Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ 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.

hist

▪ …

cogn

▪ 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’.

disc

▪ 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)¹ , 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’.

1. qualified as Standard Babylonian there.

west

–

deriv

► 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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