Number: 2375
Proto-Semitic: *dVm(m)-
Meaning: (wild) cat
Akkadian: dumāmu (tumāmu) 'a wild animal' SB [CAD d 179], 'Gepard' [AHw. 175]. // Outside lexical lists (= Sum. UR.GUG4.KUD.DA), attested in Gilg. VIII 16 (among the animals wailing for Enkidu, between lulīmu 'stag' and nēšu 'lion'). Cf. further [Landsberger Fauna 84], [Salonen Jagd 198]. It is difficult to agree with [CAD] that d. is "possibly a foreign word'.
Arabic: dimm-at- 'сhаt' [BK 1 728-9], [Fr. II 53], [Dozy I 459] ("...un mot éthiopien. Vers la fin du XVIe siècle, il était en usage dans le Yémen..."). Also dam- 'chat' [BK 1 736].
Geʕez (Ethiopian): dǝmmat 'cat' [LGz 136].
Tigre: dǝmmu id. [LH 514].
Tigrai (Tigriñña): dǝmmu 'gatto' [Bassano 755].
Amharic: dǝmmät 'cat' [K 1725].
Notes: [DRS 274]: Akk., Arb., Eth.; [Hommel 319]: Arb., Akk., Gez.; [LGz. 136]: Gez., Eth., Arb. (Leslau - following a personal communication by W.W.Müller - denies the possibility of an Ethiopian origin for Arb. dimmat-; note that contrary to Müller's opinion the presence of this term in old and modern Arb. dialects of Yemen must be an argument in favour of the Eth. origin of the term rather than against it).
