soot ↔ black 2 realizations GROUP: Ethiosemitic
ACCEPTED Realization 1
type Derivation
language Amharic
lexeme 1 ṭäḳärša
lexeme 2 ṭəḳʷər
meaning 1 smut ṭäḳäršaw ṭariyawan aṭḳʷərotal
'The soot has blackened the ceiling' (K 1210)
meaning 2 black ṭəḳʷər ḳäläm
black ink, black color
reference
comment K 2134; cf. also ṭäḳära 'soot clinging to the roof' (K 2133). In Amharic ṭäḳärša has been presumably derived from the colour word, but the derivation at the Proto Ethiosemitic level was presumably like "carbon black" > "black"
ACCEPTED Realization 2
type Derivation
language Wolane
lexeme 1 ṭəlim
lexeme 2 ṭem
meaning 1 'soot of pots'
meaning 2 'black (man, cattle, object)'
reference
comment LGur. 618. The meaning of "carbon black" is present in a number of other Gurage languages, but the development is "black" > "carbon black", as the colour word can be traced back to the Protosemitic.

© Anna A. Zalizniak et al. 2000-2026