Introduction

A whole pile of words for things with shells and exoskeletons built on something like *kar-

Some of these are probably each of

1. Wander words for crabs from an unknown substrate
2. Derivations from possible Proto-Indo-European roots *krew-, *kh₂er-, (s)ker-, and/or *(s)kerp- with meanings related to "hard" and/or "circular"
3. Independent innovations based on sound symbolism
4. Coincidence

In other words: carcinization: one of the many attempts of [human language] to evolve the word crab!

Teaser

scarab, crab, crayfish, crawl, incarcerate, cancer, cancel, chancellor, scorpion, Galapagos

Full Text

• Unknown substrate *Kar-

  • Semitic *ʿqr

    • Semitic *ʿaqrab- scorpion ^[1]

      • Central Semitic

        • Arabic عَقْرَب ʿaqrab scorpion, dial

          • Maltese għakreb scorpion
          • Persian عقرب 'aqrab
          • Spanish alacrán scorpion

            • Tagalog alakdan scorpion
          • Turkish akrep scorpion
        • Northwest Semitic

          • Aramaic 𐡏𐡒𐡓𐡁𐡀 ‘eqarbā scorpion

            • Classical Syriac ܥܩܪܒܐ ‘eqarbā scorpion, Scorpio
          • Canaanite

            • Hebrew עַקְרָב 'akráv scorpion, Scorpio
            • Phoenician 𐤏𐤒𐤓𐤁 ʿqrḇ
          • Ugaritic 𐎓𐎖𐎗𐎁 ʿqrb scorpion
      • East Semitic

        • Akkadian *aqrabu

          • Akkadian aqrabuamelu scorpion-man
      • South Semitic

        • Ethiopic

          • Ge'ez ዐቅረብ ʿäḳräb
  • Pre-Albanian *kartˢila

    • Albanian gërthje crab
  • Classical Greek κᾱ́ρᾰβος kā́rabos beetle, crayfish, small boat

    • Byzantine Greek κάβουρας kábouras

      • Greek καβούρι kavoúri crab

        • Albanian gaforre crab
    • Latin carabus

      • Western Romance

        • Portuguese carabo

          • Portuguese caravela

            • English caravel
      • Translingual Carabus taxonomic genus of carabid beetles
    • Latin scarabaeus scarab, black dung beetle kā́rabos + s-mobile?

      • Western Romance

        • French escarbot dung beetle
        • Italian scarafaggio cockroach
        • Spanish escarabajo beetle
      • French scarabée scarab, beetle

        • English scarab
      • Italian scarabeo scarab, beetle
      • Translingual Scarabaeus taxonomic genus of scarab beetles
    • Aramaic

      • Classical Syriac ܩܪܒܝܢ qarābīn cargo boat
      • Arabic قَارِب qārib small boat, skiff, dingy
  • Germanic *krabbô crab

    • North Germanic

      • Old Norse krabbi crab

        • Danish krabbe crab
        • Icelandic krabbi crab

          • Icelandic krabbamein cancer
        • Swedish krabba

          • Finnish rapu crayfish, crab, decapod
    • West Germanic

      • Old English crabba crab, crayfish

        • English crab
      • Frankish

        • Dutch krab crab
      • Old Saxon *krabbo

        • Middle Low German krabbe

          • Low German Krabb crab, crayfish, prawn
          • German Krabbe crab, shrimp, crocket
          • Estonian krabi crab
    • East Baltic

      • Lithuanian krabas
    • Slavic *krabъ crab

      • East Slavic

        • Russian краб krab crab
        • Ukrainian краб krab crab
      • South Slavic

        • Serbo-Croatian краба kraba crab
      • West Slavic

        • Polish krab crab
    • Germanic *krabitaz

      • West Germanic

        • Frankish *krebit

          • Dutch kreeft lobster, crayfish
          • Old French

            • Norman

              • French crevette shrimp

                • English crevette
                • Polish krewetka shrimp
                • Russian креве́тка krevétka shrimp, prawn
          • Frankish *krebtija diminutive

            • Old French crevez

              • French écrevisse crayfish
              • English crayfish
              • English crawfish

                • English crawdad
        • Old High German krebiz

          • German Krebs crab, Cancer, cancer

            • Danish krebs crayfish, Cancer
        • Old Saxon *krevit

          • Low German Krefft crayfish, lobster

            • Danish kræft cancer

              • Kalaallisut kræfti cancer
            • Swedish kräfta crayfish, Cancer

              • English crabble
    • Germanic *krabbōnã

      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse krabba

          • Icelandic krabbe to move like a crab, to scuttle, to stumble
      • West Germanic

        • Frankish

          • Dutch krabben to scratch, to claw
    • Germanic *krabblōnã to move like a crab, to crawl, to scratch

      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse krafla

          • Danish kravle to crawl, to climb
          • Icelandic krafla
          • English crawl
      • West Germanic

        • Frankish *krabbalon

          • Dutch krabbelen to scrawl, to scribble, to scratch
        • Old High German *krabbalōn

          • German krabbeln to crawl, to tickle
  • Classical Greek κᾱρῑ́ς kārī́s shrimp, prawn
  • Classical Greek κραγγών krangṓn shrimp, mantis shrimp
  • Classical Greek καρκῐ́νος karkínos crab, Cancer, ulcer, cancer, compass calipers, pair of compasses (circle drawing tool)

    • Old Armenian

      • Armenian կարկին karkin pair of compasses (circle drawing tool)
    • Classical Greek κᾰρκῐ́νωμᾰ karkínōma

      • Latin carcinōma carcinoma

        • English carcinoma
    • English carcinization
  • Italic *karkros

    • Latin carcer prison, jail, lattice of bars, starting gate

      • Latin carcerō to jail

        • Western Romance

          • French chartre
          • Italian carcere
          • Spanish cárcel
        • Brythonic *karxar

          • Welsh carchar
        • German Karzer

          • Russian ка́рцер kárcer
        • German Kerker
        • Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍂𐌺𐌰𐍂𐌰 karkara
        • Latin incarcerō to put in jail

          • Latin incarcerātus

            • English incarcerate
    • Italic *kankros dissimilation

      • Latin cancer crab, tumor, lattice

        • Western Romance

          • French chancre crab, lobster, canker, chancre

            • English chancre
        • Old English cancer

          • English canker
        • English cancer
        • French cancre idiot, crayfish
        • French cancer cancer
      • Latin cancellus grid, screen of bars, barred door

        • Latin cancellō I make into a lattice, I cover with a lattice or grid, I cross out

          • Western Romance

            • Old French

              • French chanceler to waver, to falter, to wobble, to stagger
              • Anglo-Norman

                • English cancel
            • Italian cancellàre to delete, to cross out, to erase, to cancel
            • Spanish cancelar to cancel, to call off, to liquidate, to pay a debt
        • Latin cancellārius doorkeeper, secretary

          • Western Romance

            • French chancelier chancellor

              • English chancellor

                • Irish seansailéir chancellor
              • Old Spanish chanciller chancellor

                • Spanish canciller chancellor learned remodeling toward the Latin
            • Old High German kanzilari

              • German Kanzler chancellor
      • Latin crancus

        • Western Romance

          • Occitan cranc crab
        • Brythonic *krank crab

          • Welsh cranc crab
          • Vulgar Latin cranculus

            • Western Romance

              • Italian granchio crab, mistake
              • Spanish cangrejo crab
              • Maltese granċ crab
  • Classical Greek ​​σκορπῐ́ος skorpíos scorpion, Scorpio, Scorpius with s-mobile?

    • Greek σκορπιός scorpion, Scorpio, Scorpius
    • Latin scorpiō scorpion

      • Western Romance

        • French scorpion

          • English scorpion
          • Dutch schorpioen
        • Italian scorpione
        • Spanish escorpión
      • Albanian shkrap scorpion
      • English Scorpio
      • Irish scairp
    • Sanskrit 𑀓𑁅𑀭𑁆𑀧𑀺 kaurpi Scorpio
    • Classical Greek σκόρπαινᾰ skórpaina scorpionfish

      • Latin scorpaena scorpionfish

        • Western Romance

          • Italian scorfano scorpionfish
        • French scorpène

          • English sculpin
        • Translingual Scorpaena taxonomic genus of scorpionfish
  • Indo-Iranian *kar-

    • Indo-Aryan *kar

      • Indo-Aryan *kar-?

        • Sanskrit कर्कट karkaṭa crab, Cancer

          • Elu

            • Dhivehi ކަކުނި kakuni crab
          • Magadhi

            • Assamese কেঁকোৰা kẽküra crab
            • Bengali কাঁকড়া kãkṛa crab
          • Maharashtri

            • Marathi खेकडा khekḍā crab
          • Pali 𑀓𑀓𑁆𑀓𑀝𑀓 kakkaṭaka crab, Cancer

            • Khmer កក្កដា kɑkkaʼdaa July, Cancer
          • Sauraseni 𑀓𑀓𑁆𑀓𑀟 kakkaḍa

            • Hindi केकड़ा kekṛā crab
          • Telugu కర్కటము karkaṭamu crab, Cancer
          • Thai กรกฎ gɔɔ-rá-gòt crab, Cancer
          • Tibetan ཀརྐ་ཊ krka-ṭa

            • Tibetan ཀརྐ་ཊ་སྐར་ཚོམ་ krka-ṭa-kâ-tsho Cancer lit. "crab star accumulation"
    • Iranian *kar-

      • Iranian *kar-pu?

        • Avestan 𐬐𐬵𐬀𐬭𐬞𐬎 kharpu crab
      • Iranian *kari-čanaka- second element *čang: "claw"

        • Western Iranian

          • Northwestern Iranian

            • Kurdish kevjal crab
            • Middle Armenian քարժանկ kʿaržank crayfish
          • Old Persian

            • Persian خرچنگ xarčang crab
        • Old Armenian կարիճ karič scorpion, Scorpius

          • Armenian կարիճ karič scorpion, crayfish, Scorpius
  • Slavic *čȇrpъ shell, shard, potsherd, skull

    • East Slavic черепъ čerepŭ

      • Russian че́реп čérep skull
      • Ukrainian череп čerep skull

        • Polish czerep skull, head
      • East Slavic *čȇrpaxa ^[2]

        • Belarusian чарапа́ха čarapáxa turtle
        • Russian черепа́ха čerepáxa turtle, turtle shell
        • Ukrainian черепа́ха čerepáxa turtle
    • South Slavic

      • Old Church Slavonic чрѣпъ črěpŭ
      • Serbo-Croatian цре̑п crȇp roof tile
    • West Slavic

      • Czech střep shard
      • Polish trzop clay pot
  • Iberian *calappacu shell

    • Spanish carapacho carapace, shell

      • French carapace shell

        • English carapace
        • English calipash
    • Spanish galápago turtle

      • Spanish Islas Galápagos Turtle Islands (place name)

        • English Galapagos
    • Spanish calabaza gourd, pumpkin
  • Austroasiatic

    • Mon-Khmer *kt₁aːm

      • Khmeric

        • Khmer ក្ដាម kdaam crab
      • Monic

        • Mon ဂတာံ gatāṁ crab

          • Burmese ကဏန်း ka.nan: crab
      • Vietic

        • Vietnamese đam freshwater crab
      • Aslian

        • Temiar gantam crab
        • Malay ketam crab
    • Munda

      • Santali ᱠᱟᱴᱠᱳᱢ kaʈkom crab
  • Sino-Tibetan *d-kraːj crab

    • Old Chinese *m-kˤreʔ

      • Middle Chinese 蟹 ɦˠɛX crab

        • Mandarin 蟹 xiè crab
        • Wu 蟹 ha² crab
        • Yue 蟹 haai⁵ crab
    • Karenic *chwɛᴮ

      • S’gaw Karen ဆွဲၣ် hsweh̀ crab
    • Sal

      • Jingpho chahkan crab
    • Sino-Tibetan *s-diːk scorpion, crab, shrimp

      • Tibeto-Burman

        • Bodish

          • Tibetan སྡིག་པ sdig pa scorpion, evil, malign, sin
          • Tibetan སྡིག་སྲིན sdig srin crab
  • Karto-Zan *ḳrčxib-

    • Georgian კირჩხიბი ḳirčxibi lobster, crab, Cancer

      • Georgian კიბორჩხალა ḳiborčxala crab

        • Georgian კიბო ḳibo barnacle, tumor, cancer
    • Mingrelian გირჯღიბე girǯɣibe tick
  • Unknown substrate *raK- metathesis?

    • Semitic

      • East Semitic

        • Akkadian 𒁄𒄀 raqqu turtle

          • Classical Syriac ܪܩܐ raqqā turtle
    • Slavic *ràkъ crayfish

      • East Slavic

        • Russian рак rak crayfish, Cancer, cancer
        • Ukrainian рак rak crayfish, cancer
      • South Slavic

        • Serbo-Croatian ра̏к rȁk crab, cancer
        • Hungarian rák crab, lobster, cancer
      • West Slavic

        • Polish rak cancer, crayfish, crampon, Cancer

          • Polish Raków (Place)-of-Crayfish (place name)

            • English Raków
        • Old Norse

          • Danish reje shrimp, prawn

            • Kalaallisut raaja shrimp, prawn
          • Icelandic rækja shrimp

Visual

Collected English words

caravel, Carabus, scarab, Scarabaeus, crab, crevette, crayfish, crawfish, crawdad, crawl, crabble, carcinoma, carcinization, incarcerate, chancre, canker, cancer, cancel, chancellor, scorpion, Scorpio, sculpin, Scorpaena, carapace, calipash, Galapagos, Raków

Footnotes

1. ^

   Proto-Semitic *ʿaqrab-: "scorpion" includes the *-(a)b- that appears in a number of animal names: e.g., *ðiʾb-: "wolf", *θaʿlab-: "fox", *dabb-: "bear", suggesting an earlier form of the root *ʿaqr-, which makes more similar with the various other scorpion/crab/beetle words of unknown origin.

2. ^

   East Slavic *čȇrpaxa: "turtle" is remarkably similar looking to Spanish carapacho: "carapace, shell" (-> English carapace), but the East Slavic is clearly derived from Slavic *čȇrpъ: "shell, shard, potsherd, skull" (which itself looks remarkable similar to Avestan kharpu: "crab"), where the Spanish is assumed to be from the same pre-Roman Iberian substrate as calabaza: "gourd" and galápago: "turtle".

   Unless calabaza is from Persian خربزه xarboze: "melon", itself of unknown origin, but تربز tarboz—with a t-—is probably closer to the original form of that word. It's all very confusing.