خرچنگ

خرچنگ (definite accusative خرچنگی, plural خرچنگلر)

1. Arabic spelling of xərçəng

Having taken its present shape in New Persian through a folk association with خر (xar, “large; donkey”) and چنگ (čang, “claw”), the word goes back to Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (klcng /⁠karčang⁠/) (𐫞𐫏𐫡𐫉𐫗𐫃 (qyrzng /⁠karzang⁠/)). The ultimate source is Old Iranian *karičanaka-, from Proto-Iranian *kar-, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut, scratch”).

Related forms include Central Kurdish قرژاڵ (qerzhal), قرژانگ (qerzhang, “crab”), Southern Kurdish قِرژِنگ (qerzhang, “crab”), Northern Luri کرژنڳ (kerzheng), Zazaki kerkınc (“crab”), and Middle Armenian քարժանկ (kʻaržank, “crawfish”).

The second element varies in cognates such as Avestan 𐬐𐬵𐬀𐬭𐬞𐬎 (kharpu, “crab”), Sanskrit कर्कट (karkaṭa, “crab”), Old Armenian կարիճ (karič, “scorpion”), Ancient Greek καρίς (karís, “shrimp”), Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab”), and Latin cancer (“crab”). Compare also Ancient Greek κάραβος (kárabos, “beetle; crayfish”), Old Armenian քարբ (kʻarb, “asp, basilisk”), and the Semitic cluster headed by Arabic عَقْرَب (ʕaqrab, “scorpion”).

These wide-spread, phonetically similar terms (compare Proto-Germanic *krabbô) suggest an ideophonic origin - sound symbolism imitating the scratchy movement of crustaceans and similar creatures.

خرچنگ • (xarčang) (plural خرچنگ‌ها)

1. crab (crustacean)

• → Azerbaijani: xərçəng
• → Gujarati: ખરચંગ (kharcaṅg)
• → Ottoman Turkish: خرچنگ (harçeng)

• Hübschmann, Heinrich (1895) Persische Studien [Persian Studies] (in German), Strasbourg: K.J. Trübner, page 54