موم

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian *mōm. Akin to Northern Kurdish mûm (“candle”), Central Kurdish مۆم‎ (mom, “candle”), Southern Kurdish موم‎ (mûm, “wax”), and Old Armenian մոմ (mom), an Iranian borrowing.

Further origin uncertain. Perhaps a borrowing from a Semitic language, from Proto-Semitic *may- (“water, liquid, sap”); compare Akkadian 𒀀 (mū). The final -m could be from a plural suffix (the word being a plurale tantum in some languages) or from reduplication; compare Hebrew מים‎ (mayim).[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

موم • (mum)

  1. wax
  2. candle

Derived terms

Descendants
  • Tajik: мум (mum)
  • > Azeri: mum / موم‎
  • > Arabic: مُوم‎ (mūm)
  • > Crimean Tatar: mum
  • > Hindustani:
    Hindi: मोम (mom)
    Urdu: موم‎ (mom)
  • > Ottoman Turkish: موم‎ (mûm)
  • > Turkmen: mum
  • > Kyrgyz: мом (mom)
  • > Romani: mom
  • > Uzbek: mum

References
  1. Alexander Militarev, A complete etymology-based hundred wordlist of Semitic updated: Items 75-100, in the Journal of Language Relationhip[s]; entry 94 water, especially the Afro-Asiatic meaning of sap, liquid substance.
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