Reconstructions Search

The origin is unknown.

The origin is unknown. Cf. Akkadian anṣabtu ‘ear ring’, Tigre ḥəndəbbät - a sort of ear-ring (Kogan 2015, 558).

“Related to Arb. ḥisan ‘accumulated sand beneath which is hard rock; soft or plain ground in which water remains and collects’, Tna. ḥašäwa ‘sand, strand, sandbank’, Amh. ašäwa, ašawa ‘sand’, Cha. Eža Enm. Gyt. Muh. Sod. Sel. Wol. ašawa, End. ašawä, Msq. Gog. ašäwa ‘sand’ (Kogan 2015: 558)

According to Bulakh 2004:273-274, the term for “black” in Soqotri, as well as in other MSA, can be related to Arb. ḥawar- ‘intense whiteness of white of the eye and intense blackness of the black thereof’, in its turn connected with Common Aramaic *ḥwr ‘to be white’. (Kogan 2015: 541)

The origin of Proto-MSA *ḫűr-, *ḫarr-Vn- ‘a little’ is uncertain, although A. Jahn’s comparison (1902:199) with Arb. ḫwr ‘to be weak, feeble’ is not unreasonable, see further Gez. ḫəwwur ‘weak, invalid’, Tgr. ḥawärä ‘perdre la parole (de faiblesse)’, compared to Mhr. ḫawr in CDG 269. Semantically more attractive is M. Bittner’s equation (1915a:40-41) with Arb. ḥwr ‘to decrease, to be defective or deficient’ (Lane 665), but one is reluctant to accept it because of the phonological difference (Kogan 2015:559)

The meaning “with” for the reflexes of PS *kV ‘like, as’ is not attested outside MSA. The original comparative meaning of *kV- left no trace in MSA. For the semantic shift from comparative to comitative cf. (with Bittner 1913a:8) Gez. məsla ‘with’ < məsl (*miṯl-) ‘likeness, similarity’ (CDG 365). (Kogan 2015:559)

“In the wake of Leslau, it is tempting to identify Proto-MSA *kwn/*kyn ‘to be numerous’ with PS *kwn ‘to be steadfast, sure, reliable’, although the underlying semantic link is not entirely transparent. A. Militarev’s alternative comparison (2012b:608) with Arb. kˀn ‘to be strong’ (Lane 2582) also deserves attention.”