Semitic etymology : Query result

Number: 106

Proto-Semitic: *ḫVrʔ/y-

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: excrement, dregs

Akkadian: arāru (erēru, h_arāru) 'to rot, to discharge a putrid liquid, to defecate' MB, SB [CAD a2 237] [AHw 65].

Cf. arû 'to vomit' MB, SB [CAD a2 316] [AHw 72]

Ugaritic: h_rʔu 'hez, excremento' [DLU 197]; h_rʔ 'defecar' [ibid.]

Hebrew: *ḥărāʔīm 'dove's dung; excrement' [KB 348].

Used three times in the Bible, always in Kǝtīb; in Qǝrē replaced by ṣōʔā 'discharge' for aesthetic purposes (the same occurs with the word šēnā 'urine', replaced by mē raḡlayim 'water of the feet')

Judaic Aramaic: ḥārē, ḥārayyā 'excrements' [Ja 501]

Syrian Aramaic: ḥerāyā 'stercus' [Brock 253]; ḥrʔ 'cacavit' [ibid.]

Modern Aramaic: MMND herā 'excrement' [M MND 502]

Mandaic Aramaic: hra (hira) 'excrement, dung' [DM 152]; HRA 'to relieve the bowels, excrete' [ibid.]

Arabic: ḫarr- [BK 1 551], h_urʔ- 'excrement, caca' [BK 1 552], h_ary- 'excrement humain' [BK 1 556]

Tigre: ḥarǝʕ 'excrement' [LH 70] (note -ʕ instead of ʔ)

Amharic: ar 'excrement' [K 1140], arra 'to defecate' [ibid.]; ARG har 'excrement' [LGur 82]

Gurage: CHA EŽA MUH GOG SOD arä, END GYE arʔä 'excrement of a man or a dog' [ibid.]

Soqotri: ḥaryómoh 'excrément' [LS 191].

According to Leslau, "est à considérer comme un augmentatif par m de la racine ḥrʔ" [ibid.]; cf. also metathetic ḥámreh 'saleté, lie' [ibid. 181]

Notes: It is hard to say whether a nominal or verbal meaning is a primary one (thus, in AKK, only a verbal stem is represented).

Cf. SAB h_rʔ 'to throw so. into a panic' [SD 61], which may be understood as a D-stem meaning something like 'to make so. defecate out of fear'; for discharging one's belly in panic see a well-known passage from Sanherib's stele: ...ḳereb narkabātēšunu umaššerūni zûšun 'they voided their excrements into their chariots' (apud [CAD z 150]).

Note the form with -m suffixed in SOQ.

[DLU 197]: UGR, HBR, SYR, ARB; [KB 348]: HBR, UGR, ARM, ARB, TNA; [Brock 253]: SYR, ARM, HBR, ARB, TGR; [LS 191]: SOQ, ARB, HRB, SYR, TGR; [LGur 82]: GUR, ETH, HBR, ARB