צב

Hebrew

Etymology

Root
צ־ב־ב (ts-b-b)

From Proto-Semitic *ṣ́abb-. It is likely the word originally referred to some kind of lizard (compare Classical Syriac ܥܒܐ (ʿabbā) and Arabic ضَبّ (ḍabb), both meaning “mastigure”), but its usage in reference to some type of carriage in the Bible led European Jews (who were unfamiliar with the mastigure) to conclude both words must've shared a root relating to "being covered" or "carrying one's possessions around", and thus a connection to tortoises was made.

It is possible that both terms are either unrelated homonyms or are instead related to the Arabic root ض ب ب (ḍ-b-b) denoting "cleaving to the ground". Nevertheless, the “tortoise” interpretation stuck, with צָב being the ubiquitous term for turtles and tortoises in modern Israeli Hebrew, and neologisms like שַׁלְחוּפָה (ŝalḥūp̄ā) failing to acquire widespread usage.