ܟܝܪܝܓ kyryg Cheiranthus spec. L, iris, wallflower
Allotrope: ܟܝܪܝ kyry
NP xīrī name of a certain flower of which there are several species (Steingass 492). — Arab. ḫīrī gillyflower. Notwithstanding the final -g, the Syr. word must be a loanword from NP, because the corresponding MP form is hērīg iris, wallflower (CPD 43), as Gignoux (personal communication) suggests. Horn 1898, 180 claims that it is possible to individuate in xīrī a diminutive suffix -ī (on which see also s.v. bzy, above), on the basis of the comparison with NP xīrū (see the previous entry). However, the two terms have different meanings, as already pointed out by Horn, and the MP antecedent of NP xīrī is hērīg (see the following entry): it implies that the final -ī in xīrī is the regular outcome of MP -īg, and not the (rather dubious) diminutive suffix NP -ī; on the Ir. term and its Syr. correspondent see 9.3.2; Meier 1981, 155–156 ● BB 195, 17; 202pu; 208, 1 etc. ◆ LS 343a, Lagarde GA 60, 151; Duval index pers. 217