ID … • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021, updated 02Apr2021
√ḤMṢ
▪ ḤMṢ_1 ʻto roast; to fry, broil’ ↗ḥammaṣa
▪ ḤMṢ_2 ʻchick-pea’ ↗ḥimmiṣ, colloq. ḥummuṣ
▪ ḤMṢ_3 ʻHoms (the ancient Emesa, city in central Syria)’ ↗ḤimṣᵘOther values, now obsolete, include (BK1860, Hava1899): ▪ †ḤMṢ_4 ʻto cease to be swollen (a wound)’: †ḥamaṣa (u, ḥamṣ, ḥumūṣ); cf. also †taḥammaṣa ‘to contract, shrink; to be shrivelled (dry meat)’, and †ĭnḥamaṣa ‘to be reduced (swelling); to become emaciated (she-camel)’
▪ †ḤMṢ_5 ‘espèce de plante acidulée qui croît dans les sables’ (BK): †ḥam(m)aṣīṣ
▪ †ḤMṢ_6 ‘to extract gently (a straw) from the eye, take a mote out of the eye’: †ḥamaṣa (u, ḥamṣ, ḥumūṣ)
▪ †ḤMṢ_7 ʻsheep stolen by night’: †ḥamīṣaẗ, maḥmūṣaẗ (pl. ḥamāʔiṣᵘ)
▪ †ḤMṢ_8 ‘to perspire violently’: †ḥamaṣa (u, ḥamṣ, ḥumūṣ)
▪ †ḤMṢ_9 ‘to rock gently to and fro, swing (a boy)’: †ḥamaṣa (u, ḥamṣ); cf. also ‘†ḥamaṣa (u, ḥamṣ, ḥumūṣ) ‘to stop swinging, subside, cease, abate’.
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▪ [general] Semantic variety in the root and lack of clear cognates as well as semantic vicinity to / overlapping with phonologically close roots forbids clear etymological statements about any of the items. It it not unconceivable, though, that some of them belong to a complex with the basic meaning of *ʻto roast’ (akin to ↗√ḤMS and ↗√ḤMŠ and, more distantly, to ↗√ḤMR, ↗√ḤMW and other roots signifying *ʻheat’, cf. ↗√ḤMː/ḤMM) while others could be based on a shared notion of *ʻsour, to shrink, contract (due to sour taste?)’ (akin to ↗√ḤMḌ). Yet other values, however, like [v7] ʻsheep stolen by night’ or [v8] ‘to perspire violently’, remain without obvious connection to any of the others. The use of the same Ar vb. †ḥamaṣa for such different meanings as †[v4] ʻto cease to be swollen (a wound)’, †[v6] ‘to extract gently (a straw) from the eye, take a mote out of the eye’, †[v8] ‘to perspire violently’ and †[v9] ‘to rock gently to and fro, swing (a boy); to stop swinging, subside, cease, abate’ suggests some kind of connection between all of them – but how could this relation be explained?▪ [v1] (= DRS #ḤMṢ(Ṣ)-6) ʻto roast; to fry, broil’: cf. also †ḥammaṣa ‘to roast (coffee); to toast s.th.’, †ḥummaṣaẗ ‘cautery’. – DRS: cf. ↗√ḤMS and ↗√ḤMŠ. – DRS asks: akin to [v2] ʻchick-pea’? But the authors remain silent about the exact nature of this thinkable relation: ʻchick-pea’ as *‘the roasted one’? – Or should we assume that both share the notion of [v4] *‘shrinking, shrivelling’ (chick-peas’ surface and likewise meat when roasted)?
▪ [v2] (= DRS #ḤMṢ(Ṣ)-3) ʻchick-pea’: etymology obscure; any relation to [v4] *‘shrinking, shrivelling’ (chick-peas’ surface) or (as taken into consideration by DRS) to [v1] ‘to roast’?
▪ [v3] ʻHoms’: perh. a (re-?) Arabized form of the city’s Lat name, Emesus, from Grk Ἔμεσα Émesa (also Émesos or Hémesa), itself perh. from the name of the nomadic Arab tribe known in Grk as Emesenoi, who inhabited the region prior to Roman influence in the area. The etymology of the tribe’s name remains obscure.
▪ †[v4] (= DRS #ḤMṢ(Ṣ)-1) ʻto be reduced (swelling of a wound); to contract o.s.; to be shrivelled (dry meat); to become emaciated (she-camel)’: Any relation to [v1] ‘to roast’ (shrivelling/contracting as a result of being roasted)? In a similar vein, one could imagine a relation to ↗√ḤMḌ (shrivelling/contracting as a result of tasting sour; see also [v5]). Cf., however, the fact that the vb. †ḥamaṣa that expresses this value, also can mean such different things as †[v6] ‘to extract gently (a straw) from the eye, take a mote out of the eye’, †[v8] ‘to perspire violently’ and †[v9] ‘to rock gently to and fro, swing (a boy); to stop swinging, subside, cease, abate’. – Soq ḥamṣīṣoh ‘testicule’ (DRS #ḤMṢ(Ṣ)-8) could, like [v2] ‘chick-pea’, be interpreted as *‘with shrivelled surface/skin’ (though according to DRS, speakers tend to link the word to Soq máḥṣaṣ ‘pebbles’, cf. Ar ḥaṣan, ḥaṣāẗ, ḥaṣwat, ↗√ḤṢW).
▪ †[v5] (= DRS #ḤMṢ(Ṣ)-5) ‘espèce de plante acidulée qui croît dans les sables’: cf. perh. ↗√ḤMḌ.
▪ †[v6] ‘to extract gently (a straw) from the eye, take a mote out of the eye’: the vb. that expresses this value, †ḥamaṣa, can also mean †[v4] ʻto cease to be swollen (a wound)’, †[v8] ‘to perspire violently’ and †[v9] ‘to rock gently to and fro, swing (a boy); to stop swinging, subside, cease, abate’ – a conspicuous, but obscure use of one term for four very different meanings. If related, what could be the common denominator?
▪ †[v7] (= DRS #ḤMṢ(Ṣ)-7) ‘sheep stolen by night’: ?
▪ †[v8] ‘to perspire violently’: ? – cf. [v4], [v6], [v9]?
▪ †[v9] ‘(tr.) to rock gently to and fro, swing (a boy); (intr.) to stop swinging, subside, cease, abate’: ? – cf. [v4], [v6], [v8]?
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▪ DRS 9 (2010) #ḤMṢ(Ṣ)-1 Akk emēṣu ‘avoir faim’, Ar ḥamaṣa ‘désenfler (plaie)’, taḥammaṣa ‘se ratatiner (viande se desséchant)’, ĭnḥamasa ‘se contracter, maigrir’. -2 Hbr ḥāmūṣ ‘écarlate’. -3 Syr ḥemṣe, SyrAr ḥimmiṣ ‘pois chiches’. -4 Mhr ḥəmūṣ ‘dépouiller à la main un chevreau’, məḥmīṣ ‘peau de chevreau’, Ḥrs mḥəmīṣ, Jib maḥmíṣ ‘peau de petit animal’. -5 Ar ḥamaṣīṣ, ḥammaṣīs: plante des sables aigre. -6 ḥammaṣa ‘griller, torréfier’. -7 ʔaḥmaṣᵘ ‘voleur de petit bétail’. -8 Soq ḥamṣīṣoh ‘testicule’.
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▪ See above, section CONC.
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