Editing Afroasiatic languages (section)

===Cognates===
<!-- One sound sample per phylum - alphabetical -->
Afroasiatic languages share a vocabulary of Proto-Afroasiatic origin to varying extents.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=248}} Writing in 2004, John Huehnergard notes the great difficulty in establishing cognate sets across the family.{{sfn|Huehnergard|2004|p=141}} Identifying cognates is difficult because the languages in question are often separated by thousands of years of development and many languages within the family have long been in contact with each other, raising the possibility of loanwords.{{sfn|Gragg|2019|p=41}} Work is also hampered because of the poor state of documentation of many languages.{{sfn|Porkhomovsky|2020|p=273}}

There are two etymological dictionaries of Afroasiatic, one by Christopher Ehret, and one by Vladimir Orel and Olga Stolbova, both from 1995. Both works provide highly divergent reconstructions and have been heavily criticized by other scholars.{{sfn|Güldemann|2018|p=317-318}} Andrzej Zaborski refers to Orel and Stolbova's reconstructions as "controversial", and Ehret's as "not acceptable to many scholars".{{sfn|Zaborski|2011}} Tom Güldemann argues that much comparative work in Afroasiatic suffers from not attempting first to reconstruct smaller units within the individual branches, but instead comparing words in the individual languages.{{sfn|Güldemann|2018|p=318}} Nevertheless, both dictionaries agree on some items and some proposed cognates are uncontroversial.{{sfn|Gragg|2019|p=41}}{{sfn|Huehnergard|2004|p=141}} Such cognates tend to rely on relatively simple [[sound correspondence]]s.{{sfn|Hayward|2000|p=94}}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:smaller;"
|-
|+ Some widely recognized cognates in Afroasiatic, following {{harvnb|Hayward|2000}}, {{harvnb|Gragg|2019}}, and {{harvnb|Huehnergard|2004}}{{efn|Many of these roots have other proposed cognates that are not included on the table.}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | Meaning !! colspan="2" | Proto-Afroasiatic !! rowspan="2" | Omotic !! rowspan="2" | Cushitic !!rowspan="2" | Chadic !! rowspan="2" |Egyptian !! rowspan="2" |Semitic !! rowspan="2" | Berber
|-
!  {{harvnb|Ehret|1995}}{{efn|A [[caron]] ˇ over a vowel indicates rising [[Tone (linguistics)|tone]], and a [[circumflex]] ^ over a vowel indicates falling tone. V indicates a [[vowel]] of unknown quality. ʔ indicates a [[glottal stop]]. * indicates [[Linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed forms]] based on [[Comparative method (linguistics)|comparison of related languages]].}} !! {{harvnb|Orel|Stolbova|1995}}
|-
| to strike, to squeeze || – || *bak- || Gamo ''bak-'' 'strike' || Afar ''bak'' || Wandala ''bak'' 'to strike, beat'; 
(possibly) Hausa bùgaː 'to hit, strike 
| ''bk'' 'kill (with a sword)' || Arabic ''bkk'' 'to squeeze, tear' || Tuareg ''bakkat'' 'to strike, pound'
|-
| blood || *dîm-<br /> *dâm- || *dam-  || Kaffa ''damo'' 'blood';<br /> Aari ''zomʔi'' 'to bleed' || (cf. Oromo ''di:ma'' 'red') || Bolewa ''dom'' || (cf. ''jdmj'' 'red linen') || Akkadian ''damu'' 'blood' || Ghadames ''dəmm-ən'' 'blood'
|-
| food || – || *kamaʔ- / *kamay- || – || Afar ''okm-'' 'to eat' || Hausa ''ka:ma:ma:'' 'snack';<br /> Tumak ''ka:m'' 'mush' || ''kmj'' 'food' || – || –
|-
| to be old, elder || *gâd-/gûd- || *gad- || – || Oromo ''gada'' 'age group, generation';<br /> Burji ''gad-uwa'' 'old man'|| Ngizim ''gad'e'' 'old' || – || Arabic ''gadd-'' 'grandfather, ancestor' || –
|-
| to say || *geh- || *gay- || Sheko ''ge'' 'to say';<br /> Aari ''gai-'' 'to say' || – || Hausa ''gaya'' 'to say' || ''ḏwj'' 'to call, say' || (cf. Hebrew ''gʕy'' 'to shout') || –
|-
| tongue || *lis'- 'to lick' || *les- 'tongue' || Kaffa ''mi-laso'' 'tongue' || – || Mwaghavul ''liis'' tongue,<br /> Gisiga ''eles'' 'tongue 
Hausa halshe(háɽ.ʃè) 'tongue'; lashe 'to lick'
| ''ns'' 'tongue' || Akkadian ''liša:nu'' 'tongue' || Kabyle ''iləs'' 'tongue'
|-
| to die || *maaw- || *mawut- || – || Rendille ''amut'' 'to die, to be ill' || Hausa ''mutu'' 'to die',<br /> Mubi ''ma:t'' 'to die' || ''mwt'' 'to die' || Hebrew ''mwt'', 'to die'<br /> Geʽez ''mo:ta'' 'to die' || Kabyle ''əmmət'' 'to die'
|-
| to fly, to soar || *pîr- || *pir- || (cf. Yemsa ''fill-'' 'to jump';<br /> Dime ''far'' 'to jump') || Beja ''fir'' 'to fly' || Hausa ''fi:ra'' 'to soar';<br> Mafa ''parr'', ''perr'' 'bird's flight'  || ''pꜣ'' 'to fly';<br /> ''prj'' 'to soar, rise' || Ugaritic ''pr'' 'to flee';<br /> Arabic ''frr'' 'to flee' || Ahogar ''fərə-t'' 'to fly'
|-
| name || *sǔm / *sǐm- || *süm- || – || – || Hausa ''su:na:'' 'name';<br /> Sura ''sun'' 'name';<br /> Ga'anda ''ɬim'' 'name' || – || Akkadian ''šumu'' 'name' || Kabyle ''isəm'' 'name'
|-
| to sour || *s'ăm- || – || Mocha ''č'àm-'' 'to be bitter' || PEC ''*cam-'' 'to rot' || ''*s'am'' 'sour'; Hausa (t)sʼáː.mí 'sour'
| ''smj'' 'curds' 
| Arabic ''sumūț'' 'to begin to turn sour' || –
|-
| to spit || *tuf- || *tuf- || – || Beja ''tuf'' 'to spit';<br /> Kemant ''təff y-'' 'to spit';<br /> Somali ''tuf'' 'to spit' || Hausa t''u:fa 'to spit'''|| ''tf'' 'to spit' || Aramaic ''tpp'' 'to spit';<br /> Arabic ''tff'' 'to spit' || –
|-
| to rend, tear || *zaaʕ- || – || Gamo ''zaʔ'' 'to rend, split' || Dahalo ''ḏaaʕ-'' 'to rend, to tear (of an animal tearing its prey)'<br /> Kw'adza ''daʔ-'' 'to bite'{{efn| Ehret's dictionary lists "Proto-South-Cushitic ''*daaʕ-'' 'to rend, tear', a root he reconstructs from the two words listed here in {{harvnb|Ehret|1980}}.}} || Ngizim ''dáar-'' 'to cut into long strips' || || Arabic ''zaʕy-'' 'to snatch violently from, tear out' || –
|}
:''Abbreviations:'' PEC='Proto-Eastern Cushtic'.