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Help[Facts] Re: RFC: On the Biblical name Elymas
in reply to a message by elbowin
Not commenting on the specific case, but knowledge to magic is a very common semantic shift. I haven't checked the possible Afroasiatic etymology of proto-semitic *ʕlm or possible borrowing from arabic into berber.
Dream to magic is less common, but note that epigraphic evidence points to the South Arabian cognate of the KHLam root meaning oracular dream, and the feminine form meaning seeress, though in most semitic branches cognates just means dream or concepts related to wet dreams, puberty, virility and strength (Of course, some of this could indicate two different proto-semitic stems).
Dream to magic is less common, but note that epigraphic evidence points to the South Arabian cognate of the KHLam root meaning oracular dream, and the feminine form meaning seeress, though in most semitic branches cognates just means dream or concepts related to wet dreams, puberty, virility and strength (Of course, some of this could indicate two different proto-semitic stems).
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