Number: 2363
Proto-Semitic: *bat_an-
Meaning: snake
Eblaitic: ba-ša-nu-um [MEE IV 0031]. // In a monolingual lexical list among other snake names (identified with the present root in [DLU 123]).
Ugaritic: bt_n, bt_nt 'serpiente, dragón' [DLU 123]. // The commonest term for this animal in Ugr. denoting both real snakes (as in 1.82:6: bt_nm ʔuh̊d bʕlm 'catch the snakes, оh bʕl') and a mythical snake-dragon (as in 1.5 I 1-3: ktmh̊ṣ ltn bt_n brḥ // tkly bt_n ʕḳltn // šlyṭ d šbʕt rʔašm 'when you smote ltn, the fugitive snake // destroyed the crooked snake // the ruler (?), that of seven heads'; note the remarkable parallelism with Akk. bašmu below).
Arabic: bat_an- 'coulevre, serpent' [BK 2 85], [Fr. I 84], but_n- 'genre de reptile' [Blachère 376] (not in national lexicography).
Notes: The Ebl.-Ugr.-Arb. isogloss must be considered a sufficiently solid base for postulating *bat_an- as the earliest PS form; accordingly, only these forms appear in the main section of the present root. According to [KB 165], here also belong Hbr. bāšān in Dt 33.22 (dān gūr ʔaryē // yǝnazzēḳ min habbāšān) and Ps 68.23 (ʔāmar ʔădōnāy mibbāšān ʔāšīb // ʔāšīb mimmǝṣūlōt yām), to be differentiated from the well-known GN bāšān 'Bashan'. On the second passage where b. is supposed to parallel the deified Sea (yām) see [Sasson 401-2]. Finally, Arm. Anc. btn 'serpent' is postulated and defended in [Fitzmyer 89] for the difficult passage KAI 222A 32 (cf. [HJ 1024] for a good number of other suggestions). // At the same time, a number of clearly related forms displaying various phonetic irregularities are attested in other languages: Common Aramaic *patn- 'snake' (Jud. pitnā 'asp, adder' [Ja. 1255], ptn 'snake' [Sok. 456], Sam. ptn 'snake' [Tal 718], Syr. patnā 'vipera, aspis' [Brock. 618], pattānā [PS 3345]). Hbr. pätän 'horned viper' [KB 990] (pB. 'asp, adder' [Ja. 1255]), a relatively rare poetic term, is commonly thought to be an Aramaic loanword (for a not fully convincing argumentation see [Wagner 97]); Ebl. ba-ša-mu-um = Sum. MAH.MUS̆ [Fronzaroli Ebla Lexicon 138] (ЭТО НАДО ОБЯЗАТЕЛЬНО ДОСТАТЬ!), Akk. bašmu 'a horned serpent; the constellation Hydra' OB on [CAD b 141], [AHw. 112] (an exlusively mythical aquatic reptile with six mouths and seven tongues, cf. [Lansberger Fauna 58] and [Humbert]). Sum. US̆UM must be in some way connected with bašmu but this problem needs further clarification; Muh. buttǝyamat, Eža Cha. butyamat, Enm. butǝyämata, Gyt. butyämata 'viper' [LGur. 164]. // [Fron. 296]: *bat_m- 'serpente velenoso' (Arb., Syr., Ugr., Akk.); [KB 990]: Hbr., Arm., Ugr., Arb., Akk.; [DLU 122]: Ugr., Hbr., Arm., Ebl. (-m-, -n-), Akk.; [Landsberger Fauna 58]: Akk., Syr., Hbr., Arb., Ugr.; [Firmage 1156]: Hbr., Ugr., Arm., Arb. (considered an Aramaism).
