Etymograph

English

semsemia

Semsemia comes from Arabic سِمْسِمِيَّة ‘semsemia, a lyre used in the traditional music…’, from سِمْسِم ‘sesame’, and ultimately from Proto-Semitic *šamn- ‘fat (foodstuff)’.

  1. Proto-Semiticc. 4000–3000 BCE*šamn-‘fat (foodstuff)’reconstructed
  2. Akkadianc. 2500–100 BCEšaman
  3. Akkadian, derivedc. 2500–100 BCEšammum‘plant, grass’
  4. Akkadian, derivedc. 2500–100 BCEšamaššammumtransliteratedcuneiform šamaššammum, a transliteration
  5. Aramaicc. 1000 BCE–700 CEשׁוּמְשֻׁומָאšumššumā
  6. Arabicc. 500–presentسِمْسِمsimsim‘sesame’
  7. Arabic, derivedc. 500–presentسِمْسِمِيَّة‘semsemia, a lyre used in the traditional music of Egypt and Yemen’
  8. Englishtodaysemsemia

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Semiticc. 4000–3000 BCE*šamn-‘fat (foodstuff)’reconstructed
  2. Akkadianc. 2500–100 BCEšaman
  3. Akkadian, derivedc. 2500–100 BCEšammum‘plant, grass’
  4. Akkadian, derivedc. 2500–100 BCEšamaššammumtransliteratedcuneiform šamaššammum, a transliteration
  5. Aramaicc. 1000 BCE–700 CEשׁוּמְשֻׁומָאšumššumā
  6. Arabicc. 500–presentسِمْسِمsimsim‘sesame’
  7. Arabic, derivedc. 500–presentسِمْسِمِيَّة‘semsemia, a lyre used in the traditional music of Egypt and Yemen’
  8. Englishtodaysemsemia

Linked words

through Akkadian 𒊭𒈦𒌑𒈬

sesame, 1 more

Today it means

noun A six- or seven-stringed Egyptian harp.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Semitic *šamn- / semsemia

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