Jump to content

Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/raḥat-

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
This Proto-Semitic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Semitic

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Presumably from *rawaḥ- (to be ample, to be open) only maintained by descendants of Proto-West Semitic.

Noun

[edit]

*raḥat- f

  1. palm of the hand; perhaps also sole of the foot
    Coordinate term: *kapp-
    Holonym: *yad-

Usage notes

[edit]

It is probable that there was a distinction between *kapp- and *raḥat-: if it was that one denotes the inner side of the hand with the fingers and thumb and the other without it is difficult to decide which is which. Likely it was the *kapp- tendentially meant the cupped inner of the hand while *raḥat- meant the flat hand: this picture reflects in the tool names secondarily derived from the words.

Inflection

[edit]

Descendants

[edit]
  • East Semitic:
    • Akkadian: rittum, rettum
    • Eblaite: [script needed] (ra/la-ʾà-tum /⁠raḥ(a)tum⁠/)
  • West Semitic:

References

[edit]
  • Militarev, Alexander, Kogan, Leonid (2000) Semitic Etymological Dictionary, volumes I: Anatomy of Man and Animals, Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 202–203 Nr. 230, as often positing an unlikely variation, *rāḥat ~ *riḥat