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@oneonta.edu>



On Apr 26, 2023, at 08:58, Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY <indology@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@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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