Appendix:Aramaic terms only attested in borrowings
Abstract edit
This is only for terms known to be or have been used in other languages and are reasonably likely considered Aramaic borrowings. Treatises in ancient or medieval languages other than Aramaic may also merely mention or transcribe—often affected by corrupted readings—Aramaic or in particular Syriac terms, which should be the matter of a separate list; although for rare terms the difference may appear indistinct. Both lists may be useful for Aramaic philologers hunting down hitherto not directly known forms or meanings, which is also desirable for the completion of etymologies in the other languages.
List of borrowings edit
Nature edit
Animals edit
| Terms | Remarks about the Aramaic attestation |
|---|---|
| Arabic جُرَذ (juraḏ, “rat”) | Iranian origin is likely, but the Arabic term, also of the revealing form جِرْذَوْن (jirḏawn) supported by Modern South Arabian, was hardly borrowed directly but likely mediated by Aramaic, which has a completely different Syriac vocalization meaning “beaver”. |
| Old Armenian առնէտ (aṙnēt, “rat”) | Supposed Classical Syriac, but there not with this ending. |
| Old Armenian խլուրդ (xlurd, “mole”) | Variant form. |
| Old Armenian կուղբ (kułb, “beaver”) | The vocalism. |
| Arabic يَسْرُوع (yasrūʕ, “caterpillar”) | Missing term from the root שׁ־ר־ע / ܫ-ܪ-ܥ (š-r-ʿ). |
| Arabic سِحْلِيَّة (siḥliyya, “lizard”), with dialect forms | |
| Arabic حِسْل (ḥisl, “young of a spiny-tailed lizard”) | |
| Middle Armenian խլէզ (xlēz, “lizard”) | |
| Arabic حُوت (ḥūt, “fish”) | We seek an old form of Aramaic חויא (ḥiwyā) / ܚܘܝܐ (ḥewyā, “snake”) + -ūṯ-, a suffix that does not exist in Arabic, originally “sea-snake”. |
| Arabic دُخَس (duḵas, “dolphin; whale; dugong”) | |
| Arabic سُلَحْفَاة (sulaḥfāh, “turtle”) | Missing forms. |
| Arabic مَحَار (maḥār, “oyster; mother of pearl”) | Aramaic origin is equally likely as a native Arabic origin. See also زلف (“mother-of-pearl-shell”) traditionally transmitted with spurious glosses in Arabic and for Aramaic only Classical Syriac has the word attested, in the meaning “oyster”. |
| Arabic حَارُود (ḥārūd, “beaver”) | See it. |
Plants, fungi, drugs edit
| Terms | Remarks about the Aramaic attestation- |
|---|---|
| Arabic دَحْمَرْتَا (daḥmartā) | Would be Syriac. |
| Arabic مُغَاث (muḡāṯ) | Supposedly Syriac. |
| Arabic أُقْحُوَان (ʔuqḥuwān), قُحْوَان (quḥwān) | |
| Arabic كَلْخ (kalḵ), somewhen قَلْح (qalḥ) | Plant meanings. |
| Arabic خِطْمِيّ (ḵiṭmiyy), خَطْمِيّ (ḵaṭmiyy), خِتْمِيّ (ḵitmiyy), خَتْمِيّ (ḵatmiyy) | |
| Arabic بَرْوَق (barwaq) | Plant meaning. |
| Arabic رَقَف (raqaf), رَكَف (rakaf) | Only for the former in -tā feminine byform the vowels of which are not known except by guess from the Arabic. |
| Arabic لَصَف (laṣaf) | This is the main form in Arabic, followed by أَصَف (ʔaṣaf). In Aramaic only forms mirroring rare نَصَف (naṣaf) are directly known. |
| Arabic شَفَلَّح (šafallaḥ) | |
| Arabic شِيزَى (šīzā) | Only in -tā feminine form attested. |
| Arabic دَلَّاع (dallāʕ) | This is often in Mishnaic Hebrew. Once attested in the plural in Imperial Aramaic but CAL declares it borrowed from Hebrew. |
| Arabic كُولَان (kūlān) | Only attested in -īṯa derivative, and in Punic! |
| Arabic مَقْلِيَاثَا (maqliyāṯā, “cress”) | Missing, Syriac. |
| Arabic حُرْف (ḥurf, “cress”) | This word means ”pungency” in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, a “kind of plant” in Mandaic or just a pungent one in general and in Syriac is a corruption of the forms for “carrot”, Brockelmann, Carl (1928) Lexicon Syriacum (in Latin), 2nd edition, Halle: Max Niemeyer, published 1995, page 258b, Löw, Immanuel (1881) Aramæische Pflanzennamen[1] (in German), Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, page 87. |
| Arabic طَرْثُوث (ṭarṯūṯ), طَرْثُوت (ṭarṯūt) | Apparently reflecting a term ending in -ūṯā with varying reflex of begedkefet. |
| Arabic شُوفَان (šūfān) | Not in this meaning at least. Compare Old Armenian շփեմ (špʻem, “to rub”), to confirm that the Aramaic “rubbing” is the origin. |
| Arabic خَرْطَال (ḵarṭāl) | Not in this meaning. |
| Arabic بُرْدِيّ (burdiyy) or بَرْدِيّ (bardiyy) and Old Armenian պրտու (prtu) and Assyrian Neo-Aramaic ܦܪܬܘܟ (pirtūk) and some Kurdish forms | Vouchsafe the presence of such a word for “paper reed” in antiquity. |
| Arabic تُفَّاح (tuffāḥ) | According to Fraenkel this must have existed in the peculiar Aramaic lect from which Arabic acquired its loanwords. |
| Arabic إِجَّاص (ʔijjāṣ) | As Hebrew אַגָּס (ʾaggā́s, “pear”) and Akkadian 𒄑𒀭𒂵𒋗 (angašu, “pear or plum tree”) witness this word as well but there is the gap of emphatisization to Arabic, unattested topolects of Aramaic—which Arabic drew its loanword material from—well have featured both *אַגָּסָא (ʾaggāsā) and *אַגָּצָא (ʾaggāṣā), and possibly *אַגָּשָׁא (ʾaggāšā), the former two from more Assyrian and the last from more Babylonian consonantism of Akkadian, as appears for אֲרִיסָא (ʾărīsā) ~ אֲרִישָׁא (ʾărīšā); together with unwritten nasalized variants. |
| Hebrew תִּלְתָּן (tiltā́n) | Also borrowed into Punic. |
| Punic 𐤋𐤅𐤕 (lwt) transmitted from a coeval Dioskurides interpolator λαυάθ (lauáth, “Lonicera etrusca”) and λαουωθέν (laouōthén, “Dioscorea communis”) | These seem Aramaic reflexes of *lawaṯ- (“to wind”). |
| Arabic كَمَأ (kamaʔ) | This preserves the Akkadian form better than the actually attested Aramaic forms. |
| Arabic كَاشِم (kāšim) | |
| Arabic فَقُّوس (faqqūs) | |
| Arabic عُبَب (ʕubab), عُبْعُب (ʕubʕub, “winter cherry”) | While the root ع ب ب (ʕ-b-b) may have a native origin in meanings “gulping, chugging”, also for swallowing torrents (يَعْبُوب (yaʕbūb)) or waves (عُبَاب (ʕubāb)), thence secondarily “pouring” as in the likely native formation عَبِيبَة (ʕabība, “the exudation of certain plants”), Arabic عُبَب (ʕubab) and عُبْعُب (ʕubʕub) for Physaleae are less likely to derive from such ideas or to be inherited together with عِنَب (ʕinab, “grapes”) than to derive from the Aramaic cognate of the Arabic root ض ب ب (ḍ-b-b) related to sticking, density, tumorosity, as Classical Syriac ܥܒܐ (ʿəḇā, “to swell, to thicken”), in view of semantic plausibility as well as the distribution of the plant. |
| Arabic عَرْقُون (ʕarqūn) | Apparently because eyebright is little-mentioned in ancient and medieval literature. WP on Euphrasia: “The plant was known to classical herbalists, but then was not referred to until mentioned again in 1305.” The plant does not occur in Imm. Löw’s works on Aramaic plant names. |
| Middle Armenian աշարայ (ašaray), Armenian աշորա (ašora, “rye; grass; winter wheat seed”) | Missing term from the root cognate to Arabic root ش ع ر (š-ʕ-r), Proto-Semitic *śaʕr- (“hair”); if from Aramaic and not a more obscure Northwest Semitic language then rather not later than the first half of the first millennium BCE due to Proto-Semitic *ś becoming /s/ thereafter. Ending -այ (-ay) in Armenian frequently reflects the Aramaic emphatic state. |
| Arabic حَمَصِيص (ḥamaṣīṣ) | Closest is apparently Classical Syriac ܚܲܡܘܼܥܬܵܐ (ḥammūʿtā, “sorrel”), ܚܲܡܘܼܨܬܵܐ (ḥammūṣtā, “rhubarb”), ܝܲܥܡܝܼܨܵܐ (yaʿmīṣā, “a kind of rhubarb”). |
| Arabic حَبَاقَى (ḥabāqā), حَبَاقَا (ḥabāqā, “sweet clover (Melilotus)”), clearer than حَبَق (ḥabaq, “aromatic Lamiaceae”). | Classical Syriac ܚܘܟܐ (ḥawkā, “basil”) cannot be imagined to have been as isolated as it is now attested. |
| Arabic يَرَاع (yarāʕ, “piece of reed; glowworm”) | Particular vocalism, metathesis, and transferred meaning applied to a particular animal. |
| Arabic خَافُور (ḵāfūr) | One indistinct lexical “digger” and some kind of “instrument” put into the mouth of animal |
| Arabic أَمْذِرْيَان (ʔamḏiryān, “Job's tears”) | Apparently the otherwise unattested Aramaic name of the adlay millet, ܡܕܰܪܝܳܢܳܐ (mḏarryānā, literally “scattering; winnowing”). |
Plant parts or products edit
| Terms | Remarks about the Aramaic attestation |
|---|---|
| Arabic قُنْبَر (qunbar, “coir”) | Unclear if really attested in pertinent meanings and vocalization, which it is in Akkadian. A coastal term. “Mustard” and occupational derivative “ropemaker” in the lexica, to which Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017), Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 1065 says “mais le mot semble avoir aussi d’autres significations”. |
| Arabic حُوَّارَى (ḥuwwārā, “a kind of white flour”) | Specific meaning not known from Aramaic. |
| Arabic كَافُور (kāfūr, “bract of the inflorescence of the date palm”) | The measure KāLūM occurs in Arabic anciently only in loans, particularly from Aramaic. The attested Aramaic only corresponds to the other Arabic forms كُفَرَّى (kufarrā) and جُفَرَّى (jufarrā). |
| Arabic قُنْب (qunb, “greater sail of a ship; involucre of a flower; the membrane or sheath in which certain animals have the male member, particularly a lion; the prepuce of the clitoris of a human female”) | Only in Syriac and only in the meaning “greater sail of a ship”, but the Arabic meanings and derived terms, though some be Arabic inventions, point to a more general meaning, as hardly all comes from a specific nautical sense. |
| Arabic شَوْب (šawb, “blend, mixture”), Arabic شَابَ (šāba, “to mix; to be defiant”) | There are ways to reckon the whole root borrowed from Aramaic. However the attested semantics of š-w-b “to heat up”, CAL-declared Hebraism “to draw out”, seem to be only cuttings of the meanings the root had, deriving from a general idea of “to turn away, to return”, already passed as تَابَ (tāba) and inherited in Arabic as ثَابَ (ṯāba). |
| Arabic حَلّ (ḥall), or دُهْن الْحَلّ (duhn al-ḥall, “sesame oil”) | This appears very formulaic, as if Akkadian knowledge was passed down. Yet the Aramaic dictionaries do not list this word for “sesame oil”; the pressure is great to read any ḥallā as vinegar. |
| Greek μούχλα (moúchla, “mould”) and Middle Armenian մգլահոտ (mglahot, “mould-smell”) | Apparently continue a Western Aramaic noun ܡܘܓܠܐ (mūḡlā) attested in Syriac as “exudate” and “phlegm”. |
| Arabic قُوقَا (qūqā, “oakgall”) | Classical Syriac ܩܝܩܐܣ (qīqās), ܩܝܩܘܣ (qīqōs), and after the Arabic there must have been a *ܩܘܩܐ (qūqā). |
Food and drink edit
| Terms | Remarks about the Aramaic attestation |
|---|---|
| Arabic رَغِيف (raḡīf, “bread roll”) | Missing forms. |
| Arabic هَازِبَاء (hāzibāʔ, “an unknown kind of river fish”) | Classical Syriac ܗܶܙܒܳܐ (hezbā) has a different vocalization. |
| Arabic رُبَيْثَاء (rubayṯāʔ, “a side dish from small fish in herbs and vinegar”) | Attested meanings are only “the sea” and “flood waters”, to which the dish name must be a transferred meaning, see the Arabic for details. |
| South Levantine Arabic طَلْمُوسَة (ṭalmūse, “a kind of breadroll baked in hot ashes”) whence since Middle French talmouse | Only non-diminutive טוּלְמְתָא / ܛܘܠܡܬܐ (ṭulmṯā) is documented. |
| Arabic أَدَافَ (ʔadāfa), دَافَ (dāfa), أَذَافَ (ʔaḏāfa, “to dilute”) |
Stones, ores, metals edit
| Terms | Remarks about the Aramaic attestation- |
|---|---|
| Arabic حُوَّارَى (ḥuwwārā, “chalk”) | Specific meaning not known from Aramaic. |
| Arabic سَامُور (sāmūr, “corundum, or other adamant”) | Attested Aramaic only šāmīrā, not ***šāmōrā or ***šāmūrā. |
| Arabic زَاؤُوق (zāʔūq, “quicksilver”) | The measure KāLūM. |
Natural phenomena edit
| Terms | Remarks about the Aramaic attestation- |
|---|---|
| Arabic صِيق (ṣīq) instead of زِيق (zīq, “gust, wind”), Old Armenian սիք (sikʻ), and also Ottoman Turkish صیق (sık, “dust storm”) if the Arabic and Armenian all were too obscure for Turks too encounter. | An Aramaic form beginning with ṣ is sought. |
| Arabic تَارَة (tāra, “time”) | The meaning is only found in Hebrew תּוֹר (tōr, “queue, line; turn; appointment; period”). |
| Arabic شَلَّال (šallāl, “waterfall”) | Only Mishnaic Hebrew שלולית (“torrent, cataract etc.”) |
Pathology edit
| Terms | Remarks about the Aramaic attestation |
|---|---|
| Arabic بَاصُور (bāṣūr), Arabic بَاسُور (bāsūr) | Probably Syriac. Cf. نَاصُور (nāṣūr), نَاسُور (nāsūr). |
| Arabic بَهَق (bahaq) | Only attested in -īṯa derivative. |
| Middle Armenian հարսանիթէ (harsanitʻē) | Only attested without -īṯa. |
| Arabic طَاعُون (ṭāʕūn) | Not in this meaning. Cf. of similar meaning مَوْتَان (mawtān). |
| Arabic حَازُوقَة (ḥāzūqa) | Not in this meaning, “hiccup”, but “diaphragm”, which is found however for حَزَاق (ḥazāq) while the Syriac matches lack it, nor as a feminine, though that could easily be an Arabic modification. |
| Arabic حَزَاق (ḥazāq) | Not in these meanings. Additionally this Arabic spelling and usage of the verb حَزَقَ (ḥazaqa, “to constrict, to press upon”) indicate “farting” and “urgency” meanings not known from Aramaic. |
Gears edit
| Terms | Remarks about the Aramaic attestation |
|---|---|
| Arabic خَاتَم (ḵātam, “seal, signet ring”) | Words of this root with like meaning are known, but have unfitting patterning. This was borrowed before the Aramaic merger of voiceless velar with voiceless pharyngeal fricative. |
| Arabic زِيَار (ziyār, “twitch to fix a horse”) | Specific meaning not known from Aramaic. Perhaps a whole Aramaic word is also missing for شِكَال (šikāl). |
| Arabic إِشْفَى (ʔišfā, “awl”) | |
| Arabic شَاقُول (šāqūl, “plumb line, plummet”) | |
| Arabic كَابُول (kābūl, “snare or net of a hunter”) | This presupposes a derivative of כַּבְלָא / ܟܒܠܐ (kaḇlā, keḇlā, “fetter”). |
| Arabic قَالَب (qālab, “last, mould”) | Ancient Greek καλοπόδιον (kalopódion), but not thus clipped, only in unvocalized Classical Syriac ܩܠܒܝܕ. |
| Arabic صِيصِيَة (ṣīṣiya, “anything projected apt for picking or getting hold of things”), Old Armenian ցից (cʻicʻ, “stake, picket, pale”) | This is ancient and formally and semantically securely points to Aramaic, where however the meaning deviates strongly. Borrowed into Arabic and Armenian in the meaning of a pale or stake, attested for the form from which the former is borrowed as extremity, flap, fin, and for the form the latter is borrowed from as nail, even feather. |
| Persian شلاق (šallâq, “whip, scourge”) | Cf. Old Armenian մտրակ (mtrak, “whip”) from a known Syriac. |
| Arabic شَلَّاق (šallāq, “beggar’s knapsack”) | Even if it came not from Aramaic into Arabic but directly via travelling mendicants of Iranian language, then after this and related words and the derivative container-name Jewish Babylonian Aramaic סַלָּקוּתָא (sallaqūṯā) one must assume a corresponding Aramaic term. |
| Arabic مِشْفَل (mišfal, “dung basket”) | In the adduced Buxtorf col. 2498 apparently only Mishnaic Hebrew. |
| Old Armenian կասկարայ (kaskaray, “gridiron, tripod”) | Though Classical Syriac, somewhat deviates from the attested form in form and meaning. |
| Arabic قَلَنْسُوَة (qalansuwa, “coif”) | |
| Arabic قَدُّوم (qaddūm, “adze, pick”) | |
| Arabic جَيْب (jayb, “pocket”) | It is most likely just a particular meaning of a term only attested as Classical Syriac ܓܰܝܒ݁ܳܐ (gaybā, “temple, vaulted chamber”). The same restriction from a general term for enclosed spaces or at the body applies to Arabic عُبّ (ʕubb, “breast pocket”). |
| Arabic صَفَد (ṣafad, “chain, shackles; present, donation”) | Classical Syriac ܨܦܕܐ (ṣep̄dā, “book binding; pitcher of wine”) is only a thin cutout of the meanings that probably existed. |
| Arabic قَيْد (qayd, “fetter”) | *qaydā rather than qawdā (hardly an Arabic change). |
| Arabic شَقَف (šaqaf) or شَقْف (šaqf, “potsherds; tambourines”) | |
| Arabic شِلَّة (šilla, “skein”) | |
| Arabic شَلِيل (šalīl, “padding under the rear of a camel's saddle; undergarment under a coat of mail; remaining strains of water in a wadi; medulla spinalis”) | transferred from what is only attested as שְׁלִילָא (šəlīlā, “embryo”) from שִׁילְיְתָא (šilyəṯā, “fetal membrane”) |
| The complex Arabic شَيْرَة (šayra, “two-handed frail particularly for figs”), Arabic شِجَر (šijar, “fig-trees”), Arabic سِوَار (siwār, “bracelet”) | Unknown meanings and variants, see there and ش ج ر (š-j-r). |
| Middle Armenian զուպայ (zupay, “dildo”) | Borrowed into later Middle Aramaic from زُبّ (zubb), only in late lexicographers occur the base stem corresponding to the Arabic and “hairiness”, which CAL owns to be from Arabic, though the formation ܙܒܳܒܳܐ (zəḇāḇā), *زَبَاب (*zabāb), is missing there. Misglossed Payne Smith, Robert (1879–1901) Thesaurus Syriacus (in Latin), Oxford: Clarendon Press, column 1073. |
| Arabic قَارُورَة (qārūra, “bottle”) | |
| Arabic كِرْح (kirḥ), كِرْخ (kirḵ, “monk's cell”) | Due to the vocalization being truer to the Akkadian 𒆠𒅕𒄷 (kirḫu), and the variation pointing to an unlearned, possibly even earlier, predating /x/ → /ħ/ merger, borrowing, we want to assume a Palestinian Syriac *ܟܪܚܐ, *ܟܝܪܚܐ (*kirḥā), but the word appears completely unattested for Western Aramaic, not to speak of Hijazi Aramaic. CAL's DJPA reference gets nowhere and is only for the “force” sense senselessly equated. |
| Old Armenian հալաւ (halaw, “garment”), Arabic يَلَب (yalab, “skin of the back of a wild beast; leather or felt war-gear”) | See them. |
Society edit
| Terms | Remarks about the Aramaic attestation |
|---|---|
| Arabic دُمْيَة (dumya, “effigy”) | If Fraenkel is right, which is not unlikely, as d-m-y forms many widely used words related to “likeness”. |
| Old Armenian խաբ (xab, “fraud”) | It is found so in Arabic خَبّ (ḵabb) too, but Arabic borrowings in 5th century Old Armenian are without precedent. |
| Old Armenian փեսայ (pʻesay, “bridegroom, son-in-law, brother-in-law”) | The greatest candidate is Classical Syriac. |
| Ancient Greek κῐ́ναιδος (kínaidos) | According to Archigenes Classical Syriac. Perhaps from the root ܩ-ܢ-ܝ (q-n-y) / ق ن ي (q-n-y) related to acquisition, possession, compare قِنّ (qinn, “slave”), and ܩܢܐ (qennā, “nest”) also means lupanar, perhaps “nest” is even the batty man’s tewel. Another meaning strain could be seen in the meanings “to ensconce, to contain“ or “to assuage” of كَنَّ (kanna), in the root of the related Arabic كِنّ (kinn, “nest, refuge, shelter”). The Greek has acquired the δ-stem secondarily then as e.g. χλαμύς (khlamús). |
| Old Armenian յիմար (yimar, “foolish”), Arabic إِمَّر (ʔimmar, “lamb; foolish”). | The exclusive presence of the transferred sense “foolish” in Armenian makes it appear likely that it was present in Aramaic already in addition to the literal sense “lamb”. |
| Arabic نَاسِك (nāsik, “ascetic”) | After the Aramaic verb of this root formula literally “a pourer, libator”, but the cultic sense of the active participle is not documented for Aramaic. |
| Arabic فَتْوَى (fatwā), Arabic أَفْتَى (ʔaftā) | ܦܬܘܐ (peṯwā, “spinning out, breadth (of words)”) and ܐܦܬܝ (ʾap̄tī, “to expand; to propagate (orthodoxy)”) must be but cutouts of the actual semantic range of the Syriac words. |
| Arabic دَيُّوث (dayyūṯ, “cuckold”) | Extra meaning of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic דַּיְתָא (dayyəṯā), דַּיּוּתָא (dayyūṯā), Classical Syriac ܕܰܝܬ݂ܳܐ (dayṯā, “kite”), ܕܰܝܘܱܝ (dayway, “kite”). |
| Arabic عَرُوب (ʕarūb, “concupiscent, lascivious”) | Only עָרִיב (ʕārīḇ), also עֲרוּבְתָּא (ʿărūḇtā, “eve; eve before Sabbath; Friday”) meant an Aphrodite-like goddess, آذِينَا (ʔāḏīnā, “Athena”) according to mention of Al-Jawālīqīy and her presence in the weekday name עֲרוּבְתָּא (ʿărūḇtā, “eve; Friday”) → عَرُوبَة (ʕarūba). |
| Arabic سُورَة (sūra) | Whatever term this is from, this technical a signification is not attested. If the semantically most suggestive Classical Syriac ܣܻܝܪܳܐ (sīrā, “thread; chapter, topical division of a book”) correctly identifies the etymon, then also the vocalization variant can only be imagined. |
| Arabic زَكَاة (zakāh) | q. v. |