Number: 2404
Proto-Semitic: *mVn(Vn)-
Meaning: kind of insect
Akkadian: mūnu 'caterpillar' SB, NA [CAD m2 207], [AHw. 673]. Widely attested in lexical lists. Literary passages describe m. as an agricultural pest (e.g., Wiseman Treaties 599: kalmutu mūnu ākilu ālānīkunu mātkunu nagīkunu lušākilū 'let the louse, the caterpillar and the "devorer" eat your cities, your country and your region').
Syrian Aramaic: mǝnīnā 'curculio; cynips, musca' [Brock. 394], [PS 2165].
Arabic: minanat-, manūnat- 'aragnée' [BK 2 1155], [Fr. IV 212], [LA 13 419].
Geʕez (Ethiopian): tomni 'bedbug' [LGz. 576]. Not quite reliable since t-prefixaiton in animal names is not common in Semitic (but cf. Introduction ... ).
Notes: The following forms may be related to the present root with more or less probability: - Anc. mn in the difficult passage KAI 222A 30 discussed in No. ... (the translation 'caterpillar' is adopted in [HJ 647] and discussed in detail in [Tawil 60] while a striking similari- ty between mn ʔkl in the Arm. text and Akk. mūnu ākilu is likely stressed); - Ugr. mnm in 1.2 IV 3 (discussed in No. ...). Since the pa- leographic evidence for the last two signs is meager (cf. [Trop- per UG 244]), this equation is highly hypothetic; - Amh. ammuññǝt 'earthworm (which is active in the rainy seasons' [K 289] (also 'turtle'). - Syr. ʔāmōnā 'lacerta' [Brock. 25] (not very reliable se- mantically); note that according to [Zimmern 52] the Syr. word is borrowed from Akk. mūnu which is unlikely both semantically and phonetically.
