Number: 2372
Proto-Semitic: *dubb-
Meaning: bear
Akkadian: dabû (dabbu), fem. dabītu 'bear' OB on [CAD d 17], OAkk. on [AHw. 148]. // In a few SB literary and lexical text, earlier - in proper names only. Cf. further [Landsberger Fauna 82-3], [Salonen Jagd 194-5]. Geminated -b- in da-ab-bu (Malku V 50) is probably due to a WS influence.
Eblaitic: da-bù(-um), dab6-bù = AZ [MEE 4 870a] (см. [Kreb. 33], [Civil Ebla 90]).
Ugaritic: db 'oso' [DLU 127]. // Not very reliable (hd r[bṣ?] kmdb btk ɣrh 'hd lies (?) as a bear in his mountain' 1.101.2).
Hebrew: dōb 'bear' [KB 208], pB. [Ja. 282] (also dubbā 'she-bear' [Ja. 1712]).
Aramaic: Anc. dbhh [HJ 238]. // In KAI 222A 31: pm ḥwh wpm ʕḳrb wpm dbhh wpm nmrh 'the mouth of a snake, the mouth of a scorpion, the mouth of a bear, the mouth of a panter' (translation after [Fitzmyer 45], cf. commentary and references [ibid. 88]). Interpretation of d. as bear is widely accepted thought a several alternatives are mentioned in [HJ]. A double h in Asulaut is not easy to explain (any connection with -û in Akk. dabû?). // Off. db, dwb 'bear' [HJ 237]. // In Aḥiq 120 (dbʔ ʔzl ʕl ʔmr[yʔ] 'a bear came to rams', cf. Porten in [HJ 1239] as well as [PY 46], [Kott. 196]) and Frah IX 7 (dwbrmtʔ, according to [Nyberg 74], dōb rāmātā 'bear of the // mountains'; = h̊irs).
Biblical Aramaic: dōb 'bear' [KB 1847]. // In Da 7.5 (one of the animals of Daniel's visions).
Judaic Aramaic: dōb (det. dubbā) 'bear' [Ja. 282], [Levy TW 159], [Levy WTM I 370], dwb 'bear' [Sok. 140].
Syrian Aramaic: debbā 'ursus' [Brock. 138], [PS 805].
Arabic: dubb- 'ours', dubbat- 'ourse' [BK 1 662], [Fr. II 2], [Lane 841], [LA I 372]. // Often thought to be a borrowing (see already [Hommel 302]) which is possible but difficult to prove. Critical remarks on Hommel's position see in [Nöldeke Review 1260-1]; curiously, the term is glossed as ʕarabiyyatun ṣaḥīḥatun ("pure Arabic word") in [LA].
Geʕez (Ethiopian): dǝbb 'bear' [LGz. 119].
Tigre: dǝbb 'bear' [LH 526].
Tigrai (Tigriñña): dǝbbi 'orso' [Bass. 774].
Amharic: dǝbb 'bear' [K 1774].
Notes: Difference in morphological shape betweeen Akk. (now also Ebl.) and WS has been repeatedly observed but no convincing solution has been proposed so far. // Ugr. dbb (always in the pl. dbbm) is rendered as 'bestia, animal mítico; demonio' in [DLU 127] and, semantically, is well compatible with the present root (for a similar meaning development cf. dǝbbi 'a demoniac animal' [LH 526], most probably borrowed from Tna). Morphologially, a double -bb- is difficult to reconcile with the the word-structure of the present term unless we assume that dbbm is an apophonic plural from db (*dubb- ~ *dubab-ūma). This suggestion, however, remains purely hypothetic since C1VC2C2- nouns in Ugr. (as in Hbr.) usually do not form their pl. apophonically (cf. [Tropper UG 253ff.]); the only possible exception seems to be rbt '10.000' which does appear as rbbt in the plural (alongside with rbt), cf. [ibid. 363-4]. // [Fron. 293]: *daby-, *dabb- 'orso' (Gez., Arb., Syr., Jud., Hbr.); [DLU 204-5]: Akk., Hbr., Arm., Arb., Eth. (discussion, especially on the Eth. forms); [Kreb. 33]: Ebl., Akk. (dabû, dabbu), Arb., Hbr., Syr.; [DLU 127]: Ugr., Hbr., Syr., Ebl., Akk., Arb., Gez.; [KB 208]: Hbr., Arm., Syr., Arb., Gez., Akk.; [Hommel 301]: *dibbu (Arb., Gez., Hbr., Syr., Akk.); [LGz. 119]: Gez., Eth., Arb., Hbr., Arm., Akk. (dubbu, dabû, thought to be WS loans; note that the first form must be an error for dabbu); [Firmage 1153]: Akk., Hbr., Arm., Gez., Arb.
