conc▪ Kogan2011: from protSem *ʔimmar‑ ‘ram’.
▪ In ClassAr, ʔimmar can also mean ‘ram, lamb’. For systematic reasons, DRS 1 (1994) diffentiates between this ʔimmar ‘ram, lamb’ (#ʔMR-3) and ʔimmar~ʔammar in the sense of ‘simple-minded, stupid’ (#ʔMR-4), although the latter »peut représenter un usage figuré du nom de l’‘agneau’«. In contrast, ClassAr lexicographers explain the meaning ‘simple-minded, stupid’ as *‘who consults everyone respecting his case, resembling a kid, one who obeys the command of everybody, complies with everyone’s desires’, thus deriving the value ‘simple-minded, stupid’ either from ¹ʔamr (*‘one who obeys the command, ʔamr, of everybody’, ↗ʔamara) or from ↗²ʔamr (*‘asking advice in all kinds of affairs, ʔumūr, sg. ²ʔamr’). In this view, ‘lamb’ tends to be seen as dependent on ‘simple-minded, stupid’ (»resembling a kid…«).
▪ However, none of the above options may reflect etymological reality. In fact, the reason why DRS keeps ‘ram, lamb’ and ‘simple-minded, stupid’ apart is that ʔimmar in the sense of ‘ram, lamb’ is believed to be a borrowing, via Aram ʔemmᵊrā~ʔimmᵊrā, from Akk ʔimmeru ‘lamb’. »According to a widespread opinion (cf., e.g., (cf. Zimmern1914: 50), the WSem forms are Akkadisms« (SED II #5). Scholars like Hommel (1879: 237) who hold that Ar ʔimmar ‘lamb’ is from Aram »emphasize[.] the late attestation of the Ar term« (SED II: 8). Indeed, while the value ‘simple-minded’ is attested already in pre-Islamic poetry, DHAL has, as of 30Oct2020, no evidence for ‘lamb’ yet, which means that the value is not attested in the period covered by DHAL so far, i.e., up to 750 CE.
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