The etymology of Proto-MSA *šny ‘to seed, to cultivate’ is uncertain. Har. säňi ‘seed’ (EDH 141), Sel. säňe, Wol. säňňe and Zwy. säňi ‘seed, crop’ (EDG 555) are in all probability borrowed from Cushitic (Oromo saňňi, Somali šuni), but the Cushitic terms, in their turn, may be related to the MSA ones as cognates, thus pointing to a fairly archaic Afroasiatic root completely lost elsewhere in Semitic if not compared to Akk. ašnan (Militarev 1999:394). (Kogan 2015:571)