ܫܳܕܢܳܐ šdnʾ šāḏnā, ܫܕܢܓ šdng αἱματίτης haematite
Reborrowing: ܫܗܕܢܓ šhdng hemp-seed
Even if Syr. šdnʾ and šdng are not considered by LS in any mutual relation with Syr. šhdng, it is highly probable that šdng is an allotrope of Syr. šhdng, as suggested by Gignoux (personal communication). Consequently, the three Syr. words would come from MP šāh-dānag [šhdʾnk'] hemp-seed (CPD 79), NP šāhdāna, NP, Arab. šāhdānaǰ id. (Steingass 727). The semantic differentiation (haematite vs. hemp-seed)—starting from the same etymological and literal meaning of "royal seed", or "royal grain"—makes the hypothesis of a reborrowing more probable than the hypothesis of allotropes due to regressive adaptation (on this concept see § 10). See also Md. šadanak a kind of haematite used in preparing medicaments for the eyes (Drower – Macuch 1963, 439). Note that Syr. šdnʾ and šdng, which are the older and more adapted loanwords, show a formal resemblance with NP šādna, NP, Arab. šādanaǰ a kind of stone shaped as a lentil, and used medicinally for the eyes (Steingass 722), with the second /a/ short, whereas in MP šāh-dānag and NP šāhdāna, NP, Arab. šāhdānaǰ the second /a/ is long. In my opinion, it is possible that Syr. šdnʾ, šdng "haematite" passed into Arabic as šādanaǧ, and then was borrowed back into NP as šādanaǰ and here subsequently adapted as šādna, according to an automatic conversion rule (on the concept see § 9.3.2); the formal differentiation in Syriac between the words for "haematite" and "hemp-seed" may have been a consequence of the semantic specification of the term in the medical vocabulary. Cf. also dnqʾ ● šdnʾ, šdng Med 84, 15; BB 637, 7 and 8; 1936, 21; šhdng BB 1937u; Löw 211 ◆ LS 759a; 760a; Lagarde GA 82, 217 and 218; Duval index pers. 222