ش ج ر

See also: شجر, سخر, and سحر

Arabic

Etymology

The meanings of piercing, a fissure, forcing open, hence chin or mouth corner, are probably metathetical to ش ر ج (š-r-j).

The meaning of a tree is likely generalized from the meaning of “fig tree” and via Aramaic from Akkadian 𒋗𒍀 (šu-guru₅ /⁠šugrû⁠/, “basket; a processed form of dates”), see the material of شَيْرَة (šayra, “threaded sparterie for the transport as well as sale of figs, pannier”).

Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou opts for an Aramaic borrowing due the consonant correspondence with Hebrew שֶׁגֶר (šeḡer, “litter of animals”), connecting via the ideas of “coming forth” of trees, ultimately seeing the root as derived from the cognate of ج ر ر (j-r-r) “to drag forth” plus causative prefix *ša-, which seems to not easily have happened, not only because that suffix is *ha- since Proto-West Semitic. Some meanings “to come forth”, as “to happen”, are clearly figuratively denominal from the “trees” noun moreover. The Hebrew word can well be from the idea of a litter in a basket.

In a primitive pre-metallic time, a “bracelet”, what Aramaic שֵׁירָא / ܫܶܐܪܳܐ (šērā) and thence سِوَار (siwār) means, was also nothing else than wickerwork. About the same time one may have developed figurative meanings of “quarrels”, “brawls”, “scrimmages” and the like, people figurative becoming entangled, comminus as the Romans said.

Root

ش ج ر • (š-j-r)

1. related to intricacy

Derived terms

Verbs

• Form I: شَجَرَ (šajara)
  • Verbal noun: سَجْر (sajr)
  • Active participle: شَاجِر (šājir)
  • Passive participle: مَشْجُور (mašjūr)
• Form II: شَجَّرَ (šajjara)
  • Verbal noun: تَشْجِير (tašjīr)
  • Active participle: مُشَجِّر (mušajjir)
  • Passive participle: مُشَجَّر (mušajjar)
• Form III: شَاجَرَ (šājara)
  • Verbal noun: مُشَاجَرَة (mušājara), شِجَار (šijār)
  • Active participle: مُشَاجِر (mušājir)
  • Passive participle: مُشَاجَر (mušājar)
• Form IV: أَشْجَرَ (ʔašjara)
  • Verbal noun: إِشْجَار (ʔišjār)
  • Active participle: مُشْجِر (mušjir)
  • Passive participle: مُشْجَر (mušjar)
• Form V: تَشَجَّرَ (tašajjara)
  • Verbal noun: تَشَجُّر (tašajjur)
  • Active participle: مُتَشَجِّر (mutašajjir)
  • Passive participle: مُتَشَجَّر (mutašajjar)
• Form VI: تَشَاجَرَ (tašājara)
  • Verbal noun: تَشَاجُر (tašājur)
  • Active participle: مُتَشَاجِر (mutašājir)
  • Passive participle: مُتَشَاجَر (mutašājar)
• Form VII: اِنْشَجَرَ (inšajara)
  • Verbal noun: اِنْشِجَار (inšijār)
  • Active participle: مُنْشَجِر (munšajir)
• Form VIII: اِشْتَجَرَ (ištajara)
  • Verbal noun: اِشْتِجَار (ištijār)
  • Active participle: مُشْتَجِر (muštajir)
  • Passive participle: مُشْتَجَر (muštajar)

Nouns

• شَجَر (šajar, “shrubs; trees; fig trees”)
• شِجَار (šijār, “bar of wood”)
• مَشْجَر (mašjar, “a place of trees”)
• شِجَار (šijār, “quarrel”)

Adjectives

• أَشْجَر (ʔašjar, “shrubby”)

References

• Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017), Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, pages 688–690
• Freytag, Georg (1833) “ش ج ر”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[1] (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 394–395
• Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “ش ج ر”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc‎^[2] (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, pages 1192–1193
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884) “ش ج ر”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎^[3], London: W.H. Allen, pages 529–530
• Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “ش ج ر”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart‎^[4] (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 634