 (not very reliable according to [Si- ma 131]).
Geʕez (Ethiopian): ḳʷǝmāl, ḳǝmāl 'louse' [LGz. 432].
Tigre: NUMBER 41 PROTO *mw/yt PRNUM 0 MEANING to die PSPEECH v AKK mâtu (Ass muātu) OAkk on [CAD M 421], [AHw 634] EBL AMO UGA mt [Aist 197] CAN AMARNA ti-mi-tu-na-nu 'you make us die' (impf.caus.suff.) [HJ 605], AMM ymtn (impf.3 pl.m.) [ibid.], PHO mt [T 204] PHN HBR mwt [KB 562] ARM SAM OLD OFF NAB PLM HTR mwt/myt [HJ 605-6], BIB mōt 'Tod' [KB deutsch 1734] BIB JUD mwt, myt [Ja 780]; [Sok 297] SYR mīt [Brock 378] NEW MND MUT [DM 263] ARA mwt [BK 2 1165] DIAL SAR SAB mwt [SD 89] GEZ mota [LGz 375] TGR motä [LH 134] TNA motä [Bass 100] AMH motä [K 304] GAF HAR EAST HAR mōta [LH 114], SEL mōtä, WOL motä, ZWY mūtä [LGur 435] CHA GUR SOD motä, GYE mōtä, CHA EZHA MUH MAS GOG mʷätä, END ENN mōdä [ibid.] MHR mōt [JM 275] HRS mōt 'to die, to be numb' [JH 92] JIB emyét 'to put to death' [JJ 176]; mít 'death' [ibid.] SOQ mī 'mort' [LS 237].
Looks like a "pseudo-correction", with *-t understood as a feminine marker and the word "corrected" into masculine, possibly due to some mythological association AFR NOTES Usually reconstructed as *mwt; -y-, however, is clearly represented in part of ARM and MSA and therefore cannot be disregarded.
[Fr 38]: *mawit- 'morto', mawt- 'morte' (GEZ, ARB, SYR, HBR, UGR, GEZ) ; [KB 562]: HBR, UGR, ARM, ARB, SAB, GEZ, TGR, AKK; [LGz 375]: HBR, UGR, ARM, ARB, SAB, GEZ, AKK, MHR ḳämlät id. [LH 237]. Note ḳomäl 'poux' [ibid.] (according to d'Abbadie).
Tigrai (Tigriñña): ḳumal id. [Bass. 288].
Amharic: ḳǝmal id. [K 700].
Gurage: Msq. Gog. Sod. ḳǝmal, Sel. Wol. ḳumal, Cha. Eža ḳǝmar, Gyt. ḳǝm_ār, Zwy. ḳǝmāy, Muh. ḳǝme, Enm. ʔǝ̃m_ār, End. ʔǝwān 'louse' [LGur. 481].
Notes: Cf. the verbal root *ḳml 'to grow mouldy, putrid, rotten': Syr. ḳǝmal 'maciem passus est; mucorem duxit' [Brock. 672], Arb. ḳml 'être couvert de points noirs (se dit de la tige de certains végétaux)' [BK 2 816], [Fr. III 500], [LA XI 568]. Hbr. ḳml (at- tested in Is 33.9 and 19.6) may also belong here, especially if the translation 'to be infested with lice' is accepted (an alternative interpretation 'to become black, blacken' is preferred in [KB 1108-9]). Cf. Mnd. ḳiluma 'corruption, putrefaction' [DM 410]. Phonetically and semantically similar forms with non-empha- tic k in Akkadian and Aramaic (according to [Zimmern 52], Ara- maic forms are Akkadisms) are put in connection with the present root by many scholars (v. references below; for a sceptical eva- luation of this approach see [Sima 131], [HJ 513]): Akk. kalmatu 'parasite, louse (on animals, plants and human beings)' OAkk. on [CAD k 86], [AHw. 426]. In Old Akkadian as a proper name only. The oldest attestations may be found in the OA and OB letters CCT 2 30:29 and TCL 17 2:21 (both describe grain which is kalmatam lapit/laptat 'affected by k.'). References from Mari are collected and analysed in [Lion-Michel 720-2]. Se- veral varieties of k. are found in lexical lists; Anc. klmh 'parasite, louse' [HJ 513]. Supposed to be attes- ted in KAI 222 A 31 (cf. above) where kl mh (usually understood as 'everything that') is thought to represent klmh (v. espe- cially [Tawil 60-2]). This approach is rejected in [Fitzmyer 88-9] ("but that is not to be accepted") without sufficient ar- gumentation. Jud. kalmā, kalmǝtā 'vermin' [Ja. 645], [Levy WT I 367], [Levy WTM 341], klmh 'vermin' [Sok. 261]; Sam. klmym 'gnat' [Tal 391]. Hbr. kinnām and related forms are hardly connected with the present root in spite of the common opinion, v. No. ... . [Fron. 297]: *ḳalm-(at-) 'pidocchio' (Gez., Arb., Syr., Hbr. /ḳml/, Akk. /kalmatu/); [Sima 131]: ESA, Arb., Gez., Hbr. (ḳāmal; apparently a verbal form for which see above), Arm.; [LGz. 432]: Gez., Eth., Arb., ESA (ḳlmt); Hbr., Arm. (also kalmǝtā), Syr. (ḳalmā), "related to Hbr. kinnām, Soq. konem, Mhr. konem"; [Brock. 668]: Syr., Jud. (ḳalmǝtā, kalmǝtā), Arb., ESA (ḳmlt), Gez., Akk. (kalmatu), Hbr. (kinnām), Soq. (konem).
