pay- (Proto-Semitic)
Where does "pay-" come from?
The Proto-Semitic noun 'pay-', meaning 'mouth'[1], has deep ancestral roots in the broader language family. It is possibly inherited from Proto-Afroasiatic[1], and it shares a cognate in Proto-Cushitic '*ʔaf-', which also translates to 'mouth'.
Open questions
- The derivation of the Proto-Semitic form from Proto-Afroasiatic is considered a possibility rather than a certainty. [1]
Full etymology tree
- *pay- (Proto-Semitic), 'mouth'
- derived (Proto-Afroasiatic)
Cognates and doublets
- *ʔaf- (Proto-Cushitic)
Sources
Updated August 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris