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Linguistics Ãaria Bulakh Institute for Information Transmission Problems Moscow SEMANTIC SHIFTS IN THE LEXICAL FIELD OF TASTE IN GEEZ ! " !% ' ! ( $ % !!% ' )""#**+ , ( .( ! ! ! " ! " . /% " " ! ! ( . 0 The research is carried out within the framework of the project «Semantic shifts in the languages of the world», supported by the RFBR, grant 03-06-08133a; for the general description of the project, see ZALIZNIAK 2001 [for the list of abbrevia- tions used in this see p. 349]. I would like to express sincere gratitude to my teacher L. Kogan, who carefully read and corrected the preliminary version of the paper. I am thankful to I. Gruntov and M. Razuvaev for their comments and impro- vements. Special thanks go to D. Nosnitsin, who provided me with some Geez sources. Needless to say, all possible mistakes are my own responsibility. Terms with meaning ‘insipid, tasteless’ are considered here too: although, strictly speaking, they do not refer to any kind of taste, they doubtlessly belong to the lexical field of taste. Scrinium I (2005). Varia Aethiopica " & 4 ( 11252* #67899+ ! black as sootsweet as honey " " ( ! 3 " %( ! lemon-coloured saffron-coloured , " ! ( " 3)""#**+5+ & ) : ; " :; <9+ " = h > : ; .0$+19: ;? 2+@Ahamada:ê ;.0$+1#? 2++ Another factor influencing the semantic developments in the names of colours and tastes is the connotations. Colour names and taste names often possess strong positive or negative associations and demonstrate them not only in their usage, but in the semantics of their derivatives andor of their cognates as well. However, the taste names are more directly related to the evaluative meanings, which are in several cases included into the core of their semantics. It is obvious that the pragmatical necessity of a positive or negative evaluation of a kind of taste is higher than that of the evaluation of a colour: tastes constitute essential characteristics of food and drink and give us important information on the quality of the objects to be defined. Therefore, the primary classification of tastes will divide them into two clas- ses: «good» ones, that is, signalizing that the fooddrink can be consumed, and «bad» ones, that is, informing of a danger of poisoning (see Razuvaev 2004:122f., Gruntov, ms., Viberg 1984:152–155). blanc: vin rouge" vin blanc ! =%( M. Bulakh ( water5 " (" ( !! " % ! ! B ( ! ! : ; ! sweet water Süßwasser, cf. also Arb. hulw- ‘doux, sucré;.0$+6+ -un hulw-un: ;3 " )""#**+5# = "! "! ! ( ! ! $ , !! = ( -un adb-un.0$$16? 16 db " 5 ! al-ad !; " ? *69 $ ! t um: " ;$ 1 = !> " " " > " ! : ; : ; " ) : 3 " !; $ = ! ! !: $ 7 I. GEEZ LEXEMES USED TO DEFINE THE VARIETIES OF TASTES. b hi " " "b ha: ;? 1*??=+16 $$ # / " b hi " ( - 5 mnna b hi wayn wa- m nna b hi mes C 259 : s ek sikera ‘" ! " ! ; D " "5 ta msla hamla b hi tballu #56: "% hamla b hi pikrídón : pikrós : " ! ! " ! ! 5 Scrinium I (2005). Varia Aethiopica bhk5 bähak ä, bahak ä : " ! ;b huk :" ! ! 3" % 3 ! ( ;0*@ #bkk5 = bokka: (; 0 1#9 buho buko b ho : ! ( ! %; 6@@3 !"#$ " E !: ; D !% (;=!, ! ! - $$ #5 ./ boh-aaw-: ;boh-ees-: ;D630 buk- eek-: ;buk-ees-: ; 93 bukoo: ! !!2@3 ! ,+# ./ bukk-aaw-:( % ;bukk-ays- :( ;3 Fbohu : ( ;) 66@5+#3, bah: ( ;) 61*57#3 into Ethiosemitic with reduplication: Gez. ba baa etc. ‘decay, become putrid’ (LGz. 96, LLA 517); bahb he : ( ! " ! ! 3 " ! ! ;0*2 l suh ! "" " #! $!" lasha% % ! % "" ! " " % ! $ % " % " % & ' % ! % % #! $!" % " "& l shat"( ! () 3 ! ??=96 5 wa- mma-ssa dew lasha ba-mnt nka y kassmwo' @59: G;3dew za-at amo la-l suh??=96: ! " ;3lshata nafs ya k s mi ba-dew 11 26:( ; =! . ( ! ! !: "( ! ;5wa-za-ssa y nabb h r so wa-albo mogasa k3w sta afuhomu la- suh ". y lass h nagar , #*51 : ( ! M. Bulakh ( ! ! " 3 ;3wa-w sta abd y lass , #*5#*: ; = B - " ! " ! 5 l sua ayl :( ! ; ! ??= 96 m kr:/! !; $$ @5 t lass m kromu la-tabib H 15??=97: " ; The above quoted passages from Sirach demonstrate the definitely nega- tive connotations of the root. Still, the verb alsaa (causative to lasa), used in sense ‘to render ineffective’, may be applied to such objects as poison (als mza za-kaawa atli ‘make ineffective the poison that the murderer poured’), devils ( gziaber ylsk mu o-agn nt ‘let the God make you ineffective, oh devils’) or fetters (ba-hymnota ziahu alsa kllo maw tihu ‘with his faith he loosened all his fetters’, ibid. 38). Another question is the possibility of a connection between the meanings ‘insipid’ and ‘smack the lips, chew saliva’ (LGz. 318), which Leslau consid- ers to belong to a homonymous verb lasha, while Dillmann quotes it under the same entry as lasha ‘to be insipid’ (LLA 37). The only passage quoted by Dillmann for this meaning is Sir. 34:16: wa-b kama b si t u laka; i-t nza t mass r kama lo la-bis ka ‘and eat as a wise man that which they placed before you; don’t smack your lips when you are chewing lest you revolt your neighbour’. Dillmann reconstructs the meaning ‘saliva’ as the primary semantic component of the root, deriving from it the verbal meaning ‘to have saliva in mouth, to make noise with saliva’, on the one hand, and the attributive meaning ‘to resemble the taste of saliva, to be tasteless, insipid’, on the other hand. Doubtlessly, this conjecture is suggest- ed by a similar semantic shift attested for the Proto-Semitic root *tpl ‘to spit’ (Sam. tpl ‘to spit’, Tal 959; Arb. tafala ‘cracher (une salive fine)’, tafl-, tufl-, - ‘cracat de salive fine; écume’, BK I 201; Mhr. ty tuf ly ‘to spit’, t ‘spit, saliva’, JM 400; Jib. tflytf lytf l ‘to spit’; tfl ‘spit, saliva’, JJ 269; Hrs. ‘to spit’, tefl/‘spittle, saliva’, JH 126) whose Hebrew reflex has the meaning ‘insipid’: ‘ungesalzenes, Fades’ (HALAT 1634, cf. ha , Job 6:6, ‘can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt?’), also attested in a figurative meaning ‘useless, inef- fective’ (nayik h w , Lam 2:14, ‘your prophets have seen for you useless and tasteless things’). The possibility of a connection with such meanings as ‘slime’, ‘lime’, ‘to pa- ste’, as well as ‘to slander’ and ‘to talk nonsense’ requires a deeper study and will not be discussed here. Scrinium I (2005). Varia Aethiopica Needless to say, this semantics corresponds exactly to that of the Geez root lsh. Thus, we are justified to postulate a semantic shift ‘to spit’ > ‘to have the taste of saliva, to be insipid’, with possible intermediate meaning ‘saliva’ (which is missing in the Geez root lsh, but is attested for the reflexes of the root *tpl in Arabic, Mehri and Jibbali). The only etymological link for this root, an equation with Arabic sal- ‘insipide, qui n’a aucun goût’, sal at- ‘absence de goût d’un mets insipide’ (BK I 1121, Lane 1404), with metathesis, has been suggested by Praetorius (1890:369). 3. maarir ‘sweet, sweet-tasting, honey-sweet’ (LGz. 327, LLA 207). This term is derived from the noun ma, maar ‘honey’ (LGz. 326), using a pattern with reduplication of the last two radicals (the same adjective pattern is attested in Geez, e. g., in hamalmil ‘green’ haml ‘vegetation’, LGz. 233, or damanmin ‘dark, obscure’ ‘cloud’, LGz. 135; for its usage in Semitic, see Barth 1967:218). Honey as a prototype for sweet taste is, of course, widely used in the languages of the world (see Gruntov, ms.). An example of a taste name de- rived from the word for honey can be found in Akkadian: dašpu ‘sweet’ SB, NB (CAD D 120), ‘honigsüß’ (AHw. 165) dišpu ‘honey’ from OA, OB on (CAD D 161), ‘Honig’ (AHw. 173). In Geez, the derivative maarir is obvi- ously used as an independent taste adjective ‘sweet’: e. g., in maarira s tay (Prov. 9:17, see LLA 207), ‘water of theft is sweet for drinking’, where the Geez adjective is rendering Gr. glukerós ‘sweet’. Its belonging to the lexical field of taste is also testified by the opposition to marir ‘bitter’: z ntu araya la-w luda sab marira wa-maarira (Hen. 69:8), ‘this one showed the sons of men the bitter and the sweet’. The term can be also applied to sounds with positive evaluation: arira k !%!%&'($)*+ , -. wa-ba nta k (ibid. 259) ‘and because of the sweet voice of Seraphim’. The noun *maar ‘honey’ is widely used in other Ethiosemitic languages, although only in Tigrinya is the taste meaning ‘sweet’ also attested: Tna. mäar ‘honey; sweet, good’, mäarä ‘to be sweet, be like honey’ (KT 477). Note also a further meaning development in Tigrinya: amarä ‘to make sweet; to produce honey’ ‘to be good for, be becoming, to suit, become one (ornament one is wearing)’, e. g., in the following context: n zu säbay š lmat b zuh yämrällu ‘this person’s ornate dress becomes him very well’ (ibid.). Tgr. maar ‘honey’ (LH 135). Amh. mar ‘honey’ (K 173). Gur. Gog. m är ‘beeswax’ (LGur. 417), Enm. End. maar, Cha. Gyt. mar, Gog. m är ‘beeswax’ (ibid.). M. Bulakh Probably Har. ‘earwax’ (LHar. 110) goes back to the same root, with the semantic development ‘wax’ (cf. Gurage, and below, Hebrew) ‘earwax’. Outside Ethiosemitic languages, a likely cognate in Hebrew is attested, yaar ‘Honigwabe’ (HALAT 404). The semantic correspondence is all the more con- vincing in view of the meaning ‘beeswax’ attested in Gurage languages. See further LGur. 386 (Gur., Gez., Tgr., Tna., Amh., Har.), LHar. 110 (Har., Gez., Tgr., Tna., Amh., Gur.). 4. madid ‘acid, sour, angry, ill-tempered, rapacious’ (LGz. 330, LLA 229), m dud ‘fermented, sour’ (LGz. 330), madda, madada ‘ferment, be acid, be sour’ (LGz. 330). Of these lexemes, only the first is given in LLA. The latter two, although quoted in Grébaut 118f., are not provided with any textual reference. Howe- ver, we can safely postulate the taste meaning ‘sour, acid’ for the term madid, provided by such examples as wa-i-y kawwnmasisa ‘and it wine became not sour, on the contrary, it became better as each new morning appeared’ (Budge 1906:20 text, 50 translation); way- farri f re madid (Jes. 18:5) ‘and the sour grape brings fruits’; b hi madid ‘sour acidity’ (LLA 229). The adjective is also attested in a figurative mea- ning ‘angry, ill-tempered’: tak id ‘bitter and sour wolves’ (corresponding to Gr. lúkoi drimeis kaì pikroí) (ibid.). In Tigrinya and Amharic we find exact phonetic correspondences, dem- onstrating identical semantics as well: Tna. (both non-palatalized and palatalized variants are attested): mäsis ‘sour, bitter, tart, acid; vinegar’, mäsäsä ‘to turn sour, get sour’ (KT 536); ä ‘to turn sour (food), to go bad (food)’; bälä ‘to become moldy (hay, etc. because it was not exposed to sun and air after getting wet)’ (ibid. 529). The primary meaning ‘to be sour’ is illustrated, for instance, by applica- tions of the root to sour mead: mes mäsisu ‘the mead has turned sour’ or to the skin of a citrus fruit: m ssas ‘the bitter or sour white inner skin of an orange or citrus fruit’. One should also note the figurative meanings in Tigrinya, such as ‘sour-tempered’ for mäsis ‘sour’; ‘sharp-tongued wo- man, termagant’ for mässas (fem. of mäsis); ‘irony, sarcasm’ for m ssät ‘sourness’. An expression ‘sour mouth’ is used to refer to a harshly-spe- aking person: afu mäsis z -konä ‘one who speaks harshly, bitterly, sharp- tongued person’, lit. ‘the one who had a sour mouth’ (ibid. 536). Amh. (both reflexes with d t and d s are attested): mätit ‘sour, vinegar, acid’ (K 361), mätt ät ä ‘to ferment (batter), to turn sour, become sour, acid; to get angry’ (ibid. 360); mäsis ‘sour’, mäsasa ‘vinegar, lemon, bean-flour paste’ (ibid. 370). The examples attested in Kane’s dictionary demonstrate not only the mean- ing ‘to ferment, to turn sour’, but also ‘to become thick, stiff, hard’: litu mätt ät ä ‘the batter fermented’; s ga mätt ät ä ‘the meat became stiff, hard’; Scrinium I (2005). Varia Aethiopica kuslu mätt ät ä ‘the wound healed’; aybu mätt ät ä ‘the ayb-cheese turned sour’; tälla mat t al ‘the beer has gone sour’ (ibid. 361). The meaning ‘to dry up’ seems to be semantically related (however, it can also be derived from ‘to suck, suck up’, see below, or, most likely, appear as a result of the contamination of both roots ‘to be sour’ and ‘to suck’): wha mätt al ‘the water has almost dried up’; kaw mätt ät ä ‘the mud started to dry out’; mätat a ‘almost dry, nearly dried up; lean, scraggy, wizened (man, animal); sunken cheeked, having drawn or haggard features’ (ibid. 361). Outside Ethiopian Semitic, we find an Arabic term with a regular phone- tic correspondence (suggesting a PS root mss) and a practically identical mean- ing: Arb. madad- ‘lait aigre’ (BK II 1119, Lane 2720), mumidd- ‘qui pique, qui picote (vinaigre, collyre)’ (BK II 1119), madd- ‘qui cause de la douleur, du picotement (p.ex. collyre à l’oeil, vinaigre à la bouche)’, madda ‘faire du mal, piquer, picoter (se dit de l’action du collyre sur l’oeil ou d’un vinaigre trop fort, etc., sur la bouche)’ (ibid. 1118). Note that the Arabic root is usually used in the figurative meaning ‘to hurt, to cause pain’: madda ‘affecter quelqu’un, lui causer de la peine (se dit des chagrins)’ (ibid.), ‘he suffered, or experienced, pain’ (Lane 2719). The se- mantic development is obvious, the verb originally denoting the effect of tasting an acid food, cf. such context as madda l- ‘the vinegar burned his mouth’ (ibid. 2720). The meaning became gradually applicable to other sensory experiences, e. g., tactile in al-kuhl-u yumiddu l-ayn-a ‘the collyrium pains the eye (or burns the eye)’ (ibid.; see II.3), and, final- ly, was broadened into ‘to cause pain’, without any association with senses of perception, for instance in ra ul-un madd-u d-darb-i ‘Homme qui frap- pe fort et dont les coups se font sentir’ (BK I 1118, Lane 2720), or imraat- un maddat-un ‘a woman who does not bear, or endure, what displeases her, or grieves her; whom a small word pains; whom a small things hurts, or annoys’ (Lane 2720). The comparison with Ethiosemitic terms justifies the claim that the taste semantic is primary in this case, whereas the figura- tive meaning demonstrates the strong negative connotations of the root. Cf. also mud- ‘eau très-salée’ (BK II 1119, Lane 2720), which shows a semantic development ‘acid, sour’ ‘having an unpleasant taste’. In view of the Arabic cognate showing the meaning ‘to be painful, to cause pain’, a comparison with Tgr. massa ‘to be ill, to suffer pain, to be tormented, to mourn’ (LH 145), Gaf. mässäsä ‘être malade’ (LGaf. 218), Arg. mätt ät a - ‘be sick’ (LArg. 214) is possible. Note, however, that alterna- tively they can be compared to Jib. mútt s ‘to become ill, unhealthy’ (JJ 175), Arb. sat- ‘sorte de maladie d’enfants...’ (BK II 1114). See further LGz. 331 (Gez., Arb., Hbr., Tna., Tgr., Amh.). W. Leslau suggests a comparison to Hbr. mass ‘Mazze: ohne Sauerteig schnell gebackenes Fladenbrot aus Gerstenmehl u. Wasser; das aus dem nicht M. Bulakh verbrannten Anteil der minh am Heiligtum ohne Säuerung hergestellte, den Priestern vorbehaltene Brot’ (HALAT 588), pB. mass ‘unleavened bread, esp. the bread served at the Passover meal; a hide not tanned by a process of fermentation, untanned hide’ (Ja. 823). However, this comparison is far from evident, since the essential component of the Hebrew lexeme is the absence of fermentation process, that is, the opposite of the semantics of Ethiosemitic and Arabic terms. It is more justifiable to connect the Hebrew term with the Proto-Semitic root *mss ‘to squeeze, press, suck’ Hbr. ms ‘Pressen’ (HALAT 547). pB. msy, ‘to squeeze, wring, esp. to wring out the blood of the bird sacrifice’ (Ja. 825), as ‘to press, suck; to drain’ (ibid. 827). Jud. ‘to suck’ (ibid. 746), mys ‘to suck’ (ibid. 778), ms‘to wring; to suck’ (ibid. 826), msas ‘to suck, drain; to wring, press’ (ibid. 827). JPA mss ‘to suck’ (Sokoloff 326). Sam. msysh ‘sucking’, mss ‘to consume’ (Tal 483). Mnd. MSA ‘to press, to suck out, suckle’ (DM 277). Arb. massa ‘humer, boire petit à petit en humant; sucer’ (BK II 1114). Tgr. masis ‘juice, sap (of plants)’ (LH 145). Amh. mätt ät ä ‘to suck, suck clean, e.g. finer of sauce, to suckle slowly (baby); to soak up, blot up’ (K 360). Har. mätäta ‘absorb liquid, suck up’ (LHar. 115). Gur. Zwy. mätät ä , Msq. Gog. Sod. mätt ät ä ‘absorb liquids, suck’ (LGur. 439). Mhr. m s y msáws y ms ‘to suck’ (JM 272). Hrs. mes yemsáws yems ‘to suck’ (JH 91). Jib. miss y msés yúmmus ‘to suck’ (JJ 175). Soq. mss ‘lécher’, šímsas ‘qui suce’ (LS 249). See further LHar. 115 (Har., Tna., Arb., Hbr.), LGur. 439 (Gur., Arb., Hbr., Tna., Amh., Har.). 5. h ‘seasoned with salt, salty, which is tasty’ (LGz. 343, LLA 146), mall ha ‘season with salt, make tasty’ (LGz. 343), tamalha, tamall ha passive, ‘be salty’ (ibid., LLA 146), m lh ‘salt, taste, savor, intellect, in- sight, knowledge’ (LGz. 343), ‘sapor, judicium, scientia’ (LLA 146) h ‘salty’ is quoted by Dillmann with only one example of usage, in a genetive construction h ‘sea of the salty’ (ibid.). Obviously, the adjective is rarely used (and probably was formed under the influence of Arb. -, see below). However, the root itself is well attested, its association with the object ‘salt’ is clear (although no noun ‘salt’ is attested among deri- vatives of this root: the common word for salt in Geez, as in other Ethiosemi- For a parallel semantic development s. I.7, PS *mtk . Note that Leslau quotes various spellings of the word (such as malh,m lh , m lh) whereas LLA has m lh , although in the Dillmann’s edition of Deuteronomy the variant m lh is used (DILLMANN 1853:376). Scrinium I (2005). Varia Aethiopica tic languages, is dew, see LGz. 565), and in most of passages dew ‘salt’ is added as a complement of the verb, e. g., k llu ba-sew y (LLA 146) ‘everything is salted with salt’. One should note the doubtlessly positive con- notations of the root, so that metaphorically it can even refer to a saint: hallo y wadd sit h tata sew y bottu k llu (Guidi 1909:263) ‘from this woman a grain of salt will emerge with which the whole world will be salted’. Another evidence of the positive connotations of the root mlh is its derivative m lh ‘intellect, insight’, which, according to LLA 146, is an antonym of l shat ‘insipidness, dullness’ (see I.1). It is used in Deut. 32:28: sma h zb h kr mmuntu wa-albomu m lh ‘because they are people deprived of understanding, and they have no insight and no faith’; the same passage with slight modifications ( sma h zb h kr mmuntu wa-albomu mlh wa- ) is quoted in Grébaut 74. The presence in Arabic of an exact semantic and phonetic correspondence milh- (see below) brings into question the possibili- ty of a borrowing from Arabic; one should at least suspect an Arabic influen- ce, causing this particular semantic shift. The root goes back to PS *mVlh- ‘salt’: Hbr. melah ‘Salz’ (HALAT 557). Pho. mlh ‘salt worker’ (T 179). Bib. m lah ‘salt’ (HALOT 1916). Old. Off. Palm. mlh ‘salt’ (HJ 632). Jud. melah, m lah, milh ‘salt’ (Ja. 788). Syr. melh ‘sal’ (Brock. 390). JPA mlh ’salt’ (Sokoloff 309). Sam. mlh ’salt’ (Tal 468). Mnd. MHL ‘to salt’ (DM 260), mihla ‘salt’ (ibid. 266) (with metathesis). Ugr. mlht ‘salt; salted (fishmeat)’ (DUL 549). This sequence of consonants is attested both as noun (e. g., alp tt m kbd mlht ‘one thousand and sixty shekels of salt’ 4.344:22; w hms w mlht ‘and vinegar and salt’ 1.175:6, ibid. 549) and as an adjective (uz mrat mlht ‘a fattened goose, salted’ 4.247:20, ibid.). The noun mlh is usually interpre- ted as ‘beauty’ (ibid. 548) and derived from the root mlh ‘to be salty’, the semantic shift being explained by the well-known positive connotations of the root, as well as by semantic parallels in Arabic mlh and in Akkadian t (see below). However, in case of Ugaritic mlh, the meaning ‘beauty’ is far from evident, the only passage quoted by DUL 448 being KTU 4.17:17: mlh krn bn d(?) ‘the beauty(?) of the horns of the son of D’. It seems that in this fragmentary and unclear context the interpretation of mlh as having the original meaning ‘salt’ is at least not more improbable than that suggested in DUL. Arb. milh- ‘sel’, malaha ‘saler suffisamment’ (BK II 1144), malh- ‘salé, qui a un goût salé (eau, etc.); salé (poisson, etc)’ (ibid. 1145). M. Bulakh The Arabic root has strong positive connotations, expressed by such deri- vatives as maluha ‘être beau de visage; être beau ou bon (se dit de toute chose)’ (ibid. 1144), mulh- ‘beau (de visage)’, amlah- ‘... plus beau; meil- leur, le meilleur’ (ibid. 1145), malh- ‘beau (de visage); beau jeune hom- me, bel homme; bon’ (ibid., Lane 2733), cf. also zayn-u l-milh-i ‘orne- ment des beaux’, an epithet of Mohammed (BK II 1145). Two other mea- nings associated with the concept ‘salt’ should be noted here, namely, ‘un- derstanding’ (milh- ‘sel; l’esprit, le piquant (d’un discours, d’une oeuvre littéraire); science; les savants’, ibid. 1144, Lane 2732), and ‘irony’ (malhat- ‘bon mot ou anecdote plaisante; facétie’, BK II 1144, mulhat- ‘a goodly, beautiful, pretty, or facetious, story; a bon-mot’, Lane 2733). Mhr. h ‘to salt (food)’ (JM 266). Hrs. melht ‘salt’ (JH 88). Jib. mílah ‘to salt’, mídht ‘salt’ (JJ 171). Soq. mílho ‘sel’ (LS 243). A possible cognate in Akkadian is milu ‘(a mineral)’ SB, NA (CAD MII 69), ‘Salpeter’ (AHw. 653). Obviously von Soden’s translation is based on his comparison of this root to Proto-Semitic *mVlh-; however, since no syn- chronic Akkadian evidence contradicts this interpretation, it can be provisio- nally accepted as a not improbable one. Tgr. malha ‘to turn sour, to ferment; to salt’ (LH 107) presents a shift of meaning allowing various explanations. The semantic development could be based on the designation of the process of preparing food: ‘to be salted, to be submitted to a process involving addition of salt’ ‘to be fermented, to be submitted to a process involving addition of fermenting substances’. Another explanation would suggest a generalization of taste meaning ‘salty, having sharp unpleasant taste’ ‘having unpleasant taste, salty or sour’. The first option is, however, to be preferred, since the Tigre dictionary only attests to a verbal meaning. In view of the Arabic figurative meaning ‘to be good’, one can compare this root to Harari verb mälaha ‘choose, select, prefer by choosing’, muluh ‘chosen, better’ (LHar. 107). It is unclear, however, whether the Harari lex- eme is an independent development or a borrowing from Arabic. In Amharic, we find only a Geez loanword mälähe, mälh ‘salt’ (K 143). In view of semantic shift ‘salty’ > ‘good, beautiful’, attested in Arabic and (less probably) in Ugaritic, one cannot help mentioning Akkadian term t - -. &t / 0 1 2 34 546!"''$7t 891 94 31 4 34 1 1 38- 5-2-$1 - 2,- -, ,2t ‘to have pleasant taste; to be good’, which is widely used to express the idea The Akkadian root goes back to well-known PS *tyb ‘to have pleasant taste; to be good’: Ugr. tb ‘good, pure, sterling; sweet, generous; pleasant, dulcet’ (DUL 886); Hbr. t 64 4:"##$7 t 2 1 .;<(%$7 T ! T"! Scrinium I (2005). Varia Aethiopica of agreeable taste, being applied to such objects as water (according to von Soden, denoting sweet water, river water as opposed to salty, sea water: mû tâmti mû ta-bu-tú , ibid. 1378), wine, beer, oil, bread, fruits, sugar cane (ibid. 1378). The meaning ‘salt’ is probably developed from a more general meaning ‘that which has a pleasant taste’ or ‘that which provides a pleasant taste’; the concept of salt as a prototype of pleasant taste is widespread in the languages of the world (cf. Gruntov, ms.). See further Brock. 390 (Syr., Arm., Hbr., Arb., Akk.), DM 266 (Mnd., Syr., Hbr., Arb., Akk.), BDB 571 (Hbr., Arb., Arm.). 6. marir ‘bitter’, marara ‘be bitter’ (LGz. 360, LLA 165). The root is well attested in Geez, both in its primary taste meaning (mari- ra kona mes, Jes. 24:9, see LLA 165, ‘the honey became bitter’; wa-s nu satya mm , Ex. 15:23, ‘and they could not drink from Marah, because its water is bitter’) and in figurative meanings: ‘sorrowful, grievous’ (LGz. 360, e. g. wa-ta nta mang# , Fries 1892 45, 64, ‘they have experienced a bitter death for the sake of the celestial kingdom’; wa-y be no ba-k , Hen. 65:2, ‘and Noah said in a bitter (grievous) voice’; la-mnt ska abeya s kaya, Hen. 65:5, ‘why did you cry out to me with such bitter crying and weeping?’; wa-marira h z z wwo, Sir. 25:18, ‘they are saddening him and oppressing him by bitter grief’; marira y bakk yu, Jes. 33:7, see LLA 166, ‘they are crying bitterly’; y eyy s mawit ywat, Sir. 30:17, ‘to die is better than the bitter life’); ‘embitte- red, ferocious’ (LGz. 360, e. g., h , Hab. 1:6, see LLA 165, ‘the bitter (cruel) people’; , Jud. 18:25, see LLA 165, ‘the bitter (cruel) of soul’). The term goes back to the well-known Proto-Semitic root *mrr ‘to be bitter’: Tna. märärä ‘become bitter, sour’ (KT 361), märrir ‘bitter, sour, pun- gent’ (ibid. 362). Tgr. marra ‘to be bitter, to be bad’, marir ‘bitter; a bitter beverage; spice herbs’ (LH 113). Amh. märara ‘bitter, sour’ (K 178), märrärä ‘to taste bitter, be sour or acid (green fruit); to be distasteful, unpleasant’ (ibid. 177). Har. märära ‘be bitter’, murur ‘bitter’ (LHar. 111). Gaf. (at)mirrärä ‘irriter, mettre en colère’ (LGaf. 217). Arg. märrära ‘be bitter’ (LArg. 213). Gur. Cha. Ea Muh. märara, Msq. Gog. märara k b, Enm. Gyt. marara, End. ‘fresh butter preserved for a long time by periodically adding spices’ (LGur. 423). 2 =>!'!$742t ‘être bon; être agréable, d’un goût ou d’une odeur agréable’ (BK II 126, Lane 1900); Mhr. t yub ‘to enjoy’ (JM 413), etc. M. Bulakh Hbr. ‘bitter’ (HALAT 603), pB. ‘to be bitter’ (Ja. 847), m ‘bitterness, trnsf. sin’ (ibid. 843). Off. mrr ‘to be bitter’, mrr ‘bitter’, mrrw ‘bitterness’ (HJ 696). Jud. m rar ‘to be bitter’ (Ja. 847), , ‘bitter’, m, m ‘bitterness; curse’ (ibid. 843). Syr. mar ‘acerbus fuit’, ‘amarus’ (Brock. 400), ‘amarum reddidit; amarus fuit’ (ibid. 402). Sam. mrr ‘bitterness’, mrwr ‘bitter’ (Tal 488), mryr ‘bitter’ (ibid. 489). JPA mrr ‘bitterness, bitter herb’, mrr ‘to make bitter’ (Sokoloff 332). Mnd. mura ‘bitterness’ (DM 262f.), mrira ‘bitter’, mrirta ‘bitterness’ (ibid. 278), MRR ‘to be(come) bitter, afflict; to be spoiled’ (ibid. 279). Akk. ‘to be bitter; (with kakku) to prevail (said of military force)’ OB, SB, NB (CAD MI 267), ‘bitter werden, sein’ (AHw. 609), marru ‘bitter, brackish, biting’ Mari, MB, SB, Bogh. (CAD MI 286), ‘bitter’ (AHw. 612). Arb. marra ‘être amer; dire des chose amères, désagréables’ (BK II 1083), murr- ‘amer’ (ibid. 1084). Mhr. m r ‘bitter’ (JM 268). Hrs. mer ‘bitter’ (JH 89). Soq. ímrir ‘rendre amer’ (LS 251). For this Proto-Semitic root, an excellent semantic analysis has been given by D. Pardee (1978). However, it is necessary to quote the attested meanings and relevant passages in the present contribution once again. One can sum- marize the meaning shifts attested in this root as follows: a. Semantic shift within the lexical field of taste: broadening of the mean- ing ‘bitter’ ‘bitter, sour’ (cf. Tna. märrir ‘bitter, sour, pungent’, KT 362; Amh. märara ‘bitter, sour’, K 178). b. A (synesthetic?) shift ‘bitter, causing unpleasant taste sensation’ ‘caus- ing unpleasant (tactile?) sensation’ (applied to sun in Tna. märärä ‘to be pungent; to be burning hot (sun)’, KT 361; to wind in Akkadian, eer ‘a biting wind will come up and diminish the crop’, CAD MI 287). This seems to be a synesthetic development from taste to tactile terms, see II.3. However, both examples can be reinterpreted as ‘bitter’ ‘cruel’ (see below), both wind and sun being able to be personified. c. Semantic shift provoked by a general metaphor ‘to taste’ ‘to expe- rience’ (see II.4): ‘bitter’ ‘hard, difficult to bear, harsh’ (cf. Amh. nuro märräräw ‘life was unpleasantbitter for him’, K 177, märara mot ‘bitter death’, märara nägär ‘grievous matter, affair’, ibid. 178; Jud. ‘em- bittering, hard labor’, Ja. 779; Sam. mrwr ‘bitter’: h bws mrwr h bwsh dh skh ‘a bitter jail is the jail of the darkness’, Tal 488; Mnd. mura ‘bitterness’: ulnšia mura nihuilun ‘and there will be bitterness for women’, DM 262f.; for the application of the root in Syriac to describe torture, prison, difficult time, see Pardee 1978:269f.; see also a context combining both direct and metaphorical application of the root in Official Aramaic: t mt p zrrt mrrt Scrinium I (2005). Varia Aethiopica wt m hsyn wlyty zy mryr mn nwh, Ahiq 188, ‘I have tasted the bitter medlar and the taste is strong, but there is nothing more bitter than poverty’, HJ 696; cf. also Arb. ‘a bitter life’, marrat alayhi ‘afflictions or calamities came upon him’, Lane 2701; for Geez, see above; a verbal realization of the same metaphor is causative ‘to make bitter ’ > ‘to make difficult to bear, harsh’: Hbr. way rû et-h a ‘and they embittered their lives by hard labor’, Ex. 1:14; Sam. myrr ‘to embitter ’: whbt mrn rwh lysh k wlrbk h ‘they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebecca’, Tal 488). d. Application of the term to describe mental qualities and emotions (see II.5): 1) ‘bitter’ ‘grievous’ (cf. Tna. märärä ‘to be stricken with sadness, melancholy; to be sorry, grieve, be sad; to complain, grumble, gripe’, e. g., in amrirom bäkäyula ‘they cried bitterly for her’, KT 361f.; Tgr. marra ‘to be sulky’, LH 113; Amh. m rr alä ‘to be or become deeply grieved, very sad’, K 178; Hbr. ‘I weep bitterly’, Jes. 22:4; Syr. mar ‘dolui’, Brock. 400; Mnd. MRR ‘be grieved; to be spoiled’, DM 279; Jud. m rar ‘to grieve, mourn’, Ja. 847, , ‘embittered, grieving’, ibid. 843; Sam. mryr ‘bitter’: ws b sbh rbh wmryrh ‘he cried out with a great and bitter cry’, Tal 489; cf. also Gur. Sel. märärä-, Wol. tämärärä-, tämarärä ‘feel sorry for someone’, LGur. 423; for Geez, see above); 2) ‘bitter’ ‘angry, violent, cruel’ (cf. Tna. märrir ‘one who only has bad words for others, crabbed, shrewish, cantankerous; inclement, harsh, severe, virulent’, KT 362; Amh. märrärä ‘to be angry, vexed, upset’, yämärrärä ‘violent’, K 177; Arg. asmerrära ‘irritate’, LArg. 213; Gur. Sel. Wol. Zwy. märärä, Muh. Msq. Gog. Sod. märrärä, Cha. Enm. Gyt. mänärä, Ea män- närä, End. mennärä ‘be bitter, be angry’, Gog. Sod. m rrätam, Muh. m ‘angry, furious, short-tempered’, LGur. 423; Syr. ‘malignus’, Brock. 400, cf. also the passage illustrating the meaning ‘terrible, cruel’ quoted in Pardee 1978:267f.; Sam. mrr ‘quarrel’, Tal 488; for Gafat, see above; cf. also the following context in Akkadian: kišaa martu mar-ra- tu-u-ni attunu SAL.MEŠ-ku-nu DUMU.MEŠ-ku-nu DUMU.SAL.ME- ku-nu ina mu i a eiš lu mar-ra-ku-nu ‘just as (this) gall is bitter, so may you, your wives, sons and daughters be bitter toward one another’, CAD MI 267, and the application of the same Akkadian term to the weapon: DN u RN ‘I will show you the destructive weapons of Adad’, CAD MI 287; for Geez, see above); 3) the application of the root to qualify human speech probably unites synesthetic development ‘taste’ ‘sound’ (see II.3) and metaphoric usage to describe human emotions: ‘bitter’ ‘unpleasant, pungeant, sharp (words, etc.)’ (cf. Tna. märrir ‘biting, sharp (words), acrimonious (debate)’, märrir kalat ‘harsh words’, mälhasu (afu) märrir z -konä säb ‘evil-tongued fel- low, harsh’, KT 362; cf. Arb. al-hakk-u murr-un ‘la vérité est amère (à dire)’, M. Bulakh BK II 1084; ah ‘he said not (or he did not) a bitter thing, and he said not (or he did not), a sweet thing’, Lane 2700; cf. also Hbr. m ‘bittere Erfahrungen’, HALAT 603, in Job 13:26, as a complement to verb ‘write’: ‘for you write bitter things against me’). Besides, the root mrr is attested as referring to strength or courage in Ugaritic, Arabic and Modern South Arabian: Ugr. m-r-(r) G ‘to strengthen’, N ‘to be strengthened’ (DUL 577f.). Arb. marr- ‘fort, robuste, solide (homme); résolution ferme et inébran- lable’ (BK II 1084, Lane 2701). Mhr. amr n n ‘to give so. courage, embol- den’ (JM 268). Hrs. merrét ‘...strength’ (JH 89). Jib. emrér ys mrér ys mm r ‘to be emboldened’, m rr t ‘courage’ (JJ 173). Note also the usage of Tgr. marir ‘bitter’ to describe a horse hoof: ‘hard, powerful’ (LH 113), possibly also Amh. amärrärä ‘to make a difficult and final decision’ (K 177). The usage of the Arabic and Tigre terms has been discussed in Pardee (1978:270–274). Pardee’s conclusion is that in both cases the meaning ‘strong’ is attested, in Tigre probably under Arabic influence. However, one cannot suspect a calque from Arabic in the case of Modern South Arabian, since, at least in the contexts quoted by Pardee for Arabic, no exact semantic identity is present. Moreover, the meaning ‘to give courage, embolden’ in Mehri and Jibbali corresponds to the meaning usually reconstructed for Ugaritic (where the verb mr(r) is paralleled by brk, ‘bless’, Pardee 1978:250f.). It seems that, contrary to Pardee, the Modern South Arabian evidence, as well as that of Arabic and (probably) Tigre, does favour the reconstruction of a verb mrr ‘to strenghthen’ in Ugaritic. It is tempting to consider these terms as eventually developed from the meaning ‘violent’ (derived, in its turn, from ‘bitter’, see above). However, this semantic shift would be the only one involving the loss of negative con- notations of the root, and, as Pardee rightly observes (1978:275), would pre- sent a typologically unlikely semantic development. A contamination of *mrr with *mr ‘man’ ‘manly, couragious’ is not improbable. See further LGz. 360 (Gez., Arb., Mhr., Hbr., Arm., Syr., Mnd., Akk., Tna., Tgr., Amh., Arg., Har., Gur.), LS 251 (Soq., Arb., Mhr.), LGur. 423 (Gur., Arb., Hbr., Gez., Tna., Tgr., Amh., Arg., Har.). Note also PS *miar(r)-at-, * ‘gall, gall-bladder’ (SED No. 188). While the authors of the dictionary tend to regard the two terms as belon- ging to homonymous roots, later connected through contamination, such a coincidence in semantics seems highly improbable; a derivation of one from another may be safely reconstructed on the Proto-Semitic level (presumably, from the taste term ‘bitter’ a name for its prototype, ‘gall-bladder ’, was de- rived). Some of the reflexes of the noun ‘gall, gall-bladder’ have meaning Scrinium I (2005). Varia Aethiopica ‘poison’ (Hbr.pB, Off., Warka, Dem., Syr., Mnd., see SED No. 188); this semantic development is based on the conception of bitter taste as a token of poisonous qualities (one can probably regard the bitter taste as a prototypi- cal taste of poison). 7. m tuk ‘sweet’, m tkat ‘sweetness’ (LGz. 373, LLA 221). This root is poorly attested in Geez. Dillmann quotes one passage where the adjective mtuk is used in a figurative meaning as a qualifier of light (mtuk b‘sweet light’), and one usage of the noun m tkat in Jud. 9:11, where it corresponds to Gr. glukùtés (LLA 221). In Ethiosemitic languages, the root is widely attested, although with con- siderable semantic deviations: Tna. mätäkä ‘to bake the bread used in brewing beer; to dry, dry up, go dry (spring)’, mätäka , mätäkka ‘unleavened bread baked for use in making beer; scraps of which are dried and used in making beer’ (KT 521f.). Tgr. aka ‘to eat up, to end; to revile strongly’ (LH 144). Amh. mätt äkä ‘to be or become very thin, water-like (dough, bread); to rise (dabbo-bread), to bake an unleavened cake’ (K 355). Har. ‘squeeze something so that it squirts’ (LHar. 103). Gur. Wol. (a)äkä, Sel. äkä ‘milk a cow without leaving some milk for the calf; pull out completely’ (LGur. 389). The cognates in other Semitic languages demonstrate both the meaning ‘to be sweet, of pleasant taste’ and ‘to taste, try (food, drink), to suck’. Thus, a PS root *mtk ‘to taste, to suck; to be sweet, of pleasant taste’ can be recon- structed. A phonetic alternation t t is unproblematic and can be explained through the influence of emphatic k : Hbr. mtk ‘süss sein, werden’ (HALAT 619), ‘süss angenehm’ (ibid. 618). Note that the root was applied to water that became drinkable: ... w (Ex. 15:23) ‘and they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter’; ... el-ham- mayim wa-yyimt k (Ex. 15:25) ‘and he threw it into water and it became sweet’. PB ‘to be sweet, palatable’, pi. ‘to sweeten, season’ (Ja. 864), ‘sweet, pleasant’ (ibid. 860), m ‘sweet taste; seasoning, relish; sweetmeats, delicacies; sweet drinks’ (ibid. 862). Jud. m tak ‘to be sweet, palatable’, pa. ‘to taste, suck’ (Ja. 864), m ‘sweet’ (ibid. 862). Syr. mtak ‘suxit; sorpsit; inhalavit’ (Brock. 410). JPA mtk ‘to suck’ (Sokoloff 338). Sam. mtk ‘sweetness’, hmtyk ‘to make sweet’ (Tal 493). A well-known example of such change is root *ktl ‘to kill’ (Arb. ktl vs. Hbr. kt l). M. Bulakh Akk. u ‘to become sweet’ SB, NA (CAD MI 405), ‘süß werden, sein’ (AHw. 632), matku ‘sweet’ from OAkk., OB on (CAD MI 413), ‘süß’ (AHw. 633). The root is well attested in Akkadian, its meaning can be illustrated by such passages as kî ša dišpu ma-ti-ku-u-ni damu ša SAL.ME4-ku-n ‘just as (this) honey is sweet, so may the blood of your wives (and children) become sweet-tasting in your mouth’ (CAD MI 405). The adjective matku is used to describe such objects as pomegranates, dates, almonds, melons, honey, milk, apples, bread (ibid. 413). Arb. tamatt aka ‘goûter, essayer le goût de...; savourer quelque chose’ (BK II 1123). Mhr. matk ‘sweet’, m táwk ‘to taste’ (JM 273). Hrs. matk ‘sweet’ (JH 91). Jib. mútt k y mtéték n y mtét k ‘to have st. sweet in your mouth to chew; to try, taste st. before swallowing it’, mitáyk ‘sweet’ (JJ 176). Soq. métok ‘sucré’ (LS 242). The semantic deviations of this root in Ethiosemitic languages remain to be explained. The range of meanings attested in this language group comprise such as ‘to be sweet’ (Gez.), ‘to be dry’ (Tna.), ‘to be non-fermented, unlea- vened’ (Amh., Tna.), ‘to squeeze’ (Har.), ‘to eat up’ (Tgr.), ‘to milk a cow without leaving milk for a calf’ (Gur.). One can suggest various ways of semantic evolution; naturally, the evidence from other Semitic languages should be taken in consideration. Thus, in view of the meaning ‘to suck’, attested for the root in Judaic Aramaic, Syriac and Jewish Palestinian Ara- maic, one should reconstruct the meaning ‘to suck’ as early as in the Proto- Semitic. This semantics would be hardly related to the concept of sweetness, had it not been for the verbs ‘to taste’, attested in Arabic, Mehri and Jibbali: the semantic shift ‘to taste’ ‘to be of pleasant taste, to be sweet’ is well attested (see II.2), whereas the meaning change ‘to suck’ ‘to taste’ (or vice versa) can also be easily imagined (the specific semantic developments in Tigre and Gurage go back in all probability to the meaning ‘to suck’ as well). Other meanings attested for the reflexes of *mtk in Ethiosemitic langua- ges (‘to be dry’, ‘to be unleavened (bread)’, ‘to squeeze’) should be grou- ped together, since they correspond exactly to the semantics of reflexes of another PS verb ‘to suck’, namely, *mss (see I.4). Therefore, we are justi- fied in supposing that these meanings are related to each other and can be organized into a chain of semantic evolution. The meanings ‘to suck’, ‘to squeeze’ and ‘to dry up’ are connected through the common component ‘to remove liquid’ (obviously, Gurage ‘to milk a cow without leaving milk for a calf’ also belongs here, being derived from any of these meanings). The designation of unleavened dough through the root ‘to squeeze, to dry, to suck’ can have different explanations. One can argue, for instance, that the Scrinium I (2005). Varia Aethiopica unleavened dough was perceived as hard and dry, being opposed to the soft leavened dough. However, it should be noted that in Judaic Aramaic the root mtk is used to denote the unfermented drinks, opposed to the ferment- ed ones: hnydr mn htyrwš swr bkl myny mtykh ‘he who vows abstinence from tirosh, is forbidden all kinds of sweet (unfermented) drinks’ (Ja. 862). Either this is a generalization of the meaning ‘unleavened (bread)’ ‘un- fermented (bread, beverage)’ (which should suggest that the meaning ‘unlea- vened’ was already present on Proto-Semitic level), or both applications to un- leavened bread and unfermented beverage should be explained in the con- text of another semantic development, namely, ‘sweet, of pleasant taste’ ‘unfermented’. Such usage of the term ‘sweet’ is provoked by its opposi- tion to ‘sour’, the process of fermentation being normally associated with the sour taste (see I.2). See further Brock. 410 (Syr., Jud., Hbr., Arb., Gez., Akk.). 8. kasama, kassama, k ‘season, make tasty’, k ssum ‘well sea- soned, tasty, that has savor’, kasm ‘seasoning’ (LGz. 446, LLA 432). The root conveys the idea of good taste, being contextually opposed to the root lsh (see I.2) and marked by positive connotations. One should note that in almost all passages quoted by Dillmann the precise taste designated by the root is salty, and the verb is complemented by the prepositional phrase ba-sew ‘with the salt’: wa-yrassyani k h wsta lbb tota t bab (Grohmann 1919: 168) ‘let him make me sal- ted with the salt of divinity and let him light in my heart the torch of wisdom’. The meaning ‘salty’ is probably a secondary development, explained by the fact that the taste of salt was considered the best representative of the good, pleasant taste, cf. a figurative usage of the root ksm, where a comparison with salt is employed to stress its positive connotations: t um wa-ze ssum kama sew ‘the sweet chastisement and the announcement which is good-tasted as salt’ (LLA 432). In the rest of the contexts its meaning is non- specified, as in k dd ‘the spicy food’, la-kasima l ya ‘to swee- ten (lit. ‘to add taste to’) my tongue’ (ibid.). The doubtlessly related verb in Amharic, kässämä (‘to season, render sa- vory (with salt or spices); to compound, mix or blend together’, K 751f.; cf. also k m ‘force; pleasing, dignified presence or appearance; taste, flavor of wood, food, dew which may be bitter or sweet depending on the climate and soil’, ibid. 752) may be a borrowing from Geez. Cf. also Amh. kassämä ‘to smell, to sniff s.th.’ (K 752), presenting a synesthetic change from taste to smell. We find a more reliable cognate in Arabic, where the meaning ‘to eat, to choose best pieces of food’ is attested: kašama ‘manger; manger beaucoup; choisir les meilleurs morceaux, et le manger en laissant les autres’ (BK II 744). At the same time, in view of the Arabic meaning, a comparison to Tna. käsämä, demonstrating a rather distant semantic ‘to sip nectar (bee), gather M. Bulakh nectar’ (KT 962) becomes more likely; a possible reconstruction of the se- mantic evolution would be to derive the Geez meaning ‘to have good taste’ from the meaning ‘to taste’ (attested as ‘to eat; to eat best morsels’ in Arabic and as ‘to sip’ in Tigrinya). Cf. also Sab. ks m ‘? a vegetable plot’ (SD 108). At the same time, it is difficult to refrain from relating the root in question to the common Ethiosemitic verb *kms ‘to taste’: Tna. kämäsä ‘to taste (a dish), take a taste of s.th., to have a bite to eat, a snack’ (KT 914); akmäsä ‘to give s.o. some bits of food or drink (host to a guest), to cause to taste; to snack, to have a bite to eat’, k mso ‘taste; example or sample’ (ibid. 915). Note also further semantic development of the causative verb akmäsä ‘to cause to taste’ ‘to let somebody experience s.th.’: bätri akmisuwo ‘he beat him with a stick’ (ibid.) (lit. ‘he caused him to taste a stick’). Tgr. kamša ‘to dip; to take a pinch of snuff; to go to a prostitute for the first time’ (LH 237). Amh. kammäsä ‘to taste, take a taste of s.th., fig. to experience (misfor- tune, etc.), to suffer a beating; to be a mixture of many kinds of soil; to do s.th. first, be first in s.th.’ (K 702). For the meaning ‘to experience’, cp. such contexts as batr kammäsä ‘to receive a beating’, nuro kammäsä ‘to experience life’, yäfit n tor kämmäsä ‘to be the first to engage the enemy’ (ibid.). Arg. kämmäsa ‘taste’ (LArg. 216). Gur. Cha. Enm. End. Gyt. Sel. Wol. Zwy. kämäsä, 5Muh. Msq. Gog. Sod. kämmäsä ‘taste; have intercourse (euphemism)’, Cha. k mus, 5k mmus ‘tasty’, Muh. k mša ‘a taste of something’, Cha. Enm. k mamäsä, 5Muh. k mammäsä, Enm. End. Gyt. täkmamäsä, 5 Muh. täkmammäsä, End. täkwamäsä ‘eat a little bit’ (LGur. 482). One wonders whether this root could be related to Har. k ‘sharpen a pen, pencil or reed, sharpen a point’, through the synesthetic transfer of me- aning ‘tasty, spicy (taste sense)’ ‘sharp (tactile sense)’ (which would, how- ever, contradict Williams’s generalization, see II.3). At the same time, the meaning ‘beautiful’, also attested in Harari for this root (täk ‘become slim, become elegant’, (a)k ‘be beautiful’, LHar. 126), may be derived from the meaning ‘tasty, having good taste’ as well (cf. II.6). See further LGur. 482 (Gur., Tna., Tgr., Amh., Gez.). 9. t ma, ta ama ‘taste, be tasty, be delicious, be savory, be sweet, experience’, t um ‘tasty, savory, sweet, pleasant, delicious’ (LGz. 582, LLA 1241f.). The root is widely used and conveys the general idea of pleasant taste, cf. such usages as ft t um (Prov. 17:1) ’delicious morsel’, t t um (2 Par. 9:24, see LLA 1242) ‘delicious dishes’. Unlike the root ksm (see I.8), Scrinium I (2005). Varia Aethiopica the root t m seems to be associated with the sweet taste, and is used to qualify such objects as honey: mat um (Hez. 3:3, see LLA 1242) ‘sweet honey’. Of special interest is its use as an attribute of water, designating drinkable water, cf. such usages as wa-r yat azak um (Gen. 21:19) ‘she saw a well of fresh water’; wa-rakabu nak um (Gen. 26:19) ‘and they found a spring of fresh water’; wa-y tab b h ti dorho w t um (Lev. 14:5) ‘and they kill this chicken in fresh water’; ! t um marira y kaww n ‘the water which is sweet becomes bitter’ (see LLA 1242). Note that the verb tma is used to describe a situation when bitter, brackish water becomes fresh, drinkable: wa-arayo gziabher da wa- wadayo w t (Ex 15:25) ‘and God showed him a piece of wood and he threw it into water and the water became good’. The verb t ma, ta ama can also be used, on the one hand, as a predicative form of the adjective t um (y m mnna ma! kr ya, Sir. 24:20, ‘mentioning me is sweeter than honey’) and, on the other hand, as an active verb ‘to taste, to try (food, drink)’ (i-ykl t ima mabla, Job 33:20, ‘he cannot taste the food’). One should also note the usage of the root in application to sounds, retai- ning the meaning ‘pleasant’: l !!; wa-af t !!m ra (Sir. 6:5) ‘the sweet tongue multiplies his brothers; and the sweet mouth multiplies the knowledge’; masanko wa-mazmur y heww! "; wa- m nna k lehomu l um (Sir. 40:21) ‘the violin and the singing gladden the soul; but the pleasant tongue does better than both of them’; t um nagar (Job 6:6) ‘pleasant speech’; wa-g ! t um (Sir. 47:9) ‘and the melody of their voice is pleasant and sweet’; t bab la-sami t um ‘the wisdom, pleasant to hear’; ! !kr ‘the pleasant of announcement and commemoration’ (LLA 1242). Note also the figurative usage of the verb t ma in the sense ‘to experi- ence’: i-y t m wwo la-mot (Matth. 16:27) ‘they will not experience death’. The cognates in Ethiosemitic demonstrate both the meaning ‘to have ple- asant taste’ and ‘to taste, to find out the taste of s.th.’: Tna. tä amä ‘to taste, try (a dish), to take a sip (of beer); to be sweet, savory, to be tasty, to be pleasing, pleasant, e. g., speech, to be good, conve- nient, suitable, comfortable’ (KT 2472), um ‘sweet, good, tasty, savory, delicious, appetizing, luscious, succulent, toothsome; gentle, amiable, cheer- ful, pleasing, agreeable, mellifluous; livable, cozy, fig. good, kind, gentle; comfortable, convenient’ (ibid. 2473). One should note a peculiar semantic development in Tigrinya: ‘to have taste of s.th.’ ‘to seem, to be like s.th.’. Consider the following usage: «bäyyänä y t m» bälä däbäsay anfät nayti " imu slläzäy tärädo ‘«It sounds like Bäyyänä [lit. ‘it has the taste of Bäyyänä’]» said Däbäsay since he did not realize the direction the cries were coming from’ (ibid. 2472). Cf. similar metaphors involving the visionary or acoustic per- M. Bulakh ception: English look (it looks like rain), sound (it sounds a good idea); German aussehen (ihre Reise sah nach Flucht aus). Tgr. ta ama ‘to be sweet, savoury; to taste’, t um ‘sweet, savoury’ (LH 619). Amh. tamä ‘to be tasty, taste pleasant, be of good taste, be savory, to taste (vt.), take a taste of; to be deeply in love; to satisfy, content (vt.)’, yätamä ‘savory, tasty, flavorful’ (K 2097). Har. t , t ‘taste good, be tasty, have flavor, taste’, yit! ‘sweet’, tima ‘taste, pleasure’ (LHar. 154). Gaf. amä ‘avoir bon goût’ (LGaf. 193). Arg. tähama ‘taste good, flavor’ (LArg. 223). Gur. End. t , Msq. tamä , Cha. E5a Muh. Msq. tamä, Gyt. , Muh. Msq. Gog. Sod. Wol. amä, Sel. Zwy. , End. eemä, Enm. eemä ‘taste good, have flavor, be sweet, be dear, be expensive’ (LGur. 619). Another set of Gurage lexemes with similar semantics demonstrate a me- tathesis: tamä mäta , possibly influenced by another taste term, * (see I.4): Gur. Cha. (a)mäta, Gyt. amät , Enm. amät , 5amätt a ‘taste good’, Cha. amtat a , Enm. Gyt. amtat , 5Muh. amtat t a ‘find out the taste of food or drink’ (LGur. 437). The root goes back to the well-known PS *t m ‘to taste, to try (food)’: Hbr. t m ‘Geschmack v. Speisen versuchen, kosten; Speise geniessen, essen’, ta am ‘Geschmack (v. Speise)’ (HALAT 361). Off. t m ‘to taste’ (HJ 426f.), Palm. tmh ‘victuals’ (ibid. 428). Jud. t am, t ‘to taste’; t am, t , t a ‘pleasure, will; good cheer’ (Ja. 543), mat ‘savory, refreshing’ (ibid. 769). Syr. t em ‘gustavit; edit; usus est’, ta ‘gustus’, ta ‘sapidus’ (Brock. 283). JPA t m ‘to taste, eat’, tm ‘taste’ (Sokoloff 228). Sam. t m ‘tasting, eating’, t m ‘taste; food’ (Tal 319). Mnd. T AM ‘to taste, try, test, examine, eat’, tama ‘taste, flavour, savour, quality; appreciation, pleasure, will’ (DM 174). Arb. ta ima ‘manger, avaler, prendre quelque chose; goûter, deguster’, tataama ‘goûter, déguster; savourer’ (BK II 83), ta m- ‘goût, saveur; ap- pétit’ (ibid. 84). Sab. t m ‘give enjoyment of crops’ (SD 152). Mhr. t m: t y t y ta ym n ‘to eat, taste, try (food)’, t ‘food’ (JM 405). Hrs. t m: t yet ‘to taste, have taste of ’ (JH 128). Jib. ta ám yto um yt úm ‘to eat, taste’, ta mún ‘tasty; tasted’ (JJ 273). Soq. tá am ‘manger, goûter’ (LS 206). Although the meaning ‘have a pleasant taste’ occurs in many reflexes of the root (Gez., Tna., Amh., Har., Gaf., Arg., Gur., Jud., Jib.), one can doubt whether this semantics should be reconstructed on the Proto-Semitic level; it Scrinium I (2005). Varia Aethiopica may be that the semantic shift ‘to taste’ ‘to have pleasant taste’ (see II.2) has taken place independently in Ethiosemitic languages, Judaic Aramaic and Jibbali. One should note such semantic shifts as ‘to taste, to try the taste of food drink’ ‘to experience s.th., to learn smth. through experience’ (see II.4; cf. Hbr. t m ‘durch Erfahrung spüren, merken, lernen’, HALAT 361: ta t , Ps 34:9, ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’; t t sah, Prov. 31:18, ‘she tasted that her merchandise is good’; pB. tam ‘to examine, to taste, test, try, experience’, Ja. 543; Bib. t m (pa.) ‘to give to eat’, HALOT 1885; Jud. tam, t ‘to examine, to taste, test, try, experience’, Ja. 543; Mnd. TAM ‘appreciate, perceive, discern, experience, savour’: tama d -muta lataimin ‘they do not taste the taste of death’, DM 174; Syr. t em ‘percepit, cognovit’, Brock. 283; cf. also Gez. above) and ‘taste, sense of taste’ ‘judgment, perception, understanding’ (see II.5; cf. Hbr. ta am ‘Geschmack (v. Speise); Empfindung, Verstand’, HALAT 361; pB. ta am ‘sense, wisdom, sound reasoning’, Ja. 543; Bib. t ‘understanding, command, advice, report’, HALOT 1885; Jud. t am, t , ta ‘reason, argument, sense’, Ja. 543; JPA tm ‘reason, reasoning’, Sokoloff 228; Sam. tm ‘sense’: tmh dsbth brkn tmh drhwth mkrth ‘the sense of the Sabbath lies in the blessings, the sense of the Torah lies in the reading’, Tal 319; Mnd. tama ‘judgement, perception, discrimination’, DM 174; Syr. ta ‘pruden- tia’, ta ‘prudens’, Brock. 283; cf. also Arb. ra ul-un dta m-in ‘a man possessing intelligence, and prudence, or discretion’, Lane 1854). It seems that the semantic development belongs to the Proto-Semitic level, so that in some languages the original meaning ‘to taste’ was entirely lost: Off., Nab. t m ‘order; decision, resolution; authority; matter, affair’ (HJ 427), Akk. t ‘Planungsfähigkeit, Entschluß(kraft); Verstand; Anweisung, Bescheid’ OB, NB, NA, MB, OA (AHw. 1385). See further AHw. 1385 (Akk., Hbr., Arm.), LHar. 154 (Har., Arb., Gez., Tna., Tgr., Amh., Arg., Gaf., Gur.), LGaf. 193 (Gaf., Arb., Gez., Tna., Tgr., Amh., Arg., Har., Gur.), LGur. 619 (Gur., Arb., Hbr., Gez., Tna., Tgr., Amh., Har., Gaf., Arg.), LGz. 582 (Gez., Arb., ESA, Jib., Hbr., Arm., Mnd., Akk., Tna., Tgr., Amh., Har., Gur., Gaf., Arg.), LS 206 (Soq., Mhr., Arb., Hbr., Syr., Akk., Gez.). II. THE SEMANTIC CHANGES INVOLVING THE TASTE NAMES THAT HAVE BEEN OBSERVED IN THE CONSIDERED MATERIAL 1. The derivation of taste names from names of prototypes and vice versa. The following taste prototypes have been found out in the course of the investigation: ‘honey’ ‘sweet’ (cf. Gez. maarir ‘sweet’ and Akk. dašpu ‘sweet’, see I.3), ‘salt’ ‘salty’ (see PS *mlh, I.5). M. Bulakh The reverse process is also attested: ‘sour’ ‘vinegar’ (cf. Tna. mäsis ‘sour; vinegar’, Amh. mäsasa ‘vinegar’ mäsis ‘sour’, see I.4); ‘sour’ ‘lemon’ (cf. Amh. mäsasa ‘lemon’ mäsis ‘sour’, see I.4). 2. Derivation of taste terms from verbs denoting actions or processes and vice versa. The most common type of derivation is a formation of a taste name from a root primarily meaning ‘to taste, try (food, drink)’. The semantic change taking place in the roots kms (see I.8) and tm (see I.9) can be generalized as ‘to taste, try (food, drink)’ ‘to have good, pleasant taste’ (cf. also PS *mtk ‘to taste, to suck; to be sweet, of pleasant taste’, see I.7). Taste names can also be derived from verbs that denote various proces- ses associated with acquiring a specific taste. Thus, sour taste may be asso- ciated with the process of fermenting (cf. Gez. bh ‘to ferment; to be sour’, see I.1; cf. also Gruntov, ms.) or with the process of rotting, decaying (cf. Tna. mäsis ‘sour’, ä ‘to go bad (food)’ and bälä ‘to become moldy’, see I.4). 3. The synesthetic changes. In his research on synesthetic semantic changes, Williams postulates that the only sensory lexemes that can switch their meaning to taste are touch- words. At the same time, according to his investigation, «taste-words do not transfer back to tactile experience or forward to dimension or color, but only to smell (sour smells) and sounds (dulcet music)» (Williams 1976:463f.). The present study confirmed the frequent change from taste to sound mean- ing (cf. Gez. maarir ‘sweet’, see I.3; Gez. t ma, ta ama ‘to be sweet’, see I.9). At the same time, very little direct evidence on applicability of taste- words to smells has been elicited (one possible example is Amh. kassämä ‘to smell’ kässämä ‘to taste’, see I.8). Neither did the Geez vocabulary present an example of touch taste semantic change. Rather, we have several contra- dictory examples, e. g., Arb. mdd ‘to be sour; to be pungeant, to burn’ (see I.4); PS *mrr ‘to be bitter’, the reflex of which in Tigrinya can be applied to sun in the meaning ‘to be pungent; to be burning hot (sun)’, in Akkadian to wind ‘biting, sharp’, and in Tigre can be used to describe a hard horse hoof (see I.6). Obviously, all these contexts involve the touch experience rather than any other sensory experience and would suggest a synesthetic develop- ment of a taste term into various touch terms (‘hot’, ‘sharp’, ‘hard’). One has to admit, however, that such applications are poorly attested and may be ex- plained through an intermediary emotional meaning. Another possible con- tradiction is Har. k ‘to sharpen’, which may go back to Ethiosemitic root *kms ‘to taste’ (see I.8). 4. The changes suggested by metaphor ‘to taste, to try (food, drink)’ ‘to experience s.th.’. The generalization into the meaning ‘to experience s.th.’ is a well-attested semantic shift for the verbs originally meaning ‘to taste, to try (food, drink)’ Scrinium I (2005). Varia Aethiopica (cf. Tna. akmäsä ‘to cause somebody taste s.th.; to cause somebody expe- rience s.th.’, Amh. kämmäsä ‘to taste; to experience’, see I.8; cf. also PS *tm ‘to taste; to experience, to learn by expierience’, see I.9). A particular case of this development of meaning is ‘to taste’ ‘to have a sexual expe- rience’ (cf. Tgr. kamša ‘to go to a prostitute for the first time’ ‘to taste’, Gur. kämmäsä ‘taste; have intercourse (euphemism)’, see I.8; this semantic change is, on the other hand, related to a wide-spread metaphor ‘tasty food’ ‘attractive woman’, see Razuvaev 2004:47). The metaphor ‘to taste, to try (food, drink)’ ‘to experience s. th.’ provokes a number of other semantic shifts. Various taste adjectives are widely used to describe various events of life, naturally the pleasant tastes describing happy events (cf. Tna. t um ‘having pleasant taste; pleasant, agreeable, comfortable’, see I.9) and the unpleasant ones being associated with calamities and disasters (cf. PS *mrr ‘to be bitter’ ‘to be hard, difficult to bear, harsh’, see I.6). The life itself is often described in taste terminology, e. g., as bitter (see I.6.c). 5. The semantic changes involving transfer of a taste term into lexical field of mental qualities or of emotions. General verbs ‘to taste, try (food, drink)’ can derive such meanings as ‘judg- ment, perception, understanding’ (cf. reflexes of PS *t m with meanings ‘taste’ and ‘judgment, understanding’, see I.9). Probably this semantic shift is sugges- ted by metaphor ‘to taste s.th.’ ‘to experience, learn s.th.’, see II.4. !"#$ %"& The pleasant tastes are employed to characterize positive emotions or mental qualities (cf. Gez. t ma, ta ama ‘to be sweet; to be pleasant’, see I.9), and the «bad» tastes describe the negative ones (cf. Gez. madid ‘sour; angry’, Tna. mäsis ‘sour; sour-tempered’, see I.4; for the shift ‘to be bitter’ ‘to be grievous’ and ‘to be bitter’ ‘to be angry’ in the PS root *mrr, see I.6.d; rather unexpected meaning shift ‘to be bitter’ ‘to be brave, courage- ous, strong’ is also, however, attested for the latter term, see I.6). The terms for salty taste usually have positive connotations, and are often employed to decribe a high degree of intelligence (cf. Gez. mlh ‘understanding’ mlh ‘to be salty’, Arb. milh- ‘salt; knowledge’, see I.5), frequently being associa- ted with sense of humor (cf. Arb. mulhat-, malhat- ‘a bon-mot’ mlh ‘to be salty’, see I.5; cf. also Gruntov, ms.). At the same time, the semantic shift ‘sour taste’ ‘irony’ is also attested (Tna. m ssät ‘sourness; irony, sarcasm’, see I.4). The opposite meaning ‘to lack understanding’ can be expressed by a root meaning ‘to be tasteless’ (see Gez. lsh, I.2). 6. The generalizations and specific developments of meaning. a. ‘to be tasteless’ ‘to be ineffective, lacking s.th.’ (Gez. lsh, see I.2); b. ‘to spit’ > ‘to have taste of saliva, to be tasteless’ (Gez. lsh, PS * tpl, see I.2); c. ‘to be sour’ ‘to hurt, to cause pain’ (cf. Arb. mdd ‘to be sour; to hurt’, see I.4); M. Bulakh d. ‘to be sour, to ferment’ — ‘to become thick, to dry up’ (Amh. bokka ‘to ferment, to turn sour; to thicken’, see I.1; Amh. mätt ät ä ‘to ferment, to turn sour; to become thick, stiff, hard’, see I.4); e. ‘to have pleasant taste’ — ‘to be good’ (PS *t, see I.5); f. ‘to have pleasant or sweet taste’ ‘salt’ (Akk. t‘s.th. having plea- sant taste’ ‘salt’, see I.5); g. ‘to be bitter ’ ‘to be unpleasant, pungeant, sharp (words)’ (Tna. mär- rir ‘sour; biting, sharp (words)’, Arb. amarra ‘to make bitter; to say bitter things’, Hbr. m ‘bitter things’ mrr ‘to be bitter’, see I.6.d); h. ‘to be sweet’ ‘to be unfermented (drink), unleavened (dough)’ (Hbr. pB. m‘sweet taste; sweet drinks’, and the term for unleavened bread in Tna. and Amh., related to the same root, see I.7); i. ‘to be sweet’ ‘to be good, becoming, beautiful’ (Tna. amarä ‘to make sweet; to be good for, be becoming’, see I.3; Amh. k s m ‘pleasing, dignified presence or appearance’ ‘(pleasant) taste’; possibly also Har. täk ‘become beautiful’, (a)k ‘be beautiful’ *kms ‘to taste, to have good taste’, see I.8); k. ‘to have the taste of s.th.’ ‘to remind someone of s.th., to seem s.th.’ (Tna. k mso ‘taste; example or sample’, see I.8; Tna. tä amä ‘to taste; to have pleasant taste; to remind of s.th., to seem s.th.’, see I.9). 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Abbreviations: Akk. — Akkadian Gyt. — Gyeto Amh. — Amharic Har. — Harari Arb. — Arabic Hbr. — Hebrew Arg. — Argobba Hrs. — Harsusi Arm. — Aramaic Jib. — Jibbali Babyl. — Babylonian JPA — Jewish Palestinian Aramaic Bib. — Biblical Aramaic Jud. — Judaic Aramaic Bogh. — Boghazkeui LB – Late Babylonian 67 lex. – lexical (texts) Dem. — Aramaic texts in Demotic Script MA — Middle Assyrian End. — Endegen MB — Middle Babylonian Enm. — Ennemor Mhr. — Mehri Gaf. — Gafat Mnd. — Mandaic Gez. — Geez Msq. — Masqan Gog. — Gogot Muh. — Muher Gr. — Greek NA — Neo-Assyrian Gur. — Gurage Nab. — Nabatean M. Bulakh NB — Neo-Babylonian Sam. — Samaritan Aramaic OA — Old Assyrian SB — Standard Babylonian OAkk. — Old Akkadian Sel. — Selti OB — Old Babylonian Sod. — Soddo Off. — Official Aramaic Soq. — Soqotri Old. — Old Aramaic Syr. — Syriac Palm. — Palmyrean Tgr. — Tigre pB. — Post-biblical Hebrew Tna. — Tigrinya Pho. — Phoenician Ugr. — Ugaritic PS — Proto-Semitic Wol. — Wolane Sab. — Sabaic Zwy. — Zway SUMMARY The paper gives a survey of Geez lexemes belonging to the lexical field of taste, discussing each in terms of its usage in Geez texts and its etymology. The semantic shifts occuring both on a synchronic level (as polysemy) and on a diachronic level (as differences in meaning between cognates) receive special attention. Whenever possible, parallel semantic developments from other (as a rule, Semitic) languages are adduced. A list of the registered semantic shifts is given in the second part of the paper.
Scrinium – Brill
Published: Mar 30, 2005
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