חֹשֶׁךְchoshekh

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Ancient Hebrew

Root

husiku

night, the dark hours, the unlit time

Hebrew darkness rests on the Shona husiku, the unlit hours

Confidence
72/100
Root language
Shona
Descent begins
חֹשֶׁךְ (ḥōšeḵ)Hebrew

The consensus position

Mainstream comparative Semitics derives חֹשֶׁךְ from the Proto-Semitic triconsonantal root *ḥ-š-k, "to be dark", secured by Aramaic ḥeškā, Syriac ḥešoḵā, Ge'ez ḥasak and Arabic ḥasika, with the Hebrew noun reflecting a segholate *ḥušk-. Shona usiku/husiku is independently derived from Proto-Bantu *bu-tikʊ / *-cikʊ "night", and no relationship between the two is recognised.

The working behind this.

The full descent — 6 links from the attested form down to the root — the segment-by-segment correspondences, the phonological breakdown and the case for the derivation are behind an account.

An account opens 10 entries in full, free.

Elsewhere in the corpus