שָׁמַיִםshamayim
Sign in to saveAncient Hebrew
Root
shama
to gape, to open wide, to be astonished; also to be dry, to dry up, to wither
Hebrew shamayim from Shona shama, to gape open wide, to dry
- Confidence
- 64/100
- Root language
- Shona
- Descent begins
- שָׁמַיִם (šāmayim)Hebrew
The consensus position
Mainstream comparative Semitics derives שָׁמַיִם from Proto-Semitic *šamāy-/*šamāʾ- "sky, heaven", cognate with Akkadian šamû, Ugaritic šmm, Aramaic šəmayyāʾ, Arabic samāʾ and Geez samāy, with the -ayim ending treated as an old plural or plurale tantum reshaped on the dual pattern. No relationship to Bantu is recognised; Semitic and Bantu belong to separate families and any resemblance is held to be coincidental.
The working behind this.
The full descent — 8 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
- 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
- Megiddogudurato knock off, to break off, to dislodge a piece