¹sinnawr سِنَّوْر , pl. sanānīrᵘ
ID … • Sw – • BP … • APD … • © SG | 15Jul2021
√SNR
▪ Unless an Akkadism (Akk > Aram > Ar, see COGN), one may posit protSem *šu/in(n)ār-, *šurān- ~ *su/in(n)ār-, *surān- ‘cat’; but ComSem status remains doubtful – MilitarevKogan2005 (SED II) #206.
▪ LandbergZetterstein1942 regard ¹sinnawr as a dimin. in FiʕʕawL, from the more basic forms †sunnār, †sunār, which also are historically attested.
▪ Accord. to Lane iv 1872, the word is »rare in the language of the Arabs, ↗hirr and ḍaywan are more common«; some Ar lexicographers think ¹sinnawr ‘cat’ is from †sanira (a, sanar) ‘to be(come) illnatured, very perverse, cross, narrow in disposition’, but also »the reverse may be the case«.
▪ Puzzling homonyms: †²sinnawr ‘prince, lord, master, chief, chief of a tribe’ and †³sinnawr ‘vertebra of the upper part of the neck (of a camel); root of the tail’. Phonologically close are also †sanawwar ‘armour, coat made of thongs, worn in war, like a coat of mail, any weapon (of iron) or arms’ as well as lexemes with initial /ṣ/ like †ṣinnawr ‘niggardly man, of evil disposition’ (↗√ṢNR) or †ṣinnabr ‘cold clouds, cold wind (with mist or clouds)’ (↗√ṢNBR).
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▪ 605 – DHDA. – Lane iv 1872: also †sunnār, †sunār.
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▪ MilitarevKogan2005 (SED II) #206: Akk šurānu ‘cat’,3
oAram šrn ‘wild cat’, JudAram šunnārā, šūnārā, šūrānā ‘cat’, šīnurtā ‘she-cat’, Syr šūrᵊnā ‘felis; mustela, animal quod vorat gallinas’, šūnārā ‘felis’, šᵊnārᵊtā, šānūrā ‘felis, felicula’, sannūrā, sannūrᵊtā ‘felis’, Mnd šunara ‘cat’, šinarta (f. of šunara) ‘she-cat’, Ar sunnār, sinnawr, šūnārā,4
Mhr sənnáwrət, sennôret, Ḥrs sennōreh, Jib sínórt, sinúrt ‘cat’.
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DISC ▪ MilitarevKogan2005 SED II #206: »Since a chain of borrowings (Akk > Aram > Ar > modSAr) is not unlikely, the ComSem status of the term is doubtful. An Akkadism in Aram is cautiously suggested in Kaufman1974: 154 whereas the Ar term is regarded as an Aramaism in Hommel1879: 314. Hommel’s interpretation of the Aram forms as borrowed from Grk saínouros ‘Schwanzwedler’ is definitively impossible in view of the Akk evidence (critical observations on this suggestion see already in Nöldeke1879: 1269). – Possible AfrAs parallels display a highly complicated picture.«
▪ Neither homonymous †²sinnawr ‘prince, lord, master, chief, chief of a tribe’ (↗†SNR_3) and †³sinnawr ‘vertebra of the upper part of the neck (of a camel); root of the tail’ (↗†SNR_4) nor phonologically close items like †sanawwar ‘armour, weapon’ (↗†SNR_5) or †ṣinnawr (initial /ṣ/!) ‘niggardly man, of evil disposition’ can with all likelihood be cognate as these do not match semantically.
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