κερασός

Etymology
A loanword of uncertain origin, considering the intervocalic -σ- either or.

Comparison with is rejected by Rosół and Blažek.

Blažek argues that the ultimate source of the word may well be Semitic, e. g. or 🇨🇬, compare the Aramaic borrowing 🇨🇬, where it has to be known that  and  species can be denoted by the same word, for example  and 🇨🇬 with 🇨🇬. He argues that assimilation *-mš- > *-š- is attested in several NW Semitic languages of the 2nd millennium BC, and hypothesizes that metathesis *k-(m)š-r- > *k-r-(m)š- might have happened either in an unidentified mediator language or a Semitic donor or (less probably so) in Greek itself. The change *t > š, necessary for the change of 🇨🇬 to the Greek word, is to be found in 🇨🇬 and early 🇨🇬.

The scholar also notes that the related cultural term seems to be widespread in Caucasian languages; compare (not to list over a dozen lemmata) 🇨🇬 and 🇨🇬, reconstructed protoform 🇨🇬, and possibly 🇨🇬 with metathesis, attested in some Abkhaz compound words.

Noun

 * 1) bird cherry,  tree