Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 51. Polysemy: 'all / both / entire' (depending on the sg., pl., or dual number of the accompanying noun). Quoted as hoa in [Krönlein & Rust 1969: 182].
Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 371. Somewhat dubious; the word is a nominal derivative of the verbal root ǂʼàm̋ "to (de)bark (tree, by pulling), strip (tree of bark)", and its meaning is more fully glossed as 'bark/rind (stripped off tree)'. Another potential candidate for this meaning is sòrő-b [Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 123], but its meaning is glossed as 'peel, skin (of fruit), rind; rare bark', meaning that the word is no longer in active use to denote the bark cover of trees. The only other equivalent for 'bark' is ǀǀʼűú-b [Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 244] 'periderm (of bark); (dry, dead) bark', clearly not eligible for inclusion. In [Krönlein & Rust 1969], the word soro-b is glossed as 'die Schale, die Rinde', with at least one important example (sac go ǂʼawi sorob ãsa ǀǀxuːs gumo "there is the thorn-tree whose bark you are peeling") that shows it could still be easily applied to 'tree-bark' in the XIXth century. It is not quite clear if a complete lexical replacement has taken place here over the last hundred years, but, following the indications in Haacke & Eiseb's dictionary, we prefer to postulate such a replacement for the moment.
Meinhof 1930: 90. Masc. gender. It is noted that a "better" equivalent is the compound expression hai-b soro-b ~ hai-b di soro-b, the first component of which is hai-b 'tree' q.v. Quoted as sorroː-b in [Wuras 1920: 12].
Proto-Khoekhoe:*soro-
Vossen 1997: 483 (*soro 'Schale/Schote' /'shell'/). Distribution: Seemingly preserved in !Ora, but only peripheral in Nama. Replacements: See notes on Nama for details; it is possible to suggest the diachronic semantic derivation/shift {'to strip, peel' > 'bark'}. Semantics and structure: Based on the semantics in Nama as well as external data, we reconstruct *soro- with a wider meaning than simply 'bark': rather any type of 'shell', 'cover', etc. In Proto-Khoekhoe, this word was lexically opposed to *ǀǀxʼũ 'periderm; dead bark' (this is the meaning still preserved in Nama). An alternate scenario is that *ǀǀxʼũ was the original 'bark', lost in !Ora and narrowed to 'dead bark' in Nama; this solution is indirectly corroborated by the basic meaning 'bark' for this root in Kalahari Khoe. However, the common meaning 'bark' for *soro- in old Nama and !Ora sources speaks against this. The complete optimal scenario would look thus: (a) Proto-Khoe *ǀǀxʼũ 'bark' > Proto-Khoekhoe 'periderm, dead bark'; (b) Proto-Khoe *soro- 'shell, cover' > Proto-Khoekhoe 'shell, cover, bark'; (c) Proto-Khoekhoe *soro- in the meaning 'bark' is once again replaced in Nama by *ǂʼam-.
Meinhof 1930: 85. A variant form gáí is also listed in [Meinhof 1930: 88]. Quoted as kei 'great' in [Wuras 1920: 26]; the meaning 'big' is translated in [Wuras 1920: 12] as ǀǀxʼau = ǀǀxʼāū 'thick, fat' [Meinhof 1930: 117], most likely reflecting inaccuracy of semantic glossing on Wuras' part.
Proto-Khoekhoe:*kai
Vossen 1997: 445 (Proto-Khoe *káí; for some reason, the Nama equivalent is missing in the source, which does not allow the author to postulate a Proto-Khoekhoe form). Distribution: Preserved in all dialects. Reconstruction shape: Correspondences are regular and trivial.
Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 10. Masc. (àni̋-b) and fem. (àni̋-s) forms attested. Listed in the dictionary under the same entry as the verb àni̋ 'to decorate, adorn; colour in; dress up', but this is quite transparently a case of homonymy rather than polysemy (as is seen not only from semantic typology, but from external cognates as well: ani- 'bird' goes back to *xʼani-, whereas ani 'to dress up' reflects original *ani). Quoted as ani-b / ani-s in [Krönlein & Rust 1969: 5].
Meinhof 1930: 88. Fem. gender. Quoted as xʼanni-s in [Wuras 1920: 13].
Proto-Khoekhoe:*xʼani-
Vossen 1997: 441 (*kxʼani). Distribution: Preserved in all dialects. Reconstruction shape: Correspondences are regular (deletion of *xʼ- in Nama is predictable). Semantics and structure: This item goes back to Proto-Khoe *xʼani- 'vulture'; however, in both Khoekhoe languages already only the general meaning 'bird' is attested. The meaning 'vulture' in Nama is now expressed by the compound kai-ani-s (literally = 'large bird').
Meinhof 1930: 81. Quoted as bá in [Wuras 1920: 13].
Proto-Khoekhoe:*ba #
Vossen 1997: 422 (Proto-Khoe *pa). Distribution: Preserved only in !Ora. Replacements: Technically, it is impossible to reconstruct the Proto-Khoekhoe equivalent without external data; however, the majority of Kalahari Khoe languages reflect cognates of the !Ora word as primary equivalents for the meaning 'bite', and this unambiguously indicates that Nama n(d)a is an innovation, although its origins are unknown: it has no cognates either in !Ora or in Kalahari Khoe languages.
Meinhof 1930: 94. Masc. gender. Quoted by Meinhof from the notes of Lukas Brandt. Quoted as ǀʼau-b in [Wuras 1920: 13].
Proto-Khoekhoe:*ǀʼao-
Vossen 1997: 425 (*ǀʼau). Distribution: Preserved in all dialects. Reconstruction shape: Correspondences are mostly regular. The diphthong -au in !Ora is somewhat unexpected, but the word is quoted by Meinhof after somebody else's records rather than his own, and the transcription may reflect a slight phonetic inaccuracy or represent an individual subdialect where *-ao > -au. In any case, Vossen's reconstruction should be amended based on external data (it would be strange to have Proto-Khoe *ǀʼao > Proto-Khoekhoe *ǀʼau and then revert to ǀʼao in Nama).
Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 412. Masc. (ǂxòő-b) and fem. (ǂxòő-s) forms attested, as well as the derivative ǂxòő-n 'bones, skeleton', formally a plural form in the neuter gender. Quoted as ǂoː-b ~ ǂoː-s in [Krönlein & Rust 1969: 249].
!Ora:
Not attested in either C. Meinhof's or C. Wuras' notes. The word ǂxō-b, cognate with the Nama word for 'bone', is only attested in the meaning 'kernel of fruit' [Meinhof 1930: 106] (= ǂʼuː-b id. [Wuras 1920: 30]).
Proto-Khoekhoe:*ǂxo- #
Distribution: Preserved in Nama; probably not in !Ora. Replacements: The situation in !Ora is unclear, since none of the sources actually indicate a precise equivalent for 'bone'. It is possible that the original term underwent the typologically plausible semantic shift {'bone' > 'kernel'} (cf. Russian косточка 'kernel of fruit', a diminutive of кость 'bone'); it is also possible that the word ǂxō-b simply happened to be unattested in the meaning 'bone' by both researchers. That the original meaning of *ǂxo- in Proto-Khoekhoe was 'kernel' rather than 'bone' is less likely from a general typological perspective. It is, however, also quite possible that the original Proto-Khoekhoe 'bone' was simply replaced in both languages, so the reconstruction in general is rather shaky.
Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 274. Quoted as ǀǀeib in [Krönlein & Rust 1969: 234]. Distinct from sa̋ḿ-s '(female) breast' [Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 110].
!Ora:tʰam-xʼari-b2
Meinhof 1930: 91. Quoted as tʰam-xʼarri-b in [Wuras 1920: 15]. Obviously a compound, but its internal etymology remains obscure: tʰam may possibly be the same word as tʰam 'soft' [Meinhof 1930: 91] (?; the whole word actually refers to a male chest rather than female breast), but the morpheme -xʼarri- has no meaning of its own.
Proto-Khoekhoe:
Not properly reconstructible. The compound expression in !Ora remains without an internal etymology. The Nama word may certainly reflect Proto-Khoekhoe *ǀǀxai 'male breast, chest', but its only external confirmation is Naro ǀǀxáì 'breastbone', which is in itself not properly reconstructible for Proto-Kalahari Khoe (and is not even the most basic equivalent for 'male breast').
Meinhof 1930: 81. Slightly dubious; the meaning is glossed as 'anzünden', i. e. 'to light, set on fire'. (There is also a participial form, daũ-sa 'burning', with unclear nasalisation, attested in [Meinhof 1930: 123]). However, the only other equivalent with the meaning 'burn' is ǂʰūbī 'brennen' [Meinhof 1930: 103], corresponding to the intransitive 'burn' in Nama. It is obvious that dao is at least a transitive verb, whereas the transitivity of ǂʰūbī is dubious. C. Wuras also translates 'burn' as ǂʰuwi [Wuras 1920: 14], but, likewise, does not indicate whether the semantics is transitive or not. Therefore, at present we refrain from postulating a lexicostatistical discrepancy between Nama and !Ora based on this ambiguous evidence.
Proto-Khoekhoe:*dao
Vossen 1997: 500 (Proto-Khoe *dao). Distribution: Probably preserved in all dialects, although attestation in !Ora is ambiguous. Reconstruction shape: Correspondences are regular and trivial. Semantics and structure: It seems reasonable to set up an opposition of the transitive verb *dao and the intransitive verb *ǂʰubi for Proto-Khoekhoe, although only the former has reliable external parallels.
Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 258. Polysemy: 'fingernail / toenail / claw / talon' (in the last two meanings, the word may also switch to the masc. gender: ɡǀǀórò-b).
Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 221. Meaning glossed as 'cloud, raincloud, nimbus'. Fem.; the masc. counterpart ɳǀànű-b means 'rain; thunderstorm'. This Swadesh item displays significant dialectal variety. Haacke & Eiseb's dictionary lists ɳǀànű-s as the main equivalent for 'cloud' in Nama proper; additionally, (1) the word !ʼã̀ũ̋-s ~ !ʼã̀ũ̋-b is glossed as 'cloud' for the Damara dialect and as 'white cloud' for the Topnaar dialect [Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 298] and (2) the word ǀǀʰàő-s is glossed as 'cloud' for the Haiǀǀom and ǂĀkhoe dialects [Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 264]. In the older dictionary of Krönlein, ɳǀanu-s is glossed as 'cloud' [Krönlein & Rust 1969: 272]; the word ǀǀʰao is only attested in its verbal meaning 'to be covered with clouds (of sky)' [Krönlein & Rust 1969: 162]; and the equivalent of !ʼã̀ũ̋-s is not attested at all.
It may be speculated that the original word for 'cloud' in Common Nama must have been !ʼã̀ũ̋-s ~ !ʼã̀ũ̋-b, since this is the only term that does not show any semantics other than 'cloud' in the dialects where it is attested, whereas the other two could represent secondary shifts from either 'thunderstorm' or 'to be covered (of the sky)'.
Meinhof 1930: 97. Masc. gender. Polysemy: 'cloud / sky'. Quoted as ǀʰum-kua 'cloud' in [Wuras 1920: 15] (the ending -kua marks the plural, so the meaning should really be 'clouds').
Proto-Khoekhoe:
Not reconstructible. The majority of stems that are attested with the meaning 'cloud' in Nama and !Ora show explicit signs of their recent origin in this meaning: (a) Nama ɳǀànű- 'cloud' has no parallels either in !Ora or in Kalahari Khoe, yet it is clearly the same word as Proto-Ju *ɳǀaʔa 'sky, heaven' (Juǀʼhoan ɳǀã̏ʔã̀, etc.); this suggests the possibility of an old loan from a North Khoisan source into some Nama/Damara dialects; (b) Nama ǀǀʰàő- is distributionally weak and may go back to a verb with the meaning 'to be covered, wrapped' (applied to the skies); (c) !Ora ǀʰum-ma is cognate with Nama ǀʰȍm̀m-i 'heaven, (sky)' [Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 204] and, considering that Meinhof himself notes the polysemy 'cloud / sky', the meaning 'sky' is probably primary. Only Nama !ʼã̀ũ̋- has no meaning other than 'sky' and cannot be suspected of being of areal descent; but this word, too, has a narrow distribution. On the whole, this situation agrees with the general Khoisan picture: the meaning 'cloud' is highly unstable in the area and usually converges with other meanings ('sky', 'rain', 'cover', 'sky-hair', etc.).
Meinhof 1930: 113. In [Wuras 1920: 15], the word 'cold' is rendered as ǂʼau-b, which is actually a noun and, furthermore, may be semantically inexact, since it corresponds to Nama ǂʼao-b 'dampness, dew'.
Proto-Khoekhoe:*!xai
Distribution: Preserved in all (or most) dialects. Reconstruction shape: Correspondences are regular and trivial.
Meinhof 1930: 84. Quoted as há in [Wuras 1920: 15].
Proto-Khoekhoe:*ha
Vossen 1997: 458 (*ha). Distribution: Preserved in all (or most) dialects. Nama ǀxìi̋, although it behaves as a complete synonym according to dictionary sources, has no parallels in !Ora or in Kalahari Khoe, whereas *ha clearly goes back to Proto-Khoe. Reconstruction shape: Correspondences are regular and trivial.
Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 45. Quoted as ǀiː in [Krönlein & Rust 1969: 238]. In both dictionaries, the two verbs are listed as complete or near-complete synonyms; a special study is required to better understand the difference. For the moment, we include both choices on the main list.
Haacke & Eiseb 2002: 241. The dictionary lists a large number of euphemistic quasi-synonyms as well, none of which are eligible for inclusion. Quoted as ǀǀʼoː in [Krönlein & Rust 1969: 320].
Meinhof 1930: 87. Quoted as xʼá in [Wuras 1920: 20].
Proto-Khoekhoe:*xʼa
Vossen 1997: 497 (*kxʼa). Distribution: Preserved in all dialects. Reconstruction shape: Correspondences are regular (deletion of *xʼ- in Nama is predictable).
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