Biblical Kush/Cush (or Kushan/Cushan) is attested (in some ancient languages) as a name for a black nation in the land of (lower) Nubia, as well as a name for a black minority in the land of Midian. the latter is also referred to as (the land of) “Kushan” in the Hebrew bible.
Kush, as word, is incredibly ancient, with fascinating etymology.
This word is attested as an ethnonym and a toponym, in the following languages:
Hebrew: kūš. (š represents sh sound)
Akkadian: kūšu and kūsu.
Ancient Egyptian: Akeš and kꜢš ( Ꜣ represents glottal stop)
Old Nubian: kas.
Meroitic (a Nubian language): qes and qos.
These languages belong to the same family, i.e. Afroasiatic Languages.
Wordforms of “Kush” are attested as:
– [CvCv] “kasa” (2 short open syllables)
– [CvC] “kas” (1 medium closed syllable)
– [vCvC] “akas” (2 short closed syllables)
C= stands for consonant, V: stands for vowel.
Language words started as short syllables, open, closed or both.
Short open syllable: [Cv] (e.g. English: no, be, hi)
Short closed syllable: [vC] (e.g. English: on, at, if)
Diachronically, medium closed syllable [CvC] is a shortened form of two open short syllables [CvCv].
In other words: [CvCv] developed into [CvC].
For example: Middle English: olde → Modern English: old.
That is to say, the probable proto-form of Kush is:
[vKvS] or its metathesized form [KvSv]
V: stands for vowel (e.g., akas or kasa).
The phonetic root of this proto-form is:
[k-s] (or [s-k])
Nubia ( or Kush) has two names in ancient Egyptian: Kăš and Seti.
According to Egyptologists, Seti means: bow or arch, but the meaning of Kăš is deemed “unclear”.
There are linguistic indications that Kăš and Seti are synonyms, they have the same or very similar meanings.
“Kush” in Old Nubian is kas, and in Meroitic (the ancient lamguage of Nubia) is: qos (or qes).
The Phonetic root of kăš, kas and qos is: [k-s]
This root is found in Semitic languages, in words such as:
Akkadian: qassu: an arch, curved.
Arabic: “qaws/قوس” (or qôs): bow, arch.
Hebrew: “qôš/קוֹשׁ”: to bend.
Aramaic: “qašet/קשת”: bow, an arch.
Syriac: “kūsta/ܟܘܼܣܬܵܐ”: a curvature , a curving , a bending (line or surface) , a bend , a curve , a bow , an arch (in architecture), a hunch (of the back).
Interesting Etymology
“kasa” (or akas) is an ancient polysemous morpheme, found in many Afroasiatic and Into-European languages.
It might be a “wanderwort”, or was inherited (in these languages) from an ancient common ancestor language.
The semantic root of this morpheme is: to bend forward, to fall and to sink.
Derived senses include: to curve, to coil, to encircle, to tangle, a curl, a loop, to turn, to cross , to exit, to circumvent a place, to be in the other side, to go down, to fall, to sink.
It is the etymon of Latin: “ex” (out from/out to the end of), English: “ox” (bull), Spanish: “ocaso” (turning down/decline/Sunset/West) as well as Hebrew: “קוֹשׁ/qôš” (to turn/to bend) and Arabic “ukša/عكشة” (bushy hair), beside numerous words in many languages.
Semantic illustrations
Seme and Sememe:
Seme corresponds to a single sense of a word.
Sememe is the full bundle of the semes of a word.
The original or earliest one of these semes is: the proto-seme.
For example: the sememe of “pond” includes: pool, puddle and pound (a trap or prison). The proto-seme of this sememe is: “confinement”.
The sememe of “akas” (or kasa) includes: curved, arched, bow, bull’s horns, bull, sun path, sunset, dusk, dark, west, woolly hair, bushy hair, wide and round nostril, Negroid nostril, and black person. The proto-seme of this sememe is: “to bend, to be bent, to be curved or to turn around”. It is still preserved in the Hebrew word: “קוֹשׁ/qôš“.
The sememe of [k-s] includes theses main semes:
01- “Parabolic trajectory“, The path an object takes when thrown, moving under gravity with constant horizontal speed and accelerated vertical fall.
02- Day Arc (Sun path): the daily arc-like path that the Sun appears to follow across the sky, (from sunrise to sunset).
03- “Arc motion“, the movement along a curved path, like a segment of a circle. A roundabout passage.
04- An arch constructed in an upside-down position, or the horns of the bull.
05- Negroid hair & wide round nostril
Arabic khuš-um: large wide nose or nostril.
Land of Kušan
kaš or kuš or kušan was a toponym for the narrow land bridge connecting Africa and Asia, which include the southernmost part of the Levant and the eastern coast of the Gulf of Aqaba. This land bridge was perceived as being curved path or roundabout passage.
Midian and Kušan
‘Midian‘ is an obsolete toponym, refers to: the eastern hinterland of the Gulf of Aqaba, the inland, regions and territories east of that narrow gulf.
According to the biblical scholar David Goldenberg, Hebrew Kušan (Cušan) is another name for Midian, the land of Semite Kushites (Cushites).
Cushites (כּוּשִׁים) are usually portrayed in the Bible as Negroid inhabitants of the of Midian. The Midianite Kushi person (כּוּשִׁי/כושית) is described as being of African descent. The land of these Cushites (Midian) is also called: “Kushan” (כוּשָׁן)
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