Reconstructions Search

A secondary deverbal root formation on the C. Sem. level. Related to Sem. *rpḳ ‘to lean, recline (on one’s elbow)’. 

Probably to be directly identified with Akk. maḫru ‘past, bygone time; before, in the presence, in front of’. The alternative derivation from *ˀḫr (Brokelmann 1908:78, 241) is hardly acceptable (Kogan 2015: 194)

The origin is uncertain as no reliable cognates are attested anywhere else in Semitic. In a purely theoretical perspective, one could venture to connect it with PWS *ṭry ‘to be fresh, raw, wet’ W. von Soden (AHw. 663) tentatively compares Akk. miṭirtu, miṭru ‘Wasserlauf,’ ‘a type of field or orchard characterized by a special irrigation system; a type of canal or ditch’. This comparison has been accepted in Dolgopolsky 1978:2 and Krebernik 2006:85. A more straightforward Akkadian cognate may be muṭṭuru ‘oozing moisture’ (Kouwenberg 1997:381, 414), not recognized by the standard dictionaries (cf. AHw. 572, CAD M₁ 11), but fitting the attested contexts well, both orthographically and semantically Kogan 2015: 177

may be connected (as ma-prefix derivate) to biconsonantal element *gd “to be good, lucky, excellent”

probably related to the verbal root *γwr ‘to sink down, to be depressed’, v. Kopf 1976:160 and Takács 2008:681

see also *minḥ-at- - grant, gift

see also *mnḥ - to give, to grant