كبش

A term of cultic significance, borrowed into Arabic from Aramaic, as the consonantism and late occurrence of Akkadian 𒆏𒋢 (kabsu, “young male sheep”) also implies Aramaic borrowing. Compare Soqotri كبڛ‎ (kobŝ, “ram”).

Nöldeke’s and Fraenkel’s estimation of the Classical Syriac ܟܒܫܐ‎ (keḇšā, “wether”), which would have an irregular correspondence if inherited with the Arabic term from Proto-West Semitic *ś (/⁠ɬ⁠/), having been but borrowed from Arabic—a narrative thence until the 21st century repeated throughout the Syriac and Mandaic reference works—is wrong, since it occurs in 5th-century Old Armenian քաւշ (kʿawš), apart from the fact that it would be vocalized *ܟܰܒ݂ܫܳܐ (kaḇšā) rather than ܟܶܒ݂ܫܳܐ (keḇšā) if borrowed from Arabic. Instead it is closer to Hebrew כֶּבֶשׂ‎ (kéḇeś, “sheep”) and Phoenician 𐤊𐤁𐤔‎ (kbš, “sheep”) and Mingrelian ქაბლა (kabla, “calf”), in which last language ლ (l), contrasted with Svan შ (š), uses to come from Proto-Kartvelian *lʿ (/⁠ɬ⁠/).(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

• IPA^(key): /kabʃ/

كَبْش • (kabš) m (plural كِبَاش‎ (kibāš) or أَكْبَاش‎ (ʔakbāš) or أَكْبُش‎ (ʔakbuš) or كُبُوش‎ (kubūš))

1. ram, male sheep
2. bellwether
3. chieftain, chief, head, leader
4. battering ram

   Synonym: مِدَقّ‎ (midaqq)

Lua error: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

• كَبْش فِدَاء‎ (kabš fidāʔ, “sacrificial lamb”)

• Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017) Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, page 1089
• Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 109
• Militarev, Alexander; Kogan, Leonid (2005), “*kabŝ- ~ *kabĉ-”, in Semitic Etymological Dictionary, volume II: Animal Names, Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 154–155 Nr. 114