Akkadian:(?) mašlû 'leather bucket; hide (used for wrapping)' OAkk on [CAD m1 380], [AHw 628].
"...mašlû is a skin used for wrapping ... rather than a bucket..." [CAD m1 380]. Both sources refer to the verb šalû 'to submerge oneself' [CAD š1 273], 'eintauschen' [AHw 1152] implying its connection with the meaning 'bucket'; the comparative data, however, rather point to the underlying meaning 'skin'. Cf. also šah_i(l)lu 'Eimer' LB [AHw 1132] (transcribed as šāh_ilu and translated as 'strainer, filter' in [CAD š1 96]); it is not clear whether this term has anything to do with 'skin' or 'skin bucket' and could be compared with metathesis
Hebrew:PB šälaḥ 'hide, fresh skin' [Ja 1580]
Aramaic:PLM šlḥ 'skin' [HJ 1142]
Judaic Aramaic:šilḥā 'hide, fresh skin' [Ja 1580] (cf. also šiḥlā 'the skin of dates' [ibid. 1559], with metathesis if related); šlḥ 'not entirely processed skin' [Sok 551]
Arabic:salh_- 'peau quand elle est ôtée d'un animal écorché [BK 1 1121]; silh_- 'dépouille du serpent' [ibid.]; mislāh_- 'peau qui vient d'être ôtée d'un animal; peau non préparée; dépouille du serpent' [ibid.]
Notes:Possibly referring to fresh or removed skin in which case can hardly be considered an anatomic term.
Probably C. SEM only. In AKK, *-h_ (implied by the ARB examples) is expected to be preserved (though reflexation of SEM laryngeals in AKK is not yet studied sufficiently, see Introduction). This and a derived pattern (see, however, one of the SYR and ARB forms below) make the AKK comparison questionable.
Note a likely derived verb in ARM: JUD šlḥ (pa) 'to strip, undress' [Ja 1580], šlḥ 'to strip off clothes, shed skin' [Sok 552], MND S̆LA 'to take off, to undress' [DM 466] (also S̆HL 'to undress, denude, take off' [ibid. 451] and S̆LH 'to draw off' [ibid. 467]). Cf. ARB šlḥ 'dépouiller, ôter les habits à qn.' [BK 1 1263], with š- instead of the expected s- (secondary "lateralization" of *s- near -l-?) and -ḥ, not *-h_
With suffixed -m? Or < *ŝa(n)p-(at-) {} *ĉa(n)p-(at-) 'lip' (No. )?
Arabic:šaʕfat- 'mèche de cheveux, tupet, cheveux' [BK 1 1240]
Tigrai (Tigriñña):šifašǝfti 'ciglia degli occhi' [Bass 239] (redupl.)
Amharic:šǝfašǝft 'eyebrow' [K 667] (redupl.).
Cf. also šǝfäl 'eyebrow' [ibid. 666], with suffixed -l?
Mehri:ŝǝft, pl. ŝēf 'hair' [JM 373]
Jibbali:ŝfét do. [JJ 246]
Harsusi:ŝafēt do. [JH 118]
Soqotri:ŝfeh (ŝef) do. [LS 432], [SSL LS 1472-3]
Notes:A possibility of a secondary ʕ in ARB (under the influence of šaʕr- 'hair' ?) vs. a reduplicated stem in MOD ETH and no trace of ʕ in other SEM should be considered.
Note that the AKK example may as well originate from SEM *šV(ʔ/ʕ)Vp- {} *sV(ʔ/ʕ)Vp-: ARB saʔaf- 'gros poil de la queue d'un animal; soie de porc' [BK 1 1036]; MHR sawf 'wool' [JM 253], JIB sōf 'wool' [JJ 232] (less likely, the latter forms are loans of ARB ṣūf- 'wool', in which case MSA s- would be difficult to explain; cf. HRS ṣawf 'wool' [JH 117] which is rather an Arabism), SOQ QALAN-V. saʕf 'cheveux' et al. [SSL 4 92].
