If you know Onkelos…

Proto-Semitic *ṯ. Arabic kept it as ث. Aramaic shifted to plain t. Hebrew shifted to ש. Same root, three different fates — and when Aramaic and Arabic stand together, Hebrew is the outlier.

Same *ṯ shift. The Arabic dual ending -ayn matches the Aramaic -ēn ending exactly. Hebrew's -ayim is a related dual — the morphology agrees across all three, but only Arabic and Aramaic kept the consonant.

Hebrew shōr, Aramaic tōr, Arabic ṯawr — same beast, same word, three different sibilants. The constellation Taurus is the same word: 'the bull.'

Proto-Semitic *ḏ. Arabic kept it as ذ. Aramaic shifted to d. Hebrew shifted to ז. Modern Arabic ḏahab and Onkelos' dəhab are still recognizably the same word.

The same *ḏ shift again. The verb for ritual slaughter — kosher and ḥalāl alike use this one root: ḏabaḥ in Arabic, dəbaḥ in Onkelos, zāvaḥ in the Torah.

*ḏ → Aramaic d, Hebrew ז, Arabic ḏ. Aramaic and Arabic are almost identical: udnā / uḏun. Hebrew ozen took the third path.

Proto-Semitic *ṣ́ (an emphatic lateral, gone from every modern language). Arabic became ض. Aramaic became ע. Hebrew became צ. Same word: earth/land.

One root, two senses across all three languages: 'male' and 'remember.' (To name a son was to keep the name alive.) Same *ḏ split: Arabic ذ, Aramaic d, Hebrew ז.

M-L-K. Three letters, same meaning across all Semitic languages. The Hebrew name Malki-tzedek and the Arabic name Malik are the same word.

The greeting that crosses every border. Shalom, shlām, salām — same root, same wish, three pronunciations.

Arabic sifr specifically means a book of scripture — the Quran calls the books of the Torah 'al-asfār.' Same word as the Torah's own ספר.

K-T-B. The verb 'to write' is identical in all three. A kātib in Arabic is a scribe — the same act as a Hebrew sofer's.

Navi, nəviyyā, nabī. The same word the Quran uses for Mūsā and Ibrāhīm. The root is shared with Akkadian — a 'called one,' summoned to speak.

Kohen, kāhanā, kāhin. The Arabic word kept the older meaning of seer/diviner; the Hebrew specialized to Temple service. The Quran uses kāhin for pre-Islamic Arabian priests.

The verb Israel is called to recite twice daily. In Arabic prayer: samiʿa Allāhu liman ḥamidah — 'God hears whoever praises Him.' Same root, same theology.

Q-R-ʾ. The root behind both 'Quran' (the recitation) and the Torah's mikra (the reading). Aramaic qrā means both call and read.

A false friend in the making. Hebrew and Aramaic both mean 'said.' Arabic amara shifted to 'commanded.' But the root is one, and Quran/Torah readers meet it daily.

Identical letters in all three. Hebrew/Aramaic dīn = law, judgment. Arabic dīn shifted to 'religion' (the law one follows). Yawm al-dīn = day of judgment.

Ḥ-K-M. A Hakham, a Hakim — same word, two cultures using the same title for sages, judges, and physicians.

Hebrew/Aramaic olam = forever, eternity. Arabic ʿālam shifted to 'world.' Both senses converge in the medieval phrase olam ha-zeh / al-ʿālam — 'this world.'

Eved / ʿabd. Same word — and the same theology: a worshipper of God is His servant. The names Ovadia and ʿAbdallāh are the same name.

Hebrew uses hitpallel. Aramaic and Arabic share צלי / ṣallā — to pray. The Muslim ṣalāh and the Aramaic tzlota are the same word; Onkelos uses tzlī wherever the Torah says hitpallel.

Aramaic səgīd = Arabic sajada — the verb at the root of masjid (mosque) and sajdah (prostration). Onkelos uses סגד for Hebrew hishtaḥavah throughout.

B-Y-T. The most ordinary word. A bayit is a bayt is a beita. Bethlehem = bayt laḥm, 'house of bread.'

Yad, yad, yad. The most stable body-part word across Semitic. Yedidya = beloved of God; ya yedi in colloquial Arabic = 'O my hand!' — an exclamation.

Rosh / resh / raʾs. Also: 'leader' in all three (rosh ha-yeshiva, raʾīs). The letter ר / ر itself is named after this word.

ʿAyin / ʿayn means both 'eye' and 'water-spring' in all three — the metaphor (springs as the earth's eyes) is older than any of the languages.

Lisan al-ʿArab is the great medieval Arabic dictionary; leshon ha-kodesh is Hebrew's name for itself. Same root, same metaphor: the language is the tongue.

Hebrew uses yayin — but Aramaic and Arabic share the OTHER Semitic root for wine: ḥamar / khamr. Onkelos always translates יין as חמרא, the exact Arabic word.

Nahar, nahrā, nahr. The four rivers of Eden and the Nahr al-Furāt (Euphrates) carry the same word.

ʾ-K-L. Eat. The noun forms maʾakhal (food) and maʾkūl share the same root and the same morphological pattern.

Q-W-M. Talitha kumi (girl, arise) is famous from the Gospels — the same verb as Arabic qāma yaqūm. Islamic prayer opens with qiyām, the standing.

Mūt, māta, mēt. The verb 'to die' is one of the oldest stable Semitic words. Arabic mayyit = corpse.

L'chaim / la-ḥayāt — to life. The Arabic blessing ḥayyāka Allāh = 'may God give you life.' Eve's name in Genesis (חוה) is from this root in all three languages.

Shem / shmā / ism. The opening word of every Quran chapter — bismillāh (b-ism-Allāh, 'in the name of God') — uses the same word Onkelos uses for Hebrew shem.

A Talmudic-Aramaic word for shop/tavern — and Maghrebi Arabic ḥānūt means exactly the same thing. The word migrated with merchants across the medieval Mediterranean.

Shtar (Talmudic for a written contract) shares its root with Arabic saṭr — 'a line' or 'a written line.' A Jewish marriage contract is a shtar; an Arabic line of poetry is a saṭr.

Talmudic Aramaic לית = Arabic laysa = 'is not.' Hebrew uses אין. The proverb 'leit din v'leit dayan' (there is no judgment, there is no Judge) is built on this word.

Talmudic mārē (and Marana-tha, 'our Lord, come') shares its root with Arabic mawlā — 'lord, patron.' Onkelos uses רבון for אדון; mārē is the rabbinic-Aramaic word.

Same root as sefer (book). Arabic safīr came to mean 'ambassador' (one who carries letters across borders). The connection: it all turns on a written document going somewhere.