[INDOLOGY] the word 'sesame' and the use of sesame oil

[Lubomír Ondračka]

It is a little more complicated. The word comes from the (reconstructed) 
Hamito-Semitic form *cim- meaning "grass, plant".

In most Semitic languages its reduplicated form (*cim-cim) means sesame. 
So we have Arabic simsim or Hebrew shumshum (שומשום).

In Coptic, Ahmaric, Chadic and other non-Semitic languages, it remains 
unreduplicated.

L.


On 26.04.2023 15:16, Toke Knudsen wrote:
> Dear Professor Kapstein,
> 
> ‘Shamashammu’ (/šamaššamu/) is the Akkadian word for ‘sesame.’ That 
> could be the origin of Hebrew ’soomsoom.’
> 
> Best wishes,
> Toke
> 
> -----
> Toke L. Knudsen, Ph.D.
> 
> Professor of Mathematics
> Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics
> State University of New York at Oneonta
> 
> Associate Editor
> Convergence
> <https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence>
> 
> <toke.knudsen at oneonta.edu>
> 
> 
> 
>> On Apr 26, 2023, at 08:58, Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY 
>> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Prof. Zydenbos,
>>
>> I recall that sesame in Hebrew is soomsoom, which resembles the terms 
>> you cited, though I do not know the origin - I assume that it must 
>> have been a loanword.
>>
>> kind regards,
>> Matthew
>>
>> Matthew T. Kapstein
>> Professor emeritus
>> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL Research University, Paris
>>
>> Associate
>> The University of Chicago Divinity School
>>
>> https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein
>>
>> Sent with Proton Mail secure email.
>>
>> ------- Original Message -------
>> On Wednesday, April 26th, 2023 at 12:19 PM, Robert Zydenbos 
>> <zydenbos at lrz.uni-muenchen.de> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Dear list friends,
>>>
>>> A non-Indological colleague asked me whether there are any references in
>>> ancient Indian literature to the medicinal use of sesame oil.
>>>
>>> Related: is there any Indian word in any language for 'sesame' that
>>> resembles 'shumshum', 'simsim' or 'shamashammu'?
>>>
>>> Any information concerning these two questions would be most welcome.
>>>
>>> RZ
>>>
>>> --
>>> Prof. Dr. Robert J. Zydenbos / ಪ್ರೊ. ಡಾ. ರೊಬೆರ್ತ್ ಜೆಯ್ದೆನ್ಬೊಸ್
>>> Institute of Indology and Tibetology
>>> Department of Asian Studies
>>> Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (University of Munich – LMU)
>>> Germany
>>>
>>>
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>>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
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>>
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