Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/ḥapaś-

This Proto-Semitic 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.

*ḥapaś- (prefix conjugation *yiḥpiś-, verbal noun *ḥapś-)

1. to search together, to gather, to collect

• East Semitic
  • Akkadian: 𒆕 (epēšum, “to build, to make”)
• West Semitic:
  • Central Semitic:
    • Arabic: حَفَشَ (ḥafaša, “to gather”)
    • ⇒ Arabic: حَفِسَ (ḥafisa, “to devour”) (?)
  • Northwest Semitic:
    • Aramaic:
      • ⇒ Aramaic: חִפּוּשִׂיתָא / חִיפּוּשִׂיתָא (ḥippūśīṯā), חִיפּוּשְׂתָא / חִפּוּשְׂתָא (ḥippūśtā, “beetle, scarab”)
    • Canaanite:
      • Hebrew: חָפַשׂ (khafás, ḥāp̄aś, “search out”)
      • ⇒ Hebrew: חִפֵּשׂ (khipés, ḥippēś, “search out”)
    • Ugaritic: 𐎈𐎔𐎌 (ḥpš /⁠ḥapaśa⁠/, “to gather”)
    • →⇒ Egyptian: ꜥpšꜣy (“beetle”) (?)
  • Ethiopic:
    • Amharic: ኣፈሰ (affäsä, “to scoop, to grabble, to scrape”)
    • Argobba: ሃፈሳ (haffäsa)
    • Ge'ez: ሐፈሠ (ḥäfäśä, “to rake up, to take a handful to carry it away”)
    • Harari: ሓፈሳ (ḥafäsa, “to take a thing with two hands or a tool”)
    • Sebat Bet Gurage: ኣፈሰ (afäsä)
    • Tigre: ሓፍሳ (ḥafsa, “to scrape together”)
    • Tigrinya: ሓፈሰ (ḥafäsä), ሓፈሸ (ḥafäšä, “to scoop up”)
    • → Alaba: hamfaššo (“to take hold of”)
    • → Saho: hafas (“to take hold of”)
  • Modern South Arabian:
    • Shehri: ḥfɔś (“to gather”)

• Hoch, James E. (1994) Semitic Words in Egyptian Texts of the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, Princeton: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, pages 66–67
• Leslau, Wolf (1991) Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 227