מַיִםmayim
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Root
mvura
water, rain
Hebrew mayim traced to Shona mvura, the water and the rain
- Confidence
- 31/100
- Root language
- Shona
- Descent begins
- מַיִם (mayim)Hebrew
The consensus position
Mainstream comparative linguistics derives Hebrew מַיִם from Proto-Semitic *may- (or *maw-/*mwh) 'water', with cognates in Arabic māʔ, Geez may, Syriac mayyā, Akkadian mû and a proposed Afroasiatic link to Egyptian mw. Shona mvura is held to be an unrelated Bantu word, from Proto-Bantu *-bʊda 'rain', with no historical connection to Semitic.
The working behind this.
The full descent — 6 links from the attested form down to the root — the segment-by-segment correspondences, the phonological breakdown and the case for the derivation are behind an account.
An account opens 10 entries in full, free.
Elsewhere in the corpus
- οὐρανόςmvurawater, rain, rainfall
- בראbara (kubara)to beget, to bring forth, to give birth; in Karanga and Ndau craft use also to pare or hollow out
- Edenhudendeabundance, plenty, superfluity; from -dende, gourd or large calabash
- Nekevahnengovenotch, grooved cut; one bearing a notched or bored thing (variant nhengove)
- ZakhárZikirato know thoroughly, to recognise, to be acquainted with, to hold in mind (applicative of -zika / -ziva, to know)
- Pesachpesato pass, to pass by, to go past, to swerve aside; kupesana, to pass one another without meeting