Central Chadic etymology : List with all references

Proto-CChadic: *kVsVm- (<*gVsVm-?)

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: 'body'

Daba: ksǝm

Musgoy: ksǝm

Notes: In Musgu group, *g- may yield *k-, according to Stolb 1996, 59.

Proto-Afro-Asiatic: *gism- (?)

Meaning: body

Semitic: *gišm- 'body'

Central Chadic: *kVsVm- (or <*KV-sVm-?) 'body'

Notes: Phonetics uncertain.

Number: 1235

Proto-Semitic: *gišm-

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: body

Biblical Aramaic: *gǝšēm (gišm- sg. suff., gešm- pl.suff.) [KB deutsch 1688]

Judaic Aramaic: gišmā, gušmā 'body, substance' [Ja 228, 274]; gšm 'body' [Sok 137], gwšmh 'body' [ibid. 125]

Syrian Aramaic: gušmā (constr. gǝšōm) 'corpus' [Brock 136]

Modern Aramaic: NASS güsmä 'body' [Tser 051]

Mandaic Aramaic: gišma, gušma 'body, person' [DM 92]

Arabic: ǧism- 'corps' [BK 1 294]

Amharic: ARG ǧism 'body' [LGur 319]

East Ethiopic: SEL ǧism, WOL ǧismä do. [ibid.]

Gurage: CHA EŽA MUH ǧisma, END ǧismä, GYE ǧisǝma, g'isǝma, MSQ ǧǝsm, GOG ǧǝsma, ENN g'isǝma do. [ibid.]

Mehri: gǝsēm 'body' [JM 126]

Jibbali: gɛ́sm 'body' [JJ 79]

Soqotri: gešómoh, pl. gišemiten 'femme'; múgšem 'garcon, fils' [LS 117]

Notes: While MSA (MHR and JIB) examples with -s- (instead of the expected -h- and -š-) may be Arabisms, those with š in SOQ are rather inherited MSA and SEM forms; of the presumed semantic shifts in SOQ, 'woman, wife' from 'body' is difficult, whereas 'boy, son' from 'body' is well attested in SEM, cf. AKK bišru 'small child' vs. *biŝr-/*baŝar- 'flesh with skin, (human) body' (No. ) and more examples in Introduction. As for the S. ETH examples, which are all Arabisms according to [LGur 319], Leslau's main (not verbalized) argument for this assertion seems to be -ǧ- instead of the expected -g-. However, this author admits ǧ "rarely" < *g in the presence of a front vowel [ibid. LVIII]; one wonders whether SEM *gišm- > S. ETH *ǧism- may be the case.

Note HAḌ gs₁m 'bâtir en construction massive' [Avanzini 263]; a meaning shift from 'body'?

[DRS 196]: ARM, ARB, ESA, MSA, ETH; [LS 117]: SOQ, ARB; [Brock 136]: SYR, ARM, ARB

Central Chadic etymology :

Afroasiatic etymology :

Semitic etymology :