Number: 2452
Proto-Semitic: *kVnn(Vm)-
Meaning: a harmful insect
Eblaitic: ga-na-du-um = Sum. UH_ [MEE 4 1002]. Regarded as a variant form of ga-ma-tum /ḳalmatum/ in [Fron. Ebla 177] but can be plausibly interpreted as /kannatum/.
Hebrew: kēn 'gnat' [KB 483], kinnām 'gnats' [ibid. 484]; pB. kinnā 'vermin, louse' [Ja. 633], kǝnimmā 'vermin, moth' [ibid. 649]. The first form is reliably attested only in the plural (Ex 8.12-14 and Ps 105.31, as one of the Egyptian plagues; note that both full and defective spellings of the pl. suffix are found: knym/knm). The existence of the sg. form kēn postulated in [KB] for Is 51.6 and Nu 13.33 is far from obvious (especially for the latter passage where the traditional rendering of kēn as 'so' perfectly fits the context: wannǝhī bǝʕēnēnū kaḥăgābīm wǝ- kēn hāyīnū bǝʕēnēhäm 'we looked like grasshoppers for our own eyes and so were we for their eyes'). The form kinnām is found twice in Ex 8.12-14. Outside the Hebrew Bible, cf. Sir 10.11: bm()[w]t ʔdm ynḥl rmh // wtwlʕh kinnywm wārmŝ 'after his death, man takes maggot as inheritance // as well as worm, k. and kreeping creatures'.
Judaic Aramaic: kinnā 'louse, vermin' [Ja. 633], [Levy WTM II 349].
Mehri: kǝnǝmūt 'louse' [JM 212].
Jibbali: s̃ínít (pl. kúnúm) id. [JJ 133], ǝnkǝmním 'to be lousy' [ibid. 132].
Harsusi: kenemōt id. [JH 69].
Soqotri: kónem 'pou' [LS 221].
Notes: The element -ām is traditionally regarded as a fossilized suffix (see references in [KB]). Note that the presence of -Vm in MSA is a clear witness of its Proto-Semitic antiquity. Further relationship to forms with consonantal roots ḳlm/ḳml/klm is often assumed (e.g. [KB 484], [LS 221]), in our opinion, without sufficient grounds (criticism towards this comparison see already in [BDB 488]). [KB 484]: Hbr., Soq.; [LS 221]: Hbr., Soq., MSA
