Homer

🏷  Samson Semitic hidden ruler pun · name   —   by Gerry · Aug 2020 · 252 words

The name of the poet Homer, whose name & life are an enigma, is likely a pun with a Semitic word for “veil”. It is found in Arabic as ḫmr for “veiling” & “concealing”, and in Hebrew & Aramaic as ḥmr / kmr for “piling” & “covering”.

Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic ḫmr, ḥmr, kmr = veil, cover, hide, pile on

خِمَار ḫmˀr ḵimār : veil, cover of women — Arabic (Wikt)

خمار ḫmˀr khimar : a woman’s veil or head-dress — Arabic (Catafago)

خَمَرَ ḫmr ḵamara : to cover, to hide, to conceal; to brew to ferment, to leaven, to cause to rise chemically — Arabic (Wikt)

חמר ḥmr : to cover with asphalt — Hebrew (Klein)

כמר kmr : to pile on, do again; to cover something to keep it hot; to hide, keep safe; to do something again and again; to be turned around; to be returned; to have compassion — Aramaic (CAL)

כמר kmr : to hide, keep warm; to shrink, be wrinkled; to feel compassion — Hebrew (Jastrow)

חמר ḥmr : heap; ‘homer’ — name of a dry measure — Hebrew (Klein)

🏷  Samson Semitic hidden ruler pun · name