Reconstructions Search

The origin is uncertain.

“Proto-MSA *ḳŝˁ is convincingly compared by M.Bittner (1915a:41) and W.Leslau to Arb. qašiˁ- ‘dry’ (LA 8 325), but no further parallels have been discovered yet.” (Kogan 2015:538-539)

The origin is unknown.

The origin of Proto-MSA *ḳnm ‘to feed’ is unknown, although an ultimate connection with the Proto-MSA *ḳny ‘to rear’ is not unlikely (Kogan 2015:561).

Leslau is probably correct in his identification of Proto-MSA *ḳny ‘to rear’ with PS *ḳny ‘to buy, to acquire, to possess’ (for which see HALOT 1111, CDG 437 and Kogan 2015:89), but the semantic shift is peculiar and has no immediate precedent elsewhere in Semitic. One wonders whether the meaning “to suckle” for Mhr. ḳənū and Jib. ḳéní may have developed by contamination with PS *ynḳ, which otherwise left no trace in MSA (cf. SEDNo. 83v). Tgr. ḳäna ‘to grow together’ (WTS 253) is too isolated to be taken as a reliable cognate in spite of the remarkable semantic proximity. (Kogan 2015:561)

The origin of Proto-MSA *ḳry ‘to hide’ is uncertain. Contra Leslau, there is hardly any connection between this root and Arb. qry ‘to entertain a guest’ (Lane 2988). (Kogan 2015:562)

With Leslau 1947:9, Proto-MSA *ḳaṭmīm- ‘butter’ may be related to Arb. qaṭīmat- = ˀal-labanu l-mutaγayyiru l-ṭaˁmi (TA 33 289). (Kogan 2015:562)

As duly recognized by both Leslau and Johnstone, the MSA prepositions are semantically equivalent to PS *ˁalay rather than to PWS *li. The etymological *ˁ persists in the Soqotri forms with pronominal suffixes such as ˁəy ‘on him.’ (Kogan 2015:562)

The origin of Proto-MSA *lˁb ‘to suck’ is unknown. Hardly any connection with either Hbr. lˁb ‘to make sport of’ (HALOT 532), Syr. lˁb ‘delectatus, gavisus est; avidus fuit’ (LSyr. 386), Arb. lˁb ‘to play, to joke (of children)’ (WKAS L 779) or luˁāb- ‘saliva, spittle’ (ibid. 809).

The Proto-MSA verbal root *lhy ‘to bleat,’ probably onomatopoetic in its origin, has no direct parallel anywhere else in Semitic. (Kogan 2015:563)