ع ر ب

See also: ع ز ب‎, عرب‎, عزت‎, غرت‎, غرب‎, عزب‎, and غژب‎

Arabic

Root

ع ر ب • (ʿ-r-b)

1. forms words relating to Arabic and Arabs

Etymology

Given the antiquity of the ethnonym, it is not secure that it does not derive from an obscure nickname, however it can well be imagined to have developed from the root shown below, the meaning “to enter” developing towards “to do business with”, “to show economic interest”, “caravan”, “carriage”, as for a people of trade. It is thus uncertain whether أَعْرَبَ‎ (ʾaʿraba, “to clearly declare, to proclaim”) is directly from these economic relations or from the connection that expressing something in Arabic is also making something intelligible. Against such derivation one could adduce that the root formula in those economic meanings is in historical Arabic times of little productivity, but then again this could be a consequence of its repurposing, expressing the idea of Arabicness.

Derived terms

Verbs

• Form II: عَرَّبَ‎ (ʿarraba, “to make Arabic, translate into Arabic, express”)
  • Verbal noun: تَعْرِيب‎ (taʿrīb, “Arabicizing, Arabization, translation into Arabic, adoption of loanwords into Arabic”)
  • Active participle: مُعَرِّب‎ (muʿarrib, “translator into Arabic”)
  • Passive participle: مُعَرَّب‎ (muʿarrab, “Arabicized, translated into Arabic, loanword”)
• Form IV: أَعْرَبَ‎ (ʾaʿraba, “to make Arabic, give an Arabic form to, express clearly, declare, proclaim; to use the grammatical endings”)
  • Verbal noun: إِعْرَاب‎ (ʾiʿrāb, “declaration, proclamation, expression, grammatical endings”)
  • Active participle: مُعْرِب‎ (muʿrib)
  • Passive participle: مُعْرَب‎ (muʿrab, “inflected with endings”)
• Form V: تَعَرَّبَ‎ (taʿarraba, “to become an Arab, assimilate or naturalize to the Arabs”)
  • Verbal noun: تَعَرُّب‎ (taʿarrub)
  • Active participle: مُتَعَرِّب‎ (mutaʿarrib, “Arabicized, naturalized as an Arab”)
• Form X: اِسْتَعْرَبَ‎ (istaʿraba, “to become an Arab, assimilate or naturalize to the Arabs”)
  • Verbal noun: اِسْتِعْرَاب‎ (istiʿrāb)
  • Active participle: مُسْتَعْرِب‎ (mustaʿrib, “Arabist”)

Nouns

• عَرَب‎ (ʿarab, “Arabs”)
  • عَرَبِيّ‎ (ʿarabiyy, “Arab, Arabic”)
  • الْعَرَبِيَّة‎ (al-ʿarabiyya, “Arabic language”)
  • أَعْرَابِيّ‎ (ʾaʿrābiyy, “Bedouin”)
• عَرَّاب‎ (ʿarrāb, “godfather; translator into Arabic”)
  • عَرَّابَة‎ (ʿarrāba, “godmother”)
• عُرُوبَة‎ (ʿurūba, “Arabism, Arabdom, Arab character”)

Root

ع ر ب • (ʿ-r-b)

1. forms words related to forceful behavior

Etymology

Compare Ugaritic 𐎓𐎗𐎁 (ʿrb, “to enter”), Akkadian 𒆭𒊏 (KU₄.RA /erēbu/, “to come in, specifically of money, goods, caravan, month, season, water: to come in, to arrive, to flow in”).

Derived terms

Verbs

• Form I: عَرَبَ‎ (ʿaraba, “to be eager, to flow violently”)
  • Verbal noun: عَرْب‎ (ʿarb), عَرَب‎ (ʿarab)
  • Active participle: عَارِب‎ (ʿārib)
• Form II: عَرَّبَ‎ (ʿarraba, “to talk dirty against someone, to scold, to chide”)
  • Verbal noun: تَعْرِيب‎ (taʿrīb)
  • Active participle: مُعَرِّب‎ (muʿarrib)
  • Passive participle: مُعَرَّب‎ (muʿarrab)
• Form IV: أَعْرَبَ‎ (ʾaʿraba, “to talk obliquely about something”)
  • Verbal noun: إِعْرَاب‎ (ʾiʿrāb)
  • Active participle: مُعْرِب‎ (muʿrib)
  • Passive participle: مُعْرَب‎ (muʿrab)

Nouns

• عَرِب‎ (ʿarib, “a pond with much water”)
• عَرَبَة‎ (ʿaraba, “swift river; vehicle”)
• عَرَابَة‎ (ʿarāba, “obscene speech”)
• عَرَبِيَّة‎ (ʿarabiyya, “carriage, coach”)
• عَرْبَجِيّ‎ (ʿarbajiyy, “cabman”)
• عَرْبَخَانَة‎ (ʿarbaḵāna, “car shed, coach house”)

Related terms

• عَرَبُون‎ (ʿarabūn, “earnest money”) (formed in another Semitic language from the same root)

References

• Freytag, Georg (1835), “عرب”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum (in Latin), volume 3, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 129–130
• Wehr, Hans (1979), “عرب”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN