ἀκάμαλα <Semitic/Unspecified origin?; Early Byzantine period>
👉 ἀκάμαλα – a gloss from a foreign language with the meaning of ἡ κάμηλος ‘female camel’ (Hsch. α 2251).
🅔 An originally Semitic word; however, it is likely that ἀκάμαλα does not come directly from Semitic, but from another foreign language. Cf. Akkadian gammalu ‘camel’ (from West Semitic), Biblical Hebrew gāmāl ‘id.’, Imperial Aramaic gml, emph. gmlʾ ‘id.’, Jewish Aramaic gml, emph. gamlā ‘id.’, Palmyrene gml, emph. gmlʾ ‘id.’, Mandaic gumla ‘id.’, Syriac gamlā ‘id.’, Sabaean gml ‘id.’, Arabic jamal ‘id.’, etc.; for more, see κάμηλος; cf. also γαμάλη and κάμμηρος. The final -α could go back to the Aramaic emphatic state. The initial ἀ- is unclear; according to an unsatisfactory hypothesis, ἀ- originates from the definite article (cf. Biblical Hebrew ha-). On the other hand, some researchers compare ἀκάμαλα with the gloss ἀκάμανος· ἡ κάμηλος· παρὰ τὸ μὴ κάμνειν. ἢ ἀκάματος· πολύμοχθον γὰρ τὸ ζῶον. – “akamanos: female camel; from mē kamnein ‘not to get tired’. Or akamatos: since this is an animal that can endure a lot.” (Et. Gen. α 294; EM 44.56); on the basis of this gloss, it was proposed to emend ἀκάμαλα to ἀκάματος or ἀκάμαντα.
📖 Data: CAD: V, 35f.; CDA: 89; DCH: II, 364f.; DJBA: 289; DJPA: 131f.; DMWA: 138; DNWSI: 226; DOSA: 72; HALOT: 197; MD: 83; SD: 49; SL: 241. Ref.: cf. Harris 1936: 94; Lewy 1895: 1; Lewy 1930: 110; Mayer 1960: 338; Rosół 2013: 43f.