Likely of native onomatopoeic origin; Semitic parallels are Classical Syriac ܒܐܘܐ (bawwā, “owl; hoopoe”) and Akkadian 𒁍𒌝𒄷 (/pûm, bûm; pa'û, ba'û/, “type of bird”) attested in the Old Babylonian Era, and more recently the owl name بُوهَة (būha), although resembling Middle Persian 𐭡𐭥𐭯 (bwp /būf/), also only parallelly formed to Latin būbō, Ancient Greek βύας (búas), and Old Armenian բու (bu).