Bibliotheca Polyglotta

^BP#2441[v1] (pl. ʔasnān, ʔasinnaẗ, ʔasunn) n.f., tooth (also, e.g., of a comb; of a saw blade); jag; cog, sprocket, prong; tusk (of an elephant, of a boar, etc.); fang (of a snake, etc.); point, tip (of a nail), nib (of a pen) – WehrCowan1979.

^BP#1083[v2] (pl. ʔasnān) n., 1 age (of a person). — (belonging here?) 2 (EgAr) coarse flour, seconds – WehrCowan1979.

conc

▪ Kogan2015 (Sw#89): from protSem *šinn‑ ‘tooth’ (SED I #249). Passim except Te, Amh and most of modSAr.
▪ Ultimately perh. from AfrAs *sin‑ ‘id’.
▪ According to ClassAr dictionaires, [v2] ‘age’ depends on [v1] ‘tooth’ as a metaphor, »for the teeth vary with the length of life« so that they came to mean ‘measure, or extent, of life; age attained’ (Lane, s.v. sinn).
▪ Also from the same etymon, according the dictionaries, is the semantic complex ‘to prescribe; old custom, norm; Sunna’ treated under ↗sunnaẗ. Nişanyan (31Mar2013) explains the latter as going back to the pre-Islamic custom, practised by Arab tribes, of whetting/filing young boys’ teeth at a certain age in order to sharpen them. In the same way as this explanation links sunnaẗ ‘custom, habit, norm, prescription’ to sinn ‘tooth’, it also connects ‘tooth; sharpening, whetting’ with ‘age’ and could therefore serve as another hypothesis about the relation between [v2] and [v1].
▪ [v2]-2, a value attested only in EgAr, does perhaps not belong here and should be treated separately. More research needed.

hist

[v1]
▪ Badawi2008: ▪ eC7 Q 5:45 wa’l-sinna bi’l-sinni ‘and a tooth for a tooth’

cogn

[v1]
▪ Zammit2002: Akk šinnu, Ug šnt ‘tooth/teeth’, Hbr šēn ‘tooth; ivory’, BiblAram šēn ‘tooth’, Syr šennā ‘tooth, tusk’, Gz senn ‘tooth’.
▪ Militarev&Kogan SED-I #249: Akk šinnu, Ebl si-nu-u[m], si-na-tum /šinnum/, /šinnātum/, Ug šn, Hbr šēn, BiblAram šinnayin (du.), JA šinnā, šn, det. šännā, Syr šennā, Mand šina, Gz sənn, Tña šənni, Arg sən, Gaf sənä, Ar sən, sin; Sel isn, Wol əsən, Zwy sən, Cha sən, Eža Muh Msq Gog Sod sənn, Enn End Gye šən, Jib šnin ‘tooth’.
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994#2250: Akk šinnu, Ug šn, Hbr šēn, Syr šennō, Gz sənn, Tña sənni, Arg Har Gur sən, Gaf sənä ‘tooth’. – Outside Sem: (Berb) Ahg esin; (WCh) šin, šiŋ, šan, šen in several langs; (CCh) ŝena, ŝene, ŝana, šəŋ, ŝine, ŝəini, ŝənɛ, ŝeŋ, sliŋ, ŝɛnnɛ, sina; (ECh) san-dē, hiin, han, k-song, ga-sena, saaŋo, sa:nu, saŋo, seenō, siŋaŋu, sən; (Rift) siḥino in 3 idoms.

[v2]
▪ Apprently no direct cognates in other Sem langs.
▪ Any connection to the notion of ‘change’ lying at the basis of ↗sanaẗ ‘year’ ?

disc

[v1]
▪ BDB1906 considers Hbr šēn ‘tooth’ as deverbal, from Hbr šānan ‘to whet, sharpen’.
▪ Militarev&Kogan SED-I #249: Sem * šinn‑ ≈ *sinn‑ ‘tooth’.
▪ Huehnergard2011 reconstructs a ComSem n. *šinn ‘tooth’ and says that the vb.s for ‘to sharpen’ are denominative from this *šinn.
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994#2250 reconstruct Sem *šinn‑ ‘tooth’, Berb *sin‑, WCh *sin‑, CCh *ŝin‑ (< *ḥa-sin‑), ECh *siHan‑ (< *Ha-sin), Rift *siḥin‑ (from *ḥ˅-sin‑; metathesis), all from AfrAs *sin‑ ‘tooth’.
▪ In ClassAr, a number of additional values are attested for sinn and related items. Those that with all likelihood depend on [v1] ‘tooth; to sharpen’ are: ^†‘spearhead, iron head, to pierce with a spear’;¹ ▪ ^†sinnaẗ ‘ploughshare, iron thing with which the ground is ploughed up’;² ▪ ^†sanna, vb. I, ‘to tend well, pasture, render fat (camels, cattle); to send to the pasturage, make run quickly’ (from ^†sinn in the fig. meaning of ‘[portion of] herbage upon which camels pasture’, i.e. which they can “polish, smoothen, make even” with their teeth?); ▪ ^†sanna, vb. I, ‘to throw down on the face’ (dependence on ‘tooth’ is more evident in the corresponding vb. III, as in sānna ’l-nāqaẗa ‘he [the stallion-camel] bit the she-camel with the fore-part of the mouth’); ▪ ^†sanna, vb. I, ‘to form, fashion, shape, make long; to plaster (pottery with clay)’ (extended meaning, based ‘to sharpen, whet’, hence ‘to give a form, shape’; cf. also ^†sannana, vb. II, ‘to polish, make smooth, make beautiful’); ▪ ^†sunnaẗ ‘(handsome long) face’ (explained in ClassAr dictionaries as ‘the polished, smoothened one’, a face that looks as if it was beautifully polished). — For more values and the whole picture, cf. disambiguation entry ↗SNː (SNN).

[v2]
▪ The explanation, put forward by ClassAr lexicographers (see above, section “CONCISE”), of [v2] ‘age’ depending on [v1] ‘tooth’ because the length of the teeth indicates the age does not sound very convincing. Compared to this etymology, the idea, quoted in Nişanyan’s Sözlük, of sunnaẗ ‘custom, habit’ going back to the Arab tribes’ custom/habit of sharpening young boys’ teeth at a certain age, looks as if there could be some truth to it. If so, it can serve as a semantic link not only between ‘custom, habit’ and ‘tooth’, but also between ‘age’ and ‘tooth’. — Further research needed.
▪ The value given as ‘coarse flower, seconds’ by WehrCowan1979 and listed as [v2]-2 above, is given as ‘bran’ in BadawiHinds1986 and listed as a completely separate item, distinguished from all other values (‘tooth’, ‘age’, ‘custom, habit; sunna’). It is not clear whether it belongs to the notion of ‘(advanced) age’ (coarse flower = old flower?; cf. also ʕēš il-sinn ‘bran bread (prescribed for diabetics)’: = bread for people of advanced age?) or has an etymology and semantic history in its own right.

1. Also sinān. Calice1936 #84 puts sinān ‘spearhead’ together with Eg sn ‘Zweizack’ (two-pronged spear) and Berb asennan ‘thorny’. 2. Probably from sinn [v1] ‘tooth; to sharpen’. But cf. Corriente2008: 86 who mentions the word, for EgAr, in the ʔiḍāfa sinn il-muḥrāt ‘ploughshare’ as a possible borrowing from Copt: »contributed by Behnstedt 1981:91, who considers likely a derivation from Copt sine of the same meaning (Crum 343), in spite of the phonetic likeness to Ar sinn ‘tooth; point’, possibly contributing to maintain the Copt item in use. In their unp[ublished] article, however, Behnstedt & Woidich concede the same likelihood to both possibilities.«

west

▪ Not the Ar word sinn but Hbr šîn is the name for the letter shin of the Hbr alphabet. The Hbr name goes back to Phoen *šinn ‘tooth’, which is the twenty-first letter of the Phoen alphabet. It is called ‘tooth’ as a result of folk etymology »based on the shape of the letter, which resembles a row of pointed teeth. The letter originally depicted a composite bow, a powerful kind of bow that is made of layers of different materials such as horn and wood and usually has the tips curving away from the archer when unstrung. The earlier name of the letter was *šann < *ṯann ‘composite bow’.« – Huehnergard2011.

deriv

For the sake of clarity, [v1] and [v2] are separated here although they may be related (among each other, as well as to ↗sunnaẗ). For an overview of all items, cf. ↗SNː (SNN).

[v1] ‘tooth; to sharpen’
► sinn al-fīl, n., ivory.
sanna, u (sann), vb. I, to sharpen, whet, hone, grind; to mold, shape, form: denom. from sinn ‘tooth’. – For other meanings see ↗sunnaẗ.
► sannana, vb. II, to sharpen, whet, hone, grind; to indent, jag, notch: caus. denom. (to make sharp like teetch, make look like teeth).
► ʔasanna, vb. IV, to grow teeth, cut o.’s teeth, teethe: denom. – For other meanings see below, [v2].
► ĭstanna, vb. VIII, to clean and polish o.’s teeth with the siwāk : denom., autobenef. – For other meanings see ↗sunnaẗ.

► ʔasnānī, adj., dental (phon.): nsb-adj, from ʔasnān, pl. of sinn ‘tooth’.
► sinān, pl. ʔasinnaẗ, n., spearhead: cf. notes to section “DETAILS” above.
► sanūn, n., tooth powder.
► sannān, pl. ‑ūn, n., grinder, sharpener (of knives, shears): n.prof.
► misann, pl. ‑āt, masānnᵘ, n., whetstone, grindstone; razor strop: n.instr.
► tasnīn, n., clothing of teeth (children), teething: vn. II, used as techn.term.
► masnūn, adj., 1 sharpened, whetted, honed; tapered; pointed (e.g., mustache, features): PP I. — (belonging here?) 2 stinking, fetid (mire): lit., *‘sharp, biting’ odour? — For other meanings see ↗sunnaẗ.
► musannan, adj., toothed, serrated, dentate, denticulate, indented, jagged; pointed, sharp; sharp-featured (countenance): PP II. | ʕaǧalaẗ ~aẗ, n., cogwheel; ~ al-ʔaṭrāf, adj., deckle-edged (paper).
► musannanaẗ, pl. ‑āt, cogwheel: PP II f., used as term.techn. in mechanics.

[v2] ‘age, to grow older’
► sinn al-rušd, n., legal age, majority.
► sinn al-murāhaqaẗ, n., age of puberty.
► sinn al-ṭufūlaẗ, n., early childhood.
► ṣaġīr al sinn, adj., young.
► kabīr al sinn, adj., old.
► ṭaʕana fī ’l-sinn, vb. I, to be advanced in years, be aged.
► taqaddamat bihī al sinn, vb. V, to grow older, to age; to be advanced in years.
► ʔasanna, vb. IV, to grow old, to age; to be advanced in years: denom. from sinn ‘(old, advanced) age)’. – For other meanings see above, [v1].
► ʔasannᵘ, adj., older, farther advanced in years: elat. formation.
► musinn, pl. ‑ūn, masānnᵘ, adj., old, aged, advanced in years: PA IV. | dār al-~īn, n.f., home for the aged, old folks home.

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