Number: 2492
Proto-Semitic: *pahd-
Meaning: cheetah
Syrian Aramaic: pahdā 'panther' [Brock. 558], [PS 3042].
Mandaic Aramaic: pahad 'cheetah' [DM 360].
Arabic: fahd- 'guepard' [BK 2 640], [Fr. III 377], [Lane 2452], [LA III 339]. See further [Hommel 299-301] where the translation 'lynx, caracal' found in some European sources is rightly rejected (cf. also [Sima 57]).
Epigraphic South Arabian: Hdr. fhd-nyw 'lynx' [Pirenne 93]. In two passages connected with hunt (v. [Sima 58-9] for a detailed analysis). Pirenne's translation is not to be accepted (cf. remarks on Arb. fahd- above).
Mehri: fǝhǝdēt 'animal bogy about the size of a cow' [JM 89].
Jibbali: fhǝdɛ́t 'fat girl; a bogy about the seize of a cow' [JJ 54] (the second meaning is commented upon as "perhaps Mehrizing").
Notes: Both Aramaic forms are Hapax Legomena. A borrowing from Arabic cannot be ruled out (note, however, that the Syr. text is dated by the 6th century C.E., i.e. not too late); cf. a cautious remark in [Sima 56] ("darf vielleicht ein arabisches Lehnwort vermutet werden"). Note that quite a reverse development was suggested in [Hommel 299-301] (the Arb. form was regarded as an Armaism) which is most unlikely (Hommel's comparison of the Arm. forms to Akk. piazu is of course impossible since the meaning of the Akk. term as established by modern Assyriologists is 'mouse' [AHw. 861]). For a sharp criticism of Hommel's view see already [Nöldeke review 1259-60]. Since the cheetah has been long ago exterminated in Yemen, there is no difficulty in assuming that the term which used to designate this animal was applied to call a mythical being (this comparison accepted also in [Sima 56]). It is tempting to connect with the present root Amh. fadät 'small weasel-like animal which emits a bad odor like a skunk does' [K 2333] and Sod. faǯä 'skunk' [LGur. 229], somewhat distant semantically but exhibiting a remarkable phonetic similarity (-a- is the expected reflex of the lost laryngeal).
