صلصال

Arabic

Alternative forms

• صَرْصَال (ṣarṣāl), صَرْصَار (ṣarṣār), صَنْصَال (ṣanṣāl)
• also vocalized صِـ (ṣi-)

Etymology

Unknown. Has been compared to Old Armenian շաղեմ (šałem, “to knead or mix e.g. mortar”), շաղախ (šałax, “clay, mud, mortar”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sˤal.sˤaːl/

Noun

صَلْصَال • (ṣalṣāl) m

1. clay; argil

   Hyponym: غَضَار (ḡaḍār, “green clay; illite”)

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 55:14:

     خَلَقَ الْإِنْسَانَ مِن صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ / وَخَلَقَ الجَانَّ مِنْ مَارِجٍ مِنْ نَارٍ

     ḵalaqa l-ʔinsāna min ṣalṣālin ka-l-faḵḵāri / waḵalaqa l-jānna min mārijin min nārin

     Man, He made out of argil, like pottery. / Spirits, He made out of a blaze of fire.

   1. any substance that may be worked and shaped like clay (like playdough); modeling clay
2. (obsolete) sticky sand-mixed earth; loam
   1. Sticky soft clay: that is used to make pottery, chinaware, and sculpted artifacts; sculpting clay

   Synonym: مَدَر (madar)

Declension

Declension of noun صَلْصَال (ṣalṣāl)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	صَلْصَال ṣalṣāl	الصَّلْصَال aṣ-ṣalṣāl	صَلْصَال ṣalṣāl
Nominative	صَلْصَالٌ ṣalṣālun	الصَّلْصَالُ aṣ-ṣalṣālu	صَلْصَالُ ṣalṣālu
Accusative	صَلْصَالًا ṣalṣālan	الصَّلْصَالَ aṣ-ṣalṣāla	صَلْصَالَ ṣalṣāla
Genitive	صَلْصَالٍ ṣalṣālin	الصَّلْصَالِ aṣ-ṣalṣāli	صَلْصَالِ ṣalṣāli

Derived terms

• صَلْصَلَ (ṣalṣala), صَرْصَرَ (ṣarṣara, “to cover with clay; to knead or to bake from clay”)

Descendants

• → Persian: صلصال (salsâl)

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, page 771
• Dozy, Reinhart Pieter Anne (1881) “صلصال”, in Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes‎^[1] (in French), volume 2, Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 827b
• Freytag, Georg (1830) “صلصال”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[2] (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 514a
• Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “صلصال”, 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^[3] (in French), volume 1, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, page 1361a
• Kremer, Alfred von (1886) “صلصل”, in Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen Classe der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften‎^[4] (in German), volume 112, Wien: In Commission bei Carl Gerold’s Sohn, page 19
• Kremer, Alfred von (1883) “صلصل”, in Beiträge zur arabischen Lexikographie‎^[5] (in German), Wien: In Commission bei Carl Gerold’s Sohn, page 91
• Venzlaff, Helga (1977) Der marokkanische Drogenhändler und seine Ware. Ein Beitrag zu Terminologie und volkstümlichem Gebrauch traditioneller arabischer Materia Medica (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Veröffentlichungen der orientalischen Kommission; 31) (in German), Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, →ISBN, page 191