Semitic Names of Reptilia in Their Afro-Asiatic Setting: New Etyma for ‘Snake’ and ‘Lizard’
Semitic Names of Reptilia in Their Afro-Asiatic Setting: New Etyma for ‘Snake’ and ‘Lizard’

Summary/Abstract: The present etymological study brings arguments for additionally reconstructing two new zoonyms in Proto-Semitic, (1) *ṣar«- ‘a kind of (poisonous?) snake’, which is attested in two of the most archaic Semitic languages, Akkadian and Eblaite, and perhaps in one representative of the Modern South Arabian languages, Soqotri, and one of Ethio-Semitic, Endegeň, plus indirect traces in Hebrew and Geez; (2) *ṣawr- or *ṣur-/*ṣar- ‘lizard’, attested only in Akkadian and Eblaite, but with promising external cognates within Afroasiatic, namely East Cushitic, Chadic, and maybe Egyptian.

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