śmm / Semitic roots

1. sesame, sesamoid, from Greek sēsamē, sēsamon, from a Semitic source akin to Ugaritic ššmn, Phoenician ššmn, Aramaic šumšəmā, Arabic simsim, all probably from Akkadian šamaššammū, sesame, back-formation from *šaman šammammī, oil of plants, from šammī, genitive plural of šammu, plant (šaman, bound form of šamnu, oil; see šmn.). It is possible that the Akkadian form represents a folk etymology for an original form šamšamu, from a root *šmšm.

2. simoom, from Arabic samūm, hot wind, simoom, from samma, to poison, denominative from samm, poison, from Aramaic sammā, drug, from or akin to Akkadian šammu (see above).