Number: 2373
Proto-Semitic: *dVb(V)r-
Meaning: bee
Hebrew: dǝbōrā '(wild) honey-bee' [KB 208], pB. [Ja. 276]. // Since the term is not very common, it is impossible to know whether it refers also to the domesticated bee.
Judaic Aramaic: dǝbōrǝyā 'bee-swarm, bee-hive' [Ja. 277], dabbārē (pl.) 'bees' [ibid. 279], dabbartā, dǝbōrǝt_ā 'bee' [ibid.] (cf. [Levy WT I 161], [Levy WTM I 375]).
Syrian Aramaic: debbōrā 'vespa' [Brock. 140], debbortā 'apis; vespa, crabo' [ibid.], [PS 814-5].
Arabic: dabr- 'essaim (d'abeilles ou de frelons)', dibr- 'essaim (d'abeilles ou de frelons); sauterelles qui viennent d'éclore' [BK 1 665], [Fr. II 4], [Lane 845], [LA IV 274- 5], dabbūr- 'bourdon, grosse mouche, frelon; reineabeille' [Dozy I 422], [LA IV 274], daybarān- 'guêpe' [Dozy I 274]].
Amharic: dibʷara 'a yellow fly which afflicts cattle' [K 1781] (в сочетании dibʷara zǝmb).
Notes: Two groups of comparable forms with a different first radical are attested: d_-forms: Hrs. d_ebēr, d_ebáyr 'hornet, fly' [JH 28] (cf. Mhr. d_ǝbēr, Jib. ɛd_bir quoted [ibid.]; none appears in [JM] and [JJ]); z-forms (often with -mb-, -nb- instead of -bb-): Jud. zibbōrā 'bee, wasp' [Ja. 390], 'Biene, Wespe' [Levy WTM I 511], zybwry 'hornet' [Sok. 175], Sam. zanbur 'hornet' [Tal 234] (acc. to Tal, an Arabism), Mnd. zimbura 'hornet, bee' [DM 166], zambura 'wasp, hornet' [ibid. 159]; Arb. zanbūr-, zinbār- 'guêpe' [BK 1 970], [Lane 1256], [LA IV 331]; Gez. // zanbir 'hornet, wasp' [LGz. 640]. // Relationship between the three sets of forms remains obscure. One can postulate one PS root (most probably with *d_-, taking the MSA forms as archaic) which would imply irregular phonetic developments *d_ > d and *d_ > z in a number of languages (such irregularties are not very difficult to concieve for a term with a certain degree of expresssivity like the present // one; note, on the other hand, that a considerable group of examples with PS *d_ > Hbr. d is known otherwise, only some of them collected in [Rabin]). Alternatively, two different roots *dVbVr- and *zV(n)bVr- can be postulated which would point to a secondary d_ in the MSA (possibly under the influence of PS *d_VbVb- 'bee'). Most of the above forms were treated in some detail in [GVG I 134] and [Blau 1970 46] (Blau is inclined to reconstruct two different protofoms); none of the two works takes the MSA evidence in consideration, however. // If *d_VbVr- as posited as the proto-form, it is difficult to avoid comparison to the PS term for 'fly' (*d_VbVb-, No. ...). In view of the possibility of -b and -r being fossilized markers of harmful and useful animals ([Diakonoff AL 57], cf. already [Yushmanov 174ff.]), // [DRS 213]: ("on suppose un doublet proto-sémitique DBR/ZBR"); Hbr., Arm. (d-), Arb. (d-), MSA (d_-forms for all the continental languages); [ibid. 678]: Arm. (z-), Arb., Gez.; [KB 208]: Hbr., Jud. (d-, z-), Syr., Mnd., Arb. (d-, z-), Gez. (considered an Arabism); [Brock. 140]: Syr., Jud. (d-), Hbr., Mnd., Arb. (d-, z-); [LGz. 640]: Gez. (considered an Arabism), Arb. (z-), Hbr., Mhr. (d_ǝbēr, an error for Hrs.?), Mnd., Jud. (d-, z-), Syr. (zebbūrā, zanbūrā, not in [Brock.] with this meaning but cf. zanbūrā 'vespa' [PS 1140]); [Firmage 1155]: Hbr., Arm. (dabbartā), Arb. (dibr-, dabbūr-).
