Semitic etymology : Query result

Number: 2228

Proto-Semitic: *ṭiḥāl- ~ *ṭu/alḥīm-

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: spleen

Akkadian: ṭulīmu, tulīmu OB, SB [AHw 1394]

Hebrew: PB ṭǝḥōl [Ja 528]

Judaic Aramaic: ṭǝḥōlā, ṭaḥălā [Ja 528].

ṭǝḥōlā may be a Hebraism

Syrian Aramaic: ṭǝḥālā [Brock 272]

Modern Aramaic: MMND ṭahāla 'spleen' [M MND 521]

Mandaic Aramaic: ṭahala, ṭahaila, ṭihaila, ṭahila [DM 173]

Arabic: ṭiḥāl- [BK 2 61]

Amharic: ARG ṭaḥa [LHar 152]

Harari: ṭāḥa [ibid.].

On the loss of -l in HAR see [ibid. 5]

East Ethiopic: SEL ṭār, WOL ṭalä [LGur 616]

Gurage: MUH MSQ GOG SOD ṭala, CHA ṭar, ENN END EŽA ṭara, GYE ṭāra [ibid.]

Mehri: ṭɛlḥáym [JM 410]

Jibbali: ṭɛlḥím [JJ 277].

Cf. ṭɔlḥ 'blood and discharge with an afterbirth, diarrhoea' [ibid.]

Harsusi: ṭelḥáym [JH 130] (given with a question mark)

Soqotri: QALAN-V ṭálḥǝn, ʕELHA ṭálḥem [SSL LS 1477]

Notes: The *ṭu/alḥīm- variant is metathetic, attested in AKK and MSA only, with the *-Vm.

Note a presumably derived (if not contaminated) verb in ARB ṭḥl 'étre trouble, sale, couleur de la rate; étre gâté et sentir mauvais, et étre remplit de fange qui sent mauvais (se dit d'une eau croupissante)' [BK 2 61] and what looks a strikingly similar semantic development (from *ṭu/alḥīm- 'spleen') in ARB ṭulḥūm- 'aqua corrupta et foetens' [Fraytag III 63] (cf. also a variant root ṭalh_- 'eau fangeuse, rempli de vermine et qui n'est pas potable' [BK 2 95]) and TGR ṭǝlḥam 'disease of cattle (poisoning caused by grass or by water on the place of a fire or a forest)' [LH 607]. This parallelism, however, is problematic not only because *ṭu/alḥīm- 'spleen' is retained neither in ARB nor in TGR, but also because the very meaning shift 'spleen' > 'putrid water' is not easy to explain.

[Brock 272]: SYR, JUD, HBR PB, ARB; [AHw 1394]: HBR PB, JUD, ARB; [LGur 616]: GUR, ARB