Number: 2319
Proto-Semitic: *ʔanyaṣ- ~ *ʔanṣaw/y-
Meaning: weasel
Akkadian: ayāṣu 'weasel; a bag to carry oil, made of the skin of the weasel' OB on [CAD a1 231], ayyaṣu [AHw. 25]. // In OB as a proper name only. In later periods, in lexical lists (= Sum. DINGIR.NIN.KILIM.EDIN.NA), divinatory and medical texts. Well attested is mašak ayāṣi 'the skind of a.' as a kind of receptacle. Cf. further [Salonen Jagd 163], [Landsberger Fauna 113].
Geʕez (Ethiopian): ʔanṣawā, ʔanṣewā, ʔanṣowā 'mouse, weasel' [LGz. 32] (также ḥanṣawā 'mouse', ḥanṣe id. [ibid. 238]).
Tigre: ʕanṣay, ʔanṣay 'mouse' [LH 476].
Tigrai (Tigriñña): ʔanč̣ǝwa 'topo, sorico' [Bass. 539].
Amharic: ay(ǝ)ṭ 'mouse' [K 1296].
Notes: All Eth. forms are thought to be Cushitisms in [LGz.], though Amh. ayṭ is also compared to Akk. (with an extremely strange observation: "in case it [ayṭ - A.M., L.K.] does not go back to *anṣay, cp. Akk. ayaṣu 'weasel'). Forms very close to the Eth. examples above are indeed quite widespread in Cushitic (v. [SIFKYa 142], *ʕAnC̣Aw- 'mouse, rat'), so that the loan hypothesis is not unlikely and presupposes an Akkadian-Cushitic isogloss (the Eth. forms being of no relevance for the PS reconstruction). However, a contamination of an inherited Sem. word with (ultimately related) Cush. terms cannot be excluded. It is important to observe that only Geez shares with Akk. the meaning 'weasel' while all Neo-Ethiopian (as well as Cushitic) terms // mean only 'mouse'. // As for the Eth. forms in ḥ-, cf. Akk. h̊umṣ/sīr-, h̊umuṣṣīr-, h̊umunṣ/sīr-, h̊a/um(a)sīrum, h̊ab/maṣīr- '`(grosse) Maus' ([big] mouse) ' OAk, Bab.; LL; used as a PN in OAk, OB, and LB; Fauna 105f.; AHw.., p.355; h̊umṣirt-, h̊ab(a)ṣirt- `weiblische Maus' (female mouse) S/LB; PN in LB (Hab/Ha-ba-ṣir-tum/ti); AHw.., p.355 + ЭБЛА.
