Semitic etymology : Query result

Number: 2603

Proto-Semitic: *ʕawr-(at-) ~ *ʕVrw-(at-)

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: pudenda

Akkadian: ūru (urû) 'Blösse, weibliche Scham' OAkk on [AHw 1434]

Hebrew: ʕärwā 'nakedness, genital area of man or a woman' [KB 882]

Arabic: ʕawrat- 'toute la partie du corps entre le nombril et les genoux (chez l'homme); tout ce que la pudeur ne permet ni de voir ni de faire voir' [BK 2 405]; cf. metathetic ʕurwat- 'caroncule très-mince qui se forme dans le vagin et en tapisse les parois' [ibid. 238].

The latter form, though semantically somewhat specified, is likely to be ultimately derived from 'pudenda'

Notes: *ʕawr-(at-) relies on AKK ūru (<*ʕawr-) and ARB ʕawrat-, while *ʕVrw-(at-) on AKK urû (<*ʕurw- < *ʕarw-?), HBR ʕärwā (-ä-<*-i-), and probably ARB ʕurwat-.

Rather derived from 'pudenda', and not vice versa as it is usually assumed, are two other meanings, 'nakedness' and 'shame'; note, however, that the former meaning is not attested in ARM *ʕi/arw/y-at (unless an isolated AZR era 'penis' [Garb 305] is related with a meaning shift): BIB ʕarwat- (constr.) 'Blösse, Schland' [KB deutsch 1762], JUD ʕīrītā, ʕiryǝtā, ʕiryā, ʕäryā do. [Ja 1076], ʕryyh, det. ʕryyth 'nakedness' [Sok 419] (<*ʕi/ary-at-), SYR ʕaryat 'nude' (adv.) [Brock 548] (<*ʕary-at-), HRT ruta 'nackt' [J Hert 197] (<*ʕVrw-at-ā, with a loss of the first syllable). As for TGR ʕǝwär, ʕurät 'shame' [LH 477] and such MSA forms as HRS ʕār 'disgrace' [JH 13], they are most probably Arabisms.

[Maizel 220]; [KB 882]: HBR, AKK, ARM, ARB (ʕuryat- 'bareness'); [Holma 100]: AKK, HBR, ARB