Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ Some scholars assume a dependence of ‘millet’ on ‘smoke’, due to the plant’s colour, but this is doubtful.
▪ For further etymology, cf. individual entries ↗duḫn and ↗duḫān.

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▪ DRS 4 (1994)#DḪN–1 *duḫn‑ ‘millet’: Akk duḫnu, Hbr dōḥan, JP dōḥīnā, Syr duḥnā, Ar duḫn. –2 Ar daḫan ‘fumée, méchanceté, haine’, duḫnaẗ ‘couleur foncé’, daḫnān ‘sombre, couvert, nuageux’, dial. ʔadḫan ‘grisâtre, terne’, Ḥrs edḫān ‘de couleur foncé, pourpre’, ? Jib nideḫ ‘fumer’, məndoḫ, Śḥr endoḫ, Mhr nīdēḫ, mənādəḫ ‘fumée’. –3 Gz dəḫna, Te Tña däḥanä ‘être sain et sauf’, Amh danä ‘être guéri, sauvé, délivré’, Gz dəḫun ‘sain et sauf, en bonne santé’, dāḫn ‘en bonne santé, innocent, non coupable’, Te däḥan ‘bien-être, paix’, Amh danä ‘guérir’, dähna ‘en santé, en bon état’, Gz madḫən ‘sauveur, rédempteur, garant’, Tña mädḥən, mädən, Gur mädin ‘garant’. –4 Akk diḫnu diḫnu ¹ : formule magique utilisée dans les incantations.

1. CAD has diḫun diḫun.

▪ DRS 4 (1994)#DḪN-1. According to some, the name of the plant derives from its colour, which would relate it to DḪN_2; but many do not accept this etymology. – 2. Cf. the Ar nouns, now obsolete, ^†daḫaḫ ‘couleur noir, foncé’, ^†duḫḫ, ^†daḫḫ ‘fumée’ (not in Lane!). – The forms in Jib Šḫ Mhr show metathesis.
▪ Kogan2011 reconstructs Sem *duḫn- for ‘millet’ (DḪN_1), for details see ↗duḫn.
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994 and TB2007 see an AfrAs dimension for both DḪN_1 and DḪN_2; for details cf. ↗duḫn and ↗duḫān, respectively.
▪ Can there be a connection between the value ‘health, healthiness’ of DḪN in EthSem (i.e., DḪN-3 in DRS) and ‘to smoke, fumigate’ (DḪN-2)?
▪ And is possibly also the Akk magic formula diḫnu diḫnu (or diḫun diḫun, as in CAD¹ ), mentioned in DRS 4 (1994)#DḪN-4, related to DḪN-2? The formula is said to be »used in incantations« (CAD). Smoke may have had a magical function…
▪ If DḪN-1, DḪN-3 and DḪN-4 (DRS) could be proven to depend on ‘smoke’, then DḪN-2 would be the primary etymon.

1. Qualified as Standard Babylonian there.

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duḫn دُخْن

√DḪN

pearl millet, dukhn – WehrCowan1979.

▪ Kogan2011: from protSem *duḫn‑ ‘millet’.
▪ The word may have an AfrAs ancestor like AfrAs *doḫ˅n‑ ‘millet, grain’ (Orel&Stolbova1994) or *duḫ˅n‑ ‘sorghum, corn’ (TB2007).

▪ …

▪ DRS 4 (1994)#DḪN-1: Akk duḫnu, Hbr dōḥan, JP dōḥīnā, Syr duḥnā, Ar duḫn. – For the complex ‘smoke; dark colour’ which according to some may be related, cf. ↗duḫān.
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994 #727: In addition to cognates in Sem (given as in DRS), the authors mention the word dawna ‘corn’ in a CCh language. TB2007 #736 gives the latter as dawn ‘corn’.

▪ References unanimously reconstruct Sem *duḫn‑ ‘millet’.
▪ DRS 4 (1994)#DḪN-1: According to some, the name of the plant derives from its colour, which would relate it to DḪN_2 ‘smoke’ (↗duḫān); but many do not accept this etymology.
▪ For the CCh word dawn or dawna, both Orel&Stolbova1994 and TB2007 reconstruct CCh *dwan‑ ‘corn’ (contracted from *dwaH˅n‑, according to Orel&Stolbova). Together with the Sem evidence, the authors reconstruct AfrAs *doḫ˅n‑ ‘millet, grain’ (Orel&Stolbova) or *duḫ˅n‑ ‘sorghum, corn’ (TB2007).

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duḫān دُخان, var. duḫḫān , pl. ʔadḫinaẗ

√DḪN

1 smoke, fume, vapor. – 2 tobacco – WehrCowan1979.

▪ The word seems to be Sem, but given the different position of n – final in Ar, initial in modSAr –, reconstruction is difficult. Orel&Stolbova go for *d˅ḫan‑ ‘¹to be smoked; ²dark-colored’, TB suggests Sem *duḫḫān‑ ~ *nidāḫ‑ ‘smoke’.
▪ There may also be some CCh cognates, and if these are valid, the word may have AfrAs origins. Orel&Stolbova reconstruct AfrAs *deḫan‑ ‘smoke’ (derived AfrAs *daḫ‑ ‘smoke’), and TB has AfrAs *daḫ‑ (?) ‘smoke’.
▪ One could think of ‘smoke’ being the origin of other meanings of DḪN (‘millet’ as *‘the dark-coloured [plant]’, ‘healthiness’ as the result of a treatment with – magical? – smoke, and the Akk incantation formula as conjuring up the healthy spirits/power of smoke). But these have to remain, for the moment, pure working hypotheses that still have to be corroborated by textual evidence.
▪ v2 transferred from the smoke that is emitted to the product that emits it when burnt.

▪ …

▪ DRS 4 (1994)#DḪN-2: Ar daḫan ‘fumée, méchanceté, haine’, duḫnaẗ ‘couleur foncé’, daḫnān ‘sombre, couvert, nuageux’, dial. ʔadḫan ‘grisâtre, terne’, Ḥrs edḫān ‘de couleur foncé, pourpre’, ? Jib nideḫ ‘fumer’, məndoḫ, Śḥr endoḫ, Mhr nīdēḫ, mənādəḫ ‘fumée’.
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994 #675: Śḥr edḫān ‘to be dark-colored’. Outside Sem: a cognate mi-ḍeni ‘smoke’ in a CCh language.
▪ TB2007 #1109: Mhr nidiḫ, Jib mǝ-ndoḫ, Ḥrs nedēḫ. – Outside Sem: (CCh) Lame dèákú, Peve dēoka, Mesme deu ‘smoke’.

▪ DRS 4 (1994)#DḪN: According to some, the name for ‘millet’, duḫn, derives from ‘smoke’, due to its dark colour, which would make DḪN a more uniform root in Ar; but many do not accept this etymology.
▪ Is also the magic formula Akk diḫnu diḫnu (or diḫun diḫun, as in CAD)² , mentioned in DRS 4 (1994)#DḪN-4, related to ‘smoke’? It is said to be »used in incantations« (CAD). Smoke may have had a magical function there…
▪ DRS 4 (1994)#DḪN-2 also points to the Ar nouns, now obsolete, ^†daḫaḫ ‘couleur noir, foncé’, ^†duḫḫ, ^†daḫḫ ‘fumée’ (not in Lane!), which do not show final ‑n.
▪ If the Ar form reflects the Sem situation, then Jib Šḫ Mhr show metathesis. But see below TB20007’s reconstruction of Sem where the Ar and modSAr forms are treated on equal terms.
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994 #675 reconstruct Sem *d˅ḫan‑ ‘¹to be smoked; ²dark-colored’ and CCh *dyaH˅n‑ ‘smoke’, both from AfrAs *deḫan‑ ‘smoke’. The latter, they say, is derived from #630 AfrAs *daḫ‑ ‘smoke’, which gave Sem *duḫ(ḫ)‑ ‘smoke’ > Ar daḫḫ‑, duḫḫ‑ (with secondary ‑u‑), and CCh *dyaH‑ (*daHi‑) ‘smoke’. Cf. the obsolete nouns lacking in final n mentioned by DRS (see above).
▪ Similarly also TB2007 #1109: Sem *duḫḫān ~ *nidāḫ‑ 'smoke', CCh *dyaHu‑ 'smoke', both from #630 AfrAs *daḫ‑ (?) ‘smoke’.

2. qualified as Standard Babylonian there.

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► daḫina, a, vb. I, to be smoky; to taste or smell of smoke: denom.
► daḫana, a u, vb. I, to smoke, emit emoke (fire): probably denom.
► daḫḫana, vb. II, to fumigate, fume (s.th.); to smoke, cure with smoke (foodstuffs); to smoke (a cigarette, tobacco, a pipe):.
► ʔadḫana, vb. IV, to smoke, emit smoke (fire): denom.
► tadaḫḫana, vb. V, to be smoked, be cured with smoke; to be fumigated: pass. of II.

► daḫan, n., smoke, fume, vapor: alongside with duḫ(ḫ)ān another candidate for the position of the etymon proper.
► duḫnaẗ, n.f., 1 smoke color; 2 a kind of incense (Calamus aromaticus) :.
► daḫīnaẗ, pl. daḫāʔinᵘ, n., cigarette: pseudo-PP.
► daḫāḫinī (eg., tun.), n., tobacconist: nsb-adj.
► madḫanaẗ, pl. madāḫinᵘ, n., chimney, smokestack, funnel : n.loc.
► ^BP#2333tadḫīn, n., 1 fumigation; smoking (e.g., of fish); 2 (tobacco) smoking: vn. II.
► dāḫinaẗ, pl. dawāḫinᵘ, n., chimney, smokestack, funnel: a neologism, lit. a f. PA I, meaning ‘the smoking one’.
► mudaḫḫin, pl. ‑ūn, n., smoker : PA II.
► mudaḫḫan, adj., smoked (foodstuff): PP II.

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