ܠܫܢܐ ܕܝܢ ܐܢܫ ܠܐ ܐܫܟܚ ܕܢܟܒܫܝܘܗܝ

'But the tongue can no man tame' – goes the above Aramaic biblical verse, including the interesting ܕܢܟܒܫܝܘܗܝ [dnekbšiyūhī], which literally means 'that he subdue it', from the root ܟܒܫ [kbaš] 'to subdue'. Cognate with Hebrew כבש [kaváš] 'subjugate' and Arabic كبس [kábas] 'apply pressure', the latter is reminiscent of an age-old Levantine contest called كباش [kbǣš] 'arm-wrestling', which – together with the related widespread verb كابش [kǣbaš] 'challenge one another's arm's strength' and in light of the known correspondence between Aramaic [š] and Arabic [s] – is yet another evidence of the Aramaic roots of the non-Hebrew Levantine language and culture.