Proto-Afro-Asiatic: *pil-
Meaning: elephant; aardvark
Notes: Cf. *piʔVr- 'elephant/rhinoceros' (3641). Cf. Bla. Eleph., 196, where various Afras. forms in -r and -l, some meaning 'elephant/rhinoceros', other 'horn' are united, and "the semantic motivation "horn" > "elephant (/rhinoceros)" confirmed by typological evidences" (in particular, Sum. am-si 'elephant', composed from am 'wisent' and si 'horn' , apud Salonen 1976, 175) is tentatively proposed. Also quoted ibid. are similarly looking terms meaning 'elephant' from non-Afrasian African languages; and, finally, CCh. forms in mb- meaning 'elephant', WCh. forms in *ḅ- and SOm. forms in b- meaning 'horn' are compared.
Number: 2653
Proto-Semitic: *pīl- ~ *palpal-
Meaning: a large hoofed animal; elephant (?)
Akkadian: pīlu 'Elefant' [AHw. 867]. The earliest attestations are in the OB lexical list from Elam MDP 27 40 Rs. (AM.SI = pí-ru-um) and, probably, in the OB proverb BWL 272:8 (pi-i-ir ša-ad-di-[im] 'elephant of the steppe'); logographically (KA.AM.SI) also in UET 5 p. 71a. Note that l-forms are rare and late, chiefly in lexical lists. More details on p. see in [Salonen Jagd 232ff.], [Salonen Hippologica 90ff.].
Hebrew: pB. pīl 'elephant' [Ja. 1163].
Judaic Aramaic: pīl (pīlā) 'elephant' [Ja. 1163], [Levy WT II 262], [Levy WTM III 36], pyl 'elephant' [Sok. 431].
Syrian Aramaic: pīlā, f. pīlǝtā 'elephas' [Brock. 566], [PS 3102].
Mandaic Aramaic: pil(a) 'elephant' [DM 371].
Arabic: fīl-, fem. fīl-at- 'éléphant (en gen. et éléphant mâle)' [BK 2 655], [Fr. III 386], [Lane 2474], [LA XI 534]).
Geʕez (Ethiopian): falfal 'water buffalo, elephant' [LGz. 159].
Notes: All (or most of) the above forms are usually regarded as non-Semitic or inter-Semitic borrowings. A typical statement of this kind is found in [Salonen Hippologica 91]: "Der akkadische Name pīlu/pīru ist sicher ein Fw. Nach Zimmern ... zunächst wohl aus dem Akk. > aram. pīlā, neuhebr. pîl (wohl > arab. fīl)", cf. also [Zimmern 50], [Hommel 324ff.], [Jeffery 230-1], [LGz. 159]. Within this approach, the elephant is explicitly or implicitly regarded as an exotic animal not typical of the habitat of the speakers of Semitic languages. This assumption is, however, overtly incorrect since elephants are well attested in Syria at least in late second millenium (cf. [Firmage 1140]: "A sub-species of the Asian elephant appears to have survived well into historical times in the marshes of the Middle Euphrates and Habur rivers... As a result of overhunting elephants were exter minated from W Asia by the 9th century B.C.E."). While it is easy to suppose that Hbr. pīl, Arm. pīlā and especially Arb. fīl- are not indigenous in the respective languages (Akkadian loans in Hbr./Arm., an Arm. loan in Arb., in each case possibly via some Iranian dialect), no loan hypothesis is tenable for Akk. pīru/pīlu which is known already in Old Babylonian (categoric statements like "Iranian origin coming through Aramaic could also apply to Akkadian pīlu" in [LGz. 159] look extremely strange in this connection). Moreover, early Mesopota- mian texts (where the elephant - Sum. AM.SI - is known from the Early Dynastic period!) show that this animal, even if regarded as foreign, was clearly perceived as a Western, not an Eastern rarity. Accordingly, a hypothetic loanword must have entered Akkadian from the West, i.e. some non-Semitic language of Northern Syria (about which, of course, nothing is known). Fi- nally, a foreign origin of Gez. falfal is safely excluded given the difference in vocalism, morphological shape and meaning between this term and the Asian parallels of the *pīl- type. To sum up, there is no compelling reason to exclude the present term from the PS lexicon, the only disturbing circumstance being -r- instead of -l- in most Akk. attestations, especially in the early ones. [Fron. 293]: *pīl- 'elefante' (Arb., Syr., Hbr. pB, Gez.); [LGz. 159]: Gez., Arb., Hbr., Arm., Akk.; [Firmage 1153]: Akk., Hbr., Arm., Gez., Arb.
semet-proto,semet-prnum,semet-meaning,semet-akk,semet-hbr,semet-jud,semet-syr,semet-mnd,semet-ara,semet-gzz,semet-notes,
