Semitic etymology : Query result

Number: 2607

Proto-Semitic: *gVŝŝ-

Afroasiatic etymology: Afroasiatic etymology

Meaning: side of body; body; chest

Akkadian: giššu (gilšu) 'hip, flank' MB on [CAD g 73]; [AHw 288].

Though gilšu is given as the first variant in both dictionaries, it is giššu which is found in the majority of contexts; one wonders whether -l- in gilšu may be explained by the scribes' effort to render laterality

Hebrew: PB gäsäs 'side, arm' [Ja 261].

s instead of the expected *ŝ is not infrequent in late Biblical and postbiblical texts

Judaic Aramaic: gīsǝsā 'side, arm' [Ja 241]

Syrian Aramaic: gessā 'coxa, latus (linguae, palati); cingulum pubis' [Brock 126]

Modern Aramaic: AZR gissa 'backbone, coccyx' [Garb 307]

Arabic: ǧawš- 'poitrine; milieu (du corps de l'homme)' [BK 1 357], ǧūš-, ǧawš- 'poitrine' [ibid.]; cf. ǧašš- 'milieu du dos, vertèbres (d'une bête de somme)' [ibid. 295], ǧuʔšūš- 'poitrine' [ibid. 245], ǧaʔš- 'coeur, âme, esprit' [ibid.], ǧāš-, ǧāyišat- do. [ibid. 362]; cf. maǧass-at- 'poitrine' [ibid. 293]

Modern Arabic: DAT_ ǧišša 'cadavre, corps mort' [GD 283]

Mehri: gǝŝŝēt 'body, corpse' [JM 126] (with a current shift 'side, part of body' > 'body' > 'dead body')

Jibbali: géŝǝ́t 'side' [JJ 79]

Notes: Note a variety of patterns: *giŝŝ- in AKK, ARM (and MSA?); *gaŝŝ- in HBR PB and ARB; *gawŝ- and several others in ARB.

Cf. ETH GUR: CHA ENN END GYE g'išä 'back of body' [LGur 310] related by Leslau to SOD g'inžä etc., with the same meaning, assuming all these forms are from CUSH [ibid.]. That GUR *ginžä <*ginz- is not a Cushitism, but an inherited SEM stem, see in *gin(ā)z-at-, No. ); whether GUR forms in -š- are really related to those in -nž- (cf. [LGur LXXI]) or should be separated from the latter and compared to the present root, is difficult to say.

Likely related to W. CHAD: DIRI ngèŝè, GEJI ngeŝì 'chest' [Stolb 121] (<*n-geĉi < *nV-gayĉi ? [ibid.]), POLCHI gwǝŝ 'shoulder' (differently interpreted in [Stolb 119]); the AFRASIAN proto-form would rather be *gay/wĉ-.

Cf. probably related (with suffixed -r?) forms in ARB and MSA: MHR gǝŝōr 'side of chest' and perhaps 'chest cavity' [JM 126], SOQ QALAN-B gíš^šhǝr, QADHUB gīŝor 'poitrine' [SSL LS 1458], QALAN-V gī́ŝ^hǝr do. [SSL 4 95]; cf. also ARB ǧušr-at- 'aspérité de la voix, enrouement et toux' [BK 1 296], ǧašar- 'dureté, aspérité de la voix, provenant de l'enrouement, du rhume' [ibid.] (semantically evolved from the original meaning 'chest'?).

On another form possibly to compare, with unexplained -f, see MSA: JIB gɛŝf 'rib' [JJ 80], SOQ geŝf 'côte' [LS 118].

[Kauf 52]: AKK, ARM (regarding ARM as an AKK loan); [DRS 195]: HBR, ARM, ARB, MSA; [Brock 126]: SYR, ARM