Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/waral-

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

Alternative forms

• *waran-

Etymology

Very likely a borrowing, in consideration of the consonant pairing, which is, barring perhaps a breakdown of a quadriconsonantal or any such arbitrary occurrence, impossible, whether it be r and l or r and n, as there is a strict rule that the second and third consonant of a triconsonantal Semitic root can only be identical but not otherwise homorganic; whereas a Proto-Hurro-Urartian origin is thinkable, compare *kinnār- and خُلَّر (ḵullar).

Noun

*waral- m

1. monitor lizard

Inflection

Declension of *waral-

case	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*waralum	*waralāna	plural stem + *-ūna
accusative	*waralam	*waralayna	plural stem + *-īna
genitive	*waralim
possessive forms
1st person	*waralī / *waralVya	—	*waralVni
2nd person m	*waralVka	*waralVkumā / *waralVkumay	*waralVkum(ū)
2nd person f	*waralVki		*waralVkin(ā)
3rd person m	*waralVšu	*waralVšumā / *waralVšumay	*waralVšum(ū)
3rd person f	*waralVša		*waralVšin(ā)

the endings -m and -na are dropped in the bound form, which may also undergo syncopation of an unstressed final vowel where possible. Note: the ending -V before the possessive endings responds to case: *waraluya for nom. case, *waraliya for gen. case, *waralaya for acc. case, etc.

Descendants

• East Semitic:
  • Akkadian: 𒌨𒉡 (urnum)
• West Semitic:
  • Central Semitic:
    • Arabic: وَرَل (waral), وَرَن (waran) — post-Classical, dialectal
      • → English: worral
      • → German: Waran
        • ⇒ German: Waraneidechse, Warneidechse
          • ⇒ German: Warner
            • → Translingual: (calque) Monitor (obsolete) and Lacerta monitor (obsolete)
              • → English: monitory lizard, monitor lizard
              • → German: Monitor
      • → Classical Syriac: ܘܪܠܐ (warlā), ܘܪܢܐ (warnā), ܘܪܐܠܐ (waralā)
      • → Translingual: Varanus (from which most European translations of monitor lizard)
    • Northwest Semitic:
      • Aramaic:

        Jewish Literary Aramaic, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: יַלָּא (yallā), יָלָא (yālā)

        • Classical Syriac: ܝܰܪܠܳܐ (yarlā), ܝܠܐ (yallā)
      • Canaanite:
        • Phoenician: *𐤉𐤋 (*yl /⁠*yūl⁠/)
          • → Ancient Greek: ἴουλος (íoulos, “catkin; woodlouse; the first growth of the whiskers and beard; corn-sheaf”)
            • → Latin: iūlus (“catkin; woodlouse; rainbow wrasse”)
  • Modern South Arabian:
    • Harsusi: rewōl
    • Mehri: rəwōl

References

• Löw, Immanuel (1912) “Aramäische Lurchnamen”, in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete‎^[2] (in German), volume 26, pages 129–132
• Militarev, Alexander, Kogan, Leonid (2005) Semitic Etymological Dictionary, volume II: Animal Names, Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 316–317, Nr. 246
• Zimmern, Heinrich (1915) Akkadische Fremdwörter als Beweis für babylonischen Kultureinfluss (in German), Leipzig: A. Edelmann, page 52, considers it foreign in Akkadian and Syriac and Arabic borrowed thence, but a borrowing could only have happened early in view of the Northwest Semitic change w → y.