Talk:mzḥ

@Vorziblix, I'm not particularly happy with the etymology here, seeing as it requires both metathesis and a semantic jump (although not an unprecedented one; compare Swahili mamba (“crocodile”) and Zulu imamba (“mamba”)). What, if anything, do Egyptian etymological sources have to say about it? —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 21:05, 11 April 2019 (UTC)

@Metaknowledge: Metathesis is rather common in all stages of Egyptian, so I wouldn’t hold that against a proposed etymology too strongly. However, this particular etymology (from Orel and Stolbova) is not likely to be correct. Takács in the EDE considers it ‘certainly out of the question’, noting the mismatch between Old Egyptian z and AA *s, as well as the lack of parallels to Egyptian ḥ in the other comparanda. (A further note adds that Militarev and Diakonoff both also rejected this etymology, for what that’s worth.)

As for what could serve as a proper etymology, the EDE gives a number of possibilties, but notes that practically all of them have problems or require questionable assumptions. As a summary, it simply says of the word that ‘its origin still fully hides in obscurity’. — Vorziblix (talk · contribs) 22:26, 11 April 2019 (UTC)

Thank you. I'm trying to clean up our PAA entries (which mostly means deleting them) — please leave a note at the RFDs if you have anything to add. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 23:48, 11 April 2019 (UTC)