smwl

Middle Persian

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.

Related to Northern Kurdish sivore, Central Kurdish سیمۆرە (sîmore), Zazaki sımore (“squirrel”), Parthian σίμωρ (símōr, “a kind of fur-bearing field-mouse”), Armenian սվորիկ (svorik, “squirrel; earlier possibly a kind of weasel”), and Sanskrit समूर (samūra, “a kind of animal prized for its fur, perhaps the sable”). Mayrhofer considers the latter to be borrowed directly from Iranian, perhaps Parthian.

According to some, we are dealing with a word of Turkic origin. But this is rejected by Doerfer, because the Turkic words are themselves borrowed from Persian, being present exclusively in Persian-influenced Turkic languages.

According to Wikander (apud Mayrhofer) the word is ultimately of "Central Asian" origin.

Old East Slavic соболь (sobolĭ), the source of the European words for “sable”, including English sable, may somehow be related.

Noun

smwl • (*samōr)

sable (marten)

Descendants

Taking Middle Persian as representative for all Middle Iranian:

Persian: سمور (sammur, samur), صمور (samur), صمور (ṣamūr)
- → Middle Armenian: սամուր (samur)
- → Kurdish:
  Northern Kurdish: semûr
- → Malay: samur
- → Ottoman Turkish: سمور (samur)
  - Turkish: samur
  - → Albanian: samur
  - → Armenian: սամուր (samur), սամուռ (samuṙ)
  - → Bulgarian: саму́р (samúr), съму́рь (sǎmúrʹ)
  - → Byzantine Greek: σαμούριον (samoúrion)
    - → Greek: σαμούρι (samoúri)
    - → Old Church Slavonic: самꙋринъ (samurinŭ)
  - → Crimean Tatar: samur / самур
  - → Macedonian: самур (samur)
  - → Romanian: samur
  - → Serbo-Croatian: sàmūr / са̀мӯр
- → Punjabi:
  Gurmukhi script: ਸਮੂਰ (samūr)
  Shahmukhi script: سمور (samūr)
- → Romani: samur
- → Turkmen: samyr / самыр
→ Arabic: سَمُّور (sammūr)
- → Spanish: zamarra, chamarra (possibly)
  - → Italian: zimarra
    - → Sicilian: cimarra
    - → French: simarre
      - → English: simar
  - → Old French: chamarre
    - → Middle English: chimere, chimer
      - English: chimere
→ Classical Syriac: ܣܡܘܪܐ (sammūrā)
→ Georgian: სამური (samuri), სიასამური (siasamuri)
→ Hebrew: סַמּוּר (sammûr)
→ Old Armenian: սամոյր (samoyr)
- → Armenian: սամույր (samuyr)

References

MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 73
Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1979) “սամոյր”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, volume IV, Yerevan: University Press, page 168
Hübschmann, Heinrich (1897) Armenische Grammatik. 1. Theil: Armenische Etymologie (in German), Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, page 236
Lokotsch, Karl (1927) Etymologisches Wörterbuch der europäischen Wörter orientalischen Ursprungs (in German), Heidelberg: Carl Winter’s Universitätsbuchhandlung, § 1820, page 144b
Cabolov, R. L. (2010) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ kurdskovo jazyka [Etymological Dictionary of the Kurdish Language] (in Russian), volume II, Moscow: Russian Academy Press Vostochnaya Literatura, page 232
Doerfer, Gerhard (1967) Türkische und mongolische Elemente im Neupersischen [Turkic and Mongolian Elements in New Persian] (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur: Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission; 20)‎^[1] (in German), volume III, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, pages 266–267
Mayrhofer, Manfred (1976) Kurzgefasstes Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen [A Concise Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary]‎^[2] (in German), volume III, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 440
Marr, N. (1925) “По поводу русского слова "сало" в древнеармянском описании хазарской трапезы VII в. [Regarding the Russian word "сало" in a 7th century Old Armenian description of a Khazar meal]”, in Тексты и разыскания по кавказской филологии. Том 1 (in Russian), Leningrad: Academy Press, pages 118–122
Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “samur”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
Wikander, Stig (1968) “A Central Asian Loanword in Arthaśāstra”, in J. C. Heesterman, G. H. Schokker, V. I. Subramoniam, editors, Pratidanam: Indian, Iranian, and Indo-European studies presented to Franciscus Bernardus Jacobus Kuiper on his sixtieth birthday (Janua Linguarum. Series Maior)‎^[3], volume 34, The Hague · Paris: Mouton, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 270–274