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1. Etymology and Semitic Dialects. The etymology of baqar cannot be determined precisely. It is unlikely that it is a derivative of bqr I piel, “to investigate, pay heed to.” baqar is found mainly in West Semitic dialects.

a. In a Mari letter, it is reported: “The soldiers and the cattle (buqāru) are in good condition,” i.e., the soldiers and their supply of meat are in good order. No other examples from Mari are known.

b. There is no example of buqāru in Assyrian; but cf. b/pug/qurru. bugurra appears in KAR, 154, verso 11 as a sacrifice, and in SV AT, 13, 34 verso 1 with the determinative UZU as sacrificial meat of an ox or a sheep. There is probably no relationship between baqar and Assyr. bakkaru, “young camel,” “young ass,” cf. Heb. bekher. The Akkadian word that corresponds to Heb. baqar is lītu(m) II, later littu I, “cow.”

c. In Northwest Semitic dialects, bqr does not appear in Ugaritic, Moabite, or Amurritic. Phoen. bqr occurs in the Kilamuwa Inscription (825 B.C.) along with sheep—flock of sheep, cattle (ʾlp)—herd of cattle (bqr), linen—byssus, as wealth and possessions. The reading of the example of Inscription II from Larnax Lapethos is disputed: some read smdt bqr, “a yoke of oxen,” while others read, [k]tbt wsmrt bqr, “[the tablet of bronze] which I … wrote and fastened on the wall.” Middle Hebrew has the words bāqār, “cattle,” baqrūt, “cattle-shed, stable,” and baqqār, “cowboy.”

d. bqr and its derivatives are found in Western and Eastern Aramaic, and baqara, “herdsman,” “herd of cattle,” and baqra, “herd,” “paddock,” occur in Mandean.

e. In Southwest Semitic dialects, we may compare Arab. baqar, pl. buqūr, abāqir, “ox,” “cow,” ubqūr, “cow,” “ox,” and perhaps baqqār, “breeder of oxen.” In the Old South Arab. Inscriptions, bqr appears often among the spoils: children, cattle (bʿr) (camels, oxen [bqrm], asses, small livestock).

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