Reconstruction:Proto-Afroasiatic/ʔabun-

This Proto-Afroasiatic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Afroasiatic

Root

*ʔabun-^[1]

stone, millstone

Alternative reconstructions

*bāayn-^[2]

Descendants

Proto-Berber: *ta-ʔβun-t
- Northern Berber:
  - Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵜⴰⵡⵓⵏⵜ (tawunt)
  - Tashelhit: taggunt, tagunt, tawwunt, tawunt, tayyunt
  - Kabyle: tawent
- Eastern Berber:
  - Ghadames: oβənt
- Southern Berber:
  - Tamahaq: təhunt
- Western Berber:
  - Zenaga: tuʔnt
- Pan-Berber:
  - Numidian: bn
  - Guanche: tabona
Chadic:
- West Chadic:
  - Hausa-Gwandara (A.1):
    - Gwandara:
      - Gitata dialect: bàncẽ́ẽ ("grinding stone")
  - Bole-Tangale (A.2):
    - Bole: bini
    - Karekare: bini
  - Bade-Warji (B.1):
    - Bade: vənyi
- Proto-Central Chadic: *wɨvɨn
  - Lamang: buna
Cushitic:
- Beja: aweeb (“stone”), sikwawneeb (“quartzite”)
Egyptian: bnwt, bnbn
- Coptic: ⲉⲩⲛⲓ (euni)
Proto-Semitic: *ʔabn- (see there for further descendants)

Notes

In Beja, the ending -n is retained in the word sikwawn-eeb (“quartzite”), it is absent in the word áw-eeb (“stone”).^[3]

References

^ Orel, Vladimir E.; Stolbova, Olga V. (1995), “*abun-”, in Hamito-Semitic Etymological Dictionary: Materials for a Reconstruction (Handbuch der Orientalistik; I.18), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill, § 9, page 3
^ Ehret, Christopher (1995), Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian): Vowels, Tone, Consonants, and Vocabulary (University of California Publications in Linguistics; 126), Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 89
^ Blažek, Václav. (2023). An Excerpt from the ‘Comparative and Etymological Dictionary of Beja: Natural Phenomena, Time and Geographical Terminology’. Folia Orientalia, 60, page 339 & 402 →DOI

[1] Orel, Vladimir E.; Stolbova, Olga V. (1995), “*abun-”, in Hamito-Semitic Etymological Dictionary: Materials for a Reconstruction (Handbuch der Orientalistik; I.18), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill, § 9, page 3

[2] Ehret, Christopher (1995), Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian): Vowels, Tone, Consonants, and Vocabulary (University of California Publications in Linguistics; 126), Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 89

[3] Blažek, Václav. (2023). An Excerpt from the ‘Comparative and Etymological Dictionary of Beja: Natural Phenomena, Time and Geographical Terminology’. Folia Orientalia, 60, page 339 & 402 →DOI

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