Etymologically uncertain. Contra Leslau (LS 424), direct comparison to PS *ŝap-at- ‘lip’ is difficult because of the phonological irregularity. Johnstone compares the Soqotri word with Mhr. ŝəbōwəṯ ‘hair on the face’ (ML 372), Jib. ŝiɔ́ṯ id. (JL 246), which may be not unreasonable (etymological *-t, including < *-ṯ, reinterpreted as the feminine marker is well attested in Soqotri, cf. mi ‘death’, ŝelɛ ‘three’). Alternatively, cf. Arb. šabāt- ‘the point of the extremity of anything; the portion with which one cuts (in a sword); the two sides of the tapering head of a sandal’, all with relatively feasible shifts from/to “lip”.