Number: 1969
Proto-Semitic: *bVʕVr-
Meaning: 'cattle; camels'
Akkadian: bīru 'bull (for breeding); young cattle (up to three years, regardless of sex) MB on [CAD b 266], [AHw 130]
Canaanite: Amm. bʕr 'ox (beast of burden?)' [HJ 185]. // On the ostracon Heshbon 2:3, context fragmentary (bʕrm 'beasts of burden' according to [Jackson 93]).
Hebrew: bǝʕīr 'livestock, cattle' [KB 142]. // A rare term found only in the Pentateuch (Gn 45.17, Ex 22.4, Nu 20.4,8,11) and Ps 78.48. The meaning 'beast of burden' is clear for the first passage (ṭaʕănū ʔät-bǝʕīrǝkäm 'load your b.') whereas in the remaining passages b. likely denotes the household animals in general.
Judaic Aramaic: bǝʕīr(ā) 'grazing animal, cattle' [Ja. 182], [Levy WT I 107], [Levy WTM I 250], bǝʕīr 'cattle' [Sok. 109]
Syrian Aramaic: bǝʕīrā 'brutum, jumentum' [Brock. 85], 'pecus; jumentum, caballus' [PS 566]
Mandaic Aramaic: bira 'domestic cattle' [DM 62], biariata, var. of biriata 'cattle' [ibid. 59]
Arabic: baʕīr- 'chameau; toute bête de charge' [BK 1 142], [Fr. I 136], [Lane 226-7] (also 'ass', cf. [Blachère 714], [TA X 218]), [LA IV 71]. // More details see in [Hommel 143ff.].
Epigraphic South Arabian: Sab. bʕr 'cattle, head of cattle; camel' [SD 26]. // Min. bʕr 'chameau, tête de gros bétail' [LM 19]. // Hdr. bʕr 'wirtschafliche Nutztiere' [Sima 37]. // All relevant passages are discussed in [Sima 33-40]. According to Sima, a general meaning 'wirtschafliche Nutztiere' is always fitting the context. While indeed quite suitable for passages like R 3945/19 (t_ll bʕrhmw ʔʔbl wbḳrm wḥmrm wḳnym 'they plundered their flocks: camels, large cattle, donkeys and small cattle'), the above translation seems less adequate for cases like C 563/3 (kl t_wr wbʕr 'any ox or camel', cf. Sima's 'jeder Stier und jedes wirtschafltiche Nutztier').
Geʕez (Ethiopian): bǝʕǝr, bǝʕ(ǝ)rā, bǝʕ(ǝ)rāy, bǝʕ(ǝ)rāwi 'ox, bull, horned cattle' [LGz. 84]
Tigre: bǝʕrāy 'ox, bull' [LH 292]. // As for bǝʕer 'young camel' [ibid.], it is an obvious Arabism.
Tigrai (Tigriñña): bǝʕray 'bue' [Bass. 333]
Mehri: bǝʕáyr 'male camel' [JM 41]
Harsusi: beʔīr male camel [JH 14]
Soqotri: beʕer 'chameau' [LS 91], baʕáhar 'chamelle' [ibid. 92]
Notes: // The MSA forms are likely to be Arabisms. For possible genuine MSA parallels to the present root see below. In Jib. cf. the verb baʕár '(us. animals) to go out at night' [JJ 22]. Only cognates with explicit -ʕ- are listed above. There is a high possibility that a number of forms from languages where the loss of -ʕ- is regular belong to the present root: Akk. bīru 'bull (for breeding); young cattle (up to three years, regardless of sex) MB on [CAD b 266], [AHw. 130], also būru (pūru) 'young calf (without regard to sex; male calf just before full maturity'; foal, kid (the young of quadrupeds)' OB on [CAD b 340], [AHw. 141], burtu (purtu) 'cow, heifer calf' OB on [CAD b 334], [AHw. 141]; Mnd. bira 'domestic cattle' [DM 62], biariata, var. of biriata 'cattle' [ibid. 59]; Amh. bare 'ox, bull' [K 874], Har. bāra 'ox, bull' [LH 44], (also baʔara [ibid. 39]), Cha. Eža Muh. Msq. Gog. Sod. bora Wol. barä Zwy. būrä Gyt. bawra End. bawrä Enm. bawǝra 'ox (for farming)' [LGur. 150], Muh. bäre 'calves' [ibid. 149]; Mhr. hǝ-bɛ̄r 'camels' [JM 41], Hrs. ḥe-byār 'female camels' [JH 14]. // Such terms are not included into the main section for the reason that in Arb. Yem. and Tgr. (languages where -ʕ- is normally preserved) semantically well comparable forms without -ʕ- are attested: bārah 'cow' [Piamenta 44] and Tgr. bara 'ox' [LH 274]. Accordingly, at least some of the above forms may be united with Arb. Yem. and Tgr. to build a separate (though clearly related) root *bV̄r- 'cattle'. // Сf. Arb. baʕr- 'agneau ou chevreau qu'on jette dans la fosse au loup pour l'y attirer' [BK 1 142], [Fr. I 136], coming close to Mnd. bara 'lamb' [DM 50] (the latter is thought to be a Persian loan [ibid.]). // Ugr. bʔur 'junger Stier' [Aist. 46] (still quoted in some comparative lexicographic works) is not supported by modern studies: the sequence bʔurm is now analysed b-ʔur-m (ʔur 'tipo de sacrificio' [DLU 47]). // Cf. terms for 'dung' in Syr. (bǝʕōrā 'stercus' [Brock. 84]) and Arb. (baʕr- 'fiente, surtout orbiculaire de toute bête à sabot' [BK 1 142]), traditionally thought to be the source from which the present faunal term is derived. This view (found as early as in [Hommel 143] and now vigorously defended in [Sima 37-8]) is hardly convincing even as a folk etymology: it is virtually impossible to imagine that such important and widespread terms as Akk. bīru or Gez. bǝʕǝrāy are derived from a nominal root with such a limited attestation as Arb. and Syr. If there is indeed some relationship between the two groups of terms, it must be exactly the reverse one: the nouns meaning 'dung of household animals' are derived from those meaning 'a household animal'. // [DRS 75]: Akk. (bē/īr-), Hbr., Syr., Mnd., Arb., ESA, Gez., Tgr. (-ʕ-), Tna., Amh. (Akk. būru together with Ugr. bʔur are quoted [ibid. 41]); [Fron. 29]: *baʕīr- 'bestiame' (Gez., ESA, Arb., Arm., Hbr., Akk. /bīru/); [KB 142]: Hbr., Arm., Gez., Tgr. (-ʕ-), ESA, Akk. (-ē/ī-), Arb.; [Brock. 85]: Syr., Arm., Hbr., Arb., ESA, Gez.; [LGz. 84]: Gez., Eth. (incl. Tgr. -a-), Arm., Hbr., Arb., Akk. (-ū-), Soq.; [Hommel 143]: Arb., Gez., Sab., Hbr., Syr., Mnd.
