The Etymology of Meschino and Its Cognates

It is generally recognized that Italian meschino and French mesquin go back to Arab, miskîn ‘poor, humble, submissive’. To Semitists it is obvious, moreover, that the latter form cannot be a direct, inner-Arabic development from one of the roots which appear as skn. The adjective is found also in Ethiopic and Aramaic (meskîn), and in Hebrew (miskên); now if the Arab, form had been derived from skn ‘dwell, rest’, the Heb. and Aram, cognates would have displayed š (from škn), in accordance with the normal laws of correspondence between the Northwest-Sem. and Arab, sibilants. Since, however, the Heb. and Aram, forms of the adjective in question are written with the samek-sign. ( s , which remains unchanged in the Sem. languages), the word cannot be related to s/škn 'dwell, etc.'; Arab, sakuna 'to be poor' is thus clearly a separate root, in all probability a denominative.