טרם

Hebrew

Etymology

Suggested by Sjörs to be cognate to Classical Arabic طَرْمَة (ṭarma), طِرْمَة (ṭirma), طُرْمَة (ṭurma, “upper lip; edge, protrusion”), retained in several dialects as diminutive طَرُّومَة (ṭarrūma), from a Central Semitic anatomic term *ṭVrm- f (“big lip”). Compare the development of سَوْفَ (sawfa, future tense marker) eventually from Proto-Semitic *śapat- (“lip; brink, margin”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -em

Adverb

טֶרֶם • (térem) [pattern: קֶטֶל]

1. before
2. not yet

Derived terms

• בְּטֶרֶם עֵת (“early, before his time”)

See also

• תָּרַם (tarám, “donate”)

References

• H2962 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Sjörs, Ambjörn (2023 September 20) “On the Etymology of Biblical Hebrew טֶרֶם ṭɛrɛm ‘before, not yet’”, in Journal of Semitic Studies, volume 69, number 1, published 2024, →DOI, pages 9–14