Recent decades’ breakthroughs in population and archaeological genetics, satellite archaeology, dating methods, progress in sociocultural anthropology, cross-cultural research, comparative mythology and folklore studies have significantly advanced the reconstruction of human prehistory¹. Another rapidly advancing, though most underappreciated, field of study is comparative and historical linguistics, the application of which can illuminate aspects of prehistory that are less accessible or even unavailable to other fields and methods and are most effective when coordinated with extralinguistic data.

The ground-breaking interdisciplinary works in the 1980s, including those by Diakonoff², Gamkrelidze and Ivanov³, stimulated similar research in different language families of the Old World. In the Afrasian (Afro-Asiatic, Semito-Hamitic) macrofamily, these were mainly the various works of the Czech linguist Vaclav Blažek⁴ and the present author⁵. On the current state, importance, and further prospects of this line of research in Eurasian and African studies, see the paper by Korotayev et al.⁶.

The present article has a dual purpose: (1) to present a set of reconstructed Proto-Afrasian terms of a particular semantic field, which in itself may be of interest to prehistorians, archaeologists, and ethnographers, and (2) to demonstrate the possibilities of the classical comparative and historical method, enriched by later additional methods, such as glottochronology developed by Morris Swadesh⁷ and substantially improved by Sergei Starostin⁸, by the example of one of the controversial problems of ancient history: prehistoric warfare.

In the scholarly press, especially of the last two decades, the causes of ancient wars and the motivations of the warring parties⁹, early evidence of wars¹⁰, and other problems related to prehistoric wars are vividly discussed. A recent international conference in 2018 was devoted to the issue of wars and, more broadly, prehistoric conflicts¹¹. War itself is said to be correctly identified by a number of researchers as one of the causes of social evolution¹². However, the very validity of the issue of the causes of wars is questioned: “despite the importance of a process such as war, the search for the cause of wars actually distracts and obscures their nature and place in the evolution of human societies”, and further: “The problem is that the attempt to explain wars assumes that they are entities that can be described, analysed, and explained. A more productive approach is to recognise the following: that we resort to aggression to achieve our goals is part of our biological heritage, and we need to explain how aggression is expressed under different circumstances”¹³. Note that such a view of human nature, human “biological heritage”, dating back to Sir Arthur Keith and apparently dominating in modern anthropology, is not the only one – let us recall the passionate rejection of it by our great compatriot Vladimir Pavlovich Efroimson in his “Genealogy of Altruism”.

At first glance at the discussion of prehistoric warfare by archaeologists and prehistorians, it is striking that there is no consensus on the distinction between war and any other type of armed conflicts in the prehistoric era; it appears that such a consensus can only be tentative and purely terminological. Moreover, the very debates about the existence of a war in Epipaleolithic and Early Neolithic seem speculative, taking into account that they revolve around only a few (usually two) bioarchaeological pieces of evidence of interpersonal violence¹⁴, while “other interpretations, including capital punishment, human sacrifice, murder... cannot be ruled out”¹⁵. Ethnographic extrapolations may suggest some insights, but they hardly significantly enrich the understanding of the war in prehistory¹⁶ and even less shed light on the key question: can prehistoric armed conflicts be considered as war – and, if so, which ones? The formulation of Haas also helps little to answer this question. He considers war to be “armed conflict and related activities and relations between independent political units in societies of all types”¹⁷ and suggests – unclear on what basis – “that wars as we define them rarely occurred before ten thousand years ago”¹⁸.

The search for an answer to this question in this debate does not seem promising to the author.

Korotayev et al. aptly note: “Currently, the main source for the reconstruction of the most ancient history of humankind is archeology, which almost by definition makes it possible to restore only just a few elements of the most ancient human culture (naturally, almost exclusively – material culture)”, while “A mere introduction of comparative linguistic data makes it possible to significantly refine our reconstruction of a respective culture”¹⁹.

It is, first of all, about the reconstruction of the corresponding proto-language terms, relying on methodologically correct and technically qualified comparison of the related words in the “daughter” languages. In particular, the somewhat scholastic dispute about the definition of war in the prehistoric context can be resolved by reference to the perception of war by the prehistoric people themselves, reflected in the reconstructed proto-languages they once spoke – or, to put it more cautiously, in models reconstructed with varying degrees of approximation to the living languages they spoke. Despite all the objective difficulties and nuances of translation in all languages, both ancient extinct and living, the term “war” is usually distinguished from the terms “struggle”, “skirmish”, “plunder”, “raid”, and others located in the same semantic field. If in a representative selection of the daughter languages, related words have the meaning of “war” specifically (and it can be justified that they are all inherited from the proto-language rather than borrowed later), it is highly unlikely that a proto-language term with a different meaning – say, “fight” – in different descendant languages, independently of each other, changed its meaning to “war”, so that in the proto-language the corresponding reconstructed word could mean something other than “war” in the meaning of that term, which was once associated with it by the speakers of the proto-language.

By reconstructing the proto-language term, we can, with the help of glottochronology, attribute its use to a certain period in absolute, albeit approximate, time; optimally, also to a specific space, if this proto-language can be identified with a specific region and a specific archaeological culture.

Speaking of Afrasian: it is one of the most (if not the most) practically unanimously accepted by the academic community linguistic macro families²⁰. The author’s genealogical classification, based on lexicostatistics, and the chronology of language branching, based on the glottochronological method of Starostin, are as follows (dates indicate the time²¹ prior to the division of the respective proto-language into subsidiary dialects):

1. Proto-Afrasian (PAA) – 10,500

1. North Afrasian (NAA): Semitic, Egyptian, Berber, Chadic (SEBCh) ‒ 9000

1. Semitic ‒ 4500

1. South Semitic (modern South Arabian: Mehri, Harsusi, Jibbali, Hobyot, Soqotri) ‒ 700

1. North Semitic ‒ 3900

1. Akkadian

1. Central Semitic ‒ 3000

1. Ethiosemitic ‒ 900

1. Arabic ‒ 100

1. Levantine (= West Semitic) ‒ 2300

1. North Levantine (Ugaritic) ‒ 1400–1300

1. South Levantine ‒ 1900

1. Southeast Levantine ‒ 1400–1300

1. South Arabian Epigraphic (Sabaean)

1. Aramaic ‒ 1000–900

1. Southwest Levantine (Canaanite: Phoenician, Hebrew) ‒ 1500–1400

1. North Afrasian African (NAAAfr): Egyptian, Berber-Canarian, Chadic (EBCh) ‒ 7800

1. Egyptian

1. Berber-Chadic ‒ 6500

1. Berber-Canarian ‒ 3^rd mill. (?)

1. Berber ‒ 1100–1000

1. Chadic ‒ 5500

1. West Chadic (including Hausa) ‒ 4800

1. Central Chadic ‒ 4700

1. Eastern Chadic ‒ 4500

1. South Afrasian (SAA): Cushitic-Omotic ‒ 8800

1. Cushitic ‒ 7500

1. North Central Cushitic ‒ 6800

1. North Cushitic: Beja (=Bedauye)

1. Central Cushitic (Agaw) ‒ 1900

1. East Cushitic (including Yaaku-Mogogodo) ‒ 6000

1. South Cushitic (including Ma’a and Dahalo) ‒ 4800

1. Omotic ‒ 6000

1. North Omotic (including Dizi and Mao) ‒ 4200

1. South Omotic (including Ongota) ‒ 4600

The split of the Proto-Afrasian language into North Afrasian and South Afrasian in the mid-11th millennium BCE, which falls on the Late Dryas, according to the author, took place in the Levant, where he identifies PAA speakers with the creators of the Natufian and post-Natufian (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, PPNA) archaeological cultures. One of the main arguments in favour of the Levantine Urheimat is based on a set of reconstructed PAA terms²², indicating both intensive gathering of wild cereals and legumes and incipient agriculture, including the cultivation of figs. While the 11th millennium is regarded by modern scholarship as too early a period for farming, one of the plausible scenarios to explain the early agricultural terms may be as follows: the PAA speakers were Natufians; after the split of PAA, the Proto-Cushitic-Omotic speakers after some time migrated to Africa, while Proto-SEBCh was spoken by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A makers. The former may have borrowed some agricultural terms from the latter before leaving for Africa (in the 9^th or 8th millennium), which accounts for a number of pseudo-PAA but in fact Proto-SEBCh agricultural terms. The speakers of EBCh must have moved to North Africa not earlier than the 7^th or 6th millennium, bringing the Neolithic farming and animal husbandry skills with them. By the 8th millennium, both the speakers of EBCh and the Proto-Semites, living in the same area, separated not more than 1.5 thousand years before and speaking closely related languages, probably still partially understandable, had mastered the domestication of animals, exchanging cultural innovations and corresponding terminology. Two of the most qualified modern Afrasian linguists, Václav Blažek and Gabor Takács, support the hypothesis of the Western Asian ancestral home of the Proto-Afrasian speakers, and one of the classics of comparative Afrasian linguistics Aharon Dolgopolsky expressed the same point of view. Another of its founders, Igor Diakonoff, put forward serious linguistic arguments in favour of the African Urheimat²³, but later, with the introduction and elaboration of new lexical data, in particular, the non-Semitic Afrasian loanwords in Sumerian²⁴, recognized the hypothesis proposed by the author of this article as possible and even likely²⁵. On the contrary, one of the leading Russian comparative linguists Sergei Nikolaev²⁶ considers East Sudan to be the Afrasian Urheimat, based on a set of the Proto-Afrasian zoonyms reconstructed by the author in our joint paper²⁷.

Before proceeding to the lexical material, let us introduce the following rating of the lexemes compared in each taxon of the Afrasian macrofamily: ●●●●● – terms identical in meaning in all (or in a representative majority) of the languages compared, with strictly regular phonetic correspondences²⁸ between them, containing at least three (or two low-frequency/rare) root consonants, fully representative of each of the branches compared; ●●●● – terms clearly comparable semantically²⁹ with regular phonetic correspondences, containing three to two “hard”³⁰ root consonants, representing at least one subbranch of a given branch; ●●● – terms comparable semantically and phonetically, containing only one “hard” root consonant, representing groups/subgroups of the branch, no alternative etymology; ●● – terms supposedly comparable semantically and phonetically, but under-represented in the languages being compared; ● – terms isolated in their taxon, hypothetically commensurable, brought into comparison for the sake of “aggregate picture”. The rating of any Proto-Afrasian or Proto-North Afrasian root is derived from the rating of at least two constituent parts (branches, groups) of the respective taxon³¹. Let us proceed to the material:

WEAPONRY³²

*ma/iṭw- ~ *may/wṭ- “mace (including for throwing), club, throwing stick”³³ ●●●●

NAA ●●●●●:

Sem. *ma/iṭw- ~ *mayṭ- “mace, rod, club”: Akk. (OB on) miṭṭu, mī/ēṭu “mace; a divine weapon”; Ugr. mṭ “rod, staff, riding crop; poetic designation of the arrow”; Hbr. maṭṭǟ “staff, rod, scepter, stick”; Arab. ma/iṭw- “branche de palmier fendue en deux”; Tgr. məṭ ʔabälä “to beat with rods”; Mhr. mīṭáyn (*myṭ) “tree the wood of which is very hard (it is a favorite wood for making sticks and clubs)” ●●●●●

Eg. (OK) mdw (

Chad. W.: Hs. múčíyā, pl. mū́tàitai “stirring stick; long pole” ●

SAA ●●●

Cush. E.: LEC: Oromo muṭuṭḗ “Keule, Knüttel, Prügel”, HEC: Sidamo amāṭṭ-o “specie di lancia”, amāṭṭ-o “arrow” ●●●

Omot. N.: Chara meyt-ā, Gimirra (She) māyṭ “lance” (< Sidamo?) ●

[] Cf. Takács, 2008, p. 216, 776-9. AADB, # 2454.

*ḳVs- “bow” ●●●●●

NAA ●●●●●

Sem. *ḳaš-t-/*ḳaws- “bow”: Akk. ḳaštu; Ugr. ḳšt; Ph. ḳšt, Hbr. ḳäšät; Syr. ḳeštā, Arab. ḳaws-, Gz. ḳast, Tna. ḳästi, Amh. ḳäst; Jib. ḳansč (

Eg. (PT) ḳꜣs “Strick, Band, Fessel”, (MK) ḳꜣs “string (bow), bind (victim), tie (rope-leather)” // unless < *r or *l, ꜣ probably conveys the a vowel, i.e. to read [ḳas]; the primary meaning in Eg. likely was “bow-string” ●●●

Chad. *ḳVs- “arrow; bow” [Stolbova, 2016, #530] // Cf. *ḳVs- “war” [ibid., #527], likely related ●●●●●

SAA ●●●●●

Cush. C.: Bilin ḳis-t-; E.: LEC: Somali ḳaanso, Boni 'áás^e “bow”, Dullay: Gollango kaaš-ankó “Schild”; S.: Qwadza ḳasa-mato “bow” ●●●●●

[] AADB, # 531.

*dVg- “arrow and bow” ●●

NAA ●●●●

Sem.: (?) Arab. duǯy-at- “morceau de cuir noir dont on entoure le bout de l’arc; ganse en cuir à l’aide de laquelle on accroche l’arc”; Gz. dagān, dogān, digān, Harari dīgān “bow”, Amh. dägan, Gur. *dägan “carding bow” ●●●

Berb.: Wargla degg, dagga “combattre, faire la guerre”, dugg “frapper avec une pointe, assassiner”, Ghat eddeǧ “piquer”, Ahaggar edeǧ “piquer, percer; donner des élancement à” ●●●●

Chad. (1) *dVg- “arrow”: W.: Ngizim də̀gà; C.: Logone dagi; E.: Tobanga doge “lancer”; (2) *dVŋg- (met.) “bow” (cf. [Stolbova, 2016, #138]) ●●●●●

SAA ●

Cush. E.: HEC: Sidamo dogá “arrow, bow” ●

Omot.: Ari doŋgi “arrow” ●

[] AADB, # 546.

*dayVw- ~ *wVdy- “arrow” ●●●³⁴

NAA ●●

Sem.: Hbr. ydy “to shoot³⁵, cast (lots, stones)”; Arab. wdy II “ê. armé jusqu’aux dents” ●●

Chad. *diw-: W.: Tangale diya “knife”, Jimi dī̀wà “arrow”; E.: Tumak dəəw “dart” ●●●

SAA ●●●

Cush.: E.: LEC: Bayso dawwe, HEC: Burji daaya; S.: Iraqw daʔa- “bamboo-cane quiver”, Ma”a ndaʔaté “quiver”; Dahalo ʔaaḏo (met.) “arrow head for small animals” ●●●

[] AADB, # 585.

*fayaʔ- “(sharp) edge, arrow” ●●●

NAA ●●

Sem. *payʔ(-at)-: Akk. pātu “Rand”; Ugr. pʔ-t “limit, border, (?) corner”; Hbr. pēʔā “corner, side”, pʔy (hif.) “to strike down, wipe out”; Syr. paʔtā “side, blade of a sword”, Arab. fʔy/w “fendre, pourfendre d’un coup de sabre la tête de qqn.”; cf. fiʔ-at- “detachment, party of soldiers”; Gur.: Ennemor, Endegeñ feʔä “sharpen with a rasp, sharpen the edge” ●●

Chad. *fay(H)-: W.: Tangale peyi “shoot, sting”; C.: Mofu fáf, féf (redupl.) “pierce with a spear”; E.: Kera féyá “prick” ●●

SAA

Cush.: E.: Oromo fia, fue “arrow”; S.: Alagwa, Burunge fayu “arrow” ●●●●

[] AADB, # 513; cf. [Orel, Stolbova, 1994, #788].

*rumḥ- (var. *runḥ-) ~ *mVrḥ- “spear, lance” ●●●●●

NAA ●●●●

Sem. *rumḥ- “spear”: Ugr. mrḥ; Hbr. romaḥ; Syr. rumḥ-; Arab. rumḥ-; Gz. ra/əmḥ; Mhr. rəmḥāt “spear, wand”, Jib. rəmḥ-át “wand, arrow” ●●●●●

Eg. (late NK) mrḥ “lance” (< Ugr.?) ●

Berb.: Sus ta-mūr-t “spear, lance” (isolated word) ●

Chad. W. *rVn/m(H)-: Hs. rìnoo “wooden skewer, spit”, Karekare, Bolewa róndi “spear” (if < *rVn-di), Bade rúum-ə́n “Kriegslanze” (cf. [Stolbova, 2005, #947]) ●●●

SAA ●●●●●

Cush. *warḥan/m-: C.: Awiya werém “spear”; E.: LEC: Oromo woraan-a, Som. waran “spear”, Rendille warḥan “knife”; Dullay: Dobase, Gobeze, Harso orḥan-ko, pl. orḥamme “spear, lance.” ●●●●●

[] Cf. Takács, 2008, p. 437-8; Sasse, 1978, p. 37.

*ḳVlaʕ- “sling” ●●●●³⁶

NAA ●●●●

Sem. *ḳi/ulaʕ- “sling”: Ugr. ḳlʕ “shield, shield-bearer”; Ph. h-ḳlʕ “slinger(?)”, Hbr. ḳälaʕ “sling”, ḳlʕ “to sling (stones)”; Syr. ḳelʕ- “sling”; Arab. ḳulāʕ-at- “pierre que l’on enlève du sol pour la lancer”, maḳlāʕ- “sling”; Gz. ḳəlʕa “throw from a sling”, maḳləʕ “sling; club” (cf. Jib. ḳelaʕ, Soq. ḳálaʕ “to drop, let fall”) ●●●●●

(?) Eg. (19^th Dyn.) ḳrʕ.w “shield” (likely

Chad. *ḳawVl-> ḳʷal- “to throw (with force)”: W.: Hs. ḳ^wáalà “throw to the ground, strike (on the head)”, Tangale k^walɛ “to kill, to throw (with an intention to kill)”; C.: Chuvok mɛ́kɛ́lɛ̀y “throw stones”, etc. [Stolbova, 2016, #497; comp. to Gz.] ●●●

SAA

Cush. N.: Beja kili, keli “strap, thong”, kolɛi “stick; distance to which stick can be thrown” (!) [Roper, 1928, p. 202]; E.: HEC: Sidamo ḳale “bow” ●●●

[] AADB, # 4172.

*gawb- “guard, shield” ●●●●●

NAA ●●●●●

Sem.: Akk. gabābu (and kabābu) “shield”; Hbr. gab “bosses of a shield” (in Köhler, Baumgartner, 1994–1996, the entry for “back”); Sab. gyb “defend, protect”; Arab. ǯawb- “bouclier”; Mhr. gawb, Jib. gub “shield of hippopotamus hide” (hardly < Arab.) ●●●●●

(?) Chad. W.: Zaar ngúp “bow” ●

SAA ●●●●●

Cush. *gaw(i)b- “shield”: N.: Beja gwibe; C.: Bilin, Qwara gib; E.: SA: Afar gob, Saho goob-e “shield”, LEC: Oromo (dial.) goob-oo “bow”, Somali goob “battle”, HEC: Darasa gabe “bow and arrow”, Burji góob-i “brave man, warrior” (LEC and HEC with a shift of meaning); S. *gamb- “shield”: Iraqw gaambóot, Gorowa gaambóo³⁷ ●●●●●

[] AADB # 2090.

*(wa)rik/g- “bow with arrow” ●●

NAA ●●●

Sem.: Akk. (SB) ariktu “spear”, “bow?”; Arab wirk- “un côté de l’arc; un arc (sp.)” ●●

Eg. (PT) rwḏ.t (< *rwg-t

Chad. (1) *(wV)rik- “bow”: W. *ri(n)k-: Karekare, Ngamo rìnká, Gera ríkà, Dera rə́kà “bow”, Tangale rìk “arrow”; C. *(wV)lik- (< *-rik-) “bow”; (2) C. *ri/ag- “bow”: Higi rigi, etc.; (2a) W. *rVg- “to hunt (with a bow or spear)”: Tangale riga ●●●●●

SAA

Cush. E.: HEC *wVrag-: Kambatta uragä, Hadiya urāgo “first shot of hunters that kills an animal” ●●

[] Cf. Stolbova, 2005, #844 (*n-rV[k]V; comp. to Arab.) and 810 (*rVg-

*ʕVbVl- “arrow or spear (with a flint head?)” ●●

NAA ●●●●

Sem.: Akk. (NAss, SB) bêlu “weapon” (

Eg. (PT) mʕbꜣ “lance, spear; harpune”³⁹. ●●●●

Chad. *ba/iHVl-: W.: Hs. ḅíllà “to throw, Karekare ḅèlu, Tangale ḅɔl “arrow”, Fyer, Bokkos, Daffo-Butura ḅol “schiessen”; C.: Muktele áḅal “tirer (a l”arc), flecher”, Daba ḅāl “to throw (an arrow)”; E.: Sarwa ḅálāw, Gadang ḅālū “lance de guerre” ●●●●

SAA

Cush. E.: LEC: Oromo ablee (and albee) “knife”, HEC: Sidamo bolot-iččo “easily broken rock” ●

[] AADB, # 2309; cf. Takács, 2008, p. 174-5 (with extensive discussion).

*gayĉ- “kind of throwing weapon” ●●●

NAA

Sem.: Arab. ǯašʔ/w- “javeline, arc”, ǯaššāʔ- “arc fait d’un bois gros et dur”; Gur. *gašša “k. of spear”⁴⁰ ●●●

Berb. *ga(n)z-ay-(

SAA

Cush.: N.: Beja gwišʔ- “to cast to a distance, esp. lance, spear” [Roper, 1928, p. 189] ●●●

[] Cf. Dolgopolsky, 1973, p. 291-2; AADB, # 573. Cf. Greek gaisos “javelin” and Basque gesi, gezi, geza “arrow, dart”.

ARMED CONFLICTS AND WARFARE

PAA *lVḥm- “fight, war” ●●●●

NAA ●●●●

Sem. *lḥm “to fight”, *mi/a-lḥam- “war”: Ugr. lḥm “to fight (against someone)”, mlḥm “war”; Hbr. lḥm “to fight”, milḥāmā “war”; Aram. mlḥm “war”; Arab. lḥm “tuer”, laḥm-at- “combat acharné corps a ̀corps”, malḥam-at- “guerre” ●●●●●

Eg. (Demotic) mlẖ, Coptic mlax “combat, Streit, Kampf” (< Hbr.?) ●

Chad. C. *li(H)m-: Hitkalanchi lə̀mò “fight, war”, Hide lmo “fight, to fight”, Daba lim “war”, Logone lümlüm “resist, defend oneself” [Stolbova, 2005, #285] ●●●●

SAA

Cush. C.: Beja lḗmi “Fang, Raub”, lemi “ganz ausplündern” [Reinisch, 1885]; C.: Bilin lāmlā́m “kämpfen”, etc. [Reinisch, 1887] ●●●●

[] Cf. Takács, 2008, p. 317; AADB, # 1546.

PAA *sabay- “spoils of war, taking prisoners” ●●●●●

NAA ●●●●●

Sem. *šabay/ʔ- “captive”: Ugr. šby “captive”; Hbr. šābā “capture in the course of a battle, deport”; Aram. Off. šby, Syr. šəbāʔ-; Sab. s₁by “captive”, s₁bʔ “carry out an undertaking (e.g., military expedition, diplomatic mission, etc.”; Arab. sby “faire prisonier”, saby- “prisonier”; Mhr. sebū, Jib. sē “to capture, take prisoner”, Soq. sébəʔ “to seize” ●●●●●

Eg (OK) sby “Rebell, Frevler”, (MK) “spoils of army” ●●●●●

Chad. W.: Hs. sábàbii “wrangling; violent dispute” // Cf. *(ʔa)sVḅ- “spear” [Stolbova, 2016, #678, derived noun] ●

SAA

Cush. C.: Bilin šab- “go on the prowl”, šabā “war”, Qwara sab- “wage war, riot”, Qemant säb-s, Awiya seb “to fight”; E.: SA: Saho sabā “attack” ●●●●●

PAA *(wa)čVb- “assault, (mass) killing” ●●●

NAA ●●●●

Sem. *wṯb “to assault (with abduction?)”⁴¹: Sab. t-wṯb “commit an assault on; ambush”; Arab. waṯb-at- “assaut, attaque, agression”, wṯb V “faire une invasion injuste sur la proprieté de qqn” ●●●

Chad. *čVb- “mass killing; war” (Stolbova 2016, #91, comp. with Arab.): C.: Wandala, Malgwa čə́ɓa “to kill a lot of people”, Glavda čib-, Podoko čɨɓé “kill” (pl.); E.: Mubi čóɓɓù, Zirenkel ǯabu-ki “war” ●●●●●

SAA

Omot. N.: Koyra šúpe, Gimirra (Bench) ṣ̌up (­p < *­b?) “slaughter”, Dizi šub- “die”, S.: Ongota šup/b- “kill” ●●●

[] AADB, # 2933.

NAA *dVrʔ- “war, fight” ●●●●

Sem.: Akk. dirdirru (redupl.) “battle, combat”; Syr. darā “certamen; pugna; bellum”; Sab. drʔ “make a sudden assault on”; Arab. darʔ- “invasion subit” ●●●●

Chad. *dur- “fight, war” (Stolbova 2016, #159, comp. with Akk.): W.: Angas tuur (t-

[] AADB, # 4236.

NAA *ĉVg- “fight, killing” ●●

Sem. (ʔa-)ŝVgag-: Akk. (MB, SB) ašgagu, ašgugu “battle, fray”; Arab šǯǯ “blesser, casser, briser (tête, crâne)” ●●

Chad. *ŝa/ig- “to fight and kill” (Stolbova 2016, #842) comp. with Arab.): W.: Tangale saagɛ “to fight”; C.: Tera łaɣa\ì, Lamang łigo, Muyang éɮìgì “kill” ●●●

NAA *ĉVg(ʷ)Vr-⁴² “fight, battle” ●●●

Sem. *ŝVg(ʷ)Vr- “fighter, guard”: Arab. šǯr “percer avec une lance”, VI “se disputer, lutter”, šaǯīr- “sabre”; Gz. ŝagara “become a soldier”, ŝagar “keeper of the instrument of torture, guard, soldier of the guard, garrison”, Tna šägʷari “prison keeper”, Amh. säggärä “be taught drill” ●●●

Chad. *ŝVgVr- “(to provoke) a battle”: C.: Podoko łəgə́la (regressive assim. of -r-) “wrestling”, Musey łagara “la ceinture de cuir tissé portée dans une bataille”; E.: W.Dangla čògìrè “to provoke, to incite a battle”. ●●●

[] AADB, # 4210. Cf. Stolbova, 2016, #842a (comp. with Arab.).

PAA *ʕawl- ~ ʕalw/y- “assault, plunder, war” ●●●●

NAA ●●●●

Sem.: Ugr. ʕly “to attack, assail, launch oneself (upon); to fire, shoot (arrows)”; Sab. h-ʕly “destroy, violate, infringe (and remove)”; Arab. ʕlw “frapper qqn. avec un sabre”, ʕilway “ennemi” ●●●●

Eg. (OK) ʕḥꜣ “(to) fight”⁴³, ʕwꜣy “rauben”, (MK) ʕwn “to hurt, plunder, despoil (of), betray” (the graphic alternation of ꜣ and n points to the etymological *l) ●●●●

Chad. *n-[ʕ]al- “to plunder, steal” (derived verb in n-): C.: Buwal ŋ̀xɛֿl “steal; thief”, Gavar ŋhəl “steal; thief”; E.: Kera náalé “plündern” (Stolbova, 2019, #52 compared to Eg. ˁwꜢy) ●●●

SAA ●●●●

Cush. *ʕawl- “war, use of a weapon”: E.: LEC: Somali ʕol “army; enemy”, ʕolad (

Omot. N. *ʕaw/yl- “fight, war”: Wolaita ola “war”, olet- “to fight”, Zala olaa “war”, ol- “to fight, be at war”, Mao (Bambeshi) yol-, (Diddesa) yoli “fight” (borrowing from E.Cush. is not to be ruled out) ●●●

[] AADB, # 3524, 1110. Cf. Dolgopolsky. 1973, p. 162. This root is hard to distinguish⁴⁴ (contaminated or related on the PSem. or NAA level?) from Sem. (or NAA) *ʕawl- ~ *ʕalw- ~ *ʕily- “injustice, sin, wrong, rebel”: Akk. eʔiltu “sin”; Hbr. ʕwl (pi.) “to act unjustly”, ʕāwäl “perversity, injustice; dishonesty (in trade)”, ʕawwāl “criminal, sinner”, ʕawlā (and ʕalwā) “badness, malice, injustice”; ʕalwā “disobedience”; Aram. Jud. ʕawl- “sin”, Syr. ʕwl (af.) “to act unjustly”, ʕely- “malice, wrong”; Arab. ʕwl “to deviate (from what is right)”, ʕalaw- “rebel”; Gz. ʕalawa “deal treacherously, conspire, pervert, rebel”, Tna. ʕaläwä “rebel”, Tgr. (tä)ʕalla “start a riot”.

PAA *bVr- ~ *bVrbVr- “war, riot, plunder” ●●●●●

NAA ●●●●●

Sem. *brr ~ *brbr “to revolt, attack, plunder”: Akk. bâru (OB on) “stir up a revolt”; Neo-Syr. barber “attack, assail”; Sab. brr “make a sally, come into the open (to fight)”; Arab. brr VIII “dépouiller, priver”, bry “rivalizer, s’acharner contre”; Gz. barbara “pillage, plunder, rummage, confiscate”, Tna. bärbärä, Tgr. bärbära, Amh. bäräbbärä, Gur. *bäräbärä “pillage” ●●●●●

Berb. S. *bubbar “kind of fight”: Ahaggar ǎ-bubbâr “lutte (entre 2 adversaires, sans armes, corps à corps)”, E. Wlm. ǎ-bobbar “discussion chaude et menac̣ante entre deux groupes de pers.; manifestation de violence” ●●

Chad. *bV(ʔ/wV)r- *ba/uʔir- “fighting, rebellion” (Stolbova, 2016, #21): W.: Hausa bòoree “perversity, disobedience, rebelling against authority”, Mushere ɓèer “war, fight”, Pero ɓuґrè “fighting”, Sha bur, Richa bûr “Krieg”, Daffo-Butura ɓúur “Krieg, Kampf”; C.: Muyong àbrá “armed robbery”, Peve ɓar “rebel” ●●●●●

SAA

Cush. *bar(-at): C.: Bilin barat “erobern, in Besitz nehmen”; E.: SA: Afar boore “oppress; ransack”, (?) Yaaku pórté, pl. pórri “enemy” (p- can continue *p- and *b-); S.: Dahalo ^mbṓri “war” ●●●●●

[] AADB, # 3764.

PAA *gVd- “troop of archers”⁴⁵ ●●●

1. “(armed) band, troop” ●●●●

NAA “(aggressive, hostile) armed band, troop; ambush” ●●●●

Sem.*gu(n)d-: Akk. (Ass.) gudūd- “band (< W. Sem.?), Hbr. gdd “to band together (against)”, gədūd “band, raid, troop of warriors” (cf. gad “tribe”); Syr. gūdədā “legion, troop”, Mandaic gunda; Arab. ǯund- “troupe d’hommes”, ǯnd II “to mobilize”, Tgr. gädo “brigand” ●●●●●

Berb. N.: Shilh a-gdud “bande, troupe de gens réuni en group”, Tamazight a-gdud “assemblée, groupe bruyant”, Qabyle a-gdad “groupe bruyant, qui parle fort” ●●●

Chad.: W.: Hausa gádè “rude, disrespective speech, manners”, Bolewa ngadàr “quarrelsome person”; E.: W. & E. Dangla gíḍé “to quarrel” (Stolbova 2011 #484) ●●

SAA “ambush” ●●●●●

Cush.: E.: HEC: Somali gad- “make a surprise attack on; ambush”; S.: Iraqw, Alagwa giir, Burunge giid “lie in ambush” ●●●●●

1. “arrow” ●●●

NAA

Chad.: C. *gVd- “(point of a) sharp arrow”: Daba gàḍəḍ “arrow, point of the arrow”, Cuvok gàdà “douille, bâton guerre”, *g/gʷVd-Vm- “arrow”: Hide gwadam “sagai, hunting spear with one barb”, Mada godom, Mbuko gadam “arrow” (Stolbova 2011 #497) ●●●

SAA

Cush. *gayd-: N.: Beja gid “to throw, to fire”; E.: LEC: Arbore gudɛ “arrow” ●●●●

[] AADB, # 3855.

PAA *gdl “armed fight, killing”⁴⁶ ●●●

NAA

Sem. *gdl “fight, kill”: Arab. ǯdl III, VI “quarrel, fight”; Gz. gadala “strive”,

Tna. tägadälä “fight”, Tgr. gadäla “wrestle, fight”, gədla “conflict”, Amh. gäddälä “kill”, tägaddälä “struggle”, Arg. gäddäla, Har. gädälä kill”, Soddo gäddäläm “kill”, tägaddälä “wrestle, struggle” ●●●

Berb. S. *gadil “javelin”: Ahaggar a-ḡdel, Ayr é-gdel, E. Wlm. a-gdel “javelot à tige de bois” (cf. Ayr, E. Wlm. tə-gadle “stratagème, ruse de guerre, plan de défense”) ●●●

SAA

Cush. E.: LEC *lagad- (met.): Somali legd- “to wrestle, throw down”, Jidda

legdi, Bayso lagad- “to kill” ●●●

[] AADB, # 2765.

PAA *gVr- “hostilities, war” ●●●●

NAA

Sem. *gry ~ *gwr “hostilities, war, lawsuit”: Akk. gerû (OB on) “wage war; to be hostile, start a lawsuit”, D “to open up hostilities, make war”; Ugr. gr(y) “to attack; to oppose (?)”; Hbr. gry (piel) “to stir up a strife, go to court”; Official Aram. gry “to sue, institute suit against”, Syr. gry (pael) “be persecuted”, (etpa) “be attacked”; Arab. ǯwr “ê. injuste, commetre un injustice à l’égard de qqn; opprimer, agir en tyran”; Tgr. gərgur “war-cry”, Tna. (ʔa)gʷrärä, Amh. (a)gärrärä “sing a war song”; Mhr. gəyōr, Jib. gɛr “to oppress” ●●●●●

Hbr. (PT) ḏꜣy (if < *gry) “sich wiedersetzen (act hostile, oppose”)”, mḏꜣ.w (if < *m-gr-w) “Wiedersacher”, cf. ḏꜣḏꜣ “be hostile” (Takács 2008: 821] ●●●

Berb. Ahaggar guret “disputer”, Qabyle egru “be enraged” ●●

Chad. *gVr- “war, fight” (Stolbova 2016, #237; comp. with Akk. and debatable Arab.): W Paa gwùr-sáa “wrestling”, Bade gòorai “rebellion”, Duwai gə̀r-ɓùwo “go into a fight”; C.: Bura nggara “to lead a person into rebellion”, Dzepaw gìr “struggle”; E.: E. Dangla gār-tā “la guerre” ●●●●●

SAA

Cush.: N.: Beja gwirir “to keep one”s eye on (in hostile fashion)”; C.: Bilin gurgur “berauben”; E.: SA: Afar gaaroowe “debate, argue, dispute a case”, LEC: Somali gerar, Oromo gērara “war-song”⁴⁷, HEC: Sidamo gaaro “war, campaign” (cf. Hadiya, Kambatta gora “act of doing smth. to spite so.”) ●●●●

[] AADB, # 3717; cf. Takács 2008: 821-2.

PAA *gihaʒ- “fight, raid” ●●

NAA ●●●●

Sem. *gahz- “raid, battle”: Arab. ǯhz “expédier, envoyer des troupes équipées à qqn, ou contre qqn”, taǯhīz- “expédition, envoi de troupes”; Har., Selti, Endegeñ gāz, Wolane, Soddo, Chaha, etc. gaz “raid, expedition, battle” ●●●●

Chad. *gVz- “fight, war; be hostile” (cf. Stolbova 2011, #529; compared to Arab. ʕaǯūz- “malheur, désastre, guerre”): W.: Guruntum gezu “to fight”; C.: Daba ngə̀z “threaten”, Ouldem ŋgìz ŋgìz “be quarrelsome”; E.: Ubi geza “guerre, war” ●●●●

SAA

Cush.: E. *ga(Ha)ʒ/ǯ-: LEC: Oromo gaad- “plot against, plan to destroy, spy on”, HEC: Hadiya gaaz- “wage war, raid”, Sidamo gaado, Kambatta gaazu “war, campaign”, Tembaro gaǯǯe “raid” (cf. Burji gaazé “shield”) ●●⁴⁸

[] AADB, # 3786.

PAA *mVr- “rob (in a fight), dispossess” ●●●●

NAA ●●●●

Sem. *mry “to fight, be rebellious”: Hbr. mārā “to be recalcitrant, rebellious”; Syr. mārā “to rival”; Arab. mry “to incite”, III “to wrangle”, miryat- “querelle, dispute” (cf. also mry “nier une dette”) ●●●

Eg. (MK) mꜣr “berauben von..., to dispossess” ●●●●

Chad. *mu/ir-: W.: Ankwe mûr “to thieve, theft”, Gerka mur “to rob, steel”, Gera, Galambu mòorə̀-, Sayanchi mīr “to steal”, Tala muur, Kir mwûr, Bubure móré “theft, thief”; C.: Tera muru “stealing”; E.: Bidiya miraŋ “tricher” ●●●●

SAA

Cush. *mVr-: N..: Beja maray “nehmen, rauben”, meri/u “nehmen, erbeuten”, mára “Beute, Fund”; C.: Qwara mir “rauben, plündern”; E.: HEC: Darasa, Sidamo moor- “to steal, rob” ●●●●●

[] Takács, 2008, p. 85; AADB, # 3622. Cf. Dolgopolsky, 2008, #̣689 *gEyVŝV “to cast (spear); spear” with IE parallels.

RECONSTRUCTED PROTOFORMS (WITH THE AUTHOR’S RATING):

WEAPONRY

*ma/iṭw- ~ *may/wṭ- “mace (including for throwing), club, throwing stick” PAA 4

*ḳVs- “bow” PAA 5

*dVg- “arrow and bow” NAA 4, SAA 1

*dayVw- ~ *wVdy- “arrow” NAA 2, SAA 3, PAA 3

*fayaʔ- “(sharp) edge, arrow” NAA 2, SAA 4, PAA 3

*rumḥ- (var. *runḥ-) ~ *mVrḥ- “spear, lance” NAA 4, SAA 5, PAA 5

*ḳVlaʕ- “sling” NAA 4, SAA 3, PAA 4

*gawb- “shield” PAA 5

*(wa)rik/g- “bow with arrow” NAA 3, SAA 2, PAA 2

*ʕVbVl- “arrow or spear (with a flint head?)” NAA 4, SAA 1

*gayĉ- “kind of throwing weapon” NAA 3, SAA 3, PAA 3

ARMED CONFLICTS AND WARFARE

*lVḥm- “fight, war” NAA 4, SAA 4, PAA 4

*sabay- “spoils of war, taking prisoners” PAA 5

*(wa)čVb- “assault, mass killing” NAA 4, SAA 4, PAA 4

*dVrʔ- “war, fight” NAA 4 (Sem., Chad.)

*ĉVg- “fight, killing” NAA 2

*ĉVg(ʷ)Vr- “fight, battle” NAA 3 (Sem., Chad.)

*ʕawl- ~ ʕalw/y- “assault, plunder, war” NAA 4, SAA 4

*bVr- ~ *bVrbVr- “war, riot, plunder” 5

*gVd- “troop of archers”: (1) NAA “(armed) band, troop” 4, SAA”ambush” 5; (2) “arrow” NAA 3, SAA 4

*gdl “armed fight, killing” NAA 3, SAA 3, PAA 3

*gVr- “hostilities, war” NAA 5, SAA 4, PAA 4-5

*gihaʒ- “fight, raid” NAA 4, SAA 2, PAA 2

*mVr- “rob (in a fight), dispossess” NAA 4, SAA 5, PAA 4-5

Conclusions:

WEAPONRY

There is no doubt (score 5) about the terms for bow (*ḳVs-) and shield (*gawb-) at the PAA level; with a high degree of probability (score 4), the terms are reconstructed for mace (*ma/iṭw- ~ *may/wṭ-), spear (*rumḥ- ~ *mVrḥ-), sling (*ḳVlaʕ-); at the NAA level – for an arrow or spear, probably with a flint head; the reconstruction of additional or synonymous terms for bow with arrow and some kind of throwing weapon is quite likely (score 3). There is nothing unexpected for the prehistorians and archaeologists in this (perhaps, except for an immaculate term for shield).

The situation with armed conflicts and war, in particular, is more complicated.

ARMED CONFLICTS AND WARFARE

The following conclusions can be drawn from the reconstructed proto-forms:

Formally, Proto-Afrasian or even North Afrasian and South Afrasian terms, yielding the meaning of “war” in all and every descendant language, are not reconstructed with a 100% credibility (the roots *gVr- and *bVr- are closest to this meaning) – they are all combined either with more or less related meanings (fight, battle, killing) or with words referring to other armed conflicts (assault, plunder, riot). The unquestionable term “spoils of war, taking prisoners” (*sabay-) is indicative in this context. Several terms for assault, plunder, and armed robbery are reconstructed convincingly. As for war, the reconstructed terms – despite all the difficulties with interpreting the historical reality in this subject – seem to indicate that the concept of war as a large-scale armed conflict, different from its other types, either already had its lexical expression in the separate terms *gVr- and *bVr- at the PAA level, or came close to being expressed in words, ergo, in the perception of the late Mesolithic man in the Near East around the 11th millennium BCE.

Abbreviations of languages and language periods

Akk. – Akkadian; Amh. – Amharic; Arab. – Arabic; Aram. – Aramaic; Berb. – Berber; C. – Central; Chad. – Chadic; Cush. – Cushitic; E.– East; Wlm. – Tawllemmet; Eg. – Egyptian; Gur. – Gurage; Gz. – Geʕez; Har. – Harari; Hbr. – Hebrew; HEC – Highland East Cushitic; Jib. – Jibbali; Jud. – Judaic Aramaic; LEC –Lowland East Cushitic; MB – Middle Babylonian; Mhr. – Mehri; MK – Middle Kingdom; MSA – Modern South Arabian; N. – North; OB – Old Babylonian; OK – Old Kingdom; PAA – Proto-Afrasian; S. – South;

Sab. – Sabaic; SB – Standard Babylonian; Sem. – Semitic; Soq. – Soqotri; Syr. – Syriac; Tgr. – Tigre; Tna. – Tigrinya (Tigray); Ugr. – Ugaritic; W. – West.