Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/rayam-

From Proto-Afro-Asiatic, cognate to Proto-Cushitic *rūm- (“tall”), perhaps Hausa ríímíí (“to rear up”). With Nöldeke the Semitic *rayam- is paired with a *rawam- since we have يَرُومُ‎ (yarūmu, “to strive, to aim at”) together with يَرِيمُ‎ (yarīmu, “to depart from”) and Aramaic and Ugaritic show prefix conjugation with both middle -ū- and -ī- in their verb “to get up”, Hebrew only -ū-. Another variant is pointed at by Arabic وَرِمَ‎ (warima, “to swell, to be swollen”) and the variant prefix conjugation form in Aramaic יַירַם‎ (yīram), Hebrew יַיָרַם‎ (yayyārām) , Akkadian 𒊓𒁯 (erimu, “swelling; mole, lesion, raised skin, scar”), Egyptian wrm (“high figure; flooding”), and maybe there is a relation to the not infrequent Classical Syriac ܝܺܪܶܒ‎ (yireḇ, “to be great, to be much”); another possible variant is أَرْم‎ (ʾarm, “stature, form of the body”); أَرِم‎ (ʾarim) / إِرَم‎ (ʾiram, “large stone to indicate the way in the desert”), أُرَم‎ (ʾuram, “finger-tips; molar teeth; pebbles, gravel”); and lastly maybe even Egyptian mr (“pyramid”) is related, together or without Arabic أَمَرَة‎ (ʾamara, “heap of stones, mound, esp. as a way-marker”), Akkadian 𒀯 (amartu, “dividing wall”), 𒋞 (amaru, “pile of bricks”), Hebrew אָמִיר‎ (ʾāmīr, “treetop, mountain summit”).

*rayam-

1. to be high, to be raised, to be on top

• Akkadian: 𒊑 (ramû)
• Arabic: رَامَ‎ (rāma)
• Eblaite: 𒉌𒊏𒈬 (ni-ra-mu)
• Ge'ez: ረየመ (räyämä)
• Old South Arabian: 𐩧𐩺𐩣‎
• Northwest Semitic:
  • Aramaic:
    • Jewish Aramaic: רָם‎ (rām)
    • Classical Syriac: ܪܳܡ‎ (rām)
  • Hebrew: רָם‎ (rām)
  • Ugaritic: 𐎗𐎎 (rm)
• → Egyptian: rꜣmꜥ (/râma/), rwmw (/rômu/, “to be high”)

• Dillmann, August (1865) Lexicon linguae aethiopicae cum indice latino (in Latin), Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, columns 312–313
• Leslau, Wolf (1991) Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 478
• Olmo Lete, Gregorio del; Sanmartín, Joaquín; Watson, Wilfred G. E. (2015), “Proto-Semitic/rayam-”, in A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition (Handbook of Oriental Studies; 112), 3rd edition, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 729
• Nöldeke, Theodor (1910) Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎ (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, page 70
• Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 367–368
• Hoch, James E. (1994) Semitic Words in Egyptian Texts of the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, Princeton: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 204–205