▪ The authors of
DRS set (their #ḤMS-1) *ʻviolence, severity; anger’ apart from *ʻto fry’ and *ʻto irritate, excite’ (treated together as #ḤMS-2), but indicate (by a question mark) that they are not sure whether or not it is justified to make that distinction; they also remark, explicitly: »Il n’est pas impossible qu’il y ait lieu de rapprocher les notions de violence, d’irritation et de cuisson.«
If the values are related, is then ʻviolent treatment, firmness; courage’ primary to ʻto fry, roast; to irritate, excite, encourage’, or is it the other way round? Theoretically, a dependence on a primary ʻto fry, roast’ along the line *ʻto fry, roast > (fig.) to stir, irritate (violently > to treat violently) > to incite, excite > (fig.) enthusiasm, zeal, courage’ is not unconceivable. On the other hand, if ʻviolence, severity’ was the original value (see, e.g., the Hbr and Aram cognates as given by
DRS sub #ḤMS-1), then the most direct reflections of this notion would prob. be the values given in section HIST for option (1); in this case, ʻzeal; courage’ would be metaphorical use, referring to the “firmness” of the mind, a “strong” will, etc., while *ʻto roast’ would be a specific kind of *ʻviolent treatment’.
▪ Meanwhile, semantic vicinity of the obsol. Ar values
†ʻto fry, roast’ to ↗ḤMṢ ʻto roast’
1
and of
†ʻto irritate’ to ↗ḤMŠ ʻto irritate, excite; to be angry’ may suggest the influence of other roots, or even distinct etymologies that would need separate treatment. For *ʻviolence, severity’, the authors of
DRS suggest to compare their entries #ḤMSN, #ʕMṢ, and #ḤMṢ.
▪ In any case, all three Ar roots – ḤMS, ḤMŠ, and ḤMṢ – may be extensions from an earlier 2-radical nucleus *ḤM‑ ʻheat, fever’, cf. ↗ḤMː (ḤMM). Thus, these roots may, ultimately, be akin not only to items such as ↗
ḥamām ʻbath’ and ↗
ḥummà ʻfever’, but also to ↗
ʔaḥmarᵘ ʻred, brown’ (< *ḤM-R?) and, perh., even ↗
faḥm ʻcoal’ (< *P-ḤM?).
▪ …