Contra HALOT 765‒766 is to be strictly separated from the widely attested lexemes with the prototypes *sipr- ‘writing, inscription, document’ and *sāpir- ‘scribe,’ which are not autochthonous West Semititc, but ultimately go back to Akk.
šipru and
šāpiru.
Likely related to Gez.
safara ‘to measure’ and its cognates throughout EthS (note especially Amh.
säffärä ‘to measure, to count’.