خاتم

Where it comes from

Of uncertain chain of etymology; once thought to be a borrowing from Aramaic, but deemed unlikely as had the word been borrowed from Biblical Hebrew חוֹתָם (ḥōtām) or Aramaic חוֹתָמָא (ḥōtāmā) / ܚܵܘܬܵܡܵܐ (ḥāwtāmā, “seal”), it would probably have started with a /ḥ/, unless the Arabic has been borrowed from it in the incipient 1st millennium BC or earlier when Aramaic still distinguished the sounds; the initial /ḫ/ in Arabic word suggests therefore that it is derived from the same source as the latter. Ultimately suspected to be from or related to Egyptian ḫtm (“seal”), however not being attested in Akkadian or Ugaritic. The root خ ت م (ḵ t m) “related to finishing, sealing” would then be derived from this borrowing; the like in every Semitic language.

Alternatively, there is a hypothetical reconstruction as Proto-Afroasiatic *qatam- (“ring, signet”), being the source of both the Proto-Semitic *ḫatm- and Egyptian ḫtm, as well as Miya katam (“ring”) potentially a separate West Chadic development. Compare also طَابَع (ṭābaʕ, “seal, stamp”), representing either an Akkadian 𒋰 (ṭepûm, to imprint or impress) or an Egyptian ḏbꜥwt (“signet, seal”) equivalent and for more on the foreign pattern فَاعَل (fāʕal) see عَالَم (ʕālam).