disc▪ Without further explanation, Huehnergard2011 suggests a Sem šḫr ‘to be(come) fearful, intimidated, stock-still’ as the etymon of [v1], Ar saḫira ‘to jeer, scoff’. Obviously, he sees Akk šuḫarruru ‘to become dazed, still, numb with fear; to abate, subside’ as cognate to Ar saḫ˅ra. If he is right, then the primary meaning of the Ar vb. would be the one conserved in [v2] ‘to subject, make subservient’ (< *‘to intimidate’, caus. of vb. I, *‘to be fearful, numb with fear’) and [v3] ‘to have good wind (ship)’ (< *‘to make the wind subservient’, or *‘to obey to the wind’), while [v1] would probably be secondary, its semantics being derived from ‘to make subservient’ (‘to jeer, scoff, ridicule s.o.’ < *‘to make s.o. look as poor and ridiculous as if subjugated’, perhaps also in the special sense of ‘forced into corvée or doing compulsory labour’) or from *‘to intimidate’ (‘to jeer, scoff, ridicule’ < *‘to intimidate, make numb’ through mockery). In this case, however, one would have to assume Ar saḫara, not saḫira as the corresponding trans. vb. I (saḫira is constructed with min or bi‑ and, thus, intrans.). Another explanation could be that saḫira is a secondary formation, re-interpreted from vb. II., or denominative from one of the many vn.s meaning ‘forced labour, corvée’ which could be a borrowing from Syr, cf. ↗saḫḫara.
▪ [v2] is attested also in Aram Syr.
▪ [v3] is explained in some ClassAr dictionaries as being based on the notion of ‘making subservient’: a ship has a good wind ‘as though it makes the wind subservient, or submissive, to itself’, or ‘as though it obeys and runs the wind’s course’.
▪ [v4] If the plant is identical with ↗saykurān and, hence, toxic/narcotic, there may be a connection to (as in Akk) ‘to become dazed, still, numb’.
▪ Gabal2012 regards Ar √SḪR as an extension of a biconsonantal basis *SḪ ‘to be soft, smooth’. [v3] saḫara ‘to have a good wind’ is explained as *‘to let o.s. be drawn smoothly, without resistance’, something that implies a certain ‘lightness, ease’ (ḫiffaẗ). This ‘lightness’ is also to be found in [v1], ‘to jeer, scoff, mock’ actually meaning *‘to value lightly, disdain, look down upon, (hence also) not to take seriously’. As a lack of resistance is a result of a certain weakness, an extension of meaning into [v2] ‘to subject, make subservient (s.o. who is weak, does not show resistance’) is easily conceivable.