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ṣ w m

24 lemmas · 7 languages
hollow (II-weak)Middle consonant is w or y. The vowel contracts in the perfect (q-w-l → qāla 'said'), producing a 'hollow' surface. Known as mediae infirmae.T Gen.50.12
Themes:fast·9fasting·7food·7abstention·4abstain·3
POS shape:noun·12verb·9adj·1name·1root·1

This root is attested across 7 Semitic languages in our index. Each section below shows representative lemmas; attested means a Wiktionary editor explicitly tagged the root, inferredmeans we derived it mechanically from the word's consonantal skeleton.

Etymology treehow this root diverged from Proto-Semitic through the family

*ṣ-wProto-Semitic
West Semitic
Central Semitic
Northwest Semitic
Canaanite
Hebrewצָםצ ו םto fast (to abstain from food and drink)
Aramaic
Imperial Aramaicצוםצ ו מto fast, to abstain
Syriacܨܘܡܐܨ ܘ ܡfast (abstention from food)
Assyrian NAܨܵܐܹܡܨ ܘ ܡto fast (to abstain, usually from food and drink)
Mandaicࡐࡕࡅࡋࡀࡐ ࡅ ࡋvirgin
Arabic
Arabicصَامَص و مto stand still, to become calm
South Semitic
Ethio-Semitic
Ge'ezጾምፀ ወ መfast

Branch structure: Huehnergard (2005), Rubin (2010). The reconstructed Proto-Semitic form is computed on the fly from the cognate set's majority reflex pattern.

Imperial Aramaic

arc · 2 lemmas
  • verbinferred𐡀 tg. Jer. Lev 23:29Wiktionary ↗
    to fast, to abstain
  • nouninferred𐡀 tg. Jon. 2 Sam 12:16Wiktionary ↗
    fast, fasting

Classical Syriac

syc · 1 lemma
  • ṣawmānounattestedWiktionary ↗
    fast (abstention from food)
    From the root ܨ ܘ ܡ related to fasting. Compare Arabic صَوْم (ṣawm) and Hebrew צוֹם (ṣôm).

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic

aii · 8 lemmas
  • ṣāˀēmverbattestedWiktionary ↗
    to fast (to abstain, usually from food and drink)
    Compare Arabic صَامَ (ṣāma), Hebrew צָם (tsám).
  • ṣawmānounattestedWiktionary ↗
    fast, fasting (abstention from food)
    Of the noun pattern 1a23ā, inherited from Aramaic צַוְמָא (ṣawmā); compare Arabic صَوْم (ṣawm) and Hebrew צוֹם (tsom).
  • ṣyāmānounattestedWiktionary ↗
    fasting (abstention from food)
    Verbal noun of ܨܵܐܹܡ (ṣāˀēm, “to fast, abstain”); compare Arabic صِيَام (ṣiyām).
  • ṣīmāadjattestedWiktionary ↗
    fasting
    Passive participle of ܨܵܐܹܡ (ṣāˀēm, “to fast, abstain”).
  • ṣīmānounattestedWiktionary ↗
    one who is fasting or has fasted
    Passive participle of ܨܵܐܹܡ (ṣāˀēm, “to fast, abstain”).
  • ṣayyāmānounattestedWiktionary ↗
    faster; one who fasts
    Agent noun of ܨܵܐܹܡ (ṣāˀēm, “to fast, abstain”); compare similar in Arabic صَائِم (ṣāʔim).
  • ṣōmālnameinferredWiktionary ↗
    Somalia (a country in Africa)
    From Arabic الصُومَال (aṣ-ṣūmāl).
  • ṣ wrootinferredWiktionary ↗
    forming words pertaining to fasting
    From Proto-Semitic; compare Hebrew צ־ו־ם (ṣ-w-m) and Arabic ص و م (ṣ w m).

Hebrew

he · 3 lemmas
  • tsámverbattestedT 2Sam.12.23Wiktionary ↗
    to fast (to abstain from food and drink)
    Compare Arabic صَامَ (ṣāma)
  • tsomnounattestedT Gen.50.12Wiktionary ↗
    fast (a period of time, during which one abstains from food and drink)
    Compare Arabic صَوْم (ṣawm), Ge'ez ጾም (ṣom).
  • verbattestedWiktionary ↗
    Feminine singular present participle and present tense of צָם (tsám).

Arabic

ar · 8 lemmas
  • ṣāmaverbattested☪︎ Q.2:183Wiktionary ↗
    to stand still, to become calm
    From the root ص و م (ṣ w m). Compare Hebrew צָם (ṣām) and Ge'ez ጾመ (ṣomä, “to fast”). Nöldeke was convinced that the meaning “to fast” is a semantic loan from Aramaic צום / ܨܳܡ (ṣām, “to fast”), referring to the meaning “to stand still”, Jeffery says that the Arabic verb is “obviously denominative from صَوْم (ṣawm)”…
  • ṣawmnounattested☪︎ Q.2:183Wiktionary ↗
    verbal noun of صَامَ (ṣāma) (form I)
    Compare with Hebrew צוֹם (ṣōm), Ge'ez ጾም (ṣom, “fast”), Ugaritic 𐎑𐎎 (ẓm, “fast”). Nöldeke was convinced that the meaning “to fast” is borrowed from the Aramaic צומא / ܨܰܘܡܳܐ (ṣōmā, ṣawmā, “fast”), referring to the verb’s meaning “to stand still”, Jeffery says that the Arabic verb is “obviously denominative from صَوْم…
    3 derivations
  • ṣawwamaverbattested☪︎ Q.2:183Wiktionary ↗
    to cause to fast
    Verb form II from the root ص و م (ṣ w m).
  • ṣiyāmnounattested☪︎ Q.2:183Wiktionary ↗
    verbal noun of صَامَ (ṣāma) (form I)
    From صَامَ (ṣāma, “to abstain”), from ص و م (ṣ w m).
  • maṣāmnounattested☪︎ Q.2:183Wiktionary ↗
    verbal noun of صَامَ (ṣāma) (form I)
  • iṣṭāmaverbattested☪︎ Q.2:183Wiktionary ↗
    to be extreme in fasting or abstention from food
  • ṣumnaverbinferred☪︎ Q.2:183Wiktionary ↗
  • ʔaṣūmuverbinferred☪︎ Q.2:183Wiktionary ↗

Ge'ez

irregular reflexgez · 1 lemma
  • ṣomnouninferredWiktionary ↗
    fast
    Cognate with Hebrew צוֹם,

Classical Mandaic

mid · 1 lemma

Related rootsshare 2 of 3 consonants with ṣ-w-m

Compare two languages side-by-side