The root of /Xsy/ is /-s-/, with X- (an /h/-type sound) being a prefix. The root of this term can be seen in the Yoruba language as the word /ṣẹ̀/ “to offend” and /ṣì/ “to miss.” The Yoruba word /ẹ̀ṣẹ̀/ “sin” is cognate with the Hebrew/Arabic word for “to sin” (< “to miss”): /ḥaṭa/. -ṣ- in Yoruba ṣi/eṣi and /ẹṣẹ/ corresponds to the -t- in Hebrew /hata’/. The initial h- drops in Yoruba. For a cross check we can examine two other Yoruba words: /òṣì/ “wretchedness” and /ìṣẹ̀/ “property.” They correspond with a homonym of Hebrew /hata’/, which means “penury” ("poverty, indigence, neediness, pennilessness"). The interchange between /s/ and /t/ in African languages is quite common. Historically the Yoruba thought of /ẹ̀ṣẹ̀/ “sin” as they thought of /àṣìṣe/ (à-ṣì-ṣe) “a mistaken deed, a deed that is wide of the mark” (< ṣì/ṣè; èṣì “an unprecedented mistake, an accidental error”).
In middle Egyptian, a cognate—which is actually a doublet in the language (or a possible loan)— for the word /Xsy/ is the word: /thj/ "go astray, attack (with), transgress, falsify, divert (pain), err, debauch, seduce, violate, mislead, overstep (path), disobey, impugn (one's character), falsify (account), rebel (against), neglect (appointed dates), reject (petitions), violate (corpse)." This is reflected in Yoruba as /àìtò/ “that which is not straight forward” and /àìye/ “that which is not befitting, the unbecoming.” The precise meanings have been staring the researchers in the face all this time. It was unrecognizable because of the linguistic feature of metathesis which switched the t-h phonemes (< X-s), and also because they chose not to look into African languages for clarity.
