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GAEKWAD*8 ^ORIENTAL SERIES 

Published unde* the Authority of 
the Government of His Highness 
the Maharaia Gaekwad of Baroda. 



GENERAL EDITOR : 
B. BHATTACHARYYA, M.A., Ph.D., 

Rdjaratna, Jndnaratna. 



No. LXXIX. 



THE FOREIGN VOCABULARY 
OF THE QUR'AN 



THE 

FOREIGN VOCABULARY 
OF THE QUR'AN 



By 
ARTHUB JEFFEBY, Ph.D. 

Professor of Semitic Languages 

School of Oriental Studies 

Cairo 



1938 

Oriental Institute 
Baroda 



Printed in Great Britain by Stephen Austin & Sons, Ltd., Hertford, 

and Published on behalf of the Government of His Highness 

the Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda by Benoytosh 

Bhattacharyya, Director, Oriental 

Institute, Baroda. 

Price Rs. 12-0 



TO MY WIFE 



FOREWOKD 

Little further advance can be made in our interpretation of the 
Qur'an or of the life of Muhammad, until an exhaustive study has 
bee^n made of the vocabulary of the Qur'an. It is interesting to note 
how recent work at Islamic origins, such as that done by the late 
Professor Horovitz and his pupils at Frankfurt, and in the books of 
Tor Andrae and Karl Ahrens, has tended to run to a discussion of 
vocabulary. The Qur'an is the first Arabic book, for though there 
was earlier poetry, it was not written down till much later, and some 
doubts have been raised as to the genuineness of what did get written 
down. For the interpretation of this first Arabic book, we have been 
content until recently to turn to the classical commentaries, but the 
tendency of the commentators is to interpret the book in the light 
of the Arabic language of their own day, and with few exceptions 
their philological lucubrations are of more interest for the study of 
the development of Muslim thought about the Qur'an, than they are 
for settling the meaning the words must have had for the Prophet 
and for those who listened to his utterances. 

Some day, it is to be hoped, we shall have a Glossary to the 
Qur'an comparable with the great Worterbucher we have to the Old 
and New Testaments, in which all the resources of philology, epigraphy, 
and textual criticism will be utilized for a thorough investigation of 
the vocabulary of the Qur'an. Meanwhile this present Essay attempts 
to make one small contribution to the subject by studying a number 
of the non-Arabic elements in the Qur'anic vocabulary. 

Emphasis has been placed in recent years on the too long forgotten 
fact that Arabia at the time of Muhammad was not isolated from the 
rest of the world, as Muslim authors would have us believe. There 
was at that time, as indeed for long before, full and constant contact 
with the surrounding peoples of Syria, Persia, and Abyssinia, and 
through intercourse there was a natural interchange of vocabulary. 
Where the Arabs came in contact with higher religion and higher 
civilization, they borrowed religious and cultural terms. This fact 
was fully recognized by the earliest circle of Muslim exegetes, who 
show no hesitation in noting words as of Jewish, Christian, or Iranian 



Viii FOREWORD 

origin. Later, under the influence of the great divines, especially 
of ash-Shafi% this was pushed into the background, and an orthodox 
doctrine was elaborated to the effect that the Qur'an was a unique 
production of the Arabic language. The modern Muslim savant, 
indeed, IB as a rule seriously distressed by any discussion of the foreign 
origin of words in the Qur'art. 

To the Western student the Jewish or Christian origin of many 
of the technical terms in the Qur'an is obvious at the first glance, 
and a little investigation makes it possible to identify many others. 
These identifications have been made by many scholars whose work 
is scattered in many periodicals in many languages. The present 
Essay is an attempt to gather them up and present them in a form 
convenient for the study of interested scholars both in the East and 
the West. 

The Essay was originally written in 1926, and in its original 
form was roughly four times the size of the present volume. It would 
have been ideal to have published it in that form, but the publishing 
costs of such a work with full discussion and illustrative quotation, 
would have been prohibitive. The essential thing was to place in the 
hands of students a list of these foreign words which are recognized 
as such by our modern scholarship, with an indication of their probable 
origin, and of the sources to which the student may turn for fuller 
discussion. Our own discussion has therefore been cut down to the 
minimum consistent with intelligibility. The same reason has made 
it necessary to omit the Appendix, which consisted of the Arabic 
text, edited from two MSS. in the Royal Library at Cairo, of as-Suyuti's 
al~Muhadhdhab, which is the original treatise at the basis of his 
chapter on the foreign words in the Itqdn and of his tractate entitled 
al'Mulawakkili. 

In making a choice of such references to the old poets as remain, 
it was thought better to retain those used in the older works of reference 
which would be generally accessible to students, rather than make a 
display of learning by references to a host of more modern works 
dealing with the early poetry. In the case of references to Iranian 
sources, however, the author, for lack of library facilities, has been 
compelled to limit himself to the few texts, now somewhat antiquated, 
which were available to him in Cairo. 

No one is more conscious than the author of the limitations of 
his philological equipment for the task. A work of this nature could 



FOREWORD IX 

have been adequately treated only by a Noldeke, whose intimate 
acquaintance with the literatures of the Oriental languages involved, 
none of us in this generation can emulate. With all its limitations 
and imperfections, however, it is hoped that it may provide a founda- 
tion from which other and better equipped scholars may proceed in the 
important task of investigation of the Qur'anic vocabulary. 

For reasons of general convenience the verse numbering of the 
Qur'iin citations is throughout that of FRigel's edition, not the Kufan 
verse numbering followed in the Egyptian standard text. 

The thanks of the author, as of all students interested in Oriental 
research, are due in a special manner to the kindness and generosity 
of H.H. the Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda, which have permitted the 
work to appear in the series published under his august patronage. 

ARTHUR JEFFERY. 
CAIRO. 
December, 1937. 



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xi 



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ABBKEVIATIONS 



Act. Or Ada Orientalia, ediderunt Societates Orientates Batava, Danica, 

Norvegica. Lugd. Batav. 1923 ff. 

AlW Altiraniaches Worterbuch. (Bartholomae.) 

AJSL American Journal of Semitic Languages. 

BA Lexicon Syriacum of Bar All. 

Bagh Al-BaghauVs Commentary on the Qur'an. 

Bai$ Al-Baidawi's Commentary on the Qur'an. 

BB 9 Lexicon Syriacum of Bar Bahlul. 

BDB Brown, Driver, and Briggs Oxford Hebrew Lexicon. 

Beit. Ass Beitrdge fur Assyriologie. 

BOA De Goeje's Biblioiheca Geographorum Arabicorum. 

BQ Lexicon Persicum, Burhan-i Qati*. Calcutta, 1818. 

CIS Corpus Jnscriptionum Semiticarum. 
Div. Hudh The Divan of the Hudhailites. Part i, ed. Kosegarten ; part ii, ed. Well- 

hausen. 

El Encyclopedia of Islam. 

ERE Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. 

GA Lagarde's Gesammelte Abhandlungen. 

GO A Gottingische Gelehrte Anzeigen. 

HAA Handbuch der altarabischen Altertumskunde, i. Kopcnhagen, 1927. 

JA Journal asiatique. 

Jal The Qur'an Commentary of Jalalain. 

JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society. 

JASB Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 

JE The Jewish Encyclopaedia 

JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 

JThS Journal of Theological Studies. 

KU Horovitz's Koranische Untersuchungen. 

LA The Arabic Lexicon Lisan al-'Arab. 

MGWJ Monatsschrift fur Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums. 

MVAG Mittheilungen der vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft. 

MW The Moslem World. 

N8I Cooke's North Semitic Inscriptions. 

OLZ Orientalische Literaturzcitung. 

PPGl Pahlavi-Pazend Glossary. 

PSBA Proceedings of the Society for Biblical Archaeology. 

PSm Payne Smith's Thesaurus Syriacus. 

REJ Revue des Etudes juives. 

RES Repertoire d'epigraphie semitique. 

ROC Revue de Vorient chretien. 

SB AW Sitzungsberichte der konigl. Akad. d. Wissenschaft. (Berlin or Wien.) 

TA The Arabic Lexicon Taj al-'Arus. 

Tab At-Tabari's Commentary on the Qur'an. 

ThLZ Theologisches Literaturzeitung. 

TW Targumisches Worterbuch, ed. Levy. 

WZKM Wiener Zeitschrift fur Kunde des Morgenlandes. 

ZA Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie. 

Zam Az-Zamakhshari's Commentary on the Qur'an. 

ZATW Zeitschrift fur altteetamentliche Wissenschaft. 

ZDMG Zeitschrift der deutschen Morgenldndischen Gesellschaft. 

ZS Zeitschrift fur Semitistik. 



INTRODUCTION 

One of the few distinct impressions gleaned from a first perusal of 
the bewildering confusion of the Qur'an, is that of the amount of 
material therein which is borrowed from the great religions that were 
active in Arabia at the time when the Qur'an was in process of forma- 
tion. From the fact that Muhammad was an Arab, brought up in the 
midst of Arabian paganism and practising its rites himself until well 
on into manhood, 1 one would naturally have expected to find that 
Islam had its roots deep down in this old Arabian paganism. Tt 
comes, therefore, as no little surprise, to find how little of the religious 
life of this Arabian paganism is reflected in the pages of the Qur'an. 
The names of a few old deities 2 ; odd details of certain pagan cere- 
monies connected with rites of sacrifice and pilgrimage 3 ; a few deep- 
rooted superstitions connected with Jinn, etc., and some fragments of 
old folk-tales, 4 form practically all the traces one can discover therein 
of this ancient religion in the midst of whose devotees Muhammad 
was born and bred. It may be true, as Rudolph insists, 5 that in 
many passages of the QurVui the Islamic, varnish only thinly covers 
a heathen substratum, but even a cursory reading of the book makes 
it plain that Muhammad drew his inspiration not from the religious 
life and experiences of his own land and his own people, but from 
the great monotheistic religions which were pressing down into Arabia 
in his day. 6 Most of the personages who move through the pages of 
the Qur'an, viz. Ibrahim, Mfisa, Daw (id, Sulaiman, Nuh, 'Isa, are well- 
known Biblical characters. So also the place-names Babil, Rum, 
Madyan, Saba', and many of the commonest religious terms Shaitan, 
Tawral^ Injll, Sakina, Firdaus, Jahannam, are equally familiar to all 
who know the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. So one is not surprised 



1 Convincing proof of this is found in the .statement of the Prophet quoted in 
Yaqut, Mu'jatn, iii, 664, to the effect that on a certain occasion he sacrificed a ewe to 
'Uzza, which he excuses on the ground that at that time he was following the religion 
of his people. 

2 Sura, liii, 10, 20 ; Ixx-, 22, 23. 

3 ii, 153; xxii, 28-30; v. 1-4; xxii, 37. 

4 Such as those of 'Ad and Thamud. 

fi Abhangigkeit, 26, n. 9. His reference here is to Suras cxiii, cxiv in particular, 
but the statement is true of many passages elsewhere. 

6 N6ldeke-Schwally,ii, 121 ; Buhl, A'/, n', 1000 ; Ahrens, Mttfannmrtl ahRfligians- 
stifter, 22 ff. 

1 B 



2 INTRODUCTION 

at the judgment of some of the earlier investigators, such as Marracci, 
Prodromus, i, 41 : " Ita m>Alcoranus sit mixtura trium legum, seu 
religionum, Hebraicae, Christianae, et Israeliticae, additis paucis 
quisquillis, quae e cerebro suo Mahumetus extraxit." 

Closer examination of the question reveals even further and more 
detailed correspondences than these which appear on the surface, 1 and 
forces on one the conviction that not only the greater part of the 
religious vocabulary, but also most of the cultural vocabulary of the 
Qur'an is of non- Arabic origin. The investigation of the " Fremd- 
worter " of the Qur'an thus becomes a question of primary importance 
for the study of the origins of Islam, for as Hirrfchfeld remarks : lfc One 
of the principal difficulties before us is ... to ascertain whether tin 
idea or expression was Muhammad's spiritual property or borrowed 
from elsewhere, how he learnt it and to what extent it was altered to 
suit his purposes." 2 By tracing these words back to their sources we 
are able to estimate to some extent the influences which were working 
upon Muhammad at various periods in his Mission, and by studying 
these religious terms in their native literature contemporary with 
Muhammad, we can sometimes understand more exactly what he 
himself means by the terms he uses in the Qur'an. 

Quite early in the history of Islam, Muslims themselves were 
confronted with the perplexing problem of these foreign words, for it 
presented itself immediately they were called upon to face the task of 
interpreting their Scripture. With the death of the Prophet and the 
cutting off of the fountain of revelation, came the necessity of collecting 
the scattered fragments of this Revelation and issuing them in book 
form. 3 Then as the Qur'an thus collected became recognized as the 
ultimate source of both religion and law, there came the necessity of 
interpretation. 4 The primary source of such interpretation was the 
immediate circle of the Prophet's Companions, who were naturally 



1 Vide Rudolph, Abhangigkeit des Qornns von Judenthum nn,d Chrifftenlhum, 1922, 
and Ahrens, ChriMches im Qoran, 1930. 

2 New Researches, p. 4. 

3 The popular Muslim account of the collection is given in as-SuyiHT, ft<7, 135, and 
in many other well-known works, e.g. Fihiint, 24 ; Ya'iutbi, f/ifttoria, ii, 152 ; Ibn 
al-Athir, Chronicon (ed. Tornberg), ii, 279 ; iii, 86. See also Noldcke-Sehwally, ii, 1 1 ff., 
and the criticism in Caetani, AnwiU f vii, pp. 407-418. 

* Goldziher, RicMu-ngen, 55 ff. 



INTRODUCTION 3 

supposed to know best what the Prophet meant in many of his revela- 
tions l ; so the tendency grew in later days to trace back all explana- 
tions to this circle, with the result that we frequently find various 
conflicting opinions traced back through different chains of authorities 
to the same person. 2 

Now it is conceivable that there may have been correct tradition 
from the Prophet himself in many cases as to the interpretation of some 
of thg strange words that meet us in the Qur'an, but if so, it is evident 
that this tradition was soon lost, 3 for by the time the classical exegetes 
came to compile their works there was a bewildering entanglement 
of elaborate lines of conflicting tradition as to the meaning of these 
words, all emanating from the same small circle of the Prophet's 
immediate Companions. Numerous examples of this can be found 
on almost every page of the great Commentaries of at-Tabari, al- 
Baghawl, or ar-Razi, but a typical case may bo cited here in 
illustration. 

Thrice in the Qur'an 4 wo find mention of a pooplo called Sabians, 

, who with the Jews and Christians (i.e. the<^uXJ 1 JJbi),and 

the Magians, receive special recognition and favour. Yet as to the identity 
of these Sabians wo find among the authorities the widest divergences. 
Thus at-Tabari, in commenting on ii, 59, tolls us that some held that 
they wore a community without a religion, others said they wore a 
monotheistic sect but without a Book or a Prophet : others said they 
worshipped angels, and others that they were a community of the 

People of the Book who followed the Znbur (jj>J), as the Jews folio wed 

the Taurah and the Christians the Injll. Later writers have a still 
greatenvarioty of opinions about them, that they wore star- worshippers, 
descendants of the people of Noah, or some sect midway between 

1 Quite early we find popular opinion claiming that only the Companions, or 
followers of Companions, were capable of giving correct interpretations of the difficul- 
ties of the Qur'an. 

2 e.g. in commenting on^J^JI in xviii, 8, at-Tabari gives us lines of tradition all 
going back to Ibn 'Abbas to prove that Raqlm means a village, a valley, a writiny, 
or a mountain. Thus we are forced to conclude either that Ibn 'Abbas is a very 
unsafe authority whose opinion on the meaning of important words varied consider- 
ably at different times, or that the lines of tradition are worthless. 

3 Lists of interpretations coming from the Prophet himself are given by some 
\vriters, e.g. as-Kuyutl, Itqan, 918 ff. (and see Goldziher, Richtungen, 64), but such 
have little value. 

* ii, 59 ; v, 73 ; xxii, 17. 



4 INTRODUCTION 

Jews and Christians, or between Jews and Magians and in all these 
cases the chains of tradition go back, of course, to the immediate 
circle of the Prophet. It would seem almost incredible that when the 
Qur'an grants special privilege and protection to four communities 
as true believers, no exact tradition as to the identity of one of these 
communities should have survived till the time when the Traditionists 
and Exegetes began their work of compilation. The facts, however, 
are plain, and if so much uncertainty existed on so important a matter 
as the identity of a protected community, one can imagine how the 
case stands with regard to unimportant little details which are of 
profound interest to the philologist to-day, but which, in the early 
days of Islam, had no doctrinal or political significance to bring them 
prominently before the attention of the Muslim savants. 

The traditional account of the development of Qur'anic exegesis, 1 
of which this problem of the foreign words forms a part, makes it 
begin with Ibn 'Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet, whom later writers 
consider to have been the greatest of all authorities on this subject. 2 

He is called the j 1^2)1 jtf jr, tho^ or sea of Qur'anic science, the 
< J! VI j&. Rabbi of the Community, and many traditions give wonder- 
ful accounts of his vast erudition and infallible scholarship. 3 Modern 
scholarship, however, has not been able to endorse this judgment, 4 
and looks with considerable suspicion on most traditions going back 
to Ibn 'Abbas. It would seem, however, that he had access to stores 
of information supplied by Jewish converts such as Ka'b b. Mat!" 5 
and Wahb b. Munabbih, 6 so that frequently, although his own interpre- 
tation of a word or verse may be of little valuo, the material he produces 

from these authorities with the phrase c**5 *f> j, etc., may be of the 
first importance. Tradition also credits Ibn fc Abbas with founding a 

1 as-Suyutl, Itq, 908 ff., gives an account of the earliest exegesis of the Qur'an. 
Goldziher, RicMungen,, chaps, i and ii. 

2 " Ergiltals Obermenschdestafsir," as Goldziher neatly e x presses it, R ichtungen, 6f>. 

3 See an-Nawawi, 351-4; Ibn Hajar's Jwba, ii, 802-813 (and Kamil, 566-9, for 
examples of hi authoritative explanation). 

4 Siddiqi, 12, 13, treats him with more deference than is merited. As illustrating 
the opinion of modern scholarship, we may note the judgment ol three very different 
savants : Buhl, El, i, 20 ; Noldeke, Ftkefahe*, p. 108 ; Saeco, Credenze, p. viii. 

5 Usually called Ka'b al-Alibar. See an-XawawI, 523 ; Tbn Hajar, iii, 633-639 ; 
El, ii, 582. 

See an-Nawawi, 619. 



INTRODUCTION 5 

School of Qur'anic Exegesis, and gives him several famous pupils, 
notable among whom were Mujahid, 1 'Ikrima, 2 Ibn Jubair, 3 'Ata', 4 
and Ibn Abi Rabah. 5 It is probable that all these men had more or 
less contact with Ibn 'Abbas, but it is hardly correct to think of them 
as pupils of his in this science or as carrying on his tradition as a 
School in the way we speak of the pupils of the great Jewish Doctors. 
Any student of the Tafslr will have noticed how much of the traditional 
exegesis is traced back to this group, much of it possibly quite correctly, 
and this is particularly true of the statements as to the foreign words in 
the Qur'an, 8 so that al-Jawallqi at the commencement of his Mu'arrab 1 
can shield himself behind their authority from any accusation of 
unorthodoxy. 

It is clear that in the earliest circle of exegotes it was fully recognized 
and frankly admitted that there were numerous foreign words in the 
Qur'an. Only a little later, however, when the dogma of the eternal 
nature of the Qur'an was being elaborated, this was as strenuously 
denied, so that al-Jawallql can quote on the other side the statement 
of Abu 'TJbaida 8 as given by al-Hasan -"I heard Abu 'Ubaida say 
that whoever pretends that there is in the Qur'an anything other than 
the Arabic tongue has made a serious charge against God, and he 
quoted the verse : ' Verily we have made it an Arabic Qur'an/ " 9 
The question is discussed by many Muslim writers, and is excellently 
summarized by as-Suyuti in the Introduction to his treatise Al-Muhadh- 
dhab, and further in chap, xxxviii of his Itqdn (Calcutta ed., pp. 314 - 
326). The discussion is of sufficient interest to engage our attention here. 

1 Mujahid b. Jabr died in A. n. 719 at the age of 83. See an-Nawawi, 540 ; adb- 
Phababi, i, 14, 

2 He was a Berber slave of Ibn 'Abbas and died about A.I). 723 at tbo age of 80. 
lie is said to have travelled widely in Iraq, Khorasan, Kypt, and S. Arabia. Seo 
an-Nuwawi, 431; Yaqiit, Irshad, v, 62 ff. ; adh-Dhahabi, i, 14. 

3 Sa'Id Ibn Jubair died in A.D. 713 at the age of 49. See adh- DhababI, i, 1 1 ; an- 
Nawawl, 278. 

4 'Ata' b. Yasar died in A.D. 712. Sco an-Nawawi, 424 ; adh-l)hahabl, i, 13. 

5 'Ata' b. Abi Rabah died in A.U. 733. See an-Nawawi, 422 adh-Dhahabl, i, 16. 

6 A glanee at as-Suyiiti's Mutaioakkili will servo to show how largo a proportion 
of the foreign words he treats are traeed back to the authority of one or other of 
the members of this eirele. 

7 Kd. Sachau, p. 4, quoted also by al-Khafaji, 3. ^Lc- ^1 jft ^ jjj JOX.P jil Jl 



Abu 'Ubaida Ma'mar b. al-Muthanna, the great Humanist of the reign of Harun 
ar-Rashid, who was of Judaeo- Persian origin and a student of the rare words 
in Arabie. See Fihrist, 53, 54: Ibn Khallikan, ni, 388; al-Anb&ri, Tabaqat al- 
Udaba\ 137; an-Nawawi, 748; Siddiqi, Stvdien, 29. 

9 as-Suyuti, Itqan, 315, gives the tradition a little differently. 



6 INTRODUCTION 

It appears that in the Schools a majority of authorities were 
against the existence of foreign words in the Qur'an. " The Imams 
differ," says as-Suyutl (Itq, 314) " as to the occurrence of foreign words 
in the Qur'an, but the majority, among whom are the Imam ash- 
Shafi'i, 1 and Ibn Jarlr, 2 and Abu 'Ubaida, and the Qacji Abu Bakr, 3 
and Ibn Faris, 4 are against their occurrence therein." The funda- 
mental argument of these authorities is that the Qur'an in many 
passages refers to itself as an Arabic Qur'an, 5 and they lay particular 

*" -' } *" 

\i* \ \ \\ **t 

stress on the passage xh, 44 : *J lyUJ 

*> > '*'*.>'''> 

* s*' -" *" I 1 *\ ' \ 9 I** * 

i*-*.Jt} /2-^sfcfcM 4)L1 OJUa_ " Now had we made it a 

foreign Qur'an they would have said Why are its signs not made 
plain ? Is it foreign and Arabic ? " 6 The Qur'an thus lays stress on 
the fact that this revelation has been sent down in a form 



which the Arabs will easily understand tJ^Uu.!' *sU) 7 and how, 



*s 



1 This is the great Jurist who died in A. P. 820. He seems to have been 
particularly vehement in his denial of the existence of non- Arabic elements in the 
Qur'an, for as-Suyutl says dU, JTlaJl ^s> ^JcJl ^Ul jjii oSi (Itq. 315). 

2 This is at-Tabarl, the well-known commentator, whoso full name was Abu Ja'far 
Muhammad b. Jarir at-Tabari (A.D. 838-923), whom as-Suyutl frequently quotes under 
the name Ibn Jarlr. The reference here is to his great Commentary in the Introduc- 
tion to which he treats of this question of " Fremdworter ". 

3 This is in all probability the QadT Abu Bakr al-Baqilanl whose book ^l ^ill j^I 
as-Suyutl mentions among his sources for the compilation of the Itqan, cf. Itq, 14. 

4 Abu'l-Husain Ahmad b. Faris of Qazwin, also very frequently quoted by 
as-Suyuti both in the Itqan and in the Muzhir as well as in his smaller works. See 
Yaqut's Irshad, ii, 6, and for his works, Fihrist, 80 ; Hajjl Khalifa, 770 ; anjl Flugel, 
Die grammatischen Schulen der Araber (Leipzig, 1862), p. 246. 

5 e.g. b,^> lil^i xii, 2 ; xxxix, 29; xli, 2, 44; xln, 5 ; xlni, 2 ; L^P liU xvi, 
10,5 ; xxvi, 195 ; xlvi, 11 : L^ |^C- xiii, 37. 

6 Some points in this translation need a note. First, the V^ is usually rendered 
as " unless " and the sentence left an unfinished one. In Qur'anic Arabic, however, 
seems to be used frequently as a simple interrogative (cf. Reckendorff, Syntax, p. 35 ; 
Noldeke, Neue Beitrage, p. 21), and Tab. on this verse expressly takes it as meaning 
^|A. As ol> I properly means " signs ", that rendering has been left here though this 
is one of the passages where it approaches very near its later sense of verse*. The 
concluding words are capable of many interpretations, the usual being to contrast 
the clauses as, " Is it a foreign Qur'an and they to whom it is sent Arabs ? " or " Is 
it a foreign Qur'an and he who speaks an Arab ? " 

7 xliii, 2 ; xii, 2, etc. 



INTRODUCTION 7 

they ask, could the Arabs have been expected to understand it, 
were it sent down in a non- Arabic tongue ? 1 

Others took a different line of argument, and claimed that the 
existence of foreign words in the Qur'an would be a reflection on the 
sufficiency of Arabic as a medium for the divine revelation. The 
Qur'an, said the theologians, is the final and most perfect of divine 
revelations, and Allah naturally chose to reveal the final revelation in 
the ipost perfect of all languages, so how can one pretend that Arabic 
was lacking in the necessary religious vocabulary, and that Allah 
had to borrow Nabataean or Persian or Syriac words to express His 
purpose ? as-Suyuti (Itq, 315) quotes Ibn Faris as representative of this 
attitude. " Ibn Faris said that if there is therein anything from a 
language other than Arabic that would raise a suspicion that Arabic 
was imperfect as compared with other tongues, so that it had to come 
in a language they did not know." If asked to account for the fact 
that the early authorities had great difficulty in explaining certain 
words which they were forced to conclude must be of foreign origin, 
a thing which would hardly have been likely were they ordinary 
Arabic words, the advocates of this view reply that the Arabic language 
is so rich and copious that it is practically beyond the powers of any 
ordinary mortal to encompass all its variety, 2 so it is no wonder if 
certain words were strange to the interpreters. In illustration of this 
they refer to a tradition that Ibn 'Abbas was uncertain about the 



moaning of the word Jkk until one day he overheard two desert Arabs 
quarrelling over a well, when suddenly one of them said \$ Jb* 1 1 and 

immediately its meaning became clear. 3 If further asked how the 
Prophet could have known all these words, they quote the dictum of 

i Dvorak reminds us (Fremdioortcr, 5) that Muhammad himself used these words 
b^P iff j> to reply to the charge of his contemporaries that a foreigner instructed 
him (xvi, 105 ; xxv, 5 ; xliv, 13), his argument being what he hears from this 
foreigner is a foreign tongue, whereas he himself understands only Arabic. Yet the 
Qur'an is Arabic which they understand perfectly, so their charge is false, for how 
could they understand the Qur'an if it were composed of what he learned from this 
foreigner ? This argument does not seem to have had much effect in convincing the 
Meccans to whom it was addressed (see Osborn, Islam under the Arabs, 20, 21), though 
later Muslim theologians regarded it as conclusive. 

* So as-Suyut-I, Itq, 315 : 



aii. 

3 Vide Baid, on vi. 14. 



INTRODUCTION 



ash-Shafi% ^" a^ "None but a Prophet thoroughly 

comprehends a language ".* 

The authority of the great philologers, however, carried much 
weight, and many were fain to admit that Ibn 'Abbas and his successors 
must have been right in stating that certain words were Abyssinian, 
or Persian, or Nabataean, and yet they were very unwilling to grant 
that Arabic was thus confessedly imperfect. 2 To meet the difficulty 
they came forward with the suggestion that these were odd cases of 
coincidence where Arabic and these other tongues happened to use 
the same word for the same thing, but which in the case of Arabic 
happened to be used for the first time in the Qur'an. This, curiously 
enough, is the position taken by at-Tabari in his Tafsir* and is even 
seriously defended at the present day by the ultra-orthodox in spite 
of the overwhelming weight of the probabilities against such a series 
of coincidences, not to speak of the definite linguistic evidence of 
borrowing on the part of Arabic. 

This line of argument was not one which was likely to commend 
itself to many of the more instructed Muslim savants, so we are not 
surprised to find others taking up a more likely-looking position and 
claiming that in cases where the two languages agree, it is the 
Abyssinian or Nabataean, or Syriac, or Persian which has borrowed 
from Arabic. Since Arabic is the most perfect and richest of all 
languages, they argued, it is much more likely that the surrounding 
peoples would have borrowed vocabulary from the Arabs than that 
the Arabs took over words from them. This, as-Suyitfi tolls us, was the 

1 The reference is to ash-ShafiTs Risala (Cairo, 13 J 2), p. 13. See further on this 
point, Dvorak, Fremdw, 10, vith his references to Goldziher, ZDMG, xxvi, 768. 
There are several traditions as to Muhammad's groat linguistic attainments, and he 
is said to have been particularly skilled in Ethiopie ; ef. Goldziher, op. cit., 770. 
Perhaps the most curious of these traditions is that in Kanz, ii, 41, that the language 
of Ishmael was a lost tongue but that Gabriel came and instructed Muhammad 
therein. 

2 This jealousy for the perfection of their language is characteristically Oriental. 
An interesting example of it from a Syriac writer will be found in Budge's Cave of 
Treasures, 1928, p. 132. 

3 Cairoed. of 1323, voU,pp.6-9,onwhichseeLothin7^/f/,xxxv,595. as-Suyiiti, 
Itq, 315, summarized his view : " Said Ibn Jarir What is handed down from Ibn 
'Abbas and others on the interpretation of words of the Qur'an to the effect that 
they are Persian or Abyssinian or Nabataean, etc., only represents cases where there 
is coincidence among the languages, so that the Arabs, Persians, and Abyssinians 
happen to use the same word." There is an excellent example of this lino of argument 
in as-Sijistani, 111. 



INTRODUCTION 9 

opinion of Shaidhala. " Said Abu'l-Ma'all 'Azlzl b. 'Abd al-Malik, 1 
these words are found in the Arabic language for it is the widest of 
languages and the most copious in vocabulary, so it is possible that it 
was the first to use these words which others then adopted/' 2 

The swing of the pendulum in the opposite direction is represented 
at its furthest extreme by those who say that the very fact of the 
Qur'an being in Arabic is a proof that it is not a Divine Book, for had 
it bee/i a heavenly revelation it would have come down in one of the 
Holy tongues, i.e. Hebrew or Syriac. Unfortunately, we know little 
about the supporters of this opinion, but the fact that at-Tabarl con- 
siders it necessary to refute them would seem to show that they 
exercised no inconsiderable influence in certain circles. Such an 
extreme position, however, was never likely to gain general acceptance, 
and the popular view among such as were constrained to admit the 
conclusions of the philologers as to the existence of foreign words in 
the Qur'an, was that this was not strange in view of the fact that the 
Qur'an is the final revelation. The Qur'an itself states that when a 
Prophet was sent to any people he preached in the language of that 
people so as to be understood by them. Thus, e.g. we read in xiv, 4, 

kt 1 

alld we 

have sent no Prophet save in the tongue of his own people that (his 
message) might be plain to them ". So it is obvious that the Qur'an, 
being sent to the Arab people, must be in Arabic, but since it sums 
up and completes all previous revelations, it is only to be expected 
that technical terms of Hebrew and Syriac or other origin which 
were used in previous revelations should be included in this final 
revelation. Moreover, as the Qur'an is intended for all peoples, one 
should -not be surprised to find in it something from all languages, 3 a 

1 i.e. Shaidhala, whom as-SuyiHI frequently qmtes among his authorities, vide 
Jtq, 13; Jl/ufatr, 45. ' 2 /ty, 315. 

3 at-T ft bari quotes in favour of this idea the savant Abu Maisara at -Tabi'I al-Jalil, 
whom a,s-Suyuti, Itq, 316, also quotes, adding that Sa'id b. JubairandWahb.b.Munab- 
bih were of the same opinion, and that Ibn an-Naqlb elanned that one of the ^"L**. 
of the Qur'an distinguishing it above all other Scriptures, is that while it was revealed 
in the tongue of the people to whom it was first sent, it also contains much of the 
tongues of the three great Empires of Roum, Persia, and Abyssinia. Dvorak, Fretful w, 
11, 12, points out that some Muslim writers have illustrated this point by taking 
the tradition of the seven o^l to refer to seven different languages from whoso 
vocabulary something is used in the Qur'an. Here, however, there in no question of 
"languages" but of different Arab dialects (cf. as-Suyutf, Itq, 110; Ibn al-Athlr, 
Nihaya, i, 250, 251), so this is really irrelevant to the discussion. 



10 INTRODUCTION 

point which is sometimes emphasized by a reference to the claim that 
the Qur'an contains all previous knowledge, and information about 
everything, which would not be true if it did not contain all 
languages. 1 Obviously all of all languages was not contained, but 
what was sweetest, most pleasant, and most suitable. 2 

The most sensible statement on this whole question, however, is that 
suggested by as-Suyuti, Itq, 316, and expounded by ath-Tha'alibi 3 in 
his Kitdb al-Jawahir, i, 17 : " In my opinion the truth of the i^iatter 
is this. The Qur'an is in plain Arabic containing no word which is 
not Arabic or which cannot be understood without the help of some 
other language. For these (so-called foreign) words belonged to the 
(language of the) ancient Arabs, in whose tongue the Qur'an was 
revealed, after they had had contact with other languages through 
commercial affairs and travel in Syria and Abyssinia, whereby the 
Arabs took over foreign words, altering some of them by dropping 
letters or lightening what was heavy in the foreign form. Then they 
used these words in their poetry and conversation so that they became 
like pure Arabic and were used in literature and thus occur in the 
Qur'an. So if any Arab is ignorant about these words it is like his 
ignorance of the genuine elements of some other dialect, just as Ibn 
'Abbas did not know the meaning of Fdtir, etc. Thus the truth is that 
these words were foreign, but the Arabs made use of them and 
Arabicized them, so from this point of view they are Arabic. 4 As for 
at-Tabari's opinion that in these cases the two languages agree word 
for word, it is far-fetched, for one of them is the original and the other 
a derivative as a rule, though we do not absolutely rule out coincidence 
in a few exceptional cases." ^ *- ' 

If challenged as to how, on this view, the Qur'an could be called J ' J* 

<j\+* "Jj^ '' a plain Arabic Qur'an ", its defenders reply with as-Suyuti, 5 
that the presence of a few foreign words therein no more makes it 

1 aH.Suyuti, //</, 316 an opinion which is quoted also by al-Khafaji, 3 and 4. 
See also Itq t 322. 

2 As as-SuyutT says: V ^JI % - ~*l U^j i^lj U^l ^ & tf ^ j^~\>. 

3 This is not the famous philologer whose Fiqh al-Lugha we shall have occasion 
to quote frequently in the course of our work, but a N. African exegete 'Abel ar-Rabman 
ath-Tha'alibi, whose Tafsir was published in four volumes at Algiers in 1905. 

4 So al-Jawallql, Mtfarrab, 5, says : J-^l j w^l jU jJu Oj^l -U jl 
Jlil JU* j A-.^ j& oil ^>^ L.^ jU> C.^*> l^^Jl ^>^l 4j cJii) p? 

l, a sentiment which is echoed by al-Khafaji. 5 Itq, 315. 



INTRODUCTION 11 

non- Arabic than the presence of many Arabic words in a Persian ode 

makes the ode non-Persian. In any case the reference of />Jt .1 > is 

to the Qur'an as a whole, and not to individual words in it. as-Suyuti 
even finds one authority l who considered that the presence in the 

Qur'an of such words as ($j\L\ and ^JUu. for line silk brocade, 






and ^L*u for precious spices, ^3 ^'^ and (Ji JIM, etc., for other 



articles of luxury and civilization, is a proof of the excellence of the 
Qur'an, for the Qur'an was to tell men of the best things and thus could 
not be bound down and limited by the rude civilization of the Arabs of 
the Jfihiliyya. Naturally the pre-lslamic Arabs had not words for 
many things belonging to the higher stage of civilization to which the 
Qur'an was to lead them, and it was only natural that the Qur'an 
should use the new words that were necessary to describe the new 
excellences, words which indeed were not unknown to many of the 
Arabs of the Jahiliyya who had come into contact with the civilization 
of Persia and of Kotim. 

So as-Suyuti concludes with al-Jawallqi and Ibn al-Jauzi that both 
parties to the quarrel are right. 2 The great philologers were right in 
claiming that there are foreign words in the Qur'an, for in regard to 



origin ((J*^') these words are Persian or Syrian or Abyssinian. But the 

Imam ash-Shah' 'I and his followers are also right, for since these words 
have been adopted into the Arabic language and polished by the 
tongues of the Arabs, they are indeed Arabic. 3 So we can comfortably 



conchute -J <^->* A 



Turning now to the question of the languages from which these 

1 hq, 316, 317. 

2 Itq, 318, and al- Jawaliql, Mu'arrabi .5. The reference to Ibn al Jauzl is doubtless 
to his Funun al-Afnan, which aa-Suyuti often quotes, cf. Itq, 13, and Mutaw, 44. 

3 Note as-Suyuti's quotation on this point from Abu 'Ubaid al-Qasim b. Sallam, 
a quotation which is also given with slight verbal alterations in TA, i, 9, as from 
Abu *Ubaida. 



12 INTRODUCTION 

borrowed words came, we find that as-Suyuti, 1 whose classification is the 
most complete that has come down to us, divides them in the Muta- 
ivakkili into the following classes : 

(i) Words borrowed from Kthiopic (A^Li-1 j 



(ii) Words borrowed from Persian ( 

(iii) Words borrowed from Greek 

(iv) Words borrowed from Indian (A *XLil 4,*$ 1' 

(v) Words borrowed from Syriac (AJ 
(vi) Words borrowed from Hebrew (<Jl^\jJi 4* 
(vii) Words borrowed from Nabataean 
(viii) Words borrowed from Coptic (OaJi) I <i 
(ix) Words borrowed from Turkish (O jrOl 

(x) Words borrowed from Negro 



(xi) Words borrowed from Berber (A> j t j\}\ <i 

It is obvious at the first glance that much of this is mere guess- 
work, and equally obvious that the philologers whom as-Suyutl quotes 
had frequently very little conception of the meaning of the linguistic 
terms they use. It is necessary, therefore, to inquire a little more 
closely into what may have been meant by these terms and what may 
have been the possibilities of Arabic having drawn on any of these 
languages for religious and cultural vocabulary. 

(i) Abyssinian. Philologically, Ethiopic, the ancient language of 
Abyssinia, is the most closely related to Arabic of all the Semitic 
tongues ; Ethiopic and Arabic, with the languages of the S. Arabian 

1 Sprenger's list, " Foreign Words Occurring in the Qoran," in JAtiti, xxi (1832), 
pp. 109-114, is taken from his MS. of as-Suyutf's Al-Muhadhdhab. 



INTRODUCTION 13 

inscriptions, being grouped together as South Semitic as opposed to 
the North Semitic group. The modern Abyssinian languages, and 
particularly Amharic, have in some respects diverged very considerably 
from the ancient Ge'ez, but it was presumably this ancient language 
with which the Arabs were in contact in pre-Tslamic days and during 
Muhammad's lifetime. These contacts, as a matter of fact, were 
fairly close. For some time previous to the birth of Muhammad the 
southern portion of Arabia had been under Abyssinian rule, 1 and 
tradition relates that Muhammad was born in the Year of the Elephant, 
when Mecca was saved from the Abyssinian army which marched 
up under Abraha to destroy the city. It is practically certain that 
there were trade relations between Abyssinia and Arabia at a much 
earlier period than the Axumite occupation of Yemen, 2 and that 
friendly relations continued in spite of the Year of the Elephant is 
clear from the fact that Muhammad is said to have sent his persecuted 
followers to seek refuge in Abyssinia, 3 and that the Mot-can merchants 
employed a body of mercenary Abyssinian troops. 4 

That Muhammad himself had personal contact with people who 

spoke <JLiJ jLJ seems to be indicated from the fact that tradition 

tells us that his first nurse was an Abyssinian woman, Umm Aiman, 5 
that the man he chose as first Muezzin in Islam was Bilal al-Habashl, 
and the tradition already noted that the Prophet was particularly 
skilled in the Ethiopic language. 6 

Abyssinian slaves appear to have been not uncommon in Mecca 
after the rout of the famous army of the Elephant, 7 and it would not 
have been difficult for Muhammad in his boyhood to have learned 
many words of religious significance from such sources. 8 It must 

1 at Tabarl, Annul, i, 926 ff. ; Il>n Hishain, 25 ff. ; al-Mas'iidl, Muruj, iii, 157, 
and see particularly Noldeke's Ftasanideii , 186 fT. 

2 El, i, 119, and Lammens, La Mecqur* 281 ff. 

3 This was in A.I). 616, and is known as the First Hijra, of. at-Tabarl, Annahn, i, 
1181. Dvorak, Fremdw, 25, would derive some of the Ethiopic elements in the Qur'an 
from the two Abyssinian migrations, but this is hardly likely. 

4 LammenH, " Les AhabTsh," in JA, xi ser., vol. viii, 1916, p. 425 IT. 

5 Abu'1-Fidd, Vita Alohammedia, p. 2, an-Nawawi, 756. 

6 Infra, p. 8. al-KhafajT, 111, under i gives an example of the Prophet's 
use of Ethiopic. 

7 Azraki, p. 97. Sec also Essay 1 in Lammens' IS Arabic occidenialc avant VHtgire, 
Beyrouth, 1928. 

8 Sprenger, Moh. nnd der Koran, p. 54, suggests that the mentor referred to in 
Sura, xvi, 105, xxv, 5, 6, may have been an Abyssinian. 



14 INTRODUCTION 

also be borne in mind that during the Axumite occupation of S. Arabia 
many Ethiopic words of cultural significance may have come into 
current use in Arabia through commercial and political intercourse. 1 
(ii) Persian. The contacts between Arabia and the Sasanian 
Empire of Persia were very close in the period immediately preceding 
Islam. The Arab Kingdom centring in al-Hlra on the Euphrates had 
long been under Persian influence and was a prime centre for the 
diffusion of Iranian culture among the Arabs, 2 and in the jfitanie 
struggle between the Sasanian and Byzantine Empires, where al-Hlra 
had been set against the kingdom of Ghassan, other Arab tribes 
became involved and naturally came under the cultural influence of 
Persia. 3 The court of the Lakhmids at al-Hlra was in pre-Islamic times 
a famous centre of literary activity. The Christian poet 'Adi b. Zaid 
lived long at this court, as did the almost-Christian al-A'sha, and 
their poems are full of Persian words. 4 Other poets also, such as 
Tarafa and his uncle Mutalammis, Al-Harith b. Hilliza, ; Amr b. 
Kulthum, etc., had more or less connection with al-Hlra, 5 while in 
some accounts we find 'Abid b. al-Abras and others there. There is 
some evidence to suggest that it was from al-Hira that the art of 
writing spread to the rest of the Arabian peninsula. 6 But not only 
along the Mesopotarnian area was Persian influence felt. It was a 
Persian general and Persian influence which overthrew the Abyssinian 
suzerainty in S. Arabia during Muhammad's lifetime, 7 and there is 
even a suspicion of Persian influence in Mecca itself. How far Persian 
cultural influence penetrated the peninsula we have little means of 
telling, but it will be remembered that one of Muhammad's rivals was 

1 It has been noted by more than one scholar that the terms connected with sea- 
faring and sea-borne trade seem to be greatly influenced by Kthiopic. Andrac, 
Crsprung, 15, speaking of this Axumite occupation says: " Mit den neften Herr- 
schern kamen aber sicher auch Geistliche heruber, und wir durfen annehmen, dass 
eine grosse Zahl der athiopischen Lelmworter als Bezeichnung fur kultische und 
religiose Dinge, die uns im Koran begcgnen, wahrend dieser Periode ihren Weg in 
den arabischen Sprachschatz gefundcn haben." 

2 Rothstein, Die Dynastie der Lakhmiden, in al-Hlra 9 passim, and Siddiqi, 76. 

3 We even hear of Arabs in that region becoming Zoroastrians, vide note on ^ JL-I 
in Siddiqi, 79. 

4 Ibn Qutaiba, Shi'r, 136 f. Siddiqi, 82 ff., gives examples from other poets 
showing how great was the Persian influence on the poetry of that period. 

5 Nicholson, Literary History, p. 107, and Shanqfyi's introduction to the Mu'allaqat, 
Cairo, 1338. 

6 Rothstein, Lakhmiden, 27. 

7 at-Tabari, Annales, i, 948 ff. ; Tbn Hisham, 41-6 ; Hamza, Annales, 139 ; and 
see Spiegel, Eraniche Altertumskunde, iii, 454. 



INTRODUCTION 1O 

an-NatJr b. al-Harith, who frequently drew away the Prophet's 
audiences by his tales of Rustam and Isfandiyar. 1 

By (jj& the Muslim writers obviously mean the later Persian 

language which was known to them when Persia had long been an 
important part of the Islamic Empire, but the language which would 
have been known in Arabia in pre-Islamic times, the language with 
which JIuhammad himself may have come in contact, was Pahlavi, 2 
the official language of the Sasanian Empire (A.D. fc 226-640). 3 This 
Pahlavi was a curious language whose written form was strangely 
compounded with Semitic elements, but which in its spoken form 
doubtless represented a more archaic form of the Persian we find in 
the later Muslim literature of Persia, though with a greater admixture 
of Semitic words. 

The fact that the pre-Islamic and early Muslim contacts with 
Persia were with a people using Middle and not Modern Persian has 
frequently been forgotten by Oriental investigators into the foreign 
elements in Arabic. Thus Addai Sher on p. 4 of the Introduction to 

his study 4*^*11 L^jli)l i^uJVl t^>uj , in detailing the changes 
which Persian words have undergone in passing into Arabic, complains 

that the Arabs frequently added a r- or a <j at the end of words, e.g. 

. C"" s - 

they wrote *cAi j j>- or ^x j^>- for the Persian *^^y , and 77^ 

or ^ J) fov the Persian 4>J) . In such cases, of course, the Arabic 
*r or <3 represents the Pahlavi suffix a l\ which in Modern Persian 
becomes * after a short vowel, but is dropped after a long vowel, 4 as 
in Alii beside Arm. ^pL^mui^ from Phlv. ^>3^j. A good example 



1 Ibn Hisham, 235, 236, and see Blochct in RUE, xl, 20 if. Nudr is supposed to bo 
the person referred to in Sura xxxi, 5. 

2 Or Middle Persian, as the philologists prefer to call it, sec Salemann in Geiger 
and Kuhn's Grundriss, i, and Noldeke, " Zuni Mittelpersischen," in WZKM, xvi, 1-12. 

3 Hang, " Essay on the Pahlavi Language," p. 33 in PPGl ; Herzfeld, " Essay on 
Pahlavi," in Paikuli, pp. 52-73. 

4 Vide Haug, Essay on Pahlari, p. 117, and Bloc-bet in Revue fWmitique, iv, 267. 
" Note sur 1'arabisation des mots persans." 



16 INTRODUCTION 

of this occurs in the Qur'an in the word (3j^', where the Persian 



1* 
^ and the Arabic O and Persian d represent a Pahlavi 

5 which appears again very clearly in the Syriac L.^Acol and 
Armenian fwunuL[tiu^ which are borrowed from the same Pahlavi word. 
It is unfortunate that the Middle Persian literature which has 
survived to our own time has survived only in late copies, but we have 
every reason to believe, as in the similar case of the Hebrew codices 
of the O.T., that the MSS. in our hands represent the genuine ancient 
books very faithfully. What is even more unfortunate is that so 
little of the Pahlavi literature has come down to us. It will be noticed 
in any treatment of the Persian element in early Arabic that there 
are many cases where there can be little doubt that we are dealing 
with words borrowed from an Iranian source, but where the only 
form which can be quoted in comparison is from Modern Persian, 
the older form from which the word would have been derived not 
having survived in the remnants of the Pahlavi literature which have 
come down to our day. 1 



as-Suyutl sometimes refers to Persian by the definite title ^ 

- 

and sometimes by the more indefinite <L*^ I, which like 4**^ lie also 

frequently uses as meaning nothing more than foreiyn. 2 There is no 
ground, however, for thinking that any distinction of dialect is meant 
to bo indicated by the varying use of these terms. 

(iii) (treel:- as-Suyuti uses two terms for Greek in his discussion of 

.. I 

the foreign words, viz. <~Jj and <Jl j^. Thus in discussing the word 

^Jf j in Itq, 321, he tells us that Shaidhala said it was 4JLOj> whereas 
on the same page in connection with the word (j* he quotes Shaidhala 

again as saying that the word was <AJ li j\ Dvorak, Frcmdw, 20, thinks 
that a distinction is being made here between ancient and medieval 

1 It is possible that a fuller acquaintance with Pahlavi would enable us to explain 
a number of strange terms in the Qur'an for which at present we have no solution. 

2 See the discussion on the use of these terms in Dvohik, Fremdw, 20, 21. 



INTRODUCTION 17 

** I* 

Greek, and that when the word AxTl is used we are to understand 
the ancient Classical Greek, whereas in contradistinction to this <**) j 

stands for Byzantine Greek. When, however, we come to examine 

* 
the words which are said by as-Suyiitl's authorities to be either A-^O j 

or<- IV? we find that these authorities have no understanding whatever 

of the matter, and it seems in the last degree unlikely that any of 
them would have known the distinction between the two forms of 
Greek. 1 

Any direct contact with the Greek language at the time of Muham- 
mad or the period immediately preceding his birth, would necessarily 
have been with Byzantine Greek. At that time Byzantine influence 
was supreme in Syria and Palestine, and the Arab confederacy of 
Ghassan, which acted as a buffer state between the Byzantine Empire 
and the desert tribes, and was used as an offset to the Persian influence 
at al-Hlra, was a channel whereby Byzantine influence touched the 
Arabs at many points. 2 Intercourse with Constantinople was constant, 
and both the pro-Islamic poet ImriTul-Qais, 3 and the Hanif 'Uthman 
b. al-Huwairith 4 are said to have visited the Byzantine court. Contact 
with Christian communities in Syria which used the Greek language 
was a channel for the introduction of Greek words, and some trade 
words may have come as a result of Greek commercial ventures along 
the Red Sea littoral, 5 as we learn from the Pcriplus Maris Erythraei,* 
that Arab captains and crews were employed in this trade. 

Byzantine Greek as a spoken language was doubtless widely spread 
in Palestine and Syria at the time, and the presumption is that it 
would be not unfamiliar to many Arabs connected more or less closely 

1 But see Jahiz, Three Essays, ed. Finkcl, pp. 16, 17. 

2 Noldekc, ahtwanischen, Vursten, p. 12 if. Note also the Ureek words occurring 
in the Nabataean inscriptions, e.g. D31BW= tyo>wos ; NjmDN^ orpar^yo? ; 
Xp 1 EflpD= auy*Ai7TiK<fe ; PTOTDn e f 7rapx /a . otc - ( n a11 f which seo Cook, 
Glossary], and the number of Greek words in the Palestinian Talmud (cf. S. KTOUHH, 
Griechische und lateiniftche Lehnwurter im Talmud, Berlin, 1809). 

3 lluckcrt, Amrilkai* der Dichter inid Koniy, 94 ff. ; Shanqltl, p. 9 ; Nicholson, 
Literary History, 104. 

4 Ibn Hisham, 144 ; and see Caetani, Annnli, i, p. 190. 

5 Thus there is reason to believe that the Ar. ttUi i.s from *$ O\KIOV ; of. Vollers 

in ZDMG, li, 300, 325. 

6 In C. Miiller, Geogr. Graec. Min., i, 271. 



18 INTRODUCTION 

with the Ghassanid confederacy. Epigraphical remains collected by 
de Vogii * and others, show many bi-lingual inscriptions from N. Arabia 
in which one of the languages is Greek, so we cannot absolutely rule 
out the possibility that Greek words may have been borrowed directly 
into Arabic in the pre-Islamic period, as they undoubtedly were later, 2 
but the Greek words in the Qur'an seem nevertheless with few excep- 
tions to have come into Arabic through Syriac. 3 

(iv) Indian. It is somewhat difficult at times to decide what th philo- 

logers meant by i AJuil <Uijl. West Syrian ecclesiastical writers both 

in the pre-Islamic and early Islamic period commonly use the word o,jani 
for South Arabia and Ethiopia, and }-*0,jai generally means Ethiopian 
even in the oldest literature. 4 Thus in the famous passage, Jor. xiii, 23, 
" Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard change his spots," we 
find liOjJOl used to translate the Hebrew TZfO (LXX 9 Ai6to^ 6 
and in the writings of Dionysius of Tell Mahre, 6 and Michael the Syrian, 7 
we find the S. Arabian and Abyssinian area called India. 8 It was not 
only the Syriac writers, however, who made this confusion. Epiphanius 
in the fourth century details the nine kingdoms of India, 9 and his 
mention among them of the Hommlae 10 and Azumilac ll makes it 
obvious that he is referring to the Ethiopian Kingdom. Sozomen 12 
and Socrates, 13 in their accounts of the mission of Frumentius to 
convert the people of this Kingdom, speak of them as TO>V IvSwv TCDV 
evdorepo), and so the term passed to the Latin writers and from them 
to the geographers of the Middle Ages. 14 It is thus probable that in 

early Arabic 4 Axil UjJl referred to the language of S. Arabia. 

1 La Syne centrale, 1868-1877. 

2 e.g. iaJ^J = Aoyo0Tij? the Chancellor of the Byzantine Court (of. de Gocje, tffcwwr//, 
p. 349) ; c*AJal>~ KavS 17 Aa 77x17? from *cai/8ijAa and anrto (Dozy, tfupplfntent, ii, 410) ; 
j\jc-l-l= onxdptov, a sacerdotal robe (Dozy, fivppltruent, i, 2L). 

3 Dvorak, Fremdw, 25 agrees. 4 ASw, sub voc. 

5 oiA^ao V r kuo oidalD >a^aj? Uo^cn >*)**> V? s*-]o. 

In Assemani, Bibl. Or., i, 359 ff. * " 7 Ed. Chabot, ii, 183 ff. 

8 Mingana, Ryland* Library Bulletin, x, 445, gives quotations from other less- 
known writers. 

9 Ed. Dindorf, iv, 179, 180, in the tractate Lift?/ de XII Gemini*. 

10 i.e. the 'O/uiypiTcu of Haer, Ixvi, 83. 

11 i.e. the Mfw/urai of Haer, Ixvi, 83. l2 Hint. Eccl, ii, 24. 

13 Hist. EccL. i, 19. See also Philostorflius, ii, 6, 

14 See Yule's Marco Polo (wl. Wordier), ii, 431 ff., and Noldeke, Rasanifan, 222 n. 



INTRODUCTION 19 

This S. Arabian language, or language group, as revealed to us 
from the inscriptions of the Minaean, Sabaean, Himyaritic, and other 
kingdoms, belongs to the S. Semitic group, and is closely related to 
Ethiopic, the classical language of Abyssinia. The latest inscriptions 
in the language date from A.D. 550, and the language would seem 
to have been supplanted by Arabic as a spoken language in those 
regions, 1 even before the time of Muhammad, though the survival 
to the present day of the Mahri and Soqotri 2 dialects would seem to 
indicate that in odd corners this old language might have survived 
until quite a late period. With the break-up of the S. Arabian kingdom 
tribes of these peoples migrated to other areas of Arabia, so that at 
the commencement of the Islamic period we find them widely scattered 
over the peninsula. 3 Though when we meet them there they are 
using the N. Arabian dialects of the tribes among whom they dwelt, 4 
there can be no doubt that words of S. Arabian origin could have 
found their way into Arabic from these scattered communities. 

When we examine the words which the philologers class as Indian,^ 
we find, however, that none of them are real S. Arabian words. They 
are merely words which the early authorities could not explain, and 

had to refer to some remote origin, and so for them Axil might quite 

well have meant the distant land of India, with which the Muslim 
conquests in the East had made them vaguely familiar. 

(v) Syriac. This is undoubtedly the most copious source of 
Qur'anic borrowings. Syriac, which still survives to-day as a 
liturgical language and as the dialect of a few communities of Oriental 
Christians in Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia, was at that time the 
spoken language of those Christian communities best known to the 
Arabs. 6 How widely Syriac was spoken at the time of Muhammad 

1 Nicholson, Literary History, p. 6. 

2 Cf. D. 11. Mnllcr, Die Mchri und Soqotri-Sprache, Wicn, 1902-5. 

3 Vide Blau, '* Die Wanclcrung der sabaischon Volkcrstamme," ZDMG, xxii 
(1868), p. 65 iff. 

4 This fact has been forgotten by Taha Huscin in his essay on the prc-lslamic 
poetry, where he argues against the genuineness of some of the old poetry on the 
ground that while the poet was of a South Arabian tribe his language is North Arabic, 
and not one of the South Arabian dialects. 

5 Cf. the list in as-Suyutl, Mutaw, 51, 52. 

6 For the purposes of this Kssay, Syriac - Christian Aramaic, and thus includes 
the Christian-Palestinian dialect and the Aramaic dialect of the Christian population 
of N. Syria as well as the Classical Syriac dialect of Edessa, which is the one best 
known to us from the literature and commonly usurps to itself the title of Syriac. 



20 INTRODUCTION 

in the area now known as Syria, is difficult to determine, but it seems 
fairly certain that while Greek was the dominant literary language in 
the region at that period the common people of native origin generally 
spoke Syriac. South of Syria, however, we find that the so-called 
Christian-Palestinian dialect was more or less in literary use down to 
the eleventh century, 1 while in the fifth and sixth centuries it was in 
such common use there and of such importance as to warrant a special 
translation of the Scriptures and Church manuals into the dialect. 2 
It was in Mesopotamia, however, that Syriac was in widest use as a 
literary and as a colloquial language. It was from this area that 
Aramaic made such a profound impress on the Middle Persian language 
and literature, 3 and there can be no doubt that from the Syriac used 
by the Christian portion of the community of al-Hlra and the surround- 
ing districts came the major portion of Syriac influence upon Arabic. 

It will be remembered that it was in this area that one of the 
earliest forms of Arabic script, the Kiific, was invented, based apparently 
on a modification of the Syriac script, 4 and it was from the same area 
that the system of vowel pointing in Arabic was developed from the 
old Nestorian system. 5 Here also in the court of the kings of al-HTra, 
the Christian Ibadites laid the foundation of Arabic literature, 6 and 
it was in this area that Arab tribes such as Tamlm and Taghlib and 
Quda'a seem first to have come under Christian influence, 7 so that 
from here, along the trade routes, streams of Christian culture spread 
throughout Arabia. 8 

We are still in need of a critical discussion of the spread of 
Christianity in Arabia, 9 but one fact seems certain, namely that such 
Christianity as was known among the Arabs in pro-Islamic times was 

1 The date when the scribe Abud copied the Lectionary published by Krizzo, 
Evanydarium Ilierosolymitanuw, Verona, 1861. 

2 Noldeke, ZDMG, xxii, 52,5, gives this as the date of the version. Since about 
A.I). 700 (Schulthess, (Jrnmtnatik, p. 7), the language has been superseded us a colloquial 
by Arabic, and there are Arabicisms to be met with in the MSS. which were written 
by Arabic-speaking monks, cf. Noldekc, loo. fit., p. 523 n. 

3 Sec Hang in PPGl, and SI way*, p. 81 ; and Salemann in Oiger and Kuhn's 
Urundrisa, i, 250. 

Rothstein, Lakhmiden, 27 ; Merit 7. in E1 y i, 383. 

Moritz in El, i, 384. 

Nicholson, Literary History, 138. 

Cheikho, Naaraniya, see Index under these names. 

Nicholson, op. cit., 39. 

The discussion was begun by Wright, Early Christianity in Arabia, 1855, and 
continued, though in an uncritical way, by Cheikho in his Nasraniya. The latest 
and best discussion, though by no moans complete, is in Andrao's (irsprung, 1926. 



INTRODUCTION 21 

largely of the Syrian type, whether Jacobite or Nestorian. In the 
kingdom of Ghassan the dominant party appears to have been Mono- 
physite, 1 though some, under Byzantine influence, became Melkite. 2 
In al-Hlra also many important Christian families would seem to have 
been Monophysite, if wo can believe the accounts of the mission of 
Simeon of Beth Arshani, 3 though the predominant party there was 
Nestorian. 4 The Christian community in S. Arabia at Najran, which 
was perhaps the oldest Christian community in Arabia, 5 and whose 
persecution by the Jewish king Dhii Nawas is mentioned in the Qur'ari, 6 
appears to have been a mixed community. There is no doubt that 
many of them were Nestorians, 7 while others as clearly were Mono- 
physites more or less related to the Monophysite Church of Abyssinia. 8 
Vocabulary of Syriac origin was already coming into use in Arabia 
in pre-Islainic times. The court of al-Hlra was a rendezvous of the 
poets and litterateurs of the day, and many of the pre-Islamic poets, 
such as Imru'ul-Qais, Mutalammis, and 4 Adi b. Zaid, were Christians. 
Their poetry, naturally, was impregnated with Christian words and 
ideas, but even in the extant poetry of such non-Christians as an- 
Nabigha and al-A'sha, 9 who spent much time at al-Hlra, we find the 
same strong influences of Syrian Christianity. 10 The trade routes 
again were channels whereby Syriac vocabulary entered Arabic. The 
wine trade, 11 e.g., was largely in the hands of those Christians, 12 and so 



I Noldcke, Ghassanischen Jfurstcn, pp. 20, 21. 2 Anclrae, Ursprunq, 31. 

3 See " Lives of the Eastern Saints ", by John of Ephcsua. in Pair. Orient, xvii, 
p. 140. Theso converts of Simeon are said to have been brought back to the orthodox 
faith by the preaehing of Maraba (Labourt, Le. rhristianisme flans VEinpire perse, 
p. 191). Assemani, liibl. Or., iii, 2, 606, mentions Monophysite Bishops of al-Hira. 

4 Andrae, I'rsprung, 25; Lammens in K0(\ ix, 32 ff. 

b See the long account of them in Andrae, rraprtiny, 7-24. 

6 Sura, Ixxxv, 4 ff. It is only fair, however, to state that Western seholars are 
not unanimous in accepting this as a reference to the persecution of Najran, though 
the weight of probability is strongly in its favour. 

7 Cf. the ' w Histoirc Nestorienne ", in Pair. Orient., v, 330 ff. 

8 Littmann, Deutsche A ksum.- Expedition, i, 50. 

9 There is a tradition that an-Nabigha was a Christian, on the strength of which 
(heikho includes him among the Christian Arab poets, but Nicholson (Literary 
History, 123), rightly rejects the tradition as without authority. Al-A'sha also is 
frequently claimed as a Christian, and is included by Cheikho in his collection, but 
see Nicholson, p. 124. 

10 Wellhauscn, Reste, 234 ; Lyall, Ancient Arabian Poetry, pp. 92 and 119 : von 
Kremer in SBAU , Wien (1881), Vol. xeviii, 555 ff. 

II Jacob, Altarnbisches fieduinenleben, 99, has an interesting note hereon, referring 
to Aghani, viii, 79 ; cf. Wellhausen, Reste, 231. 

12 Though Jews also engaged in the trade, cf. Goldziher, ZDMQ, xlvi, 185. 



22 INTRODUCTION 

we find that most of the early Arabic terms in connection with this 
trade are of Syriac origin. 1 

There were slight differences in pronunciation between the Jacobites 
and the Nestorians, and Mingana notes that the vowelling of the 
proper names in the Qur'an seems to follow the Nestor ian pronuncia- 
tion rather than the other, 2 though in many cases, as we shall see, 
the Qur'anic forms approximate most closely to those found in the 
Christian-Palestinian dialect. * 

It is possible that certain of the Syriac words we find in the Qur'an 
were introduced by Muhammad himself. That he had personal contact 
with Christians of the Syrian Church is definitely stated in the Trad itions. 
We read that he went in early life on trading journeys to Syria with 
the caravans of the Quraish, 3 and there is an account of how on one 
occasion he listened to a sermon by Quss, Bishop of Najran, 4 at the 
festival of 'Ukaz near Mecca. 5 Earlier Christian writers suggested 
that his mentor was a monk named Scrgius, 6 and the legends of Nestor 
and BahTra 7 at least show that there was an early recognition of the 
fact that Muhammad was at one time in more or less close contact 
with Christians associated with the Syrian Church. 8 



1 Rothstein, Lakhmulrn, p. 26. 

2 Syriac Influence. 83. as-Suyuli once (Itq, 325) quotes a word as being from 
the Jiauranic dialect, by which he apparently means some dialect of Syriac*. 

3 at-Tabarl, Anmles, i, 1123; Ibn Sa'd, I, i, 75 ff. ; Ihn Kisham, 115 ff. ; al- 
Mas'Cidi, Mvriij, iv, 132, 152 ; Sprenger, Mohammed und dcr Koran, p. 6, sees in Sura, 
xxxvii, 137, a recollection of his having passed the Dead Sea on one of these journeys. 

4 That he was Bishop of Najran we learn from LA, vni, 58. From al-Baihaqi's 
Mah&ttin, 351 ff., we would gather that he was rather an Arab soothsayer and fortune- 
teller. 

5 Jahiz, Bay fin, i, 119, Khisiiiui, i, 268. On Quss see Sprenger, Leben, i, 102 IT. 
and Andrae, llrspruwj, 202 ff. 

6 Al-Kindi, lft*ri/a, p. 76, and the Byzantine writers, e.g. iji' oe ris /feuSaj8/?ds- 
oVo/Ltan Zepyios, says George Phrantzes (ed. Niebuhr, p. 295). It is doubtful whether 
Sergius and Bahira are different personages. 

7 n^-Taba.^ Ann ales,!, 1124; Ibn Sa'd, i, i, 76; al-Mas'udT, Munlj, iv, 153. On 
these legends see Hirschfeld, New lie search?,*, 22 ff. ; Gottheil, ZA, xiii, 189ff. ; 
Sprenger, Lehen, i, 178 ff. ; ii, 381 ff. ; Cactani, Annnli, i, 136, 169 ; Nolcleke, ZDMG, 
xii, 699 ff. 

8 Nestor is obviously connected with Nestorianism (cf. io^fiQJ) and Buhaira or 
Habira is the Syr. ]^w^O=o eVAe*T<x (Noldeke, ZDMG, xii, 704 n.), commonly used 
of monks (Nau, Expansion, nextorienne, p. 215), though Hirschfeld, p. 23, argues that 
it is a Jewish word. Loth, ZDMG, xxxv, 620 ff., suggests that some of Muhammad's 
material may have come from one Suhaib, a Greek from the region of Mosul. The 
question as to whether Muhammad could have had a Scripture teacher has been 
discussed by the present writer in an essay in the volume, From the Pyramids to 
Paul (New York, 1935), pp. 95-118. 



INTRODUCTION 23 

It goes without saying that not all the words which as-Suyutf s 
authorities class under the term ixi u^JI are of Syriac origin. Gold- 

ziher has pointed out x that ^u^r-* was frequently used by Muslim 

writers for anything ancient, time honoured, and consequently little 
understood, and he quotes a line from Ibn k Abd Rabbihi, who in his 

'Iqd al-Farid, speaking of a notoriously bad copyist, says : Di Jo 

UJb -** 2\& /.J* . luXJl jni^J "if he copied a book twice 'twould 

be Syriac ". Dvorak 2 also refers to a common Turkish phrase quoted 

by Vambery: (3^ <U>ij \ J. J> jA^Ajl^^ j " Is it perhaps Syriac? 
We could not understand it/' somewhat as we say, " It was all Greek 

to me." It is thus clear that , 1\> ~* in the. writings of the Muslim 



exegotos may frequently have meant nothing more than that a word 
was of the old learned tongues and so more or less unintelligible to 
the ordinary person. 

(vi) Hebrew.- We learn from the Muslim historians that Jews 
were prominent in the pre- Islamic community at Madlna, 3 and that 
there were in fact three considerable tribes of Jews in that area, the 
Bairn Qainuqa', Banii Quraiza, and Bairn Nacjir, 4 who were proprietors 
of lands and plantations of palm trees, and who exercised no little 
influence on the Arabs around them. 5 There were also many Jewish 
tradesmen in the city who are said to have been particularly skilled 
as jewellers and armourers. 6 We learn also of communities at al-'Ala 7 
(the ancient Dedaii), Taima, 8 Khaibar, 9 and Fadak, 10 in North Arabia, 



, xxvi, 774. 2 Fremdniortcr, 22 n. 

3 Lbn Hisham, 351 ; at-Ta ban, AniMlrx* i, 1359 ff. For a discussion of their position 
and infi nonce there, see Hirschfold, RKJ* vii, 1H7 ff. ; I^eszynsky, Die Juden in 
Arabian, 19JO; and Wonsinck, J)e Jodai te Medina, Leiden, 1908. 

4 We learn also of a tribe Banu Hadal (or Handal or Bahdal), cf. Yaqut Mu'jam, 
iv, 462, and see Hirschfcld, REJ, vii, 169 fi'. The AghanT also mentions other smaller 
tribes or families. 

5 Ayhanl, xix, 94. 

6 Cf. Hirsehfeld, op. cit.; Wellhausen, Rate, 230; Caetani, Anwli, i, 380. 

7 Rudolph, AbMngiglceit, p. 1. 

8 Shammakh, Divan, ed. Shanqlti, p. 26 ; Yaqut, Alu'jam, i, 907. 
fl Yaqut, Mu'jam, ii, 504 ff. 

10 Yaqut, Mu'jam, iii, 856, 857 ; Abu Da'ud, Sunan, xix, 26. 



24 INTRODUCTION 

and doubtless they were known in many other areas from which, 
however, no evidence of their presence has survived. We have no 
evidence as to when they arrived in N. Arabia, but it was possibly 
at an early period. 1 Arabian legend places their first settlements there 
in the time of Moses and Aaron. 2 Acts ii, 11, would seem to indicate 
that there were settlements of them there at the commencement of 
the Christian era, and in the Mishna (Shabb. vi, 6) 3 we have fairly 
reliable evidence of early settlements in that area. 4 It lies been 
frequently suggested that the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 
drove many Jewish families to seek refuge in N. Arabia, and thus 
added to the importance of the communities already settled there. 5 

There were Jewish settlements also in S. Arabia. 6 Whether they 
were founded by Jews who had followed the spice road from N. Arabia, 7 
or by traders who had crossed from Egypt or Abyssinia, 8 it is impossible, 
now to say. Perhaps there were communities there from both these 
centres of trade. That they exercised no little religious influence 
there is indicated both by the Jewish imprint on many of the S. 
Arabian religious inscriptions, 9 and by the fact that we have very 
consistent tradition as to the conversion of one of the Himyaritc kings 
to Judaism. 10 It was the persecution of the Christian communities 
by this proselyte Dhu Nawtis, or Masruq, which was said to have led 
to the Axumite invasion and occupation of S. Arabia. 

The polemic of the Qur'an itself is sufficient evidence of the import- 
ance of the Jews as a religious body in the community to which 
Muhammad addressed his message. As, however, these Arabian 
Jews all bear Arab names, are organized in tribes on the Arab fashion, 
and, when we meet them in the literature, act and talk like genuine 
Arabs, some have thought that they were not real Jews but Arab 



1 Torrey, Foundation, 10 ft'., argues for a considerable settlement of expatriated 
Jews in Taima as early as the sixth century B.C. 

Aghaniy xix, 94. 

i.e. fol. 65a. 

Notice also that there are numerous Arable words and Arabisms in the Mishna, 
cf. Margoliouth, Kchwc-icJi Lectures, p. >8. 

Caetani, Annali, i, 383 ; Lcszynsky, Die Juden in Ambien, p. 6. 

Aghanl, xiii, 121. 

Rudolph, Abhdngif/keit, p. 1 ; Wellhausen, Reste, 230. 

Caetani, Studi, i, 261. 

Margoliouth, op. eit., 67 ff., thinks there is some doubt about this, but see 
MW, xix, 13. 

10 Moberg, Boot of the Himyaritc*, xlii ff. ; Fell in ZDMQ, xxxv, 1-74 ; Ibn Hisham, 
20 ff. ; at Tabari, Annals, i, 918 ff. ; al-Mas'udl, Muruj, i, 129. 



INTRODUCTION 25 

proselytes. 1 It is difficult, however, in face of the polemic of the 
Qur'an, to think of them as other than Jews by race as well as religion, 
and their adoption of Arab customs may well be explained by the 
Jewish habit of assimilating themselves to the community in which 
they dwell. 2 

Whether these Jews had any great familiarity with Hebrew, how- 
ever, is a different question. One would gather from the Qur'an that 
they were far better acquainted with the Rabbinic writings than 
they were with the Scriptures, and when we find Muhammad borrowing 
technical terms of Jewish origin they are generally of an Aramaic 
rather than a Hebrew form. It would seem from a passage in Ibn 
Hisham, 3 that they had a Beth ha-Midrash which Muhammad visited 
on at least one occasion, 4 though we are left to conjecture what they 
studied there. Some accounts we have do not speak very highly 
of their intellectual acquirements. 5 On the whole, one would judge 
that much of Muhammad's knowledge of Judaism was gained from 
the general stock of information about Jewish practice and versions 
of Jewish stories and legends that were current among the Arabs 
who had lived in contact with Jewish communities, for much of this 
material, as we shttll see, can be found also in the old poetry. 6 Certainly 
some of his knowledge of Judaism came through Christian channels, 
as is demonstrated by the Christian form of many Old Testament 

1 Winckler, MVAG, vi, 222 ; Margolicmth, op. cit., 61. Hirschfeld, Nnv lie- 
searfihfji, p. 3, notes that the Arabs seem to have intermarried freely with them. 

2 The second essay in Lammen's VAmbie occidental?, contains much interesting 
material on the position of Jews in the Hijiiz at the time of Muhammad, though he is 
inclined to emphasize their influence a little too strongly. 

3 p. 383 and Baid, on {Sum, 11, 91. Abu Bakr also visited this Beth ha-Midrash, 
vide Ibn Hisham, 388. Pautz, OffenlMiruny, 39, translates the words ^Ijoll ^* 
by Nynttgogue, but see Geiger, 13. 

4 There is also a Tradition that Muhammad u^cd to listen to Jabr and Yasar, 
two Jewish smiths at Mecca, as they read together out of their Scriptures. Vide 
Margoliouth, Mohammed, 101). 

5 This is indeed suggested by the Qur'an itself, Sura, ii, 80, though we also gather 
from the Qur'an that they had copies of their Scriptures and could write (11, 73, 169). 
Tabari, Tafmr, xxi, 4, has a tradition that the Madinan Jews read the Torah in Hebrew 
and interpreted it in Arabic. (On their dialect, cf. Coctani, Annali, i, 386 ; Leszynsky, 
22 ff.) As to what Scriptures we may reasonably suppose them to have possessed, 
see Hirschfeld, New Rtsmrchen, 103. 

6 Torrey, Foundations, following Aug. Mullcr, assumes that these Arabian Jews 
spoke a Judaeo- Arabic dialect, and refers to this dialect all the curious forms found 
in the Qur'an, e.g. jyj for 1107D, etc. The theory is interesting but hardly con- 
vincing. Even less convincing is the theory of Finkel, elaborated in an essay in 
MWj 1932, p. 169 ff., that the Jewish material in the Qur'an conies from non-Talmudic, 
old Israelitish tradition. 



26 INTRODUCTION 

names that occur in the Qur'an. 1 It is probable that in the Qur'an 
there is evidence that Muhammad attempted to purchase information 
about the Scriptures from certain Jews of the city only to find later 
that they had deceived him, 2 and Geiger seems to suggest 3 that perhaps 
Muhammad deliberately sought for and incorporated Jewish termino- 
logy into his revelation in order to win over the Jews before he made 
his final break with them. 



as-Suyiiti sometimes uses <^\ or uj\e to denote Hebrew, and 
sometimes ^^\ <iJ, and once, in discussing *uJ, he says that the 

word was i^jju 5j$ ju-L u in the tongue of the Madinan Jews '\ 4 
Dvorak, Fr&ndw, 19, would draw a distinction from as-Suyutl's use, of 

these terms, taking A j\& and 4\n^\ to mean classical Hebrew, and 

3^01 O as the language of the Jews of later times, perhaps the 

dialectal Hebrew used in Arabia. 5 One is inclined to doubt, however, 
whether the Arab philologers had sufficient knowledge to make such a 
distinction between the earlier and later forms of Hebrew, and an 
examination of the words which as-Suyuti's authorities place in the 
two classes, 6 makes it perfectly clear that there is nothing more in this 



distinction than there is in his varying use of ^xJaAlJu and 

Moreover, from Mitzhir, i, 105, it would seem that the term 4Ajlj\ 

was used somewhat vaguely by the philologers. 

(vii) Nabataean. \Ve find in as-Suyuti's lists quite a number of 
words which various authorities claim to be of Nabataean origin. 
The Nabataean kingdom, which from about the sixth century B.O. 
had stretched over the territory from the old Edomitc kingdom in the 



1 Sec heroin under u L*-|, ^y, ^^xJL, ^rUl, c-tc. Mingana, Nyrmc, Influence, 
82, goes so far aa to say that, there is not a single Bihlioal name in the Qur'an which 
is exclusively Hebrew in form. 

2 Sura, ii, 74, 169. 

3 Wa.t hat Mohammed fiux dent Judcnthumfi aufycnommm, p. 36. 

4 Itq, 324. 

5 Especially in view of the phrase : ^ *> ^^> -UJ. 
Vide Mutaw, pp, 56-9. 



INTRODUCTION 27 

south-east of Palestine as far north as Damascus, 1 was of Arab origin, 
and exercised no little influence on the Hauran and N. Arabia, even 
after it was absorbed in the Roman Provincia Arabia. Its deities 
Allat, Manuthu, and Hubalu, were reverenced even in Mecca, 2 and 
itsr period of power and prosperity was near enough to the period 
when we first come in contact with the pre-Islamic literature for the 
memory of it still to linger, much embellished with legendary details, 
in the ^poetic lore of the desert Arabs. We have a fair idea of the 
Nabataean language 3 from numerous inscriptions collected in N. 
Arabia, 4 but the Nemara inscription from the Hauran, dated A.D. 328, 5 
is in classical Arabic, though written in Nabataean characters, and 
shows that by that date the old Nabataean language had been sup- 



planted by Arabic. When the philologors use the term /J^***, however, 

it does not necessarily refer to those Na/Baraloi of Petra and the 
Hauran, for the Arabs used the word for many communities in Syria 
and Iraq, and as Noldekc has shown, 6 the Muslim philologers really 



mean Aramaic when they speak of Ax 

We have already discussed how Syriac words may have come into 
Arabic, and neod say no more on the subject of the Christian Aramaic. 
If the Jews of Arabia wore Jews by race, and not merely proselytes, 
we might expect that Jewish Aramaic would have boon more commonly 
known among them than Hebrew, 7 and this is confirmed by the fact 
that, as we have already noticed, the Jewish words in the Qur'an 
are more generally Aramaic in form than Hebrew. It is not necessary 

1 KHE, i\, 121, and Quatremere in JA, \v (lS.'Jf>, p. f> IV.). 

2 nbtf and ini3D are the o!M and sL. of Sura, lni, l,2(),and I^OPl is tho J^ who, 
as >ve learn from al-Mas'iidi, Alvruj, iv, 46, was tho chief god of the Ka'ba. 

3 Nabataean was a dialeet of West Aramaic, though full of Arabic words and 
idioms. 

1 Collections Mill be found in f'/*V, vol. ii ; de Vogue, InMriptiotw setnitiquf* ; 
and Kuting, fitibuttwrih? I nadir tf ten M,S Arulncn, Berlin, 1885. 

5 Lid/barbki, Ephcmcrw, ii, 34. 

b KDMG, xxv, 122 ff. ul-MasTidT, Afuruj, iii, 240, says that the country of Babel 
was occupied by the Nabataeans. Sometimes, however, U.\ is used just like ijl / 
to mean something in a language unintelligible to the Muslim savants, ef. the reference 
in Margoliouth's fidiweidi Lec-tiitex, p. 55 n., to Jslali al-Mawtiq, p. 168. 

7 " The Jews in North Arabia and Syria read the Bible in Synagogues in the 
Hebrew original, but for domestic study they probably used Aramaic translations 
as did the Christians. Many Biblical words which occur in the Qur'an have evidently 
gone through an Aramaic channel." Hirschfeld, New Researches, 32. 



28 INTRODUCTION 

to assume that many of these words were borrowings of the Prophet 
himself, for in a city like Madma, where Jewish influence was so strong 
and where there was apparently a keen interest in religious matters, 
it is probable that many such words would have been borrowed in pre- 
Islamic times, and as a matter of fact many such are to be found in 
the old poetry. 1 

It is not impossible, of course, that Aramaic words may have 
entered from sources which were neither Syriac nor Jewish, but it is 
doubtful if any words of the genuine Nabataoau dialect are to be found 
in the Qur'an. A glance at as-Suyiitrs list of so-called Nabataean 
words 2 gives one the impression that the philologers used the term 



mainly as a cloak for their ignorance, 4xjUJ being a good enough 

designation for any strange word whose origin they could not 
ascertain. 3 

(viii) Coptic.- as-Suyutl finds some six words which his authorities, 
Shaidhala, al-Wasiti, and others, classed as Coptic loan words. 4 It 
hardly needs saying that none of them are Coptic, and indeed in the 
case of some of them one wonders why anyone ever thought of con- 
s'dering them other than Arabic. Coptic was the liturgical language 
of the Christian communities of Egypt at the time of Muhammad, as 
indeed it has remained to the present day. How much more than a 
liturgical language it was is doubtful, though we have reason to believe 
that the cultural language, if not the language of everyday life in 
Egypt at that period, was Greek. 5 It is practically certain that Greek 
would have been the language of commerce, and we may well doubt 
whether any Coptic vocabulary would have entered Arabic along the 
trade routes. 6 It is a remarkable fact that the colloquial Arabic of 
Egypt which grew up after the Muslim conquest of the country, while 
it is full of Greek loan words contains but few words derived from 
Coptic. 

That Muhammad himself had at least one point of intimate contact 

1 The classical discussion of tin's clement in Arabic vocabulary is Fraenkel's 
Aramdisrhe Fremihvorter un Arahischeti, Leiden, 1886. 

2 Mutaw, 59-62. 

3 So Dvorak, Frcwdw, 21, 22. 

4 Mutaw, pp. 62-4. 

8 Burkitt, JThH, xxvii, 148 ff. suggests that Coptic was perhaps never much 
more than a liturgical language. 

* Evidence of early contact with Mecca may be seen in the story of Coptic work- 
men having been employed in the rebuilding of the Ka'ba. 



INTRODUCTION 29 

with Egyptian Christianity is evident from the fact that one of his 
concubines was Miriam, a Coptic slave girl, 1 who was the mother of 
his beloved son Ibrahim, and the cause of no little scandal and flurry 
in the Prophet's domestic circle. It is possible that he learned a few 
Christian legends from Miriam, but if he learned along with them 
any new Christian terminology of Coptic origin, this has left no trace 
in the Qur'an. 

As we might expect, the Muslim philologers show no real acquaint- 
ance with the Coptic language, in spite of the fact that in discussing the 

word ^L**c- as-Suyuti (Tlq, 323) refers to a dialect of Coptic, viz. 
l. 2 Dvorak, arguing from the fact that the philologers stated 

that <Jj VI meant j>- VI in Coptic, and j>- VI moan t<jj VI, 3 suggests 

that the Muslims simply made these statements in order to throw 
contempt on the Coptic community. 4 In any case it is clear that 
there is no philological justification whatever for their attribution 
of a Coptic origin to any Qur'anic words. 

(ix) Turkish . - It goes without saying that no dialect of Turkish 
had any influence on Arabic until well on into the Islamic period. 
There is one word, however, which we find given as Turkish by quite 
an array of authorities including even al-Jawaliql, 5 and Ibn Qutaiba, 6 



viz. (3^~, which occurs twice in the Qur'an (xxxviii, 57, Ixxviii, 25), 
arid is said to mean the corruption which oozes from the bodies of 

the damned. The word \J>\*~i certainly can be found in the Turkish 



1 There is, of course, no certainty that Miriam was a Copt by race, and there are 
some grounds for thinking that she may have been an Abyssinian slave-girl living in 
Kpypt before she was sent as a gift to Muhammad. 

2 UeU is a district of Upper Egypt, of. Yaqiit, J/?/'yV/w, iii, f>16. 

3 Itq, 319 ; Mutmc, 63. 

4 Fremdw, 23, 24. Along with J jVl must be classed jflW. of Iv, 54, which elearly 
means " inner linings ", but which the same authorities, according to as-Suyuti, say 
means " exteriors " ( j*\j)0 ) in Coptic. It should be noted, however, that as-Suyutl 
also quotes authorities as claiming that *\j) was Nabataean for *U|, see Itq, 325 ; 
Mutaw, 61. 

6 Mu'arrab, 107 (of. Khafaji, 142); as-Suyuti, 7ty 323 ; Mutow, 64. Others, how- 
ever, as we have seen, said it was Coptic. 
Adab al-Kdtib, 527. 



30 ' INTRODUCTION 

Lexicons, but is obviously a loan word from Arabic. 1 The only 
reason one can suggest for the common opinion that it was Turkish 
is that the word may in later times have come to be commonly used 
by the Turkish soldiery at the Muslim courts, so that the scholars, 
at a loss how to explain so curious a word, jumped to the conclusion 
that it must be Turkish, and this opinion was then, as usual, attributed 
to the circle of Ibn 'Abbas. 



(x) Negro. Two words, ^^aj>- meaning fad and a*X4 a staff, as- 
Suyuti tells us, 2 were considered by some authorities to be borrowings 

from the language of the woolly haired blacks ^x^jll. This 



is the language of the 7?Jj, and the Lexicons inform us that 

o e ** 

is jb^JI j* (j*??? so that j^ptJJ or ,^1 J from ^-j is like 

from * i j or /^ j from (j*J*. The only reason for the philologers 

.. i 
classing Qur'anic words as ^A^JJl j* is that they were entirely at 



a loss to explain the words and so suggested an origin in some remote 
corner of the earth, which perhaps appealed to them as better than 
giving no origin at all. 4 

(xi) Berber. Sometimes we find as-Suyiitl quoting authority for 



words being J.jA\ 4ilj , and at other times for their being Jj*l 

or k^j^\ jJJbl jL~l), which mean the same thing. 5 By 



1 See Redhouse, Turkish Lexicon, sub voc. 

2 Itq, 320; Mutaw, 64. Other authorities, however, said that sL.1* was Ethiopic 
(Itq, 325 ; Mutaw, 42). 

3 LA, iii, 114. The word is familiar to us from Zanzibar. 

4 " Es lasst sich nieht verkennen, dass wir es hier mit willkurlicher Verhullung 
und Verschonerung dor Unwissenheit zu thun haben, die sich uberdies, indem sie 
eine weit abliegende Spraehe als Ursprung cities Wortes hinstellt, moglicherweise 
aueh den Schein der Gelchrsamkeit zu gel>en trachtct. Dies sehcint inir der Fall 
bei den \ydrtern zu sein, die auf die Kprachc dcr Berbern, Neger, Afrikabewohner 
u.a. zurufkgefiihrt werden, Sprachen, die von unserem crweiterton Standpunkte der 
Wissenschaft wenig bekannt sind : umso weniger konnen wir eine Kenntuiss derselben 
bei den Arabern voraussetzen, und noch weniger ihr Vurkommen im Koran erklaren." 
Dvofak, Fremdw, 21. 

5 This is obvious from as-Siiyuti's discussion of J^*, vide Jtq, 325. 



INTRODUCTION 31 

Berber, the philologers mean the Hamitic languages of N.Africa, 1 known 
to us at the present day from the Tamashek, Kabyli, and kindred dialects. 
The spread of Islam along N. Africa brought the Arabs into contact 
with these Berber tribes, 2 whose influence on Islam in that area was 
as profound as that of the Turks in Mesopotamia, but it is ridiculous 
to think that any elements of Berber vocabulary entered Arabic in 
the pre-Islamic or Qur'anic period. One may doubt whether any of 
the Musjim philologers had any acquaintance with the Berber dialects, 3 
and certainly the words quoted as Berber by as-Suyutl's authorities 
have no connection with any Hamitic tongue. Again all we can say 



is that these words were puzzles to the scholars of the day, and J 

<*-O**' d*' or Jt-J^' ^**' at least sounded well as a cloak for their 
ignorance. 

From the discussion thus far it has become obvious that we cannot 
rate very highly the work of the Muslim authorities who have dealt 
with this difficult and important subject. 4 Goldziher has well said 
that "to attempt to explain all that has been set forth (by these 
authorities) as Hebrew, Syriac, Nabataean, etc., from one's knowledge 
of these tongues would be undertaking a fruitless task. These, 
languages, like the people who spoke them, belong to a grey antiquity, 
and are merely general terms for anything mysterious, esoteric, and 
ununderstandable, and to which belongs everything of whose origin 
there is no certainty, but whose great age is obvious/' 5 Occasionally 
one gets flashes of what looks like philological learning, as e.g. when we 
find at-Tabarl in the Introduction to his Tafxir (i, 6), quoting Hammad 

b. Salama on dj^*J) ,v* C^9, 6 to the effect that the word for lion in 



1 See al-Mas'udi, Muruj, iii, 242, for tho home of the Berbers. 

2 Once, in dealing with jli*i tiH-8uyiit! (Itq, 323) refers to <JL^V| JA| <jLJ, by 
which he probably means Berber. 

3 Their theories as to the origin of the Berbers are interesting. al-Mas'udi, Muruj, 
iii, 241, makes a curious confusion between the Philistines and the Phoenicians, for 
he tells us that the Berbers carne from Palestine and settled in N. Africa, and that 
their kings were known as O Jl- a dynastic name, the last bearer of which was tho 
Jiilut who was killed by David. 

4 The philologers did much better in dealing with such foreign words outside 
the Qur'an, i.e. with later borrowings of Islamic times. Some account of them and 
their methods will be found in Siddiqi, Ktudien, 14-64. 

6 ZDMG, xxvi, 766. 

6 Ixxiv, 51. ITammad's line of Tradition as usual goes back to Ibn * Abbas. 



32 INTRODUCTION 

* * 

Arabic is JUI, in Persian jLl, in Nabataean ujl, and in Ethiopic 

ajj,.*J. An examination of the Lexicons, however, shows that there is 
nothing in Aramaic or Ethiopic even remotely resembling these words, 

though jU. is somewhat like the Persian jrv-^= Pahlavi Jj^), sher 

meaning tiger or lion. 1 Indeed, as a general rule, the philologers are at 
their best when dealing with Persian words, a fact which may perhaps be 
explained by the Persian origin of so many of these savants themselves. 

All things considered, one is not surprised that they had so little 
success with the problems of the foreign words in the Qur'an, or that 
they detected so few out of the relatively large number recognized by 
modern scholarship, for they had but the most meagre philological 
resources at their disposal. What is cause for surprise is that as-Suyuti 
is able to gather from the older authorities so many words whose 
Arabic origin to us is obvious, but which they regarded as foreign. 

One group of these we may explain as Dvorak does, 2 as cases where 
the Arabic word is rare, 3 or occurs in a context where the usual meaning 
perhaps does not lie immediately on the surface, but where the word 
can be easily explained from related words or from the senso of the 
passage, and so comes to be regarded as a foreign word with that 
meaning. As examples we may take two words that are said to be the 
one Nabataean and the other Coptic. 

(i) In xix, 24, we have the word C* which as-Suyuti tells us 4 was 
considered by AbiVl-Qasim in his Luyh'il dl-Qu.fan, and by al-Kirmanl 

in his Al-'Ajd'ib, to be a Nabataean word meaning j&\. The growth 

of this theory is fairly clear. The word occurs in a passage where 
Muhammad is giving an account of the birth of Jesus, an account 
whose main features he had derived from some oral reproduction of 
the fables of the Hist. Nativ. Mariae. In the first place we note that 
the QurnV were not certain of the reading, for Baid, in loco, tells us 



that some read rL-Wr ' LilSli while others read 



1 Cf. PPOI, 214 ; Horn, arundrtot, 803. a Fremdw, 29. 

3 In the liHt of words of thin class it will bo noted that most are hapax legomeiM 
in the Qur'an. 

4 Itq, 320 ; Mutaw, 63. 



INTRODUCTION 33 

IjV^.;* * A . Secondly, there was some difference of opinion among the 

exegetes as to whether the one who called was Gabriel, standing at the 
foot of the hill, or the babe Jesus. Now it seems clear that when they 



felt some difficulty over this cl*^, certain of the exegetes who knew 

from Christian sources that the one who called was the babe, and 
who hacf probably heard of the legends of Jesus speaking to his mother 

before his birth, l assumed that C^ could not be taken here in its usual 
Arabic meaning of beneath, but must be a foreign word meaning ^.la; 

or womb. The guess of Nabataean, of course, has nothing to 
support it, for the Aramaic nflD like the Hebrew finD, Syriac A**2, 

and Ethiopia ^vlh'h, has exactly the same meaning as the Arabic C 

(ii) In xii, 23, we read that Joseph's mistress says to him ^- 

The word occurs only in this passage in the Qur'iin and is a rare 
expression even outside the Qur'an, though, as has been pointed out 
by Earth, 2 there can be no question that it is genuine Arabic. It 
was so rare and unusual a word, however, that it was early taken by 
the exegetes as foreign 3 and explained as Coptic, 4 doubtless on the 
ground that the Egyptian lady would have spoken to her slave in the 
Egyptian tongue, and as the only Egyptian language known to 
the Muslim nhilologers was Coptic, this rare word was taken to be 
of Coptic origin. 

Similarly l*JtL in xii, 25, which is explained as Coptic for l$^J J, 
was doubtless a case of the same sort, and likewise two other Coptic 

suggestions in the same Sura, viz. SU-J^ and 4 uaj of xii, 88, both of 



1 Sec Tha'labi, QIAOS (d-AMyn\ p. 269. 

2 Spmohwiss. Untersuch, i, 22, with reference to Ibn Ya'Ish, i, 499, line 7. Cf. also 
Reckendorf, Die. aytttuktischen VerMUnisse, d?& Arahiscken, Leiden, 1898, p. 325; 
Wright, Arabic Grammar, i, 294 d. 

3 Biddiqi, Stodicn, 13. 

4 Itq, 325. Others thought it Aramaic (Mutaw, 54) or Hauranic (Muzhir, i, 130), 
or Hebrew (Itq, 325). 

5 Itq, 322, from Al-Wasiti. 



5 



34 INTRODUCTION 



which are said to be Coptic for JS, 1 though, of course, there is 
nothing in the Coptic vocabulary to justify this assertion, and the 
words are undoubtedly genuine Arabic. 

In this group we may also class the following words collected by 
as-Suyuti from earlier authorities as foreign borrowings, but which are 

all obviously Arabic. OJU in xxvi, 21, which is said to be 



Nabataean for cJi, 2 also .yJlH in xi, 46, which some took to be 
Indian or Ethiopic for ^j\ 3 ; and J^>\ of vii, 175, which was said 

to be Hebrew for JU 4 ; and C-**A>- of xxi, 98, said to be Zinji for 



c_^k>- 5 ; also J* j in iii, 36, said to be a Hebrew word meaning C-A^^^ 
^fcXii) 1 6 ; and ji& j of xliv, 23, said to be of Nabataean or Syriac origin 7 ; 

and ^ki ofii, 139- 145, which is claimed as Ethiopic 8 ; and <j^U inxi, 
46 ; xiii, 9, also said to be Ethiopic 9 ; also j"y of xxxix, 7 ; Ixxxi, 1, 

explained as the Persian for jji 10 ; and 4xJ of lix, 5, said to be 
Hebrew n ; and (j^u* of xxxviii, 2, said to be Nabataean or Coptic 



1 Itq, 324, and Mutaw, 63. There is apparently some confusion between the 
two on the part of the Mutaw, for in the Miihadhdhab, from which both the li<\an and 
the Mutaw draw, only iUj> is given. 

2 Itg, 323, and sec Dvorak, FrMndw, 2. 

3 7^,318; Mutaw, 39, 51. Ethiopic flv0 (lleb. y^ ; Syr. M^Q ; Aram, 
yjjj) will give a form J^*flJV0< ^ llfc the QurMnie JL| is doubtless a normal 
Arabic formation from JL, of. Kaghib, Ahtfradat, 59. 

4 Itq, 318 ; Mutaw, 56. 

5 Itq, 320; Mutaw, <H ; see also Fleischer, KL tichr, ii, 132. 

6 Itq, 321 ; Mutaw, 57. 

7 Itq, 321; Mutaw, 54, 01. 
Itq, 322 ; Mutaw, 37. 

9 Itq, 323 ; Mutaw, 45. 

10 Itq, 324 ; Mutaw, 46. 

11 Itq, 324; Mutaw, 59; and see Dvorak, Fremdw, 20. 



INTRODUCTION 35 

S 1 ; and SLiofxxxiv,13, 8 nnd <S-il of Ixxiii, 6, 3 bothof which 

j 

are said to be derived from an Abyssinian source ; also J^* of xxv, 64, 
claimed as Syriac or Hebrew 4 ; and jjj of Ixxv, 11, said to be 



Nabataean for tUJUllJ J^' r> ; also jj>* of Ixxxiv, 14, explained by 



some as Ethiopia for *>v, G and %* of xxii, 21, said to be Berber 



for TG.+& 7 ; also (j0\ in iii, 75, which is said to be Nabataean for 



8 ; and djjl of ix, 115; xi, 77, which some took to be 
Abyssinian or Hebrew 9 ; aiid^iji in xvii, 27, etc., which was also 
claimed as of Abyssinian origin 10 ; andj^JU^j of xliii, 57, which some 

said meant j jze^as in Ethiopia. 11 

Another group consists of rare words used in the QurYin, which 

may be Arabic or may not be. A word like a jj-**$ in Ixxiv, 51, is 

a puzzle at the present day, so that it is no wonder if it gave some 
trouble to the early exegctcs. It is usually taken to mean lion, and 
iis-Suyutl quotes authorities for its being an Abyssinian word. 12 There 
is no such word, however, in Ethiopia or any of the later Abyssinian 



dialects, the common Ethiopia words for li<m being Atrt* Ar. 

or 0*}M (sometimes }\*}ttfl) - Ar. ^JM^C. Addai Shor, 12G, suggests 

that the word is of Persian origin, but there seems no basis for this. 
So far as one can see there is nothing in any of the other languages 



1 Jtq 9 325 ; ftfutaw, 63 ; the MufaulMM* agrees with Mutaw. 

8 Itq, 325 ; Mutaw, 42, 64. 3 Itq, 325 ; Mutaw, 43. 

I ftq, 325 ; Mutaw, 53, 50. ' //?, 325 ; Mttiaw, 61. 

(> ftq, 325 ; Mutaw, 44, jfrhC from fl\ is perhaps in mind here, or may be 

M:. 

7 Hq, 320 ; Mutaw, 05. 8 ftq, 319 ; Mutaw, 62. 

9 Itq, 319 ; Mutaw, 38, 57. 10 Itq, 319 ; Mutaw, 42. 

II Itq, 326 ; Mutaw, 44. la Itq, 323 ; Mutaw, 43. 



36 INTRODUCTION 

to help us out, and perhaps the simplest solution is to consider it as 

a formation from j**&, though the great variety of opinions on the 
word given by the early authorities makes its Arabic origin very 

doubtful. Very similar is J^, 1 which is said to mean either fused 

brass oithedregs of 'oil * as-Suyuti quotes early authorities for its being 
a Berber word, 3 which of course is absurd. Hebrew xHii 4 and 
Aram. "?HQ, meaning to spoil wine by mixing water with it, may 

have some connection with the meaning <J> jll ^^^ r < *^J' ' 



given by the Lexicons, 5 but it is difficult to derive the Qur'anic 

from this, and equally difficult to explain it as an Arabic word. 6 
Yet a third group consists of those few words where a little 

linguistic learning has led the Muslim philologers into sad error. 

. 

For instance, the word J 1 which occurs only in ix, 8, apparently 

means consanguinity, relationship, and is a good Arabic word, yet we 

find as-Suyuti 7 telling us that Ibn Jinn! 8 said that many of the early 

. 

authorities held that this Jl was the name of God in Nabataean, the 
reference of course being to the common Semitic divine name EL 

Similarly JaAJU of Ixxiii, 18, which there is no reason for taking as 

other than a regular formation from JbA to rend or cleave (cf. Heb. 

"1CDS \ Syr. J^2>), is said by some authorities to be Abyssinian, 9 
on the ground, apparently, of some hazy connection in their minds 

between it and &i\\&. So also ^> of xxiv, 35, which Shaidhala and 



1 Sura, xviii, 28 ; xliv, 45 ; Ixx, 8. 

2 Jawharl, Sihdh, ii, 241 ; Rfighib, Muftadfit, 494. 

3 Itq, 32. r > ; ' Mutaw, 65. 4 Used only in Is. i, 22. 

5 LA, xiv, 155. 

6 ^Lui of xxxviii, 57 ; Ixxviii, 25 (cf. as-Suyu^i, Jtq, 323 ; Mutaw, 64), and ^* of 
xx, 12 ; Ixxix, 16 (cf. as-Suyu^i, Itq, 322 ; Mutaw, 57), are perhaps to be included along 
with these. " 7 Itq, 319 ; Mutaw, 61. 

8 The Mutaw. tells us that the reference is to his grammatical work Al-Muhtasib. 
Itq, 325 ; Mutaw, 43. 



INTRODUCTION 37 

Abu'l-Qasim said was of Abyssinian origin, 1 cannot be other than 
Arabic, the Eth. & providing a possibility of solution for philologers 



who found some difficulty in deriving ()> from j to flow abundantly. 
With these we may perhaps class J& of xvi, 69, which was said to 
be Abyssinian for Ai-, 2 though Eth. flhC is from tfllt t ff 

^ 



9 , 

(cognate with Heb. "1327; Syr. yam, and cf. Akk. Sikant, Gr. crtKcpa), 
the difficulty apparently arising becauso the Arabic root J^^ means 

to fill a vessel. Also fj*~, a very common word, cognate with Heb. 

mil, was by some taken to be Abyssinian, 3 doubtless because gh^tf* 
was commonly used in the technical sense of to consecrate or dedicate 

V 

to God. Perhaps also ^.xll from jiJ I to suffer pain, which some thought 
was a ZinjI word, and some Heb., 4 should come under this head. 

Perhaps a fourth class may be formed of a few words like 41* 

and ^*j . These particular signs occur among the mystic letters of 

the Qur'an, which Goossens takes with some probability as con- 
tractions for older names of the Suras, 5 but which puzzled the exegetes, 

and are taken by them to be foreign words. 6 Similarly j>^*" of 

xcv, 2, is obviously only a variant of tUx*- used for purposes of rhyme, 

but we learn from as-Suyutl that some authorities took it to be 
Abyssinian. 7 

As was to be expected, modern scholarship has detected many 
more words of foreign origin in the vocabulary of the Qur'an than 

1 Itq, 320 ; Mutaw, 45. 2 Itq, 321 ; Mutaw, 40. 

3 Itq, 320. 4 Itq, 319 ; Mutaw, 58. 

5 hi his article in Der Islam, xiii, 191 flf. 

8 For 4^ sec as-SuyutJ, Itq, 322 ; Mutaw, 40, 52, 61 ; and for ^ Itq, 325 ; Mutaw, 

42. 

7 Itq, 322 ; Mutaw, 44. As these authorities say it means beautiful in Eth. and 
IP^P does mean to be beautiful, we might perhaps class j^- in group three as a 
blunder due to uncritical knowledge of the cognate languages. 



38 INTRODUCTION 

were ever noted by Muslim investigators. In the sixth century Arabia 
was surrounded on all sides by nations of a higher civilization, the 
Empires of Byzantium, Persia, and Abyssinia possessed most of her 
fertile territory, and mighty religious influences, both Jewish and 
Christian, were at work in the peninsula at the time when Muhammad 
was born. In his young manhood Muhammad was greatly impressed 
by this higher civilization and particularly by the religion of the great 
Empire of Roum, and there can be no serious doubt that his conception 
of his mission, as he first clearly outlined it for himself, was to provide 
for the Arabs the benefit of this religion and in some measure this 
civilization. 1 It was therefore natural that the Qur'an should contain 
a large number of religious and cultural terms borrowed from these 
surrounding communities. This religion, as he insists over and over 
again in the Qur'an, is something new to the Arabs : it was not likely, 
therefore, that native Arabic vocabulary would be adequate to express 
all its new ideas, so the obvious policy was to borrow and adapt the 
necessary technical terms. 2 Many of those terms, as a matter of fact, 
were there ready to his hand, having already come into use in Arabia 
in pre-Islamic times, partly through Arab tribes who had accepted 
Christianity, partly through commerce with Jews, Christians, and 
Persians, and partly through earlier inquirers interested in these 
religions. In fact it is very probable that if we knew more about those 
elusive personalities Umayya b. Abfs-Salt, Musailama, and the 
Hanlfs, we should find that there was in Arabia at that time a little 
circle of seekers after monotheism who were using a fairly definite 
vocabulary of religious terms of Jewish and Christian origin, and 
illustrating their preaching by a little group of stories partly of Judaeo- 
Christian, and partly Arabian origin. In the beginning Muhammad 
but followed in their footsteps, but he grasped the political arm and 
became a figure in the world, while of the others we can now discern 
but the hazy outlines, though they so largely prepared the way for him. 
It is clear also that Muhammad set himself definitely to loarn 
about things Jewish and Christian, 3 and thus undoubtedly himself 



1 Bell, Origin., 98, 99. 

2 " Thus the Qur'an appeared so foreign to everything with which Arabic thought 
was familiar, that the ordinary vernacular was inadequate to, express all these new 
ideas," Hirschfeld, New Researches, p. 4. 

3 Hirschfeld, however, goes a little too far when he says, Sew Researches, 13, 
" Before entering on his first ministry, Muhammed had undergone what 1 should 
like to call a course of Biblical training." 



INTRODUCTION 39 

imported new technical terms from these sources. It has been remarked 
not infrequently that the Prophet had a penchant for strange and 
mysterious sounding words, 1 and seemed to love to puzzle his audiences 
with these new terms, 2 though frequently he himself had not grasped 



correctly their meaning, as one sees in such cases as jS^i and 

Sometimes he seems even to have invented words, such as /jL*^, 
/^xL^j*, and ^A*JLMi. 3 

The foreign elements in the Qur'anic vocabulary are of three 
distinct kinds : 



(i) Words which are entirely non- Arabic, such as 

(j*J>J*, v3j^, etc., which cannot by any linguistic juggling be 
reduced to developments from an Arabic root, or which though 

seemingly triliteral, e.g. O*>*, have no verbal root in Arabic. These 

words were taken over as such from some non-Arabic source. 

(ii) Words which are Semitic and whose triliteral root may be 
found in Arabic, but which nevertheless in the Qur'an are used not 
in the Arabic sense of the root, but in a sense which developed in one 

of the other languages. Such words as -Jju, ^f J^< **lj**, J&\3 are 



illustrations. Words of this class when once naturalized in Arabic 
may and do develop nominal and verbal forms in a truly Arabic 
manner, and thus frequently disguise the fact that originally they 
were borrowings from outside. 

(iii) Words which are genuinely Arabic and commonly used in 
the Arabic language, but which as used in the Qur'an have been 
coloured in their meaning by the use of the cognate languages. For 

instance, j J> meaning light is a common enough Arabic word, but when 

1 Hirschfeld, op. cit., 5 ; Dvorak, Fremdw, 17, who says : " In solchen Fallen 
habcn \vir dann niohta andores anzunchmen, als das Streben Muhammcd's, durch 
die semen Landsleuten mehr odcr wcnigcr unverstandlichen Ausclrucke sich sclbst 
den Schein der Gelehrsamkrit zu gcben und 7,11 imponiren, vielleicht auch die Absicht, 
mystisch und undeutlich zu ein " ; Bell, Origin, 51. 

2 Cf. Sura, ei, 1, 2, 6, 7 ; Ixxiv, 27 ; Ixxxvi, 1, 2, etc. 

3 Noldeke, Sketches, 38. 



40 INTRODUCTION 

used with the meaning of religion as in ix, 32 " But God determined 
to perfect His religion though the unbelievers abhor it," it is 



undoubtedly under the influence of the Syr. use of lioiQJ. So 
used in a theological sense has been influenced by l^oi, 1 and in 
particular ^^\ r-Jj is obviously the Syriac l*?OOj V"0>. 2 So ^1 
in the sense of metropolis in vi, 92, etc., was doubtless influenced by 
the Syr. 1k>|, 3 and ^AJ when used as a technical religious term may 
have come under the influence of the Christian use of UaJ. 4 Some- 
times there is no doubt of the Qur'anic word being a translation of 
some technical term in one of the cognate languages. A clear instance 

is that of AjS^used of Jesus in iv, 169, etc, where it is obviously 
a translation of the Syr. lA^D of Jno. i, 1, etc., 5 which like the Eth. 
^A and the Copt. UJA:X represents theGk. Xoyoy. Similarly J j-*- j w 



doubtless a translation of the Syr. l*A -- aTrocrroAoy, and * and 

<cL. in eschatological passages translate the ijfiepa and copa of the 

Judaeo-Christian eschatological writings. 6 Casanova 7 claims that 

U in such passages as ii, 140, 114 ; iii, 17, 54, 59, etc, has a technical 

meaning associated with v-^J and is opposed to the word <xUU>, 8 

and is thus meant as a translation of yvcocri?,* and so of Christian or 
Gnostic origin. So one might go on enumerating words of undoubtedly 



2 



Of. the Mandaean KITH in Lidzbarski's Manddische Litnrgien, Berlin, 1920. 
' Mingana, Syriac Influence, 85 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 36 ; Fracnkel, Vocab, 24. 

3 Mingana, op. cit., 88 ; Horovitz, KU, 141, though QK is used in precisely 
the same sense on Phoenician coins. 

4 Mingana, op. cit., 85. 

5 Margoliouth, ERE, x, 540. 

6 Doubtless through the Syr. |SDQ-i and |Al*. 

7 Mohammed et la fin du monde, 88 if. 

8 Which Wellhausen, Reste, 71, n. 1, considered to be a translation of ayvota as 
in Acts xvii, 30. See also, Casanova, 90 ; Gerock, Christologie, 104 ; Noldeke-Schwaily, 
i, 242, n. 10. Lidzbarski, ZS, i, 94, suggested Gnostic influence here. 

9 Again probably through the Syr. 



INTRODUCTION 41 

Arabic origin, but which as used in the Qur'an have been influenced 
more or less by the vocabulary of the religions which were so strongly 
influencing Arabia just before Muhammad's day and which made 
such a profound impress on his own teachings. As these, however, 
can hardly be called foreign words, only in the rarest instances are they 
included in the following lists. 

Philological questions as to the changes which foreign words undergo 
in coming into Arabic, need not be discussed here, as such discussion 
has already been given for Aramaic words by Fraenkel in the Introduction 
to his Aramdische Fremdworter, and for Iranian words by Siddiqi, 
Studien, 19 ff., 65 ff. On the broader question of demonstration of 
borrowing, the writer feels that the form of demonstration demanded 
by certain modern writers is really uncalled for and unnecessary. 
The English musical terms piano, cantata, soprano, adagio, fortissimo, 
contralto, arpeggio, etc., are obviously borrowed from the Italian, and 
there is no need of au elaborate demonstration of cultural contact 
with dates and names and historical connections, to prove that these 
words, though English, are of Italian origin. Similarly such Arabic 



words as v} j\xJ ; Jx^j ; dL* ; *-i>- are on the very surface 

obvious borrowings from Middle Persian, and the philological argument 
for their foreign origin is perfectly valid on its own ground, without 
elaborate proof of cultural contact, etc., in each individual case. 



THE FOREIGN WORDS 

1,1 (066). 



Ixxx, 31. 

Herbage. 

It occurs only in an early Meccan passage describing the good 
things GT)d has caused to grow on the earth by sending down rain. 
The early authorities in Islam were puzzled by the word as is evident 
from the discussion by Tab. on the verse, and the uncertainty evidenced 
by Zam. and Baid. in their comments, an uncertainty which is shared 
by the Lexicons (cf. LA, i, 199; Ibn al-Athir, Nihaya, i, 10), and 
particularly by the instructive story given in Bagh, vii, 175. as-Suyuti, 
Itq, 318, quotes Shaidhala as authority for its being a foreign word 



meaning grass in the language of <^^*5 1 Jj&i, by which, as we gather 

from the Mutaw, 65, he means the Berber tongue. 

There can be little doubt that it is the Aram. JO^N (----- !"Q3K of 
Dan. iv, 9, where the Dagesh forte is resolved into Nun). The NITK 
of the Targums is the equivalent of Heb. 3K from 33X to be green 
(cf. Cant, vi, 11 ; Job viii, 12). Fraenkel, Vocab, 24, thought that the 
Arabia word was a direct borrowing from the Targumic fcO^X but tin* 
probabilities seem in favour of its coming rather from Syr. JO|, 
meaning quicquid terra producil (Mingana, Kyriac Influence, 88). 
It was probably an early borrowing from the Mesopotamia!! area. 1 
- '> 
jjbl (ubabll). 

cv, 3. 

In the description of the rout of the Army of the Klephant we 

-- ^ ^ ^ s ^ ^ 

ad <U u I \*Jb '(*i&> Jf-*jl3 where J,X 11 is said to mean 
.... .. 



flocks -jjfl j>- Zam., or Olp" Hugh, and to be the plu. of 
which KhafajT, Shi/a, 31, lists as a foreign word whether spelled 

AlU or 3flLjl or AJU1. The long account in LA, xiii, 5, makes it 
clear that the philologers knew not what to make of the word. 

1 Cf. Zimmorn, Akkudische, Frenidwvrter, p. 55. 
43 



44 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'lN 

Burton, Pilgrimage, ii, 175, quotes a Major Price as suggesting 
that the word has nothing to do with the birds but is another calamity 



in addition, the name being derived from 4x 1 a vesicle. Sprengel 

indeed as early as 1794 (see Opitz, Die Medizin im Koran, p. 76), had 
suggested a connection of the word with smallpox, deriving it from 

^,1 ^father and JA> 1 = lamentation, and stating that the f Persians 

^ \^ 

use the word A^JO I for smallpox. This theory has some support in the 

tradition that it was smallpox which destroyed Abrahams army, 1 
but it is difficult to see how the word could be of Pers. origin for it 
occurs in Pers. only as a borrowing from Arabic, and doubtless from 
this passage. 

Carra de Vaux, Penseurs, iii, 398, has a suggestion that it is of 



Persian origin, and would take the J^y' '- as a s taken reading 
for .JA y j = babylonian arrows, which caused the destruction of 
the army. The suggestion is ingenious, but hardly convincing, as we 

seem to know nothing elsewhere of these JAI y jv. 

Apparently the word occurs nowhere in the early literature outside 
the Qur'an, unless we admit the genuineness of Umayya's line 

5 s S 

lj^.JU \jji+* ijXi J>fcj # J^M (W^ a r"' vj*- (Frag. 4, 
1. 3, in Schulthess' ed.), where it also means crowds. If it is to be taken 

as an Arabic word it may possibly be a case of & U * I A^ j> , especially 

in view of the expression quoted from al-Akhfash JAi 1 1 C-4i 1 O*W. 

The probability, however, seems in favour of its being of foreign 
origin, as Cheikho, Nasrdniya, 471, notes, though its origin is so far 
unknown. 

/fr*-Jbl J I (Ibrahim). 

r* ' * 

Occurs some 69 times, cf. ii, 118 ; iii, 30 ; xlii, 11, etc. 
Abraham. 

1 8cc Sprcnger, Life, 35. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUB'AN 45 

It is always used of the Biblical Patriarch and thus is ultimately 
derived from Heb. QmSX. If the name had come direct from the 

Heb. we should have expected the form *U^ I, and as a matter of 

fact the Muslim philologers themselves recognized that the Qur'anic 
form was not satisfactory, for we hear of attempts to alter the form, 1 



and an-N,wawI, Taklhlb, 126, gives variant forms *Uj;i ; (%*' J*J 5 
and pjtl j\. Moreover we learn from as-Suyutl, Muzhir, 



i, 138, and al-Jawallql, 8, that some early authorities recognized it as a 
foreign borrowing, al-Marwardi, indeed, informing us that in Syriac 

it means /%A>-jiJ (Nawawl, 127), which is not far from the Rabbinic 
derivations. 

The form p*A\ J\ cannot be evidenced earlier than the Qur'an, 

for the verses of Umayya (ed. Schulthess, xxix, 9), in which it occurs, 
are not genuine, and Horovitz, KU, 86, 87, rightly doubts the authen- 
ticity of the occurrences of the name in the Uxd al-(!hdba and such 
works. The form would thus seem to be due to Muhammad himself, 
but the immediate source is not easy to determine. The common 
Syr. form is ^Sooi-jDJ which is obviously the source of both the Eth. 
JMICyjF 1 and the Arm. |J ^mi^mir 2 A marginal reading in Luke i, 55, 
in the Palestinian Syriac Lectionary of the Gospels reads J>QjiOl^ul, 
but Schulthoss, Lex, 2, rightly takes this as due to a scribe who was 
familiar with the Arabic. 3 

Lidzbarski, Johanwsbuch, 73, 4 compares the Mandacan DTIX12, 
which shortened form is also found as iDOlja[j] in the Christian 
Palestinian version of Luke xiii, 16 (Schulthess, Lex, 2), and may be 

compared with the +\*J, mentioned in Ibn Hisham, 352, 1. 18, and 

the Brahain b. Buriaj whom Horovitz, AT/, 87, quotes from the Safii 
inscriptions. The final vowel, however, is missing here. Brockelmann, 

1 Sprenger, Leben, i, 06; Sycz, Eigetinamen, 21 ; Margoliouth in MW, xv, 342. 

2 Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 290. 

3 The forms *lQjkC7l]^] and SO^O1^1 found in Bar Hebraeus are also 
probably of Arabic origin. 

4 See also Ephemerw, ii, 44, n. 1. 



46 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 



Grundriss, i, 256, would derive *JJ* j from DmSN as jxi from 

]tDB7, by assuming a dissimilation form in Aramaic, i.e. D^mHK*. 
There is no trace of such a form, however, and Brockclmann's choice 



of jUttJLi as illustration is unfortunate as it appears to be a borrowed 

word and not original Arabic. The safest solution is that proposed by 
Rhodokanakis in WZKM, xvii, 283, and supported by Margoliouth, 1 
to the effect that it has been vocalized on the analogy of Isma'll 
and Isrd'll. 2 The name was doubtless well enough known in Jewish 
circles in pre-Islamic Arabia, 3 and when Muhammad got the form 

from Judaeo-Christian sources he formed \A\j?\ on the 
same model. 



IvilS. 

A ewer, or water jug. 

Only in the plu. form /! jb I in an early Meccan description of 

Paradise. It was early recognized as a Persian loan-word (Siddiqi, 13), 
and is given by al-Kindl, Risala, 85 ; ath-Tha f alibi, Fiqh, 317; as-Suy utl 4 
and al-Jawaliql 5 in their lists of Persian borrowings, as well as by the 
Lexicons, LA, xi, 299 ; TA, vi, 286, though some attempted to explain 



it as a genuine Arabic word derived from 

In modem Persian the word is j_j\ meaning urn or waterpot. 



wirh Lcr.tuir*, p. \'l ; soo also Lidzbarski, JnluinHetbHcli, 7:i ; Fischer, 
(Jloxtiar, 163. 

2 He says : " Die Form ^j.\ durfto am ehcstcn aus ihrer Anlohiiun^ an J-**-! 
und der Ausgleichung mit demselbcn zu erklaron soin, nach dcm hokatinten kur'- 
anischen Prinzip, dash Personennaraen, deron Tragcr in irgeiidwoli-hc'iii Kusammen- 
hange stehn, lautlich auf oine Form zu bringen wtrebt." 

3 Korovitx, KU, 92; JPN. 160. 

4 Itq, 318 ; Mutaw, 46 ; Muzhir, i, 136. 

"' The text of the Mu'arrab (Saohau's od , p. 17) is defective here, giving the first 
U], but not the second. Correcting it by the 7l(j. we read : '111 &J* 0-^ u' ^"1 

'^ ^ -ill ^ Cjj. 

fi Raghib, 'Mufrndut, 43 ; and see Bagh. on tho passage. 

7 Vullcrx, Lex, i, 8. and for further meanings sec RQ, 4 ; Addai Sher, 6. J^jr.l 
also occurs in Pers. but only as a borrowing from Arabic. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 4:7 

It would be derived from i^\ water (=- Phlv. o> /?, i.e. OPers. dpi l =- 

Av. gp or jjuj ; Skt. TR agwa), and (jj to jxwr ( = Phlv. U^OO^ 
from an old Iranian root *raek = linquere), 2 as was suggested 



by Castle 3 and generally accepted since his time. It was from the 
Phlv. form that the word was borrowed into Arabic, the shortening 

of the I being regular. 4 The word occurs in the early poetry, in verses 

of 'Adi b. Zaid, 'Alqama, and Al-A'sha, and so was doubtless an early 
borrowing among the Arabs who were in contact with the court at 
al-Hira. 



ii, 32 ; vii, 10 ; xv, 31, 32 ; xvii, 63 ; xviii, 48 ; xx, 115 ; xxvi, 
95 ; xxxiv, 19 ; xxxviii, 74, 75. 

Iblis. 6 &a/3oAoy the Devil par excellence. 

The tendency among the Muslim authorities is to derive the name 

from .-Jl) to despair, he being so called because God caused him to 

despair of all good so Raghib, Mufraddt, 59, and Tab. on ii, 32. The 
more acute philologers, however, recognized the impossibility of this 



(an-NawawT, 138), and Zam.on xix, 57, says- ^ 

j v* jj*}\) 2M. al-Jawallql, Mu'arrab, J7, also justly argues 



against an Arabic derivation. 

That the word is a corruption of the Gk. StajSoAos 1 has been 
recognized by the majority of Western scholars. 5 In the LXX SidfioXos 
represents the Heb. *|B2? in Zcch. iii, but in the N.T. 6 5*a/3oAoy is 



1 Ta tho Beliistun inscription, sec Spiegel, Die aUpersischen Keilinschriftcn. p. 205. 

2 West, Glossary, 136; Bartholomae, Al W, 1479; and see Horn, Grundrias, 
141 ; Sayast, (Hossaty, p. 104 ; iShikand, Glossary, 265. 

3 Lexicon Jleptaglotton, p. 23. See Vallers, op. cit.: I^agarde, GA, 7; Horn, 
Grundriss, 141 ; but note Vollers, 7M1G, 1, 627. 

4 Siddiqi, 69. On the ground of this change from a to i, Grimmo, ZA, xxvi, 164, 
looks for IS. Arabian influence, but there is nothing in favour of this. 

5 Geiger, 100 ; von Kremer, Ideen, 226 n. ; Fracnkel, Vocab, 24 ; Sprenger, Leben, 
ii, 242 ; Wcnsinck, El, ii, 351 ; Rudolph, Abh&ngiylceit, 35 ; Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 620 ; 
Sacco, Credenze, 61. However, Pautz, Offenbarung, 69, n. 3, and Eickmann, Angelologie, 
26, hold to an Arabic origin, though Sprcnger, Leben, ii, 242, n. 1, had pointed out 
that words of this form are as a rule foreign. 



48 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR J AN 

more than " the adversary ", and particularly in the ecclesiastical 
writers he becomes the chief of the hosts of evil. It is in this sense that 



xli I appears in the Qur'an, so we are doubly justified in looking 

for a Christian origin for the word. 

One theory is that it came through the Syriac, the * being taken 
as the genitive particle, 1 a phenomenon for which there are perhaps 



other examples, e.g. mi^j for 8ia<f)covd? (ZA, xxiv, 51), ^uJ for 

SiKaarri? (ZDMG, 1, 620)\ jUa? j for 8v<rVTpLa(tivyrr,ZweiGedichte, 
i, 119 n.). The difficulty is that the normal translation of 6 



is ] t rO^s), the accuser or calumniator, both in the Peshitta (cf. Matt, iv) 
and in the ecclesiastical literature. There is a form *QDQ^jO, a trans- 
literation of &a/3oAoy, but PSw, 874, quotes this only as a dictionary 
word from BB. There is apparently no occurrence of the word in the 
old Arabic literature, 2 so it was possibly a word introduced by 
Muhammad himself. If we could assume that some such form as 
.fnnV^>>% W as colloquially used among the Aramaic-speaking Christians 
with whom Muhammad came in contact, the above explanation might 
hold, though one would have to assume that the j had been dropped 
by his informants. The alternative is that it came into Arabic directly 
from the Greek, and was used by the Arabic-speaking Christians 
associated with the Byzantine Church. 3 

Grimme, ZA, xxvi, 164, suggested that it might have come from 
8. Arabia, perhaps influenced by the Eth. -^-flA-ft. This, however, 
is apparently a rare word in Eth., the usual translation for &a/3oAoy 
being rt/8/TJ, though sometimes PV} is used (James iv, 7 ; 1 Pet. v, 
8, etc.). Moreover, even if there were anything in Grimme's theory 
that this was the form that crossed over into Arabia, his further 

supposition that the ^jf was taken to bo the S. Arabian H --- (* w 
very far fetched. 

1 So Horovitz, A'6 T , 87. Mingana, Syriac Influence, 89, thinks rather that it 
was the fault of some early scribe or copyist who mistook the initial Dal for an Alif. 

2 The verses in Ibn Hisham, 318 and 516, noted by Horovitz, are from the period 
of the Hijra and so doubtless influenced by Muhammad's usage. They would seem 
fatal, however, to Mingana's theory. 

3 Kiinstlinger, " Die Herkunft des Wortes Iblia im Kuran," in Rocznik Orjen- 
tolistyczny, vi (1928), proposes the somewhat far-fetched theory that Iblis is derived 
from the Jewish Belial by deliberate transformation. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 49 



Of common occurrence. 

He ward, wages. 

, * 
Besides the noun and its plu. Jj^l there occur also the verbal 

<" % 

forms >- 1 and >. 



The Muslim savants have no suspicion that the word is not pure 

$ 

Arabic, though as a matter of fact the verb ^>-| to receive hire, is 



obviously denominative. 

Zimmern, Aklcad. Fremd.w, 47, 1 has pointed out that the ultimate 
origin of the root in this sense is the Akk. agru, agarru, hired servant. 
From this come on the one hand the Aram. NT3N : Syr. lr*Mj> a 
hireling, and thence the denominative verbs 13K and ^J , to hire, 
with corresponding nouns H3N and IrM, hire ; and on the other hand 
(apparently from a popular pronunciation *<Mjgaru) the Gk. <zyyap09 
a courier. 2 

It would liave boon from the Aram, that the word passed into 
Arabic, probably at a very early period, and as the word is of much 
wider use in Syriac tluin in Jewish Aramaic, 3 we are probably right 
in considering it as a borrowing from Syriac. 



(Ahbdr). 
v, 48, 68 ; ix, 31, 34. 



Plu. of !_>-< ur '^ a Jewish Doctor of the Law. 



The Commentators knew that it was a technical Jewish title and 
quote as an example of its use Ka'b al-Ahbar, 4 the well-known convert 

1 Cf. also Jensen in ZA, vii, 214, 215. 

2 Even the latest edition of Liddell and Scott persists in repeating the statement 
in Stephaiiua' Thesaurus, that it is a borrowing from Persian. It is, of course, possible 
that the word may be found in the OPera. vocabulary, but if so it was a loan-word 
there from the Akkadian, and there can be little doubt that the Gk. ayyapo? with 
dyyape'ueii/ and dyyapeta came directly from the Akkadian, as indeed Ed. Meyer 
(Geschichte de.s Altertkurns, iii, 67) had already recognized. 

3 For its occurrence in Aramaic incantations, see Montgomery, Aramaic Incanta- 
tion Texts from Nippur ', Glossary, p. 281 ; and for the Elephantine papyri see Cowley, 
Aramaic Papyri, p. 178 (No. 69, 1. 12). 

4 The plu. form jL-i is explained by a verse in Ibn Hi sham, 659, where we learn 
of 0110 whoso full namo was Ka'b b. al-Ashraf Sayyid al-Afcbar. 



50 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR*AN 

from Judaism. It was generally taken, however, as a genuine Arabic 

word derived from x J>-, to leave a scar (as of a wound), the Divines 
*^ 

.-* 

being so called because of the deep impression their teaching makes 
on the lives of their students ; so Raghib, Mufradat, 104. 

Geiger, 49, 53, claims that it is derived from "1 30 teacher, commonly 
used in the Rabbinic writings as a title of honour, e.g. Mish. Sanh. 60 ^ 
D'HSn V33 *")&< 13n ]'~\7m nQ,"asAaronwasaDoct6rsowere 
his sons Doctors." 1 Geiger's theory has been accepted by von Kremer, 
Ideen, 226 n., and Fraenkel, Vocab, 23, and is doubtless correct, though 
Griinbaum, ZDMG, xxxix, 582, thinks that in coming into Arabic 

it was not uninfluenced by the Ar. j\>-, jfr>\ J^>- Mingana, 

Syriac Influence, 87, suggests that the word is of Syriac origin (see also 
Cheikho, Nasrdniya, 191), but this is unlikely. The word was evidently 
quite well known in pre-Islamic Arabia, 2 and thus known to Muhammad 
from his contact with Jewish communities. It was borrowed in the 
form of the singular and given can Arabic plural. 

*3I (Adam) 

ii, 29-35 ; iii, 30, 52 ; v, 30 ; vii, 10, 18, 25-33, 171 ; xvii, 63, 72 ; 
xviii, 48 ; xix, 59 ; xx, 114-119 ; xxxvi, 60. 
Adam. 

It is used always as an individual name and never as the Heb. 

f-~ 
and Phon. DIN for man in general, though the use of O I ^i in 

Sura, vii, approaches this usage (Noldeke-Schwally, i, 242). It is one of 
the few Biblical names which the early philologers such as al-Jawaliqi 
(Mua'rrab, 8) claimed as of Arabic origin. There are various theories 
as to the derivation of the name, which may be seen in Raghib, 
Mufraddt, 12, and in the Commentaries, but all of them are quite 
hopeless. Some authorities recognized this and Zam. and Baid., on 

ii, 29, admit that it is a foreign word 

1 Hirschfeld, Reitrage, 51, translates by " Schriffcgelehrte " (cf. the N.T. 
Syr. I******), and takes it as opposed to the ^"IXH D37. 

2 It occurs in the old poetry, cf. Horovitz, KU, 63, and Ibn Hiaham, 351, 354, uses 
the word familiarly as well known ; cf. also Wenstnck, Jodfn tc 71/r/rfina, 65 ; Horovitz, 
JPA T , 197, 198. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 51 

The origin of course is the Heb. DHK, and there is no reason why 
the name should not have come directly from the Jews, 1 though there 
was a tradition that the word came from Syriac. 2 The name occurs 
in the Safaite inscriptions (Horovitz, KU, 85), and was known to 
the poet 'Adi b. Zaid, so it was doubtless familiar, along with the 
creation story, to Muhammad's contemporaries. 

^, ol (tdritt) 
Ls-Z * 

xix, 57 ; xxi, 85. 

Idrls, 

He is one of the Prophets casually mentioned in the QurVtn, 
where all the information we have about him is (i) that he was a man 
of truth (xix, 57) ; (ii) that God raised him to a kt place on high '* 

ULjp l>Lx^ aLi*3 j (xix, 58) ; and (iii) that being steadfast and 

* " * 

patient he entered God's mercy (xxi, 85). 

The Muslim authorities are agreed that he is *7-j\>-\, i.e. ^130, 
the Biblical Knoch, 3 a theory derived not only from the facts 

enumerated above, but from the idea that his nanio <j*^ j^ I is derived 

from <^J^ to study both Jewish and Christian legend attributing 

to Enoch the mastery of occult wisdom. 4 The fallacy of this derivation 
was, however, pointed out by some of the philologers, as Zam. on 
xix, 57, shows, and that the name was of foreign origin was recognized 
by al-Jawallqi, Mu'armb, 8 ; Qdtnus, i, 215 ; which makes it the more 
strange that some Western scholars such as Sprenger, Lvben, ii, 33G, 5 
and Eickmann, Awgdologie, 26, have considered it to be a pure Arabic 
word. 

1 Ibn Qutaiba, Ma'arif, 180 (Kg. cd.) notes a variant reading ^|Jb| which may 
represent a Jewish pronunciation. 

2 Sycz, Eigennamen, 18. 

<l Tha'labI, Qisa*, 34. 

4 "[3H of course means to instruct, to initiate (of. viL-) and may have suggested 
the connection with ^jj. For the derivation see Tha'labI, loo. cit. ; Ibn Qutaiba, 
Ma'arif, 8. Finkel, MW f xxii, 181, derives it from i5So>peaxo?, the 7th antediluvian 
King of Berossus, but this is very far-fetched. 

5 Ho seems to base this on the occurrence of the name Abu Idris, but see Horovitz, 
KU 9 88. 



52 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

Noldeke has pointed out, ZA, xvii, 83, that we have no evidence 
that Jews or Christians ever called Enoch by any name derived from 
or **ij, and though Geiger, 105, 106, thinks the equivalence of 



IxU I'lSL* *li*ijj of xix, 58, with the n.triQr)Ktv avrov o Qeoy 



of Heb. xi, 5, from the Midrash, sufficient to justify the identification, 
we may well doubt it. Casanova, JA, 1924, vol. ccv, p. 358 (so Torrey, 
Foundation, 72) suggested that the reference was to *E<r5/>a9 which 



through a form *Epay became ^j^'. Albright 1 imagines that 

it refers to Hermes-Poemandres, the name being derived from the 
final element in the Greek name Yloi/jidv8pr)$ } while Montgomery, 
JQR, xxv, 261, would derive it from Atrahasis, the Babylonian Noah, 
None of these suggestions, however, comes as near as that put forward 
by Noldeke in ZA, xvii, 84, that it is the Arabic form of 'AyS/>eW 
filtered through a Syriac medium. 2 In Syriac we find various forms of 
the name *fio11>,jl : ^cooli^l : -CD^yl and tf&j&rJl, this latter 
being the form in Christian-Palestinian, and from this by the coalescing 

of the n and d we get the Ar. ^^ '. Grirame, ZA, xxvi, 164, suggested 

a S. Arabian origin but there is no trace of the name in the inscriptions 
and the Eth. htf'Cftl has nothing in its favour. 

! (Arffik) 
xviii, 30 ; xxxvi, 56 ; Ixxvi, 13 ; Ixxxiii, 23, 35. 

A-^ 1 

** ^^ I 

Couches. Plu. of 4.Ajjl. 

We find the word only in passages descriptive of Paradise. The 
Muslim authorities as a rule take it as an Arabic word derived from 

^j 1 but their theories of its derivation are not very helpful, as may be 
seen from Raghib, Mufradat, 14, or the Lexicons LA, xii, 269 ; TA, vii, 

1 Journal oj Palestine, Oriental Society, ii, 197-8, and in AJSL. 1927, p. 235 n. 

* Noldeke's earlier suggestion in ZDMG, xii, 706, was that it might stand for 
8cd$o>poff, but in ZA, xvii, he refers it to the Upd^ts 'AvSpcov and thinks the lifting 
him " to a place on high " may refer to the saint's crucifixion. R. Hartmann, in 
ZA, xxiv, 315, however, recognized this Andreas as the famous cook of Alexander 
the Great. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR/AN 03 

100. Some early philologers concluded thatit was foreign, andas-Suyuti, 
Itq, 318, says that Ibn al-Jawzi gave it as an Abyssinian loan-word, and 
on p. 310 has the interesting statement " Abu 'Ubaid related that 



Al-Hasan said We used not to know the meaning of <~lHj j( 1 until 



we met a man from Yemen who told us that among them an jjyjl was 
a pavilioh containing a bed/' 

Addai Sher, 9, says that it is the Pers. ^Uijjl, by which he 

probably means <_XJj^i throne the colloquial form for AJjjl (Vullers, 

Lex, i, 141), but there does not seem to be anything in this. There is 
nothing in Eth. with which we can relate it, and the probabilities are 
that it is of Iranian origin, especially as we find it used in the verses of 
the old poets, e.g. al-A'sha, who were in contact with Iranian culture 
(cf. Horovitz, Parodies, 15). 

Ajl (Irani) 

Ixxxix, 6. 

Iram : the city of the people of 'Ad. 

The number of variant readings for this *j] in 2\<Jl C>b *jl 

suggests of itself that the word was a foreign one of which the exegetes 
could make nothing. The older theory among Western scholars was 
that it was D*IN l but the story is clearly S. Arabian, as appears from 
xlvi, 20, and as a matter of fact HamdanI (ed. D. H. Muller, p. 126, 
129) mentions two other Irams in S. Arabia, so that the name is 
doubtless S. Arabian. 2 The name is frequently mentioned in the early 
literature. 3 

jj| (Azar) 

vi, 74. 

Azar the father of Abraham. 

1 Wetstcin in his Appendix to Dclitzsrh's lliob, 1876 ; Pautz, Ofjenlarung, 273 ; 
Sycz, Eigennanten, 54; 0. Loth, ZDMG, xxxv, 628. 

2 D. H. Muller, SUdarabische Studien, 134 if. ; Burgen und Schlosser, p. 418. 

3 See passages in Horovitz, KU, 89, 90. 



54 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

The consensus of opinion among the exegetes is that j jl is the name 
of Abraham's father, and is "^^ f\- 1* was also wel1 known, 

however, that the real name of Abraham's father was 7-jlT or r-jv, e.g. 

at-Tabari, Annales, i, 252; an-Nawawi, 128; al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 21; 

TA, iii, 12, etc., obviously reproducing the ITIFI of Gen. xi, 26, etc. 

fujr . 

In order to escape the difficulty some took jjl to be the name of an 

idol A^ p^\ 9 or an abusive epithet applied by Abraham to his 

father. 1 They also have various theories as to the origin of the word, 
some taking it to be Hebrew (as-Suyuti, Itq, 318), some Syriac(Zam. on 
vi, 74), and some Persian (Bagh. on vi, 74). Their suggestions, however, 
are obviously guesses and do not help us at all. 

The solution generally found in European works is that which was 
first set forth by Marracci in Prodromus, iv, 90, that the Talmud ic 
name for Terah, by a metathesis became "A dap in Eusebius, and this 
gives the Arabic Azar. This has been repeated over and over again 
from Ewald 2 and Sale down to the modern Ahmadiyya Commentators, 
and even Geiger 128, though he does not mention Marracci, argues that 

mi"! = 0ctpa(LXX, Gappa) by metathesis gives" A dap and thusjj I , 

while Dvorak, Fremdworter, 38, goes even further in discussing the 
probability of Gk. 6 being pronounced like z. The fact, however, is 
that Marracci simply misread Eusebius, who uses no such form as 



Hyde in his Historia Religionis veterum Persarum, p. 62, suggested 
that Azer was the heathen name of Abraham's father, who only became 
known as Terah after his conversion. This heathen name he would 
connect with the Av. )U^IAI dtar 4 (cf. Skt. ^RT^i;), Phlv. 



1 Vide as-Suyutl, 318, and the Commentators. It should bo noted that Xam. gives 
a number of variant readings for the word, showing that the earliest authorities 
were puzzled by it. 

2 Oeschichte Israels, i, 483. 

3 The passage reads (Hist. Eccl, cd. Schwartz, i, iv, p. 14) /icra Sc KO.\ rovrov 
crepous, T&V Be rov N& iraibwv KCU awyovajv drap KOI rov 'A^paa^L, ov apxyyov Kai 
-rrporrdropa a^ojv dvrdtv iral&cs 'Efipatajv du^oueri, where the unusual drdp was 
apparently misread as "Adap. Cf. Pautz, Offenbarung, 242 n. 

4 Bartholomae, AIW, 312. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 55 

atur, 1 Paz. ddur, and the Mod. Pers. j^l used as the name of the 

fire demon, 2 and in the Persian histories given as the name of Abraham's 
father. Hyde, however, has fallen into error in not noticing that the 

name jSI j Jj, given to Abraham in the Persian writings 3 simply means 

" son of the fire ", and has no reference to his father, but is derived 
from the (Jur'anic account of his experiences in Sura, xxi. 

B. Fisher in Bibel und Talmud, Leipzig, 1881, p. 85 n., suggested that 
Muhammad or his informants had misunderstood the epithet ^rnTXH 

* T. T 

(he who has sprung from the East) applied to Abraham in the Talmud 
(Baba Bathra 15a), and taking it to mean " Son of HITX ", gave his 

father's name as jjl. 

The correct solution, however, would appear to be that given by 
Fraenkel in ZDMG, Ivi, p. 72, and accepted by both Horovitz, KU, 85, 
86, JPN, 157, and Sycz, Eiyennamen, 37. In WZKM, iv, 338, 

Fraenkel suggested that both jjlp and jjl go back to the Heb. 

"1TJ/2N, and in ZDMG, Ivi, 72, he argues convincingly that the 
Qur'anic form is due to a confusion on Muhammad's part of the details 
of the Abraham story as it came to him, so that instead of his father 
fTnri he has given the name of Abraham's faithful servant "1T17 V&. 
Sycz's theory that it was a mistake between two passages ITSTvX 
Dm3X 131? and DmSK **3X mri is a little too remote, 
but the confusion of names can be held as certain. The ^K 
was probably taken as the article, 4 and on the cjuestion of vowel change 

Fraenkel compares the series 373 .-.^2) >J. As there is a 
genuine Arabic name \\j& (T a k> Anmles, i, 3384 ; Ibn Sa'd, vi, 214), 



Horovitz, K U, 86, thinks that Muhammad may have been influenced 
by this in his formation of the name. 



1 Horn, Grundriss, 4 ; Shikaml, Glossary, 226 ; Nybcrg, Glossar, 25 ; Herzfeld, 
Paikuli, Glossary, 126 and 148. 

2 In Phlv, ))^y Atari is the Angel of Fire ; see West, Glossary, p. 7. 

3 Vullers, Lex, i, 380. 

4 As often, cf. examples in Geycr, Zwei Gedichte, i, 118n. 



56 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

*^>\^\ (Asatir) 

vi, 25 ; viii, 31 ; xvi, 26 ; xxiii, 85 ; xxv, 6 ; xxvii, 70 ; xlvi, 16 ; 
Ixviii, 15 ; Ixxxiii, 13. 
Fables, idle tales. 



We find the word only in the combination (j 

" tales of the ancients ", which was the Meccan characterization of the 
stories brought them by Muhammad. Sprenger, Leben, ii, 396 ff., 
thought that the reference was to a book of this title well known to 
Muhammad's contemporaries, but this theory has been combated in 
Noldeke-Schwally, i, 16 if., 1 and its impossibility becomes clear from a 
passage in Ibn Hisham, 235, where Nadr b. al-Harith is made to say 
" By Allah, Muhammad is no better a raconteur than I am. His stories 

are naught but tales of the ancients (^J^l j*L>U) which he 
writes down just as I do/' 



The Muslim authorities take it as a form ^^i from * t 

write, considering it as a phi. of aj^Lu-i or SjUa^l (Sijistam, 10), 

** 
or the plu. of a plu. (LA, vi, 28). The verb Jb.** , however, as Fraenkel 

">'*' 
has shown (Fremdw, 250), is a denominative from Jb.**, and this 



itself is a borrowing from Aram. N"1D!2J, \&* (Noldeke, Qomns, 
13). It is possible but not probable that ^kLJ was formed from this 
borrowed 



Sprenger, Leben, ii, 395, 2 suggested that in ^-^L^l we have the 

Gk. 'uTTOpla, a suggestion also put forward by Fleischer in his review of 
Geiger (Kkinere Schriften, ii, 119), and which has been accepted by 
many later scholars. 3 The objections to it raised by Horovitz, KU 9 70, 
are, however, insuperable. The word can hardly have come into 
Arabic directly from the Greek, and the Syr. "U'G&flDl occurs only 

1 See also Hirschfeld, New Researches, 22, 41 If., on Sprenger's Suhuf theories. 

2 Vide also his remarks in JASB, xx, 119, and see Freytag, Lexicon, sub voc. 

3 Vollers, ZDMG, Ii, 312. See also Kunstlmgcr in OLZ, 1936, 481 ff. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 57 



as a learned word (PSm, 298). The derivation from Syr. 
suggested by Noldeke-Schwally, i, 16 n., is much more satisfactory. 
1^4*1 (cf. Aram. N*")M$) is the equivalent of the Gk. ytipoypafyov* 

and is a word commonly used in a sense in which it can have come 
into Arabic. It was doubtless borrowed in this sense in the pre- Islamic 
period, 2 for in a verse of the Meccan poet 'Abdallah b. az-Ziba'ra, 



quoted in 'Aim, iv, 140, we read j* 

" the stories liave averted Qusay from glory ". 

In S. Arabian, as D. H. Miiller points out (WZKM, i, 29) we have 
)|H I l | ji 1 meaning an inscription, and ^^ is the usual verb for 
scripsit (Rossini, Glossarinm, 194), so it is not impossible that there was 

S. Arabian influence on the form of the word. See further under 



(AM) 
ii, 130, 134 ; iii, 78 ; iv, 161 ; vii, 160. 

The Tribes. Flu. of ia*- 


It occurs only in Madman passages and always refers to the 
Children of Israel. In vii, 160, it is used normally of the Twelve Tribes, 

but in all the other passages the J^L^1 are spoken of as recipients of 

revelation, and one suspects that here Muhammad is confusing the 
Jewish use of " the Twelve " for the Minor Prophets with that for the 
Twelve Tribes. 3 



The philologers derive it from a.+~ a thistle, their explanation 

thereof being interesting if not convincing (LA, ix, 1 82). Some, however, 
felt the difficulty, and AbiYl-Laith was constrained to admit that it was 
a Hebrew loan-word (as-Suyuti, Itqan, 318 ; Mutaw, 58). The ultimate 
source, of course, is the Heb. C92&7, and Geiger 141, followed by many 



1 Of. QsQ2k2) !r&* cheirographum dnbium, as contrasted with 
fju^A Ir4*l cfairoywphwn validum. 

2 So Minganft, Syriac Influence, 89. 

8 Vide Sprengcr, Lelwn, ii, 276, who thinks Muhammad took it to he a proper name, 
which, however, is unlikely in view of vii, 160 (Hirschfeld, Beitrdge, 41). 



58 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

later scholars 1 has argued for the direct borrowing from Hebrew. 
Fraenkel, however, noted the possibility of its having been borrowed 
through the Syr. \&n = <f)v\r) 2 and Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86, 
definitely claims it as a Syriac loan-word. It is impossible to decide, 
but in any case it was borrowed in the sing, and given an Arabic plural. 
There does not seem to be any well-attested pre-Islamic example 
of the use of the word, for the case in Samau'al cannot be genuine, as 
Noldeke shows (ZA, xxvii, 178), and that in Umayya, Iv, 7, "seems to 
depend on Sura, Ixxxix, 23. This confirms the idea that it was a late 
introduction probably by Muhammad himself. 



(3j!*i' (Istabraq) 

xviii, 30 ; xliv, 53 ; Iv, 54 ; Ixxvi, 21. 

Silk brocade. 

Used only in early passages in description of the raiment of the 
faithful in Paradise. It is one of the few words that have been very 
generally recognized by the Muslim authorities as a Persian loan-word, cf. 
ad-Dahhak in as-Suyiitl, Itq, 319; al-Asma'I in as-Suyuti,Mwz^r,i,137; 
as-Sijistanl, 49; al-Jawharl, Sihdh sub voc.; al-Kindi, Risala, 85; Ibn 
al-Athlr, Nihaya, i, 38. Some, indeed, took it as an Arabic word, 

attempting to derive it from (3 J. (cf. Baid. on Ixxvi, 21), but their 

argument depends on a variant reading given by Ibn Muhaisin which 
cannot be defended (Dvorak, Fremdw, 39, 40). 

The philologers, however, were in some confusion as to the original 
Persian form. LA, xi, 285, quotes az-Zajjaj as stating it was from Pers. 

ayilJ, and TA, vi, 292, quotes Ibn Duraid to the effect that it is 
from Syr. Dj JL-I, neither of which forms exist. The Qdmus, s.v. 
:, however, rightly gives it as from a^L-l, 3 which al-Jawhari, 



1 Fraenkel, Vocab, 21 ; Vautz, Offenbarung, 124 n. ; Hirschfeld, Beitrayc, 41 ; 
Horovitz, KL\ 90. * 

2 Horovitz also notes this possibility. The Palestinian form 1^3QJI quoted by 
Sohwally, Idioticon, 92, which agrees closely with the Talmudic XMW, is not 
so close to the Arabic. 

3 So TA, loc. cit., and al-Khafaji, in his supcrcommentary to Bai4awi, cf. also 
Addai Sher, 10. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR AN OVJ 

Sikdh, says is from jb+*, meaning JiJ^. 1 Pers. s /^-*-l sometimes 



written j*b*>\, as al-Jawhari gives it, 2 is a form of j*^** meaning 
big, thick, gross, apparently from a root, j'jl**' firm, stable (cf. Skt. 
Wf%T 3 ; Av. ji3&^Si^A) staura 4 ; Oss. st'ur 5 ; and Arm. 
minima).? The Phlv. \)tf)) stafjr = thick (Nyberg, Glossar, 
206), is used of clothing in eschatological writings, e.g. Arda Viraf, 
xiv, 14, )i<o,tfp0 )K>0*) ^Itftf 1 V^ (0 1 "and glorious and thick 
splendid clothing ". Phlv. ]$$$, with the suffix ), gives the Mod. 

Pers. d)j*L*\, which #, 994, defines as ^/JaJ *Axj c^> and 



Vullers, Zej, i, 94, as vestis serica crassior. 

From Mid.Pers. the word was borrowed into Armenian as 
jwiniififiiff 7, and into Syr. as lQ&a>1 or 



- 
Duraid, according to TA, vi, 292, quoted L?^AX-^I as a borrowing from 

Syr., but PSm, 294, gives the Syr. forms only as dictionary words from 
BA and BB, and there can be little doubt that the word passed directly 

into Arabic from the Middle Persian. 9 The Ar. 3 represents the Phlv. 
suffix ^, 10 which in Syr. normally became yi , as we see in such examples 

1 BQ, 492, defines it as kJLs. dL til) . ,of Vullcrs, 7,ca:, i, 97. 

^ w > > . 

3 Lagardc, 6M, 13. ^f%^ means thick, compact, solid, cf. Monicr Williams, 
Ninificrit Dictionary, 1265. 

4 Rartholomap, AI W, 1592; Horn, Grundrixx, p. 158; Hubsohmann, Persische 
Mudicn, 74. 

5 For this Ossetian form see Hubschmann, ZDMG 9 xxxix, 93. 
Hubsebmann, Arm. (iramtn, i, 493. Cf. also Gk. oravpos. 

7 Hubschmann, Arm. tiramm, i, 153. The form seems proof that the borrowing 
was from Pers. and not from Ar., though the passage in Moses Kalankatuaci, which 
Hubsuhmann quotes, refers to fujunuLftw/^u [^ ai^jiuiiu/^u t a gift from the Caliph 
Mu'awiya I. Cf. Stackelberg in ZDAIG, xlviii, 490. 

8 Fraenkel, Vocab, 25, quotes this as L. JI^AcD |, which is copied by Dvorak, Fremdw, 

42, and Horovitz, Parodies, 16, but neither this form nor the (l^AflOl quoted by Addai 
Sher, 10, is to be found in the Syriae Lexicons. 

9 Mingana, Syriac Influetice, 88, however, claims that the borrowing was from Syr. 
into Arabic. 

10 The philologers had recognized, however, that Pers. <il did sometimes become ^ 
in Ar. Cf. SIbawaih in Siddiqi, 21. 



60 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

as Phlv. ^-utf)3O* avistak (= Pers. lx*%j| or lu*^!), 1 which in 
Syr. is ^Afioaj^ an d in Ar. v3^l (Ibn al-Athlr, Nihaya, i, 38). 



(Ishdq). 

ii, 127-134 ; iii, 78 ; iv, 161 ; vi, 84 ; xi, 74 ; xii, 6, 38 ; xiv, 41 ; 
xix, 50 ; xxi, 72 ; xxix, 26 ; xxxvii, 112, 113 ; xxxviii, 45. 

Isaac. 

The Biblical Patriarch, who is never mentioned save in connection 
with one or more of the other Patriarchs, and never in an early passage. 

It was early recognized by the philologers that it was a foreign 
name, cf. Slbawaih in Siddiqi, 20, and LA, xii, 20 ; al-Jawallqi, Mu'ar- 
rab, 9; as-Suyutl, Muzhir, i, 138; though it was not uncommon in some 

quarters to regard it as an Arabic word derived from ^*~*>> for as- 

Suyutl, Muzhir, i, 140, goes out of his way to refute this. It was even 
known that it was Heb. (cf. ath-Tha'labi, Qisas, 76), and indeed Sura, 
xi, 74, seems to show acquaintance with the popular Hebrew derivation 
from pH2J. 

The Arabic form which lacks the initial ** of the O.T. forms priX** 
and pH2T would seem to point to a Christian origin, 2 cf. Gk. 'IcraaK, 
Syr. t-QiAttLilor Q**CDl, 3 though it is true that in the Talmud we come 
across a pO^K *12 "HO (Baba Mezi'a, 39 b ), showing a form with 
initial vowel among the Babylonian Jews of the fourth century A.n. 4 

The name >z*\ must have been known before the Qur'an, but no 



pre-Islamic instances of it seem to occur, for those quoted by Cheikho, 
Nasrdniya, 229, 230, are rightly rejected by Horovitz, K U, 91. 



(Israil). 

Occurs some 43 times. Cf. ii, 38. 

1 West, Glossary, 13. 

2 Spronger, Leben, ii, p. 336; Fraenkel, ZA, xv, 394; Horovit/., JPA T , 155, and 
Mingana's note, Syriar Influence, 83. Torrey, Foundation, 49, however, takes this 
to be a characteristic of his assumed Judaeo-Arabic dialect. 

3 This is the Christian Palestinian form, cf. Schulthess, Le.r, 14. 

4 Derenbourg in REJ, xviii, 127, suggests that p!"I2P may have been pronounced 
among the Arabian Jews as 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 61 

Usually it stands for the Children of Israel, but in iii, 87, and xix, 

59, it is the name of the Patriarch otherwise called * 



Some of the exegetes endeavoured to derive it from^ " to travel 

by night ", because when Jacob fled from Esau he travelled by night 
(cf. at-Tabari, Annales, i, 359, and Ibn al-Athir). It was very generally 
recognized as a foreign name, however (cf. al- Jawaliqi, 9 ; al-KhafajI, 
II), 1 and is given as such by the Commentators Zam. and Bai(J. on 
ii, 38. 

Here also the absence of the initial ** stands against a direct deriva- 
tion from the Heb. ^^HC??, and points to a Christian origin, cf. Gk. 

'Ioy>a??A, Syr. ^5u;au] ' Ett . hfl/,./bA The probabilities are in 
favour of a Syriac origin 2 especially in view of the Christian Palestinian 
forms ^Vrflol ; ^VrO^l (Schulthess, Lex, 16). The name was doubt- 
less well enough known to the people of Muhammad's day and though 
no pre-Tslainic example of its use in N. Arabia seems to have survived 3 
1ih)&? occurs in S. Arabian inscriptions, cf. CIS, iv, 543, 1. 1. 

ff * I / / T v 

| (USSIS). 

^ ^ 

ix, 109. 
Founded . 

- * \ 

The verbal form .y* I occurs in ix, 110. The verb is denominative 



. 
from -, I , a foundation, which Fraenkel, Fremdw, 11, noted was an 

Aramaic borrowing, cf. Aram. $$*}# foundation, and in the Christian 
Palestinian dialect the verb **! = e'^/zeA/oxre ; %A)LD 
re0e/x6A/a>TO, and )*ol OentXiov (Schwally, Idioticon, 7), 
so classical Syr. l*o) (and see Noldeke, Hand. Gramm, 98, n. 2 ; 
Zimmern, AJcJcad. Fremdw, 31 ; Henning, BSOS, ix, 80). 

1 al-Khafaji notes the uncertainty as to the spelling of the word, Jl . I and 
J^l^l being known besides J-TI^I. 

2 Mingana, Syriac Influence, 81 ; Horovitz, KU, 91. The Qamus, as a matter of 
fact, says that all forms ending in JJ are jl^-, though Tab. on ii, 38, claims that 
J.J is Heb. 

3 All those given by Cheikho, Nafttfinlya, 230, are doubtless influenced by Qur'anic 
usage. 



62 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR 5 AN 

(Aslama). 

Of frequent use, cf. ii, 106, 125. 
To submit, to surrender. 

With this must be taken *}LYI (iii, 17, 79, etc.), and the 



. . i * 
participial forms ^Ju^^, etc. 



The verb "*!C* is genuine Arabic, corresponding with Heb. 
Phon. D /2? to be complete, sound : Aram. DvG?, Syr. .^nV to be 



complete, safe : Akk. salamu, to be complete, unharmed. This primitive 
verb, however, does not occur in the Qur'an. Form II, 1JC*, is fairly 

common, but this is a denominative from *^-" , and M^^> as we shall 

r r 

see is a borrowed word. 1 

As used in the Qur'an 1JC*J is a technical religious term, 2 and 
there is even some development traceable in Muhammad's use of it. 3 

I' x- >^ x- o e > 

Such a phrase as <J) I "^ I \q>^) 111~> y* in xxxi, 21 , 4 seems to give 

the word in its simplest and original sense, and then ^J,U 1 ^ >^J L*l 

\ 
(x\, 68 ; vi, 70 ; ii, 125), and <^ L.1 or A) Ll (xxvii, 45 ; ii, 127 ; 

iii, 77 ; xxxix, 55), are a development from this. Later, however, 
the word comes practically to mean " to profess Islam ", i.e. to accept 
the religion which Muhammad is preaching, cf. xlviii, 16; xlix, 14, 

17, etc. Now in pre-Islamic times l~l is used in the primitive sense 
of " hand over ", noted above. For instance, in a verse of Abu 'Azza 



in Ibn Hisham, 556, we read ^^L J^ .J^JLJ' "hand 
me not over for such betrayal is not lawful ". 5 The Qur'anic use is an 

1 On the development of meaning in 8. Arabian ^ i n sec Rossini, Glonsar'mm, 196. 

2 See Lyall, JRA8, 1903, p. 782. 

3 See Lidzbarski's article, " Salam und Islam," in Z8, i, 85 if. 

4 Cf. also, ii, 106 ; iii, 18 ; iv, 124. On the probable genesis of this, see Margolioutb 
in JRAK, 1903, pp. 473, 474. 

6 For other examples, see Margoliouth's article, as above. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 63 

intelligible development from this sense, but the question remains 
whether this was a development within Arabic itself or an importation 
from without. 

Margoliouth in JRAS, 1903, p. 467 if., would favour a development 
within Arabic itself, perhaps started by Musailama ; but as Lyall 
pointed out in the same Journal (p. 771 if.), there are historical difficul- 
ties in the way of this. Lidzbarski, ZR, i, 86, would make it a denomina- 



tive from f^ which he takes as a translation of cra^rrjpia, but 

Horovitz, KU, 55, rightly objects. 

The truth seems to be that it was borrowed as a technical religious 
term from the older religions. Already in the O.Aram, inscriptions 
we find that Q72? as used in proper names has acquired this technical 
religious significance, 1 as e.g. fl^tt /2?> etc. The same sense is found 
in the Kabbinic writings (Horovitz, KU, 55), but it is particularly 
in Syriac that we find j^] used precisely as in the Qur'an, e.g. 

" he devoted himself to God and His 



Church ", or -ooim2U OlL^ oVnV^. 2 and one feels confident in 
looking here for the origin of the Arabic word. 

J 

*, of course, is a formation from this, 3 and was in use in 

pre-Islamic Arabia. *y<**\ however, would seem to have been 
formed by Muhammad himself after he began to use the word. 



(Ismail). 

ii, 119-134 ; iii, 78 ; iv, 161 ; vi, 86 ; xiv, 41 ; xix, 55 ; xxi, 85 ; 
xxxviii, 48. 

Ishmael. 

The Muslim philologers early recognized that it was non- Arabic, 
as is clear from Zam. on xix, 55, and from its being treated as non- 
Arabic by al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 9 ; al-KhafajT, 10; as-SuyutT, Muzhir, 



1 Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, 79 ff. 

2 The example given by Horovitz, viz. OO1 



is curiously like <jrdUl L> 

3 Sura, li, 36 ; xxii, 77 ; and note Bagh, vii, 192, and Ya'qubl, 7/tVrf, i, 259, and 
its use in Safaito (RvckmaiiK, Nmns propres, i, 239). 



64 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

i, 138. Various forms of the name are given J^*^ I ; +*" \ ; A 

and Ju^U^l, the ^ in this last form, quoted from Sibawaih in Muzhir, 

i, 132, being significant. 

A Christian origin for the word is evident from a comparison 
of the Gk. 'I(j/ia^A ; Syr. Vu^iQ*] ; Kth. ftfr'VJt.A, with the Heb. 
7X17Q2T. A form derived from Heb. occurs in the inscriptions of 
both the S. and N. of the Peninsula. 1 In S. Arabia we* find in a 

Himyaritic inscription 1h3 A? 2 - ^NJJQO'' (cf. Eth. 

and in the Safaite inscriptions of N. Arabia we find a form 

It is thus clear that the form with initial * was well enough known 

in Arabia before Muhammad's day, but on the other hand, there seems 

to be no evidence that the form used in the Qur'an was in use as a 

personal name among the Arabs in pre-Islamic times. 4 The fact 



that in the Qur'an we find cJu-j^for ^JOV and CJJ.AA> for DplT,but 
J for ^infiP and J-uH for ^KSTKOf], just as in Syr. we find 



and >OQ^, but JfiCU and '^j.LSQ*] makes it 
reasonably certain that the Qur'anic form came from a Syr. source, 6 
and the form ^ A S V)fln) in the Christian Palestinian dialect removes 



any difficulty which might have been felt of ^ for 



1 I). H. Miiller suggests that the name is an independent formation in S. Arabian 
(WZKM, iii, 225, being followed in this by Horovitz, .IPS, 155, 15C), but this is a 
little difficult. 

2 Hal, 193, 1 ; cf. CIS, iv, i, 55, with other references in Filter's " Index of H. 
Arabian Proper Names ", PttBA* 1917, p. 110, and Hartmann, Arahische, Frage, 182. 
226, 252-4. Derenbourg in his note on this inscription, C'/S', iv, i, 56, takes it as a 
composite name in imitation of the Heb., but see Miiller, \VZKM, iii, 225 ; ZDMG, 
xxxvii, 13 ff. ; Ryekmans, A'OOTA propres, i, 239, and RES, i, No. 219. 

3 Dussaud, Mission, 221 ; Littmann, Semitic Inscriptions, 116, 117, 123 ; En,'- 
zifferumj der Naffi-lnsehriften, 58 ; Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, ii, 44. 

4 The examples collected by Cheikho, Xa*riiniya 9 230, cannot, as Horovitz, K(J, 
92, shows, be taken as evidence for the pre-lslamic use of the name. The form 'EapayXos 
quoted by Horovitz from Waddington, from an inscription of A.F>. 341, may be only 
a rendering of 7KDD\ 

5 Margoliouth, ftchweic.h Lectures, 12 ; Mingana, Kyriac Influence, 82, and ef. 
Sprenger, Leben, ii, 336. 

8 Schulthess, Lex, 15, and cf. Horovitz, KiJ, 92 ; Rhodokanakis, WZKM, 
xvii, 283. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR J AN 65 



vii, 44, 46. 
Al-A'raf. 



It is usually taken to mean the wall which separates Paradise 
from Hell. The philologers were at a loss to explain the word, the two 



favourite theories being (i) that it is the plu. of ^ J* used of the mane 
of a horse or the comb of a cock, and thus a metaphor for the highest 
part of anything (Zani, in loco : LA, xi, 146), or (ii) that it is from 

^Jj^toknow, and so called because of the knowledge ui'j * ' i*JU?\ 

had of those in the Garden and those in the Fire. 

Tor Andrae, Urspnmy, 78, and Lidzbarski, ZS, ii, 182, claim that 
the word is Arabic, though translating an idea derived from one of the 
older religions. 1 There is difficulty with this, however, and perhaps a 
better solution is that proposed long ago by Ludolf, 2 viz. that it is the 
Eth. ft<V.<C Horovitz, Parodies, 8, objects to this on the ground that 

Muhammad does not use Ol^> for the souls of the departed, but for 

the place where they, or at least some of them, dwell, which would be 
yt/^. It is by no means unlikely, however, that Muhammad under- 
stood the verb Jift^ik, 3 used of the blessed departed, as a place- 
name, for t\tt<f. and fr^tt* seem much more commonly used in this 

* I \ r 

sense than 9"d+q:. It is even possible that ^\J>\ is a corruption of 

9d6*V- The introduction of the word would seem to be due to 
Muhammad himself, for the occurrence of the word in Umayya, 
xlix, 14, is rightly suspected by Horovitz of being under Qur'anic 
influence. 



1 Lidzbarski would take it as an attempt to translate the Mandaean 
= the ivatch towers, but this is rather remote. 

a Ad Historian, sEthiopicam Commentarius, p. 207. He writes: 
Muhammedis Limbus, medius inter Paradisum et Infernum locus, receptaculum 
mediis generis hominum, qui tanfcundem boni ac mali in hoc mundo fecerunt. Id 
autem aliunde justius derivari nequit, quam a rad-/Ethiopica }\{l& = requievit, 
quo verbo ^Ethiopes de pie defunct is utuntur." 

3 Praetorius, Beit. Ass, i, 23, however, takes Kd*!<t a denom. from *l^. 



66 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

'4J| (Alldh). 

Of very frequent occurrence. 
God. 

One gathers from ar-Razi, Mafdfih, i, 84 (so Abu Hayyan, Bcihr, 
i, 15), that certain early Muslim authorities hold that the word was of 
Syriac or Hebrew origin. The majority, however, claimed that it was 
pure Arabic, though they sot forth various theories as to its derivation. 1 



Some held that it has no derivation, being A^ - : the Kufans in 

- * * 

general derived it from o X * I, while the Basrans derived it from 



I , taking d 2/ as a verbal noun from O to be high or to be veiled. 

The suggested origins for a 2(] were even more varied, some taking 

-/* ^ * 

it from 43 1 to worship, some from <) I to be perplexed, some from 

(jl A) I to turn to for protection, and others from <)j to be perplexed. 

Western scholars are fairly unanimous that the source of the 
word must be found in one of the older religions. In the Semitic area 

JlvK was a widely used word for deity, cf. Heb. H^K ; Aram. H7K ; 
Syr. loi!k ; Sab. V1h and s <> Ar. 4) I is doubtless a genuine old 

2 

Semitic form. The form 4,\J|, however, is different, and there can be 



little doubt that this, like the Mandaean N!"INvX and the Pahlavi 
ideogram, 2 goos back to the Syr. loii^ (cf. Griinbaum, ZDMG, 
xxxix, 571; Sprenger, Lebcn, i, 287-9; Ahrens, Muhammad, 15; 
Rudolph, Abhangigkeit, 26 ; Bell, Origin, 54 ; Cheikho, Nasrdniya, 
159 ; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86). The word, however, came into 
use in Arabian heathenism long before Muhammad's time (Wellhausen, 
Reste, 217 ; Nielsen in HAA, i, 218 ff.). It occurs frequently in the 
N. Arabian inscriptions, 3 and also in those from S. Arabia, as, e.g., 

1 They are discussed in detail by ar-Razi on pp. 81-4, of the first volume of his 
Tafsir. 

2 Herzfeld, Paikuli, Glossary, 135. 

3 Cf. Littmann, Entzifferung der thamudenischen Inschriften, p. 63 IF. ; Sem. Inscr, 
p. 113 ff. ; and Ryckmans, Noms propres, i, 2 ; RES, iii, 441. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 67 

3X1 Mn 1rf h3 " with all the Gods " (in Glaser, Abessinien, 50), 1 
as well as in the pie-Islamic oath foims, such as that of Qais b. Khatim 
given by Horovitz, KU, 140, and many in ash-Shanqiti's intioduction 



to the Mu'allaqat. It is possible that the expression (JW 4\J1 is of 

S. Arabian origin, as the name i iX occurs in a Qatabanian 
inscription. 2 

-/"* 

1,^)1 (Allahumma). 

iii, 25 ; v, 114 ; viii, 32 ; x, 10 ; xxxix, 47. 
An invocatory name for God. 

The form of the word was a great puzzle to the early grammarians 3 : 
the orthodox explanation being that it is a vocative form where the 

final A takes the place of an initial u. The Kufans took it as a con- 
\ 

traction of ^J^ U*l 4\]l u (Bai<J. on iii, 25), but their theory is 

ridiculed by Ibn Ya'ish, i, 181. As a vocative it is said to be of the same 

f > 
class as 1& come along. al-Khafaji, 20, however, recognizes it as a 



foreign word. 

It is possible, as Margoliouth notes (ERE, vi, 248), that it is the 
Heb. DTI /K which had become known to the Arabs through their 
contacts with Jewish tribes. 4 



vi, 85 ; xxxvii, 123, 130. 
Elijah. 

1 Derenbourg in JA, viii e ser., xx, 157 if., wants to find the word in the \ T in 
of a Minacan inscription, but this is usually taken as a reference to a tribal god ^l^II, 
Me Halcvy, ibid, p. 325, 326. 

2 Rhodokanakis, " Die Inschriften an der Mauer von Kohilan Tirana*," in SBAW, 
Wien, 1924. 8 Margoliouth, ERE, vi, 248. 

4 There is to be considered, however, the Phon. Q^3X = godhead (see references 
in Harris' Glossary, p. 77), which is evidence of a Semitic form with final m. Cf. 
Nielsen in HAA, i, 221, n. 2. 



68 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

In xxxvii, 130, for the sake of rhyme, the form is ^ 

From al-Jawallql, Mu'arrab, 8, we learn that the philologers early 
recognized it as foreign, and it is given as such by as-Suyuti, Muzhir, 
i, 138 ; as-Sijistanl, 51 ; LA, vii, 303. The Heb. forms are PP^K and 
'irpbN, so it is obvious that the Arabic form must have been derived 
from a Christian source, as even Hirschfeldi Beitrage, 56, recognizes. 2 
The Gk. 'HA*W or 'HAe/ay gives us the final s, but this afso appears 
in Syr. j]l!& beside the more usual ]1^ (P/Sw, 203), and in the 

Eth. J^A^fl. 

The name was no uncommon one among Oriental Christians before 
Islam, and 'HA/a? occurs not infrequently in the Inscriptions. 3 We 

also find an ^Ul in the genealogy of the poet 'Adi b. Zaid given in 
Aghdril, ii, 18. 4 The likelihood is thus that it entered Arabic through 
the Syriac. 

** 

(Al-Yasa 6 ). 

vi, 86 ; xxxviii, 48. 

Elisha. 

The word is usually treated as though it were **-^ arid the J) 

the definite article, 5 and then derived from ^^ or x**J. Tab., on 

vi, 86, argues against this view, and in the Lexicons (e.g. al-Jawharl, 
sub roc., LA, x, 296), and in al-Jawallql, 134 (cf. al-Khafaji, 215), it is 
given as a foreign borrowing, a fact which is also indicated by the 



variant spelling *~Jb (LA, x, 296). 

1 Gciger, 190 ; Mingana, Ryriac Influence, 83. Grimme, ZA, xxvi, 167, would 
see S. Arabian influence in the production of this longer form, but it is difficult to aeo 
much point to his suggestion. 

2 So Sprenger, Leben, ii, 335 ; Rudolph, Abhangiykeit, 47 ; Horovitz, JPN, 171. 
8 Lebas-Waddington, Nos. 2159, 2160, 2299, etc. 

4 Ibn Puraid, 20, would take this as a genuine Arabic word from ^^ with 
which Horovitz, KU, 99, is inclined to agree. In LA, vii, 303, however, where we 
find this same genealogy, we arc expressly told ^^J I 4) c^*.- -ti 

8 Cf. Goldziher, ZDMG, xxiv, 208 n. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 69 

The Heb. &&*?$ is near enough to the Arabic to make a 

* 



direct borrowing possible, but the probability is that it came from a 
Christian source (Horovitz, KU, 152). The Gk. forms are 'E A/era, 
'EAwate, and 'EAicraW ; the Syr. Mm^ ; and the Eth. 
the probabilities being in favour of a Syriac origin. 



Of frequent occurrence, e.g. ii, 122, 128 ; iii, 106, etc. 

People, race. 

Apparently a borrowing from the Jews. 1 Heb. HEN is a tribe > 
or people, and the HDIX of the Kabbinic writings was widely used. 
As the word is apparently not a native Semitic word at all, but Akk. 
ummatu; Heb. PIEK ; Aram. KE1K, KDaiK ; and Syr. 
]ASoo] seem all to have been borrowed from the Sumerian, 2 we 

- * * 
cannot deny the possibility, that the Ar. ij^) is a primitive borrow- 



ing from the same source. In any case it was an ancient borrowing, 
and if we can depend upon a reading DQKn CQD, " at the people's 
cost " in a Safaite inscription, 3 we have evidence of its early use in 
N. Arabia. 

s.\ 

j*] (Amr). 

xvi, 2 ; xvii, 87 ; xxxii, 4 ; xl, 15 ; xlii, 52 ; Ixv, 12 ; xcvii, 4. 

Revelation. 

In the two senses (i) command or decree, (ii) nwtter, affair, it is a 
genuine Arabic word, and commonly used in the Qur'an. 

In its use in connection with the Qur'anic doctrine of revelation, 
however, it would seem to represent the Aram. KlfTQ (Rudolph, 
Abhangigkeit, 41 ; Horovitz, JPN, 188 ; Fischer, Glossar, Nachtrag 
to 86 ; Ahrens, Christliches, 26 ; Muhammad, 134). The whole con- 
ception seems to have been strongly influenced by the Christian Logos 
doctrine, 4 though the word would seem to have arisen from the Targumic 



1 Horovitz, KU, 52 ; JPN, 190. 

2 Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 46 ; Pedcrsen, Israel, 505. 

3 See Horovitz, KU, 52. 

4 Grimme, System, 50 if. 



70 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR'AN 

r- tJ (Amshdj). 
Ixxvi, 2. 

A> S 

Plu. of *e*.JL*, mingled. 



In this passage, " we created man from a mingled clot," it occurs 
as almost a technical physiological term. The Muslim savants take 

" .." ^ 

it as a normal formation from the verb pcJ^, but this may be a 

denominative from the noun. 1 Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 40, suggests 
an ultimate origin in the Akk. munziqu clear wine. This was borrowed 
on the one hand into Heb. 3TI (beside *]OQ ; cf. Earth, ES, 33, 51) ; 

Aram. fcMTO ; Syr. f^llso ; and on the other into Egyptian mfk, 
Coptic 



From the Syr. liT^> arose the Arabic r*lj^> and apparently 



T'uL* was a parallel form borrowed at an early period, from which 
the other forms have developed. 



Vl (Aniand). 

Of very frequent occurrence. 

To believe. 

i 

The primitive verb S+A I with its derivatives is pure Arabic. Form 

^^ ** 

IV, however, '*A\ with its derivatives, /* believer] and 



believing, faith, is a technical religious term which seems to have 
been borrowed from the older faiths, and intended to represent the 
Aram, l^n ; Syr. ^OiOl ; Eth. Jtl^V 2 The word actually borrowed 



would seem to have been the participle (j*j * from Eth. 



1 As in the case of r\ j*, cf. Fraenkel, Fremdw, 172. 

2 These Aram, forms themselvefl, of course, are borrowed from the Heb. 
(but see Lagarde, Ubersicht, 121). 

3 See Horovitz, KU, 55 ; JPN, 191 ; Fischer, Glossar, Neue Nachlasse to 9a. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 71 

In lix, 23, * j^.* meaning faithful* and in lix, 9, jlsj meaning 
certainty, may be genuine Arabic (see Fischer, Glossar, 9a). 

3^)* j (Infil). 

"in, 2, 43, 58 ; v, 50, 51, 70, 72, 110 ; vii, 156 ; ix, 112 ; xlviii, 
29 ; Ivii, 27. 

Gospel. 

It is used always of the Christian revelation, is particularly asso- 
ciated with Jesus, and occurs only in Madinan passages. 2 

Some of the early authorities tried to find an Arabic origin for it, 



making it a form A^_ *0I from \, but this theory is rejected with 

some contempt by the commentators Zam. and Baid. both on general 

'* 
grounds, and because of al-Hasan's reading Ju I , which clearly is 

*r 

not an Arabic form. So also the Lexicons LA, xiv, 171 ; TA, viii, 
128 ; and al-Jawaliqi, 17 (al-KhafajI, 11), give it as a foreign word 
derived from either Hebrew or Syriac (cf. Ibn al-Athlr, Nihdya, iv, 136). 
Obviously it is the Gk. tvayytXiov, and both Marracci 3 
and Fraenkel 4 have thought that it came directly into Arabic from 
the Greek. The probabilities, however, are that it came into Arabic 
through one of the other Semitic tongues. The Hebrew origin suggested 
by some is too remote. It is true that in the Talmud we find ]Y1 V J ]TIS? 
for ]1 v33T)N, 6 but this is merely a transcription of iQjJ^Jol, 
and the DTOH nBOl DTP^T! "the Gilyonim and books 
of the Minim ", merely reproduces the Syr. .CU.X... The sug- 
gestion of a Syr. source is much more hopeful. It is true that .o*.^jo] 
is only a transliteration of the Gk. tvayyeXiov, but it was as 
commonly used as the pure Syr. ]2j^QD, and may be assumed to 
have been in common use among the Christians with whom Muhammad 
may have been in contact. Noldeke has pointed out, however, that 



1 With which may be compared the Sab. , faithful. Cf. Hommel, Sttdara- 
bische Chrest, 121 ; Rossini, GHoswrium, 106. 

2 vii, 156, is perhaps an exception, but though the Sura is given as late Meccan, 
this verse seems to be Madinan. 

3 Prodromus, i, 5, " corrupta Graeca voce." 

4 Vocab, 24. 

6 Krauss, Griechische und lateinische Lehnworter im Talmud, ii, 21. 



72 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

the Manichaean forms j^JiXjl of Persian origin, 1 and anglion of 

Turkish origin, 2 still have the Gk. -LOV ending, and had the Arabic, 
like these, been derived from the Syr. we might have expected it also 

to preserve the final 0. The shortened form, he points out (Neue 
Beitrdge, 47), is to be found in the Eth. <D*}1A> where the long 
vowel is almost conclusive evidence of the Arabic word having come 
from Abyssinia. 3 Grimme, ZA, xxvi, 164, suggests that it pay have 
entered Arabic from the Sabaean, but we have no inscriptional evidence 
to support this. It is possible that the word was current in this form in 
pre-Islamic days, though as Horovitz, KU, 71, points out, there is some 
doubt of the authenticity of the verses in which it is found. 4 

<JI (Aya). 

Of very frequent occurrence. Cf. ii, 37 ; iii, 9 ; xxxvi, 33. 

A sign. 

Later it comes to mean a verse of the Qur'an, and then a verse 
of a book, but it is doubtful whether it ever means anything more than 
sign in the Qur'an, though as Muhammad comes to refer to his preaching 
as a sign, the word tends to the later meaning, as e.g. in iii, 5, etc. 
It is noteworthy that in spite of the frequency of its occurrence in the 
Qur'an it occurs very seldom in the early Meccan passages. 5 

The struggles of the early Muslim philologers to explain the word 
are interestingly set forth in LA, xviii, 66 ff. The word has no root 
in Arabic, and is obviously, as von Kremer noted, 8 a borrowing from 
Syr. or Aram. The Heb. DIN (cf. Phon. PX), from a verb !TIK, to 
sign or mark, was used quite generally, for signs of the weather (Gen. 
i, 14 ; ix, 12), for a military ensign (Numb, ii, 2), for a memorial sign 

1 Vullers, Lex, i, 136 ; Salemann, Manichaeische Studien, i, 50 ; BQ, 88, which 
latter knows that it is the name of the book of Jesus and the book of Mani fi 
<JU v^llS^flJ < ^f' J-^l w i jLoi ollS^ It is curious that Bagh. on iii, 2, 
gives /jjJ&| as an attempt to represent the Syriac original. 

2 In the phrase uluy anglion bitig, cf. Lo Coq, 8BAW, Berlin, 1909, p. 1204. 

3 Cf. Fischer, Islamica, i, 372, n. 5. 

4 Cf. Cheikho, Nasraniya, 185. 

8 Not more than nine times in Suras classed by Noldeke as early Meccan, though 
many passages in these are certainly to be placed much later, and one may doubt 
whether the word occurs at all in really early passages. 

6 Ideen, 226 n. ; see also Sprenger, Leben, ii, 419 n. ; Cheikho, Nasraniya, 181 ; 
and Margoliouth, ERE, x, 539. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 73 

(Josh, iv, 6), and also in a technical religious sense both for the miracles 
which attest the Divine presence (Ex. viii, 19 ; Deut. iv, 34 ; Ps. 
Ixxviii, 43), and for the signs or omens which accompany and testify 
to the work of the Prophets (1 Sam. x, 7, 9 ; Ex. iii, 12). In the Rabbinic 
writings H1K is similarly used, though it there acquires the meaning 
of a letter of the alphabet, which meaning, indeed, is the only one the 
Lexicons know for the Aram. WIN. 1 

While it is not impossible that the Arabs may have got the word 
from the Jews, it is more probable that it came to them from the 
Syriac-speaking Christians. 2 The Syr. ]L], while being used precisely 
as the Heb. fllX, and translating (nj/Jieiov both in the LXX and 
N.T., is also used in the sense of aryumentum, documentum (PSm, 413), 
and thus approaches even more closely than DIN the Qur'anic use of 
the word. 

The word occurs in the old poetry, e.g. in Imru'ul-Qais, Ixv, 1 
(Ahlwardt, Divans, 160), and so was in use before the time of 
Muhammad. 



iv, 161 ; vi, 84 ; xxi, 83 ; xxxviii, 40. 
Job. 

It is the Biblical Job, and the word was recognized as foreign, e.g. 
al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 8. The cxegetes take him to be a Greek, e.g. 

Zam. on xxi, 83 ^Jj and ath-Tha'labi, Qiww, 106 A Jj & J^> 

The name would seem to have come into Arabic through a Christian 
channel, as even Hirschfeld, Beitrdge, 56, admits. The Heb. S'PK appears 

in Gk. (LXX) as Ie*>/3, and Syr. as ^oj, which latter is obviously 
the origin of the Arabic form. 3 The name appears to have been used 
in Arabia in the pre-Islamic period. Hess would interpret the Zl^K of 
an inscription copied by Huber (No. 521, 1, 48), as Aiyub 4 ; there is 

1 In Biblical Aramaic, however, fitf means a sign wrought by God ; cf. Dan. 

2 Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86. Note also the Mand. SJTX =- sign. 

3 Rudolph, Abkangiykeit, 47. 

4 Hess, Die Entzifferung der thamudischen Inschriflen (1911), p. 15, No. 77 ; Litt- 
mann, Entzifferung, 15 ; and see Halevy in JA, ser. vii, vol. x, p. 332. 



74 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

s. 

an *-> J|J in the genealogy of 'Adi b. Zaid given in Agharii, ii, 18, and 
another Christian of this name is mentioned by an-Nabigha. 1 

CL> (Bab). 

* 

Occurs some twenty-seven times, e.g. ii, 55 ; iv, 153. 

A door or gate. 

Fraenkel, Fremdw, 14, noted that it was an early loan word, and 
suggested that it came from the Aram. ^23 which is in very common 
use in the Rabbinic writings. D. H. Miiller, however (WZKM, i, 23), 
on the ground that |^Q occurs very rarely in Syr. and that the root 
is entirely lacking in Heb., Eth., and Sab., suggested that it was an 
early borrowing from Mesopotamia (cf. Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 
30), and may have come directly into Arabic. It occurs commonly 
in the old poetry, which confirms the theory of early borrowing, 
and it is noteworthy that from some Mesopotamian source it passed 
into Middle Persian (Frahang, Glossary, p. 103 ; Herzfeld, Paikuli, 
Glossary, 151). 



(Babil). 

ii, 96. 

Babylon. 

This sole occurrence of the word is in connection with the story 
of Harut and Marut who teach men magic. It is a diptote in the Qur'an 
but LA, xiii, 43, takes this to be not because it is a foreign name, but a 
fern, name of more than three radicals (cf. Yaqut, Mu'jam, i, 447). 2 

It is, of course, from the Akk. Bab-ilu (Delitzsch, Pamdies, 212), 
either through the Syr. Vi^iA or the Heb. 733. The city was 
well known in Arabia in the pre-Islamic period, and the name occurs 
in the old poetry, e.g. Mufacjqlaliyat (ed. Lyall, p. 133, 1. 13), and 
al-A'sha (Geyer, Zwei Gedickte, i, 58 = Diwan, Iv, 5), and Halevy 
would find the name in a Safaite inscription. 3 Horovitz, KU, 101, 
notes that Babylon was well known as a centre for the teaching of 

1 Ahlwardt, Divans, p. 4; cf. Horovitz, KU, 100; JPN, 158. 

2 Some, however, recognized it as a foreign name, cf. Abu Hayyan, Baftr, i, 319. 
8 JA, ser. vii, voj. x, p. 380. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUB/AN 75 

magic, a fact which, we would also gather from the use of the word 
Bavil in the Manichaean Uigur fragments from Idiqut-Schahri. 1 



dtyJ (Baraka). 

vii, 52, 133 ; xvii, 1 ; xxi, 71, 81, etc. 
To bless. 

j f s^-s 
With this should be taken the forms C>LJ j> 9 (vii, 94 ; xi, 50, 76), 

^ ^ ^ 
and &'j^+* (iii, 90 ; vi, 92, 156, etc.). 

^ 
1 1 s-** 

The primitive verb O j , which is not used in the Qur'an, means 

to kneel, used specially of the camel, so that &j} * s t^ 10 technical 
word for making a camel kneel. In this primitive sense it is common 
Semitic, so we find Heb. HIPP ^3B7 n3133 " let us kneel 
before Jehovah"; Syr. wiOJoaiao^l ^JQ " he knelt upon his 
knees " ; Eth. <0Mt"fl^Vl- * ^fXO " and they bowed the knee 
before him ". It was in the N. Semitic area, however, that the root 
seems to have developed the sense of to 6Zess, and from thence it passed 
to the 8. Semitic area. Thus we have Heb. ^^, and Phon. "1*13 to 
Wm ; Aram. TD3 to 6fe*s or praise ; Syr, ^a to bless or praise ; 
and in Palm, such phrases as NQ^SJ*? 1Q2? "p" 13 (de Vogue, 
No. 94) " blessed be his name for evermore ", and *"|n3l^ (ibid., No. 
144) "may he bless". From this N. Semitic sense we find derived 
the Sab. rf)R (Kossini, Glossarium, 118), Eth. fl^h to bless, celebrate 
the praises of, and Ar. ciljl as above. Note also the formations Heb. 
Aram. JQHH ' Syr. }ADiQ), which also were taken 



over into S. Semitic, e.g. Eth. fl^h'1* ; Ar. 

I^Jj (Bard* a). 

Ivii, 22. 
To create. 

1 Ed. Le Coq, SB AW, Berlin, 1908, pp. 400, 401 ; cf. also Salemann, Manichaeische 
Studien, i, 58. 



76 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR'AN 

> 

Note also (J^\ creator used of Allah in ii, 51 ; lix, 24 ; and 
A_ J> creation in xcviii, 5, 6. It will be noticed that the word is only 
used in very late Madinan passages, the Meccan words being jJ*&, 

b and jU j)\i. 

The Arabic root \j> is to be freed from a defect, i.e. to t>e sound 



or healthy (cf. Heb. fcO"O), and in a moral sense to be pure. In this sense 
it is used not infrequently in the Qur'an, cf. vi, 19. In the sense of 
create, however, it is obviously borrowed from the older religions, 
for this is a characteristic N. Semitic development. 1 Akk. 6am to 
inake or create : Heb. K"13 to shape or create : Aram. K*1!jl, Syr. Ija 



to create, of which the Arabic equivalent is ij^ used in the older 

language for fashioning an arrow or cutting a pen. 2 Similarly <_ j^j 

is not an Arabic development (as is evident from the difficulties the 
philologers had with it, cf. LA, i, 22), but was also taken over from the 
older religions, cf. Heb. JWH3 a thing created : Aram. 

and !Tn3. So $l is from the Aram. JTHS, 



Syr. VO"r^> 1*r, meaning Creator, and used particularly of God 
(Lidzbarski, SBAW, Berlin, 1916, p. 1218 n.). 3 



. 
Macdonald, El, i, 303, writing of <jl suggests that the borrowing 

was from the Heb., 4 but the correspondences are much closer with 
the Aram. (Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 49), and especially with the Syriac 
(Mingana, Syriac Influence, 88), so that the probabilities are in favour 
of its having been taken from the Christians of the North. 



1 Schwally, ZDMG, liii, 201. 
And cf. the S. Arabian h)Fl to found or build a temple, cf. ZDMQ, xxxvii, 413. 



Rossini, Glossarium, 117. In Phon. SIS is a sculptor: cf. Harris, Glossary, 91. 

3 Massignon, Lexiqut technique, 52, however, considers it as an Arabic word 
specialized in this meaning under Aramaic influence. 

4 So Ahrens, ZDMG, Ixxxiv, 20. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 77 

T 1 *}j (Barzakh). 

xxiii, 102 ; xxv, 55 ; Iv, 20. 
A barrier or partition. 

In xxv, 55, and Iv, 20, it is the barrier between the two seas (<J^j) 

where the reference is probably to some cosmological myth. In xxiii, 
102, it is 1 used in an eschatological passage, and the exegetes do not 
know what the reference is, though as a glance at at-Tabari 1 s Com- 
mentary will show, they were fertile in guesses. 

That the word is not Arabic seems clear from the Lexicons, which 
venture no suggestions as to its verbal root, are unable to quote any 
examples of the use of the word from the old poetry, and obviously 
seek to interpret it from the material of the Qur'an itself. 

Addai Sher, 19, sought to explain it from the Pers. 1) j j, weeping 

or crying, but this has little in its favour, and in any case suits only 
xxiii, 102. Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 646, makes the much more plausible 

suggestion that T- j j*. is a by-form of r***J* parasaiuj from the Phlv. 
!g) frasang, Mod. Pers. ^AJL-^d, which preserves its form fairly 



well in Gk. 7ra/)a<rayy??9, but becomes Aram. NOHS or HOHS * ; 

Syr. t*a>iS) whence the Ar. f*"j*' The phlv - WXVft) frasangan 
of PPGl, 116, means a measure of land and of roads, 2 and could thus 
fit the sense barrier in all three passages. 



(Burhdn). 

ii, 105 ; iv, 174 ; xii, 24 ; xxi, 24 ; xxiii, 117 ; xxvii, 65 ; xxviii, 
32, 75. 

An evident proof. 

In all the passages save xii, 24, and xxviii, 32, it is used in the 
sense of a proof or demonstration of the truth of one's religious position. 
In these two cases, one from the story of Joseph and the other from 
that of Moses, the word refers to an evident miraculous sign from 

1 Levy, Worterhuch, iv, 125; Telegdi, in JA, ccxxvi (1935), p. 252. 

2 See Horn, Grundriss, 182 ; ftyberg, Glossar, 73. 



78 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

God for the demonstration of His presence and power to him who 
beheld it. It is thus clearly used in the Qur'an as a technical religious 
term. 1 



It is generally taken as a form J^** from * jj, Form IV of which 

is said to mean to prove, but the straits to which the philologers are 
put to explain the word (cf. Raghib, Mufraddt, 44 ; LA, xvii, 369), 
show us that we are dealing with a foreign word. Sprenger, Leben, i, 
108 had noted this, 2 but he makes no attempt to discover its origin. 



>* 



. l ^ 
Addai Sher, 21, suggested that it is from the Pers. JU*^ meaning 

dearly manifest, or well known (cf. Vullers, Lex., i, 352), but this is 
somewhat remote. The origin clearly is, as Noldeke has shown (Neue 
Beitrdge, 58 ), 3 in the Eth. *flCV}, a common Abyssinian word, 4 
being found also in Amharic, Tigre, and Tigriiia, meaning light, illumina- 



tion, from a root fl0 cognate with Heb. "IPD ; Ar. ^ . It seems to 

have this original sense in iv, 174 ; xii, 24, and the sense of proof or 
demonstration is easily derived from this. 

j 

<r }j\ (Buruj). 

iv, 80 ; xv, 16 ; xxv, 62 ; Ixxxv, 1 . 

Towers. 

The original meaning occurs in iv, 80, but in the other passages 
it means the signs of the Zodiac, according to the general consensus of 
the Commentators, cf. as-Sijistani, 63. 

The philologers took the word to be from ^ ^ to appear (cf. Bai(J. 



on iv, 80 ; LA, iii, 33), but there can be little doubt that 77 J^/ t represents 

the Gk. Trvpyos (Lat. burgus), used of the towers on a city wall, as 
e.g. in Homer Od, vi, 262 TroAw r)v 7Tpl Trvpyo? in/n?Ao?. The 
Lat. burgus (see Guidi, Delia Sede, 579) is apparently the source 

1 Ahrens, Christliches, 22, makes a distinction between xii, 24 ; iv, 147 ; xxiii, 117, 
where it means " Licht, Erleuchtung ", and the other passages where it means 
" Beweis ". 

2 Also Massignon, Lexique technique, 52. 

3 Also ibid., p. 25. 

* It is in frequent use even in the oldest monuments of the language. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 79 



of the Syr. Ltioa 1 a turret, and perhaps of the Rabbinic *p3TlIl, 
a resting place or station for travellers. 2 From this sense of stations 
for travellers it is an easy transition to stations of the heavenly bodies, 
i.e. the Zodiac. Syr. lu'Q^ is indeed used for the Zodiac (PSm, 475), 
but this is late and probably under the influence of Arabic usage. 

It is possible that the word occurs in the meaning of tower in 
a S. Arabian inscription (D. H. Miiller in ZDMG, xxx, 688), but the 
reading is*not certain. 3 ]bn Duraid, 229, also mentions it as occurring 
as a personal name in the pre-Islamic period. The probabilities are that 
it was a military word introduced by the Romans into Syria and N. 
Arabia, 4 whence it passed into the Aramaic dialects 5 and thence to 

Arabia. It would have been borrowed in the sing, form T~J from 
which an Arabic plural was then formed. 

^JL) (Bashshara). 

Of frequent occurrence, cf. ii, 23 ; iii, 20 ; iv, 137, etc. 
To announce good news. 

The primitive verb ^JLi to peel off bark, then to remove the surface 
of a thing, i.e. to smooth, is not found in the Qur'an, though it occurs 

**'*' 

in the old literature. From this we find j**^ skin and thence flesh, as 

Syr. |;ffl*"i ; Heb. "1272 6 > Akk. bisrit, blood-relation, whence it is an 
easy transition to the meaning man, cf. Heb. *12Q; Syr. 1;****^ ^ 

(plu. I^QOuO^ avOpamoL). j*i in this sense occurs 

frequently in the Qur'an 7 and Ahrens, Christliches, 38, thinks it is of 
Aramaic origin. 

1 So Fraenkel, Frcmdw, 235, against Frcytag and Rodiger, who claim that it 
is a direct borrowing from irvpyos. 

2 But sco the discussion m Krauss, GriechiscJie Lehnworter, ii, 143. 

3 Muller in WZKM, i, 28. 

4 Vollers in ZDMG, Ii, 312. 

6 The Arm. ^m.fifU came probably through the Aramaic also. Cf. Hubschmann, 
Arm. Gramm, i, 393 ; Brockelmann in ZDMG, xlvii, 2. 

6 So Sab. )>n and Eth. OflC, but these apparently developed late under 
Jewish or Christian influence. 

7 And note _^l to go in unto a wife (ii, 183, only), with Heb. "1B72 membrum 
virile ; Syr. |^Q2 per euphemismum de pudendis viri et foeminae. 



80 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

The wider use of the root in the Qur'an, however, is in the sense of 
to announce good tidings. Thus we have the verb ^JLi as above ; 



good news (ii, 91 ; iii, 122 ; viii, 10, etc.) ; rul> (v, 22 ; vii, 188, 





A. A 

etc.), and ^w (vii, 55; xxv, 50, etc.), the bringer of good tidings: 

*f*l X^ X*X" | 

also wr +<* (ii, 209, etc.) with much the same meaning ; ^-1; I (xli, 



30) to receive pleasure from good tidings : and j+*L~A (]xx.x, 39), 



rejoicing. This use, however, seems not to be original in Arabic but 
derived from the older religions. Thus Akk. bussuru, is to bear a joyful 
message : Heb. "1273 both to bear good tidings and to gladden with good 
tidings : ""HZJUnn to receive good tidings. 1 

The S. Semitic use of the word seems to be entirely under the 
influence of this Jewish usage. In Eth. the various forms flfl*I to 
bring a joyful message, h'(lA to bring good tidings, "Mlfl^ to be 
announced, flilj!*"?" good news, ti'ttfl^ one ivho announces good tidies, 
are all late and -doubtless under the influence of the Bible. So the S. 
Arabian )[1X to bring tidings and h)^H tidings (cf. ZDMG, xxx, 
672 ; WZKM (1896), p. 290 ; Rossini, Glossarium, 119), are to be 
considered of the same origin, especially when we remember that the 
use of 4)fl i s * n *he Bahmdn inscription. The Syr. ;QCD has suffered 
metathesis, but in the Christian Palestinian dialect we find JCQO to 



""""^A*"* .... . ^ 

preach, used just as ^^** in iii, 20 ; ix, 34, etc., and so pQCQQ = 



v, where again the influence is undoubtedly Jewish. 
The probabilities are that the word was an early borrowing and 
taken direct from the Jews, though in the sense of to preach the influence 
was probably Syriac. 2 

JJa (Batala). 

Occurs some thirty-six times in various forms. 
To be in vain, false. 



1 Also H'J^ tidings = Ar. ^ JL> and Jjll., which latter, however, is not 
Qur'anic. Cf. also now the Ras Shamra "WIl to bring good news. 

2 As probably the Phlv. basand, PPGl, 95. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 81 

The passages in which it occurs are relatively late, and it is clearly 
a technical religious term for the nothingness, vanity, and falseness 

of that which is opposed to God's ^Jp-. In particular it is used of 
idols, as in xvi, 74; xxix, 52, 67, etc., where it forcibly reminds us of 
the Hebrew use of D* 1 / vK and the ra p.draia of Acts xiv, 15. 

Now as a matter of fact the Peshitta translates ra jJLOLTaia by 
, and, as Ahrens, Christliches, 38, points out, we seem to have 



here the origin of the Qur'anic Jj* v, whence probably the other forms 
were derived. Of. the Eth. flrnA* vanum, inanem, irritum. 



xxxvii, 125. 
Baal. 

The word occurs in the Elijah story and as a proper name un- 
doubtedly came to Muhammad from the same source as his ^U 1. 

As this would seem to bo from the Syr. we may conclude that JLI is 

froni^he Syr. V 5o>>. 1 On the question of the word in general the authori- 
ties differ. Robertson Smith 2 argued that the word was a loan-word in 
Arabia, but Noldeke (ZDMG, xl, 174), and Wellhausen (Reste, 146), 
claim that it is indigenous. It is worthy of note that as-Suyuti, Itq, 310, 

states that <W nieant <^j iu the dialects of Yemen and of Azd, and 
as such we find it in the S. Arabian inscriptions, e.g. Glaser, 1076, 2, 
X)X 1n "Lord of Teri'at"' (sec further Rossini, Glossarium, 
116 ; RES, i, Nos. 184, 185). In any case from the Nabataean and N. 
Arabian inscriptions 3 we learn that the word was known in this sense 
in Arabia long before Muhammad's time. 4 Horovitz, KU, 101, thinks 
it came from Eth. (cf. Ahreiis, Christliches, 38). 

1 So Horovitz, Kl r , 101, and see Rudolph, AbMngigktit, 47 n. 

2 Religion of the Semites (2 ed.), 100 ff. : Kinship, 210. 

8 Sec Cook, (HoAMiri/, 32 ; Lidzharaki, Handbuch, 240, 241 ; Kyekmans, Xoms 
propres, i, 8, f)4 ; Nielsen in HA A, i, 241. 

4 In the Qur'au itself (xi, 75) it occurs in the sense of husband. 



82 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

J ^ 

^-3*' (Ba'w). 

xii, 65, 72. 

A full-grown camel. 

It occurs only in the Joseph story, and Dvorak, Fremdw, 18, is 
doubtless right in thinking that its use here is due to Muhammad's 
sources. In the Joseph story of Gen. xlv, 17, the word used is TSJ3, 
and in the Syr. lr-^, which means originally cattle in general, and 
then any beast of burden. It is easy to see how the word was specialized 
in Arabic to mean camel (Guidi, Delia Sede, 583 ; Rossini, Glossarium, 
116 ; Hommel in HAA, i, 82 n.), the usual beast of burden in that 
country, and as such it occurs in the old poetry. There seems no reason 
to doubt the conclusion of Dvorak, Fremdw, 46 (cf. Horovitz, JPiV, 
192), that Muhammad's informant, hearing the word in the story as he 
got it from a Jewish or Christian source, passed the word on as though 
it had its specialized Arabic meaning of camel. 

(BigM). 

* 

xvi, 8. 

Mules. Plural of 

al-KhafajI, 44, shows that some of the Muslim philologers suspected 
that it was non-Arabic. The root is clearly not Arabic, and Hommel, 
Saugethiere, 113, noted it as a borrowing from Abyssinia, where the 
mule was as characteristic an animal as the camel is in Arabia. Fraenkel, 
Fremdw, 110, accepts this derivation, and Noldeke, Neue Beitrdye, 58, 
has established it. The word is common to all the Abyssinian dialects 
cf. Eth. and Tigre fl4*A ; Amharic fl4A and fl^A" ; Tigrina 



The f for < is not an isolated phenomenon, as Hommel 
illustrates. 



Ulj (Balad). 

ii, 120 ; iii, 196 ; vii, 55, 56, etc. Also SJUtj xxv, 51 '; xxvii, 93 ; 

xxxiv, 14, etc. 

Country, region, territory. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 83 

The verb J^> in the sense of to dwell in a region is denominative, 

and Noldeke recognized that j^> in the sense of a " place where one 
dwells " was a Semitic borrowing from the Lat. palatium : Gk. 



. This has been accepted by Fraenkel, Fremdw, 28, and 
Vollers, ZDMG, li, 312, and may be traced back to the military 
occupation of N. Arabia. 



(Banna'). 

xxxviii, 36. 
A builder. 

The verb **-^ to build occurs in the Qur'an along with certain 

I - ^ ~ 

formations therefrom, e.g. -iVJj ceiled roof, and /^-^^> and it would 



seem on the surface that ^jj is another such formation. Noldeke, 

Mand. Gramm, 120, n., however, has a suggestion that it is a borrowing 
from Aramaic, whence on the other hand it passed into Middle Persian 
(cf. Herzfeld, Paikuli, Glossary, p. 156). Fraenkel, Fremdw, 255, is 
doubtful, but thinks that if it is a loan-word it comes from the Jewish 
ilfcOS rather than from the Syr. |uo. Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 
26, considers them all as borrowed from Akk. banu to build, though 
the S. Arabian YhFl and its derivatives might suggest that the root 
developed independently in S. Semitic (Rossini, Glossarium, 115). 



^1) (Bunydn). 

ix, 110, 111 ; xvi, 28 ; xviii, 20 ; xxxvii, 95 ; Ixi, 4. 

A building or construction. 

Again it would seem, on the surface, that this word also is from 

L-j to build. Sprenger, Leben, i, 108, has noted that words of this 

form are un- Arabic, e.g. jvj^l, J&^i, jliJu, jUdL*, etc., and 
lead us to look for an Aram, origin. Fraenkel, Fremdw, 27, points 



84 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

out that we have in Aram. ^3, Xr T2 beside KTT33 and KTPW3, 
and in Syr. UJLIO, meaning building. In Heb. also we find *??, but as 

Lagarde, Ubersicht, 205, shows, this is a borrowing from Aram. jU) 
occurs in the old poetry so it was doubtless an early borrowing from 
Aramaic. 



, I ,X0 

JvJ^i (Buhtdn). 

iv, 24, 112, 155 ; xxiv, 15 ; xxxiii, 58 ; lx, 12. 

Slander, calumny. 

Only in Madinan passages. 

It is usually taken from cL^ t to confound, which occurs twice 
in the Qur'an, viz. ii, 260; xxi, 41 (LA, ii, 316 ; Raghib, Mnfradat, 

\ " 
63), though we learn from the Lexicons that some took it from L-$j. 

Sprenger, as we have mentioned above, pointed out the Aram, form of 

l * I " 0> 

these words ending in jL, and Fraenkel, Vocab, 22, saw that jL^j 

was to be explained from the Aram. HPTS, Syr. L<X2to be or become 
ashamed, whence rPilS and La\L to make ashamed, a root connected 

with the Heb. 2/12 : Sab. A^fl l : Ar. *L. The borrowing was 
doubtless from the Syr., where we have the parallel forms 



i (Bahlma). 

v, 1 ; xxii, 29, 35. 

Animal. 

A very late word, occurring only in material from towards the 
very end of the Madina period, and used only in connection with 
legislation about lawful and unlawful meats. It is well known that 



1 Cf. ecil doer, ZDMG, xxxvii, 375. 

2 Pftrn, 461. Wellhauscn in ZDMG, Ixvii, 633, also dec-ides in favour of an Aram. 
origin for the word. 



FOREIGN VOCABULAKY OF THE QUE^AN 



85 



these food regulations were formed under Jewish influence, 1 so that it is 

significant that the word in the Jewish legislation (Lev. xi) is HOPD. 

The root of the word is probably a form D!"Q which we find in 



Eth. (M0D to be dumb, connected with Ar. *^n and **^' both 
of which refer to incoherence or ambiguity of speech. The Lexicons, 
however, are troubled about the word (cf. LA, xiv, 323), and there is 
little doubt that it was a direct borrowing from the Jewish 



> 

l (Bur). 



xxv, 19 ; xlviii, 12. 
Ignorant. 

The phrase j^> *'j* in these two passages was a complete puzzle 
to the Commentators. As we find a verb jLj to perish in xxxv, 11, 26, 
and the noun jl^j in xiv, 33, most of the early authorities endeavoured 

to explain j jj from this and make it me&n destruction, cf. Tab., Zam., 

Baid., and Bagh. on the verses. There was some philological difficulty 
over this, however, which as-Suyuti, Itq, 311, endeavours to avoid by 

claiming that it is a dialectal form, meaning D^ta in the dialect of 
'Uman, a theory which seems also to have been held by al-Akhfash 
(LA, v, 153). 

Hirschfeld, Beitracje, 40, suggests that it is the Aram. "113 and 

* 
like "^ I (vii, 156, 158, etc.), is a translation of f "1NH DS?. 3 In 

the Eabbinic writings TO means a boorish, ignorant, and uncultured 

1 Rudolph, Abhdng'ujkcd, 61 ; Horovitz, JPX, 193. 

2 Addai Sher, 30, suggests that it is from the Pers. ^3, which is absurd. 

3 " 1m Munclo der Judoii war VIXH DJT zweifcllos ausst'rordentlich gelaufig, 
nicht minder haufig wohl auch das aram. -fQ. Die Seltenheit des Ausdrucks im 
Koran trotz zahlreicher Gclcgenheit ihn zu brauchen, zeigt abcr, dass derselbe 
Muhammad nicht sehr gelaufig geworden iat, cr wendet ofter das dasselbe bcsagendo 
'Ummij an, welches, wie Geiger bereits gefunden hat, die eigentliche arabisehe 
ttbertragung ^on 'Am ha'arez darstellt," of. Geiger, 28. 



86 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 



person, e.g. Yoma, 37a, 313 PIT ^H 131 1333 lHOH " he 
who walks ahead of his teacher is a boor", or Pirqe Aboth, ii, 6 
KDn XT 113 *pK "No boorish fellow fears sin", and corre- 
sponds with the Aram. NT13 used, e.g., in the Targums on Prov. xii, 
1, or Lev. Habba, 18, where the uncultured are contrasted with the 
learned. Horovitz, JPN, 193, also holds to a Jewish origin. 

Precisely similar in meaning, however, is the Syr. lios, as when 
Paul in 2 Cor. xi, 6, says w>A\Snn Jj) ]iOQ, " unculturecl am I in 
speech (but not in knowledge) " IdKorrj? ra Aoyo>, referring 
to his difficulties with the Greek tongue. So Ephraem uses 
Vda*OlO l>ao, and Mingana, Syriac Influence, 93, thinks that the 

Qur'anic jj> is of Syr. rather than Jewish origin. It is really 

impossible to decide. The word occurs in the old poetry, e.g. Hassan 
(ed. Hirschfeld, xcvi, 2), and a verse in LA, v, 153, so it was 
apparently an early borrowing. 



!. (Biya'). 

xxii, 41. 
^ 

* ,s 

Plu. of <--J a place of worship. 

It was early recognized as a foreign word (as-Suyuti, Itq, 320 ; Mutaw, 
46), and is said by al-Jawallqi, MiCarmb, 35, to be a borrowing from 
Persian. One is at a loss to know why al-Jawaliqi should think it was 
Persian, when it is so obviously the Syr. lAl^O, 1 unless perhaps we 
may suggest that he knew of Syrian churches in Persian territory called 
by this name and jumped to the conclusion that it was a Persian 



word. Syr. jAl^a is originally an egg (cf. Ar. ^^a-j ; Heb. 

Aram. nJT3) 3 and then was used metaphorically for the top of a 
rounded arch -Jmoioaj omnoj ]Al^2, and so for the domed 
buildings used for worship. 

The word was well known in pre-Islamic times, being found in 
the S. Arabian inscriptions, 2 and occurring not infrequently in the old 

1 This has been generally recognized, cf. Sprenger, Leben, iii, 310, n.l ; Fraenkcl, 
Voeab, 24; -Fremdto, 274 ; Rudolph, Abhangigkeit, 7 ; Cheikho, Nasraniya, 201. 

a Xfl in the Abraha inscription, CIS, iv, No. 541, 11. 66 and 117. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 87 

poetry (e.g. Diwan Hudh., ed. Kosegarten, 3, 1. 5), and may be assumed 
to have entered Arabic from the Mesopotamian area. It is interesting 
that the traditional exegesis of the Qur'an seems to favour the word 



in xxii, 41, being referred to (^jUai JL*^, though some thought 

it meant ^$^' <U~Cj > cf. Zam., BaicJ., Tab., on the passage, and 
TA, v, 285 ; as-Sijisfcanl, 65. 



J (Taba). 

Occurs very frequently. 
To repent towards God. 

i J 

Besides the verb c^u should be noted ** and 



* \~ 
repentance, and <J^ the relenting, used as a title of Allah. 

The word is undoubtedly a borrowing from the Aramaic (cf. Halevy 
in JA, ser. vii, vol. x, p. 423), for the Semitic root which appears in 

Heb. as 2*1$, is in S. Semitic found as Sab. [I 00 ? ; Ar. <^j and only 
normally appears with initial D in Aram. 31H ; Syr. ^Z. The Ar. 

C_A!'* , particularly in the derived sense of recompense, is used not 

infrequently in the Qur'an, cf. iii, 139 ; iv, 133 ; xviii, 42, etc. 

Fraenkel, Vocab, 22, noted that the word was Aram. 1 but did not 
inquire further as to its Jewish or Christian origin. The balance of 
probability seems in favour of Hirschfeld's suggestion, Beitrdge, 39, 
that it is of Jewish origin, 2 though in face of Syr. *Qo2 and t^LiZ 
penitent (6 /zerai/ocSj/)? IZa^Z penitence, one cannot absolutely 
rule out the possibility of a Christian origin. Horovitz, JPN, 186 lists it 
among those words of whose origin, whether Jewish or Christian, 
it is impossible to decide. 



1 So Frenidw, 83 ; PSm, 4399 ; Massignon, Lexique technique, 52 ; Fischer, 
Glossar, 18. 

2 See also Pautz, Offenbarung, 157, n. 4. 



88 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 

S/jLr (Tabut). 

ii, 249 ; xx, 39. 
An ark, or chest. 

In ii, 249, Ojjl means the Ark of the Covenant of the time of 
Samuel and Saul, the Heb. "ltf, and in xx, .39, the Ark of papyrus, 



the KD3 HUD, in which the infant Moses was committed to the 
water. 

The Muslim authorities invariably treat it as an Arabic word, 
though they were hopelessly at sea as to its derivation, some deriving 

it from <^lT (LA, i, 227 ; TA, i, 161) ; some from clJ* (LA, ii, 322 ; 

* 

Sihah, sub voc.) ; others from <J* (Ibn Sida in TA, ix, 381), while 



'Ukbari, Imld\ 69, frankly says i3uul 

The ultimate origin, of course, is Egyptian dbz.t, whence came the 
Heb. !"On, which is used for Noah's ark in Gen. vi. 14 ; ix, 18 (Gk. 
KificoTO?), and the ark of papyrus in which Moses \yas hidden (Gk. 
0//3??). 1 In the Mishna IlSTl is used for the Ark of the Covenant, 
especially in the phrase '* coming before the Ark " for prayer, of. 
Mishna Berak, v, 4, rQTH ^D :? "131?, and on this ground Geiger, 

44, would derive C-^u from the Aram. WVOTlj which is consistently 

used in the Targums and Rabbinic literature for HSn. Geiger has been 
followed by most later writers, 2 but Fraenkel, Vocab, 24, pointed out 
that the correspondence is even closer with the Eth. ;J"fl1', and Noldeke, 
Neue Beitraye, 49, agrees, although he admits the possibility of a 
derivation from the Aramaic. 3 A strong point in favour of the 
Abyssinian origin is the fact that not only is -ffl'1* used to translate 
in Gen. vi, 14, etc. (cf. Jub. v, 21), but is also the usual word 



1 Ximmern, Akkad. Frenulu; 4,>, disputes this Egyptian origin and suggests a 
connection uith the Akkadian \\ord Icbltu, \mi see Yahuda, Lanynaye of the. Pentateuch, 
p. 114, n. 2. 

2 Von Kremer, /f/ecw, 226 n. ; Sprenger, Leben, ii, 257 n. ; Fleischer, Klcinere 
tichriften, i, 176 n. ; Hubschmann, ZDMG, xlvi, 260. The Arm. /Ji^^f/iLiii (Hiibsch- 
mann, Arm. (ftarnm,i, 153) is from the Pers. *l>^ll' but this is itself a direct borrowing 
from Arabic. Geiger had been preceded in this suggestion by dc Saey in JA, 1829, 
p. 178. 

3 So Fischer, Gloafirtr, 17. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 89 

for the Ark of the Covenant (cf. Ex. xxv, 10), and is still used in the 
Abyssinian Church for the box containing the sacred books and 
vessels. 1 

>S- 

jui (Tubba'). 

xliv, 36 ; 1, 13. 

Title of the Kings of the Himyarites. 

s 
s'jr 

The philologers would derive the word from *+> to follow, and 

explain the title as meaning that each king followed his predecessor, 
cf, Bagh. on xliv, 36. 

Fraenkel, Vocab, 25, connected it with the Eth. f**fl0 sro??#, manly, 
and Noldeke in Lidzbarski's Ephemeris, ii, 124, supports the connection. 
The word itself, however, is clearly S. Arabian, and occurs in the 
inscriptions in the compound names li^FIX* ^XVIh' n)rt o flX> 
etc. Hartmann in ZA, xiv, 331-7, would explain it from Xll ^ WO* 
but this seems very unlikely, 2 and everything is in favour of the other 
derivation. The word was apparently well known in pre-Islamic 
Arabia, for it occurs not infrequently in the old poetry. 3 

J *' 

j*+) (Tatb'ir). 

xvii, 7 ; xxv, 41. 
Utter destruction. 

s s 

It is the verbal noun from ^J*, an intensive of ^ to break or 

~^ 

destroy, other forms from which are found in vii, 135, ^'^ *, and 

Ixxi, 29, 1 jL-j*. as-Suyiltl, Itq, 320, tells us that some early authorities 
thought that it was Nabataean. By Nabataean he means Aramaic, 
and we do find Aram. *12^ : ^ vr * r^^' t break, which are the 



equivalents of Heb. "132?; Akk. sabam; Sab. )I18 4 ; Ar. j\f; 

1 Dufton, Xarratire of a Journey through AbyHttinw, London, 1867, p. 88. 

2 Lidzbarski, fiphemeri*, i, 224, says : kk Ich halto diese Erklarung fur moglich, 
nicht wie Hartmann und Mordtraann fiir gcsichert." Sec also, Glaser, AJtjemenische 
Studiew, i, 3 ; Rossini, Qloasarium , 256 ; Ryckmans, Noms propres, i, 319. 

3 See Uorovitz, [?, 102, 103. 

4 See Mordtmann, Him jar. Inschr, 74 ; D. H. Muller, //o/. Mus, i, 1. 26 ; Rossini, 
Ghssarium, 258. 



90 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 



Eth. rtflrfi. This is fairly clear evidence that Ar. jv is a secondary 

formation and in all probability from the Aram, as Fraenkel, Vocab, 
25, noted (so Ahrens, Christlickes, 27). 



(Ttjdra). 
* ^ 

ii, 15, 282 ; iv, 33 ; ix, 24 ; xxiv, 37 ; xxxv, 26 ; Ixi, 10*; Ixii, 11. 

Merchandise. 

It will be noticed that the word occurs only in late passages. 
In three passages (ii, 15 ; iv, 33 ; xxiv, 37) it bears the sense of 
trafficking rather than merchandise or the substance of traffic, and this 

latter is perhaps a derived sense. The word ^>-u merchant does not 

occur in the Qur'an, nor any derived verbal form. 

There can be no doubt that the word came from the Aram. 

Fraenkel, Fretndw, 182, thinks that ijl was formed from the verb 



* which is a denominative from j>^^ the form which he thinks was 

originally borrowed from Aram. In view, however, of the Aram. 
HIKSn ; Syr. IZiOy/jZ, both of which have the meaning mercatura, 

there would seem no reason for refusing to derive the Ar.aj Indirectly. 
In fact, as Fraenkel's discussion shows (p. 181), there is some difficulty 

in deriving j>;v, a participial form, from Aram. X"J3PI ; Syr. fry/' 
and Noldeke had to suggest a dialectal form ^^?fl to ease the difficulty. 

If, however, the original form in Ar. were * j\^ from NTfrWH, and the 
verb j a denominative from this, it is easy to see how 



merchant, i.e. "one who traffics", would be formed as a participle 
from this verb. 

That the borrowing was from the Aram, is clear from the fact 
that the original word was the Akk. tamkdru or tamgdru, 1 whence comes 
the Armen. P^ui'li^tufi or /^u^m/i, 2 so that in the Aram. X*13H 

1 Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 16. a Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 303. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN tfl 

}he doubled 3 represents an original 3, which we find still unassimilated 
in the Hand. X""lJM3n. The word was well known in Arabia in pre- 
[slamic days, as is clear from the fact that we find both iO3n meaning 
merchant and WHSD meaning commerce in the N. Arabian inscriptions, 1 

while ^^w occurs commonly enough in the old poetry, particularly in 
connection with the wine trade. 2 



(Tajalld). 

vii, 139 ; xcii, 2. 
To appear in glory. 

The simple verb ^>- to make clear, is cognate with Heb. H73 to 
uncover ; Aram. N*?3 ; Syr. ]L to reveal ; and Eth. 1AP to manifest, 

explain ; and Form II, ,^-b; to reveal, to manifest occurs in vii, 186 ; 



xci, 3. The form .J&bT, however, which is used once of God revealing 

Himself to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and once of the brightness of oncoming 
day, seems to have been formed under the influence of Syr. tjuj^Zf, 
which, as Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86, points out, had become 
specialized in this sense, and may have been known in religious circles 
at Mecca and Madina in this technical sense. It is at least suggestive 
that LA, xviii, 163, uses only Hadith in explanation of the word. 

(Tasnim). 

Ixxxiii, 27. 

Tasnim name of a fountain in Paradise. 

*'&*' , ** *" 

The exegetes derive the word from ^l- to raise, Form II of *.+* 

to be high, and the fountain is said to be called ^^ because the water 

is carried from it to the highest apartment of the Pavilion, cf. Zam. 
on the passage, and Tab. quoting Mujahid and Al-Kalbi ; also LA, 

1 de Vogue, Syrie Central^ No. 4 ; Cook, Glossary, 119. 

* Fraenkel, Fremdw, 158, 182 ; D. H. Miiller, in WZKM, i, 27 ; and note LA, 
v, 156, with a verse from Al-A'sha. 



92 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

xv, 199. It is obvious, however, that this is merely an attempt to explain 
a word that was strange to the exegetes, and which lent itself to 



explanation as a form A~A& from /%x^. There is no occurrence of the 

word earlier than the Qur'an, and apparently nothing in the literature 
of the surrounding peoples from which we can derive it, so Noldeke 
is doubtless right when in his Sketches, 38, he takes the word to be an 
invention of Muhammad himself. 

> 

^^AJ (Tafslr). 

xxv, 35. 

An explanation or interpretation. 

X" 
-* "i 

The exegetes naturally take it as the verbal noun from ^+~& to 

x- 

explain, Votm II of j~A to discover something hidden. Fraenkel, Frewdw, 

^ 

X * 

286, however, thinks that in this technical sense j+~& is a borrowing 
from the Syr. \*<* to e.rpomtd, make clear, which is very commonly 



used in early Syriac texts in the sense of interpretation of Scripture. 
This sense of to solve, to interpret from the Aram. "1275 : Syr. 'ji^ to 

dissolve, seems a peculiar development of meaning in Aram., and Heb. 

^ 

"12753 is a loan-word from Aram. N"12?S, so that Ar. j~l$ is doubtless 

' 



' .. 

of the same origin, 1 and ^.*~A) and ^_-^A) were later formed from 

this borrowed verb. 

Halevy, JA, vii e ser., vol. x, p. 412, thinks that he finds the word 
10SK interpreter in the Safaite inscriptions, which, if correct, would 
point to the pre-Islaniic use of the root in this sense in N. Arabia. 

^ ^<. 

j^l) (Tanniir). 

xi, 42 ; xxiii, 27. 
Oven. 

It was early recognized by the philologers as a word of foreign 
origin. al-Asma% according to as-Suyutl, Muzhir, i, 135, classed it as a 

1 Zimmern, Akkad. Frendw, 68, however, would derive the Aram, forma from Akk. 
See also Horovitz, JPX, 218. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 93 

Persian loan-word, which was also the opinion of IbnDuraid, as we learn 
from al-Jawallqi, Mu'arrab, 36. 1 ath-Tha' alibi, Fiqh, 317, gives it in 
his list of words that are common to both Persian and Arabic, and Ibn 
Qutaiba, Adab al-Katib, 528, quotes Ibn 'Abbas as saying that it was 
one of those words which are common to all languages. 2 Some, however, 



U 
_ & _____ . ________ __________ ____________ ^ 



* i* 
voc., explains it " It is said to be Arabic from jj> or ^t and that its 



original form was j)j on the measure ^*^, then the ) was given 
hamza because of the weight of the damma on it, and then the hamza 

** 

was suppressed and replaced by another J, so that it became jjZ* ." 

This was not looked on with favour by the philologers, however, for 

we read in TA, iii, 70, " As for the statements about j^ll* being from 

* 

jl or j y and that the O is an augment, it is all wrong, and Ibn 

4 Usfur pointed this out clearly in his book Al-Mmnatti* as others have 
done." This judgment of the philologers is vindicated by the fact 

that J^*i is not a genuine Arabic form at all. 3 

The Commentators differ among themselves as to the meaning 
of the word, some taking it to mean the " surface of the earth ", or 
" the highest part of the earth ", or " morning light ", or " oven " 
(cf. Tab. on xi, 42). That the word does mean oven is evident from its 
use in the old poetry, e.g. Hamasa, 792. 



" Is it a loaf which a Nabataean woman bakes in her oven till the 

crust rises," 

or a verse in Aghanl, iii, 1G, 1. 7. The Lexicons agree that this is the 
original meaning, cf. JawharL sub voc., and LA, v, 162. 

Fraenkel, Fremdw, 2G, suggested that the word came into Arabic 



1 al-.lawullql is the source of na-Suyuti, Itq, 320 ; Mutaw, 46 : and nl-KhafajT, 52. 

2 So al-Laith in LA, v, 163, and see the comment of Abu. Man.su r therein. 

3 Roneevalles in Al-Machriq, xv, 049, and see LA, v, 16'i. 



94: FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 

from the Aram. 1 In the O.T. "HHH occurs frequently for furnace or 

oven, i.e. the Gk. jcA/jSapo?, and the form in the Aram. Targums is 
N*TI3FI, corresponding with the Syr. ]>cu2 of the Peshitta and ecclesias- 
tical writings (PSm, 4473). It also occurs as tinuru in Akkadian, 2 
a form which Dvorak takes to be a borrowing from the Heb. "11311? 
but without much likelihood. 3 Closely connected with this is another 



set of words, Aram. KjIDN ; Syr. ]joZl ; Eth. fc#? ; &r. J J>1, 



with which group D. H. Miiller would associate the Akk. u-dun-tum. 
With it again is to be connected yet another set of words Aram. 
N33P ; Syr. ]nL smoke ; Eth. +*} = fopls vapour, and Mand. N3KD 
furnace. 

As the root *|3fl is not original in any Semitic language, we may 
turn to the theory of Perisan origin suggested by the Muslim philologers. 

Fraenkel, indeed, though he claims that the Ar. jj is a borrowing 



from the Aram., yet thinks that the Aram, word itself is of Iranian 
origin. 4 In Avestic we find the word JJ)AJJJ^ tanura (cf. Vendidad, 
viii, 254), and in Phlv. it is Jqo meaning baking oven. 5 The word, 



however, is no more Iranian than it is Semitic, and as Dvorak and 
Hurgronje point out, the Iranian scholars treat it as a loan-word from 
Semitic. 6 Now the word occurs also in Armenian, cf. p-nLftp oven, 
and p-nLpuiuinLli a bakery, where Hiibschmann takes it as a borrow- 
ing from Iranian, 7 and Lagarde as a borrowing from Semitic. 8 

The truth would seem to be that it is a word belonging to the 

1 The Muhlt, sub voc., says that some authorities considered it as of Hebrew or 
Syriac origin, but he does not mention these, and as he explains it as duo to the 
combination of ^ and jfc or ^y, one may suspect that ho is merely copying from 
the old American translation of Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon. Guidi, Delia Sede, 597, 
noted its foreign origin. 

2 Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 32. 

3 Zeitschrift fur Keilschriftforschung, i, 119 ff. D. H. Miiller, WZKM, i, 23, is 
nearer the mark, however, in suggesting that l^fi is a borrowing from Mesopotamia 
from an older form tannura. 

4 Fremdw, 26, cf. also Noldeke, Sasaniden, 165. 
6 West, Glossary, 121. 

6 Dvorak, op. cit. ; Hurgronje, WZKM, i, 73. Cf. Bartholomae, A1W, 638; 
Haug, Parsi*, 5 ; Justi, Handbttch der Zend-Sprache, 1864, p. 132 ; Spiegel, ZDMG, 
ix, 191. 

7 Arm. Gramm t i, 155. 

8 Zur Urgeschichte der Armenier, 1854, p. 813, and Armenische Studien, 1877, 
No. 863. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 95 

pre-Semitic and pre-Indo-European population of the area which has 
been taken over into both groups in its original form and with its original 
meaning. 1 If this is so then there is no reason why the Arabs might 
not have obtained the word from this primitive source, and not through 
the Aramaic. 



* .. 
<^1^> (Tawwdb). 

ii, 35, 51, 122, 155 ; iv, 20, 67 ; ix, 105, 119 ; xxiv, 10 ; xlix, 
12 ; ex, 3. 

The Relenting one. 

One of the names of God, used only of Him in the Qur'an and only 
in Madinan passages. 

The Muslim authorities take it as a formation from c-ju. We 



have already seen, however, that <^jv is a borrowed religious term used 
by Muhammad in a technical sense, and Lidzbarski in SB AW, Berlin 

1916, p. 1218, argues that <Jj> instead of being a regular Arabic 

formation from the already borrowed c->u,is itself a distinct borrowing 



from the Aram. The Akk. taiaru, he says, 2 was borrowed into Aram., 



e.g. into Palmyrene, and the Hand. fcOXTRH is but a rendering of the 
same word. Halevy, JA, vii c ser., vol. x, p. 423, would recognize the word 
in 31D of a Safaite inscription, and if this is correct there would be clear 
evidence of its use in K. Arabia in pre-Islamic times. 



(Taurdh). 

iii, 2, 43, 44, 58, 87 ; v, 47-50, 70, 72, 110 ; vii, 156 ; ix, 112 ; 
xlviii, 29 ; Ixi, 6 ; Ixii, 5. 
The Torah. 

1 It may be noted that the word occurs also in Turkish jj ; TurkI, tanur ; 
Afghan, tanarah. See also Hennmg in JiSOS, ix, 88. 

2 Lidzbarski admits that Delitzsch, Assyrisches Handtvorterbuch, 703fl, and 
Zimmern, AkJcadisches Fremdworter, 66, had earlier shown the connection between 
taiaru and ol. 



96 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

It is used as a general term for the Jewish Scriptures, 1 but 
particularly as associated with Moses, and in a few passages (iii, 44, 87 ; 
Ixi, 6, etc.) it seems to have the definite sense of 6 J/O/AO?. With the 
possible exception of vii, 156, it occurs only in Madinan passages. 

Clearly it represents the Heb. miD, and was recognized by 
some of the early authorities to be a Hebrew word, as we learn from 
az-Zajjaj in TA, x, 389 ; and Bagh. on iii, 2. Some, however, desired 



to make it an Arabic word derived from (^j^? a view which Zam. 

on iii, 2, scouts, though it is argued at length in LA, xx, 268, and 
accepted without question by Raghib, Mufraddt, 542. Western scholars 
from the time of Marracci, Prodromus, i, 5, have recognized it as a 
borrowing direct from the Heb., 2 and there is no need to discuss the 
possible Aram, origin mentioned by Fraenkel, Vocab, 23. 3 The word 
was doubtless well known in Arabia before Muhammad's time, cf. 
Ibn Hisham, 659. 



xcv, 1. 

Fig. 

That the word has no verbal root and was a primitive borrowing 
was noted by Guidi, Delia Sede, 599, with whom Fraenkel, fW/wrfw.148. 
agrees. The borrowing was probably from the Aram. In Heb. we have 
JUKI;!, and in Phon. ^Tl which appears to have been vowelled ^.Ijl, 4 
but the Aram. WT1, Syr. ]l*L, which occur beside the forms 
RT13T1 an d Syr. )Aj]Z (usually contracted to ]1]L then }LL, 



1 Hirschfeld, Beitrage, 65, would go further. He says : " J>er Begriff Tora 1st 
im Koran bekanntlich moglichst weit zu fassen, so dass auch Mischnah Talmud. 
Midrasch und Gehetbuch darunter zu verstehen Hind." Geiger, 46, on the other hand, 
would limit the meaning of the word to the Pentateuch. It should be remembered, 
however, that both in Jewish and Chiistian eircles the " Law" frequently stood for the 
whole O.T. Cf. min in Sanh., 916, and the N.T. use of 6 vopos in Jno. x, 34; 
1 Cor. xiv, 21. Cf. 2 E.sdras, xix, 21, and Mekilta, Beshallah, 9 (ed. Fried nmnn, 
p. 34/>). 

2 So de Sacy, JA, 1829, p. 175 ; Geiger, 45 ; von Kremer, Itlttn, 226 n. ; Pautz, 
Offenbarung, 120, n. 1 ; Hirschfeld, Beitrnge, 65 ; Horovitz, KU, 71 ; JPS, 194 ; 
Margoliouth, ERE, x, 540. 

3 Fischer, Gloswr, 18, however, suggests that it may be a mixed form from the 
Heb. ("HIP and Aram. NIVIIX ; cf. also Ahrens, ZDMU, Ixxxiv, 20, and Torrey, 
Foundation, 51. 

4 I). H. Muller, WZKM, i, 26, and see Lagarde's discussion in GGA. for 1881. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 97 

cf. Akk. tittu), 1 give us the form we need, and which may also be the 
origin of the Iranian form found in Phlv. )P)^o, which Haug, 
PPGl, 217, takes to be a mispronunciation of )JJ^& tin = ficus. The word 
occurs in the old poetry and was doubtless well known in pre-Islamic 
Arabia (cf. Laufer, Sino-Iranica, 



-' 

A-jl>- (Jdbia). 

xxxiv, 12. 

A cistern. 

It occurs in the Qur'an in the Solomon story, in the plu. form 

J \' ** \.' ** 

v_jl^>., which is modified from .^ l^>- used of the "deep dishes like 

cisterns" k-jl^-o jU>-, which the Jinn made for Solomon. 

Fraenkel in Beit. Ass, iii, 74, 75, points out that it is from the Syr. 

]AxQO a cistern or any collection of water. The r for <3 is not 
without parallels, as Fmonkel shows, cf. 



the word was known in pre-Islamic Arabia is clear from a 
verso of al-A'sha in Kdm.il, 4, 14. 

O^)L>. (Jalut). 

ii, 250-2. 
Goliath. 

There was very general agreement among tho Muslim authorities 
that the name was not Arabic, even Kaghib, MiifraJdt, 94, agreeing 



that \[^ J c (3*^ 5 cf. also al-Jawallql, 

Muarrab, 46 ; LA, ii, 325 ; TA, i, 535. 

Clearly OjJU- is an attempt to reproduce the Heb. rPT>2 of 
the O.T. narrative, of which the Qur'anic story is obviously a garbled 

1 From *tinlu, see Zimmcrn, Akkad. Fremtiw, 55. 

2 Fracnkel, Frenidw, 275 ; referring to Noldeke, Mand. Gramm, 38, n. 2 ; Hoff- 
mann in ZDMG, xxxii, 748, and cf. Hamasa, 244 (^^ao- and , 



98 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

version. 1 Hirschfeld, New Researches, 13, suggested that the Qur'anic 

form is due to Muhammad's informant having misread the fl v3 of 
his MS. as 11173, which of course it was very easy to do, and vowel ling 

it IVI /3 gave Muhammad his OjJw. This is very ingenious, and 



has in its favour the fact that the Goliath story occurs only in the 
late Madina period when Muhammad was beginning to pick up more 
and more detailed information from the Jews. It is difficult, however, 
to think that any Jewish informant skilled enough to read the Heb. 
text would not have known the Biblical story well enough to have 
avoided such a mistake, unless indeed he deliberately misled 
Muhammad. 

Like the Aram. NITl^ (Syr. U^Xt), 2 the word PH^S means 

an exile, and in the Talmud (e.g. Sukkah, 31a), the Exilarch is called 
Km^3 STI, so Horovitz, KU, 106, suggests that this m^3, which 
must have been commonly used among the Jews of Arabia, may have 
become confused in Muhammad's mind with the 17P /3 of the Biblical 

story, and so have given rise toOj)v>-. In any case we are safe in 

attributing the introduction of the name to Muhammad himself, 
for no trace of it can be found in pre- Islamic days. 3 

L>>- (Jubb). 
xii, 10, 15. 
A well, or cistern. 

* ^, 
The word is usually taken as a derivation from ^*>- to cut off, 

though exactly how it is to be derived from this root is not clear. 
Riighib, Mufradat, 82, gives an alternative explanation, that it is so 

called because dug out of the ,^^>-, i.e. rough ground. 

It is used only in the Joseph story, where in the O.T. we have 

1 Geiger, 182 ; Syez, Eigennamen, 44. 

2 Which indeed was borrowed into Armenian. Of. ^my,rii_/<f (Hubsi-hmann, 
Ann. Gramm, i, 301). 

3 Tt occurs in a verse of the Jewish poet as-Samau'al, but Noldeke, ZA, xxvii, 
17H, shows that the verse in question is post-lslamie und under Qur'unic infhienee. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR 5 AN 99 



"112, but the Targums read &OJ or &Q13, and the Peshitta has 
loa.i. The origin would thus bo Aramaic and probably it was an 
early borrowing. 1 There is a Minaoan Fl^l but the moaning is 
uncertain (Rossini, (Hmmrmm, 121). 




It occurs only along with the Ethiopic word O^cAL* in the sentence 

' they believe in Jibt and Taghiit ". The exegetes knew not what to 
make of it, and from their works we can gather a score of theories as 

to its meaning, whether idol ^A^, or priest /;* > or sorcerer - 

^>-U, or sorcery ^t-**, or Satan, or what not. It was generally agreed 
that it was an Arabic word, Baid., e.g., claiming that it was a dialectal 

form of ,***>> a theory that was taken up by Raghib, Mufradat, 

83, and others. 2 Some of the philologers, however, admitted that it 
was a foreign word (cf. Jawhari, sub voc., LA, ii, 325), 3 and from 
as-Suyiiti, //#, 320, we learn that some of them even knew that it 
was Ethiopic. 

Margoliouth in ERE, vi, 249, suggested that it was the yXviTTa 
of the LXX from yXvchco to carve or engrave, which is used to translate 
70S in Lev. xxvi, 1. This assumes that its meaning is very much 
the same as Taghiit, i.e. idol, and this has the weight of evidence 
from the Commentators in its favour. It is a little difficult, however, 
to see how the Greek word could come directly into Arabic without 
having left any trace in Syriac. It is more likely that as-SuyutT's 
authorities were right for once, and that it is an Abyssinian word. 

1 Briuinlich, Idamica, i, 327, notes that it is a borrowed term. Cf. also Zimmcrn, 
Akkadische Fremdworter, 44. It is also the origin of tho Arm. //"*-(; cf. Hubsch- 
mann, i, 302. 

2 .^. itself is a foreign word according to al-Khafaji, 58. Vollers, ZDMG, li, 21)0, 
says it is from yvi/ios. 

3 Jawhari's clinching argument is that r and o do not occur as the first and 
last radicals of any genuine Arabic word. 



100 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QITR^AN 

This has been recognized by Dvorak, Fmndw, 50, and by 
Noldeke, New Beitrage, 48, who shows that JtJP'Ah *7*fl1" #609 
7rpoar(f)aTo$, and in ^*fl-|* we have the form we need. 



(Jibnl). 

ii, 91, 92 ; Ixvi, 4. 
Gabriel. 

Always as the Angel of Revelation, and by name only in Madinan 
passages. (There is possibly a reference to his name ^X'HSS - 
" mighty one of God ", in liii, 5, kk one mighty in power.") 

There was considerable uncertainty among the early authorities 

as to the spelling of the name, for we find 

> % > 



Ox- 



and even ^^>- and ^^^J". 1 as-Suyuti, Minhir, i, 140. 

notes that these variants point to its non-Arabic origin, 2 and this 
was admitted by some of the philologers, cf. Tab. on ii, 91 ; 
al-Jawallqi, 144, and al-Khafaji, GO. 

The ultimate origin, of course, is the Heb. /N'HSS, and in 
Dan. viii, 16 ; ix, 21, Gabriel is one of the high angels and the agent 
of Kevelation, just as he is in the Qur'an. There is, however, the 
possibility that the Gabriel of the QurVin is of Christian rather than 
Jewish origin, and the form ^y-i^Xy which is found in the Christian 
Palestinian dialect, 3 gives us the closest approximation to the usual 
Arabic form. 

There is some question how well the name was known in Arabia 
before Muhammad's time. Gabriel was known and honoured among 
the Mandaeans, 4 and this may have been a pre-Islamic element in 
their faith. The name occurs also in verses of poets contemporary 
with Islam, but seems there to have been influenced by Qur'anic 

1 Vide al-Jawaliqi, Alu'arrab, /50, and Haiti, and Zain. on ii, 91. 
* Sec also Ibn Qutaiba, Affab nl-Kiitib t 78. 

3 Schulthoss, Lex, 34. 

4 Brandt, Mandaer, 17, 25 ; JVdzharski, Johannefilmch, xxvi. Tt is interesting 
to note that (Inbrall occurs in a Persian Manichaean fragment from Tnrfan ; cf. V. 
Midler, MlAW, Berlin, 1904, ]>. 351, Salcnmnn, Manirhafi*c,he Mwtirn, i, 03. 



FOREKJN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 101 

usage. Cheikho, Nasrdniya, 235, gives an instance of a personal name 
containing the word, but Horovitz, KU, 107, rightly insists on the 
incorrectness of this. 1 Muhammad seems to have been able to assume 
in his Madinan audience some familiarity with the name, and the 
probabilities are that it came to him in its Syr. form. 



xxxvii, 103, 

The temple, or side of forehead. 

The sole occurrence of the Avord is in the story of Abraham pre- 
paring to sacrifice his son, when he laid him down on his forehead. The 
exegetes got the meaning right, but neither they nor the Lexicons 
have any satisfactory explanation of the origin of the word from 



a root 

Barth has suggested an Aramaic origin. WSJ moans brow or 
eyebrow, and is fairly common in the Rabbinic writings. Similarly 
jla.CLt is eyebrow and a commonly used word. From either of these 
it may have been an early borrowing into Arabic. 



ix, 29. 

Tribute. 

The word is used ii, a technical sense in this passage which is late 
Madinan, and looks very much like an interpolation in the Qur'iiu 
reflecting later usage. 

In later Islam < j>- was the technical term for the poll-tax imposed 
on the Dhimmis, i.e. members of protected communities (cf. as-Sijistanl, 

101). It is usually derived from (j>-, and said to be so called because 

it is a compensation in place of the shedding of their blood (so llaghib, 
Mnfraddt, 91; LA, xviii, 159). It is, however,' the Syr. ^^, a 

1 Tulail.ui, one of Muhammad's rival Prophets, claimed support from Gabriel (Tab, 
Annalt*, i, 1890, Beladhori, 90), but this may ha\c been in imitation of Muhammad, 
though the weight of evidence seems to point to his having come forward quite 
independently as a preacher of higher religion. 



102 FOEElCiN VOCABULARY OF THK QURAN 

capitation or poll-tax, which though not a word of very common use 
(Pflm, 695, 696), was nevertheless borrowed in this sense into 

Persian as C*<* J . as Noldeke, Sasaniden, 241, n., points out. 1 

On the ground of a word X?X1 in a Minaean text (Glaser, 284, 3) 

which may mean tribute, Qrinimc, Z^xxvi, 161, would take \j>- as 

a borrowing from S. Arabia, but in the uncertainty of the correct 
interpretation of this text, it seems better at present to content our- 
selves with Fracnkel, Frcmlw, 283, in holding to an Aramaic origin. 2 



j^taj- (Jaldblb). 
^ 

xxxiii, 59. 

Wrappers. Plu. of <^uL>-, a large* outer covering worn by women. 

It is as an article of women's attire that it is mentioned in tho 
Qur'an, though the Lexicons differ considerably as to the exact 
meaning (cf. LA, i, 265). 



The difficulty of deriving the word from <^- is of course obvious, 

and Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 5)5, recognized it as the Eth. ^Afl'fl, from 
lAflfl to cover or cloak, which is quite common in the oldest texts. 
It was apparently an early borrowing, for it occurs in the early poetry, 
e.g. Div. Hudh, xc, 12. 



A- I S 

<T- Ll>- (Jutiali). 

v, 94; xxxiii, 5, 51, etc. ; some twenty-two limes. 

Sin, wrong, crime. 

A favourite Madina word, occuring only in late passages. The 



favourite phrase is L T'^T *> an d ^ usec J as a technical term 

in Muhammad's religious legislation. 3 

The Lexicons give no satisfactory explanation of the word, though 



1 Vullcrs, Lex, ii, 999. 

2 Cf. Schwally, Jdiotiwn, 17. 

3 Horovitz,#7, 62, n. 



103 

they apparently treat it as a genuine Arabic formation. As Hiibsch- 
mann showed in 1895 in his Pcrsische Sludien, 162, 212, it is the 

Pers. aU j 1 through the Pazend yundh (Shikand, Glossary, 247) from 

Phlv. (j*)) vinas* a crime or sin (as is obvious from the Arm. 
if^ituiu = afJiapTr/iJia in the old Bible translation), 3 and the fact that 
vcndh still occurs in one of the Persian dialects as a direct descendant 
from the Phlv. -(j^)), 4 which is related to Skt. t^TTIf w&ara and 
is quite a good Indo-European word. In Phlv. the word is used 
technically just as in the Qur'an, and we find such combinations as 

<t)JJ))*> aviuds sinless (PPGl, 77) ; ^'-u^O-")) vinaskarih ~ 
sinfulness, iniquity (West, Glossary, 248) ; and iiiAj^yj) vindskdr 
a criminal, sinner (PPGl, 225). 5 

The word was borrowed in the pre-Islamic period and occurs in 
the old poetry, e.g. in the Mu'allaqa of al-Harith, 70, etc., and was 
doubtless adopted directly into Arabic from the spoken Persian of tin 1 
period, for the word is not found in Syriac. 



(Janna). 

Of very frequent occurrence. Of. ii, 23, !53, 70, etc. 

Garden. 

It is used in the Qur'an both of an earthly garden (liii, 10; xxxiv, 
14 ; ii, 207, etc.), and particularly as a name for the abode of the 
Blessed (Ixix, 22 ; Ixxxviii, 10, etc.). 

In the general sense of garden, derived from a more primitive 
meaning, enclosure, the word may be a genuine Arabic inheritance 
from primitive Semitic stock, for the word is widespread in the 

1 Vollers hesitatingly accepts this in ZDMG, 1, 689 (hut see p. 612, where he 
quotes it as an instance of sound change), and it is given as a Persian borrowing by 
Add ai Sher, 45. 

2 Hubschmann, Penisc.he, Studien, 159, and Hang in PPGl, 225. Cf. West, 
Glossary, 247, Nybcrg, Glonsar, 243. 

3 Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 248. 

4 Horn, Grundriss, 208. Kurdish yundh cannot be quoted in illustration as it is 
a borrowing from Mod. Persian. 

5 The Pazend has similar combinations, e.g. gundhi, sinful ness ; tfnndhkdr, sinful, 
mischievous ; gundhkdri, culpability ; yundh-ndrndnihu, proportionate to the sin ; 

ham-gundh (cf, Phlv. 4)**)\H] accomplice (Shikand, Glossary, 247). 



104 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

Semitic area, e.g. Akk. gannatu l ; Heb. H33 ; Aram. K33, KH33 ; 
Syr. lAl^.; Phon. ]33K 2 ; Eth. 75^, though perhaps it was a 
peculiar N. Semitic development, for Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 42 > 

U 
^ 

would derive both the Ar. <U>- and Eth. iVTh from a N. Semitic 



source. 3 (See also Fischer, Glossar, 226, and Ahrens, Christliches, 27.) 
In any case in the meaning of Paradise it is certainly a borrowing 
from the Aram, and in all probability from the Syr. 4 where we find 
it specialized in this sense. This Christian origin was vaguely felt 
by some of the Muslim philologers, for as-Suyuti, Mutaiv, 51 , says that 

Ibn Jubair stated that jJlc 4x>- was Greek, and in the Itqdn he 

says that when Ka'b was asked about it lie said that Ax>- in Syriac 

meant vines and grapes. The word in the sense of garden occurs 
frequently in the old poetry, but in the sense of Paradise only in 
verses which have been influenced by the Qur'an, as Horovitz, 
Parodies, 7, shows. In this technical sense it would thus have been 
adopted by Muhammad from his Jewish or Christian environment 
(Horovitz, JPN, 196, 197). 

JC>- (Jund). 

Some twenty-nine times in various forms. Cf. ii, 250 ; ix, 26, etc. 
Host, army, troop, force. 

The word has no verbal root in Arabic, the verbs Al>- to levy 

X" 

troops, and AlsxJ* to be enlisted, being obviously denominative, as 

indeed is evident from the treatment of the word in the Lexicons 
(cf. LA, iv, 106). 

1 Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 40. 

2 Perhaps also 7J ; sec Harris, Glossary , 94, and the Ras Shamra, ]3. 

3 1). II. Miiller, however, in WZKM, i, 26, opposes the idea that in the general 
sense of garden it is an Aram, borrowing, as Fraenkel like Noldeke holds. He points 
to the ollaLl L->'J mentioned by Hamadam, 76, 1. 16, and the place jjllil JL*as 
proving the existence of the word in S. Arabia. These, however, may be merely 
translations of older names. 

4 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 148 ; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 85. Horovitz, Paradies, 7,' 
however, makes a strong plea for a Jewish origin on the ground that J1JT 7J is 
commoner for Paradise in the Rabbinic writings than in Syriac. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 105 

It is clearly an Iranian borrowing through Aram, as Fraenkel, 
Vocab, 13, notes, on the authority of Lagarde, GA, 24. l Phlv. Swyund, 
meaning an army or troop, 2 is related to Skt. *f*^T vrinda* and was 
borrowed on the one hand into Arm. ^mlnf. army,* and Kurdish 

^ j>- village, and on the other into Aram, where we find the JO313 

of the Baby. Talmud, the Maud. &H313 (Noldeke, Ma-ud. Gramm. 75), 
and, with suppression of the weak n, in Syr. l?CXi . The word may 

possibly have come into Arabic directly from the Iranian, but the 
probabilities are that it was through Aramaic. 5 In any case it was an 
early borrowing, for the word is found in the old poetry, e.g. in 
al-A'sha (Geyer, Zwci Gcdichie, i, 24 = Dnvan, i, 56) and 'Alqama. 



Occurs some seventy-seven times. Of. ii, 202. 

Hell. 

The fact that it was indeclinable as used in the Qur'an early put the 
philologers on the track of it as a foreign word (al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 
47, 48 ; LA, xiv, 378 ; Baid. on ii, 202 ; al-KhafajT, 59). Many of these 
early authorities gave it as a Persian loan-word (e.g. Jawharl, Silwh ; 

Ragliib, Mufrtulat, 101), doubtless arguing from the fact that (j*)$J* 

was Persian, but others knew it was a Hebrew word (cf. as-Suyiitl, /ty, 
320 ; Ibn al-Athlr, Nihaya, i, 223). 

The earlier European opinion was that it was from the Heb. D3JT3 
which in the Talmud becomes D3H3 6 (Buxtorf's Lexicon, 206) 
and is popularly used for Hell. De Sacy in JA, 1829, p. 175, suggested 

1 Lagcirde, as a matter of fact, takes this suggestion bark as far as Saint-Martin, 
Me moires, i, 28, 

2 Dinkard, iii, Glossary, p. 6 ; Nyberg, Glossar, 86. 

3 Horn, Grundriss, 179, on the authority of Noldeke. Hubschmann, l*cttiiwhc 
Studien, 83, however, thinks this unlikely. 

1 Lagarde, OA 9 -4; Hubsehmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 130, and ef. Hubsehmnnn, 
1'ermsrhe Studies, 83. 

5 8prenger, Leben, ii, 358, n. ; Vollers, ZDMG, 1, Oil. We find N1J3 and X1313 
on incantation bowls as associated with the hosts of evil spirits ; ef. Montgomery, 
Aramaic Incantation Texts from Xippur, Glossary, p. 285. 

* Could this be the origin of the A^ quoted by the philologers as the Hebrew 
form ? 



106 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

this, and it has been championed by Geiger, 48, who argues that though 
the absence of the medial h in Gk. yeeWa might not dispose of a 
Christian origin, since this does appear in the Syr. ^JOLi and in the 

Arm. ^Ir^tri derived therefrom, 1 yet the absence of the final m- is 
conclusive, as this is lacking in both Greek and Syriac but appears 
in the Hebrew. Geiger has been followed by most later writers, 2 
but it should be noted that his objections do not apply tQ, the Eth. 
7tfW (sometimes lyW ), which is phonologically nearer the 
Arabic and a more likely source, as Noldeke, Neue Beitrdye, 47, has 
pointed out. 3 

The word apparently does not occur in the early poetry, 4 and was 
thus probably one of the words which Muhammad learned from contact 
direct or indirect with Abyssinians. 



xi, 46. 

The name of the mountain where the Ark rested. 

The Commentators know that it is the name of a mountain in 
Mesopotamia near Mosul, and in this they are following Judaeo- 
Christian tradition. As early as the Targums we find that the 
apobaterion of Noah was Mt. Judi, i.e. the Gordyene mountains in 
Mesopotamia, which Onkelos calls mp and Jonathan b. 'Uzziel 
, the Peshitta agreeing with Onkelos. 

This Wlp = Syr. ojp = Arm. #/"/*. (sometimes 1*1*13, 
O>p) is supposed to be the province of Kurdistan, 5 and a mountain 
to the S. W. of Lake Van is identified with the mount on which Noah's 
ark rested. 6 It is the ra TopSvata opij of Ptolemy v, 12 (ed. C. Miiller, 
i, 935), and according to the Talmud, Baba bathra, 91 a, Abraham was 

1 Hubschmann, Ann. Gramm, i, 290. 

2 Von Krcmer, Idem, 226 n. ; Kodwoll, Koran, 189 n. ; Syez, Eiyennamen, 10 ; 
Margoliouth, EKE, x, 540 ; Sacco, Crrdmze, 158. 

3 fill? 1 ** f course, is a borrowing from the Heb. (Noldcke, op. cit., 34). Noldekc's 
suggestion of an Eth. origin for ~L^>. has been accepted by Pautz, Offenbarung, 217: 
Rudolph, Abhdngigkeit, 34 ; Fischer, Glossar, 23. 

4 The verse in Hamasa, 816, has doubtless been influenced by the Qur'an. 

5 On the Arm. Korduk, see Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, \, 519. 

fi Neubauer, Geographic, du Talmud, 378 ff. It is now known as Jfidi Dagh. There 
is a description of the shrine there in Gertrude Hell's Amurath to Aniurath, 1911, 
pp. 292-5. 



FORKKJN VOCABULARY OF THK QURMtf 107 



imprisoned there seven years. This tradition that Qardu and not 
Ararat was the resting place of the ark is a very old Mesopotamia!! 
tradition and doubtless goes back to some ancient Babylonian story. 1 
The Jewish tradition passed on to the Christians, 2 and from them to 
the Mandaeans and Arabs. 3 

Mingana, Syriac Influence, 97, thinks that Muhammad got his name 



fjtom a misunderstanding of the name ojjo as he heard it 

in the story from Syrian Christians. Noldeke, however, in the Kiepert 
Festschrift, p. 77, makes the much more interesting suggestion that in 
the Qur'anic name we have a confusion between the Mesopotamia!! 

and the Arabian i-> >- in the territor of 



Ta'I mentioned by Yaqut, ii, 270, and celebrated in a verse of Abu 
Pa'tara al-Baulani in the Hamdsa (ed. Freytag, p. 564). It would 
seem that Muhammad imagined that the people of Noah like those of 
'Ad and Thamud were dwellers in Arabia, and Mt. Judi being the 
highest peak in the neighbourhood would naturally be confused with 
the Qardes of the Judaeo-Christian story. 



>. (7/oW). 

iii, 98, 108 ; xx, (59 ; xxvi, 43 ; 1, 15 ; cxi, 5. 

Rope, cord. 

The original meaning of cord occurs in cxi, 5, " a cord of palm fibre," 
and in the Aaron story in xx, 69 ; xxvi, 43 ; all of which are Meccan 
passages. In 1, 15, it is used figuratively of a vew in the neck, and in the 
Madman Sura, iii, the kk cord of God ", " cord of men ", apparently 
means a compact. 

Zimmern, Akkad. Frctndw, 15 (cf. also his Babylonuchc Buss- 
jwtlmen, 93 n.), declares that the Akk. hbl is the source of the Heb. 

5n ; Aram. NvSH ; Syr. tt^u*, aiul that this Aram, form is the 



source of both the Arabic J^>- and the Eth. /hflA 

1 Strcck, EI t i, 1059 ; ZA, xv, "2T2 IT. Bcrossus says it landed jrpo; r<Z opcL run- 
Kop&vataiv. 

2 Various traditions in Fabricinti, Cod. P*cud. Vet. Test, ii, 61 ff. ; and the Christian 
tradition in Ndldeke's article " Kardu und Kurden " in Featwhrift Kiepert, 1898, p. 73. 

3 Yaqut, Mrijam, ii, 144 ; Mas'udI, Muruj, i, 74 ; Ibn Batuta, ii, 139 ; Qazwmi, 
i, 157. 



108 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

While there may be some doubt about the ultimate derivation 

from Akkadian (see BDB, 286), the Arabic verb J^>- is obviously 

denominative " to snare a wild beast with a halter", and we may 
accept its derivation from the Aram, as certain. 1 

The Syr. Uo* seems to have been the origin of the Arm. ^u/ji., 2 
and we may suspect that the Arabic word came from the same source. 
In any case it must have been an early borrowing as it occurs in the 
old poetry. 

(Hizb). 

v, 61 ; xi. 20 ; xiii, 36 ; xviii, 11 ; xix, 38 ; xxiii, 55 ; xxx, 31 ; 
xxxiii, 20, 22 ; xxxv, 6 ; xxxviii, 10, 12 ; xl, 5 31 ; xliii, 65 ; Iviii, 
20, 22. 

A party or soot. 



The philologers derive it from a verbal root <^J>- but this primitively 
had quite a different meaning, and the sense of divide into parties, or 

to form, a parti/, are clearly denominative. 



The word is doubtless to be explained with Noldeke, Neue 
Beitrtige, 59, n., from the Eth. Alf-fl plu. JtJhH'fl 3 meaning people, 
class, tribe which in the Ethiopic Bible translates Xaos \ (j)v\al ; 
8r}po? and also aipeais, as in jhli'fl : A^^ff^ft or /HIM ' 
iWllD",?^ for the parties of the Sadducees and the Pharisees, 
which closely parallels the Qur'anic usage. Noldeke thinks it probable 
that the word was first made prominent by the Qur'an, though from 
the way Muhammad makes use of it one would judge that its meaning 
was not altogether unfamiliar to his hearers. As a matter of fact we 
find the word in the S. Arabian inscriptions, as e.g. in Glaser 424, 14 
FlXH'h 00 HN?)H " of Kaidan and the folks of Habashat ", 4 



1 The word occurs, however, in the Thamudic inscriptions ; cf. Ryckmans, Xonw 
propres, i, 87. 

2 Hubschmann, Arm. Grawin, i, 308, and cf. Kr. Mullor in WZKM, vii, 381. 

3 That we have the same form in Amhnric, Tigre, and Tigrina seems clear evidence 
that the word is native Abyssinian and not a borrowing. 

4 Glaser, Die Abewinier im Arafnen und Afrika, Miinchen, 1895, p. 122. Noldeke, 
op. cit., 60, n., would derive both the Ar. ^ j. and Kth. rhT/'fl from an old S. 
Semitic form. Cf. Rossini, Ghfisanuni, 146, 147. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 109 

so that it is more likely that it came into use among the Northern 
Arabs from this area than that Muhammad got it from Abyssinians. 1 



(Hasada). 

* i f 

xii, 47 also J>L**>- (vi, 112) ; \<&>- (xi, 102 ; 1,9); l! 

(x, 25 ; xxi, 15). 
To reap. 

The regular meaning of \+ZL>- is to twist, and in this sense it occurs 

in the old poetry, as in an-Nabigha, vii, 32 (Ahlwardt, Divans, p. 11) 
and Tarafa, Mrfalkiqa, 38. The sense of to reap, however, is denomina- 
tive from ^L^A>., which is a borrowing from !>*** (Fraenkel, 
Fr&udw, 132, 133), and the Ar. equivalent of the Aram. "12n< 

Syr. J^ja is A^k>- to cut, which is further illustrated by the S. Arabian 
\, the name of the harvest month. 2 

is used not infrequently in the old poetry, and was pro- 
bably an early borrowing first used among the Arabs who settled 
down on the borderlands to an agricultural life. 



(Hiw). 

lix, 2. 

A fortress. 

It is only the plu. ^)^^L>> that is found in the QurVin, though 



.- ** 
the denominative verb />**> occurs participially in v. 14 of the 

same Sura. The passages are late and refer to the Jews of Nadir 
near Madina. 

The verb is clearly denominative though the philologers try to 



1 Horovitz, KU, 19, thinks it is a genuine Arabic word, though in its technical 
sense in the Qnr'an perhaps influenced by the Kthiopie. 

a 1). H. Miiller, M'ZKAf, i, 25 ; liossmi, (llo**arium, 155. 



110 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

derive it from a more primitive ^*a,>- to be inaccessible (LA, xvi, 

fj 
275), and Guidi, Delia Sede, 579, had seen that <V*^ was borrowed 



from the Syr. Utt. Fraenkel. Frcmiw, 235, 236, agrees with this 
on two grounds, firstly on the general ground that such things as 
fortresses are not likely to have been indigenous developments among 

the Arabs, and as a matter of fact all the place names compounded 



with /%**> which Yaqut collects in his Mu'jam are in Syria : secondly 

J 

on philological grounds, for }*<*> fortress is not from a root to be 
inaccessible but from one to be strong, which we find in Hob. ]0 



Aram. ]pn ; Syr. ^ CQ **, 1 of which the Arabic equivalent is 

to be hard, rough. In the Targums N30TI is a store or warehouse, 
but in the Syr. }!<&** is properly a fortress. The word is frequently 
used in the old poetry and must have been an early borrowing. 



(Hitta). 

ii, 55 ; vii, 161. 

Forgiveness. 

Both passages are late and were a puzzle to the exegetes as we 
see from Baidawl's comment on them. The exegetes are in general 
agreed that the meaning is forgiveness, and many of the early authorities 
admitted that it was a foreign word. TA, v, 119, quotes al-Farra 
as taking it to be Nabataean, and as-Suyfitrs authorities take it to be 
Hebrew (Itq, 320, compared with Mutaw, 58). 

As early as 1829 de Sacy in JA, iv, 179, pointed out that it was 
the Heb. NBH, with which Geiger, 18, and Hirschfeld, Beitrftye, 
54 ff. ; New Researches, 107, agree, though Dvorak, Fremdw, 55, 
suggests the Syr. ^A^A** as a possibility, and Leszynsky, Juden in 
Arabien, 32, a derivation from HCJn. Horovitz, JPN, 198, points 
out that though it is clearly a foreign word, none of those suggested 
derivations is quite satisfactory, and the source of the word is still 
a puzzle. 

1 And perhaps the Kth. rllVK to build. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 111 

(Hikim). 

s 

Occurs some nineteen times, cf. ii, 123, 146 ; v, 110. 

Wisdom. 

It is clearly a technical word in the Qur'an, being used in its 
original sense only in ii, 272, but applied to Luqman (xxxi, 11), to 
David (ii, 252 ; xxxviii, 19), to the Prophet's teaching (xvi, 126 ; 
liv, 5), to the Qur'an (ii, 231 ; iv, 113 ; xxxiii, 34 ; Ixii, 2), and used 
synonymously with " revealed book " (iii, 43, 75, 158 ; iv, 57 ; v, 110 ; 

xvii, 41 ; xliii, 63). In connection with it should be noted also 



with its comparative , 

The root D2H is of wide use in Semitic, but the sense of wisdom 
appears to be a N. Semitic development, 1 while the S. Semitic use of 
the word is more in connection with the sense of yowrn. Thus in 
N. Semitic we find Akk. hakama know ; Heb. D?n ; Aram. 
D3n ; Syr. i*^- to be wise,* and H^SH wisdom in the Zenjirli 

inscription. Thus <A.>- and ^X_>- 3 seem undoubtedly to have 
been formed under Aram, influence. 4 With <X>- compare Heb. 
nftpn ; Aram, XHTMll ; Syr. ]AVni, and the Zenjirli 

; and with ^S^>- compare Aram. D n 2n ; Syr. 

which as Horovitx, KU, 72, notes, is common in the earliest Aramaic 
period. It is possible that the word came into use from S. Arabia, 
for we find ^^4* lu a Qatabanian inscription published by Deren- 
bourg, 5 and which Nielsen takes to bo nn epithet of the moon-god. 

jl-lo- (Hawaii). 

xix, 14. 
Grace. 

1 But see Zimmcrn, Akkad. Fremdw, 29. 

2 So DDHI in the Has Shamra tablets. 

a We already have D3H in Safaite, and the name '^X^. See Wuthnow, 
M enftchennamen, 31, and Ryckmans, Noms propres, i, 91. 

4 llorovitz, KM, 72, rightly adds that ^SC>- *uC- is similarly under Aram, 
influence. 

5 " Nouveaux textes Yemenites inodits/' in Her, ASH, 1902, ]>. 117 IT,, and see 
Nielsen in KDMO, l\vi, r>92. 



112 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 

This sole occurrence of the word is in a passage descriptive of 
John the Baptist. Sprenger, Lcben, i, 125, 1 noted that the word was 
probably of foreign origin, and Mingana, Syriac Influence, 88, claims 
that it is the Syr. U>-". ^ 

The primitive verb *!>. does not occur in the Qur'an. Tt may 

be compared with Sab. ^ used in P r P cr names, 2 Heb. ]3^ to be 
gracious, and Syr. ^M, Aram. *j3H with the same meaning. It is to 
be noted, however, that the sense of grace is the one that has been 
most highly developed in N. Semitic, e.g. Akk. amiu = grace, favour ; 
Heb. and Phon. ]T1 ; Aram. MPI and MTt ; Syr. Ju~, 
and this ]"* is used in the Peshitta text of Lk. i, 58, in the account 
of the birth of John the Baptist. 

Halevy, JA, vii c ser., x, 356, finds ^^311 grace de Dieu in a 
Safaite inscription, which if correct would be evidence of the early 
use of the word in N. Arabia. 

(Hamf). 

ii, 129 ; iii, 00, 89 ; iv, 124 ; vi, 79, 1(12 ; x, 105 ; xvi, 121, 124 ; 
xxii, 32 ; xxx, 29 ; xcviii, 4. 

A Hanlf. 

The passages in which the word occurs are all late 4 Meccan or 
Madinan, so the word was apparently a technical term which 
Muhammad learned at a relatively late period in his public career. 
Its exact meaning, however, is somewhat difficult to determine. 3 
Of the twelve cases, where the word is used, eight have reference to 
the faith of Abraham, and in nine of them there is an added phrase 
explaining that to be a Hanlf means not being a polytheist, this 
explanatory phrase apparently showing that Muhammad felt he was 
using a word which needed explanation in order to be rightly under- 
stood by his hearers. ^ 

The close connection of the word with the AljM <U is 



important, for we know that when Muhammad changed his attitude 

1 See also i, 581, and ii, 184, n. 

2 I). H. Muller, Epfgraphischc Dntkmdln mi*Arabicw, 40, gives 

which ho translates " die Liebe des From men ", and compares with Hel). 
and Phon. mpi>QJn. Of. Rossini, (flnxmrnim, 150. 

3 See Lyall, JRAS, 1903, p. 78J. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR ? AN 113 

to the Jews he began to preach a new doctrine about Abraham, 1 
and to claim that while Moses was the Prophet of the Jews and Jesus 
the Prophet of the Christians, he himself went back to an earlier 
revelation which was recognized by both Jews and Christians, the 

M> 

II I 
j\ 4U, which he was republishing to the Arabs. Now all our 

eJux>- passages belong to this second period. Muhammad is bidden 

set his face towards religion as a Ilanif (x, 105 ; xxx, 29). He says to 
his contemporaries, " As for me, my Lord has guided me to a straight 
path, a right religion, the faith of Abraham, a Hanif " (vi, 162). 
" They say Become a Jew or a Christian. Say nay rather be of the 
religion of Abraham, a Hanif" (ii, 129); "Who hath a better 
religion than he who resigns himself to God, does what is good, and 
follows the faith of Abraham as a Hanif " (iv, 124). He calls on the 
Arabs to " be Hanifs to God " (xxii, 32), and explains his own position 
by representing Allah as saying to him " Then we told thee by 

revelation to follow the *+*\j\ <U a Hanif" (xvi, 124). The distinc- 

tion between Hanlfism and Judaism and Christianity which is noted in 
ii, 129, is very clearly drawn in iii, 60, " Abraham was neither a Jew 

nor a Christian but a resigned Hanif \JL^A-4 u\l>-," and this latter 



phrase taken along with the A\l 4^>-J Li *~4 of iv, 124, was pro- 

i ( 
bably connected in Muhammad's mind with what he meant by + j{** I, 

and has given the cue to the use and interpretation of the word in the 
later days of Islam. 

The Lexicons are quite at a loss what to make of the word. They 

naturally endeavour to derive it from cJu>- to incline or decline. 

J t^y 

cJil>- is said to be a natural contortedness of the feet, 2 and so cJu>- 

is used of anything that inclines away from the proper standard. 



1 Hurgronje, Het MeJckaansche Feest, Leiden, 1880, p. 29 if. ; Rudolph, Abhan- 
gigkeit, 48. Torrey's arguments against this in his Foundation, 88 ff., do not seem 
to me convincing. 

2 Jawharl and Qamus, sub voc. ; LA, x, 402. 



114 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR'AN 

As one can also think of inclining from a crooked standard to the 
straight, so cJui>- was supposed to be one who turned from the false 

religions to the true. 1 It is obvious that these suggestions are of little 
help in our problem. 2 

The word occurs not infrequently in the poetry of the early years 
of Islam. 3 All these passages are set forth and examined by Horovitz, 
KU, 56 ff., and many of them by Margoliouth, JRAS, 1903, p. 480 if., 
the result being that it seems generally to mean Muslim and in the 
odd occurrences which may be pre-Islamic to mean heathen. 41 In any 
case in none of these passages is it associated with Abraham, and there 
is so much uncertainty as to whether any of them can be considered 
pre-Islamic that they are of very little help towards settling the 
meaning of the word for us. It is unfortunate also that we are equally 
unable to glean any information as to the primitive meaning of the 
word from the well-known stories of the Hanifs who were earlier 
contemporaries of Muhammad, for while we may agree with Lyall, 
JRAS, 1903, p. 744, that these were all actual historical personages, 
yet the tradition about them that has come down to us has been so 
obviously worked over in Islamic times, that so far from their stories 
helping to explain the Qur'an, the Qur'an is necessary to explain them. 5 

We are driven back then to an examination of the word itself. 

Bell, Origin, 58, would take it as a genuine Arabic word from c_ix>- 

to decline, turn from, and thus agrees with the general orthodox theory. 6 
We have already noted the difficulty of this, however, and as a matter 
of fact some of the Muslim authorities knew that as used in the 
Qur'an it was a foreign word, as we learn from Mas'udl's Tanbth? 
where it is given as Syriac. 

1 LA, x, 403 ; Raghib, Mvfradat, 133. 

2 Margoliouth, JRAS, 1903, p. 477. " These suggestions are clearly too fanciful 
to deserve serious consideration." 

3 The name ^4* in Sabaean and in the Safaite inscriptions (Ryckmans, Noms 
propres, i, 96) as well as the tribal name AAJU>- ought perhaps to be taken into account. 

4 Noldeke, ZDMO, xli, 721 ; de Goeje, Bill. Qeogr. Arab, viii, Glossary, p. xviii. 
Wellhausen, Reste, 239, thought that it meant a Christian ascetic, and in this he is 
followed by Noldeke-Schwally, i, 8, but see Rudolph, Abhiingigkeit, 70. 

5 Kuenen, Hibbert Lectures, 1882, p. 20. On these Hanifs see especially Caetani, 
Annali, i, 183 ff., and Sprenger, Leben, i, 43-7, 67-92, 110-137. 

6 So apparently Macdonald, MW, vi, 308, who takes it to mean heretic, and see 
Schulthess in Noldeke Festschrift, p. 86. 

7 Ed. de Goejc in BOA, viii, p. 91 ^^ V^j "** 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 115 

Winckler, Arabisch-Semitisch-Orientalisch, p. 79 (i.e. MVAG, vi, 
229), suggested that it was an Ethiopic borrowing, and Grimme, 
Mohammed, 1904, p. 48, wants to link the Hanifs on to some S. Arabian 
cult. The Eth. rf*V, however, is quite a late word meaning heathen, 1 
and can hardly have been the source of the Arabic. 2 Nor is there any 
serious ground for taking the word as a borrowing from Heb. ^jMl 
profane, as Deutsch suggested (Literary Remains, 93), and as has been 
more recently defended by Hirschfeld. 3 

The probabilities are that it is the Syr. lauj, as was pointed out 
by Noldeke. 4 This word was commonly used with the meaning of 
heathen, and might well have been known to the pre-Islamic Arabs 
as a term used by the Christians for those who were neither Jews nor 
of their own faith, and this meaning would suit the possible pre- 
Islamic passages where we find the word used. Moreover, as 
Margoliouth has noticed, in using the word of Abraham, Muhammad 
would be following a favourite topic of Christian apologists, who 
argued from Rom. iv, 10-12, that Abraham's faith was counted for 
righteousness in his heathen days before there was any Judaism. 5 
(See Ahrens, Christliches, 28, and Nielsen in HA A, i, 250.) 

t [^ ^ 
j AI j 1 *>- (Hawanyun) . 

iii, 45; v, 111, 112; Ixi, 14. 

Disciples. 

It is used only of the disciples of Jesus and only in late Madinan 
passages. 

as-Suyutl, Itq, 320, includes it in his list of foreign words, but in this 
he is quite exceptional. 6 He says, " Ibn Abi Hatim quoted from 
ad-Dahhak that Hawanyun moans washermen in Nabataean." 7 

1 Dillmann, Lex, 605. 

8 Noldcko, Neue Beitrage, 35. 

3 Beitrdge, 43 if. New Researches, 26 ; cf. also Pautz, Offenbarvng, 14. 

4 Neue Beitrage, 30. It has been accepted as such by Andrae, Ursprung, 40 ; 
Ahrens, Muhammed, 15, and Mingana, Syriac Influence, 97. 

5 JRAS, 1903, p. 478. Margoliouth also notes that there may have been further 
influence from the prophecy that Abraham should be the father of many nations, as 

this word is sometimes rendered by (211*4. From fol was formed &, and then 
the sing. ^Jul>- formed from this. 

6 Also Mutaw, 59, and given by al-Khafaji in his supercommentary to Baid. oniii, 45. 

7 al-AlusT, iii, 155, quotes the Nab. form as 



116 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

Most of the Muslim authorities take it as a genuine Arabic word either 
from j^>- (i-e. j *& : jLl>-) to return, or from j^>- to be glistening 
white. From the first derivation they get the meaning disciples by 
saying that a disciple means a helper, and so ^ j l^>. means one to whom 

one turns for help (cf. ath-Tha'labl, Qisas, 273). The other, however, is 
the more popular explanation, and the disciples are said to liave been 

called j y \ I *>- because they were fullers whose profession was to clean 

clothes, or because they wore white clothing, or because of the purity 
of their inward life (cf. BaicJ. on iii, 45 ; TA, iii, 161 ; LA, v, 299). 
It was probably in this connection that there grew up the idea that 
the word was Aramaic, for 11T1 like Syr. icu* means to become 
white, both in a material and a spiritual sense. 

There can be no reasonable doubt, however, that the word is a 
borrowing from Abyssinia. The Eth. fhVCf is the usual Eth. 
translation of aTTOOToAos* (cf. Mk. vi, 30). It is used for messenger 
as early as the Aksum inscription (Noldeke, New. Beitrage, 48), 
and as early as Ludolf it was recognized as the origin of the Arabic 
word. 1 Dvorak, Fremdw, 64, thinks that it was one of the words 
that was learned by Muhammad from the emigrants who returned 
from Abyssinia, but it is very possible that the word was current in 
Arabia before his day, for its occurs in a verse of ad-Dabi' b. al-Harith 
(Asmaiydt, ed. Ahlwardt, p. 57) referring to the disciples of Christ. 

L,^ (Hub). 

iv, 2. 

Crime, sin. 

The passage is a late Madinan one referring to the devouring of 
the property of orphans. 

It is generally taken as meaning ^ 1 and derived from ^W 

\ 
(Raghib, Mufradat, 133). as-Suyuti, however, Itq, 320, 2 says that some 

1 So Fraenkel, Vocab, 24 ; Wcllhauscn, Reste, 232 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 255, n. ; 
Dvofak, Fremdw, 58; Wensinck, El, ii, 292; Cheikho, Nasrdniya, 189; Horovitz, 
KU, 108 ; Vollers, ZDMG, li, 293 ; Sacco, Credenze, 42. 

2 The tradition is given at greater length and more exactly in Mutaw, 38. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 117 

early authorities took it to be an Abyssinian word meaning sin. That 
the word is foreign is doubtless correct, but the Abyssinian origin 
has nothing in its favour, though in the S. Arabian inscriptions we 
find fl^H*, peccatum, debitum (Rossini, Glossarium, 146). 

The common Semitic root 31H is to be guilty. In Heb. the verb 
occurs once in Dan. i, 10, and the noun 21H debt occurs in Ez. xviii, 7. 
Aram. 3Tp ; Syr. n>, to be defeated, to be guilty are of much more 
common use, as are their nominal forms fcOTl, J^DO**. The 

Arabic equivalent of these forms, however, is <^\i. to fail, to be dis- 
appointed (BDB, 295), and cj>^>. or <^> *>., as Bevan notes, 1 is to 

be taken as a loan-word from Aramaic, and the verb _>L!>- as a 

denominative. The probabilities are in favour of the borrowing being 
from Syriac rather than from Jewish Aram., 2 for (30**, especially 
in the plu., is used precisely in the Qur'anic sense (PSm, 1214). 



(Hur). 

xliv, 51 ; Hi, 20 ; Iv, 72 ; Ivi, 22. 
The Houries, or Maidens of Paradise. 

Except in Iv, 72, it is used always in the phrase /*-,_ j >- The 
occurrences are all in early Suras describing the delights of Paradise, 

where the ^ J^p- are ^ nc beauteous maidens whom the faithful 
will have as spouses in the next life. 

The Grammarians are agreed that j *> is a plu. of Jj > and 
derived from j>-> a form of U., and would thus mean " the 



white ones". /~- is a plu. of <V.P| meaning "wide eyed" (LA, 
xvii, 177). It thus becomes possible to take SJ*G, J9*" as ^ wo objectives 
used as nouns meaning " white skinned, large eyed damsels ". The 



1 Daniel, 62 n. 

2 Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86. 



118 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

Lexicons insist that the peculiar sense of j *>- is that it means the 

contrast of the black and white in the eye, particularly in the eye of 
a gazelle or a cow (cf. LA, v, 298 ; and TA, iii, 160). Some, however, 
insist equally on the whiteness of the body being the reference of the 

word, eg. al-Azharl in TA, "a woman is not called t\jj>- unless 

along with the whiteness of the eye there is whiteness of body." One 
gathers from the discussion of the Lexicographers that they were 
somewhat uncertain as to the actual meaning of the word, and in 
fact both LA. and TA. quote the statement of so great an authority 

as al-Asma'I that he did not know what was the meaning of j^>- as 
connected with the eye. 

The Commentators give us no help with the word as they merely 
set forth the same material as we find in the Lexicons. They prefer 
the meaning which refers it to the eye as more suited to the Qur'anic 
passages, and their general opinion is well summarized in as-Sijistanl, 
117. 

Fortunately, the use of the word can be illustrated from the old 
poetry, for it was apparently in quite common use in pre-Islamic 
Arabia. Thus in 'Abid b. al-Abras, vii, 24 (ed. Lyall) wo find the verse 



" And maidens like ivory statues, 1 white of eyes, did we capture " 
and again in 'Adi b. Zaid. 



" They have touched your heart, these tender white maidens, beside 

the river bank." 
and so in a verse of Qa'nab in the Mukhtardt, viii, 7, we read 



" And in the women's chamber when the house is full, are white 
maidens with charming voices." 
In all these cases we are dealing with human women, and except 

in the verse of 'Abld the word j >- could quite well mean white- 



1 So in al-A'sha we find ^jJl Jl^Kj^*-, cf. Geyer, Zwei Gedichte, i, 196 = 
Diwan, xxxiii, 11. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 119 

skinned, and even in the verse of 'Abid, the comparison with ivory 
statues would seem to lend point to al-Azhari's statement that it is 
only used of the eyes when connected with whiteness of the skin. 

Western scholars are in general agreed that the conception of the 
Houries of Paradise is one borrowed from outside sources, and the 
prevalent opinion is that the borrowing was from Persia. Sale suggested 
this in lu's Preliminary Discourse, but his reference to the Sadder 
Bundahishn was rather unfortunate, as Dozy pointed out, 1 owing to 
the lateness of this work. Berthels, however, in his article " Die 
paradiesischen Jungfrauen im Islam", in Islamica, i, 263 ff., has 
argued convincingly that though Sale's Hurdn-i-Bihisht may not be 



called in as evidence, yet the characteristic features of the j^>- of the 
Qur'anic Paradise closely correspond with Zoroastrian teaching about 
the Daena. The question, however, is whether the name j^p- is of 
Iranian origin. Berthels thinks not. 2 Hang, however, suggested its 
equivalence with the Zoroastrian y-Gy* humat, good thought (cf. Av. 
A^JJG>O> ; Skt. *p*l) ; ftyy* huxt, good speech (cf. Av. iipoffttf > 

Skt. *W), and ^Xr^ *' 7 *r*fa, good deed (cf. Av. ^J^-tt))^) 3 

but the equivalences are difficult, and as Horovitz, Parodies, 13, points 

out, they in no way fit in with the pre-Islamic use of j^>-. Tisdall, 
Sources, 237 ff., claims that j^>- is connected with the modern Pers. 
jj. sun from Phlv. J^o X var 4 and Av. gYut) havarz, 5 but this 

comes no nearer to explaining the Qur'anic word. 

It is much more likely that the word comes from the Phlv. ft)}yf* 
hurust, meaning beautiful, and used in the Pahlavi books of the 
beauteous damsels of Paradise, e.g. in Arda Viraf, iv, 18, and in 



1 Het Islamisme, 3 cd., 1880, p. 101. 

2 " Das Wort Hur durfen wir naturlich ebensowenig in den iranischen Sprachen 
suchen." 

3 The three words occur together in Pand-namak, xx, 12, 13. Cf. Nyberg, Glossar, 
109, 110. 

4 Horn, Grundriss, pp. Ill, 112; Shikand, Glossary, 255. 

6 Bartholomae, AIW, 1847 ; Reichelt, Awestisches Elementarbuch, 512 ; cf. Skt. 



120 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

Hadoyt Nasfc, ii, 23, 1 where we have the picture of a graceful damsel, 
white-armed, strong, with dazzling face and prominent breasts. Now 

5V)u is a good Iranian word, the equivalent of Av. 



TmraoSa, 2 and though these Pahlavi works are late the conceptions 
in them are early and there can be no question of borrowing from 
the Semitic. 

To this Iranian conception we may now add the influence of the 
Aram. "Tin. Sprengcr was doubtless right in his conjecture 3 that 

the root &~ to be white came to the Arabs from Aramaic. The Heb. 



"IT! occurs in Is. xxix, 22, in the sense of becoming pale through 
shame, and Syr. ]>CU* is commonly used to translate XCVKOV, and 
is thus used for the white garments of the Saints in Rev. iii, 4. Carra 
do Vaux, 4 indeed, has suggested that Muhammad's picture of the 
youths and maidens of Paradise was due to a misunderstanding of the 
angels in Christian miniatures or mosaics representing Paradise. This 

may or may not be so, but it does seem certain that the word j^>- in 

its sense of whiteness, and used of fair-skinned damsels, came into use 
among the Northern Arabs as a borrowing from the Christian com- 
munities, and then Muhammad, under the influence of the Iranian 

V)*>, used it of the maidens of Paradise. 



/%.v->- (Khdtam). 

xxxiii, 40. 

A seal. 

The passage is late Madinan and the word is used in the technical 



phrase 

17 **. 

On the surface it would seem to be a genuine derivative from 

<*.' ** 

'[9- to seal, but as Fraenkel, Vocab, 17, points out, a form JiLd is 

1 See also Minokhird, ii, 125-139, for the idea. 

2 Uartholomae, AJ W t 1836. 

3 Leben, ii, 222. Ho thinks it may have come to the Arabs from the Nabataeans. 

4 Art. " Djanna " in El, i, 1015. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR 5 AN 121 

not regular in Arabic, and the verb itself, as a matter of fact, is denomina- 
tive. 1 The verb occurs in the Qur'an in vi, 46 ; xlv, 22, and the deriva- 

* 

tive AU>-, which Jawhari says is the same as f\^, is used in Ixxxiii, 

26. All these forms are in all probability derived from the Aram. 
as Noldeke had already noted. 2 

Hirsctyfeld, Beitrage, 71, claimed that the word was of Jewish 
origin, quoting the Heb. DfflH seal ; Syr. ]ioA>*. In his New Re- 
searches, 23, he quotes Haggai ii, 23, a verse referring to Zerubbabel, 
which shows that the idea of a man being a seal was not foreign to 
Jewish circles, beside which Horovitz, KU, 53, appositely cites 1 Cor. 
ix, 2, " ye are the seal of my Apostleship " a-fypayis JJLOV TY}$ 
dTrocrToAijs, where the Peshitta reads ]loA>j. The Targumic HQ^nn 
and Christian Palestinian ^Sa*A*j, 3 meaning obsignatio, finis, conclusio, 
clausula, give us even closer approximation to the sense of the word as 
used in the Qur'an. 

In the general sense of seal it must have been an early borrowing, 
for already in Imru'ul-Qais, xxxii, 4 (Ahlwardt, Divans, p. 136), we 

find the phi. ^rl^>- used, and in the S. Arabian inscriptions we 
have ^X* 1 ! (Rossini, Glossarium, 158). 

J^i. (Khiibz). 

xii, 36. 

Bread. 

It occurs only in the baker's dream in the Joseph story. 

The word is from the Eth. as Noldeke, Neue Beitrage, 56, has 
noted, pointing out that bread is an uncommon luxury to the Arabs, 
but literally the staff of life among the Abyssinians, and therefore a 
word much more likely to have been borrowed by the Arabs than from 
them. 'IfflH is to bake in general, and to bake bread in particular, 
MH. is a baker, as e.g. in the Joseph story, and t^lfl'Th is bread, the 
ft being modified to A before r f, and was probably earlier *'l*fnf'l", 



1 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 2,52. The variant forms of the word given in the 
and in LA, xv, 53, also suggest that the word is foreign. 

2 Mand. Grarnm, 112 ; see also Pallis, Mandaean ^Studies, 153. 

3 Schwally, Idioticon, 36. It translates 7rio^payia/ia, Land,4?iecdota, iv, 181, 1. 20. 
Cf. Schulthess, Lex, 71. Used of sealing magically, it occurs in the incantation texts, 
see Montgomery, Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur, Glossary, pp. 289, 290. 



122 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

as is indicated by the common Tigre word rh*flH*]h used for a popular 
kind of bread. It was probably an early borrowing into Arabic, for 
the root has become well naturalized and many forms have been 
built from it. 



(Khardal). 

xxi, 48 ; xxxi, 15. 
A mustard seed. 

Both passages are reminiscent of the coy KQKKOV 
of Matt, xvii, 20, etc. 

The Muslim authorities take it as an Arabic word, though they are 






in some doubt as to whether it should be <j$>- or (j>*~. Fracnkel, 



Fremdw, 141, has shown, however, that the word is a borrowing from 
Aram. 7TU1 ; Syr. U?;**. The probabilities are in favour of its being 
from the Syr. U?r*, which as a matter of fact translates crlva.TTi in 
the Peshitta text of Matt, xvii, 20, etc., and occurs also in Christian 
Palestinian. 1 The borrowing will have been early for the word is used 
in the old poems, e.g. Divan Hudhail, xcvii, 11. 

* 

"{'" 

4 1^>- (Khazana). 

vi, 50 ; xi, 33 ; xii, 55 ; xv, 21 ; xvii, 102 ; xxxviii, 8 ; lii, 37 ; 
Ixiii, 7. 

Treasury, storehouse. 

*" ""i ** \ 

The verb /Y}>- does not occur in the Qur'an, but besides < 1 J>- 

( which occurs, however, only in the plu. form j \ j>-), we find a form 

<W* AwV 

! ""' **'''' 

JjLi- " one who lays in store " in xv, 22 ; and A> j>- keepers in 
xxxix, 71, 73 ; xl, 52 ; Ixvii, 8. 

It is fairly obvious that Oj*~ ^ s a denominative verb, and the word 

has been recognized by many Western scholars as a foreign borrowing. 2 
Its origin, however, is a little more difficult to determine. Hoffmann, 

1 Schultheas, Lex, 69. 

2 Fraenkei in e#r. Aasy,m, 81; Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 640 ; Horovitz, Paradies, 6 n. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR 5 AN 123 

ZDMG, xxxii, 760, 1 suggested that we should find its origin in the 
Pers. 3 . This ij$ which BQ defines as & (^y ) jj 

AxlJ &} clc*J -P k cognate with Skt. *I^ (~?Sfa[) a treasury or 
jewel room, 2 and has been borrowed through the Aram. KT33 ; Syr. 

1 C*' 

IPM into Arabic as JO . It seems hardly likely that by another line 

of borrowing, through say Heb. D^T33 3 or Mand. &UKTK2, 4 it has 
come to form the Ar. AM "*>-. 



Barth, Etymol. Stud, 51, makes the happier suggestion that it 
may be connected with the form that is behind the Heb. ]0fl treasure. 



- (Khatia). 

To do wrong, sin. 

Several verbal and nominal forms from this root occur in the 
1^ ^ * 

Qur'an, e.g. l.ia>- by mistake (iv, 94) ; LLi>-l to be in error, to sin (ii, 

* ^ ** 

286 ; xxxiii, 5) ; ,^-kv>- (xxviii, 7 ; Ixix, 37) ; LJa>- sin, error (xvii, 



33) ; 4~Ja^, plu. \>\b>* ww, error (ii, 55, 75 ; iv, 112, etc.) ; and AL^U 

habitual sinfuhiess (Ixix, 9 ; xcvi, 16). 

The primitive meaning of the Semitic root was apparently to 
miss 5 as in Heb. K3n (cf. Prov. viii, 36, 127S3 OQIl ''KBn " he 
who misses me wrongs himself"), and in the Eth. *1TJ| to fail to find. 
The Hiphil form in Heb. is used of markmanship, and XhlD 1 "! in 
S. Arabian seems to have the same meaning, as we may judge from 
two inscriptions given by Levy in ZDMG, xxiv, 195, 199 (cf. also 
Rossini, Glossarium, 155). It was from this sense of missing the mark 
that there developed the idea of to sin, which is the commonest use 

1 Cf. also his Mdrtyrer, 250. 

2 It is probably a loan-word in Skt. Lagarcle, GA, 27, and Arm. Stud, 453, 
thinks it is an old Median word. 

3 Cf. Esth, iii, '.) ; iv. 7, "J^On TO. 

4 Fracnkel, Beitr. Assy, iii, 181, takes it to bo from Aram. 
* But see Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 11. 



124 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 

of the verb in Heb. and the only meaning it has in Aram. 1 It was 
doubtless under Aram, influence that it gained a similar meaning in 
Eth., 2 and there is little doubt that it came into Arabic as a technical 
term from the same source. It occurs very rarely in the old poetry, 3 
though the casual way in which the term is used in the Qur'an shows 
that it must have been well understood in Mecca and Madina. 4 



The Muslim authorities take 4LJa>- as a form 4*, but as 



Schwally notes (ZDMG, Hi, 132), its form like that of the Eth. 
'Ifn.^'Tf 5 is proof conclusive that the borrowing of this form is 
direct from the Syr. fAx&A* ? anf l doubtless the other Arabic forms 
are due to influence from the same source. 6 



(Khaldq). 

ii, 96, 196 ; iii, 71 ; ix, 70. 

A portion or share. 

As a technical term for the portion of good allotted man by God 
this term occurs only in Madinan passages. In Sura ix, it refers to 
man's portion in this world, and in Suras ii and iii to man's portion 
in the life to come, the two latter passages indeed, as Margoliouth, 
MW, xviii, 78, notes, being practically a quotation from the Talmud 
(cf. Sanh, 90a, &*]&? p?n DH7 ]**). 

It seems clear that it is a technical term of non- Arabic origin, for 



though the primitive sense of <Jjl>- is to measure (cf. Eth. ^A^fc to 
enumerate), its normal sense in Qur'anic usage is to create, and this 



Madinan use of v>- in the sense of portion follows that of the 

older religions. Thus Hp /fl is a portion given by God, cf. Job xx, 
29, and Aram. Np 7*111 means a portion in both worlds (cf. Baba 
Bathra, 122a, and Buxtorf, Lex. 400). Syr. ]Q^ means rather 
Jot or fate, i.e. polpa as in 12olOj IQ\*J = poipa davdrov, 



1 And now also in the Ras Shamra tablets. 

2 Pratorius, Beitr. Ass, i, 29. 

3 Examples occur in Abu'l-'Atahiya (ed. 1888), p. 120, and in Qaisb. ar-Ruqaiyat, 
xviii, 3 (cd. Rhodokanakis, p. 120). 

4 But see Wensinck in El, ii, 925. 

5 Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 36. 

6 Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR 5 AN 125 

though in the Christ. Palest, dialect IQ^QJ* means portion, 

i.e.^e/w. 1 . 

It is noteworthy that the Lexicons, which define it as Jii-i 

fj^+aj\3 jt-\ j* c^*AlJ'J, 2 seem to interpret it from the Qur'an, 

and the only verse they quote in illustration is from Hassan b. Thabit, 
which is certainly under Qur'anic influence. Horovitz, JPN, 198 ff., 
thinks that the origin is Jewish, but Phon. p^PI is also to divide, 
apportion (Harris, Glossary, 102), so that the word may have been 
used in the Syro-Palestinian area among other groups. 

^"". 

j*>- (Khamr). 

ii, 216 ; v, 92, 93 ; xii, 36, 41 ; xlvii, 16. 
Wine. 

The word is very commonly used in the old poetry, but as Guidi 
saw, 3 it is not a native word, but one imported along with the article. 

The Ar. j*>* means to cover, to conceal, and from this was formed 

ju>- a muffler, the plu. of which, ^+>-, occurs in Sura xxiv, 31. 

In the sense of to give wine to, it is denominative. 4 

Its origin was doubtless the Aram. NT OH = Syr. ];SU 
which is of very common use. The Heb. ""150 i g poetical (BDB, 330) 
and probably of Aram, origin. 5 It is also suggestive that many of the 



other forms from ^- are clearly of Aram, origin, e.g. l^So** leaven, 
gives j\&~ ferment, leaven, and Arm. /ni/n/1 yeast 6 ; l^bl* a 



wineseller is jL ; Ar>^ is J'^*, etc. 

The probabilities are all in favour of the word having come into 
Arabic from a Christian source, for the wine trade was largely in the 
hands of Christians (vide supra, p. 21), and Jacob even suggests that 

1 Schulthess, Lex, 65, and cf. Palestinian Lectionary of the Gospels, p. 126. 

2 LA, xi, 380. 

3 Delia Sede, 597, and note Bell, Origin, 145. 

4 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 161. 

5 Wo now have the word, however, in the Ras Shamra texts. 

6 Lagarde, Arm. Stud, 901 ; Hiibschmann, ZDMQ, xlvi, 238, and Arm. Gramm, 
i, 305. 



126 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

Christianity spread among the Arabs in some parts along the routes 
of the wine trade. 1 Most of the Arabic terms used in the wine trade 

seem to be of Syriac origin, and j+>- itself is doubtless an early 
borrowing from the Syr. I^OM. 

-* . 

j> y^- (Khinzlr). 

S 

ii, 168 ; v, 4, 65 ; vi, 146 ; xvi, 116. 

Pig, swine. 

It occurs only in late passages and always in the list of prohibited 
foods, save in v, 65, where it refers to certain infidels whom God 
changed into apes and swine. 

No explanation of the word from Arabic material is possible, 2 
and Guidi, Delia Kede, 587, was suspicious of the word. Fraenkel's 
examination of the word, Frewdw, 110, has confirmed the suspicion 
and indicated that it is in all probability a loan-word from Aramaic. 3 
The dependence of the Qur'anic food-regulations on Biblical material 
has been frequently noticed, 4 and in Lev. xi, 7, we find TTn among 
the forbidden meats. In Aram, the word is XTTH and in Syr. 
VrO-M, and only in S. Arabian do we find the form with n, e.g. Eth. *mi.C 
(also rhllfC or AT'ltC, cf. Eth. Enoch, Ixxxix, 10) meaning wild 
boar (though it is rare in Eth., the usual word being &/*(&?), and 
Sab. )Xh' 1 i (Ryckmans, JVoms propres, i, 38). 

It is possible of course that the Arabic word was derived from 
Eth., but the alternative forms in Eth. make one suspect that the 
borrowing was the other way, so it is safest to assume that the borrow- 
ing was from Aram, with a glide sound J developed between the 

p- and J 5 (Fraenkel, 111), which also appears in the 1T3H of the 

lias Shamra texts. 

1 Beduinenleben, 99. Fraenkel, Fremdw, 181, notes the curious fact that in early 
Arabic the commonest word for merchant, viz. ^>-lT, has the special significance of 
" wine merchant ", on which D. II. Mtiller remarks, WZKM, i, 27 : " sie zeigt dass 
die Civilization im Alterthum wie heute erst mit der Einfuhrung berauschender 
Getranke begonnen hat." 

2 Vide the suggestions of the Lexicographers in Lane, Lex, 732. 

3 But see Lagarde, Ubersicht, 113, and the Akk. humsiru (Zimmern, Akkad. 
Fremdw, 50). 

4 Cf. Rudolph, Abhangigkeit, 61, 62. 

5 That this inserted n was not infrequent in borrowed words is illustrated by 
Geyer, Zirei Gedichte, i, 118n. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR^AN 127 

- (Khaima). 

lv, 72. 

Tent ; pavilion. 

^1 ' 
It is found only in the plu. AU*_>- in an early Meccan description 

of Paradise, where we are told that the Houries are fLAll ^ Cj lj 

** 



" kept close in pavilions ". 

The word is obviously not Arabic, and Fraenkel, Fremdw, 30, 
though admitting that he was not certain of its origin, suggested that 
it came to the Arabs from Abyssinia. 1 Eth. ^jRifD-lh means 
tentorium, labernacidum (Dillmann, Lex, 610), and translates both 
the Heb. ^!"1X and Gk. crKrjvrj. Vollers, however, in ZDMG, 1, 
631, is not willing to accept this theory of Abyssinian derivation, 2 and 
thinks we must look to Persia or N. Africa for its origin. The Pers. 



<*-.>-, *.+> and j>L>-, however, are direct borrowings from the 
Arabic 3 and not formations from the root f meaning curvature. 

We find the word not infrequently in the early poetry, and so it 
must have been an early borrowing, probably from the same source 



as the Eth. 



^jlS (Ddwud). 

ii, 252 ; iv, 161 ; v, 82 ; vi, 84 ; xvii, 57 ; xxi, 78, 79 ; xxvii, 
15, 16 ; xxxiv, 10, 12 ; xxxviii, 16-29. 
David. 
In the QurYin he is mentioned both as King of Israel and also as 

a Prophet to whom was given the Zabur j j> j (Psalter). 



1 In S. Arabian we have ^^, which is said to mean dotnus modesta (Rossini, 
Glossariuw, 155). 

2 " 4^. Zelt ist mir verdachtig, ohne dass ic-h mit Sicherhoit die fremde Urform 
angeben kann. Die Erklarung schwankt in den Einzelheiten : ursprunglich prinri- 
tivste Behausung scheint es allmanlich mit c~ Zelt gleichbedeutend gcworden zu 
sein. Dass es durch ath. haimat als echt semitisch erwiesen wird, kann ich Frankel 
nicht zugoben, denn viele Entlehnungen sind auf den Siiden beschrankt geblicben. 
Man rnuas an Persien oder Nordostafrika denken." 

3 Vullers, Lex. Pers, i, 776. 



128 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QURAN 

al-Jawallqi, Mu'arrab, 67, recognized the name as foreign, and his 
statement is repeated in Raghib, Mufradat, 173 ; LA, iv, 147, etc. 
It was even recognized as a Hebrew name as we learn from Baid. who, 



speaking of Taliit, says, ^jl JO (S^ \p j*> " & a Hebrew 

proper name like David." 

In two passages of the Qur'an (xxi, 80 ; xxxiv, 10) we are told 
that he was an armourer, and as such he is frequently mentioned in the 
old poetry, 1 so the name obviously came to the Arabs from a com- 
munity where these legends were circulating, though this may have 
been either Jewish or Christian. It was also used as a personal name 
among the Arabs in pre-Islamic days, for we hear of a Phylarch 
Da'ud al-Lathiq of the house of Daja'ima of the tribe of Salih, 2 there 
appears to have been a contemporary of Muhammad who fought at 

Badr, named ^jb j>J, 3 and possibly the name occurs in a Thamudic 

inscription. 4 

The form of the name presents a little difficulty, for the Heb. is 
Tn or T^, and the Christian forms follow this, e.g. Gk. Aai> ei8, 

T ' T 

Syr. r*OJ or r!?> Eth. >J<K'1 V There is a Syr. form ?OO|j used 
by Bar Hebr., Chron, 325, but PSm, 801, is probably right in thinking 
that this was influenced by the Arabic. Horovitz, KU, 110, discusses 
the change in form from Dawid to Da'ud, 5 and on the whole it seems 
safest to conclude that it came to Arabic from some Aramaic source, 
though whether Jewish or Christian it is impossible to say. 



(Darasa). 

iii, 73 ; vi, 105, 157 ; vii, 168 ; xxxiv, 43 ; Ixviii, 37. 

To study earnestly. 

Always used in the Qur'an of studying deeply into or searching 
the Scriptures, and the reference is always directly or indirectly to 
the Jews and Christians. 6 On this ground Geiger, 51, claimed that here 

Vide examples in tfraenkel, Fremdw, 242 ; Horovitz, KU, 109 ; JPN, 166, 167. 
Yaqut, Mu l jam, iv, 70 ; and vide Noldeke, Ohassanischen Fursten, p. 8. 
Vide Ibn Hisham, 505 ; Ibn Sa*d, iii, b, 74, and Wellhausen, Wagidi, p. 88. 
Ryckmans, Noms propres, i, 65. 
Vide also Bhodokanakis in WZKM, xvii, 283. 
6 Taking v, 37, of Sura Ixviii to be late, as seems evident from the use of ^\lS\ 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 129 

we have a technical word for the study of Scripture borrowed from the 
root ttn*! so widely used in this connection by the Jews. 

Geiger's suggestion lias had wide acceptance among Western 
scholars, 1 and it is curious that some of the Muslim philologers felt the 
difficulty, for as-Suyiitl, Itq, 320, and in the Mukadkdhab, tells us that 
some considered it to be Heb., and in Mutaw, 56, he quotes others as 
holding it to be Syriac. Syr. **) does mean to train, to instruct, and 
Eth. f*A to interpret, comment upon, whence JtCft'Th and ffCffl 
commentary, but neither of these is so likely an origin as the Jewish 
$"")*V which, as Buxtorf, Lex, 297, shows, is the commonest word 
in the Rabbinic writings in connection with the exposition of Scripture, 
and which must have been commonly used among the Jewish com- 
munities of Arabia. 3 



)5 (Dirham). 

xii, 20. 
A dirham. 

Only the plu. form ^IjS is found in the Qur'an, and only in 



the Joseph story. 

It was commonly recognized by the philologers as a borrowed word. 
al-Jawaliql, Mu'arrab, 66, notes it, 4 and ath-Tha 'alibi, Fiqh, 317, 
includes it in his list of words common to Persian and Arabic. There was 
some doubt as to the vowelling of the word, however, the authorities 

varying between ,%Jfc*p ; t-^J^ ail d (t^J^ or f^J-^ ( c ^ -^ xv > ^)' 

The ultimate origin is the Gk. fyja^/z??, 5 which passed into Syr. 
as UOD>>. Some, however, would derive Spa^r] from a Semitic 
source. Boissacq suggests this, and Levy, Fremdw, 118, connects it 

1 Fracnkel, Vocab, 23; Fleischer, Kleinere Schriflen, ii, 122; Sprenger, Leben, ii, 
289 ; Hirschfeld, Betirage, 51 ; New Researches, 28. 

2 Eth. f*ft and 9R > / f *t\ are themselves derived from the Heb. Nolde-k^, iAV?/e 
Jleitrdtje, 38; Horovitz, JPN, 109. 

3 Rhodokanakis, WZKM, xvii, 285, thinks that in ^j^here we have a combina- 
tion of ttf*n and D"n. " Zur Radix ^^ ist naohzutragen, dass in ihr VEF^\ und 
Oil (v. Levy) zusammenfielen. Daher einerseits die Bedeutung stwlieren anderseits 
arbeiten abnutzen." , 

4 So al-Khafaji, 83 ; LA, xv, 89. 

5 Fraenkel, Vocab, 1^; Fremdw, 191. 

K 



130 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 



with Heb. 718311 (Phon. D38311) * beside TOTTK, which is 
the Persian gold Daric, the Gk. SapeiKO?, and the Cuneiform da-ri-ku, 
which appears in Syr. as )jQ3j>>. Liddell and Scott, however, are 
doubtless right in deriving it from 8pa.(T(TOnai and meaning originally 
" as much as one can hold in the hand ", then a measure of weight 
and lastly a coin. This Spa-^/j.^ passed into Iranian first as a measure of 

weight and then as a coin. In Phlv. we find the ideograms p.i dram 
and J**o draxm meaning a silver coin, 2 or sometimes tnoney in general, 3 

which is the origin of the Mod. Pers. *j$ and p and the Arm. 



^L/iwi/^ 4 and may be assumed as the source of the Ar. j$ also. 5 

It was doubtless an early borrowing from the Mesopotamian area, 
for it occurs in the old poetry, e.g. 'Antara xxi, 21 (Ahlwardt, Divans 9 
p. 45). 



(Dihaq). 
Ixxviii, 34. 
Full. 

It occurs only in an early Meccan passage descriptive of the delights 
of Paradise, where, besides an enclosed garden and full-bosomed 

virgins, the blessed are promised IsLjo L*.lj . 

The Commentators are agreed that it means fall and there is con- 
siderable agreement that it is to be derived from ^*po to press. 



1 Lidzbarski, Handbuch, 257 ; Harris, Glossary, 96 ; cf. also Aram. D1D11 in 
Cook, Glossary, 41. 

2 PPGl, 105 and 110; Nyberg, Glossar, 58; Sayast, Glossary, 160; Frahang, 
Glossary, 78. Haug thinks this of Babylonian origin, but Hubschmann rightly derives 



it from a form *drahm from Spaxw, and then compares Av. JJ(^yjJOO taxma, 

cf. Arm. Gramm, i, 145 ; Pers. Stud, 251. 

8 e.g. in the Dadistan-i-Dmlk, cf. West, Pahlavi Texts, ii, 242. 

4 Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 145. 

6 Vullers, Lex, i, 832, 840 ; Vollers, ZDMG, li, 297, and Addai Sher, 62, though 
some statements of the latter need correction. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR 5 AN 131 

, ^r 

They are not very happy over the form, however, for ,*- 1) is fern. 
and we should expect 451^0 not v5u^ Exactly the same form, how- 

ever, is found in a verse of Khidash b. Zuhair 

D ^ ^ .** 

IsUo Lfc 4J li^rLs I'lji j*.^ ^U 1C! 

" There came to us 'Amir desiring entertainment from us, so we 
filled for him a full cup." 

so Sibawaih suggested that it should be taken not as an adj. to u-uD 

but as a verbal noun. 1 

There is ground, however, for thinking that the word is not Arabic 
at all. 2 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 282, would relate it to plTl, which we 
find in Heb. pHR to crowd, oppress, thrust ; Aram. pPPT ; Syr. %!> 

to crowd, squeeze, which is the Ar. T*pO to drive away, expel. The 
change of PI to H he would explain as Mesopotamia!!. Thus 



would mean " a cup pressed out", referring to the wine pressed to 
fill the cup. 



Of very frequent occurrence. Of. i, 3 ; ii, 257, etc. 

Judgment, Religion, and in ix, 29, verbally " to make profession 
of faith ". 

fj- ^ 
In the Qur'an we find also o a debt, that which one owes 

*> ^ 
(cf. iv, 12, 13 ; ii, 282), and i JL for one who receives payment of a 

X 1 

debt (xxxvii, 51 ; Ivi, 85), besides the verb ^ ]JS " to become debtors 

to one another " (ii, 282). These, however, are later developments of 
the word within Arabic. 

The Muslim authorities usually treat it as an Arabic word (cf. 

1 Vide LA, xi, 395, 396. 

2 Horovitz, Parodies, 11, says : '* Auch die Herkunft von jUj . . ist unsicher." 



132 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR^AN 

Raghib, Mufradat, 175), and derive it from jlS " to do a thing as a 
habit", but this verb seems to be denominative from <jO in the 
sense of obedience, which, like Al^Ju and jlS (i.e. lAl^jSo and 

|uj), is a borrowing from the North, connected with Akk. danu, 
Heb. fH ; Syr. tO>. There was a suspicion among the philologers, 
however, that it was a foreign word, for LA, xvii, 27, notes tttat some 
authorities admitted that it had no verbal root, and al-Khafaji, 90, and 
ath-Tha'alibi, Fiqh, 317, include it in their lists of foreign words. 

As a matter of fact we have here two separate words of different 
origin. 1 (i) In the sense of religion the word is a borrowing from Iranian. 
In Phlv. we find jjy den meaning religion? from which come ^xyfo 
dendk for religious law, ))0j" ^w-*^ of the same religion, 3 and 
)W)0 dendn, used in the sense of "the religious 1 ', i.e. true 
believers. This Phlv. j)O is derived from Av. *i)uj^ daena, 
religion 4 (though this itself is probably derived from the Elamitish 

den)* and besides being the origin of the Mod. Pers. JO, 6 was 
borrowed into Arm. as ^te meaning religion, faith (and also law 7 
in the sense of a "religious system", e.g. ijJA 1/^/^1% = 
u)wo-u. >))($ the Mazdian religion or Law), (ii) In the sense of 
Judgment it is a borrowing from the Aramaic. Thus we find in common 
use the Rabbinic WH, Syr. U*?> and Mand. WH, all meaning 
judgment and, indeed, the judgment of the last day. 8 

From the Aramaic the word passed into S. Arabian lrfp| and 



1 Noldeke in ZDMG, xxxvii, 534. See also Von Kremer, Mreifsilge, p. vii, and 
Ahrens, Christliches, 28, 34. 

2 PPGl, 110 ; 8&ya* 9 Glossary, 160, and the den of the Turfan Pahlavi ; Sale- 
mann, Manichaische, Mudien, i, 67. For the borrowing (f. Noldeke-Schwally, i, 20 ; 
Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 641 ; Noldeke, Mand. Gram, 102. 



a Cf. the Av. Al)H)AlA G-^W' Weat ' Gl 8sar y> 35 ' 

Bartholomae, AI W, 662; Horn, Grundrixs, 133; cf. also the Pazend edlni 
= irreligion. 

* But see Bartholomac, AIW, 665, and Ziramern, Akkad. Fretndw, 24, who derives 
it from Akk. de(i)nu. . . 

Addai Sher, 69, discusses its meaning. Curiously enough it is given by the 
Lexicons as a borrowing from Arabic, cf. Vullers, Lex, i, 956, but see Bartholomae, 
AIW, 665. 

7 Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 139. 
Montgomery, Aramaic. Incantation Texts from Nippur, Glossary, p. 285, 



8 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 133 



Eth. T with its verbal forms Rf V and f-ftfV (and Amharic 
judge ; Tigrina &*! judfl c ) \ into Iranian, where we find the 
Phlv. ideogram njy dena judgment, decree, 1 and also into Arabic. 2 
As used in the Qur'an it closely corresponds to Jewish use ; in fact 

the constantly occurring ^jj^\ *$ so exactly corresponds with the 

Rabbinte WH OF = THH DV that on the surface it seems obviously 
a borrowing from Jewish sources. The fact, however, that in Syriac, 
besides IL*; meaning judgment, we have also a ^J meaning 
religion, borrowed from the Iranian (Brockelmann, Lexicon Syriacwn, 
1516), giving us the same double usage as in Arabic, makes the 
probabilities seem in favour of the borrowing having been from a 
Christian source. 3 In any case it was an early borrowing for it is found 
not uncommonly in the early poetry. 4 

jLlo (Dinar). 

iii, 68. 

A dinar. 

The name of a coin, the Lat. denarius, Gk. 8r)vdpiov. The Muslim 
authorities knew that it was a loan-word and claim that it came from 
Persian, though they were not unanimous about it. al-Jawaliql, Mu'arrab, 
62, whose authority is accepted by as-Suyut!, 5 gives it as Arabicizcd 

lU 

from the Pors. Lo, but ath-Tha'alibl, Fiqh, 317, places it among the 

' x- 

words which have the same form in both Arabic and Persian. as-Suyuti, 
Muzhir, i, 139, places it among the words about which the philologers 
were in doubt, and Raghib, Mufntddt, 171 , while quoting the theory that 

it is of Pers. origin compounded from JO and jl, 6 yet gives his 

n 

own opinion that it is from jl_O and an Arabic word. Similarly the 

1 Frahany, Glossary, p. 79. 

2 Hirschfeld, Beitratje, 44 ; Koldeke, Xcue Beitrdge, 39 ; Fracnkel, Vocal), 22. 

3 Mingana, Synac. Influence, 85; Ilorovitz, AT, 62. 

4 Sec references in Horovitz, op. eit. Cheikho, $a*raniya> 171. 

5 Itq, 320 ; Mutaw, 46, vide also al-Khafaji, 86. 

6 Vide Vullers, Lex, i, 25 and 56. Dvorak, Fremdw, 66, points out that the late 
Greek explanations of the word take it to be from din-ar, i.e. 8eKaxaA/coi> ; of. Steph., 
Thesaurus, ii, 1094 : TO 8eKaxaA*ov ovrcus Ka\ciro Srympiov, or the even more 
ridiculous TO ra Seiva dipeiv nape 



134 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

Lexicons differ. The Qdmus says plainly that it is a foreign word like 
W Jl and *r u> > which the Arabs of old did not know and so borrowed 
from other peoples. TA, iii, 211, says that the authorities were 

uncertain 4^1 (3 C-*AU^-'.}> and Jawhari tries to explain it as an 

Arabic word. - , 

The form jvJ^ seems an invention to explain the plu. j-ulo, 

though it may be intended to represent the Phlv. 3,uj(j dendr, used 
for a gold coin in circulation in the Sasanian empire, 1 and which is 

the origin of the Pers. ju X The Phlv. JA>X>> however, is not 

original, and the oft suggested connection with the Skt. ^t*!TT> 
a gold coin or gold ornament, is hardly to the point, for this is itself 
derived from the Gk. 8r)vdptov? and the Phlv. word was doubtless 
also borrowed directly from the Greek. 

Srjvdptov from the Lat. denarius was in common use in N.T. times, 
and occurs in the non-literary papyri. 3 The Greeks brought the word 
along with the coin to the Orient in their commercial dealings, and the 
word was borrowed not only into Middle Persian, but is found also in 
Arm. tj-ffinup,* in Aram. *")J*H, which occurs both in the Rabbinic 
writings (Levy, W&rterbuch, i, 399, 400) and in the Palmyrene 
inscriptions (De Vogue, Inscr, vi, 3 = NSI, No. 115, p. 273), 6 and in 
Syr. I;!*?. The denarius aureus, i.e. the Syvdpiov ^pvcrovv, became 
known in the Orient as simply Srjvdpiov, and it was with the 
meaning of a gold coin that the word came into use in Arabic. 6 

Now as it was coins of Greek and not of Persian origin that first 
came into customary use in Arabia, we can dismiss the suggested 
Persian origin. Had the word come directly from Greek, however, 



1 PPGl, 110 ; Karnamak, ii, 13 ; Sayast, Glossary, 160. 
a Monier Williams, Sanskrit Dictionary, 481. 

3 Kenyan, Greek Papyri in the Hritifih Museum, ii, 306 : " The term denarius 
replaces that of drachma which was regularly in use before the time of Diocletian ; the 
Neronian denarius reintroduccd by Diocletian being reckoned as equivalent to the 
drachma and as ^^jj of a talent.*' 

4 Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 346. Brockelmann in ZDMG, xlvii, 11. 

5 The actual form is |^*V1 with the Aram. plu. ending. 

Zambaur in El, i, 975, thinks that the shortened form of the name became 
current in Syria after the reform of the currency by Constantino I (A.D. 309-319). 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 135 

we should expect the form JJjuO, and the actual form juO 

suggests an Aram, origin, as Fraenkel had noted. 1 It was from the 
Syr. Ijl^j that the Eth. tf/fC was derived, 2 and we may assume 
that the Arabic word was also taken from this source. 3 It was an 
early borrowing, as it occurs in the old poetry. 



_ (Dhakkd). 
v, 4. 
To make ceremonially clean. 

Only once does this word occur, and then in a very late Madinan 
passage giving instruction about clean and unclean meats. Muslims 
are here forbidden to eat that which dieth of itself, blood, flesh of 
swine, that which has been offered to strange gods, anything strangled 
or gored or killed by an accident or by a beast of prey " save what 

you have made ceremonially clean" ^Lj ^ L, J \ the ref- 

\ - 

erence being, the Commentators tell us, to the giving of the death 
stroke in the orthodox fashion to such maimed or injured beasts. 4 

This whole passage is obviously under Jewish influence (cf. Lev. 
xi, 7 ; xvii, 10, 15, etc.), and Schulthess, ZA, xxvi, 151, 5 has suggested 

that the verb ,J) ^ here is a borrowing from the Jewish community. 

In Bibl. Heb. POT (Pi) means "to make or keep clean or pure ", 6 
but the Aram. ^3*1, &QT mean "to be ritually clean", and the 
Pa. ^3*1 is " to make ritually clean ", giving us precisely the form 

we need to explain the Arabic. The Syr. ,JLDJ has the same meaning, 

but as the distinctions of clean and unclean meats meant little to the 
Christians, the probabilities are in favour of a Jewish origin. 



1 Vocab, 13 ; Frewdw, 191. 

2 Noldekc, Neue Beitrage, 41 ; but sec p. 33, where he suggests a possible direct 
borrowing from the Greek. 

3 Mingana, Syriac Influence, 89. 
* Wellhausen, Re*te t 114,n. 4. 

5 " Wahrscheinlich ist aber dieses letzere J$o irgendwie jiidischen Ursprungs." 
8 Note also Phon. K37, Harris, Glossary, 99. 



136 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

Llflj (Ra'ina). 

ii, 98 ; iv, 48. 

The reference is the same in both passages " say not rd'ind but 
say unzurnd." The Commentators tell us that the Jews in Arabia 

used to pronounce the word ui j, meaning " look at us ", in such 
a way as to relate it with the root S7T. evil, so Muhammad urged his 

followers to use a different word U^-KW i behold us, which did not 

lend itself to this disconcerting play on words. 1 

Hirschfeld, Bcitraye, 64, thinks the reference is to &0!"W"I or 
13KT occurring in connection with some Jewish prayer, but it is 
much more likely that the statement of the Commentators is correct 
and that as Geiger, 17, 18, noted, 2 it is a play on S?"1 and J1JO, and 
reflects the Prophet's annoyance at the mockery of the Jews. 



(Eatib). 

Occurs very frequently, e.g. i, 1. 
Lord, master. 
The root 33*1 is common Semitic, probably meaning to be thick, 

* > 
as illustrated by Ar. v^j to increase, ^j thick juice, the Rabbinic 



23") grease, beside the Eth. ^flfl to expand, extend. The souse of 
great, however, which is so common in Heb. and Aram., and from which 
the meaning Lord has developed, does not occur in Ar. or in Eth. save 
as a borrowing. 3 This sense seems to have developed in the N. Semitic 



area, and Margoliouth, ERE, vi, 248, notes that s^j meaning Lord 

or Master must have been borrowed from the Jews or Christians. 

The borrowing was probably from Aram, for it was from an Aram. 
source that the word passed into Middle Persian, as witness the 

Phlv. ideogram -m) rabd meaning great, venerable, splendid (PPGl, 

1 as-Suyutl, Itq* 320, quoting Abu Na'Im's Dala'il an-Nubuwwa. Cf. Mutaw, 5$. 

2 Vide, also Palmer, Qoran, i, 14 ; and Dvorak, Fremdw, 31 ; Horovitz, JPN, 204. 

3 It occurs, however, in Sab. fl), though this, like Eth. lM t and dlfl'J, may 
be from the Aram. Torrey, Foundation, 52, claims that ^} is purely Arabic. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 137 

190 ; Frakang, Glossary, 106), which occurs as early as the Sasaniau 
inscriptions, \vhere ^3(l| is synonymous with the Fazend -M>Q> 
iwzurg. 1 We find H"l very frequently in the Aramaic inscriptions, 
e.g. plfl I*] "chief of the market", K^TI 31 u chief of the 
army ", NrP*12?Q 31 " camp master ", etc., 2 though its use in 
connection with deities is rarer, 3 names like /fcOT meaning " El 
is great '* rather than u El is Lord ". The special development of its 
use with God was in the Syriac of the Christian communities, and as 
Sprenger, Leben, i, 299, suggests, it was doubtless under Syr. influence 
that Muhammad uses it as lie does in the Qur'an. 4 It was commonly 
used, however, both of human chieftains and of the deity in pre- 
Islamic days, as is evident from the old poetry, and from its use in 
the inscriptions (Hyckmans, Noms propres, i, 196; Rossini, Ghssarium, 
235). 

* .1 ^-^ 

,^\-\ J (Rabbdni). 

iii, 73 ; v, 48, 68. 
Rabbi. 

The passages are all late, and the reference is to Jewish teachers, 
as was recognized by the Commentators. Most of the Muslim 

authorities take it as an Arabic word, a derivative from ^j (cf. TA, 



i, 260 ; Raghib, Mufmdat, 183 ; and Zam. on iii, 73). Some, however, 
knew that it was a foreign word, though they were doubtful whether 
its origin was Hebrew or Syriac. 5 

As it refers to Jewish teachers we naturally look for a Jewish 
origin, and Geiger, 51, would derive it from the Rabbinic ]3"1, a 
later form of ^31 used as a title of honour for distinguished teachers, 6 



1 West, Glossary, 133 ; Herzfeld, Paikuli, Glossary, 240. 

2 See Cook, Glowary, under the various titles. So Phon. 31. Cf. Harris, Glossary, 
145. 

3 Though in the S. Arabian inscriptions we find 1 nil), MlnXM), etc. 
(see Ryckmans, Nnws propres, i, 248), and there is a similar use in the Ras Shamra 
tablets. 

4 Hirschfelcl, New Researches, 30, however, argues that the dominant influence 
was Jewish. See also Horovitz, JPX, 199, 200. 

5 Vide. al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 72 ; as-Suyuti, Itq, 320 ; Aluzhir, i, 130 ; al-Khafaji, 94. 

6 Hirschfeld, Beitragc, 51 n., says : " Muhammad ermahnt die Kabbinen 
(rabbani) sich nicht zu Herren ihror Glaubens^enossen zii machen, sondern ihre 
Wiirde lediglich auf das Studium der Schrift zu beschranken, vgl. ix, 31." Vide 
also von Kremer, Ideen, 226 n. 



138 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

so that there grew up the saying ]3*1 ^ITIQ /n3 " greater than 

m *i 
Rabbi is Rabban". The difficulty in accepting (i^-[j as a direct 

derivative from 13*1, however, is the final (^, which as Horovitz, 
KU, 63, admits, seems to point to a Christian origin. In Jno, xx, 16 ; 



Mk, x, 51, we find the form pa/3/3oui>/ (6 Xtytrcu, 
or pafitS&vei, which seems to be formed from the Targumic 113"] , l 
and it was this form that came to be commonly used in the Christian 
communities of the East, viz. Syr. *jUQO> ; Eth. ^fl-fc ; Arm. 
fLu/fipiL^.2 The Syr. -uaoi was very widely used, and as Pautz, 
Offenbarung, 78, n. 4, notes, lioi was commonly used for a doctor of 
learning, and the dim. *jJQ2) was not uncommonly used as a title 
of reverence for priests and monks, so that we may conclude that the 
Qur'anic word, as to its form, is probably of Syriac origin. 3 

j (EM). 

ii, 15. 

To be profitable, 

A trading term which Earth, Etyniol. Stud, 29 (but cf. Torrey, 
Commercial Theological Terms, p. 44), has equated with the Jewish 
nmX. It seems more likely, however, to have come from the 
Eth. >(lfh luerari, lucrifacere,* which is very commonly used and 
has many derivatives, e.g. 4*flh% a business man ; CH/h gain ; 
Cfl'rh profit bearing, etc., which are among the commonest trading 
terms. It is thus probably a trade term that came to the Arabs from 
Abyssinia, or may be from S. Arabia (cf. Ryckmans, Noms proprcs, 
i, 196 ; Rossini, Glossarium, 236). 



(Ribbiyun). 

iii, 140. 
Myriads. 

1 Dalraan, Worte Jesu, 267, and see his Grammatik des jtod. paldst. Aramdisch, 
p. 176. 

2 Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 376 ; ZDMG, xlvi, 251. 

3 Mingana, Syriac Influence, 85, agrees, but see Horovitz, JPN, 200. 

4 Fraenkel in Beit. Ass, iii, 74, says that Noldeke suggested this derivation, but 
I cannot locate the reference. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR ? AN 139 

The passage is a late Madinan one encouraging the Prophet in his 
difficulties. 

as-Suyutl, Itq, 321, says that certain early authorities considered 
it a Syriac word, and this is probably correct. Syr. t Q, the plu. 
of QQi meaning myriads, translates both fjivpioi and /jLVpLaSt? of 
the LXX. 1 






Ixxiv, 5. 
Wrath. 

The Sura is an oarly one, and in this passage the Prophet is urged 
to magnify his Lord, purify his garments, and flee from the wrath 

to come *3fc*li >- JlJ 

It is usual to translate the word as abomination or idolatry and make 
it but another form of C>-, which occurs in ii, 56 ; vii, 131, etc. 



(cf. LA, vii, 219 ; Raghib, Mufradat, 186, and the Commentaries). 
There was some feeling of difficulty about the word, however, for 



Zam. thought the reading was wrong and wanted to read J>-j, 
instead of >-j, and as-Suyuti, Itq, 311, would explain it as the form 



of >-j in the dialect of Hudhail. 

It seems probable, however, as Bell, Origin, 88, and Ahrens, 
Muhammed, 22, have suggested, that the word is the Syr. 1Si> 
wrath, used of the " wrath to come ", e.g. in Matt, iii, 7. 2 (Fischer, 
Glossar, 43, says Aram. iWn.) 

*J x' 

(Rajlm). 

iii, 31 ; xv, 17, 34 ; xvi, 100 ; xxxviii, 78 ; Ixxxi, 25. 

Stoned, pelted, driven away by stones, execrated. 

We find it used only of Satan and his minions, and it is said to 

1 Cf. also the Mandaean ]K!m ; Noldekc, Mand. Gramm, 190. 

2 Vide also 1 Thess. i, 10, and Lagarde, Analecta Syriaca, p. 8, 1. 19. 



140 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR % AN 

derive from the tradition that the demons seek to listen to the counsels 
of Heaven and are pelted away by the angels l (cf. Sura Ixvii, 5). 

The Muslim authorities naturally take it as a pure Arabic word, 

^ 

a form A A _*d from /%.^-jj which is used several times in the Qur'an. 

As a technical term associated with Satan, however, it would seem to 
be the Eth. (I*hSP*> and mean cursed or execrated rather than stoned. 
{S\O*> means to curse or execrate and is used of the serpent in Gen. 
iii, 14, and of those who are delivered over to the fire prepared for 
the devil and his angels in Matt, xxv, 41. Riickert, in his notes to his 
translation of the Qur'an (ed. A. Miiller, p. 440), 2 had noted this con- 
nection with the Eth. and Noldeke, Neue Beitrdye, 25, 47, thinks 
that Muhammad himself in introducing the Eth. word v*j?,fl\'} = 



introduced also the epithet Ct*9, but not knowing the 
technical meaning of the word treated it as though from /%.> j 
i to stone. 9 (Cf. Ahrens, Chmtliehes, 39.) 



(Ar-Rahman). 

Occurs some fifty-six times outside its place in the superscription 
of the Suras. 

The Merciful. 

It occurs always as a title of God, almost as a personal name 
for God. 4 

Certain early authorities recognized the word as a borrowing 
from Hebrew. Mubarrad and Tha'lab held this view, says as-Suyuti, 
I(q, 321 ; Mittaw, 58, and it is quoted from az-Zajjaj in LA, xv, 122. 

The root 011*1 is common Semitic, and several Arabic forms are used 



in the Qur an, e.. 



; /f*->-j ; 



1 There is, however, reason to believe that the epithet belongs to a much older 
stratum of Semitic belief in regard to demons, cf. Wellhausen, Rede, 111. 

2 See also Muller's statement in ThLZ for 1891, p. 348. 

3 Wellhausen, lte.ste, 232 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 49 ; Margoliouth, Ohrestomathia 
Uaidawiana, 160. Praetorius, ZDMG, Ixi, 620 if., argues against this derivation, 
but uneonvincingly. See also Van Vloten in the Feestbund,el aan de Goeje, pp. 35, 42, 
who thinks that it was used in pre-Tslamic Arabia in connection with pelting snakes. 

4 Sprenger, Leben, ii, 198. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 141 

but the form of /..*> j is itself against its being genuine Arabic. 

Fraenkel, Vocab, 23, pointed out that RlQm occurs in the Talmud 
as a name of God (e.g. N3Qm ~1QN ' k saith the all-merciful "), 
and as Hirschfeld, Beitrage, 38, notes, it is also so used in the Targums 
and in the Palmyrene inscriptions (cf. NSI, p. 300 ; RES, ii, 477). 
In the Christian-Palestinian dialect we find ^Qxi, which is the 
equivalent of the Targumic ]QmQ and in Lk. vi, 36, translates 
oiKTip/jLcov, 1 and in the S. Arabian inscriptions hh^HO occurs 
several times 2 as a divine name. 3 

There can be little doubt that it was from S. Arabia that the 
word came into use in Arabic, 4 but as Noldeke-Schwally, i, 113, points 
out, it is hardly likely to have originated there and we must look else- 
where for the origin. 5 Sprenger, Lcben, ii, 198-210, in his discussion 
of the word, favours a Christian origin, 6 while Hirschfeld, Beitrayc, 
39, insists that it is of Jewish origin, and Rudolph, Abhangigkeit, 28, 
professes to be unable to decide between them. 7 The fact that the 
word occurs in the old poetry 8 and is known to have been in use in 
connection with the work of Muhammad's rival Prophets, Musailama 
of Yamama 9 and al-Aswad of Yemen, 10 would seem to point to a 
Christian rather than a Jewish origin, though the matter is uncertain. 



Ixxxiii, 25. 
Strong wine. 

1 Schwally, Idiotwon, 88 ; Schultheas, Lex, 193, and see Wellhausen, ZDMG, 
Ixvii, 630. 

2 Muller, ZDMG, xxx, 672 ; (Islander, ZDMG, x, 61 ; CIS, iv, No. 6 ; and 
particularly Fell in ZDMG, liv, 252, who gives a list of texts where it occurs. 

3 Haluvy, JA, vine ser, xx, 326, however, takes it as an adjective and not as a 
divine name. (Note also Ahrons, ChristUche*, 35 ; Ryckmans, Xomtt proprcs, i, 31.) 

4 Grimme, ZA, xxvi, 161 ; Bell, Origin, 52; Lidzbarski in UBAW, Berlin, 1916, 
p. 1218. 

6 Halevy, REJ, xxiii, in discussing the inscription, thinks that it is of purely 
pagan origin. See also Margoliouth, tfchweich Lectures, 67 ff. 

6 So Pautz, Offenbaruiig, 171 n., and vide Fell, ZDMG, liv, 252. Mingana, Syriac 
Influence, 89. 

7 So Massignon, Lexique, 52. Sacco, Credenze, 18, apparently agrees with the 
Jewish theory. See also Horovitz, JPN, 201-3. 

8 Div. Hudh. (ed. Wellhauscn), clxv, 6 ; Mvfaddaliyat (ed. Thorbecke), 34, 1. 60 ; 
al-A*sha, Duan, Ixvi, 8. 

9 at-Tabarl, Annales, i, 1933-7. Ibn Hisham, 200. 
10 Kcladhori, 105, 1. 6. 



142 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 

The passage is early Meccan describing the delights of Paradise. 

The word is an unusual one and the Lexicons do not know quite 
what to make of it. They admit that it has no root in Arabic, and 
though they are agreed that it refers to some kind of wine, they are 
uncertain as to the exact meaning or even the exact spelling, i.e. 

whether it should be /V-*-j or <3^>-J ( c f ^> xi, 404). * 



Ibn Sida was doubtless not far from the mark when he said that 

it meant <3~. That old, well matured wine was a favourite among 
the ancient Arabs, Fraenkel, Fremdw, 171, has 'illustrated by many 

examples from the old poetry, and I suspect that ~>-j is the Syr. 
Qm*9 = Aram. pTl"1 far, remote, 2 which was borrowed as an ideo- 
gram into Phlv. as ^3.w3 old, antique (PPGl, 192). 



*> 



Of very frequent occurrence, of. ii, 57 ; xx, 131. 

Bounty. 

It means anything granted to another from which he finds benefit, 
and in the Qur'an refers particularly to the bounty of God, being 
used frequently as almost a technical religious term. 



Besides the noun cJjj we find in the Qur'an the verb 

(ii, 54, etc.), the part. ^Jjlj, he who provides (v, 114, etc.), and 

(3lj^!l the Provider, one of the names of God. The verb, of course, 

is denominative and the other forms have developed from it. 

It has long been recognized by Western scholarship that the word 

is a borrowing from Iranian through Aramaic. Phlv. ^gy 
rocik means daily bread 3 (cf. Paz. rozi) from <op roc, day, the Mod. 



1 Tt occurs in tho old poetry. Cf. Labid (ed. Chalidi, p. 33) ; and D. II. Muller, 
W ZKM, i, 27, notes its occurrence in the South Arabian inscriptions. 

2 But note the S. Arabian $40 remotus, and Eth. Crh*fr (Rossini, Glossarium, 240). 

3 Vide Shikand, Glossary, p. 266. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 143 

Pers. jjj, which is connected with Av. ()ijj|ii>AiJ raotah, light, 1 
O.Pers. rauda, day 2 ; Skt. ^t^ shining, radiant. The Phlv. JDgy 

was borrowed into Arm. as n-nZT^ daily provision, and then bread* 
and Syr. )oilo> daily ration,* which translates rpo([)ai in 1 Mace. 
i, 35, and also stipendium (ZDMG, xl, 452). In Mod. Pers. by regular 

change of J to (^ we get (j)j **% nee d, e.g. jji- cJJj "eating 

the daily bread ". 

It was from the Syr. that the word came into Arabic, 5 and thence 

was borrowed back into Pers. in Islamic times as (3 j J. 6 It was an 
early borrowing and occurs frequently in the old poetry. 



(Raqq). 
Hi, 3. 

A volume, or scroll of parchment. 

^j 

The Lexicons take the word from <3j to be thin (LA, xi, 414), 

which is plausible enough, but there can be little doubt that it is 
a foreign word borrowed from the Eth., 7 where ty means parchment 
(charta peryamena, mcmbrana, Dillmann, Lex, 284), which translates 
fji}Ji8pavai in 2 Tim. iv, 13. It was an early borrowing and occurs 
many times in the old poetry. 

> -Ml 

/t-.3 y I ( A r-Raqim) . 

xviii, 8. 

Ar-Raqirn is mentioned at the commencement of Muhammad's 
version of the story of the Seven Sleepers. The Commentators present 

1 Bartholomao,^l/H', 1489. 

2 Spiegel, Die altpers. Kertinschriftcn, 238. 

3 Hubschmann, Arm. Cramm, i, 234. 

4 Noldeke, ZDMG, xxx, 768 ; Lagarde, GA t 81. 

s So Lagarde, op. cit. ; Kuckert, ZDMG, x, 279 ; Fracnkel, Vocab, 25 ; Pautz, 
Offenbaruny, 164, n. 4 ; Siddiqi, Studien, 56. 

Lagarde, op. cit. ; Vullers, Lex, ii, 28. 

7 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 246. {j& is from Iftty to be thin ; cf. pp"l and *Oi, so 
that ^fe4 corresponds to jj. 



144 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE 

the widest divergences as to its meaning. Some take it as a place- 
name, whether of a village, a valley, or a mountain. Some think it 

was a document, a c^UJ or a f j). Others consider it the name 

of the dog who accompanied the Sleepers : others said it meant an 
inkhorn, and some, as Ibn Duraid, admitted that they did not know 
what it meant. 



Their general opinion is that it is an Arabic word, a form 

from rt^ij, but some, says as-Suyuti, Itq, 321, said that it was Greek, 

meaning either writing or inkhom in that tongue. 

The probabilities are that it is a place-name, and represents 
Ulyt? -V^V otherwise known as ^10 ]' r O ;SQO SQoi, a place 
in the desert country of S. Palestine, 1 very much in the same 

district as the Muslim geographers place ^J 

f 

(Rummdn). 

vi, 99, 142 ; Iv, 68. 

Pomegranate. 

The generally accepted opinion among the Muslim authorities is 



that it is a form j*i from * j (cf. Raghib, Mufrwlat, 203), but some 

had considerable doubts about it as we see from LA , xv, 1 48 ; and 
Jawhari, sub voc. 

Guidi, Delia Sede, 582, noted it as a loan-word in Arabic, and 
Fraenkel, Fremdw, 142, suggested that it was derived from the Syr. 

-> i Y. 

|liooi, the Arabic form being built on the analogy of ** L_A> . As the 

1 Cf. the Targumic KIWI Dpi. 

a Ibn Athlr, Chron, xi, 259 ; Yaqut, Mu'jam, ii, 804. 

3 Torrey in Ajeb Nameh, 457 ff., takes D^p^ to be a misreading of D^pl and 
to refer to the Emperor Decius who is HO prominent in the Oriental legends of the 
Seven Sleepers. Sueh a misreading looks easy enough in the Hob. characters, but 
is not so obvious in Syr. SGx)9 and ,GQxO, and as Horovitz, KU, 95, points out, 
it does not explain the article of the Arabic word. Horovitz also notes that names 
are carefully avoided in the Qur'anic story save the place-name ^J^Jl, which is 
at least a point in favour of Raqim being also a place-name. (Torrey's remarks on 
Horovitz's objection will bo found in Foundation, 46, 47.) 



FOREICrN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 145 

Eth. C? 71 and the Phlv. ideogram **v&y roramnd or jjjy rovnand, 1 

arc of Aram, origin we may assume the same for Ar, ^Lltj, 

but the ultimate origin of the word is still uncertain. 2 It occurs in 
Heb. as "pQ""), in Aram. WWH and X3QT"), as well as Mandaoan 
MiWn, 3 but appears to be non-Semitic. 4 Horovitz, Parodies, 9, 
thinks that if it is true that the pomegranate is a native of Socotra 
we may have to look in that direction for the origin of the word. It is, 
of course, possible that it is a pre-Semitic word taken over by the 
Semites. (See Laufer, Sino-Iranica, 285.) 



(Rauda). 
xxx, 14 ; xlii, 21. 

A rich, well watered meadow ; thence a luxurious garden. (LA, 
ix, 23.) 

Both passages are- late Meccan and refer to the blissful abode of 
the redeemed. 

There can be little doubt that the word was borrowed as a noun 

.* , * -- 
into Arabic, and from it were then formed <^J "to resort to a 



garden", (j^J'j " to render a land verdant ", (j^jjl 4 * to abound 

in gardens ", etc. As some of these forms occur in the early literature 
the borrowing must have been an early one. 

Vollors, ZDMG, 1, 641, 642, noted that the word is originally 
Iranian, and he suggested that it was from the Iranian V rud, meaning 
to yrow. 5 The Av. ^i-ui fojod means to flow* from which cornea 

1 PPG1, 198 ; Frdhang, Glossar, p. 105 ; and Noldeko, Neue Beitrar/fi, 42. 
3 Low, Aram&Mche Pfltinzfiiwiainen, 310, says : " Etymologic dunkol," and soo 
Ziinincrn, Akkad. Fremdw, 54. 

3 Nt>ldekc, Aland. Gramm, 123 ; Lidxbarski, Mandaisc.hfi Lituryien, p. 218. 

4 Hommel, Anfsdtze, 97 ff. ; RDB, 941, "a foreign word of doubtful origin" 

5 " ^JJ ^ * ine Wtymulogio : zur Bcdeutung ist hier nur daran zu orirmorn, 
dass cs in der Nomadensprache jeden grunen Fleck in odor Umgebung bczeiehnet. 
Mit dem alten Spraehgcbrauch deckt sich nooh jctzt nach meiner Krfahrung gonau 
dio Sprachc z.B. der Sinaibeduinen. . . . Toh glaubo nicht fehl z\i gehen, wenn ich, 

j, aus p. \/ rud c waohscn ', erklfiro." 
Bartholomae, AIW, 1495; Reichelt, Awestisc.hes Elementarbuch, 493. 



146 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 



raoSah a river* and JJ^D^JJ) rao8a, growth (cf. 






Skt. "O^, rising, height), also meaning stature,* From the same root 



comes Phlv. 5y a lake or riverbed* and the Pers. ^Jj commonly 



used for river, e.g. C*J ^Jj the Euphrates. The Phlv. word is 
important, for the Lexicons tell us (cf. Tha'lab in LA, ix, 23) that 

water was an indispensable mark of a <^Jj. Thus the conclusion 
would seem to be that the Arabs learned the Phlv. Sy 4 in the 
Mesopotamian area and used it for any well watered or irrigated land. 

(Ar-Knm). 

XXX, 1. 

The Byzantine Empire. 

It is the common name for the Byzantine Greeks, though also used 
in a wider sense for all the peoples connected or thought to be con- 
nected with the Eastern Roman Empire (e-f. TA, viii, 320). 

A considerable number of the early authorities took it as an 

Arabic word derived from *lj to desire eagerly, the people being so 

called because of their eagerness to capture Constantinople (Yaqut, 
Mu'jam, ii, 862). Some even gave them a Semitic genealogy L/l, xv, 
150, and Yaqut ii, 861. Others, however, recognized the word as 
foreign, as e.g. al-Jawallqi, Mu'arrab, 73, who is the authority followed 
by as-Suyutl, Itq, 32 1. 5 

The ultimate origin, of course, is Lat. Roma, which in Gk. is 'Pto/zr;, 
which came into common use when ?} Nea 'PoJ^u; as distinguished 
from 7} Trpeo-fivTepa 'Pco/zi; became the name of Constantinople 

1 Horn, (friindrift*, 139 ; Bartholomae, A I \V, 1495. Cf. th< O.IVrs. rautn = river 
which is related to Gk. pvais, ptrro?. 
PPUl, 198. 
3 PPG1, 198, cf. Av. AdJ) urud, riverbed, from the root mod (Reichelt, Avestan 

Reader, 266). and Pazend r^7, Phlv. qoy a river (flhikantl, Glossary, 265). 

1 Addai Sher, 75, wants to derive ^j from Pers. jij, which seoms to be wide 

of the mark. 

6 So Mutaw, 47, which elasses it among the borrowings from Persian. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'JVN 147 

after it had become the capital of the Empire. Naturally the name 
travelled eastward, so that we find Syr. fcooi ; **!sOOi beside t>DOOli ; 
*^00li; Arm. V"T or ^miiT * ; Kth. "1? ; Phlv. Gy* 
Arum 2 ; Skt. ^*T, anc ' tuo hrvm of the Turfan texts. 3 

The word may have come directly from the Greek into Arabic 
through contacts witli the Byzantine Empire such as we see among 
the Ghasfcanids, or it may be as Mingana, Syriac Influence, 98, thinks, 
that it came through the Syriac. 4 It is at any rate significant that 
"Tin occurs not infrequently in the vSafaite inscriptions, cf. Littiimnu, 
Semitic Inscriptions, 112 ff. ; Hyckmans, Now propres, i, 315, 309, 
and also in the old poetry, cf. the Mu'allaqa of Tarafa, 1. 23 (Horovitz, 
KU, 113), and is found in the Nemara inscription (RES, i, No. 483). 



j (ZTul). 
ii, 193. 

Provision for a journey. 

^ 

^ ^ " 
In the same verse occurs the denominative verb }) j , to provide 



oneself for a journey. 

This may be genuine Arabic as the Muslim savants without 
exception claim. On the other hand, Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 39, 
suggests that it may have had a Mesopotamia!! origin. There is an 
old Babylonian zuKlu, 1>csidc Akk. wlllu, meaning the money and 
other provisions necessary for a journey, and from this in all pro- 
bability came the Heb. JITS in the sense of provisions for a journey 
or a march, as in Gen. xlii, 25, etc. (see BDB, 845) ; and Aram. KTIT ; 
Syr. ]jO1 ; Palm. HIT with the same meaning. 

From some Aramaic form the word would then have passed into 
Arabic, probably at a quite early period, and then the verbal forms 
were built up on it in the ordinary way. 



1 Htibschiminn, Arm. Qramm, i, 362. 

2 Dinkard, 134, in the Bumbay edition, j>. 157, 1. 8, of the Pahlavi text. See 
also Jiwti's Glossary to the Bumlahexh, p. 02 ; Mukand, Glossary, 231 ; Herafold. 
Paikuli, Glossary, J04. 

3 Henning, Manichaica, ii, 70. 

4 Vide also Sprenger, LebeH, iii, 332, n. 



148 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

iJ 

4.-. - J L) j (Za&ama) . 

xcvi, 18. 

The guardians of Hell. 

They are said to be strong and mighty angels, and the name is 

*r 

usually derived from ,y j to push, thrust (Bagh. on the passage). 

We see from Zam., however, that the philologers have some difficulty 
in explaining the form. 

Vollers, ZDMG, li, 324, suggested a connection with Akk. zibumtu 
meaning balances, and Addai Sher, 77, wants to derive it from Pers. 



jtj blaze, tongue of fire, from Phlv. )AH)3 ziiban, a tongue. 1 It 

seems, however, as Andrae, Urspruny, 154, points out, to be connected 
with the Syr. 1>Q29, the duclores who, as Kplmiem Syrus tells 
us, 2 lead the departed souls to judgment. 

x- 

j^jj (Zabiir). 

iv, 161 ; xvii, 57 ; xxi, 105. 

The Psalter. 

Always the Book of David, and xxi, 105, given as a quotation 
therefrom, is from Ps. xxxvii, 29. 

The early authorities were not certain as to whether the word 

was to be read J/> j or j^jj, though they agree that it is from 



y t j to transcribe (Tab. on iv, 161; Raghib, Mufraddt, 210; as-Sijistani, 

j> >. 
166 ; Jawhari, i, 324). The plu. ^ j, as a matter of fact, is used in the 



Qur'an of Scriptures in general (e.g. xxvi, 196 ; liv, 43, etc.), and once 
of the Books of Fate (liv, 52), so that there is on the surface some 

colour to the claim that j Jj j may be from j j to transcribe. 

It is obvious, however, that the word must somehow have arisen 
as a corruption of some Jewish or Christian word for the Psalter, 

1 West, aiowary, 150 and 50 ; PPOI, 130. Of. Horn, (Jrundris*, 144. 

2 Opera, iii, 237, 244. Grimme, Mohammed, 1892, p. 19 n., thinks that some 
old name of a demon lies behind the word. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 149 

its form being doubtless influenced by the genuine Arabic j j (Ahrcns, 

Christliches, 29). Some have suggested that it is a corruption of mOT 
a Psalm or chant, 1 used, e.g., in Ps. Ixxxi, 3 ; xcviii, 5. the fi and 2 
being to some extent interchangeable in Arabic. Fraenkel, Fremd- 
worter, 248, however, thinks it more likely that it originated in a 
misunderstanding of ""HQTQ, which occurs also in Syr. l^oU>O ; ]ioLD^D 
and Eth. rfDTfa'C. 2 Earth, Etymol Stud, 26, suggested a 

connection between HDD and j jj j, 3 but Schwally, Idiolicon, 129, 
rightly rejects this solution. 

When we remember the early use of jO beside jj J and the fairly 

frequent use of j j> J in the early poet.ry in the general sense of a 

writing, 4 it seems simplest to think of some confusion made between 
derivatives from these roots and the "11QTQ or pQ^DlLo in use 



among Jews and Christians, so that even in p re-Islamic days 
came to be used by a popular derivation for the Psalter. 6 



. 

. L>- j (Zujdja) . . 

xxiv, 35. 

A glass vessel. 

There was some uncertainty as to the vowclling of the word, 



whether 4>-L>-j ; <>~U>. j or <>-L>.j. The philologers attempt 

^ 

to derive it from ^- J though they do not suggest how it can be 
explained from this root. 6 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 64, showed that it 

1 Hirsehfclcl, Beilrayc, 61, supports a .Jewish origin. 

2 Sec Horovitz, JPN. 205, 206. 

3 Cf. Fraenkel, in Keitr. A$fi, iii, 74. 

4 Vide Imru'til-Qais in Ahlwardt, Dim tut, 159, 160, an-Naiuri in Agluini, xn, IS, 
nnd other passages in Horovitz, K l r , 69 tt'., Cheikho, Nasmniya, 184, and Al-AlacJiri<i, 
xvi, 510. 

5 Cf. al-'Uqaili in LA, viii, 55, and the verses of the Jewish poet quoted by Hirseh- 
feld. Margoliouth, ERE, x, 541, supports the solution suggested above, and vide. 
Vollers, ZDMG, li, 293. Torrey, Foundation, 34, takes it to be an example of the 
Judaeo- Arabic dialect spoken by the Jews of Arabia. 

8 LA, iii, 112. 



150 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 

has no verbal root in Arabic, and suggested that it is the Aram. 
NrP313T, Syr. lAjL..CL.1 meaning glass or crystal. The Syr. 
word is early and quite common, and it was probably when the Arabs 
came to use glass that they took over the word along with the article. 

(Zukhruf). 



vi, 112 ; x, 25 ; xvii, 95 ; xliii, 34. 

Anything highly embellished. 

As used in the Qur'an it means ornamentation, though Ibn Slda 
says that its primitive meaning was (/old, and then any gilded decora- 
tion, and then decoration in general. There appears to be no occurrence 
of the word earlier than the Qur'an, though it may well have been 
an early word. 

It seems to be a deformation from the Syr. 
Aramaic KtTTinT, 1 meaning a bright scarlet colour much used 
for adornment. It is used for the scarlet curtains of the Tabernacle 
in Ex. xxvi, 1, and for the x\afJLVS KOKKivrf of Matt, xxvii, 28. 
The interchange of D and D is not a great difficulty, cf. Praetorius, 
Beit. Ass, i, 43, and Barth in ZDMG, xli, 034. 

* r '. 

^'JjJ (Zardbl). 
Ixxxviii, 16. 

Rich carpets. 

^ ^ 

uJ . i C . 

Plu. of 4.*_j jj or 4_*_ jj, occurring only in an early description 
^ * ^ ^' 

of Paradise. The word occurs not infrequently in the early literature 
and the exegetes have a clear idea that it means fine wide carpets, 
but their explanations of the form are confused 2 (cf. liaghib, Mnfmda,t, 
211). 

Fraenkel, Fremdiv, 92, thought that it was from the Syr. *>)] to 
check, stop, though it is difficult to see how this can explain its meaning. 

1 Addai Slier, 77, would derive it from PITH, jy j ornamentation, but there 
seems nothing in favour of this. 

2 The fact would seem to be that <Ljj is a later formation, and that the form 
that was borrowed was >ljj, which as a matter of fact is the only form that occurs 
in the oldest texts. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OK THE QUR^AN 151 

He notes, however, that Geo. Hoffmann would derive it from the 
Pers. I j \ under the foot, 1 which looks more likely, and which 

V " 

Horovitz, Parodies, 15, thinks possible, though if it is Persian it would 
seem more likely that it is connected with some formation from Phlv. 

\c . \? 

\y zarren, golden as in rjA^J jiJ? zarren- pesit (West, Glossary, 
148). 2 The most likely origin, however, is that suggested by Noldeke, 
Nenc Beilmye, 53, that it is from the Eth. HCfl*'!* carpet. Noldeke 
admits the possibility that the borrowing may have been the other 
way, 3 and one is inclined to derive both the Ar. and Kth. words from 
an Iranian source, but at present there is not sufficient evidence to 
decide what this source is. 

iL.i j J (Zakariyyd 9 ). 

x" 

iii, 32, 33 ; vi, 85 ; xix, 1,7; xxi, 89. 

Zachariah. 

Always as the father of John the Baptist, 4 though in iii, 32, he is 
the elder who reared Mary from childhood, an idea dependent of 
course on Protevanyelion, viii, 4. ^ ^ ^ 

There are variant spellings of the word, . u j j ; u j j and ( j j 

(Tab. on iii, 32), and the early authorities recognized the name as 
foreign, al-Jawallqi, Mu'arrab, 77. 5 The probabilities seem to be that 
it came into Ar. from Syr. Vp1. 6 We find fcOISKT in Mandaean, 7 
but there seems reason to believe that this form, like Yahya for 
Yohanna, has been influenced by Arabic (Brandt, JiRM, viii, 380). 
The name apparently does not occur in the early literature, 8 though 
it must have been well known to Arabian Christians in pre-Islamic 
times. 

1 Vullers, Lex, li, 168, 169. 

2 Addai Slier, 77, also argues for a Persian origin, but he wants to derive it from 

->ljJ meaning yellow water. 

3 80 Kraenkrf, op. eit. 

4 It is remotely possible that in the list of Prophets in vi, 85, it refers to someone 
else, but its elose connection there with the name Yahya would seem to indicate that 
the same Zachariah is meant as is mentioned in the other passages. 

8 So al-KhafajT, 99. 

Rhodokanakis, WZKM, xvii, 285; Horovitz, KU, 113; Mingatm, Kyriac, 
Influence, 82. 

7 As in the Liber Adami (ed. Norbcrg), and Qinzn (tr. Lidzbarski), 51, 213, 219. 

8 Horovitz rightly rejects the examples collected by Cheikho, 232. 



152 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 



; (Zakd). 
Of frequent occurrence in many forms. 
To be pure. 

The three forms which particularly concern us are ^-J j (cf. xxiv, 

>" <^ 

21), ^S j (ii, 146 ; iv, 52 ; xci, 9), and ^5 J>" (xx, 78 ; IxxxviL 14). 

The primitive meaning of the Arabic D j is to grow, to flourish, 

thrive, as is recognized by the Lexicons (cf. LA, xix, 77 ; and Raghib, 
Mufradat, 212). 1 This is the meaning we find in the earliest texts, 
e.g. Hawdsa, 722, 11 ; Labld (ed. Chalidi), etc., and with this we must 

connect the ^ jl of ii, 232 ; xviii, 18, etc., as Noldeke notes. 2 In this 

sense it is cognate with Akk. zalcu, to be free, immune 3 ; Aram. fcOT 
to be victorious, Syr. ]$}, etc. 

In the sense of clean, pure, however, i.e. .-J j, /*-J j,and ^J j , 

it is obviously a borrowing from the older religions. 4 Ileb. &QT (like 
Phon. fcOT) is to be clean or pure in the moral sense, and its forms 
parallel all the uses in the Qur'an. So the related Aram. &O*1, JOT, 
and *OT, Syr. loj, -*3>, and \3\ mean to be clean both in the 
physical and in the moral sense. The Arabic equivalent of these 

forms, of course, is o 5 to be bright, and so there can be little doubt 

that (3 J used in its technical religious sense was borrowed from an 

Aramaic form. It is, of course, difficult to decide whether the origin is 
Jewish or Christian. Noldeke, Neue Beitrdye, 25, n.; Schulthess, ZA, 
xxvi, 152; and Torrey, Foundation, 141, favour a Jewish origin, but 
Andrae, Vr sprung, 200, points to the close parallels between 
Muhammad's use of the word and that which we find in contemporary 

1 And sec Hurgronje, Verspreide Geschriftcu, ii, p. 11. 

2 Ncue Beitrage, 25 n. 

3 Zimmem, Akkad. Fremdio, 25. 

4 Grimmc, Mohammed, 1892, p. 15, tried to prove that ^jT for Muhammad 
meant " to pay legal alms " (Zakat), but this is far fetehed, as Hurgronje, RHR, 
xxx, 157 ff., pointed out. It is true, however, that in his later years Muhammad did 
associate justification before God with almsgiving (Bell, Origin, 80 ; see also Ahrens, 
Christliches, 21 ; Horovitz, JPN, 206 ff.). 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 153 

Syriac literature, 1 so that there is ground for thinking that it came 
to him from Christian sources. 



j (Zakdt). 

ii, 40, 77, 104, 172, 277 ; iv, 79, etc. 
Legal.Alms. Occurs only in Madinan passages. 

Naturally the Muslim authorities explain this word from ^3 j, 

and tell us that an Alms is so called because it purifies the soul from 
meanness, or even because it purifies wealth itself (cf. Raid, on ii, 
40, etc.), 2 though some sought to derive it from the primitive meaning 
of to increase (see Raghib, Mufmdal, 212, and the Lexicons). 

Zakdt, however, is another of the technical religious terms taken 
over from the older faiths. Fraenkel, Vocab, 23, suggested that it 
was from the Aram. ni2T. The primary sense of HIST, XrTQT is 
puritas, innoccntia, from which developed the secondary meaning 
of meritum as in the Tiirgum on Ruth iv, 21, but it does not seem 
that KniST, or its Syr. equivalent IZdDl, over meant alms, though 
this meaning could easily be derived from it. Fraenkel is inclined to 
believe that the Jews of Arabia had already given it this meaning 
before Islam " sed fortasse ludaei Arabici W2T sensu eleemosynarum 
adhibuerunt " (so Torrey, Fowulation, 48, 141). Noldeke, however 
(Ne,ue Beitraye, 25), is inclined to believe that the specializing of the 
word for alms was due to Muhammad himself. 3 



J J (Zanjabil). 

Ixxvi, 17. 
Ginger. 

1 Vide also Bell, Origin, 51. It is possible that the Phlv. JfaSJ dakia of PPGl, 



104, may be from the Hiinie origin. Frahany, Glossary, p. 87. 

2 The origin of this idea, of course, is in the Qur'iiii itself, cf. ix, 104. 

3 See also Bell, Origin, 80; SchuHhesH, in ZA, xxvi, 1.50, 151 ; Ahrens, Muhammad, 
180; Von Kremer, Streifz-Uge. p. xi ; Horovitz, JFX, 206. Wensinck, Joden, 114, 
says : " Men zal misHchien vragen of tot cle Mekkaansehc instcllingen niet de zakat 
behoort. En men zou zich voor dczo meening op talrijke Mekkaansche openbaringen 
kunnen bcroepen waar van zakat gesproken wordt. Men vergeto echter niet, dat het 
woord zakat *^J, het Joodseho 11137, verdionste beteekcnt. Deze naam is door de 
Arabische Joden of door Mohammed uitsluitend op het geven van aalmoczen en daarna 
op de aalmoes zelf toegepast." 



154 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 

It occurs only in a passage descriptive of the delights of Paradise, 
where the cxcgetes differ as to whether Zanjabll is the name of the 
well from which the drink of the Redeemed comes, or means the spice 
by which the drink is flavoured (vide Tab., Zam., and Baid. on the 
passage and LA, xiii, 332). 

There was fairly general agreement among the early authorities 
that it was a Persian word. ath-Tha'alibl, Fiqh, 318, and al-JawallqlJ 
Mu'arrab, 78, give it in their lists of Persian loan-words, and their 
authority is accepted by as-Suyuti, Itq, 321 ; Mutaw, 47 ; and al- 
Khafajl, 99. ^ 

The Mod. Pers. word for ginger is JJlXxi (Vullers, Lex, ii, 472 ; 

cf. also ii, 148) from Phlv. Jb^^c^j singafler, 1 which is the source 
of the Arm. A, W n L / L , 2 and the Syr. ^.S^JI ; Aram. X^3HT. 8 
The ultimate source seems to have been the Skt. ^np%T> 4 Pali 
singiv&ra, from which comes the Gk. Qyyi&tpis? There can be 
little doubt that the word passed into Arabic from Syr. and was 
thence borrowed back into Persian in Islamic times. 6 It occurs in the 
early poetry 7 and so was evidently an early borrowing. 



(Zawj). 

Occurs frequently in many forms, cf. ii, 33. 
A pair, species, kind, sex, couple, companion, spouse. 
It is a very early loan-word in Arabic from Gk. {eDyoy through 

1 So Vullers, Lex, ii, 148, and cf. Pnhlttri Texts, ed. Jamasp Ar-una, p. 31. 

2 Hubschmann, Arm. (Jramm, i, 238. 

3 From which was then derived the form X"TJ' 1 ?, Levy, Worterbucfi, i, 345. 

1 Yule (vide Yule and Burnell, Uobson Jtjbton', cd. Cooke, 1003, p. 374) thought 

that the Skt. ^J^F^T was a made-up word, and that as the home of the plant is in 
the Malabar district, we should look for the origin of the word in the Malayalam 
gnnnf| inchi, meaning root (cf. Tamil j$<&\ inji; Sinhalese gQO^fQ 
inguru), but there is the equal probability that these are all derived from the 
Skt. ^JIF a horn. Sec, however, Laufcr, ftino-Iranica, 54fi, 583. 

5 This then beoame ytyyt'jStpis and through the Lat. gingibvr became the Middle 
English gingevir and our ginger. IVorn fyytj3c/M? came the Syr. ^2)Q.kj] and 
other forms (Low, Aramainche Pfanzcnnarnen, p. 138). ^ 

6 Fracnkel, Vocab, 11 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 213 ; Horovitz, 1'aradie*, 11; Addai 
Sher, 80. 

7 See Geyer, Zwei Gedichte, i, 57 ; ii, 83 ; Jacob, Beduinenleben, 258. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THK QUR^AN 155 

** 

the Aram. The verbal forms ir j j, etc., with this meaning are clearly 

denominative, the primitive root 77 ij meaning "to sow discord 

*> *'. 
between". In the Qur'an we have many forms *r Jj to many, to 

^ ^ x 

couple with, ^ 3j plu. 77 ijjl a wife or husband (human) ; <r 3 j kind, 



, 
species ; O^Jj ft joair ; 7^ J j s?#. 

No Muslim authority, as Fraenkel notes (Frewdw, 107), has any 
suspicion that the word is other than genuine Arabic, but no derivation 
of the word is possible from Semitic material, and there can be no 
reasonable doubt that its origin is to be found in ^eOyos*. 1 ^eOyoy is 
originally a yoke from ^vyvvfjii to join, fasten? and then comes to mean 
a couple, so that Kara eCyoy or Kara ^evyrj meant in pairs, and 
thus evyo$ comwjium was used for a married pair. From Greek 
it passed eastwards and in the Uabbinic writings we have 3"1T meaning 
both pair arid wife,* and iOIT pair, husband, companion, besides the 
denominative 3;PT to bind or pair, and 31VT (^Jyoxn?, OH31T = 
fevyo? + 5/9. So Syr. L.O1 is yoke, and the very common hpl ^D 
= yokefellow, commonly used for husband or wife, with verbal forms 
built therefrom. It was from this Syr. that we get the Eth. }\Gh*l 
(Noldeke, Neue Bcitrdge, 44) and the Arm. ^j/^g, 4 and it was 
probably from the same source that it passed into Arabic. One might 
expect that it would be an early borrowing, and as a matter of fact 
it occurs in the early poetry. 5 

^ > 

(Zur). 



xxii, 131 ; xxv, 5, 72 ; Iviii, 2. 
Falsehood. 

It is linked with idolatry in xxii, 31, but in the other passages 
is quite colourless. 

1 Fnienkel, op. cit, 100 ; Vollera, ZDMfl, 1, 6J ; li, L>98 ; Ptfm, 1094. 

8 Cf. Lat. htngerc and tho Av. ^LjJJJ ( Bartholoiuao, AIW, 1228; Iteichelt, 

Elemcntarbuch, 477). 

3 Sco Meinhold's Yorna (1913), p. 29 ; Krauss, (Jricchische Lchmvorter, ii, 240-242. 

4 HubHohmaim, Arm. Gramm, i, 302 ; ZDMG, xlvi, 235. 
fi Cf. 'Antara, xxi, 31, in Ahlwardt's Divans, p. 46. 



156 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

The usual theory of the philologers is that it is derived from 

though this is clearly a denominative, and that the aiithorities felt 
some difficulty with the word is clear from LA, v, 426. 

Fraenkel, Frewdiv, 273, suggested that it was from "IT. 1 There is 
a Heb. word KIT loathsome thing from TIT to be loathsome, but it 
seems hardly possible to derive the Arabic from this. It would seem 



rather to be of Iranian origin. Pers. jj j is lie, falsehood, which 

Vullers, Lex, ii, 158, gives, it is true, as a loan-word from Arabic. He 
is certainly wrong, however, for not only does the word occur in 

Phlv. both simply as JyS zur, a lie, falsehood, fiction, 2 ' and in com- 

pounds as ^OO^^Vr zur-yukawh = false evidence, perjury? 
and in the Fazcnd znr, a Zt>, 4 but also in the O.Pers. of the Bchistun 
inscription (where we read (iv, 63-4) naiy draufana aham, naiy 
zurakara dJiam, " I was no liar, nor was I an evil doer/ 1 and further 
(iv, 65) naiy . . . zura akunavam Vk I did no wrong"), 5 and in the 
Av. u^utg^J'K zurdfaa* From Middle Persian the word 

was borrowed into Arm., where wo find qjn-p false, wow/, 7 which 
enters into several compounds, e.g. i^/m/pu/k calumimtor, ^/i^u*V/^ 
injustice, etc., so that it was probably directly from Middle Persian 
that it came into Arabic. 



* *. 

cl^j (Zait). 

xxiv, 35, also jji j ; vi, 99, 142 ; xvi, 11 ; xx\v, 35 ; IKXX, 29 ; 

xcv, 1. 

Olive oil. Olive tree. 

1 Vide also lieit. A*, iii, 67, whore ho says: "Das Koranisc-hc j^j habo ich 
in (iringrndom Vcrclacht aus dor Freinde ontlchnt zu win. Schon die vcrsohiodonar- 
tigcn Erklarungen der Arabor Hind aufliiillcnd." 

2 e.g. (Jusht'i-Fryand, iii, 29. 

3 e.g. Arda I'lrAf, Iv, 6 ; \lv, 5. 

4 Vide Uhilcand, Glossary, p. 275 ; Saloraann, ManichaeifuJw Mudien, i, 80. 

5 Spiegel in tlie Glossary to his Altpersischen Keilinschriften, p. 243, translates 
zura by " Gewalt ", but Hiibschmann, ZDMQ, xlvi, 329, rightly corrects him. 

Bartholomao, AIW, 1698; Horn, Grundriss, 149, 674. 
7 Hubschmann, Arm. Gram, i, 151. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR'AN 157 

The word has no verbal root in Arabic, Cj\j to give oil being 

obviously denominative, as was clear even to the native Lexicographers 
(LA, ii, 340, etc.). 

Guidi, Delia Sede, 600, had noted the word as a foreign borrowing, 
and Fraenkel, Fremdw, 147, points out that the olive was not indigenous 
among the Arabs. 1 We may suspect that the word belongs to the 
old pre-Sfcmitic stratum of the population of the Syrian area. In 
Heb. f"PT means both olive tree and olive, 2 but Lagarde, Mittheilungen, 
iii, 215, showed that primitively it meant oil. In Aram, we have X1TT 
and Syr. 1A*1, which (along with the Heb.) Gesenius tried unsuccess- 
fully to derive from HHT to be brif/ht, fresh, luxuriant. The word is 
also found in Coptic &OJT beside tfeeiT and a'o^iT, where it is clearly 
a loan-word, and in Phlv. ej3 3 and Arm. Zift oil, <*/i/V/^ 
olive tree, which are usually taken as borrowings from Aram., 4 but 
which the presence of the word in Ossetian zefi, and Georgian 'bgcno 
would at least suggest the possibility of being independent borrowings 
from the original population. 5 

The Arabic word may have come directly from this primitive 
source, but more likely it is from the Syr. "JA^I, which also is the source 
of the Eth. HjMh (Noldeke, Neite Beilraye, 42). 6 1 1 was ail early borrow- 
ing in any case, for it occurs in the old poetry, e.g. Divan Ilwlh, Ixxii, 
6 ; Ayhdnl, viii, 49, etc. 



(Sffa). 

Of very frequent occurrence, cf. vi, 31 ; vii, 32 ; xii, 107, etc. 
Hour. 

It is used in the Qur'an both as an ordinary period of time an 
hour (cf. xxx, 55 ; vii, 32 ; xvi, 63), but particularly of '' the hour ", 

1 He quotes Strabo, xvi, 781 , whose* evidence is rather for S. Arabia. Bekri, Mu'jam, 
425, however, Hays that the olive is found in Syria only, and we may note that in 

Sura xxiii, 20, the^tree on Mt. Sinai yields j&i not ^ j. 

2 So Phon. TIT (ef. Harris, GloMary, 99), and J17 in the Has Shamra texts. 

3 PPGl, 242. 

4 Hiibschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 309 ; ZDMG, xlvi, 243. Logarde, Mitth, iii, 219, 
seemed to think that Ai[<r was tho origin of the Semitic forms (but see his Arm. 
Mud, No. 1347, and Ubersicht, 219, n.). 

5 Laufer, Nino-Iranica, 411, however, still holds to a Semitic origin for all the 
forms. 

8 Eth. H/?*f**} however, is from Ar. ^L j, cf. Noldeke, op. cit. 



158 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QITR'AN 

the great Day of Judgment (liv, 46 ; xlii, 17 ; vi, 31, etc.). It occurs 
most commonly in late Meccan passages. 

It is difficult to derive the word from the Ar. * LH- " to let camels 

run freely in pasture ", though it might conceivably be a development 
from a verbal meaning " to pass along ", i.e. to elapse. The Lexicons, 
however (cf. LA, x, 33), seem to make no attempt to derive.it from a 
verbal root. 

The probabilities are that it is of Aram, origin. KPtfC? occurs in 
Bibl. Aram., and PHflZ?, NS?2? and NnS?$ are common in the 
Targums and Rabbinical writings for both a short time x and an hour, 
both of which meanings are also found for the commonly used Syr. 
]Ab. In Syr. ]/& is very frequently used in cschatological 
passages for " the hour", cf. Mark xiii, 32 ; Jno. v, 28, etc. ; and 
Ephraem (ed. Lamy) Hi, 583, precisely as in the Qur'anic eschatological 
passages. As the Eth. rtO'Th or A^'l', which is also used eschatologically, 
is a borrowing from the Syr. (Noldeke, Nette Beifr, 44), we aro, fairly 
sure, as we have already noted (supra, p. 40), that as an eschatological 
term the Arabic has come from Syr., and the same is probably true of 
the word in its ordinary usage. It occurs in the early poetry, and so 
would have been an early borrowing. 



(A s-Samiri) . 

xx, 87, 90, 96. 

The Samaritan. 

The Qur'an gives this name to the man who made the golden 
calf for the Children of Israel. 

Geiger 166 2 thought that the word was due to a misunderstanding 
of the word ^KQO, the Angel of Death who, according to the story 
in Pirke Rabbi Eliezer, xlv, 3 was hidden within the calf and lowed to 
deceive the Israelites. This, however, is rather remote, and there can 
be no doubt that the Muslim authorities are right in saying that it 
means " The Samaritan ". The calf worship of the Samaritans tnay 

1 From the fact that the word can mean an extremely short period of time some 
have thought that its original meaning was " Augenblinek ", " the blink of an eye ", 
related to Akk. Se'u, Heb. HlTlp to yaze. 

8 Followed by Tisdall, Sources, 113 ; but see Heller in El, sub voc. 

3 In Friedlander's translation (London, 1916), p. 355. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR ? AN 159 

have had something to do with the Qur'auic story. 1 But as Fraenkel, 
ZDMG, Ivi, 73, suggests, it is probably due to some Jewish Midrash 
in which later enmity towards the Samaritans led pious Jews to find 
all their calamities and lapses of faith due to Samaritan influence. 2 
A comparison of the Syr. U*r^* with Heb. ^IIEE? would suggest 

a Syr. origin for the Ar. ^ .L, but as Horovitz, KU, 115, notes, 
there is a late Jewish ^KIPCJ or "IPIZJ which might quite well be 
the source of the Qur'anic form. 



(Sdhira). 

Ixxix, 14. 

The passage is an early one referring to the Last Day " Lo 

there will be but a single blast, and behold they are S^uJb," 
where the Commentators are divided in opinion as to whether Sahira 
is one of the names of Hell ~,%i$>- f\, or a P^ce in Syria which 
is to be the seat of the Last Judgment, or means the surface of the 
earth <ji>jVI 4>- ). See Tab., Baid. and Bagh. on the verse. 

Sprenger, I^eben, ii, 514, notes that " aus dem Arabischen liisst es 
sichnichterklaren", and suggests that it is derived from the lilO!! rT3 
which as used in Gen. xxxix and xl means prison. There seems, how- 
ever, to be no evidence that this "IHO was ever connected with the 
abode of the wicked, and Schulthess, Umayya, 118, commenting on 



the verse of TJmayya y*; JL^J j JU<* vAlP, " we are 
permitted hunting on sea and on dry land," would explain it from 
the Aram. KmHO = Syr. \L\S& 3 meaning environs. He points 



1 cf. the jnatzr bw of HOS. viii, 5, G. 

2 A confirmation of this ia found in tho words of v, 97, giving the punishment of 
the Siimirl, where the " touch me not " doubtless refers to the ritual purifications of 
the Samaritans. Cf. Gold/iher's article La Revue, Africairut, No. 268, Alger, 1908. 
Hal6vy, Itevue Stmitiyup, xvi, 419 ft*., refers it to tho cry of the lepers, but Horovitz, 
KU t 115, rightly insists that this is not sufficient to explain the verse. 

3 On which see his llomonyme Witrzeln, 41 if. 



160 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR 5 AN 

out that * = H is not unknown in words that have come through 

Nabataean channels. 1 

It is not impossible, however, to take it as an ordinary Arabic word 
meaning awake. 



(Saba 9 ). 

xxvii, 22 ; xxxiv, 14. 
Saba'. 

The name of a city in Yemen destroyed by a great inundation. 
We have fairly extensive evidence for the name of the city from non- 

Arabic sources. It is the hFIA of the S. Arabian inscriptions (CIS, ii, 
375; Mordtmann, Sab. Denkm, 18; Glaser, Zwei Inschriften, 68; 
.Rossini, (llossarium, 192 ; Ryckmans, Noms propres, i, 353), which 
occurs in the Cuneiform inscriptions as Sub* a and Saba\ 2 in Greek us 
2a/3ct, 3 in Heb. 3$, from which are Syr. )m, Kth. frflfc. 

As the Qur'anic statements about Saba' are connected with the 
Solomon legend, it is possible that like, the name Suleiman, it came 
to him from Christian sources, though we cannot, absolutely deny its 
derivation from Rabbinic material (Horovitz, KU, 115; JPN, 157), 
and indeed the name may have come directly from S. Arabia. 

CZ- (Sabt). 

ii, 61 ; iv, 50, 153 ; vii, 163 ; xvi, 125. 
Sabbath. 

(Sprcnger and others would add to this OLl.*-, rest in xxv, 49 ; 
Ixxviii, 9.) 4 

We find ol^ only in relatively late passages and always of the 



Jewish Sabbath. The Muslim authorities treat it as genuine Arabic 
from CHI* to cut, and explain it as so called because God cut off 



1 Hifl examples arc JAJ 

2 Delitzsch, Parwlie.% 303. 

3 27a/Ja in LXX, but Zd^arav in Strabo. 

4 Leben, ii, 430 ; Gninbaum, ZDMG, xxxix, 584, but see Horovitz, K[J, 96. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 161 

His work on the seventh day 1 (cf. Bai(J. on ii, 61 ; and Mas'udi, 
Muruj, iii, 423). 

There can be no doubt that the word came into Arabic from Aram. 2 
and probably from the Jewish NFISt? rather than from the Syr. 

)Ao. The verb cH**^" f vu \ 163, is then denominative, as Fraenkel, 



Vocab, 21, has noted. It is doubtful if the word occurs in this meaning 
earlier than the Qur'an. 



(Sabbaha). 

Of very frequent occurrence, cf. ii, 28, etc. 
To praise. 

Besides the verb we have jUtX,*- p raise 3 ; 
*c,1H~,4 one who celebrates praise, all obviously later formations from 

x- tf> 

cr- 

The primitive sense of the root is to glide, and in this sense we find 



in the Qur'an, so that some of the philologers 

- ^ 



endeavoured to derive *c-l-M from this (cf. Baid. on ii, 28). It has been 

C' 
pointed out frequently, however, that the sense of praise is an Aram. 

development of the root. It occurs in Hebrew in this sense only 
as a late Aramaism (BDB, 986), and in S. Semitic only after contact 
with Aramaic speaking peoples. 

HUB? is found even in O.Aram., 4 meaning to laid, praise, and has 
a wide use in Syriac. Fraenkel, Vocab, 20, and Hirschfeld, Beitrdge, 45, 
are inclined to think that we must look for a Jewish source, but there 
is even more likelihood of its being Syr., for not only is ***.d* widely 



used in the classical language, but we find I!M)Q = JjbtX^u, and in 

1 It is curious that the Muslims object to deriving it from the sense of to rest 
(HUB?) on the ground of Sura 1, 37. See Grimbaum, ZDMO, xxxix, 585. 

2 Geiger, 54 ; von Kremer, Ideen, 226 n. ; Hirschfeld, New Researches, 104 ; 
Horovitz, KU, 96 ; JPN, 186 ; Fischer, Glossar, 52. 

3 Sprenger, Leben, i, 107 ff. 

* Lidzbarski, Handbuch, 372; Cook, Glossary, 111. 



162 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE 

the Christian Palestinian dialect ]nnZ = r<^~J. 1 It is clear 
that the word was known among the Arabs in pre-Islamic times, 
for we find VIIA as a proper name in Sabaean (cf. Ryckmans, Noms 
propres, i, 146), so Horovitz, JPN, 186, lists it as one of those words 
which, while obviously a borrowing from the older religions, cannot 
be definitely assigned to a particular Jewish or Christian source. 

^ 

J ^" (&**) 

Occurs frequently, cf. ii, 102. 

A way, road then metaphorically, a cause, or reason. 

In the Qur'an it is used both of a road, and in the technical religious 

sense of The Way (cf. Acts ix, 2), i.e. 4jJl ^-JU*. The Muslim authorities 
take it as genuine Arabic, and Sprenger, Leben, ii, 66, agrees with 

them. It is somewhat difficult, however, to derive it from J^> as 

even Kaghib, Mufraddt, 221, seems to feel, and the word is clearly 
a borrowing from the Syr. QjbO*. 2 As a matter of fact Heb. /"Qt? 
and Aram. JO ^32? mean both road or way of life, precisely as the 
Syr. |LtQ*, but it is the Syriac word which had the widest use and 
was borrowed into Arm. as ^ UL t ll h 3 an ^ so * s ^ e more likely origin. 
It occurs in the old poetry, e.g. in Nabigha v, 18 (Ahlwardt, Divans, 
p. 6), and thus must have been an early borrowing. 



(Sajada). 

Of very frequent occurrence. Cf. ii, 32. 
To worship. ^ 

With the verbal forms must be taken }js>c*~>, e.g., ii, 119 ; xxii, 

27, etc. 

1 Schwally, Idioticon, 91. See also Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86; Bell, Origin, 
51, and Noldeke, Neue Beitraye, 36, who shows that the Eth. Afjrfl is of the same 
origin. 

8 Schwally in ZDMG, liii, 197, says : " Bei der Annahme, dass J^, ' Wcg ' 
echt arabisch ist, scheint es mir auffallcnd zu sein, dass unter den verschiedenen 
Synonymen gerade dieses dem Aramaischen und Hebraischen gleiche Wort fur den 
religiosen Sprachgebrauch ausgesucht ist. Ich kann mir diese Erscheimmg nur aus 
Entlehnung erklaren.'* 

8 Hubechmann, Arm. Oramm, i, 313 ; ZDMG, xlvi, 246. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 163 

This root H30 is an Aram, formation. Even in 0. Aram, it meant 
" prostration of reverence ", as is evident from the X*P30 of Sachau's 
Edessa inscription No. 3 (ZDMG, xxxvi, 158 ; cf. Dan. iii, 6). In 
later Aram. "120 is to bow down, NT130 is worship, adoration, and 

XT*30 ITS an idol temple. Similarly Syr. ror 00 , from a primitive 
meaning of " to salute reverentially " (cf. 2 Sam. ix, 6), comes to 
mean to'adore, translating both creftco and irpocrKwea), and giving 
IZOyyJC and U'rvr 00 adoration, and IjO.^ a worshipper, etc. 

It is from the Aram, that we get the Heb. H30 (Noldeke, ZDMG, 
xli, 719) and the Eth fll& (Noldeke, New Beitrage, 36), and it was 
from Aram, that the word passed into Arabic, 1 probably at an early 
period, as we see from the Mu'allaqa of 'Amr b. Kulthum, 1. 112. 



(Sijill). 

xxi, 104. 

The meaning of Sigill in this eschatological passage was unknown 
to the early interpreters of the Qur'an. Some took it to be the name 
of an Angel, or of the Prophet's amanuensis, but the majority are 
in favour of its meaning some kind of writing or writing material. 
(Tab. and Bagh. on the passage, and Raghib, Mufraddt, 223.) 

There was also some difference of opinion as to its origin, some 



like Bagh. taking it as an Arabic word derived from 4\>-w4, and 

others admitting that it was a foreign word, of Abyssinian or Persian 
origin. 2 It is, however, neither Persian 3 nor Abyssinian, but the 
Gk. criyiXXov ~ Lat. sigillum, used in Byzantine Greek for an Imperial 
edict. 4 The word came into very general use in the eastern part of 
the Empire, so that we find Syr. tpAi^. ifn (PSm, 2607) 5 meaning 

1 Noldeke, op. cit. ; Hirschfeld, Beitrage, 41 ; Schwally, ZDMG, Iii, 134 ; Von 
Kremer, Streifztige, p. ix, n. 

* al-Jawallqi, Mu l arrab, 87 ; al-Khafaji, 104 ; as-Suyutf, Itq, 321 ; Mutaw, 41. W. Y. 
Bell in his translation of the Mutaw. is quite wrong in taking the word J,>- j to mean 
part, portion, blank paper. It means man as is clear from LA, xiii, 347. 

3 Pers. A*^' me &ning syngrapha indicis, is a borrowing from the Arabic, Vullers, 

Lex, ii, 231. 

4 Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 611 ; li, 314 ; Bell, Origin, 74 ; Vacca, El, sub voc. ; Fraenkel, 
Vocab, 17 ; Fremdw, 251. 

8 Noldeke, Neue Beitrage, 27. 



. 164 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR AN 



diploma, and Arm. "/?/_ meaning seal 1 It may have come through 
Syriac to Arabic as Mingana, Syriac Influence, 90, claims, but the 
word appears not to occur in Arabic earlier than the Qur'an, and may 
be one of the words picked up by Muhammad himself as used among 
the people of N. Arabia in its Greek form. In any case, as Noldeke 
insists, 2 it is clear that he quite misunderstood its real meaning. 



xi, 84 ; xv, 74 ; cv, 4. 
Lumps of baked clay. 

The last of these passages refers to the destruction of the army of 
the Elephant, and the others to the destruction of Sodom and 



Gomorrah. In both cases the J-** is something rained down from 
heaven, and as the latter event is referred to in Sura li, 33, we get the 
equivalence of J-s*^ ^U, which gives the Commentators their 

cue for its interpretation. 3 

It was early recognized as a foreign word, and generally taken as 

of Persian origin, 4 Tab. going so far as to tell us ^Ux-M, iv-jUJl j*) 

\j, which is a very fair representation of L-X-^ and JJ (Fraenkel, 

Vocab, 25 ; Siddiqi, StiMen, 73). cX^- meaning stone is the Phlv. 

S)0 san 9 from Av - >*** asan > 5 and <& meanin 8 da V thc Phlv - 
)^3 gil* related to Arm. /'/ (Horn, Grundriss, 207). 7 From Middle 



1 Hiibschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 378. 

2 Neue Beitrdge, 27. 

8 Others, however, would not admit this identification, and we learn from Tab. 
that some took it to mean the lowest heaven, others connected it with sjllST and 
others made it a form J^i from Jsc-l meaning J-jl. Finally, BaicJ. tells us that 
some thought it a variant of /t-se meaning hell. 

* al-Jawallqi, Mu'arrab, 81 ; Ibn Qutaiba, Adab al-Katib, 527 ; al-Khafaji, 103 ; 
Raghib, Mufradat, 223 ; Baid on xi, 84 ; as-Suyiitf, Jty, 321 ; Mutaw, 35, and see 
Horovitz, KU, 11 ; Siddiqi, 8, n., 2. 

Bartholomew, AIW, 207. $ PPOl, 120. 
7 But see Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 172. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 165 

Persian it passed directly into Arabic. Grimme, ZA, xxvi, 164, 165, 
suggests S. Arabian influence, but there seems nothing to support 
this. 



IxxxSi, 7, 8. 

The early authorities differed widely as to what the Sijjln of this 
eschatological passage might be. It was generally agreed that it 

was a place, but some said it meant the lowest earth <U> LJ' (j*J)* ' 
or a name for hell, or a rock under which the records of men's deeds 
are kept, or a prison. 1 The Qur'an itself seems to indicate that it 



means a document *j5 * ^J, so as-Suyiiti, Mutaw, 46, 2 tells 

us that some thought it was a Persian word meaning day (tablet). 
Grimme, ZA, xxvi, 163, thinks that it refers to the material on which 
the records arc written, and compares with the Eth. ft" 17*1 or 
Xrn-1 meaning clay writing tablets. It is very probable, however, 
as Noldeke, Sketches, 38, suggested long ago, that the word is simply 

an invention of Muhammad himself. If this is so, then *j* * cy UJ 
is probably an explanatory gloss that has crept into the text. 



Ci- (Suht). 

v, 46, 67, 68. 

Unlawful. 

The reference is to usury and to forbidden foods. It is clearly 
a technical term, and the passages, it will be noted, are of the latest 
Madinan group. 

Sprenger, Leben, iii, 40, n., suggested that it was a technical term 
borrowed from the Jews, and there certainly is an interesting parallel 
from the Talmud, Shabb, 1406, where PHS? is used in this technical 
sense. It is, however, the Syr. lA^O* depravity, corruption, etc., 

1 See Vacca, El, sub voc., who suggests that it was this idea that the word was 
connected with /*.- that gave rise to the theory that it was a place in the nethermost 
earth where the books were kept, rather than the books themselves. 

2 See also Itq, 321. 



166 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

which gives us a nominal form from which C^t-*- may have been 
derived. 

x-x x 

j*^* (Sahara). 

vii, 113, 129 ; xxm, 91. 

To enchant, bewitch, use sorcery. 

Besides the verb there are used in the Qur'an the nouns j>\**, 
plu. "*jz*+* and J^^>-v , vii, 109, 110, etc., sorcerer ; jl_st a great 



magician, xxvi, 36 \j>y* enchantment, sorcery, v, 110 ; vi, 7, etc.; 



bewitched, x\i\, 50, 103, etc. ; J>^^A bewitched, xxvi, 153, 185. 



The verb is denominative, formed either from the noun j**\+* or 
, which was the borrowed term. 



It would seem that the word came to the Arabs from Mesopotamia, 
which was ever to them the home of sorcery and magic (see the 



Lexicons under J^y). Zimmern, therefore, 1 would derive it from the 

Akk. sdhiru, sorcerer, magician. If this is so it may have been a very 
early borrowing direct from Mesopotamia, though a borrowing through 
the Aramaic is more probable. 2 

*> I" 

^W" (Sim;). 

xxv, 62 ; xxxiii, 45 ; Ixxi, 15 ; Ixxviii, 13. 

A lamp or torch. 

The Muslim authorities take it as pure Arabic, not realizing that 
the verb from which they derive it is denominative. 

Fraenkel, Vocab, 7, pointed out that it was from Aram. JWDttf = 
Syr. hr. These forms are, however, borrowed from the Pers. 



\j>- and in Fremdw, 95, he suggests that it probably came directly 

1 Akkadische Fremdworter, 67. 

2 X"1HD as used on the incantation bowls is significant ; cf. Montgomery, 
Aramaic Incantation Texts, Glossary, 297. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 167 

into Arabic from an Iranian source, a theory also put forward by 
Sachau in his notes to the Mu'arrdb, p. 21. This is of course possible, 
since the Arm. zfyiui^ is from the Iranian, as also the Ossetian dray, 1 
but Syr. L^ was a very commonly used word with many derivatives 
(PSm, 4325), and Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 613, is doubtless right in deriving 
the Arabic word from the Syriac. 



(Surddiq). 

xviii, 28. 

An awning, tent cover. 

The passage is eschatological, descriptive of the torments of the 
wicked, for whom is prepared a fire " whose awning shall enwrap 
them ". The exegetes got the general sense of the word from the 
passage, but were not very sure of its exact meaning as we see from 
Bail's comment on the verse. . 

It was very generally recognized as a foreign word. Raghib, 
Mufraddt, 229, notes that the form of the word is not Arabic, and 
al- Jawaliql, Mu'arrab, 90, classes it as a Persian word, 2 though he is not 
very certain as to what was the original form. Some derived it from 



.pl^r-j, meaning an antechamber, others from a^ jjj~* curtains, others 
from LJu^^r-'j 3 an( i 7 et others from Aj-1^. 4 



Pers. a^ j'J j~ is the form from which we must work. It is defined 
by Vullers as " velum magnum s. auleum, quod parietis loco circum 

tentorium expandunt ", 5 and is formed from *5 J^ a veil or curtain 
(Vullers, i, 340), and an O.Pers. \AmSa, 6 from which came the 

1 Hiibschmann, Arm. Qramm, i, 190. Addai Sher, 89, wants to derive the Pers. 
M-r from the Syr., but this is putting things back to front. For the Pahlavi form 
see Salemann, Manichaeische Studien, i, 121 ; Telegdi, in JA, ccxxvi (1935), p. 255. 

2 So as-Suyuti, Itq, 321, and Siddiqi, Studien, 64. 

8 al-Khafaji, 105. On the form **j^j~ see Noldeke, Mand. Qramm, xxxi, n. 3. 

* Lagarde, Ubersioht, 176n. 

%6 Lex, ii, 257. , 

Hiibschmann, Persische Studien, 199. Cf. the Phlv. >^0lll3id sraitan and Pers. 
, Horn, Grundriss, 161. 



168 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

Arm. u/iiu^ 1 and the Judaeo-Persian !"!N"10, 2 both meaning forecourt 
(avXrj or (Trod). From some Middle Persian formation from this 

Vsrd8a with the suffix ^ was borrowed the Arm. w/iui^ui-} meaning 
cwr^am, 3 andtheMandaean Np""lN"")0 roof of tent or awning.* Theword 
occurs in the old poetry, e.g. in Labid (ed. Chalidi, p. 27), and was 
thus an early borrowing, but whether directly from Iranian or through 
Aram, it is impossible now to say. 



-M, (Sirbdl). 

xiv, 51 ; xvi, 83. 

Garment. 

From the use of the word in the old poetry, e.g. Imru'ul-Qais, 
lii, 14 ; 'Antara, xx, 18 ; Hamdsa, p. 349, it is clear that the word 
means a shirt and in particular a shirt of mail, and Raghib, Mufraddt, 



228, gives the Qur'anic meaning as 

Freytag, Lex, ii, 305, suggested that it was the Pers. jl jli which 
is taken to be the origin of 4J 1 J j+# and then of (j u j~> . Many authorities 
have favoured this view, but as Dozy, V elements, 202, points out, j l 



means breeches not shirt or mantle, and is formed from j^-i femur + j\j 

(Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 324). In Aram., however, we find fcOIHO, which in 
the Rabbinic writings means mantle, 5 and gave rise to the verbal 
forms ^3"1P and 73TO "to enwrap in a mantle". This verbal form 

occurs in the old Arabic poetry, e.g.. ^0)1 J^^r**!' /> in the M u'allaqa 

of 'Antara, 1. 73, and J \j** ma 7 ^ ave been formed from this verbal 

1 Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 241, and see Lagarde, Arm. Stud, 2071. 

2 Lagarde, Persische Studien, 72. 

3 Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 241. 

4 Noldeke, Mand. Gramm, xxxi ; Lagarde, Ubersicht, 176 n. ; Fraenkel, Fremdw, 
29. It may be argued, however, that the Mand. form is from ^Arabic. 

6 So bi"1D in Dan. iii, 21, 27. Vide Andreas in the Glossary to Marti's Gram- 
matik d. bibl. aram. Sprache, 1896, and the other suggestions discussed by S. A. Cook 
in the Journal of Philology, xxvi, 306 ff., in an article " The Articles of Dress in Dan. 
in, 21 ". 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 169 



form. Syr. U^r*> however, like Gk. crapd/3aX\a, seems to have been 
used particularly for breeches. 1 All these, of course, are borrowings 
from Iranian, but the probabilities seem to be that the word was an 
early loan-word in Arabic from Aramaic. 

^^ 

*j~ (Sard). 


xxxiv, 10. 

Chain armour, i.e. work of rings woven together. 

It occurs only in a passage relating to David's skill as an armourer. 

The Muslim authorities derive it from 5^*** to stitch or sew (cf. 

Raghib, Mufradat, 229), though it is curious that they know that 
armourer ought to be Zarrad rather than Sarrad (as-Sijistani, 177). 

As a matter of fact }~ seems to be but a form of ^jj, which, like 



j*-> was commonly used among the Arabs. 2 This ^j J is a borrowing 
from Iranian sources as Fraonkel, Vocab, 13, noted. 3 Av. jjgjujij 
zraSa (AIW, 1703) moans a coat of mail, and becomes in Phlv. both 

-)J( zrih, whence Mod. Pers. ajj and Arm. qjw^f and also 

was borrowed into Syr. as ]*j]. 6 The word was a pre-lslamic borrow- 
ing, possibly direct from Persia, or maybe through Syriac. 

* 

.* (Safara). 

, Ixviii, 1; jjia^~, xvii, 00; xxxiii, 6 ; lii, 2; 



liv, 53 [also the forms J^L^LA, Ixxxviii, 22 ; and j^kx^a^, lii, 37]. 

To write, to inscribe. 

They are all early passages save xxxiii, 6, and possibly all refer 
to the same thing, the writing in the Heavenly Scrolls. 

1 Cf. Horn, Orvndriss, 789. 

2 Ibn Duraid, 174. 

3 See also his Fremdw, 241 if. ; and Telcgdi in JA, ccxxvi (1935), p. 243. 

4 Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 152 ; Jackson, Researches in Manicltaeism, 1932, 
p. 66 ; Salemann, Manichaeische Stitdien, i, 80. 

5 Nyberg, Glossary 257 ; Horn, Grundriss, 146. 



170 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

Noldeke as early as 1860 l drew attention to the fact that the 

noun Jb** seemed to be a borrowing from Vr4* = N"1BI2J, 2 so that 

the verb, as Fraenkel, Fremdw, 250, notes, would be denominative. 
The Aram. N"1D2? = 1;4* means a document, and is from a root 
connected with Akk. satdru, to write. It occurs as "1ED2? in Nabataean 
and Palmyrene inscriptions, 3 and in the S. Arabian inscriptions we 
have )fflr 1 J to write, and ) III Ah inscriptions. 4 ' D. H. Miiller, WZKM, 
i, 29, thinks that the Arabic may have been influenced both by the 
Aramaeans of the north, and the Sabaeans of the south, and as a 
matter of fact as-Suyutl, Itq, 311, tells us that Juwaibir in his comment 
on xvii, 60, quoted a tradition from Ibn 'Abbas to the effect that 



was the word used in the Himyaritic dialect for 
The presence of the Phlv.j(jJ)^33s^re,as,e.g., in the ph 



= in lines (PPGl, 205), makes us think, however, that it may have 
been Aramaic influence which brought the word to S. Arabia. 6 In 
any case the occurrence of the word in the early poetry shows that it 
was an early borrowing. 



Ixii, 5. 

A large book. 

It occurs only in the plu. juLil in the proverb " like an ass 

beneath a load of books ". 

This sense of jlL*l is quite unnatural in Arabic, and some of the 

early authorities quoted in as-Suyuti, Itq, 319, 7 noted that it was a 
borrowing from Nabataean or Syriac. It was apparently a word used 
among the Arabs for the Scriptures of Jews and Christians, for in 

1 Geschichte des Qorans, p. 13. 

Cf. Horovitz, KU, 70. 

Lidzbarski, Handbuch, 374. 

Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, ii, 381 ; Hommel, Chrest, 124 ; Muller, Epigr. Denkm. 
aus Arabien, lii, 2 ; liv, 2 ; Glaser, Altjemenische Nachrichten, 67 ff. ; Rossini, 
Olo sarium, 194. 

Vide Sprenger, Leben, ii, 395. 

Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 29, takes the Arabic form as derived from Aramaic. 

Mutaw, 54, 59. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 171 

Bekri, Mu'jam, 369, 18, we read of how a<J-Dahhak entered a Christian 
monastery while the monk was reading #ju-*-i j* i^**-, and 

Ibn Duraid, 103, says that Sifr means " the volume of the Torah or 
the Injil or what resembles them ", 1 

It is clearly a borrowing from Aramaic. 2 The common Heb. "15?? 
appears in Aram, as N"]9P ; Syr. ];W>- From Aram, it passed 
on the one hand into Eth. as tl&, and on the other into Arm. as 
un^fy. As the Arm. word seems to have come from Syr., 3 we may 
suppose that it was from the same source that the Arabs got the word. 

J x- 

*'jA-~> (Safara). 

Ixxx, 15. 

^ i ** 
Scribes ; plu. of ^^?l *> (used of the heavenly scribes). 

as-Suyuti, Itq, 321 (Mutaw, 60), tells us that some early authorities 

1*1 M ^Mk^ 

said it was a Nabataean word meaning %\J*. Aram, ISO was a 
scribe or secretary who accompanied the Governor of a Province 
(Ezra iv, 8, etc.), and then came to mean ypapiMTCvs in general 
(cf. Ezra vii, 12, 21, and Cowley, Aramaic Papyri, Index, 301). 
So Syr. lao> is both ypa/JL/jLarev? and vofiiKOS, and as Arabic terms 
connected with literary craft are commonly of Syriac origin we may 
suppose with Mingana 4 that this word is from Christian rather than 
from Jewish Aramaic, though the occurrence of Palm. N1SO 6 
may point to an early borrowing in N. Arabia. 

AjLjL* (Safina). 

xviii, 70, 78 ; xxix, 14. 
A ship. 

1 See Goldziher in ZDMG, xxxii, 347 n. 

2 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 247 ; Schwally, Idioticon, 64. In Safaite HDD means an 
inscription; cf. Littmann, Semitic Inscriptions, 113, 124, 127. 

8 Hiibschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 317, and see Miiller, in WZKM, viii, 284. 

4 Syriac Influence, 85 ; Horovitz, KU, 6S, n., is in doubt whether it is of Jewish 
or Syrian origin. As a matter of fact the heavenly scribes occur just as frequently 
in Jewish as in Christian books, so that a decision from the use of the word is 
impossible. 

6 RES, iii, No. 1739. 



172 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR ? AN 

The reference in xviii is to the boat used by Moses and al-Khi<Jr, 
and in xxix to Noah's ark. 

"* '* ' 
The lexicographers fancifully derive it from A +* to peel or 

*>- ' 
pare (cf. LA, xvii, 72). This, however, is denominative from {j*-*" 

an adze, which itself is not an Arabic word but the Pers. Ju~ 1 which 
passed into Arabic through Jima. 1 Guidi, Delia Sede, 601, called 

attention to the fact that Ai-jL* is a loan-word in Arabic, and the 



Semitic root is doubtless ]E30 to cover in, which we find in Akk. 
sapannu = concealment, Phon. 1132013 a roof, 2 and Aram. ]SO ; Heb. 
]SO to cover. 

The form HiTSO occurs in Heb. in the story of Jonah (Jonah i, 5), 3 
and in the Talmud and Targums WSO and XWEJO are commonly 
used. Even more commonly used are the Syr. ]i *>or> ]AlA2iflD, and 
as both the al-Khidr and Null stories of the Qur'an seem to have 
developed under Christian influence we might suspect the word there 
to be a borrowing from Syriac. It occurs, however, in the old poetry, 
e.g. Imru'ul Qais xx, 4 (Ahlwardt, Divans, 128) ; Div. Hudh, xviii, 3, 
etc., so one cannot venture to say more than that it came from some 
Aram, source, as an early borrowing into Arabic. 



.*4, (Sakar). 

xvi, 69. 

Intoxicating drink. 

With this should be associated all the other forms derived there- 
from and connected w r ith drunkenness, e.g. iv, 46 ; xv, 15, 72 ; xxii, 2. 
as-Suyuti, Itq, 321 (Mutaw, 40), tells us that some early authorities con- 
sidered it an Ethiopic word. It is possible that the Eth. flh^J is the 
origin of the Arabic word, but the word is widely used in the Semitic 

languages, e.g. Akk. sikaru (cf. "13$ ; P*), beer 4 ; and Heb. "136? ; 
Aram. fcO5$ ; Syr. );O* date wine, and was borrowed into Egyptian, 

1 Vullers, Lex, i, 68 ; Fraenkel, Fremdw, 216, 217. 

2 Lidzbarski, Handbuch, 330; Harris, Glossary, 127. 

3 Cf. the H^DD and HH^BD of the Elephantine papyri (Cowley, Aramaic 
Papyri, No. 26). 

4 Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 39. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 173 

e.g. tkr, 1 and Greek, e.g. ortKepa. 2 Thus while it may have come 
into Arabic from Syriac as most other wine terms did, on the other 
hand it may be a common derivation from early Semitic (Guidi, 
Delia Sedfi, 603). 

(Sakatia). 

Of frequent occurrence. 

To dwell. 

Besides the simple verb we find ,Os*.>i, the participles y u* and 



4, and the nominal forms AX-"- and 

Zimmern, Akkad. Freindw, 30, thinks that the origin was Mesopo- 
tamian. The Akk. sakdnu meant to settle in a place (niedcrlegen, nieder- 
setzen), and was particularly used of dwelling somewhere. This, he 
thinks, was the origin on the one hand of the other Semitic forms, 



e.g. Heb. 13$; Phon. pttf; Syr. ^an ; and Ar. x , and, 



perhaps on the other hand, of the Gk. crKrfvri tent (though in view of 
the evidence in Boissacq, 875, this is doubtful). 



(Sikkln). 

xii, 31. 

A knife. 

Noldeke, Mand. Gramm, 125 n., had noted that it was a borrowed 
word, comparing it with Heb. ^3& ; Syr. Jli^CD, and Mand. WID^O 
and W20. 3 The Heb. ^32? is a loan-word from Aram, and the 
Aram, word is also the source of the Gk. orvKivr] 4 and the Phlv. 
ideogram 11114 33 sakina, 5 so that an Aram, origin of the Arabic 
word is fairly certain, though whether from Syr. or O.Aram, it is 
difficult to decide (cf. Guidi, Delia Sede, 581). 

1 M. Muller, Asien und Europa, 1893, p. 102. Cf. Erman-Grapow, v, 410. 

2 Levy, Fremdw, 81, and Lagarde, Mittheilungen, ii, 357. 

3 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 84, says : " <>C- 1st seiner ganzen Bildung nach als Lehn- 
wort dentlich, es hat ferner im Arabischen keine Ableitung und ausserdem 1st die 
Lautverschiebungsregcl darin gegeniiber ]^3ttT deutlich verletzt." 

4 Levy, Fremdw, 176. 
6 PPGl, 201. 



174 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 



(Saklna). 

ii, 249 ; ix, 26, 40 ; xlviii, 4, 18, 26. 

The Shekinah. 

The question of the Shekinah in the Qur'an has been discussed at 
length by de Sacy x and by Goldziher, 2 and we need do no more here 
than briefly summarize the results. 

Th^e word occurs only in late Madinan passages and Appears to 
have been a technical term learned by Muhammad at a relatively 
late/period. In ii, 249, it refers to the sign whereby the Israelites 
were to recognize Saul as their king, but in all the other passages 
it is some kind of assistance sent down to believers from Heaven. 

Now there is a genuine Arabic word AlxX^. meaning tranquillity, 
from S&~ to rest, be quiet, and the common theory of the exegetes 

is that this is the word used here. This, however, will hardly fit ii, 249, 3 
and even in the other passages it is obvious that something more than 
merely tranquillity was meant, so that many thought it had the special 

meaning of ^-aj. 4 There was some doubt as to the vowelling of the 
word, for we find k^L*-, ^x_X^, and <^-X^ beside the usual 
<X-S (TA, ix ; 238; LA, xvii, 76). There can be little doubt, 

however, that we have here the Heb. Pir^C?, 5 though possibly through 
the Syr. lAl*O. 6 Muhammad would have learned the word from the 
People of the Book, and not quite understanding its significance, have 
associated it with the genuine Arabic word meaning tranquillity, 
and this gives us the curiously mixed sense of the word in the Qur'an. 

*' *> 

*}L<, (Saldm). 

Of very frequent occurrence, cf. iv, 96 ; v, 18 ; vi, 54, etc. 

1 JA 1829, p. 177 if. 2 Abhandlungen, i, 177-204, and RHR, xxviii, 1-13. 

So the Commentators admit that it means tranquillity in all passages savo ii, 249. 

4 Cf. LA, xvii, 76. 

* Geiger, 54 ; Weil, Mohammed, 181 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 251 ; Horovitz, JPN, 
208 ; von Kremer, Ideen, 226, n. ; Fraenkel, Vocab, 23 ; Joel, El, sub voc. ; Grun- 
baum, ZDMO, xxxix, 581, 582. 

Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 24. It was doubtless through the Syr. that we get the 
Mand. HnKJW. SeeLidzbarski, Mand. Liturgien (1920), Register, s.v. ; Montgomery, 
Aramaic Incantation Texts, Glossary, p. 304. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 175 

Peace. tf x 

The denominative verbs /%Ju* and /%JL**1 with their derivatives 

are also used not uncommonly in the Qur'an, though the primitive 

verb f+*** does not occur therein. 

The root is common Semitic, and is widely used in all the Semitic 
tongues. " The sense of peace, however, seems to be a development 
peculiar to Heb. and Aram, and from thence to have passed into the 

.; . * 

S. Semitic languages. Heb. D172? is soundness then peace l ; Aram. 
NCDt^ security, Syr. ]V)\ security, peace. The Eth. frtlhav, 
however, is denominative, 2 so that ffi9 doubtless came from the older 
religions. Similarly 31 A 3 is to be taken as due to Northern influence, 
the A like Eth. A (instead of and IA), being parallel with the 
of the Safaite inscriptions. 

In the Aram, area the word was widely used as a term of salutation, 
and in this sense we very frequently find 072? in the Nabataean 
and Sinaitic, 4 and D70 in the Safaite inscriptions. 5 From this area it 
doubtless came into Arabic 6 being used long before Islam, as Goldziher 

has shown (ZDMG, x\v\, 22 ff.). There can be little doubt that 

to greet, etc., is denominative from this, though Torrey, Foundation, 
would take the whole development as purely Arabic. 

*>x e 

<JLJU (Silsila). 

xl, 73 ; Ixix, 32 ; Ixxvi, 4. 

Chain. 

It is used only in connection with descriptions of the torments 
of hell, and may be a technical term in Muhammad's eschatological 
vocabulary, borrowed in all probability from one of the Book religions. 

In any case it cannot be easily explained from an Arabic root, 
and Guidi, Delia Sede, 581, already suspected it as non- Arabic. 

1 So also the D^t27 of the Ras Shamra tablets. 

2 Dillraann, Lex, 322. 

3 Hommel, Sttdarab. Chrest, 124 ; Rossini, Qlossarium, 196. 

4 For examples see Euting, Nab. Inschr, 19, 20 ; Sin. Inschr, 61 ff. 
6 Littmann, Semitic Inscriptions, pp. 131, 132, 134, etc. 

6 Noldeke-Schwally, i,33, n. FeGKunstlmgeTmRocznikOrjentalistyczny,*}, 1-10. 



176 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 



Fraenkel, Fremdw, 290, 1 relates it to the Aram. WlBE ; Syr. 
]A!^*x, 2 which is the origin of the Eth. ft? ft A (Noldeke, Neue 
Beitrage, 42), and possibly of the late Heb. ri^E^G?. 3 The borrowing 
from Aram, would doubtless have been early, and it is possible that 
we find the word in Safaite (cf. Ryckmans, Noms propres, 151). 



(Sultan). 
Of very frequent occurrence, cf. iii, 144 ; iv, 93 ; vi, 81. 

Power, authority. ( ' O uo-/a-) 

^ t 
The denominative verb lal-M* to give power over, occurs in iv, 92 ; 

lix, 6. 

The primitive verb UC- to be hard or strong occurs frequently in 

the old poetry 4 but not in the Qur'an, It is cognate with Eth. lA'Artl 
to exercise strength, 5 and with a group of N. Semitic words, but in 
N". Semitic the sense of the root has developed in general to mean 
to domineer, have power over, e.g. Akk. salatu, to have power 6 : Heb. 
CDv2? to domineer, be waster of 7 : Aram. H37E7 ; Syr. 4^* to have 
mastery over. Under this Aram, influence the Eth. iPAfll later comes 
to mean potestatem habere. 

The Muslim philologers were entirely at sea over the Qur'anic 



which they wish to derive from auw (cf. LA, ix, 193), 

and Sprenger, Leben, i, 108, rightly took it as a borrowing from the 
Aram. 8 In Bibl. Aram. ]B v'E? occurs several times, with the meaning 
sovereignty, dominion, like the Rabbinic X3B/1E7 and rTtttDvlEJ. 
In the Nabataean inscriptions also we find y]D"?E? ride, or dominion 
(cf. Lidzbarski, Handbuch, 376), but it is in Syriac that we find the 



See also p. 76 and Schwally, Idioticon, 94 ; Schulthess, Lex, 209. 
Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 35, carries this itself back to Akk. .farfarratu. 
Also of the Arm. 2^_P' U U Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 314. 
A'sha in Gcyer, Zwei Gedichte, i, 163 ; Dlwan, iv, 41 ; v, 60 ; Awna'iyat, vi, 17. 
Cf. also AAfll and Noldeke's note Neue Beitraye, 39, n. 3. 
Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 7. 

It is only a late word in Heb. and possibly a borrowing from Aramaic. 
So Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 39, n. 3 ; Wellhausen, ZDMG, Ixvii, 633 ; Massignon, 
Lexique technique, 52. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 177 

word most widely used. In particular U&^Q* is used in precisely 
the same senses as jUaU* is used in the Qur'an, and it was doubtless 

from this source that both the Ar. jlLL> and Eth. /^ATI were 
derived. 1 



(Sullam). 

vi, 35 ; lii, 38. 

Ladder. 

The word is clearly an Aram, borrowing, for it has no root in Arabic 
and can only be explained from Aram. XQ^IO, as Schwally has 
noticed (ZDMG, liii, 197). The word does not occur in Syriac, but 
its currency in N. Arabia is evidenced by a Palm, inscription 
N1722? 'pTlQl? H3T KQv02 *DSfl " and he has made along 
with this stairway seven columns " (De Vogue, No. 11, line 3). 2 It 
would probably have been a fairly early borrowing, and as the word 
seems to be originally Akkadian, 3 one cannot lose sight of the possibility 
of the Arabic word having been an early borrowing from Mesopotamia. 



(Salica). 

ii, 54 ; vii, 160 ; xx, 82. 

Quail. 

The word is found only in connection with the story of the manna 
and quails sent as provision for the Children of Israel in their desert 
wanderings. 

Some of the Muslim philologers endeavoured to derive it from 

}L- to console (cf. Zam. on ii, 54), but there can be no reasonable doubt 
that it is from the Heb. l^fr through the Aram. 4 The Jewish Aram. 
V^O* V^Ctf is little used, so all the probabilities are in favour of its 

1 Fischer, Glossary 56, gives it from Aramaic. 

2 There ia some doubt, however, as to whether the reading should be XD^D or 

, though in the facsimile it certainly looks like ^) = D and not Jf = 2?. 



3 See Schwally, ZDMO, liii, 197 ; Horovitz, JPN, 210. 

4 Horovitz, KU, 17, n. Lagarde, Ubersicht, 190, n., however, curiously regards 
^Q^CD as borrowed from the Arabic. 



178 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 



having come through Syr. t^Q^CD, 1 though it may have come from the 
Targums (Ahrens, Christliches, 25). 



/ 
,JL-M (Sulaimdn). 

ii, 96 ; iv, 161 ; vi, 84 ; xxi, 78-81 ; xxvii, 15-45 ; xxxiv, 11 ; 
xxxviii, 29, 33. 
Solomon. 

All these references are to the Biblical Solomon, though the informa- 
tion about him in the Qur'an is mostly derived from late legend. 

The name was early recognized as a foreign borrowing into Arabic 
and is given as such by al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 85, though some were 



inclined to take it as genuine Arabic and a diminutive of jjyu from 
a root U- (cf. LA, xv, 192). Lagarde, Ubersicht, 86, thought the 

philologers were right in taking it as a diminutive from J\Ju-, quoting 

^ > ^ ^ 

as parallel J'^-A* J from Ji^fc J, and Lidzbarski, Johannesbuch, 74, 

n. 1, agrees. The truth, however, seems to be that it is the Syr. t Oku.L, 
as Noldeke has argued. 2 al-Jawaliqi, op. cit., said it was Heb., but Gk. 
2aAa>/*G>i/ ; Syr. ^a!>A ; Eth. flA-fl ?, beside Heb. nfafa#, 
are conclusive proof of Christian origin. 

The name was well-known in the pre-Islamic period, both as the 
name of Israel's king, and as a personal name, 3 so it would have been 
quite familiar to Muhammad's contemporaries. 



(Sunbul). 
ii, 263 ; xii, 46, 47. 
Ear of corn. 
The double plu. <J[ ***" and C-^Ju suggests foreign borrowing. 

1 Fraenkel, Vocab, 24 ; Hirschfeld, Beitraye, 41 ; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86. 

2 ZDMG, xv, 806 ; ZA, xxx, 158, and cf. Brockelmann, Qrundriss, i, 256 ; Mingana, 
Syriac Influence, 82 ; Horovitz, JPN, 167-9. 

3 Horovitz, KU, 118, points out that we have evidence for it as a personal name 
only among the Madinan Jews. Cf. also Sprenger, Leben, ii, 335. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 179 

The usual theory is that it is derived from JA.* (Haghib, Mufraddt, 
222, and the Lexicons), it not being realized that the verb 



*\^ 
to put out ears, is itself a denominative from <JU-M, 

which parallel Heb. n^3# ; Akk. tubultu ; Aram. 
Syr. JAlii (cf. Eth. MA). 

As a matter of fact JA!--, <Jul-,, is an independent borrowing 



from the Aram, and may be compared with the Hand. 

(Noldeke, Mand. Gram., 19). The inserted n is not uncommon in loan- 

words in Arabic, as Geyer points out. 1 Cf. j^* from /3Q ; Syr. UM^> 
or cjj from ]SL., or JlAlS from lISp, Syr. ] r 2)QO, or J^>- from 



T'Tn, Syr. VriU*, etc. 



(Sundus). 
xviii, 30 ; xliv, 53 ; Ixxvi, 21. 
Fine silk. 
It occurs only in combination with <3^**- M '' i n describing the 

elegant clothing of the inhabitants of Paradise, and thus may be 
suspected at once of being an Iranian word. 

It was early recognized as a foreign borrowing, and is given as 
Persian by al-Kindi, Risala, 85 ; ath-Tha'labl, Fiqh, 317 ; al-Jawaliqi, 
Mu'arrab, 79; al-Khafaji, 104; as-Suyuti, Itq, 322. Others, however, 
took it as Arabic, as the Muhit notes, and some, as we learn from 
TA, iv, 168, thought it was one of the cases where the two languages 
used the same word. 

Freytag in his Lexicon gave it as e persica lingua, though Fraenkel, 



Vocab, 4, raised a doubt, for no such form as ^ AL* occurs in Persian, 
ancient or modern. 2 Dvofdk, Fremdw, 72, suggests that it is a corrup- 

tion of the Pers. ^*3jJUo-, which like Syr. *CQDO,j|cD is derived from 



1 Zwei Gedichte, i, 118, n. 2 See now Henning in BSOS, ix, 87. 



180 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QURAN 

Gk. (Tav$v, 1 a word used among the Lydians, so Strabo XI, xiv, 9, 
says, for fine, transparent, flesh-coloured women's garments of linen. 

Fraenkel,lfyemdw, 41, compares with the Gk. crivScov, the garment 
used in the Bacchic mysteries, and with this Vollers, ZDMG, Ii, 298, 
is inclined to agree, as also Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 37. mvfttov 
itself is derived from Akk. sudinnu, sadinnu, whence came the Heb. 
VHO > Aram. WHO. In any case it was an early borrowing as 
it occurs in the early poetry, e.g. in Mutalammis, xiv, 3, etc. 

ji *-* (Siwdr). 

** * > t * 

Only in the plu. forms Sjj-l, xliii, 53, and jjL-l, xviii, 30 ; 

xxii, 23 ; xxxv, 30 ; Ixxvi, 21. 
Bracelets. 
The form aj^l occurs in the Pharaoh story, but jjU-i is found 

only in eschatological passages describing the adornment of the 
inhabitants of Paradise. 

Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 38, points out that the ultimate origin 
is the old Babylonian sawiru, sewiru meaning ring or arm-bracelet, 
whence was derived the Heb. iTIC? and Aram. NT$ : Syr. ]j\m 

bracelet. Zimmern would derive the Ar. jl >*- from the Aramaic. 2 



The Syr. ]J\M is a fairly common word, and is used to translate 
TQ2J in Gen. xxiv, 22, etc., and HH in Ex. xxxv, 22, but from the 
form of the Arabic it would seem rather a direct borrowing from the 
Akk. at some early time, than a borrowing through the Aramaic. 

Fraenkel, Fremdw, 56, thinks j\f is genuine Arabic, but the 

Muslim authorities were themselves in doubt about it, some of them 
giving it as of Persian origin (Lane, Lex, 1465). The borrowed form 

was certainly the jl^ from which the plu. forms were developed. 

t- > 

(Sura). 

ii, 21 ; ix, 65, 87, 125, 128 ; x, 39 ; xi, 16 ; xxiv, 1 ; xlvii, 22. 
Sura. 

1 Vullers, Lex, ii, 331. a So Meissner, in OGA, 1904, p. 7,56. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR ? AN 181 

The passages in which it occurs are all late, and possibly all Madman. 
It always means a portion of revelation, and thus was used by 
Muhammad as a technical term. 

The Muslim authorities are quite ignorant of the origin of the 

word. 1 Some took it as connected with j^-**> meaning a town wall 

(cf. Kaghib, M ufraddt, 248), others made it mean A) J-w, an astronomical 

static (cf. Muhit, sub voc.), while others, reading the word aj^**, 
c. - 

would derive it from jLJ to leave over (Raghib, op. cit. ; cf. also 

Itqan, 121). 

The older European opinion was that it was a Jewish word derived 
from n*T12?, which is used in the Mishnah for row, rank, file. Buxtorf 

in his Lexicon suggested this equivalence, and it was accepted by 
Noldeke in ISGQmhisGeschicJifedesQorans, p. 24; he has been followed 
by many later writers. 2 Lagarde, Mittheilungen, iii, 205, however, 
pointed out the difficulties of this theory, and thought that the origin 
of the word was to be found in Heb. PHE? (which he would read in 
Is. xxviii, 25), and then, referring to Buxtorf s "pill mfi? Iwwae 
quas transsilire impune possumus, he suggests that the meaning is 
Kavayv- HIE?, however, is such a doubtful word that one- cannot 
place much reliance on this derivation. 

A further difficulty with Noldeke's theory is that mi2? seems 
not to be used in connection with Scripture, whereas the Qur'anic 

dj^ is exclusively so associated, a fact which has led Hirschfeld 

(New Researches, 2, n. 6) to think that the word is meant to represent 
the Jewish !"mO, the well-known technical term for the section 
marks in the Hebrew Scriptures. This is connected with his theory 



that j^ is meant to represent the division marks called 
which is certainly not the case, and though his suggestion 



1 Fraenkel, Vocab, 22 cuius derivationcm Arabes ignorant. 

2 See also his Neue Beitrage, 26, and Fraenkcl, Vocab, 22 ; Fremdw, 237, 238 ; 
Pautz, Offenbarung, 89 ; von Kremer, Ideen, 226 ; Vollers, ZDMG, li, 324 ; Klein, 
Religion of Islam, 3 ; Cheikho, Nasraniya, 182 ; Fischer, Qlossar, 60a ; Horovitz, 
JPN, 211 ; Ahrens, Christliches, 19. 



182 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR AN 



is due to a misreading of miO as HTIO is not without its subtlety, 
we cannot admit that it is very likely that Muhammad learned such a 
technical term in the way he suggests. 1 

The most probable solution is that it is from the Syr. U' QCD a 
writing, 2 a word which occurs in a sense very like our English lines 

(PSm, 2738), and thus is closely parallel to Muhammad's use .of J I j* 
and i_>uj , both of which are likewise of Syriac origin. 



(Sawt). 
Ixxxix, 12. 
A scourge. 

The Commentators in general interpret the word as scourge, though 
some (cf. Zam. in loco) 3 would take it to mean calamities, and others, 

\ \ "^ \ l**"" 
in an endeavour to preserve it as an Arabic word from J^i * J&*>- 

to mix, want to make it mean fc * mixing bowl ", i.e. a vial of wrath like 
the (j)ia\rj of Rev. xvi. 

There can be no doubt that scourge is the right interpretation, 

and J* >*" in this sense would seem to be a borrowing from Aramaic. 



In Heb. ED1B? is a scourge for horses and for men, and Aram. 
Syr. lo have the same meaning, but are used also in connection 
with calamities sent by God as a scourge to the people. 4 From Aram, 
the word passed also into Eth. as rt<0-T, plu. htlW? = fuioTtj;, 
flagellum, and though Mingana, Syriac Influence, 90, thinks the origin 
was Christian rather than Jewish, it is really impossible to decide. 
Horovitz, JPN, 211, favours an Ethiopic origin, while Torrey, Founda- 
tion, 51, thinks it is mixed Jewish Arabic. 

1 So Buhl in El, sub voc., but his own suggestion of a derivation from jL to 
mount up, is no happier. See Kunstlinger in BtiOS, vii, 5W, GOO. 

8 Bell, Origin, 52 ; the suggestion of derivation from |Z;iflD preaching made 
by Margoliouth, ERE, x, 539, is not so near. Cf. Horovitz, JPN, 212. 

3 Cf. also Baid. and Bagh. and LA, ix, 199. 

* Barth, Etymol. Stud, 14, and ZATW, xxxiii, 306, wants to make it mean flood, 
but see Horovitz, KU, 13. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 183 

(Suq). 

xxv, 8, 22. 

A street. fr 

It occurs only in the plu. cJ'^f*-' referring to the streets of the 
city. 

In later Arabic Oj~> normally means a market place, but in the 

Qur'an it is used as the p*W of the O.T. and the Targums for street, 
in contradistinction to the Talmudic meaning of broad place or market. 1 



The philologers derive it from \J\* to drive along (LA, xii, 33), but 

Fraenkel, Fremdw, 187, is doubtless right in thinking that it is a word 
taken over by the Arabs from more settled peoples. 2 The Aram. 
Xp127 ; Syr. |oo* commonly mean 55oy, as well as ayopa, 
and in a Palmyrene inscription (De VogiiS, xv, 5) we read 3T Nlffl 
p127, showing that the word was known in N. Arabia. 

From some early Mesopotamian source 3 the word passed into 
Iranian, for we find the Phlv. ideogram **})*{$ shoka meaning market, 
public square, or forum, whence comes the Judaeo-Persian *^10. 4 
From Syriac it passed also into Arm. as ^"-^j in the sense of 
market, 5 and it may have been from Christian Aramaic that the word 
came into Arabic. 

L- e 
^-M* (Simd). 

ii, 274 ; vii, 44, 46 ; xlvii, 32 ; xlviii, 29 ; Iv, 41. 
Sign, mark, token. 

A majority of the Muslim authorities take the word from AU-, of 
which Form II pj*" means to mark or brand an animal, and Form V 
to set a mark on. These, however, are denominative and the 



1 Cooke, NSI, 280 ; Cowley, Aramaic Papyri, No. 5. 

2 But see Miiller, WZKM, i, 27. 

3 In Akkadian inscriptions we find suquB, street ; cf. Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 
43. 

4 PPGl, 214 ; Frahang, Glossary, p. 82. It occurs in the Judaco-Persian version 
of Jer. xvii, 1 ; see Horn, Qrundriss, p. 84. 

6 Hiibschmann, ZDMQ, xlvi, 247 ; Arm. Gramm, i, 314. 



184 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR'AN 

primitive meaning of the root is to pass along (Raghib, Mufraddt, 251). 
Some, however, as we learn from Baid. on vii, 44, ventured to derive 

it from /%-*-*^ to brand. 

The Qur'anic form is t\ c JU- 3 but in the literature we find <Uxi 
and L*JU with the same meaning, 1 and they seem all to be derivatives 

from Gk. o^fta, a sign, mark, or token, especially one from heaven 
(Vollers, ZDMG, li, 298), i.e. the arjfjieiov of the N.T. In the Peshitta 
ory^lov is generally rendered by ]i] (i.e. Heb. HIX ; Aram. WIN), 
but in the ecclesiastical literature we find a plu. ] i V) CO which gives us 
exactly the form we need, 2 and it may well have been from some 

colloquial form of this, representing (rfjfJia, that the Arabic t\J^ was 
derived. 

.^ 

L.^ 
x.,i (Sainff). 

xxiii, 20. 
Mt. Sinai. 
The usual Qur'anic name for Sinai was j^L? (ii, 60, 87 ; iv, 153, etc.), 

and t uu was quite generally recognized as a foreign borrowing. 

as-Suyuti, Itq, 322, says that it was considered to be Nabataean, 3 though 
some took it to be Syriac or Abyssinian, 4 and others claimed that it 

was genuine Arabic, a form JL-J from .lLJi meaning PuJ'j 21. It 

** Xv-> 

is curious that the exegetes were a little uncertain whether .ux^ 
meant the mountain itself or the area in which the mountain was. 5 

1 Kamil, 14, 17. The Muhil would derive LJU- meaning magic from PP D$f, 



but it is clearly <n?/ma through Syr. 

2 PSm, 2613. It occurs also in the Christian-Palestinian dialect, cf. Schulthess, 
Lex, 135. 

3 So Mntaw, 59, and JBagh. on xxiii, 20, quoting al-Muqatil. 

4 Bagh. on xxiii, 20, quoting al-Kalbi and 'Ikrima. 

6 Vide Bagh, op. cit. jj.1 |AA o ^JDl jl5Cll ~*\ jA, which may be a 
reflection of cV TO cpifcq* rov opovs Siva. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 185 

Either the Eth. A.? 1 or the Christ.-Palast. ]* representing 

the Gk. 2i>a would give us a nearer equivalence with *uu* than the 
Heb. T9 or the usual Syr. >lifin,butthe Christ.-Palast. -t ia 2 

which is exactly the Ar. .UA-* jj^, makes the Syriac origin certain. 3 

The ^JX* of xcv, 2, is obviously a modification of S.UX-M* for the 

sake of rhyme, 4 though some of the Muslim authorities want to make 
it an Abyssinian word (as-Suyuti,/fgr, 322 ; Mulaw, 44), and both Geiger, 
155, following d'Herbelot, 5 and Grimme, Z.4, xxvi, 167, seek to find 
some independent origin for it. 

il^-A (Shirk). 

Used very frequently, cf. xxxv, 38 ; xxxi, 12. 
To associate anyone with God : to give God a partner. 
In the Qur'an the word has a technical sense with reference to 
what is opposed to Muhammad's conception of monotheism. Thus 

we find \j*Z\ , to give partners to God, i.e. to be a polytheist, Jj^L*. 



j* 
one who gives God a partner, i.e. a polytheist, iD ^-, those to whom 



the polytheists render honour as partners with God, terms which, we 
may note, are not found in the earliest Suras. 

The root J^ji is " to have the shoe strings broken ", so JJl^.-i 

*- * 

means sandal straps, and -ll^i I is " to put leather thongs in sandals ", 

with which we may compare Heb. T"}B? to lay cross wise, to interweave, 

j v^ 

Syr. yi^CJO to braid. From this the words -j^Z* awrtand &j% a partner- 



1 Kunstlinger in Roeznik Orjentalistyczny, v (1927), pp. 59 ff., suggests that it is a 
descriptive adjective and not a proper name. 



2 Cf. the tl^O> ]iO^ in one of the fragments edited by Schulthess, ZDMG, 
Ivi, 257. 

3 Note the discussion in Geiger, 155, n., and Horovitz, KU> 123 ff. ; JPN, 159. 

4 So Horovitz, KU, 123. He notes also that its vowelling represents the older 
spelling. 

5 See also Sycz, Eigennamen, 57, who, however, wrongly writes t^ruu- for 



186 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

ship, i.e. the interweaving of interests, are easily derived. In the 
technical sense of associating partners with God, however, the word 
seems to be a borrowing from S. Arabia. In an inscription published 
by Mordtmann and Miiller in WZKM, x, 287, there occurs the line 
3?B)3> ^Ahn* 3h)31 rf)* hll> " and avoid giving 
a partner to a Lord who both bringeth disaster, and is the author 
of well being ". Here rt) is used in the technical Qur'anic sense of 

J^pi l and there can be little doubt that the word came to Muhammad, 
whether directly or indirectly, from some S. Arabian source. 

(Sj^ (Shi'ra). 
liii, 50. 
Sirius. 

The Commentators know that it is the Dog Star, which was anciently 
worshipped among the Banu Khuza'a (Bagh. and Zam. on the passage, 
and cf. LA, vi, 84). 

The common explanation of the philologers is that it is from j** 

and means " the hairy one ", but there can be little doubt that it is 
derived from the Gk. 2e//woy, 2 whose p, as Hess shows, is regularly 

rendered by Ar. & . The word occurs in the old poetry 3 and was 
doubtless known to the Arabs long before Islam. 

^i (Shahr). 

ii, 181, 190, etc. ; iv, 94 ; v, 2, 98 ; ix, 2, 5, 36 ; xxxiv, 11 ; etc. 
Month. 

1 The editors of the inscription recognize this, and Margoliouth, Schweich Lectures, 
p. 68, says : " the Qur'anic technicality shirk, the association of other beings with 
Allah, whose source had previously eluded us, is here traced to its home." Horovitz, 
AT, 60, 61, however, is n9t so certain and suggests Jewish influence connected with 
the Rabbinic use of P)^ n W. 

2 Hess, ZS, ii, 221, thinks we have formal proof of the foreign origin of the word 
in the fact that the Bedouin know only the name f j^ for this star. LA, ii, 116, 
and vi, 84, gives f j^"* as a s y nom yi& f r ( j*** an( l this word is found again in the 
Bishari Mirdim. 

3 See Hommel, ZDMG, xlv, 597, and Horovitz, KU, 119. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 187 

Besides the sing, we have both plu. forms j^\ and j^-^ in the 

Qur'an. 

It occurs only in relatively late passages, mostly Madinan, and 
always in the sense of month, never with the earlier meaning moon. 

The primitive sense of ^> is to publish abroad, and it was known 

to some of the early philologers that ^ meaning month was a borrow- 

ing, as we learn from as-Suyuti, Itq, 322, and al-Jawaliqi, Mn'arrab, 93. 
The borrowing was doubtless from Aram., where alone we find any 
development of the root in this sense. In O.Aram. ""HIB? as the name 
of the moon-god occurs in the inscriptions of Nerab of the seventh 
century B.C., 1 and in the proper name *Hnt2f?NQn3 we find 
it on an inscription from Sinai. 2 In the Targums N1JTO is the moon, 
and like the Syr. ]ioiD and the Aram. X"inO, is of quite common 
use. It was from the Aram, that the Eth. "/DC was derived, and 
in all probability the Arabic also, though the S. Arabian )Y 
(Rossini, Glossarium, 247) may point to an early development in 
Arabic itself. 



(Shuhadff). 

iv, 71 ; iii, 134 ; xxxix, 69 ; Ivii, 18. 

Witnesses. 

Goldziher in his Muhammedanische Studien, ii, 387 ff., pointed out 
the connection of this with the Syr. IjOlQD, which in the Peshitta 
translates fJidprvp.* The word itself is genuine Arabic, but its sense 
was influenced by the usage of the Christian communities of the 
time. 



(Sliaitan). 

Of frequent occurrence, cf. ii, 34, 271 ; iv, 85, etc. 
It occurs (a) as a personal name for the Evil One o 
cf. ii, 34 ; iv, 42, etc. 

1 Text in Lidzbarski, Handbuch, 445. 

2 Lidzbarski, op. cit., 252. 

3 Vide Horovitz, KU, 50 ; Schwally, Idioticon, 60. 



188 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR 5 AN 



(b) in the phi. ^^A for the hosts of evil, cf. ii, 96 ; vi, 121, etc. 

(c) metaphorically of evil leaders among men, cf. ii, 13 ; iii, 169 ; 
vi, 112, etc. 

(d) perhaps sometimes merely for mischievous spirits, cf. vi, 70 ; 
xxi, 82 ; xxiii, 99. 

The Muslim authorities were uncertain whether to derive the word 



from A-a-i* to be far from, or from b\> to burn with anger (cf. Raghib, 

Mufradat, 261, and LA, xvii, 104 ; TA, ix, 253). The form Juli, 
however, is rather difficult. It is true, as the philologers state, that we 

do get forms like J\j*>- perplexed, but this is from jU- where the J 
is no part of the root, and, like the J\c-^ J\c-^ quoted as parallels 

in LA, is really a form J^*i not JuJ, and is a diptote whereas jUax-^ 



is a triptote. The real analogy would be with such forms as 

babbler, j\+A*Amangled,&rid A\<A~* courageous, quoted by Brockelmann, 
Grundriss, i, 344, but these are all rare adjectival forms and hardly 

parallel the Qur'anic jUaxZi. 

Now we learn from the Lexicons that Shaifan has the meaning of 

snake O^ A) A*>- (LA, xvii, 104, 105), and we find this meaning 
in the old poets, e.g. in a Rejez poet 



'' A foul-tongued woman who swears when I swear, like the crested 

serpent from Al-Hamat," 
and in a verse of Tarafa, 



A M 

" They (the reins) play on the back of the Hacjramaut camel, like a 
snake's writhings in the desert where the Khirwa' grows." 

Moreover, we find Shaitan used as a personal name in ancient 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 189 

Arabia. 1 The Aghdrii, xv, 53, mentions 



among the ancestors of 'Alqama, and Ibn Duraid mentions a ^ 
jlkjjjl (240, 1. 4) and a ilijlLl Jr jlktt (243, 1. 3). 2 As a tribal 
name we find a sub-tribe of the Band Kinda called 



in Aghdrii, xx, 97, and in Yaqut, Mu'jam, iii, 356, we have mention 
of a branch of the Banu Tamim of the same name. This use is probably 
totemistic in origin, for we find several totem clans among the ancient 



Arabs, such as the 4*>- ^1 who in the early years of Islam were the 
ruling caste of the Tayyi (Aghdrii, xvi, 50, 1. 7), the ^1 jl (Hamdani, 

91, 1. 16), the jjil^ j^[ a sub-tribe of Aus (Ibn Duraid, 260, 2), etc. 3 

The serpent was apparently an old Semitic totem, 4 and as a tribal 
name associated with one of the many branches of the Snake totem. 

van Vloten and Goldziher take jlkx-2 to be an old Arabic word. 5 

That the Arabs believed serpents to have some connection with 
supernatural powers, was pointed out by Noldeke in the Zeitschrift 
fur Volker psychologic, i, 412 if., and van Vloten has shown that they 
were connected with demons and evil, 6 so that the use of the name 



i for the Evil One could be taken as a development from this. 

The use of jUa>i in the Qur'an in the sense of mischievous spirits, 
where it is practically equivalent to Jinn, can be paralleled from the 

1 Vide Goldziher, ZDMG, xlv, 685, and Abhandlungen, i, 106 ; van Vloten in 
Feestbundel aan de Goeje, 37 if. ; Horovitz, KU, 120. 

2 So we find a fcj* ^ 0^*^ of the tribe of Jual m ( TA ^ iv 29 ) antl in Usd al " 
Qhaba, i, 343, we find a man jliaxJI # Sjy, while in the Diwan of Tufaii (ed. 
Krenkow, iii, 37), there is mention of a certain Shaitan b. al-Hakam. 

3 Vide the discussion in Robertson Smith, Kinship, 229 ff. 

4 Vide Robertson Smith in Journal of Philology, ix, 99 ff. ; G. B. Gray, Hebrew 
Proper Names, p. 91, and Uaudissin, Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte, i, 
pp. 257-292. 

6 Goldziher, Abhandlungen, i, 10 ; van Vloten, Feestebundel aan de Ooeje, 38 ff. 
Also Sprenger, Leben, ii, 242, n. 2. Wellhausen, however, Reste, 157, n., thinks that 
this has been substituted for some earlier name and is not itself an old Arabic name. 

6 Vide his essay " Damonen, Geister und Zauber bei den alten Arabern " in 
WZKM, vii, particularly pp. 174-8, and see Goldziher, Abhandlungen, i, 6 ff. 



190 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

old poetry, and would fit this early serpent connection, but the 
theological connotations of Shaitan as leader of the hosts of evil, is 
obviously derived from Muhammad's Jewish or Christian environments. 
In the Rabbinic writings ]B{# is used in this sense, as are the Gk. 

^arav and the Syr. Ji^fib. 1 From the Syr. come the Arm. 

and also the Phlv. ideogram -tf^ (PPQl, 209), the 

Shiddn of the Paikuli fragment, 3 iii, 2, but it is from the Eth. 

which occurs beside ftjmt for 6 StdftoXos, that many scholars 

have sought to derive the Ar. jUaX-i. 4 Whether this is so it is now 

perhaps impossible to determine, but we may take it as certain that 
the word was in use long before Muhammad's day, 5 and he in his use 
of it was undoubtedly influenced by Christian, probably Abyssinian 
Christian, usage. (Fischer, Glossar, 165, thinks that the word is from 

but influenced by the genuine Arabic juax meaning demon.) 



<*~~ (Shl'a). 

vi, 65, 160 ; xv, 10 ; xix, 70 ; xxviii, 3, 14 ; xxx, 31 ; xxxiv, 54 ; 
xxxvii, 81 ; liv, 51. 
Sect or party. 

Both plurals jLj!* and P u-i I are used in the Qur'an. 

^ - 



The verb Pli in the sense of to be published abroad, occurs in 






xxiv, 18, and it is usual for the Muslim authorities to derive 4*x* from 

this (cf. Raghib, Mufraddt, 272). Schwally, Idiotican., 61, however, 
points out that in the meaning of sect the word has developed under 



is the form on the incantation bowls, cf. Montgomery, Aramaic 
Incantation Texts, Glossary, 296. 

2 Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm., i, 316. 

8 Herzfeld, Paikuli, Glossary, p. 243. Of the same origin is also the Soghdian 
s't'nh (Henning, Manichdisches Beitbuch, 1937, p. 142). 

N6ldeke, Neue Beitrage, 47 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 48 ; Ahrens, Muhammed, 92 ; 
Rudolph, AbMngigkeit, 34; Margoliouth, ERE, x, 540. Praetorius, ZDMQ, Ixi, 
619-620, thinks the Eth. is derived from the Arabic, but see Noldeke, op. cit., 
against him. 

8 Wellhausen, Reste, 157, and see Horovitz, KU, 121. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 191 



Syrian Christian influence, Syr. ]C<y% being a faction as well as 
group (agmen, 7T\T]0o$), PSm, 2576. 



(As-Sdbi'un). 
ii, 59 ; v, 73 ; xxii, 17. 1 
The Sabians. 



Like the <^uXJl JA] and the Magians, they represent a group 
specially honoured in the Qur'an as \jL*\ &jb\, but whom they 
represent, is still an unsolved puzzle. 

The exegetes had no idea what people was meant by jJLafl, 

as is evident from the long list of conflicting opinions given by Tab. 
on ii, 59. They also differed as to its derivation, some taking it from 

LM* to long for (Shahrastani, ed. Cureton, 203), and others from l^, 

which they say means to change ones religion (Tab., loc. cit.). 

Bell, Origin, 60, 148, is inclined to think that the word is just 
a play on the name of the Sabaean Christians of S. Arabia. He himself 
notes the difficulties of this theory, and though it has in its favour the 



fact that an-Nasafi on xxii, 17, calls the Sabians (^jUalJl ^4 * jf 9 

the fact that Muhammad himself was called a Sabi by his contem- 
poraries, 2 seems to show that the word was used technically in his 
milieu, and is not a mere confusion with Sabaean. Grimme, Mohammed, 
1904, p. 49, also looked to S. Arabia for the origin of the word, which 
he would relate to Eth. ft'flrh, whose secondary meaning is tributum 
pendere, and which he would interpret as " Almosen spendend". 
This, however, is somewhat far-fetched. 3 

Wellhausen's theory Reste, 237, was that it was from Aram. K22S 
=1?!3!B and given to the sect or sects because of their baptismal 

1 Sprenger, Leben, ii, 184, thinks we should read LL in xix, 13, referring to 
John the Baptist. 

2 Bukhari (ed. Krehl), i, 96, 97 ; ii, 387, 388 ; Ibn Hisham, 229 ; and the verse 
of Saraqa in Aghani, xv, 138. 

3 Vide Rudolph, Abhangigkeit, 74, n. 



192 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR^AN 

practices. 1 We find this JO 15 to baptize in Mandaean (Noldeke, 
Mand. Gramm, 235), and as Brandt points out, 2 we find the root in 
the sect names Mao-fioodaioi and ^tfiovaloi. If, as Pedersen 
holds, 3 the Sabians are Gnostics, this derivation is probably as near 
as we are likely to attain. 

*> 

4.1JL* (Sibgha). 

ii, 132. 

Baptism. 

The passage is Madinan and is a polemic against the Jews and 

Christians, so that <^ would seem to be a reference to Christian 
baptism. 4 

1uU is probably to dye, and jL** dye, tincture (cf. Syr. Uoj) 
occurs in xxiii, 20, meaning juice. It is possible that iy> in all its 

meanings is a borrowed word, though in this case the ^ would show 
that it must have been very early naturalized. In any case it is clear 
that the meaning baptism is due to Christian influence. 

From ^ f Aram. !U!S to dip, it was an easy transition to 
to baptize, and particularly in the Christian-Palestinian dialect we get 



J to baptize, ^4tl to be baptized, lAxlQO^iO baptism, 
baptist (Schulthess, Lex, 16G ; PSm, 3358). The Christian reference 



of Aix^ is clear from Zam. on the passage, and the influence was 
probably Syriac. 



(Sukuf). 

xx, 133 ; liii, 37 ; Ixxiv, 52 ; Ixxx, 13 ; Ixxxi, 10 ; Lxxxvii, 18, 19 ; 
xcviii, 2. 

1 Rudolph, op. cit., pp. 68, 69. Pautz, Offenbarung, 148, n., with less likelihood 

suggests the Syr. ^lO become ^ *&$ 

2 Die jUdischen Baptismen, 112 ff. "See also Horovitz, KU 9 121, 122. 

3 Browne, Festschrift, p. 383 ff. Torrey, Foundation, 3, assumes that the Sabi ans 
were the Mandaeans, but this is questionable. Cf. Ahrens, MvAammed, 10. 

So Rudolph, Abhdngigkeit, 75, and Lane, Lex, sub voc., though Ullmann, Koran, 
14, would take it to refer to circumcision. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR*AN 193 



X* 

Plu. of ^aJf a page of writing. 

It is one of the technical terms connected with Muhammad's 
conception of heavenly Books. All the passages save xcviii, 2, are early, 
and some of them very early. 

Horovitz, KU, 69, is doubtless right in thinking that Muhammad 
used it as a general term for such sacred writings as were known at 
least by hearsay to the Arabs, and as such it could be applied later to 
his own revelations. The word occurs not infrequently in the old 
poetry in the sense of pages of writing, e.g. in 'Antara, xxvii, 2 (Ahlwardt, 
Divans, p. 52) 



" Like a message on pages from the time of Chrosroes, which I sent 

to a tongue-tied foreigner," 
or the versos in Aghanl, xx. 24 

UJ 



" A page of writing from Laqlt to whatever lyadites are in al-Jazirah." l 
The philologers have no adequate explanation of the word from 

Arabic material, for cJiU^ is obviously denominative. 2 It is in S.Arabia 
that we find the origin of the word. Grimme, ZA, xxvi, 161, quotes 
XOH 1 ^ with its plu. ^Vft from the S. Arabian inscriptions, 3 
and in Eth. ftrh to write is in very common use, 4 while 

meaning both scriptura and liber is clearly the source of the Ar. 

so commonly used in later times for the Qur'an. 5 The use of the word 
in the early literature shows that it was a word already borrowed 



1 Also Mutalammis (ed. Vollers, Beitr. Ass., v, 171), and further references by 
Goldziher in ZDMQ, xlvi, 19. Noldeke-Schwally, i, 11, notes that in the poetry it 
never means a collection of writings in a book, as Muhammad uses it. 

2 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 248. 

3 Glaser, 424, 8, 11 ; Halevy, 199, 8; and cf. Rossini, Glossarium, 223. 

4 Dillmann, Lex, 1266 ff. Pautz, Offenbarung, 123, n., is inclined to derive the 
Qur'anic word from Ethiopic. 

5 Grohmann, WZKM, xxxii, 244. This was also in use in pre-Islamic Arabia as 
Andrae, Ursprung, 36, notes, and was borrowed by the Jews, cf. miP JljnSTD 
(Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 50, n.). Itqdn, 120, makes it clear that v^^o* was recognized 
as Abyssinian in origin. 

o 



194 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

from S. Arabia in pre-Islamic times 1 and thus ready to Muhammad's 
hand for his technical use of it in connection with sacred writings. 

Js 

4Jl** (/Sorfaja). 

ii, 192, 265, 266, 273, 277 ; iv, 114 ; ix, 58, 60, 80, 104, 105 ; 
Iviii, 13, 14. 

Alms, tithes. ^ ^ 

The denominative verb (3X^2." to give aims, occurs in ii, 280 ; 



^ 
v, 49 ; xii, 88 ; (3X^1 in iv, 94 ; ix, 76 ; Ixiii, 10, and the participles 



and \^+A^-A are used several times, e.g. ii, 38, 85 ; xxxiii, 35. 
These passages are all late, and the word is used only as a technical 
religious term, just like Heb. HplS, Phon. p"12J, Syr. lojl. 

** 
The Muslim authorities derive the word from c^A^? to be sincere, and 



say that alms are so called because they prove the sincerity of one's 
faith. The connection of the root with pHS is sound enough, but as a 
technical word for alms there can be no doubt that it came from a 
Jewish or Christian source. Hirschfeld, Beitrage, 89, argues for a Jewish 
origin, 2 which is very possible. The Syr. )oj1 with T for IS would 
seem fatal to a derivation from a Christian source, but in the Christian- 
Palestinian dialect we find VD? f translating eXerj/jLOcrvvr] in common 
use in several forms, 3 which makes it at least possible that the source 
of the Arabic word is to be found there. 



(Siddiq). 

iv, 71 ; xii, 46 ; xix, 42, 57 ; Ivii, 18 ; and <iJX^ v, 79. 
A person of integrity. 
Obviously it may be taken as a genuine Arabic formation from 

on the measure (J^*?* though this form is not very common. 

1 Fraenkel, in Beitr. Ass., iii, 69 ; Noldcke, Neue Beitrage, 50 ; Cheikho, Nasraniya, 
181, 222 ; Horovitz, KU, 69 ; Zimmcrn, Akkad. Fremdw, 19. 

2 So Fraenkel, Vocab, 20 ; Sprenger, Leben, ii, 195 n. ; Rudolph, Abhdngigkeit, 
61 ; Ahrens, Muhammed, 180 ; von Kremer, Streifzttge, p. ix. 

8 Schulthess, Lex, 167 ; Schwally, Idioticon, 79 ; and of. Horovitz, JPN 9 212. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 195 

As used in the Qur'an, however, it seems to have a technical sense, 
being used in the sing, only of Biblical characters, and in the plu. 
as " the righteous ", and for this reason it has been thought that we 
can detect the influence of the Heb.-Aram. p"H!S. Thus Fleischer, 
KUinere Schriften, ii, 594, says : " Das Wort ist dem heb.-aram. 
p'HJJ entlehnt, mit Verwandlung des Vocals der ersten Silbe in i 

nach dem bekannten reinarabischen PuTi." 

^^ * 

In the O.T. p'HX means just, righteous, and is generally rendered 
by SIKOUOS in the LXX. In the Rabbinic Xp'HS the sense of piety 
becomes even more prominent arid it is used in a technical sense for 
the pious, as in Succa, 45, b. It is precisely in this sense that Joseph, 





Abraham, and Idris are called ^ *X^ } and the Virgin Mary <a^*X^ in 



the Qur'an, and there can be little doubt that both the Arabic 
and the Eth. ftJP/4* are of this Aram, origin. 1 



(Sirdt). 

Occurs some forty-five times, e.g. i, 5, 6 ; ii, 13G, 209, etc. 

A Way. 

The word is used only in a religious sense, usually with the adj. 

, and though frequently used by Muhammad to indicate his own 

preaching, it is also used of the teaching of Moses (xxxvii, 118) and 
Jesus (iii, 44), and sometimes means the religious way of life in general 
(cf. vii, 15). 

The early Muslim authorities knew not what to make of the word. 

They were not sure whether it was to be spelled J^l^u?, 1*1^, or 
J01 j j, 2 and they were equally uncertain as to its gender, al-Akhfash 

1 Cf. Horovitz, KU, 49 ; Vacca, El, iv, 402 ; Ahrens, Christliches, 19 ; Grimme, 
ZA, xxvi, 162, thought it was of S. Arabian origin, and this may be supported by tho 

occurrence of Y^lm = Siddiq (1) as a proper name in the inscription, Glaser, 265 
( CIS, iv, No. 287), though the vocalization here may be adiq (Rossini, Glossarium, 
222 ; cf. Hyckmans, Noms propres, i, 182, 269). The Phon. name ZuSv* may also 
represent p^lS (Harris, Glossary, 141). 

2 Vide Bagh. on i, 6, and Jawhari, sub voc. 



196 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

propounding a theory that in the dialect of Hijaz it was fern, and in the 
dialect of Tamim masc. Many of the early philologers recognized it 
as a foreign word, as we learn from as-Suyuti, Itq, 322 ; Muzhir, i, 130 ; 
Mutaw 9 50. They said it was Greek, and are right in so far as it was 
from the Hellenized form of the Lat. strata that the word passed into 
Aram, and thence into Arabic. 

The word was doubtless first introduced by the Roman administra- 
tion into Syria and the surrounding territory, so that strata became 
arpdra (cf. Procopius, ii, 1), and thence Aram. JTfinBOK; K^DIO^; 
NtD"ION ; N^BIO l ; Syr. UrA&l- 8 From Aram - Jt was an earl 7 
borrowing into Arabic, being found in the early poetry. 3 

(Sarh). 

xxvii, 44 ; xxviii, 38 ; xl, 38. 

Tower. 

The Lexicographers were not very sure of its meaning. They 
generally take it to mean a palace or some magnificent building 
(Jawhari), or the name of a castle (TA, ii, 179), while some say it means 

glass tiles J^yjP /V 4 ^^. All these explanations, however, seem 
to be drawn from the Qur'anic material, and they do not explain 

how the word can be derived from fj**- 

Noldeke, Neue Beitrage, 51, pointed out that in all probability 
the word is from Eth. KCH\ a room, sometimes used for templum, 
sometimes for palatium, but as Dillmann, Lex, 1273, notes, always for 
aedes altiores conspicuac. This is a much likelier origin than the Aram. 
rP""l!5, which, though in the Targum to Jud. ix, 49, it means citadel 
or fortified place, usually means a deep cavity in a rock, and is the 

It is doubtful if the word 



equivalent of Ar. ij*& not of *r- j*&* 



1 Cf. Krauss, Griechische und lateiniwhe Lehnworter im Talmud, ii, 82, 413. A 
parallel formation is tfll^TID (= IflT^tflltflD) = arpartwr^. 

2 Of particular interest is the fact that in an eschatological sense it passed from 

Aramaic into Pahlavi as )^)j srdt. Cf. Bailey in JRAS, 1934, p. 505. 

3 Fraenkel, Vocab, 25 ; von Kremer, Ideen, 226, n. ; Dvorak, Fremdw, 26, 31, 76 ; 
Vollers, ZDMO, 1, 614 ; Ii, 314. 

4 Hoffmann, ZA, xi, 322. What Fraenkel, Fremdw, 237, means by JimST I know 
not. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 197 

occurs in the genuine old poetry, but it is found in the S. Arabian 
inscriptions, where X40&> X40& = aedificium elatum (Rossini, 
Glossarium, 225). 



(Salaba). 



iv, 156 ; v, 37 ; vii, 121 ; xii, 41 ; xx, 74 ; xxvi, 49. 

To crucify. 

The passages are all relatively late. Once it refers to the crucifixion 
of our Lord (iv, 156), once to the crucifixion of Joseph's prison com- 
panion (xii, 41), and in all the other passages to a form of punishment 
which Muhammad seems to have considered was a favourite pas- 
time of Pharaoh, but which in v, 37, he holds out as a threat against 
those who reject his mission. 

The word cannot be explained from Arabic, as the verb is denomina- 



tive from <^Ju?. This c^*Ju* occurs in the old poetry, e.g. an-Nabigha, 

ii, 10 (Ahlwardt, Divans, p. 4), and 'Adi b, Zaid (Aghanl, ii, 24), etc., 
and is doubtless derived from Aram. NIT /JS ; Syr. )cu.^, as 
Fracnkel, Freutdw, 276, claims. The word is not original in Aram., how- 
ever, and perhaps came originally from some Iranian source from a root 

represented by the Pers. Ui>- (Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 614). Mingana, 

y * V 

Syriac Influence, 86, claims that it was from Syr. rather than from 
Jewish Aram, that the word came to Arabic, and as the Eth. 
seems to be of this origin, 1 it may be so. 2 



(Salawdt). 

xxii, 41. 

Places of worship. 

Though the Commentators are not unanimous as to its meaning 
they are in general agreed that it means the synagogue of the Jews, 
and as such many of them admit that it is a borrowing from Heb. 
(Baid. and Zam. on the passage 3 : al-Jawaliql, Mu'arrab, 95 ; as-Suyuti, 

1 The form fl ft/fl is later and derived from the Arabic (Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 35). 

2 So Ahrens, Christlichefi, 40. 

3 That it was a borrowing is evident from the large crop of variant readings of 
the word noted by al-'Ukbari, Imla\ ii, 89. 



198 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

Itq, 322 ; al-Khafaji, 123 ; as-Sijistam, 201). This idea that it is Hebrew 
is derived, of course, from the notion that the word means synagogues. 
It could be from the Aram. KIT) /X which means prayer, but the 
theory of Ibn Jinni in his MuUasab, quoted by as-Suyuti, Mutaw, 55, 
that it is Syriac, is much more likely, 1 for though U<> means 
prayer, the commonly used UCL^. AJLO means a place of prayer, 
i.e. Trpoa-evxf), which Eudolph, Abhdngigkeit, 7, n., 2 would take 
as the reference in the Qur'anic passage. As we find X1 & = chapel 
in a S. Arabian inscription, 3 however, it is possible that the word first 
passed into S. Arabian and thence into the northern language. 



(Salld). 

Of very frequent occurrence. 

To pray. 

j * 

' v v 

Besides the verb we find in the Qur'an o^U* prayer, J*A* one 



> <- . 

who prays, and ,JLa- place of prayer. /^JC^, however, is denominative 

A* ^ ** ' 



\ 



IS 

from 6jL>0, as Sprenger, Leben, iii, 527, n. 2, had noted, 4 and 

itself seems to have been borrowed from an Aramaic source (Noldeke, 
Qorans, 255, 281). 

The origin, of course, is from Km^SS = U ^^' as ^ as ^ een 
generally recognized, 5 for the Eth. XATh is from the same source 
(Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 36). It may have been from Jewish Aramaic 



but more probably from Syr., 6 for the common phrase 

as Wensinck, Joden , 105, notes, is good Syriac. It was an early borrowing 
(Horovitz, JPN, 185), used in the early poets and thus quite familiar 

1 Fraenkel, Vocab, 21 ; Dvorak, Fremdw, 31 ; Schwaily, Idioticon, 80, 125. 

8 See also Pautz, Offenbarung, 149. 

8 Hommel, SUdarab. Chrest., 125 ; Rossini, Glossarium, 224. 

4 The primary meaning of ^JU is to roast, cf. Heb. n^3f ; Eth. RA<Z>- al-Khafaji, 
124, seems to feel that La is a borrowed form. 

* Fraenkel, Vocab, 21 ; Wensinck, El, Art. " Salat " ; Bell, Origin, 51, 91, 142 ; 
Pautz, Offenbarung, 149 ; Rudolph, Abhdngigkeit, 56 ; Grunbaum, ZDMO, xl, 275 ; 
Mittwoch, Entstehungsgeschichte des islamischen Oebets, pp. 6, 7 ff. ; Zimmern, Akkad. 
Fremdw, 65 ; Ahrens, Muhammed, 117. 

6 Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86 ; Schwaily, Idioticon, 80, 125. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 199 

in pre-Islamic days, 1 and the substantive 1A preces is found in 
the S. Arabian inscriptions (Rossini, Glossarium, 224). 



(Sanam). 

vi, 74 ; vii, 134 ; xiv, 38 ; xxi, 58 ; xxvi, 71. 

An idol. 

* 

Found only in the plu. *u*? I, and only in relatively late passages. 

It is curious that it occurs only in connection with the Abraham legend, 
save in one passage (vii, 134), where it refers to the Canaanites. 

As we find 3m in the S. Arabian inscriptions, 2 D. H. Mliller, 

W ZKM, i, 30, would regard ^Jw? as a genuine Arabic word. It has, 
however, no explanation from Arabic material, and the philologers are 

A * 

driven to derive it from ^ meaning (jf ) (LA, xv, 241 ; al-Khafaji, 



124). 

It was doubtless an early borrowing from Aramaic. The root D ;?5S 

** 

appears to be common Semitic, 3 cf. Akk. salmu 4 and Ar. *. JU? to cut 

off, so Heb. D^JJ ; Phon. D^JS ; Aram. NQ^JS ; Syr. ]SoL^ an 
image, would doubtless mean something cut out of wood or stone. 
KQ7JJ and W1Q72S occur not infrequently in the Nabataean 
inscriptions (RES, ii, 467, 477 ; Cook, Glossary, 101), 5 and it was from 
some such Aram, form that the word came into use in N. Arabia, 6 



giving us the HOSX we find in a Safaite inscription, 7 the /%-^ of the 

early Arabic poetry and of the Qur'an, and perhaps a Nabataean 
in an inscription from Mada'in Salih. 8 

Noldeke, Neue Beitrage, 29, and cf. Geyer, Zwei Gedichte, i, 203 = Diwan, iv, 11. 
CIS, iv, No. ii, 1. 4, and see Gildemeister, ZDM G t xxiv, 180 ; RES, ii, 485. 
But see Noldeke, ZDMG, xl, 733. 
Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 8. 



So the S. Arabian (Rossini, Glossarium, 224 ; RES, ii, 485). 

Fraenkel, Fremdw, 273 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 175, n. 2 ; Robert son Smith, 
Kinship, 300. 

7 Halevy, in JA, vii c serie, xvii, 222. 

8 RES, ii, No. 1128. 



200 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF TrfE QUR ? AN 

J is* 

* \f* (Swa'). 

xii, 72. 

A drinking cup. 

It occurs only in the Joseph story for the king's drinking cup 
which was put in Benjamin's sack. 

The word was a puzzle to the exegetes and we find a fine crop 

of variant readings PU?, > j*0, f'U?, p j*&, or 9> \ j*0, besides the 
accepted f>\ j*&. Either PU? or f-^*^ would make it mean a 

measure for grain, and P U? or f j*& would probably mean something 

fashioned or moulded, e.g. a gold ornament. 

The Muslim authorities take the word as Arabic, but Noldeke has 
shown that it is the Eth. ff *Pt>, which is actually the word used of 
Pharaoh's cup in the Joseph story of Gen. xl l in the Ethiopic Bible. 



*A 

xxii, 41. 

A> 

Plu. of 4>*A4& a cloister. 



The Commentators differ among themselves as to whether it stands 
for a Jewish, a Christian, or a Sabian place of worship. They agree, 

however, in deriving it from *++& (cf. Ibn Duraid, 166), and Fraenkel 
agrees, 2 thinking that originally it must have meant a high tapering 



building. 3 The difficulty of deriving it from **,*s?, however, is obvious, 

and al-KhafajT, 123, lists it as a borrowed word. 

Its origin is apparently to be sought in S. Arabia, from the word 
that is behind the Eth. fntfr a hermit's cell (Noldeke, Beitrage, 



1 Neue Beitrage, 55. 

2 Fremdw, 269. 

3 It certainly has the meaning of minaret in such passages as Aghani, xx, 85 ; 
Amall, ii, 79 ; Jahlz, JMab&sin, 161, and Dozy, Supplement, i, 845. - So the Judaoo- 
Tunisian JTOMT means campanile (Noldeke, Neue Beitrage, 52). Lammons, HOC, 
ix (1904), pp. 35, 35, suggests that originally <JM^* meant the pillar of a Stylite 
ascetic. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 201 

52), 1 though we have as yet no S. Arabian word with which to com- 
pare it. 



(Sura). 
xl, 66 ; Ixiv, 3 ; Ixxxii, 8. 
Form, picture. 
We also find the denominative verb jj+& in iii, 4 ; vii, 10 ; xl, 

66 ; Ixiv, 3. 

That the philologers had some difficulty with the word is evident 
from the Lexicons, cf. LA, vi, 143, 144. The word has no root in 

Arabic, for it does not seem possible to explain it from a Vj^^? which 

means to incline a thing towards (cf. Heb. 110 to turn aside, and the 
mr u, to rebel of the Amarna tablets). 

Fraenkel, Fremdw, 272, suggests, therefore, that it is derived from 
the Syr. ]2io. form, image, figure, from a root io. to describe, 
picture, form (cf. Heb. T1JJ lo delineate). In Aram, also iO12J and 
Wni2S mean picture, form, and in the S. Arabian inscriptions we 
find ) a) R not infrequently with the meaning of image.' 2 ' It is very 
probable that it was from S. Arabia that the word came into use in the 
North, 3 and doubtless at an early period, as it occurs in the early 
poetry. 



(Kaum) and *L ,..,*? (Fliydm). 

ii, 179, 183, 192 ; iv, 94 ; v, 91, 96 ; xix, 27 ; Iviii, 5. 

Fasting. 

The verb occurs in ii, 180, 181, and the participle in xxxiii, 35, 

A Us being obviously denominative from *j+e- 

It will be noticed that the passages are all late, and that the word 
is a technical religious term, which was doubtless borrowed from some 
outside source. That there were Jewish influences on the Qur'anic 



1 Rudolph, Abhdngigkeit, 7 n. 

2 Vide Hommel, Chrestomath, 125 ; Mordtmann, Himyar. Insch., 14, 15 ; Rossini, 
Glossarium, 223. 

3 So Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 27. 



202 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

teaching about fasting has been pointed out by Wensinck, Joden, 120 ff. , l 
while Sprenger, Leben, iii, 55 ff., has emphasized the Christian influence 
thereon. In Noldeke-Schwally, i, 179-180, attention is drawn to the 
similarity of the Qur'anic teaching with fasting as practised among 
the Manichaeans, and Margoliouth, Early Development, 149, thinks its 
origin is to be sought in some system other than the Jewish or Christian, 
though doubtless influenced by both, so it is not easy to determine the 
origin of the word till we have ascertained the origin of the custom. 

Fraenkel, Vocab, 20, would derive it from the Heb. D12J, 2 but it is 
more likely to have come from Aram. D12S, Syr. fcoo , which is also 
the source of the Eth. fttfo (Noldeke, Neue Beitrage, 36), and the Arm. 
ni/.* 3 The Syr. form is the nearer phonologically to the Arabic 
and may thus be the immediate source, as Mingana, Syriac Influence, 
86, urges. The word would seem to have been in use in Arabia before 
Muhammad's day, 4 but whether fasting was known in other Arab 
communities than those of the Jews and Christians is uncertain. 5 



(Taghut). 

ii, 257, 259 ; iv, 54, 63, 78 ; v, 65 ; xvi, 38 ; xxxix, 19. 

Idolatry. 

This curious word is used by Muhammad to indicate an alternative 
to the worship of Allah, as Raghib, Mvfradat, 307, recognizes. Men are 
warned to '* serve Allah and avoid Taghut " (xvi, 38 ; xxxix, 19) ; 
those who disbelieve are said to fight in the way of Taglmt and have 
Taghut as their patron (iv, 78 ; ii, 259) ; some seek oracles from 
Taghut (iv, 63), and the People of the Book are reproached because 
some of them, though they have a Revelation, yet believe in Taghut 
(iv, 54 ; v, 65). 

It is thus clearly a technical religious term, but the Commentators 
know nothing certain about it. From Tab. and Bagh. on ii, 257, we 

Cf. Schwally, Idioticon, 74. 

Griinbaum, ZDMG, xl, 275, is uncertain whether from Heb. or Aram. ; cf. also 
Pai tz, Offenbarung, 150, n. 3. 

Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 306. 

Cheikho, Nasraniya, 179. 

Schwally, Idioticon, 74 n. : " Naturlich mussen auch die heidnischen Araber 
das Fasten als religiose Ubung gehabt haben, aber das vom Islam eingefiihrte 
Fasten empfanden sie als em Novum." 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 203 

learn that some thought it meant JuaxJji, others ^>-LJl or A*lLJi, 
. . 

others Jvjl or AUX?!, and some thought it a name for al-Lat and 
al-'Uzza. The general opinion, however, is that it is a genuine Arabic 

word, a form C->^l*i from ,jJ^ to go beyond the limit (LA, xix, 232 ; TA, 

x, 225, and Kaghib, op. cit.). This is plausible, but hardly satisfactory, 
and we learn from as-Suyuti, Itq, 322 ; Mutaw, 37, that some of the early 
authorities recognized it as a loan-word from Abyssinian. 

Geiger, 56, sought its origin in the Rabbinic ffiJMD error which is 
sometimes used for idols, as in the Jerusalem Talmud, Sank, x, 28 d , 
DDmittD 4 ?! Ulb IN "woe to you and to your idols", and 
whose cognate &WT1S?D is frequently used in the Targums for 
idolatry* a meaning easily developed from the primary verbal meaning 



of KS?B to go astray (cf. Heb. P!B ; Syr. ]^ ; Ar. 

Geiger has had many followers in this theory of a Jewish origin 
for Taghut, 2 but others have thought a Christian origin more probable. 
Schwally, Idioticon, 38, points out that whereas in Edessene Syriac 
the common form is ]2cu^ meaning error, yet in the Christian- 
Palestinian dialect we find the fqrm U^, 3 which gives quite as 
close an equivalent as the Targumic NmS7tD. The closest parallel, 
however, is the Eth. "l^'Th from an unused verbal root mOtD (the 



equivalent of HUB, ,gb), which primitively means defection from the 

true religion, and then is used to name any superstitious beliefs, 
and also is a common word for idols, translating the ei'&oAa of 
both the LXX and N.T. It is probable, as Noldeke, New Beitrage, 35, 
notes, that this word itself is ultimately derived from Aramaic, but 
we can be reasonably certain that as-Suyuti's authorities were right in 
giving the Arabic word an Abyssinian origin. 4 

1 Geiger, 203, and sec examples in Levy, TW, i, 312. 

2 Von Kremcr, Ideen, 226, n. ; Fraenkel, I'ocab, 23 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 175 ; 
Eickmann, Angelologie, 48 ; Margoliouth, ERE, vi, 249 ; Hirschfeld, Judische 
Elemente, 65. 

3 Schulthess, Lex, 76. Mingana, Syriac Influence, 85, also holds to a Syr. origin 
for the word. 

4 Noldeke, op. cit., 48. It should be noted, however, that in the incantation 
texts KmJTlfl means false deity, which is very close to the Qur'anic usage. Cf. 
Montgomery, Aramaic Incantation Texts, p. 290. 



204 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

CjjJU* (Tdlut). 
ii, 248, 250. 
Saul. 
Some of the early authorities know that it was a foreign word. Baicl. 

tells us thatit is (jf> (%.-* 1, and al-Jawaliqi, Mu'armb, 103 ; al-Khafaji, 

128, give it as no n- Arabic. 

The Heb. word is 71X2?, 1 and none of the Christian forms derived 



therefrom give us any parallel to O j!U*. The philologers derive his 
name from JIU to be tall, evidently influenced by the Biblical story, 
as we see from Bagh. on ii, 248. Geiger, 182, suggested that O jJll* was 

a rhyming formation from JlL? to parallel C-> j)l>.. The word is not 
known earlier than the Qur'an, 2 and would seem to be a formation of 

Muhammad himself from /INIZ?, a name which he may not have heard 
or remembered correctly, and formed probably under the influence 

of JU* to 



(Taba'a). 

iv, 154 ; vii, 98, 99 ; ix, 88, 94 ; x, 75 ; xvi, 110 ; xxx, 59 ; xl, 37 ; 
xlvii, 18 ; Ixiii, 3. 

To seal. 

Only found in late Meccan and Madinan passages, and always in 
the technical religious sense of God " sealing up the hearts " of un- 
believers. 

The primitive meaning of the Semitic root seems to be to sw& in, 
cf. Akk. tebu. to sink in, tabbTu, diver ; Heb. I72Q ; Aram. 1?5P ; 

Syr. \ii^, to sink] Eth. ffi90, to dip, to immerse.* From this came 



1 This was known to the Commentators, e.g. ath-Tha'labi, Qi?a<?, 185, says that his 
name in Heb. is ^S ^ J ^U, which is a very fair representation of IZTp ]H ^IXttf. 

2 The occurrenee in Samau'al is obviously not genuine ; ef. Noideke, ZA, xxvii, 
178. 

3 Horovitz, KU, 123 ; JPN, 163. 

4 Maybe the Ar. *i rust represents this primitive sense. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 205 

the more technical use for a die, e.g. Phon. 1?2D coin l ; Akk. 
timbu'u, signet-ring ; Heb. nS?3B signet ; Syr. lin seal 
(crtypayk) and coin (VO/JLICT/JLOL). 

Fraenkel, Frenidw, 193, pointed out that in this sense of sealing 

the Arabic verb is denominative from * \& which is derived from the 

Syr. ] vo 2 We actually find ^. used in the sense of obstupefccit 
inEph.Syr.,ed. Overbeck, 95, 1. 26 lA^d^ 1/uiiZ H.U? fe> l^^ 1 
1-oOOlaj, and S?2tD occurs in the incantation texts (Montgomery, 
Aramaic Incantation Texts, Glossary, p. 105). 

1* (Tabaq). 

Ixvii, 3 ; Ixxi, 14 ; Ixxxiv, 19. 
Stage or degree. 

The form CM* ^ used in Ixvii, 3 ; Ixxi, 14, is really the plu. of <2_*,l*. 

It is used only of the stages of the heavens, both in a physical 
and a spiritual sense, and for this reason, Zimmern, AJekad. Fremd.w, 46, 
derives it directly from Mesopotamia, the Akk. tubuqtu, plu. lubuqati, 
meaning Weltrdume (woU in 7 Shifen ubercinander gedacht). 



(Tahara). 

Occurs very frequently, e.g. iii, 37 ; v, 45. 
To make clean or pure. 

The root itself is genuine Arabic, and may be compared with Aram. 
"HP to be dean ; KIPPED, Syr. jioi^ brightness ; Heb. 1PIED 

to be clean, pure ; the S. Arabian )YHI in Hal, 682 (Rossini, Glossariwn, 
159), and the Has Shamra 1PIED. 

Tn its technical sense of " to make religiously pure ", however, 
there can be little doubt that it, like the Eth. hfl) and ^"Itf^ 
(Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 36), has been influenced by Jewish usage. 
It will be remembered that IHED is used frequently in Leviticus 

1 In Tyrian circles as e t arly as the third century B.C. Cf. Harris, Glossary, 105. 

2 As Fraenkel notes, the un-Arabic form mill? is itself sufficient evidence that 
it is a borrowed form. 



206 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 

for ceremonial cleanness, and particularly in Ezekiel for moral cleanli- 
ness. Similar is its use in the Rabbinic writings, and in late passages 
Muhammad's use of the word is sometimes strikingly parallel to 
Rabbinic usage. 



xiii, 28. 

Good fortune, happiness. 

The favourite theory among the philologers was that it came from 



*-l? (Raghib, Mufraddt, 312), though not all of them were happy 

with this solution as we see from Tab. on the passage, and both as- 
Suyutl, Itq, 322, and al-Jawallql, Mu'arrab, 103, quote authority for 
its being a foreign word. 1 

It is obviously the Syr. l^Q^ = /JLOLKdpio? or /za/capt 07/09, as 
Fraenkel, Vocab, 24, saw, 2 which, of course, is connected with the 

common Semitic root 212, which appears in Arabic as 
and S. Arabian as flTDl. 



(Tur). 

ii, 60, 87 ; iv, 153 ; xix, 53 ; xx, 82 ; xxiii, 20 ; xxviii, 29, 46 ; Hi, 
1 ; xcv, 2. 

Mt. Sinai. 

Twice it is expressly coupled with ftlL-w, and except in Hi, 1, 

where it might mean mountain in general, it is used only in connection 
with the experiences of the Israelites at Sinai. 4 

It was early recognized by the philologers as a foreign word. 
al-Jawallqi, Mu'arrab, 100 ; Ibn Qutaiba, Adab al-Kdtib, 527 ; as-Suyuti, 
Muzhir, i, 130 ; and BaicJ. onlii, 1, give it as a Syriac word, though others, 

1 They were uncertain, however, whether to regard it as Abyssinian or Indian 
Mutaw, 39, 51. 

2 So Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86 ; Dvorak, Fremdw, 18. 

3 Lagarde, Ubersicht, 26, 69. 

4 See Kunstlinger, " Tur und Gabal im Kuran," in Rocznik Orjentalistyczny, v 
(1927), pp. 58-67. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF *THE QUR^AN 207 

as we learn from as-Suyutl, Ilq, 322, thought that it was a Nabataean 
word. 

Heb. HISS TTtrpa, from meaning a single rock or boulder, conies 
to have the sense of cliff, and Aram. NT)B is a mountain. So in the 



Targums TO"! JO1B is Mt. Sinai, 1 but the t llx^ j? of the 



Qur'an is obviously the Syr. ^i^CD io which occurs beside li 

> 1 > m% 2 



(Tufdn). 

vii, 130 ; xxix, 13. 

The Deluge. 

The Commentators did not know what to make of it. Tab. tells 
us that some took it to mean water, others death, others a torrent of 
rain, others a great storm, 3 and so on, and from Zam. we learn that yet 
others thought it meant smallpox, or the rinderpest or a plague of 
boils. 

Fraenkel, Vocab, 22, recognized that it was the Rabbinic K391CD 
which is used, e.g., by Onkelos in Gen. vii, and which occurs in the 
Talmud in connection with Noah's story (Sank. 96 a ). FraenkePs 
theory has been generally accepted, 4 but we find X'WBIC) in 
Mandaean meaning deluge in general (Noldeke, Mand. Gramm., 22, 
136, 309), 5 and Syr. Uao is used of Noah's flood in Gen. vi, 17, 
and translates KaTaKXva/JLO^ in the N.T., so that Mingana, 
Syriac Influence, 86, would derive the Arabic word from a Christian 
source. 

The flood story was known before Muhammad's time, and we find 

the word jli^L* used in connection therewith in verses of al-A'sha 

and Umayya b. Abi-s-Salt, 6 but it is hardly possible to decide whether 
it came into Arabic from a Jewish or a Christian source. 

1 Vide Onkelos on Ex. xix, 18. 

2 Fraenkel, Vocab, 21 ; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 88 ; and see Horovitz, JPN, 
170 ; KU, 123 if. ; Guidi, Delia Sede, 571. 

3 It can hardly be connected, however, with the Gk. rv<f>u>v. 

4 Hirschfeld, Beitrage, 45 ; Horovitz, KU, 23 ; Massignon, Lexique, 52 ; Well- 
hausen, ZDMQ, Ixvii, 633. 

5 Also on the incantation bowls, cf. Montgomery, Aramaic Incantation Texts, 
Glossary, p. 290. 

6 Al-A'sha in Geyer, Zwei Gedichte, i, 145 = Diwan, xiii, 59 ; Umayya, xxvi, 1 ; 
xxx, 10 (ed. Schulthess). 



208 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 



iii, 43 ; v, 110 ; vi, 2 ; vii, 11 ; xvii, 63 ; xxiii, 12 ; xxviii. 38 ; 
xxxii. 6 ; xxxvii, 11 ; xxxviii, 71, 77 ; li, 33. 

Clay. 

The Qur'an uses it particularly for the clay out of which man 
was created. 

Jawhari and others take it to be from jll?, but this verb is clearly 

denominative, and Fracnkol, Fremdw, 8, is doubtless correct in thinking 
it a loan-word from N. Semitic. 

We find W9 clay in Jewish Aram, but not commonly used. The 
Syr. }l4 was much more widely used. From some source in the 
Mesopotamian area the word passed into Iranian, where we find 
the Phlv. ideogram ufty tlna, meaning clay or mud (PPGJ, 219 ; 
Frahang, Glossary, p. 119), and it was probably from the same source 
that it came as an early borrowing into Arabic, where we find it used in 
a general sense in the old poetry, e.g. Hamasa, 712, 1. 14. 



., ^ 
JLe (<Alam). 

Of very frequent occurrence (but only in the plu. ^ 
The world, the universe. 

The form is not Arabic as Fraenkel, Vocab, 21, points out, and 
the attempts of the Muslim authorities to prove that it is genuine 

Arabic are not very successful. 2 Raghib, Mufraddt, 349, quotes as 

" -* ^ 

parallels JM LL> and /%.5*U-, but these are borrowings from jlx and 
respectively (Fraenkel, Fremdw, 252 and 193). Another indica- 



tion that the word is foreign is the plu. form **V0 (Fraenkel, 

Vocab, 21). 

Tt is difficult, however, to decide whether the word was borrowed 
from Jewish or Christian sources. 3 Hirschfeld, Beit rage, 37, pleads for 

1 Fischer, Glossar, 86, shows that this plu. in the Qur'an means " mankind ". 

2 In S. Arabian, however, we have 3 1 = ntundum (Rossini, Qlossarium, 207). 

3 That it was an early borrowing is clear from the fact that T^l 1 occurs in a 
monotheistic S. Arabian inscription published by Mordtmann and Miiller in WZKM, 
x, 287 ; cf. p. 289 therein. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 209 

a Jewish origin, 1 and there is much to be said in favour of this. Heb. 
D\?117 means any duration of time, and in the Rabbinic writings it, 
like Aram. Kfj?!?, comes to mean age or world, as e.g. nttl D /ll^PI 
" this world " as contrasted with the next X3n D /117H (Levy, 
iii, 655). Griinbaum also points out, ZDMG, xxxix, 571, that the 

common Qur'anic ^A*^ v >J is precisely the D*Vj711?n ]131 of 
the Jewish liturgy. On the other hand, Nu?17 occurs in Palm, and 
D717 in Nab. inscriptions, 2 and the Syr. ]SnSs, which Fraenkel, 
Vocab, 21, suggested as its origin, means both dta>v and /cooler, 
while the expression v iSn\\^ in tlie Christian-Palestinian dialect, 
is, as Schwally notes, 3 a curiously close parallel in form to the Qur'anic 



( c Abd). 
Of very frequent occurrence (also other forms, e.g. a^Lc-, etc.). 

A worshipper. 

The root is common Semitic, cf. Akk. abdu 4 ; Heb. 1317 ; 
O.Aram. 1317 ; Syr. ]f^ ; Phon. 1317 ; Sab. HFI (and perhaps 
Eth. OttOl, Dillmann, Lex, 988). 

The question of its being a loan-word in Arabic depends on the 
more fundamental question of the meaning of the root. If its primitive 
meaning is to worship, then the word retains this primitive meaning in 
Arabic, and all the others are derived meanings. There is reason, 
however, to doubt whether worship is the primitive meaning. In the 
O.Aram. 1317 means to make or to do, and the same meaning is very 
common in Jewish Aram, and Syr. In Heb. 1317 is to work, 5 and so 
1317 primarily means worker, as Noldeke has pointed out, 6 and 
the sense of to serve is derived from this. 7 With 1317 meaning to 

1 So de Sacy, JA, 1829, p. 161 ff. Pautz, Offenbarung, 105, n. 5, and see Sacco, 
Credenze, 28 ; Ahrons, Muhammed, 41, 129 ; Horovitz, JPN, 215. 

2 It occurs with the meaning of age or time in the Zenjirli inscription. 
8 Idioticon, 67, 68 = cis rovs ai&vas. 

4 Zirntnern, Akkad. Fremdw, 47. 

5 Notice particularly the Niph. n??3 to be tilled, used of land. 

8 ZDMQ, xl, 741. He compares the Eth. "MUl to work and l*flC labourer. 
7 Gerber, Verba Denominativa, p. 14. 



210 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

serve, we get Heb. 1?? J Aram. tH?? ; Syr. 1,01; Phon. 

and Akk. abdu, all meaning slave or vassal, like the Ar. 

Sab. Nil . From this it is a simple matter to see how with the 

developing cults IDS? comes to be a worshipper, and Ju to worship, 

i.e. to serve God. 

The inscriptions from N. Arabia contain numerous examples of 
joined with the name of a divinity, e.g. JOBTmaiJ = 

namar = sb JL* ; n^nns? = c^i JL* ; 



< JUP ; - tfj JLP, to quote 

only from the Sinaitic inscriptions. 1 Also in the S. Arabian 
inscriptions we find )X?Nfl o 'Abd 'Athtar ; 11rtNfl o 'Abd Kallal ; 
A^^NH 'Abd Shams, etc. 2 It thus seems clear that the sense of 
worship, worshipper came to the Arabs from their neighbours in 
pre-Islamic times, 3 though it is a little doubtful whether we 
can be so definite as Fischer, Glossar, 77, in stating that it is from 
Jewish 13J7. 



('Abqari). 

iv, 76. 

A kind of rich carpet. 

It occurs only in an early Meccan Sura in a passage describing 
the delights of Paradise. 

The exegetes were quite at a loss to explain the word. Zam. says 

that it refers to ^2*, a town of the Jinn, which is the home of all 
wonderful things, and Tab., while telling us that IsJ^f ^ s the same as 



1 Cook, Glossary, 87, 88. For the Safaitic see DXISJT : 13in3T, etc., in Littmann, 
Semitic Inscriptions, 1904 ; Ryckmans, Nomt* propres, i, 155, 240, 241, and compare 
the Phon. examples in Harris* Glossary, 128, 129. 

2 Vide Pi 1 1 er, Index of South A rabian Names, for references, and Rossini , Glossarium, 
201. 

8 It was commonly used in this sense in the old poetry, see Cneikho, Nasraniya, 
172. Ahrens, Christliches, 20, would derive ijlip directly from the n*p3 ; cf. 
Horovitz, JPN, 213. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 211 

J or 7Tv^> states that the Arabs called every wonderful thing 



s 



It seems to be an Iranian word. Addai Sher, 114, suggests that it 
thePers. jl$o I, i.e. jD ^>l, meaning "something splendid", from 

i^>\ splendour and jLj something made. That would be Phlv. <jj 

db lustre, splendour 1 (cf. Skt. WW) and JJJA Aw = labour, affair 2 
from Av. Yui^ Mr (cf. Skt. RTT), 3 so Phlv. JAJ^JJJ would mean a 
splendid or gorgeous piece of work. It must be admitted, however, 
that this derivation seems very artificial. 

('Atiq). 
xxii, 30, 34. 
Ancient. 
It occurs only in a Madinan Sura in a reference to the Ka'ba 



The exegetes had some trouble with the word, though they usually 

P **" "^ "** 

try to derive it from ^JL., whose meaning, as commonly used in the 

old poetry, is to be free. The verb occurs in Akk. etequ ; Heb. pflS? 
meaning to move, to advance, but the sense of to be old seems purely an 
Aram, development, and occurs only as an Aramaism in Hebrew. 4 

Aram. pTIJ7, KpTll? ; Syr. IdaAl are quite commonly 
used, and pHl?, in the sense of old, occurs in a Palm, inscription of 
A.D. 193, 5 but Vollers, ZDMG, xlv, 354 ; li, 315, claims that the root 
owes this meaning to the Lat. antiquus, in which case the word 
probably came early into Arabic from an Aramaic source. 6 

1 PPGl, 87, and cf. Horn, Grundriss, 3. 

2 West, Glossary, 194, and Horn, Grundriss, 831. 

3 Bartholomac, AIW, 444 if . 

4 BDB, 801. 

5 do Vogue, Inscriptions , No. 6, 1. 4, and cf. Lidzbarski, Handbuch, 348 ; Ryckmans, 
Noms propres, i, 172. 

6 It was used in the early poetry, e.g. Al-A*sha (Geyer, Zwei Qedichte, i, 18) and 
Mufcufrtaliydt, xxvi, 34. 



212 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 



('Adn). 

ix, 73 ; xiii, 23 ; xvi, 33 ; xviii, 30 ; xix, 62 ; xx, 78 ; xxxv, 30 ; 
xxxviii, 50 ; xl, 8 ; Ixi, 12 ; xcviii, 7. 
Eden. 
It is always found in the combination jJlfc Ou>- as Garden 

of Eden, and always used eschatalogically, never in the sense of the 
earthly home of Adam and Eve. It is not found in the earliest Suras, 
and is commonest in quite late passages. Muhammad apparently 
learned the phrase only in its later sense of Paradise, and in xxvi, 85, 



refers to it as 

The general theory of the Muslim savants is that it is a genuine 

y 

Arabic word from jJi to abide or stay in a place (LA, xvii, 150 ; 

*} 

' ( .,- i 

T^,ix,274),andRaghib, Mufraddt, 328, says that jAc- means jl^iiu*). 

Some, however, recognized it as a loan-word, as we learn from as- 
Suyuti, Itq, 323, though the authorities were divided as to whether 
it was Syriac or Greek. 



Obviously jAs- Ou>- represents the Heb. "pll? )3, and as 

f ti ** 

is properly delight, pleasure (the Gk. -qSovr)), 1 the (t^*^' ^ 

xxvi, 85, is a very fair translation. The Arabic equivalent of 
^ ^ j ^ ^ ^ 

however, is jJt, with its derivatives jA and A) Ac- delicacy, 
softness, which clearly disposes of the theory of the Lexicographers 

of a derivation from J AP. 

Marracci, Befutationes, 315, claimed that the derivation of the 
Arabic word was directly from the Heb. and this has been accepted 
by many later writers, 2 though Geiger, 47, admits that it is only in the 
later Kabbinic writings that 1*11? means a heavenly abode. It is 
possible, however, that it came from the Syr. ^, which is used not 

1 Cf. ]"BT to be soft, and the Hiph. to live delicately, voluptuously. Sycz, Eigen- 
namen, 14, however, wants to derive it from Babylonian edinu meaning field or steppe. 

* De Sacy in JA, 1829, vol. iv, pp. 175, 176 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 215 n. ; Sacco, 
Credenze, 163. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 213 

only of the earthly Eden of Genesis but also of Paradise, and of that 
blessed state into which Christ brings men during their earthly sojourn- 
ings. 1 It was from the Syr. that the Arm. tu^fi 2 was derived, 
but one must admit with Horovitz, Parodies, 7, that the Syriac word 
was not so commonly used as the Kabbinic "pi?, and the probabilities 
are thus in favour of a Jewish derivation. 

'LsSj* ('Arub). 

Ivi, 36. 

Pleasing. 

The word is found only in an early Meccan passage describing the 

ff H f" 
delights of Paradise, where the ever-virgin spouses are VH^J I u^> 

which is said to mean that they will be well pleasing to their Lords 
and of equal age with them. 

The difficulty, of course, is to derive it from the Ar. root ^J~, 
which does not normally have any meaning which we can connect 

with ^)J*> in this sense. For this reason Sprenger, Leben, ii, 508, n., 

suggested that it was to be explained from Heb. 2"! 17, one of the 
meanings of which is to be sweet, pleasing, used, e.g., in Ez. xvi, 37 ; 
Cant, ii, 14, very much as in the Qur'anic passage. So in the Targums 
n'HS? means sweet, pleasing (Levy, TW, ii, 240), but the word is not 
a common one, and it is not easy to suggest how it came to the Arabs. 
It is commonly used in the old poetry, which would point to an early 
borrowing. 

jjc- (Azzara). 

v, 15 ; vii, 156 ; xlviii, 9. 

To help. 

It is used only in late passages in the technical sense of giving 
aid in religious matters. 

Obviously it is not used in the normal sense of to correct or punish, 

1 Vide Andrae, Ursprung, 151. 

2 Hiibschmann, ZDMG, xlvi, 231 ; Arm. Qramm, i, 300. In the old version of 
Genesis, however, the word used is Irt^hrif^ which is obviously from the Greek ' 



214 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR AN 

nor can it be a normal development of jjfc to reprove, blame. The 

Lexicons are forced to illustrate this Qur'anic use of the word from the 
Hadith whose usage is obviously dependent on the Qur'an itself 
(LA, vi, 237). 

It thus seems probable that the verb is denominative, formed 
from a borrowed ITS? or HITS? meaning help, succour, which would 
have come to Muhammad from his contact with the Jewish communi- 
ties. 1 As the Hob. and Phon. 1T17 ; Aram. "HI? ; Syr. i r l are cognate 

^ 
with the Ar. jAP to aid, it is possible to consider j j as a by-form of 

j*X, just as 1TS7 occurs, though infrequently, beside ""HI? in the 

Palm, inscriptions, 2 but the fact that it is jjc- and not jj,c which 
means to help is against this, and in favour of its being a denominative. 



ix, 30. 

Ezra. 

The reference is to the Biblical Ezra, 3 and the name was recognized 
by the philologers as foreign. al-Jawallql, Mu'arrab, 105, for example, 
recognizes it as Hebrew. 

The form of the name is difficult to explain. The Hob. is 
and none of the Christian forms taken from this help us to explain 

j \c>. Finkel, MW, xvi, 306 suggests that it is a misreading for J^Jc- 

from Ps. ii, 7, but this does not seem possible. Majd! Bey in the Bulletin 
de la Soc. Khediviale de Geographic, vii e ser., No. 3 (1908), p. 8, claims 
that it represents Osiris, but this is absurd. Casanova, JA, ccv (1924), 
p. 360, would derive it from vKTTS? or *WT1I7, but all the proba- 
bilities are that it stands for KITS?, and the form may be due to 
Muhammad himself not properly grasping the name, 4 or possibly 

1 So Horovitz, JPN, 214. 

2 Lidzbarski, Handbuch, 338. 

3 Baid. on the passage tells us that the Jews repudiated with some asperity the 
statement of the Qur'an that they called Ezra the Son of God. 

* See also Horovitz, KU, 127, 167 ; JPN, 169 ; Kunstlinger, OLZ, xxxv (1932), 
381-3. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR J AN 215 

giving it deliberately the contemptuous diminutive form. A comparison 
with the Mandaean Elizar l is too remote to be fruitful. 



xxvii, 39. 

Demon. 

The philologers would derive it from j& to rub with dust, and tell 

us that the word is applied to Jinn or to men as meaning one who 
rolls his adversary in the dust (cf. LA, vi, 263). That the philologers 
had difficulty with it is evident from the number of possible forms 
given by Ibn Khalawaih, 109. 

Grimme, ZA, xxvi, 1G7, 168, suggests that the word was formed 
under S. Arabian influence, but there seems nothing in this, and Earth, 
ZDMG, xlviii, 17, would take it as a genuine Arabic word. 2 Hess, 
ZS, ii, 220, and Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 646, however, have shown that it is 

Persian, derived from Phlv. ))^3^y afntan* (cf. Av. gu>^Wu> 



dfrindt*), whicli in Mod. Pors. is JLi^il, the participle from j 

to create, Paz. afndan, Phlv. ))jJO> (Shikand, Glossary, 226), 



and used like the Ar. (3j^- for creature. 

' I * 



('IlRyun). 

Ixxxiii, 18, 19. 

It is supposed to be the name of a place in the upper part of the 
heavens (or the name of the upper part of the heavens itself), where 
the Eegister of men's good actions is preserved. Some said it was the 

angel court (%J }U1 jl JO ~J), LA, xix, 327 ; others that it means 

the heights (Tab. in loco), and others, arguing that A^? . e-juJ in 
v. 20 interprets 'IlliyQn, said it meant a book (Bagh). 

1 This Elizar appears as the chief of all priests ; cf. Lidzbarski, Johannesbuch, 
ii, 78 if. 

2 Vide also his Nominate ildung, 250. 

3 Horn, Grundriss, 39, and cf. Vullers, Lex, i, 44. 

4 Reichelt, Aweslisches Elementarbuch, Glossary, 428, 



216 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

Fraenkel, Vocab, 23, was doubtless right in taking it to be the 
Heb. Tr?J?, which is used as an appellation of God among both 
Hebrews and Phoenicians, 1 and as meaning higher or upper is used of 
chambers of a house (Ez. xli, 7 ; xlii, 5), and in the Rabbinic writings 
refers to things heavenly as opposed to things earthly (Levy, Worterbuch, 
iii, 653). 2 

Grimme, ZA, xxvi, 163, wants to connect it with Eth. 0AP, whose 
participle, he says, means buntgefarbte, and would refer it to the spotted 
pages of the books. There is little doubt, however, that we must regard 
it as a borrowing from the Jews. 



( ( Imad). 

*><"- 

xiii, 2 ; xxxi, 9 ; civ, 9 (sing. A*P) ; Ixxxix, 6. 

A column or pole. 

The word can hardly be derived from the Arabic verbal root 

to afflict, and was apparently borrowed from the Aramaic. 

Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 31, goes back to an Akk. imdu meaning 
a support for a house or a wall, from a root emedu, 'md, to stwul, which 
he would consider as having influenced the Canaanitish and Aramaean 
areas, whence we find Heb. "TIQS7 ; Phon. "17317 pillar, arid Aram. 
KTIQ1? ; Palm. NTIQI? ; Syr. ]>QSQ1 pillar. If so it must 
also have influenced the S. Arabian area, for there we find Sab. N3 
(D. H. Miiller, Epigraphische Denkmaler aus Abessinien, 80) 3 and 
Eth. 09, also meaning pillar. 

From the Aramaic, according to this theory, would have come 



the Ar. ^ yf a pillar, and thence the denominative verb Jl* to prop, 

from which the Qur'anic Z\ would have been derived. In this case 
it would have been an early borrowing. 



1 Hoffmann, Phonizische Inschriften, pp. 48, 50, and Philo Byblius in Eusebius, 
Prep. Evany., i, 80 (eel. Gainsford), Kara rovrovs ytveral n$ 'EXiovv KaXovpevos *Yi/iiaros. 

2 Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 28, and Horovitz, JPN, 215, agree that the origin 
was Jewish. 

3 Cf. Rossini, Glossarium, 209 ; Ryckmans, Noms propres, i, 166. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 217 

(Imrari). 

iii, 30, 31 ; Ixvi, 12. 

'Imran, the father of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 

In these passages we have the well-known confusion between 
Miriam the sister of Moses and Aaron, and Miriam the mother of our 
Lord, and in spite of the attempts at defence made by Gerock, 1 Sale, 2 
and Weil, 3 we have no need to look elsewhere than the Q"1QS? of 
the O.T. for the ultimate source of the name, though the direct borrow- 
ing would seem to have been from the Syr. tli&V 

Sycz, Eigennamen, 60, would take it as a genuine Arabic name 
applied to D1QS7 because the name seems to be a formation from 



, and used in pre-Islamic times. Ibn Duraid, IsUiqdq, 314, tells us 
of an J \^f among the Quda'a, and Ibn Qutaiba, Ma'drif, 223, speaks 



of an Mjj <jr Jjf at Mecca. D. H. Muller, WZKM, i, 25, says 

the name was known in S. Arabia, and evidence for its existence in 
N. Arabia is found in a Greek inscription from the Hauran given by 
Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, ii, 331, which reads Avdov ^aXejJLOV K 
'Ei/jipdvov BatTcrou, as well as the Abu 'Imran mentioned in 
Al-A'sha. 4 Horovitz, KU, 128, also quotes Littmann's unpublished 
second volume No. 270 for an occurrence of the name in the Safaite 
inscriptions (of. Ryckmans, Noms propres, i, 167). 

This, however, hardly affects the Qur'anic name, for though we 
may agree that there was an early Arabic name of this form, it is surely 
clear, as both Lidzbarski and Horovitz note, that the Qur'anic name 
came to Muhammad from his Jewish or Christian sources, though in 
the form it takes he may have been influenced by the Arabic name 
(Horovitz, JPN, 159). 



- ('Ankabut). 

xxix, 40. 

Spider. 

1 Christologie, pp. 22-8, followed by Sayous, Jesus-Christ d'apres Mahomet, Paris, 
1880, pp. 35, 36. 

2 Koran, p. 46, n. 3. 

3 Muhammad der Prophet, 1843, p. 195, n. 
* Diwan (ed. Geycr), xxvii, 18. 



218 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

The ending C*j would suggest that it is of Aram, origin (Geiger, 
45), and this is confirmed by the fact that the Heb. is ETMSJ, where 

the Heb. tit would lead us to expect a d> in Arabic, as e.g. 271712 and 



*9 etc. 

The form in the Targums is NTTM?? or KTPyOtf, as in 
spider's web, and it was probably from some Aram. 
form that it entered Arabic. 1 The word occurs with n already in the 
N. Arabian inscriptions (Jaussen and Savignac, Mission, 25). 2 



v, 114. 
A festival. 

This sole occurrence is in the latest Madinan Sura in connection 
with Muhammad's curious confusion on the Lord's supper. 

The Lexicons try to derive it from 2\, though as we see from 

the discussion of al-Azharl in LA, iv, 314, they were somewhat in 
difficulties over it. Fraenkel, Fr&ndw, 276, pointed out that it has no 
derivation in Arabic, and it was doubtless borrowed from the Syr. 
Ijfc, 3 though the root is common Semitic, and the Targumic NTS? 
is not impossible as the source. Itwould have been an early borrowing, 
for already in the Minaean inscriptions N? ! 1 ! means festum instituit 
(Rossini, Glossarinm, 205). 



ii, 81, 130, 254 ; iii, 40-8, 52, 78 ; iv, 156-169 ; v, 50, 82, 109-116 ; 
vi, 85 ; xix, 35 ; xxxiii, 7 ; xlii, 11 ; xliii, 63 ; Ivii, 27 ; Ixi, 6, 14. 
Jesus. 
The majority of these passages are late. The name is generally 



1 Vide BDB, 747. 

2 Vide Hess, Die Entzifferung der thamudiftchen Inschriften, No. 153. 

3 Cf. Cheikho, Nasraniya, 173 ; Fischer, Glossar, 90. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 219 

is frequently accompanied by characteristic N.T. 



/C X 

titles, e.g. 

Many Muslim authorities take the word as Arabic and derive it 

A> S^ 

from JJ-A& to &e a cZw#y wto, whence ( j^ a reddish whiteness 

* ' . , 

(Lane, sub voc.), or from ^^ meaning a stamen s ww<? ; so 

Baghib, Mufradal, 359 (cf. L4, viii, 31). Zam. on iii, 40, however, 
dismisses these suggestions with some scorn, 1 and there were many who 
recognized it as a foreign word. 2 al-Jawaliql, Mu'arrab, 105 ; al-Khafaji, 
134, give it as such, and in LA, viii, 30 ff., wo read that Slbawaih, Ibn 

Slda, Jawhari, and az-Zajjaj classed it as t^>j*<*. Jawharl, Sihah, sub 

voc., gives it as Syriac, but Baid. on ii, 81, says it is Hebrew. 

The name is still a puzzle to scholarship. Some have suggested 
that it is really Esau 12717, and was learned by Muhammad from Jews 
who called Jesus so out of hatred. 3 There is no evidence, however, that 
Jews ever referred to Jesus by this name. Others take it as a rhyming 



formation to correspond with ifj* and ^^, on the analogy 

of Harun and Qarun ; Harut and Marut ; Yajuj and Majuj, etc. 
There may be some truth in this. 4 Derenbourg, REJ, xviii, 128, after 
pointing out how the Tetragraminaton HIPP in Gk. became flin I, 
suggests that perhaps S710^ " lu a la manicrc occidentale " has produced 

^**~, but this is hardly likely. 

Fraenkel, TfZA'M,iv,334, 335, suggests that the name ^^ may 
have been so formed from ^CUt* by Christians in Arabia before 



> 

1 J3aid. follows Zam. in this. Zwcmer, Moslem Christ, 34, has quite misunderstood 
Baid. on this point. Baid. does not argue for a derivation from ^jj&\, but definitely 
repudiates it. al-'Ukbari, Imld\ i, 164, says clearly ^liiil <J Oj-i V- 

2 See the discussion in Abu Hayyan, Bahr, i, 297. 

3 This was suggested by Roediger (Fraenkel, \VZKM, iv, 334, n.) and by Landauer 
(Noldeke, ZDMG, xli, 720, n.), and is set forth again by Pautz, Offenbarung, 191. 
The case against it is elaborated by Derenbourg, SEJ, xviii, 127, and Rudolph, 
Abhdngigkeit, 66. 

4 This theory was elaborated by Lowenthal in 1861, cf. MW, i, 267-282, and 
Ahrens, Christliches, 25. 



220 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

Muhammad. It is not unusual to find Arabic using an initial I? in 
words borrowed from Aram., 1 and the dropping of final S? is evidenced 
by the form Yisho of the Manichaean " koktiirkish " fragments 2 
from Turfan, 3 and the late Jewish 1EP for UIBP (Levy, Worterbuch, 
ii, 272). The form 'Isa, however, does not occur earlier than the 

Qur'an, 4 whereas 9> ^^ appears to have been used in personal names 

at an early period, cf. Aghdm, xx, 128. 

Till further information comes to hand we shall have to content 
ourselves with regarding it as some form of " konsonanten permuta- 
tion " 5 due, maybe, to Muhammad himself, and perhaps influenced, 
as Horovitz, KU, 128, suggests, by Nestorian pronunciation. 

-> i '. 
^L* (Fdjir). 

> 
'* i > . 

Ixxi, 28 ; plu. *j>A, Ixxx, 42, and )\-z*&, xxxviii, 27; Ixxxii, 14; 
Ixxxiii, 7. 
Wicked. 
With this must be taken the verb 'j>A to act wickedly, Ixxv, 5, and 

>>. 

jjz*& wickedness, xci, 8. 

This set of words, as Ahrens, Christliches, 31, notes, has nothing 

to do with the root j>A to break forth or its derivatives. Rather we 

have here a development from a word borrowed from the Syr. 1r\*> 
which literally means a body or corpse, but from which were formed the 

technical words of Christian theology, !*!>*> corporalis, and ]2aj^j2> 
corporalitas, referring to the sinful body, the flesh that wars against 
the spirit. Thus in 2 Pet. i, 13, JjOl Vn>2^> = * v rovrcf TCO 

crKr)vcoiJ.aTi, and in 1 Cor. iii, 3> fj'L ^) crcofJiaTtKOS, and in 

1 Examples in Vollers, ZDMG, xlv, 352. 

2 So sometimes in the Iranian and Soghrlian Manichaean fragments, see Henning, 
Mantchaica, ii, 70, and Manichaisches Jieichtbuch, 142. 

3 Le Coq in SJ3AW, Berlin, 1909, p. 1053 ; cf. also the Arm. (J/^"'/_. 

4 But note the monastery in S. Syria, mentioned by Mingana, Syriac Influence, 84, 
which as early as A.D. 571 seems to have borne the name 'Isaniya. 

5 Bittner, WZKM, xv, 395. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 221 

this technical sense it may very well have been in use among the 
Christian Arabs long before the time of Islam. 



(Fdtir). 

vi, 14 ; xii, 102 ; xiv, 11 ; xxxv, 1 ; xxxix, 47 ; xlii, 9. 
Creator. 

It occurs only in the stereotyped phrase ijfj* ' J cL> 

s* s* 

The root JteA is to cleave or split, and from this we have several 

/ > * ~" 

forms in the Qur'an, viz. jjb& a fissure, J^& to be rent asunder, etc. 

S S J 

' \ .." \ 

On the other hand, J&& to create (cf. *^Jad, xxx, 29), is a denominative 
from 



The primary sense is common Semitic, cf. Akk. pataru, to cleave, 
Heb. "IBS, Phon. HtDS to remove, Syr. J.^ 3 to release, etc. The meaning 
of fa create, however, is peculiar to Ethiopic, and as Noldeke, Neue 



Beitraye, 49, shows, the Ar. J3 is derived from ^/*M though Arabicized 
in its form. 1 



(Fath). 

xxvi, 118 ; xxxii, 28. 
Judgment, decision. 

The verb ^d to open, with its derivatives, is commonly used and 

is genuine Arabic, but in these two passages 2 where it has a peculiar 
technical meaning, Muhammad seems to be using, as Horovitz, KU, 
18, n., noted, an Eth. word <'!*&, which had become specialized in 
this sense and is used almost exclusively of legal affairs, e.g. it'lvli to 
give judgment ; ^^.'Thrh hdicari ; 'H.'lvh litigare ;'>*> indicium, 



1 That the early authorities felt that the word was foreign is clear from the tradition 
about Ibn 'Abbas in LA, vi, 362, already referred to in our Introduction, p. 7. 

2 Horovitz would add ex, 1, $\) <ill ^ai .U lil, but as this apparently 
refers to the conquest of Mecca (Noldeke-Schwally, i, 219), it would seem to mean 
victory rather than judgment in the technical legal sense of the other passages. 



222 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE 



and ^'Th/h which is both indicium and sententia iudicis. This sense 
had already become domiciled in S. Arabia, as we see from the use of 
in the inscriptions (Rossini, Glossarium, 221). 



(Fakhkhdr). 

Iv, 13. 

Potter's clay. 

The passage refers to the creation of man, and that it means 
earthenware is the general consensus of the authorities (cf. as-Sijistani, 
245 ; Kaghib, Mufradat, 380). 



It is obvious that it cannot be derived from the verbal root 

and Fraenkel, Vocab, 22, compared it with ];**> an earthenware 
pot, which occurs as a loan-word in the Jewish ^OHS. 2 The Syr. 
!;**> 3 is a word in fairly common use and translates Ktpa/mevs 
(cf. l*r**g)? ]*o = yr) Kpa/JitKr)), and there can be little doubt 
that it is the origin of the Arabic word, 4 though Horovitz, JPA T , 216, 
withholds judgment as to whether it is of Jewish or Christian origin/ 

> r' 

Ol^a (Furdt). 

xxv, 55 ; xxxv, 13 ; Ixxvii, 27. 

Sweet river water. 

The passages are all Meccan and refer to the sweet river water as 
opposed to the salt water of the sea, and in the two latter passages the 
reference is apparently to some cosmological myth. 

* --> 
I * 
In any case the word Cj'^ is derived from the river Euphrates 

(Horovitz, KU, 130), which from the Sumerian Pura-nun, " great 
water," appears in Akk. as Purattu, or Purdt, 5 and in O.Pers. as Ufrdtu,* 

1 Noldeke, Hand. Gramm., 120, n. 2. 

2 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 70 ; but cf. IH^ in Dan. ii, 41. 

3 This itself may be of Akk. origin, see Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 26. 

Noldeke, Neue Beitrage, 45, n. 2 ; Vollers, ZDMG, h, 324 ; Fraenkel, Fremdw, 
257. 

6 Delitzsch, Paradies, 169 ff. 

6 Spiegel, Die altpersiscken Keilinschriften, p. 211, and cf. Meillet, Qrammaire 
du vieux Perse, p. 164. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 223 

whence the Gk. 'EtvaTrjs. From the Akk. come the Heb. IVIS and 



Syr. 2;2>, whence in all probability the Ar. Ol^, if indeed this was 
not an early borrowing from Mesopotamia. 

J x- . 

^ ) }j-$ (Firdaws). 

xviii, 107 ; xxiii, 11. 

Paradise. 

The authorities are agreed that it means a garden jbL*j ( Jawhari, 

Sihdh, i, 467 ; LA, viii, 43), but they differed considerably as to what 
sort of a garden it means. 1 There are also divers opinions as to its 
precise location and significance as referring to the celestial Paradise. 

It was early recognized as foreign (Siddiqi, Stidien, 13, and note 
Fraenkel's remark, Fremdw, 149), though some claimed that it was 



genuine Arabic derived from \^*>J* meaning widih or amplitude? 

Some said it was Nabataean, 3 where the reference is possibly to 
the OTIS of late Jewish legend. 'Ikrima held that it was Ethiopic, 4 
and many said it was Syriac, 5 but the favourite theory among the 
philologers was that it was of Greek origin. as-Suyutl, Itq, 323 ; Muzhir, 
i, 130, 134, gives this as the prevalent theory, it is given by al-Jawaliql, 
110 ; ath-Tha'alibl, Fiqh, 318 ; and al-KhafajI, 148, and we learn 
from the Lexicons (cf. LA, viii, 44) that it was supported by such 
authorities as az-Zajjaj, Mujahid, Ibn Slda, and al-Kalbi. 

Obviously ^l^J* represents the Gk. Trapadticro?, and on the 



ground of the plu. u^J* G. Hoffmann 6 would derive it directly 
from the Greek. It seems, however, merely a coincidence that this 

1 Lane, Lex, 2365 ; and Tab. on xviii, 107. 

2 Vide Qamus, sub voc. ; LA, viii, 44 ; TA, iv, 205. This was the theory of 
al-Farra' and it was supposed to be supported by the fact that it occurs as a name 
for Damascus. The verse of Jarir quoted in Bekri, Mu'jam, p. 368, is post-Islamic, 
however, and doubtless influenced by the Qur'an. 

3 as-Suddi in al-Jawallql, Mu'arrab, 110. 

4 Bagh. on xviii, 107. 

5 Qamus, sub voc. TA, iv, 105, and al-Jawaliqi. 

6 ZDMG, xxxii, 761, n. ; Lagarde, GA, 76 and 210 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 215, n. ; 
but see A. Miiller in Bezzenberger's Beitraye, 280, n. 



224 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

plu. form (which is not uncommon in borrowed words, e.g. (J 
JL>^r ; j^ju>-, etc.), is so close in sound to the Greek word, and it is 
unlikely that it came directly into Arabic from Greek. 



The original word is Iranian, the Av. .ut^jjyj^g) pairidaeza, 

which in the plu. means a ' ' circular enclosure ". 1 Xenophon introduced 
the word into Greek, and uses it of the parks and gardens of the Persian 
Kings, 2 e.g. ^fwo6,i,ii,7,etc. After this date it is used fairly frequently, 
and in the LXX is sometimes used to translate ]3 or ]HS? ]3. But 
it was also borrowed into other languages. 3 In late Akk. we find 
pardisu,* and in Heb. OTIS a park or garden, also in Aram, the 
KO*mD of the Targums, and Syr. Im^jja commonly mean 
garden and are of Iranian origin, 5 like the Arm. i^u 



Tisdall, Sources, 126, thought that ^S^J* was borrowed from late 

Heb., but in the sense of Paradise it is very rarely used in Heb. 7 Its 
origin is almost certainly Christian, and probably Syriac, for \Vb*->\Z> 
was very commonly used for the abode of the Blessed, and could 
easily have been learned by the Arabs from the Aram, speaking 
Christians of Mesopotamia or N. Arabia. 8 Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 646, 



suggests that possibly the plu. form ^O'^* was the form that 

was borrowed, and ^i^J* later formed from this. 

It was a pre-Islamic borrowing, and possibly occurs in the 
Thamudic inscriptions. 9 

1 Bartholomae, Al W, 865 ; Haug, Parsis, 5. It survives in Mod. Pcrs. jJL garden 
(Horn, Grundriss, 279), and Kurdish y j garden, (cf. Justi, Die kurd. Spiranten, 29). 

3 This makes it the more strange that Lidrlell and Scott should have considered 
the word Semitic. 

a Telegdi, in JA 9 ccxxvi (1935), p. 250. 

4 ZA, vi, 290. On the suggested Semitic origin of the Avestic word, see Delitzsch, 
Paradies, 95, 96, and Noldeke thereon in ZDMG, xxxvi, 182. 

5 The Syr. )l2UXL};2>, besides Arm. u^uifiin[i^u^iulj and Pers. ^IjjJi* f r 



gardener, is conclusive evidence of the Iranian origin, ^L, being the Phlv. 
panak, a protector, or keeper (Horn, Grundriss, 176 ; Nyberg, Glossar, 169). 

6 Hiibschmann, Arm. Gramm., i, 229 ; Lagarde, Armenische titudien, 1878. 

7 As Horovitz, Paradies, 7, notes. Cf. also Schaeder in Der Islam, xiii, 326. 

* Horovitz, Paradies, 7 ; Grunbaum, ZDMG, xxxix, 581 ; Geiger, 48 ; Fraenkel, 
Vocab, 25 ; Sacco, Credenze, 163, n. 

9 DT1S, cf. Littmann, Entzifferung, 43. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 225 

(Fir'auri). 

Occurs some seventy-four times, e.g. ii, 46. 

Pharaoh. 

The Commentators tell us that Fir'aun was the title of the kings 
of the Amalekites, 1 just as Chosroes and Caesar were titles of the kings 
of Persia and Koum (Tab. and Baicl. on ii, 46). It was thus recognized 
as a foreign word taken over into Arabic (Slbawaih in Siddiqi, Studien, 
20, and al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 112). 

Hirschfeld, New Researches, 13, thinks that it came to Arabic 
from Hebrew, the form being due to a misreading of H STIS as 
but there is no need to descend to such subtleties when 



we note that the Christian forms give us the final J. In Gk. it is 

<I>a/)aa)j>, in Syr. ^QL;2>, and in Eth. ?*}. The probabilities 
are that it was borrowed from Syriac (Mingana, Syriac Influence, 81 ; 
Sprenger, Leben, i, 66 ; Horovitz, JPN, 169). 

There does not seem to be any well authenticated example of the 
word in pre-Islamic times, for the oft quoted examples from Zuhair 
and Umayya are spurious. 2 Sprenger has noticed the curious fact 
that the name does not occur in the Sura of Joseph where we should 
naturally expect it, which may indicate that the name was not known 
to Muhammad at the time that story was composed, or may be was 
not used in the sources from which he got the material for the story. 

^-V 

jU^ (Furqan). 

ii, 50, 181 ; iii, 2 ; viii, 29, 42 ; xxi, 49 ; xxv, 1. 

Discrimination. 

In all the passages save viii, 42, it is used as though it means 
some sort of a Scripture sent from God. Thus " we gave to Moses 
and Aaron the Furqan and an illumination " (xxi, 49), and "We gave 
to Moses the Book and the Furqan " (ii, 50), where it would seem to 

1 As Noldcko showed in his essay Ober die Atnszlekiter, Gottingen, 1864, this 
name is used by Arabic writers in a very loose way to cover all sorts of peoples of 
the Near East of whose racial affinities they had no exact knowledge. The term is 
used indifferently for Philistines, Canaanites, and Egyptians, and Bagh. in his note 
on ii, 46, tells us that Pharaoh was the ruler of the Amalekite Copts ! 

2 Horovitz, KU 9 130, however, would defend the genuineness of one passage in 
Umayya. 



226 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

be the equivalent of Taurah. In iii, 2, it is associated with the Taurah 
and the Injil, and xxv, 1, and ii, 181, make it practically the equivalent 
of the Qur'an, while in viii, 29, we read, " if ye believe God, he will 
grant you a Furqan and forgive your evil deeds." In viii, 42, however, 
where the reference is to the Battle of Badr, " the day of the Furqan, 
the day when the two hosts met," the meaning seems something quite 
different. 

The form of the word would suggest that it was genuine Arabic, 



a form J^*i from (Jj*, and thus it is taken by the Muslim 
authorities. Tab. on ii, 50, says that Scripture is called Furqan 

because God J^Ub <J*^ Ut\ *>. ^J*> and as referrm S to Badr 
it means the day when God discriminated (L?^) between the good 

party and the evil (Raghib, Mufraddt, 385). In this latter case it is 
tempting to think of Jewish influence, for in the account of Saul's 
victory over the Ammonites in 1 Sam. xi, 13, where the Heb. text 
reads ^K1BP3 71VWT\ HIPP nBW DT71, m the Targum it reads 

wpnia mrr 121? fi war, where MPTIB or is 



exactly J^a * jM 

The philologers, however, are not unanimous as to its meaning. 

Some took it to mean ^^ ; Baid. on xxi, 49, tells us that some said 

it meant j^\ ^U, and Zam. on viii, 29, collects a number of other 

meanings. This uncertainty and confusion is difficult to explain if 
we are dealing with a genuine Arabic word, and is sufficient of itself 
to suggest that it is a borrowed term. 2 

Arguing from the fact that in the majority of cases it is connected 
with Scriptures, Hirschfeld, New Researches, 68, would derive it 
from D^(!?"1S, one of the technical terms for the divisions of the 



1 Lidzbarski, Z8, i, 92, notes an even closer verbal correspondence with Ts. xlix, 8, 
where for "pm?* niTW CTUl the Pesh. has ^Ziyl jl>ioZ)> ]iDQxOO. 

2 This is strengthened by the fact that there are apparently ho examples of its 
use earlier than the Qur'an. Fleischer, Kleinere Schrrften, ii, 125 ft'., who opposed 
the theory that it is a foreign word, is compelled to admit that it was probably a 
coining of Mubammad himself, f-'ee Ahrens, Vhristlwhe** 31, 32. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR'AN 227 

text of the Hebrew Scriptures. 1 This, however, is rather difficult, 
and Margoliouth, Mohammed, 145 (but see ERE, ix, 481 ; x, 538), 
while inclining to the explanation from D^pIS, refers it, not to the 
sections of the Pentateuch, but to a book of Sayings of the Jewish 
Fathers, which Muhammad heard of from the Jews, and which he 
may have thought of as similar to the Taurah and the Injil. This 
theory is more probable than that of Hirschfeld, and has in its favour 
the fact that resemblances have been noted between phrases and 
ideas in the Qur'an and the well-known fTON ^pIS. 2 It also, 
however, has its difficulties, and in any case does not explain the use 
of the word in viii, 42. 

Linguistically there is a closer equivalence in the Aram. Ip'lS, 
]p"113 deliverance or redemption, and Geiger, 56 ff., 3 suggested this 
as the source of the Arabic word. He would see the primary meaning 
in viii, 29 " He will grant you redemption and forgive your evil 
deeds," where the Targurnic fcWpllD would fit exactly (cf. 
Ps. iii, 9, etc.). Nowhere, however, is JOSHIS used of revela- 



tion, and Geiger is forced to explain jS^* in the other passages, 

by assuming that Muhammad looked upon revelation as a means of 
deliverance from error. 

Geiger's explanation has commended itself to many scholars, 4 
but Fraenkel, Vocab, 23, in mentioning Geiger's theory, suggested 
the possibility of a derivation from Syr. (loioa, a suggestion 
which has been very fruitfully explored by later scholars. 5 Not only 
is lloiQS) the common word for salvation in the Peshitta and the 
ecclesiastical writers (PSm, 3295), but it is the normal form in the 
Christian-Palestinian dialect, and has passed into the religious 
vocabulary of Eth. as C^1 (Noldeke-Schwally, i, 34) and 
Armenian as ^/n_^u/V 6 It is of much wider use than the Rabbinic 



1 So Grimmc, Mohammed, ii, 73, thinks it means sections of a heavenly book and 
compares the Rabbinic plB, Xj^5 ; but see Rudolph, Abhangigkeit, 39. 

2 Rudolph, Abhangigkeit, 11 ; Hirschfeld, Jiutrage, 58. 

3 So Torrcy, Foundation, 48. 

4 Ullmann, Der Koran (Bielefeld, 1872), p. 5 ; von Kremer, Ideen, 225 ; Sprenger, 
LfJbfn, ii, 337 ff. ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 81. 

5 Sehwally, ZDMG, Iii, 135 ; Knieschke, Erlosinqshhre des Koran (Berlin, 1910), 
p. 11 fF. See also Wellhauson, ZDMG, Ixvii, 633 ; Massignon, Lexique, 52 ; Mingana, 
Syriac Influence, 85. 

6 Merx, Chrertomathia Targumica, 264; Huhschmann, KDMG, xlvi, 267; Arm. 
Gramm., i, 318. 



228 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 



, but as little does it refer to revelation, so even if we agree 
that the borrowing was from Syr. we still have the problem of the 
double, perhaps triple, meaning of the word in the Qur'an. 

Sprenger thought we might explain this by assuming the influence 



of the Ar. root 3^ on the borrowed word. 1 Schwally, however, has 

suggested that this is not necessary, as the word might well have had 
this double sense before Muhammad's time, under the influence of 
Christian or Jewish Messianic thought, 2 and Lidzbarski, ZS, i, 91, 
points out that in Gnostic circles " Erlosung und Heil besonders 
durch Offenbarung vermittelt werden ". 3 There is the difficulty, 
however, that there seems to be no evidence of the use of the word 
in Arabic earlier than the Qur'an, and Bell, Origin, 118ff., rightly 
insists that we must associate the use of the word for revelation with 
Muhammad himself. He links up the use of the word in the Qur'an 
with the story of Moses, and thinks that as in the story of Moses the 
deliverance was associated with the giving of the Law, so Muhammad 
conceived of his Furqan as associated with the revelation of the 
Qur'an. Wensinck, El, ii, 120, would also attribute the use of the word 
in the sense of revelation to Muhammad himself, but he thinks we have 
two distinct words used in the Qur'an, one the Syr. lioioa meaning 
salvation or deliverance, and the other a genuine Arabic word meaning 
distinction, which Muhammad used for revelation as that which makes a 
distinction between the true and the false. 4 Finally, Horovitz, A r t/,77, 
w^ould make a sort of combination of all these theories, taking the 



word as of Syriac origin, but influenced by the root L?^ and also 
by the Heb. D^pIS (cf. also JPN, 216-18). 

In any case it seems clear that jS^i is a word that Muhammad 
himself borrowed to use as a technical term, and to whose meaning 

1 Leben, ii, 339, " Wenn Mohammed Forkan auch aus dem AramiiiHohen entnom- 
men hat, so schwehtc ihm doch die arabisohe Etymologie vor." See also Rudolph, 
AbMngigkeit, 39; Bell, Origin, 118: Noldeke, tiketfhen, 38. 

2 Nokleke-Schwally, i, 34 : " in erstcr Linie und am wahrscheinlichsten untcr 
Christen, in zweiter Linie in mcRsianisch grrifhteten judischen Kreisen." 

3 He refers, for examples, to Liechtenhan's Die Offenbarung im Gnosticismus, 
p. 123 ff. ; hut as Rudolph, Abhangigkeit, 92, points out, this idea is not confined to 
Gnostic circles. 

4 Wensinck seems to have been unduly influenced by the theories of the native 
Commentators. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 229 

he gave his own interpretation. The source of the borrowing was 
doubtless the vocabulary of the Aramaic-speaking Christians, whether 
or not the word was also influenced by Judaism. 



(Falaq). 

vi, 95, 96 ; xxvi, 63 ; cxiii, 1. 

To split or cleave. 

Three forms occur in the Qur'an : (i) ^Jvi, he who causes to break 

"' I ^ ^ 

forth, vi, 95, 96 ; (ii) (3^*1 ^ ^ e S P^ P<w<> xxvi, 63 ; (iii) ^xi the 

dawn, cxiii, 1. 

Zimmern, AJcJcad. Fremdw, 12, notes that the Arabic verb is 
denominative, and would derive it from an Aramaic source. The Akk. 
paldqu, to slay or kill, is a denominative from pilaqqu, a hatchet which 
itself may be derived from the Surnerian balag. From this Akk. 
pilaqqu were derived on the one hand the Syr. ]oV> and Hand. 
Kp x^S, botli meaning hatchet, and on the other hand the Skt. "tT^J 
hatchet l ; Gk. TreAeKuy, cw*. 2 

Syr. ]ck& is used to translate the Heb. T2J3 in Ps. Ixxiv, 6, 
and would probably have been the origin of the form that was first 
borrowed and from which all the others have been developed. 3 



(Fulk). 

Occurs some twenty -three times, cf. vii, 62. 

Ship. 

It is used of shipping in general (xxx, 45 ; xlv, 11), of Noah's 
Ark (vii, 62 ; x, 74), and of the ship from which Jonah was cast 
(xxx vii, 140). 



The root <*-* means to have rounded breasts (Lane, Lex, 2443), 



1 For ^T J soo Delitzach, Prolegomena, 147, and Tpsen in Indog. Forschnn-gen, 
xli, 177 (Alt-Sumerisch-akkadisohe Lehnwortcr ira Indogcrmanischen). 

2 For 7T\Kvs see ZDMQ, ix, 874 ; Kretschmer, Einleitung, 105 ff. ; Levy, Fremd- 
worter, 178. 

3 In S. Arabian, however, we find Y! V (Rossini, Qlossarium, 218), though this 
may have coine from the Aramaic. 



230 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR'AN 

and from the same primitive Semitic root we get Akk. pilakku ; Heb. 

^V^xox 

*?JvS ; Ar. AX..A3, all meaning the whirl of a spindle, and by 

fj- " 

another line of derivation Ar. <-AU ; Eth. <.Ah for the celestial 

^ ^ 

hemisphere. So the philologers as a rule endeavour to derive ^Ald 

from this root, imagining it is so named from its rounded shape. 1 
The philologers, however, were somewhat troubled by the fact that 
it could be masc., fern., and plu., without change of form (LA, xii, 
367), and there can be little doubt that the word is a borrowing. 
Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 620 ; li, 300, claims that it is the Gk. 0oA*aoz/ ? 
which usually means a small boat towed after a ship, 2 but from the 
Periplus Maris Erythmei, 16, 3 we gather that as used around the Ked 
Sea it must have meant a vessel of considerable size. The borrowing 
was probably direct from the Greek, though there is a possibility that 
it came through an Aram, medium. 4 



J.J 

CV, 1. 

Elephant. 

The only occurrence of the word is in an early Sura mentioning 
the Abyssinian campaign under Abraha against Mecca. Abraha's 



army was known as /U^' if*^> because for the first time in 

Arab experience, African elephants had been used in an attack. 
Muhammad was doubtless using a well-known term when he referred 



to Abraha's army as 

The word seems to be of Iranian origin. 5 In Phlv. we find 3^g), ./ 3g) 6 ; 

1 Raghib, Mufradat, 393, however, reverses this position, and thinks the celestial 
sphere was called ctlii because it was like a boat. 

Vide Athenaeus, 208 F. 

In C. Muller, Geographi Graeci Minores, i, 271. 

Fraenkel, Fremdw, 212. Halevy, ZA, ii, 401, denies the derivation from # dA/aov, 
claiming that in that case the Arabic word would have been jjJi. 

Hommel, Sdugethiere, 24. 

PPGl, 187; West, Glossary, 112; Shikand, Glossary, 264; Nyberg, Glossar, 
188, whence in Mod. Pers. it is J^j. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 231 

Paz. pil, representing an old Iranian form which was borrowed on 
the one hand into Skt. tft^f * and Arm. ^/7_, 2 and on the other into 
Akk. piru, pllu 3 ; Aram. Jw n ; Syr. U*.2>. 

Some of the philologers endeavoured to find an Arabic derivation 
for the word, 4 but it is fairly clear that it was a borrowing either 
directly from Middle Persian, or through the Aram. (Horovitz, KU, 
98). It occurs in the old poetry and therefore must have been an 
early borrowing. 

Rossini, JA, xi e ser.. vol. xviii, 31, after pointing out the difficulty 
of believing that elephants could have made the journey between 
Yemen and Mecca, thinks that oral tradition among the Arabs con- 
fused the expedition of Abraha with an earlier one under the chieftain 
Afilas whose name AOIAAC occurs on coins of the end of the 
third century A.D. as an Ethiopian conqueror of S. Arabia. On this 



theory J^' in the Qur'an would be a corrupted representation 
of 



(Qdriin). 

xxviii, 76, 79 ; xxix, 38 ; xl, 25. 

Korah. 

As Geiger, 155, has shown, the Qur'anic account of Korah is based 
on the Rabbinic legends, and we might assume that the word is derived 
from the Heb. Hip. The dropping of the final guttural, however, 
makes this a little difficult. The final guttural, as a matter of fact, is 
missing in the Gk. Ko/oc' and Eth. 4<t, but neither of these help us 
with the Arabic form. Hirschfeld, New Researches, 13, n., made the 

suggestion that JJjS is due to a misreading of PHp as 

a mistake which is very possible in Hebrew script. It is fairly certain, 
however, that Muhammad's information came from oral sources, 
and it is difficult to believe that anyone sufficiently acquainted with 
Heb. or Aram, to be able to read him the story would have made such 

1 Vox apud Tndos barbara Vullers, Lex, i, 402, as against Hommel, 324 ff., 
and see Monicr Williams, Sanskrit Dictionary, p. 630. 

2 Hubschmann, Ann. Giamm., i, 255. 

3 Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 652 ; Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 50, thinks the Aram, and 
Heb. forms were derived from the Akkad. 

4 e.g. Sibawaih in Sifrah, sub voc. 



232 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR J AN 

a blunder. There is a Mandaean form ]V13 * (Lidzbarski, Ginza, 
Gottingen, 1925, p. 157), but there can be no certainty that this is 

connected with JJjlS, and if it is it was probably influenced by 
the Qur'anic form. Thus it seems best to look on it as a rhyming 

formation to parallel Jjjl* (Sycz, Eiyennamen, 43 ; Horovitz, 

KU, 131 ; JPN, 163), though whether from the Heb. flip or from 
a Christian form without the guttural, it is impossible to say. 2 

s >> 

^4* (Qudus). 

ii, 81, 254 ; v, 109 ; xvi, 104. 
Purity, sanctity. 

We also find -JJUiJl an epithet for God, lix, 23 ; Ixii, 1 ; ^^ 



~ 

to bless, sanctify, ii, 28 ; ^^-A and <U*\ju,4 holy, sacred, v, 24 ; 

xx, 12 ; Ixxix, 16. 

The root is common Semitic and would seem to have meant 
primitively to withdraw, separate, 3 and some of the philologers would 
derive the meaning of the Qur'anic words from this sense (cf. Baid. 
on ii, 28). It has long been recognized, however, that as a technical 
religious term, this sense is a N. Semitic development, and occurs 
only as a borrowed sense of the root in S. Semitic. 4 Thus Kth. 4"ft ft 
in the sense of holy (i.e. 4M}-ft) is a borrowing from Aram., as 
Noldeke, Neue Beitrage, 35, shows, and there can be little doubt that 
Fraenkel, Vocab, 20 ; Fmndw, 57, is correct in tracing the Arabic 
word to a similar source. Hirschfeld, Beitrfige, 39 ff., thinks the Arabic 
use developed under Jewish influence, but the Qur'anic use is more 
satisfactorily explained from Christian Aram., 5 particularly the 



7" Jj from );QO; V^oi ; while the form ^jAi may have 
come from the Eth. *J?.f| (Horovitz, JPN, 218). 6 

1 Brandt, Manddische ftchriflen, 149, suggested the equivalence with )jjl* 

2 The foreign origin of the word was recognized by some of the Muslim authorities, 
cf. Sibawaih in Siddiqi, 20. 

3 Baudissin, Studien, ii, 19 ff., and Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, 150. 

4 Which is fatal to Grimme's theory of S. Arab, origin, ZA, xxvi, 166. 

5 Fraenkel, Vocab, 24 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 36 ; Mingana, 8yriac Influence, 85, 86. 

6 The Bmp = the Holy One, of the incantation texts, however, should he 
noted. Cf. Montgomery, Aramaic Incantation Texts, Glossary, p. 300. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 233 

(Quran). 

Occurs some seventy times, e.g. ii, 181 ; v, 101 ; vi, 19. 
A reading from Scripture. 

The root K*1p in the sense of proclaim, call, recite, does not occur 
in Akkadian nor in S. Semitic as represented by the S. Arabian and 

Ethiopic, which leads one to suspect that 1^5 is a borrowing from 

the Canaanite-Aramaic area. 1 The root is found in Heb. and Phon. 
but it is most widely used in the Aram, dialects, being found both in 
the O.Aram, and the Egyptian Aram., and in the Nab. and Palmy, 
inscriptions, as well as in Jewish Aram, and Syriac. 

The verb l^J is used fairly often in the Qur'an, and with four 

exceptions, always in reference to Muhammad's own revelation. Of 
these exceptions in two cases (x, 94 ; xvii, 95), it is used of other 
Scriptures, and in two cases (xvii, 73 ; Ixix, 19), of the Books of Fate 
men will have given them on the Day of Judgment. Thus it is clear 

that the word is used technically in connection with Heavenly Books. 2 

^ 

The sense of 1^5 also is recite or proclaim, that of read only came 

later. 3 

* ' ^ " 

The usual theory is that J l^ii is a verbal noun from this \J*. 

It is not found earlier than the Qur'an, so the earlier group of Western 
scholars was inclined to think that Muhammad himself formed the 
word from the borrowed root. 4 There is some difficulty about this, 
however. In the first place the form is curious, and some of the early 

philologers, such as Qatada and Abu "Ubaida derived it from J^S 

to brim/ together, basing their argument on Ixxv, 17. 5 Others, as-Suyuti 
tells us, were unsatisfied with both these derivations, and said it had 
no root, being a special name for the Arab's Holy Book, like Taurah 

1 Noldeke-Schwally, i, 33 ; Wellhausen, ZDMG, Ixvii, 634 ; Fischer, Glostar, 104 b. 

2 Noldeke-Schwally, i, 82 : " Vielmehr wird t J> im Qorane uberall vom mur- 
melndcn odor Icicrnden Hersagcn heiliger Tcxte gebraucht." 

3 Vide Hurgronje, RHll, xxx,62, 155 ; Dyroff, in MVAQ, xxii, 178 ff. ; Noldeke- 
Schwally, i, 81 ; and Pcdcrsen, Der Islam, v, 113. 

4 Von Kremer, Ideen, 224, 225. 

5 Jawhari, sub voc. ; as-Suyutf, ltq t 118, 119. 



234 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

for the Jews or Injil for the Christians. 1 It thus looks as though the 
word is not native, but an importation into the language. 

Marracci, 53, looked for a Jewish origin, suggesting that it was 
formed under the influence of the Heb. NHpJ? in its late sense of 
reading, as in Neh. viii, 8, and frequently in the Rabbinic writings. 

Geiger, 59, supports this view, and Noldeke in 1860, though inclining to 

& 

the view that it was a formation from I^J, yet thought 'that it was 

influenced by the use of X"lpQ. 2 The tendency of more recent 
scholarship, however, has been to derive it from the Syr. P-i'rO 
which means " the Reading " in the special sense of Scripture lesson. 
In Syriac writings it is used in the titles for the Church lessons, and the 
Lectionary itself is called U-'r^? JoAo. This is precisely the 
sense we need to illustrate the Qur'anic usage of the word for portions 
of Scripture, so there can be little doubt that the word came to 
Muhammad from Christian sources. 3 



$* J* (Qurbari). 

iii, 179 ; v, 30. 4 

A sacrifice, or gift offered to God. 

Both passages have reference to O.T. events, the former to the 
contest between Elijah and the priests of Baal, and the latter to the 
offerings of Cain and Abel. Both passages are Madinan. 

The Muslim authorities take the word as genuine Arabic, a form 



from t- *j* to draw near (Raghib, Mufraddt, 408). Un- 

doubtedly it is derived from a root 3*1 p to draw near, approach, 
but in the sense of oblation it is an Aramaic development, and borrowed 
thence into the other languages. In O.Aram, we find 13*1 p in 
this sense, and the Targumic X33*lp, Syr. }l^jdO are of very 



1 as-Suyutl, Itq, 118, and LA, i, 124. Note also that IbnKathir read jl^ not 

** "I" i 



2 Torrey, Foundation, 48, suggests a Jewish ]^$, but such a form is hypo- 
thetical. 

8 Horovitz, Der Islam, xiii, 66 ff., and KU, 74 ; Buhl, El, ii, 1063 ; Wellhausen, 
ZDMG, Ixvii, 634 ; Noldeke-Schwally, i, 33, 34 ; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 88 ; 
Massignon, Lexique, 52 ; Ahrens, Muhammed, 133. 

* In xlvi, 27, it means " favourites of a Prince " and not sacrifice. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 235 



common use. From the Aram, it was borrowed into Eth. as 

(Noldcke, Neue Beitrage, 37), and the Hd)^ of the S. Arabian 
inscriptions is doubtless of the same origin. 1 

Hirschfeld, Beitrage, 88, would derive the Arabic word from the 
Hebrew, 2 but Sprenger, Leben, i, 108, had already indicated that it 
was more likely from the Aram, and the probabilities seem to point 
to its being from the Syriac. 3 It must have been an early borrowing 
as it occurs in the early literature. 

i^> -" 

l^LLOJ (Qirtds). 

vi, 7, 91. 

Parchment, or papyrus. 4 

In both passages the reference is to the material on which the 
Divine revelations were written down. 

The Muslim authorities make little effort to explain the word. 
Some recognized it as a foreign word, 5 a fact which indeed is apparent 
from the uncertainty that existed as to its spelling. 6 It was evidently 
an early borrowing, for it occurs in the old poetry, and probably came 
to the Arabs from their more cultured Northern neighbours. Von 
Kremer suggested that it was from the Gk. ^aprr/, 7 but Sachau 8 
and Fraenkel 9 are nearer the mark in thinking that X a P rr ? y * s t ' ie 

form behind ,**b .5, especially as this form is found also in the Arm. 

^lupinta, and the Aram. NOtTlp. 11 

It is not likely that the word came directly from the Greek, and 
Fraenkel, Fremdw, 245, thought that it came through thp Aram. 
12 meaning a paper or document, as in Levit. Kabba, 34. 



1 ZDMG, xxx, 672 ; Rossini, Glossarium, 234. The verb means to approach 
a woman sexually. 

2 So Fraenkel, Vocab, 20. Ahrens, Christliches, 32, favours a Jewish origin. 

3 Schwally, fdioticon, 84 ; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 85 ; Wensinck, El, ii, 1129. 
See Cheikho, Nasraniya, 209, for early examples of the use of the word. 

4 Mingana, Woodbrooke Studies, ii, 21. 

6 al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 125; as-Suyilti, Jtq, 323; al-KhafajI, 159. 

6 LA, viii, 54, notes ^11*^ ; ^J^^ ; ^r^l/ ; (J"^*j* an(i u^j*' 

7 Kulturgeschichte des Orients, ii, 305. 

8 Notes to the Mu'arrab, p. 57. 

9 Fremdw, 245, ef. also Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 617, 624 ; Ii, 301. 

10 Hubschmann, ZDMQ, xlvi, 253 ; Brockelmann, ZDMO, xlvii, 11. 

11 Krauss, Griechische Lehnworler, ii, 567 (also ND^tfllD, ibid., ii, 297). 

18 In Vocab, 17, he suggests ND^tfllS, on which see Levy, Worterbuch, ii, 398. 



236 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QURAN 

Mingana, Syriac Influence, 89, prefers to derive it through the Syr. 
which occurs beside )m^p, the source of the Eth. 
- It is really impossible to decide, though the fact that 



Tarafa in his Mu'allaqa, 1. 31, seems to look on ^u^* as something 
peculiarly Syrian, may count in favour of Mingana's claim. 



(Qarya). 

Occurs some fifty-seven times both in sing, and plu. forms. 

A village. 

In Heb. fTHp is a poetical synonym for *Pi? a town or city, 
and it is a question whether it and the related flT, p ; Phon. mp 
(cf. Carthage) ; Has Shamra "lp, flip ; and Moab. Hp (M^a 
Inscription, 11, 12, 24) are not really related to the Heb. "VJ? and 
derived from the Sumerian uru, a state. In any case the Heb. n lp 
is parallel A\ith the Syr. lAa^D a town or village, and from the 



Syriac came the Arabic 4^, as Zimmern, Akk. Fremdw, 9, notes. 
(Cf. Noldeke, Beitrdge, 61 ff., and Neue Beitriiye, 131.) 

> /. 

/A 1 ^ (Qumish). 

cvi, 1. 
Quraish. 

The philologers differ considerably among themselves over the 
origin of the name of this tribe. The popular etymology was that they 



were so called from their trading and profiting 

(cf. Zam. on the verse and Ibn Hisham, 60). Others derived it 

from a verb (J*Jto t gather together, holding that they were so 

called from their gathering or assembling at Mecca (cf. LA, viii, 226 ; 
Yaqut, Mu'jam, iv, 79). Another theory derived the name from a 
tribal ancestor, Quraish b. Makhlad, but as it does not explain this 
name it does not help us much. 1 

1 From a statement in the Chronicles of Mecca, ii, 133 (od, Wiistenfcld), we would 
gather that some thought the name was formed quite arbitrarily from three letters 
of the alphabet. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 237 

The most satisfactory theory is that which derives the word from 
*" 
^i a shark, 1 cf. Zam. on the verse and LA, viii, 226. This is 

scoffed at by Yaqut, but is accepted by at-Tabari and al-Damiri, 2 and 
it may well have been a totemistic tribal name. Noldeke, Beitrdge, 87, 



accepts this ,j>J* theory, and links the word with the Aram. 

which occurs in the Talmud, Baba batlira, 74 a , for a kind offish, which 
Lewysohn thinks means the sun-fish,* and would derive from the 

Pers. A~5*j ^>-. It is true that Pers. jj** means " something 



eatable ", but ^Jj^ is from the Av. 



, meaning sol-splendid'us,* and has apparently nothing 
to do with fish of any kind. Noldeke suggests with much more 
probability that it is a shortened form of the Gk. Kap^aplaf, 5 a word 
which is used for a kind of small shark with pointed teeth, and which 
Nicander the Colophonian 6 said was used also for a lamia or a squill. 



(Qist). 

iii, 16, 20 ; iv, 126, 134 ; v, 11, 46 ; vi, 153 ; vii, 28 ; x, 4, 48, 55 ; 
xi, 86 ; xxi, 48 ; Iv, 8 ; Ivii, 25. 
Justice, equity. 

.x* ^- 

It would seem on the surface to be a derivative from ,L..*J5 
which occurs in iv, 3 ; Ix, 8 ; xlix, 9, and of which other derivatives 

are found in ii, 282 ; xxxiii, 5 ; Ixxii, 14, 15. This ,Lu-J, however, 
may be a denominative and as-Suyuti, Itq, 323 ; Mutaw, 49, tells us 

1 Or sword-fish (Margoliouth, Mohammed, 9). Ihn Faqih (ed. do Goeje, p. 290) 
describes it aa <jdM /^* /v^l ^*- 

2 Tabari, Annalw, i, 1 104 ; Damm, Hayaiwn, ii, 291 ff. ; vide also Khizana, i, 98. 

3 Zaologie der Talmud, Frankfurt, 1858, p. 271. This is accepted by Levy, Wnrter- 
biich, ii, 416, and Goldschmidt, Der Jtabyloniftc.he Talmud, vi, 1136 ; though Jastrow, 
Diet. Talmud, i, 667, gives it as meaning probably the shark. 

* Bartholomae, AIW, 1848; cf. Yasht, x, 118; v, 90. 

5 Cf. also Hess in ZS, ii, 220. 

a In his Book on Dialects quoted by Athenaeus, vii, 76. 



238 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 



that some early authorities thought JU^.S was a borrowing from 

Greek. 1 

The root D2?p is widely used in Aramaic but occurs elsewhere 
apparently as a loan-word. Thus Blttfp ; KBEftp, like Syr. ]A*ap, 
means truth, right 2 ; Hand. tDtf p is to be true, and Palm. ZDttfp 
to succeed, while in the Christian-Palestinian dialect we find f^D 
true. 3 The Heb. ?2?p is an Aramaizing, as Toy pointed out in his 
Commentary on Proverbs, and Fraenkel is doubtless correct in taking 




the Ar. la.*~A as also of Aram., probably of Christian Aram, origin. 4 



(Qistds). 

xvii, 37 ; xxvi, 182. 

A balance. 

There was practical agreement among the early authorities that 
the word means primarily a balance, and then metaphorically justice 
(cf. Raghib, Mufraddt, 413 ; LA, viii, 59). It was also very generally 
recognized as a loan-word. Some considered it as a genuine Arabic 

word, a variant of Ja.*Jf, 5 but the weight of the authorities as we 

see from as-Suyutl, Itq, 323 ; Muzhir, i, 130; al-Jawaliqi, Mu ( arrab, 114; 
ath-Tha'alabi, Fiqh, 318, and as-Sijistam, 257, was in favour of its being 
taken as a borrowing from Greek. 6 Its foreign nature is indeed indicated 
by the variety of spellings we find. 7 

It was evidently an early borrowing, for it occurs in verses of 



1 This may be a reminiscence of the Lat. iusticia, though Sprenger, Leben, ii, 219, 
thinks that it may be the Lat. nextarivs. 

2 Notice also the XIOBTO =- honesty (with 3), of the incantation texts ; cf. 
Montgomery, Aramaic, Incantation, Texts, Glossary, p. 292. 

3 Schwally, I (Hot won, 86 ; Schulthess, Lex, 185. 

4 Frrmdw, 205; Noldeke, SHAW, Berlin (1882), liv, 5, thinks the noun is an 
Arabicizing of l^S&A l)ut ^voiak, Fremdw, 76, 78, would regard it as an Arabic 
word taken as foreign through its similarity in sound with ^IL^J. 

5 See Zam. on xxvi, 182, and the remarks in TA, iv, 218. 

6 See also as-Suyuti,^/?/^>, i, 137; Ibn Qutaiba (Adab al-Katib), 527 ; al-KhafajI, 
156 ; as-Suyuti, Mutaw, 49. 

7 al-Jawaliql notes ^Ik.J ; ^IWljj ; jlkJ ; to which we may add from 
TA. rlk^a* and 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 239 

'Adi b. Zaid, an-Nabigha, 1 and others. The origin of the word, how- 
ever, is not easy to settle. Sachau in his notes to the Mu'arrab, p. 51, 
quotes Fleischer as suggesting that it goes back to the Lat. conslans 
as used of the libra* Fraenkel, Fremdw, 282, suggests a hypothetical 
*KOVCTTCO$ as a possible origin, and in WZKM, vi, 261, would interpret 
it from fyyoo-racria- Vullors, Ley, ii, 725, thought that it was probably 
a mangling ..of the Gk. ^Oyor a yoke, and Dvorak, Fremdw, 77 ft'., 
would derive it from ^e'or?;? from the Lat. sextarius used as a measure 
of fluid and dry materials. 

All these suggestions seem to be under the influence of the theory 
of the philologers that the word is of Greek origin. It would seem 
much more hopeful to start from the Aram. NtDOp ; NJDO'p ; 
fcttDOIp meaning measure, or the Syr. l4 CQjD - The final s 
here, however, presents a difficulty, and Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 633, 3 
suggests that it is from the Gk. St/cacrr^y a judge, which in Syr. is 
tfiDQ^ttO.!? (BB, in PSm, 891), and with the > taken as the genitive 
particle, would give us JBQ^mo. This, influenced by the similar 



also = dLKaaTrj?, would give us ^la^Ji. This is very 
ingenious and may be true, but Mingana, Syriac Influence, 89, thinks 
it simpler to take it from I&CQO representing ^to-rrjs in some form 
in which the final tt) had survived. 



> * - 

(Qisstsun). 



v, 85. 
Priests. 

From the passage it is clear that it refers to Christian teachers, 
and though one would not care to press the point, its occurrence along- 

side Ju*j may indicate that it referred to the ordinary clergy as 

distinct from the monks. 

It was generally considered by the philologers as a genuine Arabic 

1 Fraenkel, WZKM, vi, 258, however, thinks the verse attributed to an-Nabigha 
is under Qur'anic influence. 

2 On whieh see Fraenkel, Fremdw, 198. It was rejeeted by Noldeke, but defended 
by Ginzburg in Zapiski, viii, 145 if. 

3 See also 1, 620; li, 301, 323. 



240 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QURAN 

** 

word l derived from [j* to seek after or pursue a thing, so that a 
jj-JU-J is so called " because he follows the Book and its precepts ", 

as-Sijistanl, 259. Ob viously the word is the Syr. \**mO--=Trpeal3vT6po?, 
as has been generally recognized by Western scholars. 2 This word 
could hardly fail to be known to any Arab tribes which came into 
contact with the Christians of the North and East, and ,as a matter 
of fact both forms of the word were borrowed into Arabic, |m) (cf. 



Aram. X2?'p) as ^J, and IAJLAO as ^^5, while the Hadlth 



S-A ^A,*Ji j\*> j shows that they were not unacquainted 



with the abstract noun 

We meet with the word in the early poetry, 3 which shows it must 
have been an early borrowing, and as a matter of fact it occurs as a 
borrowing both in Eth. 4Aft, 4 and in the S. Arabian inscriptions 
(e.g. Glaser, 618, 67 - VIXr^HM *hM "VIM)* 5 thc 
ground of which Grimme, ZA, xxvi, 162, would take the word to be 
from a S. Arabian source, though with little likelihood. 



(Qasr). 

vii, 72 ; xxii, 44 ; xxv, 11 ; Ixxvii, 32. 

A castle. 

The word has no verbal root in Arabic, and was noted by Guidi, 
Delia Sede, 579, as a borrowing. Fraenkel, Vocab, 14, is doubtless 
correct in deriving it from Lat. castrum 9 through Gk. Kacrrpw and 
Aram. NT2Jp. 6 The word occurs not infrequently in the early 
poetry, and is probably to be considered as one of the words which 
came into Syria and Palestine with the Roman armies of occupation. 7 

1 But see al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 39. 

2 Geiger, 51; Fleischer, Kleinere Nc.hriften, ii, 118; Frcytag, Lex, sub voc. ; 
Fraenkel, Vocab, 24 ; Fremdw, 275 ; Rudolph, Abhangiykeit, 1 ; Horovitz, KU, 64 ; 
Mingana, Syriac, Influence, 85. 

3 Cf. Aghani, xiii, 47, 170; xvi, 45. 

4 Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 37; Pautz, Offenbarung, 136, n. 

6 Cf. on it Praetorius in ZDMG, liii, 21 ; Rossini, Glossarium, 233. 

6 That lO3?p as used in the Mishnah and Jerusalem Talmud is but a form of hntflDp, 
which like ]^QO was derived directly from Kaarpov, has been shown by Noldeke, 
ZDMG, xxix, 423 ; cf. also Guidi, op. cit., and Krauss, Griechiscke Lehnworter, ii, 562. 

7 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 234 ; Vollers, ZDMG, I, 614 ; Ii, 316. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 241 

(Ota). 

xxxviii, 15. 

A judge's sentence. 

In general the opinion of the Commentators is that Ltii means 

some sort of writing (cf. Bagh. in loco, and Raghib, Mufraddt, 417). 
Some, however, recognized it as a foreign word, for as-Suyuti, Itq, 323, 
quotes autHority for its meaning book in Nabataean. 

Halevy suggested that it was to be derived from Akk. kithu, but 
this is hardly likely. Fraenkel, Frerridw, 249, agrees with as-Suyuti's 
authorities in taking it as a loan-word from Aramaic. 1 In the Mishnah 
CD3 means an official document, though later it was specialized in 
the meaning of " bill of divorce ". So CD3 and NCT3 both mean 
writing and document, and Levy, Worterbuch, i, 322, suggests they may 
be originally from Gk. xdprr)?. Syr. ]4\i became specialized 
in the meaning of haereditas, and is not so likely an origin. If 
a borrowing, it must have been early, for several examples occur 
in the old poetry. 2 

*{ .1 

jl^Ja* (Qatimri). 

xiv, 51. 
Pitch. 

This curious word occurs only in a passage descriptive of the 
torments of the wicked on the Last Day, where the pronunciation of 

^- *" ^ e -" o 

the Readers varied between Jl^JaJ ; Jl^IaJ ; and jl^iaj. This 

last reading is supported by the early poetry and is doubtless the 
most primitive. 3 

Zam. tells us that it was an exudation from the Ubhal tree used 
for smearing mangy camels, but from the discussion in LA, vi, 417, 
we learn that the philologers were somewhat embarrassed over the 
word, and we have an interesting tradition that Ibn 'Abbas knew not 

1 The ultimate origin is apparently the Sumerian gida, whence comes Akk. gittu, 
and the Aram, forms, cf. Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 19. 

2 Cf. the verse of Al-A'sha in Jawharl, fi.v. j^U; (where Cheikho, Nasraniya, 
222, thinks that by JaJ ai-A'sha means the Gospel) ; and Mutalamrais in Yaqut, 
Mu'jam, iv, 228. 

8 Vide Tab. on the verso. 



242 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

what to make of it, and wanted to read J I J^A?- which would 



* ~ 

make it mean " red-hot brass ", and link it with the J&* of xviii, 95, 

and xxxiv, 11. 

The truth seems to be that it is the Aram. *QP? ; Syr. \X& 
meaning pitch, which though not a very common word is an early 
one. Some confusion of 17 and p must have occurred when the word 

^ 

was borrowed, but it is interesting that the primitive form 0\Jb 
of the poets preserved exactly the vo welling of the Aram. 2 

^> 

Ji5 (Qufl). 

xlvii, 26. 

A lock. 

Only in the plu. JU51, where al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 125, says it 

is a borrowing from Persian. 3 

^ V ** 

The verb IA5 is denominative 4 and the word cannot be 



derived from an Arabic root. It is probably the Aram. 

a fetter, or Syr. ]l2>ao, which translates the Gk. KAeWpov, and 

would have been an early borrowing. 5 

p (Qalam). 

iii, 39 ; xxxi, 26 ; Ixviii, 1 ; xcvi, 4. 
Pen, or the reed from which pens were made. 
It means a pen in all the passages save iii, 39, where it refers to 
the reeds which were cast to decide who should have care of the 



maiden Maryam, and where the *j& I, of course, stands for the pa/38 ot, 
of the Protev. Jacobi, ix. 8 

Baid. gives this as the reading of Ya'qub. 

Cf. Fraenkel, Fremdw, 150 ; Zimmcrn, Akkad. Frerwlw, 60. 

So as-Suyutl, Itq, 323. al-Jawaliql is probably referring to the Pera. jl^\ 

Fraenkel, Fremdw, 16 ; Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 35, gives it from the Aramaic. 

Cf. Krauss, Oriechische Lehnworter, ii, 517, and ZDMG, xxvii, 623. 

In Tischendorf, Evangdia Apocrypha, 1876, p. 18. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 243 

X"X 

The native authorities take the word from *\$ to cut (cf. LA, 
xv t 392), but this is only folk-etymology, for the word is the Gk. 



a reed and then a pen, 1 though coming through some Semitic 
form. KaXa/JLO? was borrowed into Aram., where we find Olu?1p, 
Syr. Uc&o, but it was from the Eth. &h9, as Noldeke, Neue 
Beitrdge, 50, has shown, that the word came into Arabic. It was an 
early borr&wing, for it is found both in the old poetry and in the 
S. Arabian inscriptions (Rossini, Glossarium, 232, for 31$ as calamus 
odoratus). 

J 

^jA+~+& (Qamis). 

xii, 18-28, 93. 

Shirt. 

It is curious that the word occurs only in the Joseph story. 

The authorities usually take it as an Arabic word, though as- 
Suyuti, Muzhir, i, 135, quotes al-Asma'I to the effect that some held it 
was of Persian origin. 

It is clear that it cannot have an Arabic derivation, and the under- 
lying word is doubtless the Ok*. Ka^icnov. This KOL/JLIO'IOV has been 
taken as a borrowing from Semitic, but, as Boissacq, 403, shows in his 
note on Acayu/za/oor, it is genuine Indo-European. The Gk. Kajjilcnov 
passed into Syr. as lAcCL.Loao, 2 and into Eth. as flft, which is 
used in Josippon, 343, for a tunic or shirt, and is in all probability 
the source of the Arabic word. 3 It must have been an early borrowing 
for we find it not infrequently in the old poetry. 

**\\ - 

jlklj (Qintdr). 

iii, 12, 68 ; iv, 24. 
Qintar a measure. 

It was recognized by the philologers as of foreign origin, and though 
some, like Slbawaih, held to an Arabic origin, Abu 'Ubaida (LA, vi, 



is a good Tndo-European word, as is evident from the Skt. 
Norse Jtalmr ; Slav, slama ; cf. Boissacq, 397. 

2 See Fraenkel, Fremdw, 45. 

3 Vollers, ZDMO, li, 311, thinks that the Arabic came from the Lat. camifiia, 
but this is hardly likelv. 



244 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR AN 

432) expressly states that the Arabs did not know the meaning of the 
word. 1 Some said it was a Berber word (as-Suyuti, Itq, 323), others 
that it was Syriac (as-Suddl in Mukkassas, xii, 266), but the majority 
were in favour of its being Greek (ath-ThaSalibl, Fiqh, 318 ; as- 
Suyuti, Muzhir, i, 134). 

Undoubtedly it is the Gk. Ktvrrjvdpiov, which represents the Lat. 
centenarium, and passed into Aram, as irD3p, Syr. JjLi^iO. 8 
It was from the Aram., as Fraenkel, Vocab, 13 ; Fremdw, 203, shows, 
that the word came into Arabic, and in all probability from the 
shortened Syr. form Ji 



(Qiyama). 
Occurs some seventy times, cf. ii, 79. 
Resurrection. 
It occurs only in the expression <Ajill *^, which is a technical 

eschatological term for the Last Day. 

The Muslim authorities naturally relate it to the root J& to stand 

or rise, but it has been pointed out many times, that as an eschato- 
logical term it has been borrowed from Christian Aramaic. 4 In the 
Edessene Syriac we find ]V>iO commonly used, but it is in the 
Christian-Palestinian dialect, where it translates dvdvTacris (Schwally, 
Idioticon, 82), that we find lAUD^A which provides us with 
exactly the form we want. 



. 

(Qayyutn). 

ii, 256; iii, 1 ; xx, 110. 

Self-subsisting. 

It occurs only in the phrase j*&\ <J*-' used of Allah. 

1 This is evident from the variety of opinions on its meaning collected by Ibn 
Sida in the Afukha**a*, xii, 266, and Ibn al-Athir in Kihaya, iii, 313. 

2 Krauss, Griechische Lehnworter, ii, 553. It was from this form that the Arm. 
fylrljq.fijuj[i was derived (Hiibschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 356). 

Mingana, Syriac Influence, 89 ; Voliers, ZDMG, Ii, 316. 

* Cf. Pautz, Offenbarnny, 165, n. 1 ; Mingana, op, eit., 85. Horovitz, JPN> 
186, notes that the phrase is not Jewish. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 245 

The Commentators are unanimous that the meaning is ^rU)) 
^ijjl (Tab., Baid., and as-Sijistani, 250), but they were in difficulties 

over the form, and there are variants A US, ^J*, and ^rS. Their 
trouble in explaining the form is well illustrated by al-'Ukbari, Imld 9 , 



i, 70, for the only possibility is to take it as on the measure 

and we have reason to suspect all words of this form. It is not strange, 

therefore, in spite of its obvious connection with *S, to find that some 

of the authorities took it as a word borrowed from the Syriac. 1 

Hirschfeld, Beitrage, 38, would derive it from Hebrew, and certainly 
D^p is used in connection with TT in Jewish texts of the oldest 
period, 2 but ]V)O is also commonly used in the same sense and we 
cannot absolutely rule out a Syriac origin for the word. 



(Ka's). 

xxxvii, 44 ; lii, 23 ; Ivi, 18 ; Ixxvi, 5, 17 ; Ixxviii, 34. 

Cup. 

It is found only in early passages in descriptions of the pleasures 
of Paradise. 

This is not a S. Semitic word, as it is entirely lacking in Eth. and 
without a root and of uncertain plu. in Arabic. There can thus be 
little doubt of its Aram, origin. 3 

The Heb. word is 013, while in the Ras Shamra texts we have 



03, and in Aram. 8013, N03, and WO (cf. Ar. j j> ), and 
Syr. V*^- 4 As the Syr. ]fiCO seems to be the source of the Pers. 



1 as-Suyutl, Ih/ 9 324 ; Mutaw, 54. 

2 Fraenkel, Vocab, 23 ; Noldeke-Schwally, i, 184, n. ; and sec Sprcngcr, Leben, 
ii, 204, n. It is noteworthy that the best attested variant reading f\ agrees closely 
in form with DJ(5. See also Horovitz, JPN, 219, who, as a matter of fact, would 
derive the morel ^. also from the Jewish ^!"1. 

3 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 171 ; Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 34. 1). H. Muller, how- 
ever, irZA'J/, i, 27, thinks that the medial Hamza proves it to be genuine Arabie. 

* Cf. also the D2 of the Elephantine papyri (Cowley, Aramaic Papyri, 
No. 61). 



246 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 

^ufc'i we may take it as most probable that the Arabic also was 
borrowed at an early period 2 from the same source. 

jjilj (Jfa/iif). 

Ixxvi, 5. 

Camphor. 

The verse is an early one descriptive of the joys of Paradise, where 

the Commentators were uncertain whether J^O was the name 
of the fountain from which the Blessed drink, or the material used to 
temper the drink (cf. Tab. and Baid. on the verse). 

It is usually taken as an Arabic word (LA, vi, 465), but the variety 

> ' * 

of spellmgg jjitf, j^k, jji-J, and jjii would suggest 

otherwise, and several of the early authorities noted it as a loan-word 
from Persian. 3 

The ultimate source is probably to be found in the Munda dialects 
of India, whence it passed into Dravidian, e.g. Tamil */fu(>/ni, 
Malayalam OgGO, and into Skt., cf. jrfj;. 4 It passed also 
into Iranian, where we find Phlv. \$) Mpur,* which 



gives the Mod. Pers. j^iw, and Arm. .f>ui^i"-p 9 B and into 
Aram, where we find Syr. lioao ? and Maud. K1KDU 8 
It is very probable that the Syriac like the Gk. Kafyovpd is from the 
Iranian, and Addai Sher, 136, would make the Arabic also a borrowing 
from the Persians. The probabilities are, however, that it, like the 
TEth. |)4*C, is to be taken as derived from the Syriac. 9 We find the 

1 Addai Sher, 131. The Persian Lexicons take this to be the source of the Arabic 
word, cf. Vullera, Lex, ii, 769, j^-l <uU ^j** j"U' 

2 It occurs in the early poeta, e.g. Al-A'&ha and 'Alqama. 

3 as-Suyuti, Itrj, 324 ; al-.TawallqT, Mu'arrab, 129 ; al-Khafaji, 170 ; uth-Tha'alibl, 
Fiqh, 318. 

4 For further examples see Laufer, Sitw Iranica, 591. 

6 Justi, Glossary to Bundahesk, 201. The Persian Lexicons, e.g. BQ 9 691, note 
that camphor came to them from India. 

Hubsehrnann, Arm. Gramrn., i, 257. 

7 Also ]>Qaa]D, .0^00, and ])QS&]3, PSm, U688, 3689. 

8 Ndldeke, Hand. Gramm., 112. 

Fraenkel, Vocab, 11 ; Fremdw, 147. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 247 

word in the early poetry (e.g. in al-A'sha), 1 but the story told by 
Baladhurl (ed. de Goeje, 264), that the Arab soldiers who conquered 
Mada'in found stores of camphor there and took it for salt, would 
seem to show that the article was not widely known in Arabia. 

^.AU (Kdhin). 

lii, 29;'lxix, 42. 
A soothsayer. 

It occurs only in the early Meccan period and in a depreciatory 
sense, for Muhammad rejects with some asperity the idea that in 



giving forth his revelations he was on a level with the A-lJ^ . This 
shows that the word was pre-Islamic, and it seems that the Arabic 

^7*o was the equivalent of the Gk. /JLOLVTIS or the Lat. vates, i.e. 
he was a Seer rather than a Prophet. 2 

The Muslim authorities naturally take it from ^ , but this 
verb seems denominative. The Hob. word is ]H3 and means priest , 
as in Phon. and in the Ras Shamra tablets, and from the Heb. came 
the Aram. JOPO ; Syr. ]joi3. 3 That the Arabic word also was 
borrowed directly from the Hebrew is not likely. Pautz, Offenbarung, 
175, n. 2, has a theory that it came by way of the Eth. hill, but 
like this word itself, and the Arm. .gm^u/^iuy, 4 it is more likely to 
have come from the Aram. 5 As a matter of fact it occurs not 
infrequently in the Sinaitic inscriptions from N. Arabia, 6 where we 
find fcWrQ and the fern. WISHD, 7 and actually in No. 550 
NT1? )PQ, i.e. the priest of al-*Uzza, so that as Noldeke, Neue 
Bcitrtifje, 36, n., insists, we have clear evidence that it came into use 
in N. Arabia from some Aram, source long before Islam. 

The analogy of the inscriptions would lead us to conclude that 

1 Gcyer, Ztcci Gedichte, i, 61. 

2 LA, xvii, 244 ; Wellhausen, Reste, 134 ; Goldzihcr, Abhandlungen, i, 18 ff., 
107 ff. ; Sprenger, Leben, i, 25*5. 

3 G. B. Gray, Sacrifice, in the Old Testament, p. 183. 

4 Hubsehmann, Arm. Gramm., i, 318; ZDMG, xlvi, 252. 

5 Cheikho, Natraniya, 200; Mingana, fiyriac Influence, 85. 

6 Kilting, Sinditische hmhriften, Nos. 550, 249, 348, and 223. 

7 Cf. also the Safaite H3TO (Ryckmans, Noms propres, i, 113) 



248 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR J AN 

the primitive sense in Ardbic was priest, and that of soothsayer a later 
development, in spite of Fischer's claim that soothsayer is the original 
sense. 1 

ftLj^^j (Kibriya). 

x, 79 ; xlv, 36. 

Glory. 

It is connected in form but not in meaning with the Arabic root 



The root is common Semitic, cf. Akk. kabdru, to become great, 
Heb. "133 (in Hiph.) to wake many ; Aram. "135 ; Syr. r o ; 
Eth. h*fl^ to honour, and cf. Sab. )Hrf large and Prince (Hommel, 
Sudarab. Chrcst, 127 ; Rossini, Glossarium, 167). 

The usual theory is that the Qur'anic word is a development 

from the Ar. .5 to become yreat, magnificent, but as it was in Eth. 

that the root developed prominently the meaning of (jloriosum, 
illustrum esse, we may perhaps see in the Eth. JHIC commonly used 
as meaning gloria, honor ( &>), and then Magnificent in, splendor 
(Dillmann, Lex, 846), the source of the word (cf. Ahrens, Christliches, 23 ; 
Muhammad, 78). 



(Kataba). 

Of frequent occurrence. 

To write. 

Besides the verb we should note the derived forms in the Qur'an 

^ujf a book, writing (plu. c^l) ), ^_>Ju one who writes, i^jf&C* 
* ^ ^ * 

S- c^l -\ <^ 

written, <^*-lO ' to cause to be written, and ^*) VJ to write a contract 





of manumission. 

The word appears to be a N. Semitic development and found only 
as a borrowed term in S. Semitic. Heb. 3PQ ; Aram. 3PI5 ; 

1 El, sub voc. Fischer also claims that the word is Arabic and not a borrowed 
term, as does Nielsen in HAA, i, 245. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 249 

Syr. *>Ao ; Nab. SflS, and Phon. DfQ all mean to write, and with 

them Buhl compares Ar. v_^J to draw or sew together. 1 

The borrowing was doubtless from Aram., 2 and Fraenkel, Fremdw, 

249, thinks that the borrowed word was <^UJ , which like Eth. 



came from Aram. ^SHID ; Syr. f^Ao, and that then the verb and 
other forms developed from this. The borrowing may have taken 
place at al-Hlra, whence the art of writing spread among the Arabs, 3 
but as both nominal and verbal forms are common in Nabataean 
(cf. RES, ii, 464 ; iii, 443), it may have been an early borrowing 
from N. Arabia. 



(Kursiy). 
ii, 256 ; xxxviii, 33. 
Throne. 
It has no verbal root, though some have endeavoured to connect 

it with .j*y (cf. Kaghib, Mufradat, 441), a connection which is hardly 

possible. 

Fraenkel, Vocab, 22, noted that it was a borrowing from the Aramaic. 
In the Zenjirli inscription we find KD13, 4 which is connected with 
Akk. kussu, Heb. X83, and Ras Shamra X03, but the commoner 
form is fcTOTO, 5 Syr. "Ucoioo or Uap. This gives us precisely 
the form we want, but whether the word was from Jewish sources 
as Hirschfeld, Beitraye, 88, claims, or from Christian as Schwally, 
ZDMG, liii, 197, holds, it is quite impossible to decide. 6 



1 Vide Fleischer in ZDMG, xxvii, 427, n. From this wo have illiS^ squadron. 

2 BDB t 507 ; D. H. Miiller, H'ZAM/, i, 29 ; Horovitz, AT 7 , 67 ; Fischer, Glossar, 
112 ; Kiinstlmger in Kocznik Orjentalistyczny, iv, 23S ff. 

3 Vide Krenkow in EI t ii, 1044. 

4 1). II. Muller, Itwhriflen von flewbcAirti, 58, 44 ; cf. Cook, Glossary, 66. 

6 Found nlso on incantation bowls ; cf. Montgomery, Aramaic Incantation Texts, 
Glossary, p. 292. 

fl Cf. N6ldeke, Hand. Qramm., 128 ; Rudolph, Abhattgigkeit, 12. The word comes 
ultimately from the Sumerian guza, whence Akk. kussu ; Zimmern, Akkad. Frcmdw, 8. 



250 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR AN 

s ^ 

"Jtu (Kafara). 

Used very frequently. 

To deny the grace or existence of God : then to be an unbeliever. 

In its various forms it is of common use in the Qur'an, and the 
root is undoubtedly Arabic, but as a technical religious term it has 
been influenced by outside usage. 

The primitive sense of jAj to cover or cwweal, corresponds with 
the Aram. HS3 ; Syr. jaa, and a derivative from this primitive 
sense occurs in the Qur'an,lvii,19,in the word jLAj husbandmen, i.e. 



" they who cover the seed ". The form ^AJ , however, corresponds 
with the Heb. 13?, Aram. "IS?, and means to cover in the sense of 

atone. 1 In this sense it is used with .P,and as-Suyutl, Itq, 324 ; Mutaw, 

56, tells us that some early authorities noted this ^ Ju as derived 
from Hebrew or Nabataean. The commoner use, however, is with 

v_;, in the sense of to deny the existence or goodness of God, and this 
use with ^ is characteristic of Syriac. The form J>v an unbeliever 



and ^L; unbelief, may indeed be independent borrowings from the 
Heb. 1SD, Syr. lioao and Uoioao (Ahrens, Christliches, 41), 
though a HS3 as a proper name seems to occur in the Thamudic 

inscriptions (Ryckmans, Noms propres, i, 115). The form 5jU3 

may, however, be a direct borrowing from the Jews, cf. Horovitz, 
JPN, 220. 

Hirschfeld, Beitrage, 90 ; Horovitz, KU, 59, and Torrey, Founda- 
tion, 48, 144, would have the dominant influence on the Arabic in 
this connection from the Jewish community, and Pautz, Offenbarung, 
159, n. ; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86, stand for a Christian source. 
Again it is really impossible to decide (cf. Ahrens, Christliches, 21). 



1 The S. Arabian ) vrt seems also to have this meaning ; cf. Rossini, Glossarium, 
170. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR'AN 251 

3 (Kanz). 

xi, 15 ; xviii, 81 ; xxv, 9 ; xxvi, 58 ; xxviii, 76. 

Treasure. 

The denominative verb Jlj to treasure up is also found in ix, 34, 35. 

Some of the Muslim authorities take it as genuine Arabic and 



derive it frdrn jj , but it was well known to the early philologers 

that it was a foreign word and it is noted as such by al-Jawallqi, 
Mu'arrab, 133 ; ath-Tha'alibi, Fiqh, 317 ; al-Khafaji, 170, all of 

whom give it as Persian *dj , meaning, of course, *clj , which 
BQ, 797, defines as Jj^ j jjj j} $ ( \$J*j) j j. 



That it was originally Iranian is certain. Paz. ganz ; Phlv. (2 y 
gan] means treasury , l and the word has been widely borrowed, cf. 
Skt. *rar ; Arm. ^t,^ 2 ; Baluchi, gan$ ; Gk. ydfyt ; Sogd. ynz> 
and in the Semitic family, cf. "J /QH ^33 of Esth. iii, 9 ; Aram. 
KT33, nP33, and KT3 3 ; Syr. ll^t, and Mand. XT3 n 3, 4 all meaning 

treasury. The direct borrowing of all these from Middle Persian seems 
clear from the fact that the Phlv. 3l>g y ganjdpar 5 for the treasurer 
is also common to them all, cf. Skt. l^sf^ \ Arm. /^U^/<W/YJ 
(Gk. yab0i/Aa) ; Heb. 13T3; Syr. Ir^kv lr^V*M> an d Aram. 
K"1DT3 (cf . Telegdi in J^[ , ccxxvi (1935), p. 237 ; Hcnning in BSOS, ix, 83). 
It is most probable that the word came direct from Middle Persian 

into Arabic, 6 though j for (2 might point to Aram, influence on the 

word. The word must have been borrowed long before Muhammad's 
time, though it occurs but rarely in the old poetry. 

1 West, Glossary, 274; PPGl, 112; Nyberg, Glossar, 77; Herzfeld, Paikuli, 
Glossary, 159. Lagarde, Arm. Stud, 453, thinks that it is an old Median word which 
passed later into Iranian and thence to India ; cf. also his GA t 27. 

2 Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 126. 

3 Levy, Worterbuch, i, 316, however, thinks that HP33 and K73 arc from T33 
to hide. 

* Noldeke, Mand. Gramm, 51. 

6 PPGl, 119 ; Frahang, Glossary, 79. It is the Pers. j^se^l and Paz. ganzubar 
(Shikand, Glossary, 245). Compare also Phlv. ganfenak barn or storehouse (Sayast, 
Glossary, 161). 8 Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 613, 647. 



252 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR'AN 



j $ (Mb). 



xliii, 71 ; Ivi, 18 ; Ixxvi, 15 ; Ixxxviii, 14. 

A goblet. 

It occurs only in early Suras in descriptions of the pleasures of 
Paradise, and was recognized by some of the early authorities as a 
Nabataean word (cf. as-Suyuti, Itq, 319; Mutaw, 60). 1 Some, of course, 

endeavoured to derive it from 1^6 , but this verb is obviously denom- 



inative (TA, i, 464 ; LA, ii, 225). 

The word is commonly used in the early poetry, cf. ' Adi b. Zaid, 
al-A'sha (Geyer, Zwei GedicJtte, i, 56 = Dlwan, ii, 21), 'Abda b. at- 
Tabib, 2 etc., and seems to have been an early loan-word from Aram., 
as Horovitz, Paradies, 11, has noted, though Aram. 1012 ; Syr. 
te>OD both seem to be from the Byzantine Kovira (Lat. cupa, cf. 
Fraenkel, Vocal, 25), from the older Gk. 



3 (Kail). 

vi, 153 ; vii, 83 ; xii, 59, 65, 88 ; xvii, 37 ; xxvi, 181. 

A measure. 

The philologers insist that it means a measure of food-stuffs (Raghib, 
Mufradat, 460), but in the Qur'an it is used in a quite general sense. 

Fraenkel, Fremdw, 204, pointed out that it is the Syr. ]1*D, which, 
like the Aram. 8/^3, means measure. fcO^ID is seldom used, but 
]1^ is of very common use and has many derivatives, and was borrowed 
into Iranian, 4 so that it was the Syriac word that would have passed 
at an early date into Arabic. 

** 
C^l (Ldta). 

xxxviii, 2. 
There was not. 



1 Vide also Sprenger, Leben, ii, 507, n. 

2 In MvfadMiyat (cd. Lyall), xxvi, 76. 



9 Levy, Fremdw, 151, points out a very probable Semitic origin for Kvpflr) in 
the sense of ship, but in that under discussion the borrowing seems to be the other 
way, for as Boissacq, sub voc., points out, it is a true Indo-European word. Vollers, 
ZDMQ, li, 316, would derive ^^frorn the Italian, but see Nallino therein, p. 534. 

* Cf. Noldeke, GQA, 1868,' ii, 44. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 253 

The philologers were in some straits to explain the word as can 
be seen by consulting the two columns which Lane, Lex, 2683, devotes 
to a summary of their opinions. The three commonest theories were 

(i) that it was V with the meaning of .++U, to which a fern. O has 
been added 1 ; (ii) that it was the negative 2 with a feni. ending 2 ; 
(iii) that it was another way of writing ,jMx). 3 Some tried to over- 
come the difficulty by reading ^ V instead of >- C/V, and 



some, as we learn from as-Suyuti, Itq, 275 ; Mutaw, 54, admitted that 
it was a loan-word of Syriac origin. 

Aram. IV s and Syr. AJ.^, contracted from ITPN fcO and repre- 



sented by the Ar. .+, are of very common use, and from some Aram. 
source the word was borrowed as an ideogram into Middle Persian 
where we find c^jy loltf which was also commonly used and gave rise 
to-J(>fl)V loUiJi, meaning non-existence, unreality.^ It was thus probably 
borrowed at an early date into Arabic, 6 though, as it occurs in the 
early poetry, 7 Earth has argued that it is genuine Arabic. 8 

^ M 

^ y (Lauh). 

vii, 142, 149, 153 ; liv, 13 ; Ixxxv, 22. 

A board or plank. 

There are two distinct uses of the word in the Qur'an. In liv, 13, 
it is used for the planks of Noah's ark, and elsewhere for tablets of 
revelation, in Sura, vii, for the tablets of Moses, and in Ixxxv, 32, for 
the heavenly archetype of the Qur'an. 

1 This was the opinion of Sibawaih and Khalil given by Zam. on the verse. 

2 So al-Akhfash in Zam. 

3 See Tab. on the vrse, and LA, ii, 391. Bagh. says that it was Yemenite. 

4 West, Glossary, 141 ; PPGl, 149. 
8 West, Glossary, 142. 

6 Mingana, Syriac Influence, 93. 

7 Geyer, Zwei Gedichte, i, 18 = Diwan, i, 3, and see examples in ZDMG, Ixvii, 
494, and Reckendorf, Syntax. 

8 ZDMG, Ixvii, 494 ff. ; Ixviii, 362, 363, and see Bergstrasser, Negationen im 
Kur'an. 



254: FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR'AN 

In the related languages we find both these meanings. The Heb. 
means both the planks of a ship (as in Ez. xxvii, 5), and the 
stone tablets of the Ten Commandments (Ex. xxiv, 12). Similarly, 
Aram. Nffi7 can mean a tabk for food, or, as constantly in the 
Targums, the tablets of the Covenant, so Syr. V^oL is used of a wooden 
board, e.g. the rtrAo? affixed to the Cross, and for the tablets of the 
Covenant. Also the Eth. ftHH/h, though not a common vord, is used 
for the broken boards on which Paul and his companions escaped from 
shipwreck in Acts xxvii, 44 (ed. Rom.), and also for writing tablets 
of wood, metal, or stone. 

In the early Arabic poetry we find the word used only in the sense 
of plank, cf. Tarafa iv, 12 ; Imru'ul-Qais, x, 13, and Zuhair, i, 23 
(in Ahlwardt's Divans), 1 and the Lexicons take this as the primitive 
meaning. The word may be a loan-word in both senses, but even if a 
case could be made out for its being a genuine Arabic word in the sense 
of plank, there can be no doubt that as used for the Tables of Revela- 
tion it is a borrowing from the older faiths. Hirschfeld, Beitragc, 36, 
would have it derived from the Hebrew, but Horovitz, K U, 66 ; 
JPN, 220, 221, is more likely to be correct 2 in considering it as from 
the Aram., though whether from Jewish or Christian sources it is 
difficult to say. 

If we can trust the genuineness of a verse of Saraqa b. 'Auf in 



Aghdm, xv, 138, which refers to Muhammad's revelations as 

we may judge that the word was used in this technical sense among 
Muhammad's contemporaries. 

*> % 

(Lut). 

Occurs some twenty-seven times, cf. vi, 86. 

Lot. 

Always the Biblical Lot, whose name some of tho authorities 



derive from (cf. Raghib, Mufraddt, 472; ath-Tha'labi, Qisas, 72), 

but which Jawhari recognizes as a foreign name. 3 

1 Cf. also ash-Shammakh, xvii, 13, in Geycr, Zwei QedicMe, i, 136. 

2 Vide also Fraenkel, Vocab, 21 ; Cheikho, Nasraniya, 221. 
8 So al-Jawaliql, Mu'arrab, 134 ; al-KhafajI, 175. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 255 

The name is apparently unknown in pre-Islamic literature, though 
it must have been known to the circle of Muhammad's audience. 1 
From its form one would conclude that it came from the Syr. %^ol 

rather than the Heb. Bl /, 2 a conclusion that is strengthened by the 

Christian colouring of the Lot story. 3 

,> 

S^Tl^i (Md'ida). 

v, 112, 114. 
Table. 

A late word found only in a late Madinan verse, where the reference 
is to a table which Jesus brought down for His disciples. 



The Muslim authorities take it to be a form Icli from 

(cf. LA, iv, 420), though the improbability of their explanations is 
obvious. It has been demonstrated several times that the passage 
v, 112-15 is a confusion of the Gospel story of the feeding of the multitude 
with that of the Lord's Supper. 4 Fraenkel, Vocab, 24, 5 pointed out 
that in all probability the word is the Eth. ^tiK, which among 
the Abyssinian Christians is used almost technically for the Lord's 
Table, e.g. ThR* : V?IIJfflfliC> while Noldeke's examination 
of the word in Neve Beitrage, 54, has practically put the matter beyond 
doubt. 6 

Addai Sher, 148, however, has argued in favour of its being taken 

as a Persian word. Relying on the fact that aA*U is said by the 
Lexicons to mean food as well as table, he wishes to derive it from 

Pers. ftf^t, meaning farina triticea. 7 Praetorius also, who in ZDMG, 
Ixi, 622 ff., endeavours to prove that Eth. lt\f: and the Amh. *?# 

are taken from Arabic, takes a*xf U back to Pers. J^A 8 (earlier pro- 



Horovitz, KU, 136. 

But see Sycz, Eigennamen, 37. 

Vide Kiinatlinger, " Christliehe Herkunft der Kuranischen Lotlegende," in 
Roc nik Orjentalistyczny (1931), vii, 281-295. 

Noldeke, ZDMG, xii, 700 ; Bell, Origin, 136. 

Vide also his Fremdw, 83, and Jacob, Beduinenleben, 235. 

Vide also Wellhausen, Reste, 232, n. ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 255, n. ; Vollers, 
ZDMG, li, 294 ; Cheikho, Nasraniya, 210. 

Vullers, Lex, ii, 1252. 

Vullers, Lex, ii, 1254. 



256 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 



nounced mdz), through forms A~, JL*4, and d A<. Now there is a Phlv. 

word 53^5 myazd, 1 meaning a sacred repast of the Parsis, of which 
the people partake at certain festivals after the recitation of prayers 
and benedictions for the consecration of the bread, fruit, and wine 

used therein. It seems, however, very difficult to derive aA) U from 

this, and still more difficult from the forms proposed by, Praetorius. 
Noldeke rightly objects that the forms miz and mdz which Praetorius 
quotes from the Mehri and 'Umam dialects in favour of his theory, 
are hardly to the point, for these dialects are full of Persian elements 
of late importation. Praetorius has given no real explanation of 
the change of z to rf, whereas on the other side may be quoted the 
Bilin mid and the Beja mes which are correct formations from a stem 
giving 'TfftJt in Eth., and thus argue for its originality in that 
stock. 



(Md'iin). 

cvii, 7. 

Help. 

This curious word occurs only in an early Meccan Sura, though 
v, 7, is possibly Madinan (cf. Noldeke-Schwally, i, 93), and the Com- 
mentators could make nothing of it. The usual theory is that it is 



a form ^vft from A.*<, though some derived it from j. 

Noldeke, Neue Beitrage, 28, shows that it cannot be explained from 
Arabic material, 2 and that we must look for its origin to some foreign 
source. Geiger, 58, 3 would derive it from Heb. ]11??3 a refuge, which 
is possible but not without its difficulties. Rhodokanakis, WZKM, 
xxv, p. 67, agrees that it is from Hebrew but coming under the influence 



of A) J*A (cf. Aram. &MNQ ; Syr. ]*\&), developed the meaning of 



benefit, help.* 



1 West, Glossary, 222. 

2 Fleischer, Kleinne Schriften, ii, 128 ff., would have it a genuine Arabic word, but 
as Noldeke says : " aus dem Arabischen lasst sie sich nicht crklaren, wio denn schon 
die Form auf em Fremdwort deutot." 

8 So von Kremer, Ideen, 226. The word is used by al-A'sha, and Horovitz, JPN, 
221 if., thinks Muhammad may have learned the word from this poet. 
4 So Torrey, Foundation, 51. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 257 

cUJlJ. (Malik). 

xliii, 77. 

Malik is the angel who has charge over Hell. ^ ^ 
The native authorities derived the name from ^UJU to possess, 
rule over. This root may have influenced the form, but the source is 
doubtless tjie Biblical Moloch. The Heb. form is "5]7?fo, and it may 

possibly have come direct from Heb., 1 but the Syr. r^ (PSm, 1989) 
is much more likely. 



(Mathdm). 

xv, 87 ; xxxix, 24. 

The word evidently refers to Revelation, for xv, 87, reads : " We 
have given thee the seven Mathdni and the wondrous Qur'an," while 
in xxxix, 24, we read : " God has sent down the best of accounts, in 
agreement with itself, a Mathdni, whereat the skins of those who fear 
their Lord do creep." 

at-Tabarfs account makes it clear that the exegetes did not under- 
stand the meaning of the word. All Muslim explanations go back to 

jf 

some development of the root ,-!'', but their extreme artificiality 
creates a suspicion that the word is a borrowed technical term. 

Geiger, 58, thought that it was an attempt to reproduce the Hebrew 
, the collection of oral Tradition which took its place with the 
Jews beside the Torah. This explanation has been accepted by many 
later writers, 2 but how are we to explain the seven associated with the 
word ? Sprenger, Leben, i, 462 ff., 3 thought that Muhammad was here 
referring to " die sieben Straflegenden ", which fits very well with the 
statement in xxxix, 24, but, as Horovitz, KU, 26 (cf. JPN, 194, 195), 
points out, it rests on no basis of actual use of the word in any such 
sense. Noldeke, Neue Beitrage, 26, makes an improvement on Geiger's 
theory by suggesting that the derivation was from Aram. WPSnO, 4 

1 Tisdall, Sources, 123. 

a Cf. von Kremer, Ideen, 226, 300 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 87, n. ; Mingana, Syriac 
Influence, 87. 

3 D. H. Muller, in his Propheten, i, 43, 46, n. 2, also propounds this theory, and 
Rhodokanakis, WZKM, xxv, 66, says that Muller arrived at the conclusion inde- 
pendently of Sprenger. It has been accepted by Grimme, Mohammed, ii, 77. 

* Noldeke-Schwally, i, 114; Margoliouth, ERE, x, 538. 

8 



258 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR*AN 



which has the same meaning as ilSSlD, but is much nearer the Arabic. 
The puzzle of what Muhammad meant by the seven, however, still 
remains. 1 



i* (Mithgdl). 

iv, 44 ; x, 62 ; xxi, 48 ; xxxi, 15 ; xxxiv, 3, 21 ; xcix, 7, 8. 
A measure of weight a mithqal. >< . 

Naturally the Muslim authorities take it to be a form Jv^wL* from 

X X'X' 

Jjlf to weigh (cf. BauJ. on iv, 44, and LA, xiii, 91), but as Fraenkel, 

.- *'*' 

Fremdw, 202, notes, the primitive meaning of JJiT is to be hard, and 
the word Jul seems to be from Syr. ]LoALo 2 ; Aram. fcOplTltt, the 



equivalents of the Heb. 7pQ. 3 It occurs in the old poetry, however, 
and thus would have been an early borrowing. 



(Mathal). 

Of frequent occurrence, cf. ii, 210 ; iii, 113 ; vii, 175. 
Parable. 
The root is common Semitic, and genuine Arabic forms such as 

s ** s 

likeness, similitude ; j.-J* to seem like, etc., are used in the 

* j ^ ** 

Qur'an. The forms ^*~* and its plu. jllL* I , however 3 where the mean- 

ing is that of the O.T. vtfQ or N.T. irapafioX-f), which the Peshitta 
renders by VALo, would seem to have come under the influence of 
Syriac usage. 4 

Hirschfeld, New Researches, 83 ff., would trace the influence to 
Jewish sources, but Mingana, Syriac Influence, 85, is probably right in 
thinking that it was Christian Aramaic. 5 

1 Casanova, Mohammed et la Jin du monde, 37, thinks that in xv, 87, it does not 
refer to the Qur'an, but means benefits, as though derived from 2.5 to double. Mainz 
in Der Islam, xxiii, 300, suggests the Syriac root |jZ + |^oen = satietas, 
abundantia. See also Kiinstlinger in OLZ, 1937, 596 ff. 

2 Whence also the Arm. iT/U^iiu^, though this may be a late borrowing from 
Arabic. Cf. Hiibschmann, Arm. G*amm., i, 271. 

8 Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw., 23, suggests an ultimate Mesopotamia!! origin. 

4 Note al-Khafaji, 192. 

8 On the whole question of the Qur'anic Mathal, see Buhl in Acta Or., ii, 1-11. 






FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR 5 AN 259 

(Al-Majus). 

xxii, 17. 

The Magians, or Zoroastrians. 

They are mentioned in a late Madman verse along with Jews, 
Christians, and Sabians. 

The early authorities know that the sun-worshippers are meant, 
and it was* early recognized that it was a foreign word. 1 Ibn Sida and 

others derived the word from cL said to mean _jwaJ and 



said to mean jS VI, and tell us that it referred to a man^ J) *cL, 

so called because of the smallness of his ears, who was the first to 
preach the Magian faith. 2 Others, however, knew that it was derived 
from the Iranian Magush (LA, viii, 99). 

It is clearly the O.Pers. Magush* with the ace. form of which, 

magum, we can compare the Av. jj6jj( magav or >oig 

_ ^1 ^ 

and Phlv. 3jj$ ma-yoi. 5 From Av. q$$ come the Arm. 



i/?, 6 and Heb. 313, as well as the Mod. Pers. i*. 7 In Phlv. 

we also find a form ^^^ tnagofia,* derived directly from 
the O.Pers., and this appears in the Aram. JW1JQX, Gk. /xayoy, 9 
Syr. l*a^0i and the BTtiQ of the Aramaic of the Behistun 
inscription. 10 

Lagarde, GA, 159, would derive ^j^- from the Gk. payo?, and 



1 al-Jawallql, Mu'arrab, 141 ; as-Suyuti, Itq, 324 ; Mutaw, 47 ; al-KhafiijI, 182i 

2 TA, iv, 245 ; LA, viii, 99. 

3 Vide Meillct, Grammaire Du Vieux Perse, p. 148 ; and note Haug, Parsi*, 169. 

4 Bartholomae, Al W, 1111; Horn, Grundriss, 221; Frahang, Glossary, 94; 
llcrzfeld, Paikuli, Glossary, 213. 

6 West, Glossary, 223 ; PPGl, 152 and $, 160 ; Frahang, Glossary, 114. Sco 

also ZDMG, xliv, 671, for its occurrence on a Sasanian gem. 

6 Htibschmann, Arm. Gramm., i, 195. 

7 Vullers, Lex, ii, 1197; BQ, 863. 

8 PPGl, 152 ; Frahang, Glossary, p. 113. In the Assyrian transcription of the 
Behistun inscription it is written magushu. Note also the magustan = priestly order. 
Paikuli, Glossary, 214. 

9 There is an alternative theory that the Greek is a sing, formed from Afayot, 
the name of an ancient Median tribe, but we find Mayovoaloi in Eusebius. 

10 Cowley, Aramaic Papyri, p. 254. 



260 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE 

though Vollers, ZDM G, li, 303, follows him in this there is little to be 
said in its favour. The word was well known in pre-Islamic days and 
occurs in the old poetry, 1 and so may quite well have come direct 
from Middle Persian, though it is also a possibility that it may have 
come through the Syr. 



x.^ 

/j JL* (Madyan). 

vii, 83 ; ix, 71 ; xi, 85, 98 ; xx t 42 ; xxii, 43 ; xxviii, 21, 22, 45 ; 
xxix, 35. 

Midian. 

The references are all to the stories of Moses and Shu'aib, and the 
place is clearly the Biblical *"!??, but derived through a Christian 
channel. (Noldeke, Ency. Bill, iii, 3081.) -^ 

Some of the early authorities endeavoured to derive it from j A^ 

(LA, xvii 9 289), but al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 143, is inclined to take it as 
a foreign borrowing. 

The presumption is that it came to Arabic through the Syr. 



fj 

* >* ^ 

AJjJb* (Madina). 

s v ' 

vii, 108, 120 ; ix, 102, 121 ; xii, 30 ; xv, 67 ; xviii, 18, 81 ; xxvi, 
35, 53 ; xxvii, 49 ; xxviii, 14, 17, 19 ; xxxiii, 60 ; xxxvi, 19 ; Ixiii, 8. 
A city. 
The popular derivation among the Lexicons is that it is a form 



from jX to settle, though others considered that it 

was from jlS to possess (LA, xvii, 288, 289). The great argument 

*" * 

. ^s . . >> . . *K^ 

in favour of a derivation from jX* is the plu. JA* beside ^ lA^, 

for, said the philologers (cf. Ibn Bar! in LA), how could it have such 
a plu. form if the J were not part of the root ? 

1 Vide Horovitz, KU, 137. 

8 Mingana, Syriac Influence, 95 ; Ahrens, Muhammad, 9. 

8 See the discussion in Horovitz, K U, 138 ; JPN, 153, 154, where he would 
draw a distinction between the Madyan of the early Suras of the Qur'an where it 
means Midian, and the Madyan of later passages where it refers to the Arabian Madyan 
opposite the Sinai peninsula, the MoSiava of Ptolemy. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR ? AN 261 

The truth is that it is from a root related to JlS, but is not 
an Arabic formation at all, being like the Heb. n3^*"JQ, a borrowing 



from the Aram. Nn3*HQ, Syr. jAi^Lo. 1 Aram. NnS'HQ means 
a province and then a city, 2 and Syr. (Ala ,10 is city? From Aram. 
it was borrowed into Middle Persian where we find the ideogram 
madma, meaning a large fortified city (PPGl, 150). 



(Marjdn). 

Iv, 22, 58. 

Small pearls. 

The word occurs only in a description of Paradise, and was early 
recognized as borrowed from Persia, 4 but it is certain that it did not 
come directly from Iranian into Arabic. 5 

We find in Phlv. ^)jjp^ murvdnt,* a pearl used, e.g. in the 
Gosht-i-Frydno, ii, 13, in describing the crowns presented to the 
daughters of Spitama after death. From Middle Persian the word was 
borrowed widely, e.g. Gk. jJiapyapirris 7 ; Aram. WP33"1Q ; 
Syr. ]AjLl..;iO, and from some Aram, form 8 it came into Arabic. 
It would have come at an early date for it is used in the old poetry 
and was doubtless well known in the pre-Islamic period. 

(Mursd). 

xi, 43. 
Harbour, haven. 

1 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 280; Horovitz, KU. 137. 

2 It has this meaning in Arabic as early as the Nemiira inscription ; cf. RES, i, 
No. 483. 

3 There is some discusaitm of the meaning of the word by Torrey in JAOS, xliii, 
230 ff. 

4 al-Jawallqi, Mu'arrab, 144 ; as-Suyuti, Itq, 324 ; MuJiit, sub voc., and sceSachau's 
note to the Mu'arrah, p. 65. 



3 In spite of Addai Sher, 144, and his attempted derivation from 0^. 

6 West, Glossary, 213 ; 8aya*t, Glossary, 163 ; cf. Horn, Qrundriss, 218, n. 

7 Also fiapyapis 1805, from which comes the Arm. t/uy^ 111^1111 and the European 
forms. 

8 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 59. The Mand. XDN^KaiXQ would also seem to be 
from the same source, vide Noldeke, Mundart, 53 ; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 90 ; 
Vollers, ZDMQ, 1, 611 ; li, 303. 



262 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

With this meaning it is used only in the Noah story, though the 
same word occurs in vii, 186 ; Ixxix, 42, meaning fixed time. In this 

lattersense it is obviouslyfrom U*> j, and the philologers want to derive 
the ^-^A of xi, 43, from this same root. 1 



It seems, however, that we have here a loan-word from Eth. 
a haven (Noldeke, Neue Beitrage, 61 ; Bell, Origin, 29). 



/ o^ 

** j* (Mary am). 

Occurs some thirty-four times, cf. ii, 81. 

The name refers always to the mother of Jesus, though in xix, 29 ; 
iii, 31 ; Ixvi, 12, she is confused with Miriam, the sister of Moses and 
Aaron (infra, p. 217). 

Some of the philologers took the name to be Arabic, a form A*i* 

from A 1 j, meaning to depart from a place. 2 Some, however, noted it as a 

foreign word, 3 and Baid. on iii, 31, goes as far as to say that it is Hebrew. 
Undoubtedly it does go back to the Heb. Q!J"1Q, but the vo welling 

of the Arabic ^.i j* would point to its having come from a Christian 

source rather than directly from the Hebrew. The Gk. Map/cr/i ; 

Syr. .^o y vr> ; Eth. "ICf-lF are equally possible sources, but the 
probabilities are in favour of its having come from the Syriac. 4 
There seems no evidence for the occurrence of this form in pre- 

Islamic times, 5 though the form A ju, the name of the Coptic slave 

girl sent from Egypt to Muhammad, 6 is found in a verse of al-Harith b. 
Hilliza, iii, 10 (ed. Krenkow, Beirut, 1922). 



1 There was some uncertainty over the reading in this passage, see Zam. and Tab. 
thereon, and LA, xix, 35, 36. 

2 Jawhari, sub voc., LA, xv, 152. 

8 al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 140 ; TA, viii, 132 ; al-Khafaji, 183. 
4 Mingana, Syriac Influence, 82. 

6 See the discussion in Horovitz, KU, 138-140 ; JPN, 154. 
Ibn Hisham, 121 ; Usd al-Ghaba, v, 543, 544, and see Caetani, Annali, 
iii, 828. 



FOREIGN VOCABULAKY OF THE QUR'AN 263 



Ixxvi, 5, 17 ; Ixxxiii, 27. 
Tempering. 

Both passages refer to the tempering of the drink of the blessed 
in Paradise. 

The Muslim authorities take it from j to mix, but Fraenkel, 



Fremdworter, 172, points out that 7*\j-* is not an Arabic formation* 

but is the Syr. MO potus mixtus, which later became technically used 
for the eucharistic cup of mixed water and wine. In fact the Syr. ..lio 
(cf. Heb. JTQ ; Aram. 3H3), while used for mixing in general, became 
specialized for the mixing of drinks. There can thus be little doubt 
that it was borrowed in pre-Islamic times as a drinking term. 1 See 



also under r-u^ (infra, p. 70). 



(Masjid). 

Occurs some twenty-eight times, e.g. ii, 139, 144, 145, 187, 192, etc. 

A place of worship. 

As we have already seen (infra, p. 163), the verb Jbcu*- in the technical 

sense of worship has been influenced by Aramaic usage. The form 



seems not to have been a formation from this in Arabic, but to 

have been an independent borrowing from the North. 

Noldeke, ERE, i, 666, 667, has drawn attention to this fact.of the 
Aramaic origin of the word. In the Nabataean inscriptions we find 
N"f30Q not infrequently meaning " place of worship ", 2 as fot 
example in an inscription from Bosra (de Vogiie), p. 106 3 : HT 

^sn-^in^i nn inti nain irnoo - This is the P iace of 

worship which Taimu, son of Walid el-Ba'al built." The Syr. 1^. Jao&o, 

however, seems to be a late borrowing from the Arabic, but we find 
KH30Q in the Elephantine papyri. 4 

1 Horovitz, Parodies, 11; Geyer, Zwei Qedickte, i, 87 ff. ; Ximmern, Akkad. 
Fremdw., 40. 

2 Cook, Glossary, 75 ; Duval in JA, viii c Ser., vol. xv, 482. 

3 ZDMO, xxii, 268. 

4 Cowley, Aramaic Papyri, p. 148. 



264 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

In the Qur'an it is used of the fane at Quba' (ix, 109), of the Temple 
at Jerusalem (xvii, 1), of the Church built over the Seven Sleepers 
(xviii, 20), and other places of worship, so that it is clear that for 
Muhammad it meant any place of worship. In the same general sense 
it is used in the pre-Islamic poetry, 1 and so must have come at an early 
date from the more settled communities in the North. 2 



(Misk). 

Ixxxiii, 26. 

Musk. 

This sole occurrence is in an early Meccan description of Paradise. 

The word was widely used among the Arabs in the pre-Islamic 
period 3 and was quite commonly recognized as a loan-word from the 
Persian. 4 

The Phlv. 4-tyi^* mushk 5 seems to have come ultimately from the 
Skt. *nra, 6 but it was from the Iranian, not the Indian form, that 
were borrowed the Arm. jh^ 7 ; Gk. //capos' : Aram. ptflB ; 
Syr. JoaQLo ; Eth. JJfllf|. It is more likely to have come direct from 
Middle Persian into Arabic 8 than through the Syriac, as Mingana, 
Syriac Influence, 88, claims. 



(Miskin). 

Of very frequent occurrence, e.g. ii, 77, 172 ; ix, 60. 
Poor. " 

' '^e ' ... 

Note therefrom the formation <1X.^.^ poverty, indigence, n, 

*58 ; iii, 108. 

Fraenkel, Vocab, 24, pointed out that the Arabic word is from the 
Syr. ]* *>ffnVo though this comes itself ultimately from Akkadian. 
The muskenu of the Cuneiform inscriptions was interpreted by Littmann 

1 Horovitz, KU, 140. 

2 Schwally, ZDMQ, Hi, 134 ; Lammens, Ranctuaires, passim ; Von Kremer, 
Streifziige, ix, n. 

3 Siddiqi, Studien, 85 ; Geyer, Zwei Gediehte, i, 90 ff. : ii, 79. r 

4 al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 143 ; ath-Tha'alibi, Fiqh, 318 ; as-Suyu^i, Itq, 324 ; 
Mvzkir, i, 136; al-KhafajI, 182; LA, xii, 376. 

5 Justi, Glossary to the Bundahesh, p. 241. Vullers, Lex, ii, 1185. 

7 Hiibschmann,* Arm. Gramm, i, 196. 8 Vollers, ZDMQ, 1, 649, 652. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 265 

mZA, xvii, 262 ff., as leper, but Combe, Bahykmaca, iii, 73, 74, showed 
that it meant the humble classes, 1 and so poor. It passed into Heb. 
as 15PQ, fSOfp meaning poor, and into Aram. W30J3; 
Syr. ]i **M%Vn w jth the same meaning, and it was from Aram, that the 



Ar. *~~A and Eth. 9Ml^ were derived. 2 



^C*.*M** (Maslh). 

iii, 40 ; iv, 156, 169, 170 ; v, 19, 76, 79 ; ix, 30, 31. 

Messiah (6 Meaaiaf)- 

It is used only as a title of Jesus, and only in late passages when 
Muhammad's knowledge of the teachings of the People of the Book is 
much advanced. 

The Muslim authorities usually take it as an Arabic word from 

fcl*^ to wipe (Tab. on iii, 20). Others said it was from I*L~~* to smear 

or anoint (Rcaghib, Mufraddt, 484), others derived it from r-U* to travel 

(LA, iii, 431), and some, like Zam. and Baid., rejected these theories 
and admitted that it was a borrowed word. 

Those Muslim philologers who noted it as foreign, claimed that 
it was Hebrew, and this has been accepted by many Western scholars, 3 
though such a derivation is extremely unlikely. Hirschfeld, Beitrage, 89, 
would derive it from Aram. NIT27Q, which is possible, though 
as it is used in early Arabic particularly with regard to Jesus, we are 
safer in holding with Fraenkel, Vocab, 24, 4 that it is from Syr. ]^iaV> 
especially as this is the source of the Arm. IP^"/'"*/ 5 ; Eth. 0ofa rh 6 n 
the Manichaean nitiya of the "koktiirkisch" fragments 7 ; thePazend 

1 Johns, Schweioh Lectures, 1912, p. 8, would derive it from kaim " to bow down ", 
so that originally it would mean suppliant. See, however, Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 
47. 

2 Noldeke, Neue Britriige, 45. Note also the Phon. pDD (Harris, Glossary, 120). 

3 Sayous, Jesus Christ d'apres Mahomet (Paris, 1880), p. 21 ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 
193, n. 3. 

4 So Lagarde, Ubersicht, 94 ; Margoliouth, Chrestomathia Baidawiana, 163 ; 
Cheikho, Nasraniya, 186 ; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 85. 

8 This, however, may be direct from the Greek ; cf. Hiibschmann, Arm. Gramm, 
i, 364. 

Noldeke, Neue Beitrage , 34. 

7 Le Coq in SBA W, Berlin, 1909, p. 1204 ; Salemann, Manichaeischt Studien, i, 97. 



266 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR ? AN 

mashydb ; Phlv. -"tW^ (Shikand, Glossary, 258), and the Manichaean 
Soghdian msyh' (Henning, Manichaisches Beichibuch, 142). 

The word was well known in both N. and S. Arabia in pre-Islamic 
times. 1 



JLf (Mishkdt). 

xxiv, 35. 

A niche in a wall. 

The word was early recognized as foreign (Siddiqi, 13). as-Suyutl, 
Itq, 324, gives it as Abyssinian on the authority of Mujahid, 2 and 
al-Jawaliql, Mu'arrab, 135, 3 andal-Kindi, Risala, 85, both know that it 
is an Abyssinian borrowing. Some, of course, sought to interpret it 

as an Arabic word from vXli (LA, xix, 171, quoting Ibn Jinni), but 

their difficulties with the word make it obvious that it is a loan-word. 

The philologers were correct in their ascription of its origin, for it 
is the Eth. o^M\^ (0/* f |i'Th), which is an early word formed from 
Ah ID (cf. fcOO, <i*Kt)), and quite commonly used. 4 

> 

J^A (Misr). 

ii, 58 ; x, 87 ; xii, 21, 100 ; xliii, 50. 

Egypt. 

It occurs only in connection with the stories of Moses and Joseph. 

The fact that it is treated as a diptote in the Qur'an would seem 
to indicate that it was a foreign name, and this was recognized by some 
Df the exegetes, as we learn from Baid. on ii, 58, who derives it from 

, which obviously is intended to represent the Heb. 



The Eth. ?ftC = Minaean )&3 5 is the only form without the 
final ending, and so S. Arabia was doubtless the source of the Qur'anic 
form (but see Zimmern, AkJcad. Fremdw, 91). 

1 Horovitz, KU, 129, 130 ; Ryckmans, Nome propres, i, 19 ; Rossini, Olossarium, 
179. 

* See also Mutaw, 41 ; Muzhir, i, 130, for other authorities. 

3 Who quotes from Ibn Qutaiba, vide Adab al-Katib, p. 527,'andal-AnbarI, Kitab 
al*A4dad, p. 272. 

* Noldeke, Neue BeMrage, 51 ; Voliers, ZDMO, Ii, 293. 

6 Vide Ryckmans, Nome propres, i, 348 ; Rossini, Ghasarium, 180. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR*AN 267 

(Musawwir). 

\ix, 24. 

One who fashions. 

It is one of the names of God, and its form is undoubtedly Arabic. 
Lidzbarski, SB AW, Berlin, 1916, p. 1218, however, claims that in this 
technical sense it is a formation from the borrowed Aram. 1JS, 1 
which frequently occurs in the Rabbinic writings as a name of God, 
and is also found in the Palm, inscriptions in the combination "" 
(Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, ii, 269). 



(Ma'm). 

xxiii, 52 ; xxxv'u, 44 ; Ivi, 18 ; Ixvii, 30. 
A fountain, or clear flowing water. 
It occurs only in early and middle Meccan passages. 
The philologers were uncertain whether it was a form J^** from 

.*J*A to flow, or connected with J^V, or from Jl, so called because 

of its clearness cf. Zam. on xxiii, 52, and LA, xvii, 179, 298. 

The word VJ7, for a spring of water, is of course common Semitic, 

but Fraenkel, Fremdw, 281, noted that the Qur'anic ^ is the Heb. 

"pUtt, Syr. IfiA^ = Tn/y 7 ?, commonly used for spritig or a bubbling 
fountain. From one of these sources, probably from the Syriac, it 
came into Arabic. 



(Miqldd). 

xxxix, 63 ; xlii, 10. 

Key. 

Only in the plural form JL)LS^4 in the phrase " His are the keys 

of heaven and earth", where the use of 7*^** in the similar phrase in 

\~? 
vi, 59, proves that it means keys, though in these two passages many 

of the Commentators want it to mean $ 13>- storehouses? 

1 Vide also Hirechfeld, Beitrage, 87. 

2 Raghib, Mufradat, 422, and Bakl. on vi, 59. 



268 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE 

It was early recognized as a foreign word, and said by the philologers 
to be of Persian origin. 1 The Pers. JL^ to which they refer it is itself 
a borrowing from the Gk. tfAe/9, K\ida (Vullers, Lex, ii, 876), 



which was also borrowed into Aram. JOvpX > Syr. 
Iri^QO or Irt^o). In spite of Dvorak's vigorous defence of the theory 

that it passed directly from Persian into Arabic, 2 we are fairly safe in 

. 

concluding that the Ar. JLlJ 1 is from the Syr. ) r *.,lo'), 3 and the form 
Zy^i* formed therefrom on the analogy of jr ILL*, etc. 4 

-V 

4Li (Milla). 

ii, 114, 124, 129 ; iii, 89 ; iv, 124 ; vi, 162 ; vii, 86, 87 ; xii, 37, 38 ; 
xiv, 16 ; xvi, 124 ; xviii, 19 ; xxii, 77 ; xxxviii, 6. 

Religion, sect. 

It is most commonly found in the phrase ^Al j\ 4U, but is used 

for the faith of Jews and Christians (e.g. ii, 114), and for the old heathen 
beliefs (e.g. xii, 37 ; xiv, 16). 5 The Muslim authorities take it as an 
Arabic word but have some difficulty in explaining it. 6 

It has long been recognized as one of those religious terms for 
which Muhammad was indebted to the older religions. Sprenger held 
that it was an Aramaic word which the Jews brought with them to the 
Hijaz, and Hirschfeld, Beitrdge,^, agrees, 7 as does Toiivy, Foundation, 
48. The Aram. fcOQ, like the late Heb. !T7Q, means word, but could 
be used figuratively for the religious beliefs of a person. The Syr. U^, 
(AjkLo, however, is a more likely source, for besides meaning word, 

1 al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 139; as-Suyiitl, Uq, 324; Mutaw, 46; al-KhafajI, 18]. 

2 Fremdw, 79 ff. ; Muhit* sub voc., wants to derive it directly from Greek. 

3 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 15, 16 ; Mmgana, Syruic Influence, 88. 

4 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 16, thinks that a form with may have been known in the 
Aramaic from which the Arabic word was borrowed. 

5 Raghib, Mufradat, 488, says that 4JU can only be used for a religion that was 
proclaimed by a Prophet. Cf. LA, xiv, 154. 

6 See Sprenger, Leben, ii, 276, n. 

7 In his New Researches, 16, Hirschfeld suggests that in Muhammad's mind 
X!*O may have been somewhat confused with HT'D circumcision, so that 
representing the doctrine of Abraham, and H^D representing the outward 

sign of the Abrahamic covenant, being confused together, produced <L as the ^j 
of Abraham. This seems, however, a little far-fetched. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 269 

, it is also used to translate Aoyoy, and is used technically 
for religion. 1 It is possible, as Horovitz, K U, 62, 63, suggests, that the 
meaning was also influenced by the sense of way, which may be derived 

from the Arabic root itself (cf. Ahrens, Christliches, 33). 

fjg 

There seems to be no evidence for the use of AjL in its Qur'anic 

sense in thq pre-Islamic period, 2 so it may have been a borrowing of 
Muhammad himself, but doubtless was intelligible to his audiences 
who were more or less acquainted with Jews and Christians. 



(Malak). 

Of very frequent occurrence. Cf. ii, 28. 

Angel. " '^ x* 

It also occurs in the form ^JJ^.A, with the plu. <AJ ^-^. 



The Muslim authorities are unanimous in taking it as Arabic, 
though they dispute among themselves whether it should be derived 



from dlL or dill (Raghib, Mufradat, 19, 490; LA, xii, 274, and 

Tab. on ii, 28). 

There can be little doubt, however, that the source of the word 
is the Eth. 0i>AMl with its characteristic plu. tf^AMrT 1 , 3 which is 
the common Eth. word for ctyyeAoy, whether in the sense of angelus 
or nuntius, and thus corresponds exactly with Heb. "]fcOQ ; Phon. 
"]Jv?Q ; Syr. )o]llD. 4 It is very possible, however, that Jewish 
influences also have been at work on the word, for Hirschfeld, Beitrdge, 



46, points out the close correspondence of such phrases as O 

(xxxii, 11) with niDil "JK^Q, 5 and cUUi diU (iii, 25) with 
J^lDxQ ""I 'Q X J?Q. The word would seem to have been borrowed 

1 Noldeke, Neue Reitrtige, 25, 26 ; Sketches, 38 ; Vollers, ZDMG, Ii, 293, 325 ; 
Noldeke-Schwally, i, 20, 146. 

2 Noldeke-Schwally, i, 146, n., but see Horovitz, KU, 62. 

8 Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 34 ; Hirschfeld, Beitrdge, 45 ; Bell, Origin, 52 ; Pvofak, 
Fremdw, 64 ; Rhodokanakis, WZKM 9 xxv, 71 ; Ahrens, Muhammad, 92 ; Pautz, 
Offenbarung, 69 ; but see Bittner, WZKM , xv, 395. 

4 Mingana, Syriac Influence, 85, would derive the Arabic from this Syriac form ; 
cf. also Fischer, Glossar, 118. 

6 So Geiger, 60 ; but we find this also in Eth,, cf. 0&Ml I 



270 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR'AN 

into Arabic long before the time of Muhammad, for the Qur'an assumes 
that Arabian audiences are well acquainted with angels and their 
powers, 1 and the form, indeed, occurs in the N. Arabian inscriptions. 2 

<ilp (Malik). 

xii, 72, 76, etc. 

A king. ^ 

With this must be taken dUo in the sense of Lord, 

** ' 

monarch (liv, 55), and <*-\JL* dominion, kingdom. 



The primitive root <-.4 to possess, with its derivatives, is common 

Semitic, and the Muslim savants naturally take the sense of king, 
kingdom, etc., to be derived from this. 

Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 7, however, has pointed out that this 
technical sense of kingship first developed in Akkadian, and then 
was taken over into the Hebrew, Phoenician, and Aramaic dialects, 

and also into S. Semitic in the Sab. rt13 and Ar. <-AJC*. It may 

also have been from Mesopotamia that it passed into Middle Persian 
as -uG (Frahang, Glossary, 116 ; Herzfeld, Paikuli, Glossary, 216). 



(Malakilt). 

vi, 75 ; vii, 184 ; xxiii, 90 ; xxxvi, 83. 

Kingdom, dominion. 

The usual theory of the Muslim philologers is that it is an Arabic 



word from the root cL* to possess, though they are a little hazy as to 

the explanation of the final O. 3 Some of them, as we learn from 

as-Suyuti, Itq, 324, recognized that it was foreign and derived it from 
Nabataean. 



The Oj ending is almost conclusive evidence of its being from 

1 Sprenger, Leben, ii, 18 ; Eickmann, Angelologie, 12 ; Bell, Origin, 52. 

2 Huber, Journal d'un Voyage en Arabie, Paris, 1891, No. 89, 1. 13. 

Raghib, MuJraMt, 489. It is noteworthy that there was a variant reading 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR*AN 271 

Aramaic. 1 Geiger, 60, and Tisdall, Sources, 126, 2 would take it from 
Heb. ITD^D, which is commonly used in the Rabbinic writings, 
but the Aram. WTQ7Q ; Syr. UO^^D are more likely, as Fraenkel, 
Vocdb, 22, noted, 3 since these have the double sense of /3a(TiXia 
and yycijiovla precisely as in the Qur'an, and moreover an Aramaic 
form was the source of both the Eth. i^Ah-Th (Noldeke, Neue 
Beitrdge, 33) and the Phlv. ideogram o>^hf malkotd (PPGl, 153 ; 
Frahang, Glossary, p. 116). 

Mingana, Syriac Influence, 85, would specify a Syriac origin for the 
word, but it is impossible to decide, though in some respects the 
Aramaic WVG78 seems to offer closer parallels than the Syt. 
lZrn\V>. Ahrens, Muhammad, 78, points out that Muhammad 
had not grasped the idea of the ftao-tXeia rS>v ovpavwv, and treats 
the word as meaning rather "Herrschaft tiber den Himmel", i.e. some- 

what in the sense of C^U.*. 4 

"$ ** 

SJA (Manna). 

ii, 54 ; vii, 160 ; xx, 82. 

Manna. t 

The Commentators have little idea what is meant. They identify 

* 
it with <j^\/> the Persian manna, or **-u*, a gum found on trees 

whose taste is like honey, or L?S^' jw*\ thin bread, or J..~* honey, 

(A tf " 

or *^>i j^ a syrup, etc. As a rule they take it to be derived from J^ to 

benefit, and say that it was so called because it was sent as provision 
to the Children of Israel (LA, xvii, 306). 

The word is used only in connection with the quails, so there 

can be no doubt that the word came to Muhammad along with (^ jL 
when he learned the Biblical story. The Hebrew word is }73 which is 
the source of the Gk. /icti/j/a and Syr. tlio. The Christian forms are 



1 Geiger, 44 ; Sprenger, Leben, ii, 257, n. 

8 So von Kremer, Ideen, 226 ; Sacco, Credenze, 51. 

3 Dvof &k, Fremdw, 31 ; Massignon, Lexiptie technique, 52 ; Horovitz, JPN, 222. 

4 Cf. the NniWD of the incantation texts ; Montgomery, Aramaic Incantation 
Texts, Glossary, p. 294. 



272 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

obviously much nearer to the Arabic than the Hebrew, and as we have 
already seen that the probabilities are that (jk*> came from the 

Syriac, we may conclude that j* is from the same source, 1 especially 
as the Syriac is the source of the Arm. 



Apparently there is no evidence of pre-Islamic use of the word, 3 
though the story may well have been familiar to Muhammad's audience. 



!> (Munafiqun). 

Occurs some thirty-three times in both masc. and fern, forms. 

Hypocrites. 

Naturally the Lexicons seek to derive it from ^JA? with the 

meaning of Jui, so that the Munafiqun are those who have departed 

from the law (Raghib, Mufraddt, 522). 

The word, however, has long been recognized as a borrowing from 
Ethiopic. 4 The form V^.4* ft&t) has the meaning hypocritam agere, 



which /*& has not originally in Arabic, such a form as ^v, e.g. in 



late, if not as Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 48, thinks, 

a direct borrowing from <?+. The form aofqfr = diperiKO? is of 
frequent occurrence in the Didascalia,* and is clearly the source of 

, which possibly was borrowed by Muhammad himself, as 

there appears no trace of the word in this technical sense in the 
early literature. 6 

1 Fraenkel, Vocab, 21 ; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86 ; Horovitz, KU, 17 ; JPN, 
222. 

2 Hftbschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 310. 

8 The Commentaries and Lexicons quote a vorae from Al-A'sha, but as Lyall 
remarks in his notes to the Mufaddaliyat, p. 709, it does not occur in the poem as 
quoted by at-Tabari, Annales, i, 987 ff., nor in the Diioan, and so is rightly judged 
by Horovitz, op. cit., as an interpolation based on the Qur'an, 

4 Wellhausen, Iteate, 232 ; Ndldeke, Neue Beitrage, 48, 49 ; Ahrens, Muhammad, 
165. 

6 Dillmann, Lex, 712. 

Noldeke-Schwally, i, 88, n. 5 ; Ahrens, ChrMiche*, 41. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR*AN 273 

(Manfush). 

ci, 4. 

Teased or carded (as wool). 

Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 28, takes the Akk. napdSu, to card 
or tease wool, as the origin of the Aram. OE53, to tease wool, from which 

came the AT. xJ^Ai . Cf. also Haupt, in Beit. Ass, v, 471, n. 



*r (Minhdj). 

v, 52. 
Pathway. 

Only in a late Madinan verse where the reference is to a " rule of 

faith " and a " way of life ", as was clearly seen by the Commentators. 

The philologers naturally took it to be a normal formation from 

TC# , and this is possible ; but Hirschfeld, Beitrdge, 89, has pointed out 

(cf. also Horovitz, JPN, 225), that in its technical religious sense it 
corresponds precisely with the Rabbinic &0!"I]?3 used for religious 
custom or way of life, and suggests that as used in the Qur'an, it is a 
borrowing from the Jews. Schwally, ZDMG, liii, 197-8, agrees, and 
we may admit that there seems at least to be Jewish influence on the 
use of the word. 



(Muhaimin). 

v, 52 ; lix, 23. 

That which preserves anything safe. 

In v, 52, it is used of that which preserves Scripture safe from 
alteration, and in lix, 23, as a title of Allah, the Preserver. There is 

j^*^> 
a variant reading }+$&* m both passages. 

The philologers take it as genuine Arabic, but as Noldeke, Neue 
Beitrdge, 27, points out, we can hardly get the meaning we want from 

the verb ,y. Fraenkel, Vocab, 23, noted that it was a borrowing 

from the Aram. WI3TII3 or Syr. Jl^O^O- 1 It is difficult to 

1 So Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 27 ; Hirschfeld, Beitrdgc, 87 ; Horovitz, JPN, 225. 



274 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

decide whether it came from Jewish or Christian sources, but the 
parallels with Syriac are closer. 1 



*r? } J* 

xvi, 14 ; xxxv, 13. 

t?-" \ ** t 

Plu. of a^->-L~, that which ploughs the waves with a clashing 

noise, i.e. a ship. 

Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 45, suggests that it was derived from 
Akk. elippu mdhirtu, a ship making its way out into a storm. If this 
is so it would have been an early borrowing direct from Mesopotamia. 



(Mu'tafika). 

ix, 71 ; liii, 54 ; Ixix, 9. 

That which is overthrown or turned upside down. 

All three passages refer to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. 

^ "t 

The Muslim authorities take it from ^-Ai I as we see from Raghib, 

Mufraddt, 18, and the word certainly is Arabic in its form. Sprenger, 
Leben, i, 492, however, claimed that this particular formation is due 
to the Kabbinic *]Bn used in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. This 
theory is a little difficult, but has been accepted by Hirschfcld, Beitrage, 
37, andHorovitz, KU, 13, 14 ; JPN, 187, and Ahrens, Christliches, 41, 
agree. 



(Musa). 



Of very frequent occurrence, e.g. ii, 51, 57 ; xi, 20. 

Moses. 

It was very commonly recognized as a foreign name, 2 the usual 

theory being that it was from an original form li j^, which some say 



1 So Nflldeke, op. cit., and Mingana, Syriac Influence, 88. 

2 al-Jawallqi, Mu'arrab, 135 ; al-KhafajT, 182 ; Bagh. onii, 48, and even Raghib, 
Mvfraddt, 484. 



POEEIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 275 

means water and trees in Hebrew, 1 and others in Coptic, 2 this name being 
given to Moses because of the place from which he was taken. 

It is possible that the name came direct from the Heb. H$Q, or 
as Derenbourg in REJ, xviii, 127, suggests, through a form ''OIQ used 
among the Arabian Jews. It is much more likely, however, that it 
came to the Arabs through the Syr. ]ioLo 3 or the Bth. 
especially rfs it was from the Syr. that the Pazend Mushde, Phlv. 
and Arm. \* ni -l!r were borrowed. 

There appears to be no well-attested example of the use of the 
word earlier than the Qur'an, 4 so that it may have been an importation 
of Muhammad himself, though doubtless well enough known to his 
audience from their contacts with Jews and Christians. 



ii, 92. 

Michael. 

As an angel he is mentioned with Gabriel in a passage where the 
Commentators claim that the two are contrasted, Gabriel as the 
opponent of the Jews and Michael as their protector. He thus occupies 
in the Qur'an the place given him in Dan. x, 13, 21, etc., as the Patron 
of Israel. 

The early authorities were a little uncertain as to the spelling 



of the word, and al-Jawallqi, 143, notes the forms 

\ |L ; JuX-w* ; and A^A.-^. This would suggest that it was a 

foreign word, and it is given as such by Ibn Qutaiba, Adah al-Katib, ' 
78> and al-Jawaliqi, op. cit. 

The word may have come directly from /JO'VS, or more likely 
or ^iuio, as it was from Syriac that the form 



1 Raghib gives the form as 

2 So Tub. on ii, 48 ; ath-Tha'labi, Qisas, 118, who tell us that in Coptic mu means 
water and sha means trees. This obviously rests on the Jewish theory given in Josephus, 
Antiq, ii, ix, 6 : TO yap vbcop n& ol Aiyvirrioi KaXovaiv* vcrys 8 rouj ef vSaros 
awOevras, which fairly well represents the Coptic JMOOTF water and OV2 rescued. 

3 Cf. the form XD1D on a Christian incantation bowl from Nippur (Montgomery, 
Aramaic Incantation Texts, p. 231). 

So Horovitz, KU, 143 ; JPN, 156. 



276 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR^AN 

in the Persian Manichaean fragments from Turfan was derived. 1 It 
is difficult to say how well the name was known in pre-Islamic times. 2 



(NaKy). 
Of very frequent occurrence, e.g. ii, 247 ; iii, 61 ; viii, 65. 

Prophet. * x 

Usually the word is taken to be from LJ to bring news (as-Sijistanl, 

312), though some thought it was from a meaning of that root to be 

high? . . 

Fraenkel, Vocab, 20, pointed out that the phi. Jj , beside the 

*. 
more usual *Lo I, would suggest that the word was a foreign borrowing. 

and that it was taken from the older religions has been generally ac- 
cepted by modern scholarship. 4 Sprenger, Lebcn, ii, 251, would derive 
it from the Heb. *T?3, and this view has commended itself to many 
scholars. 5 There are serious objections to it, however, on the ground of 
form, and as Wright has pointed out, 6 it is the Aram. K*5?, which 
by the dropping of the sign for emphatic state, gives us the form we 

need. Thus there can be little doubt that ^ , like Eth. Vd, (Noldeke, 

Neue Beitrage, 34), is from the Aram., 7 and probably from Jewish 
Aram, rather than from Syr. U^- It was seemingly known to the 
Arabs long before Muhammad's day, 8 and occurs, probably of Mani 
himself, in the Manichaean fragments (Salemann, Manichaeische 
Studien, i, 97). 

1 Muller in SBAW, Berlin, 1904, p. 351 ; Salemann, Manichaeische Studien, i, 95. 

2 Cf. Horovitz, KU, 143, and Khodokanakis, WZKM, xvii, 282. 

3 Ibn Duraid, Ishtiqdq, 273 ; and sec Fraenkel, Fremdw, 232, n. 

Margoliouth, Schweich Lectures, 22, however, thinks that the Hebrew is to be 
explained from the Arabic, and Casanova, Mohammed et la Fin du Monde, 39, n., 
argues that "j is a proper derivation from U, which is absurd, though Fischer, 
Olossar, 131, thinks that this root had an influence on the word. So Ahrens, Muham- 

mad ', 128. 

* Von Kremer, Ideen, 224; Hirschfeld, Beitrage, 42; Rudolph, Abhdngigkeit, 
45; Grimme, Mohammed, ii, 75, n. 2 ; Sacco, Credenze, 116. 

6 Comparative Grammar, 46. 

' So Guidi, Delia Sede,5W; Horovitz, K U, 47; JPN, 223, seems doubtful whether 
Heb. or Aram. 

8 Hirschfeld, Beitrage, 42. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR 5 AN 277 

&>'. 

a^-j (Nabuwwa). 

iii, 73 ; vi, 89 ; xxix, 26 ; xlv, 15 ; Ivii, 26. 

Prophecy. 

The word occurs only in late Meccan passages (but see Ahrens, 
Chnstliches, 34), and always in connection with the mention of the 
previous Scriptures with which the Arabs were acquainted. It is 
thus clearly a technical word, and though it may be a genuine develop- 

ment from /fi), there is some suspicion that it is a direct borrowing 

from the Jews. 

In late Heb. nK1!33 is used for prophecy (cf. Neh. vi, 12, and 
2 Chron. xv, 8), and in one interesting passage (2 Chron. ix, 29) it 
means a prophetic document. In Jewish Aram. HDK123 also means 
prophecy, but apparently does not have the meaning of " prophetic 
document' 1 , 1 nor is the Syr. IZo^OJ so near to the Arabic as the 
Hebrew, which would seem to leave us with the conclusion that it was 
the Hebrew word which gave rise to the Arabic, or at least influenced 
the development of the form (Horovitz, JPN, 224). 



. 
ci (Nuhds ) . 

Iv, 35. 
Brass. 

We, find the word only in an early Meccan Sura in a description 
of future punishment. 

There was considerable uncertainty as to the reading of 



for we find different authorities supporting ^v-^tl ; y***^' \ and? 



\ 

^ , 2 and even those who accepted the usual ^^ were not certain 

whether it meant smoke or brass. The philologers also had some difficulty 
in finding a derivation for the word, and we learn from LA, viii, 112, 
that Ibn Duraid said, "it is genuinely Arabic but I know not its 
root." 

1 Horovitz, KU, 73, says it does, and refers to Backer's Die exegetische Terminologie 
der jUdischen Traditionsliteratur, ii, 123, but Bacher gives this meaning of " prophet- 
ischer Abschnitt " only for HN1S3, and does not quote any example of it for XP123. 

2 Vide Zam. on the passage. 



278 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

It is, as Fraenkel, Fremdw, 152, pointed out, a borrowing, and 
means brass. In Heb. nt?n3 and HErl!!? occur not infrequently 
meaning copper or bronze, and nt^PU with a similar meaning occurs 
in the Phon. inscriptions. 1 So the Aram, fctttfn? of the Targums 2 ; 
Syr. |**J, and Palmy. X2?P13 3 are commonly used, and likewise 
the Eth. VAft <*>es> cuprum, which one would judge from Dillmann, 
Lex, 633, to be a late word, but which occurs in the old Eth. inscriptions. 4 
It is possible also that the old Egyptian tJis.t (for copper), 5 which is 
apparently a loan-word in Egyptian, may be of the same origin. 

Apparently the word has no origin in Semitic, 6 and so one may 
judge that it is a borrowing from the pre-Semitic stratum of language. 
The Arabic word may thus have come directly from this source, but 
in view of the difficulties the philologers had with the word, we should 
judge that it was rather a borrowing from the Aramaic. 



l (Nadhr). 

ii, 273 ; Ixxvi, 7 ; plu. jjAi xxii, 30. 

A vow. 

^ i 
With this is to be taken the denominative verb j^ ii, 273 ; 

iii, 31 ; xix, 27. 

This group of words has nothing to do with the forms of jJl/ to 

warn, so commonly used in the Qur'an, and which are genuine Arabic. 
In the sense of vow it is a borrowing from the Judseo-Christian 

Circle* 7 ; cf. Heb. TJJI ; Phon. H13 ; Syr. liyj, all from a root "H3 
which is a parallel form to *1T3, to dedicate, consecrate (cf. Akk. 
nazdru, curse), and Sab. )Mh (Hommel, Sudarab. Chrcst, 128). 8 It 
must have been an early borrowing. 

Lidzbarski, Handbuch, 322 ; Harris, Glossary, 123. 

And the WTft of the Elephantine papyri (Cowley, Aramaic Papyri, p. 299). 

Cf. de Vogu6, Inscriptions, No. xi, 1, 4, and in the Fiscal inscription, ZDMG, 



xlii 



383 ; cf. also BtflJ in the Nerab inscription in Lidzbarski, Handbuch, 445. 



D. H. Miiller, Epigraphische Denkmaler aus Abesainien, 1894, p. 52. 

W. M. Miiller, Asien und Europa, 1893, p. 127. See Erman-Grapow, v, 396. 

6 Levy, Worterbuch, iii, 374, suggests a derivation from ^ to be hard, but 
this is hardly likely. 

7 Ahrens, Christlichea, 34. 

8 See also Rossini, Glossarium, 184, 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR'AN 279 

,5>L*j (Nuskha). 

vii, 153. 

A copy, or exemplar. 

The word occurs only in a late Sura in reference to the Tables 

of Stone given to Moses, but the verb formed from it **lJu*i, is 

used in an* earlier passage, xlv, 28, though again the reference is to a 
heavenly book. 



The Muslim authorities take the word as a form *i with the 

meaning of AJ^uL* from -wJ in the sonse to copy, and some (cf. LA, 

iv, 28) would make copy the primitive meaning of the root. A com- 
parison with the cognate languages, however, shows that copy is a 
secondary meaning of the root, cf. Akk. nushu = extract, and Syr. 
*caj to copy, beside Akk. nasahu, Heb. H03 ; O.Aram. H03 and 
the Targumic H03, where the original sense is clearly to remove, 
tear away (evelfore), which original meaning is found in the Qur'an 
in ii, 100 ; xxii, 51, where the word is used, as Hirschfeld, Beitrcige, 36, 
points out, precisely as H03 is in Deut. xxviii, 63 ; Ezr. vi, 11. 

Hoffmann, ZDMG, xxxii, 760, suggested that the Arabic word was 
from Aram. tfPIOli, but this is used only in late Kabbimc writings 
and gained the technical sense of ''variant reading", e.g. XH013 
fcWTnX. Again in Syr. the only form is laODQJ, which is also late 
(PSm, 2400), and as Lagarde, GA, 196, points out, 1 conies from the 
Iranian, where Phlv. ^i3>, nask 2 ; Av. JJAJDJJJ naska means a book 
of the Avesta. The Iranian word, however, as Spiegel showed In his 
Studien ilber das Zendavesta* cannot be explained from Indo-European 
material, and like the Arm. "&// is in all probability an ancient 
borrowing from some Semitic source in Mesopotamia. 

It is, of course, possible that it came to Arabic also from 
Mesopotamia, but we find DnOJ in a Nabataean inscription from 

1 Also Vollers, ZDMG, 1, 649. 

2 PPGl, 165, 168 ; Sayast, Glossary, 163 ; West, Glossary, 243 ; Haug, Parsis, 181. 

3 ZDMG, ix, 191, and JA for 1846. 

4 Hiibschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 204, however, compares ^fa with the Syr. (JuJ, 
though deriving both from an Iranian original. See Lagarde, GA, 66, and Zimmern, 
Akkad. Fremdw, 13, who relates it to the Akk. nlsu. Arm. 'LnL.ufuuij, however, 
is a late borrowing from Arabic ; see ZDMG, xlvi, 264. 



280 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

N. Arabia of A.D. 31, l where it has precisely this meaning of copy which 
we find for the Akk. nushu, and it was doubtless from this technical 
use of the word in N. Arabia that the word came into use in Arabic 
(Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 29). 





1) (Nasdrd). 

ii, 59, 105, 107, 114, 129, 134 ; iii, 60 ; v, 17, 21, 56, 73, 85 ; ix, 30 ; 
xxii, 17. 

Christians. 

This name occurs only in Madinan passages, and except for iii, 50, 
only in the plu. form. 

It is taken by the Muslim authorities as a genuine Arabic formation 

from r+4.>9 derived either from the name of the village S^^l, 2 which 

was the native village of Jesus, or from jLdj 1 helpers, the name of the 

Disciples (cf. Sura, iii, 45). 3 

Sura, v, 85, would seem conclusive evidence that the word was in 
use in pre-Islamic times, and indeed the word occurs not uncommonly 
in the early poetry. The question of the origin of the name, however, 
is exceedingly difficult to solve. 

The Talmudic name for Christians was 0^*1^13, a name derived 
probably from the town of Nazareth, though some would derive it 
from the name of the sect of Na<7a/>a*of. 4 It is possible that the 
Arabs learned this word from the Jews, though as the Jews used it 
jnore or less as a term of contempt this is hardly likely. Also we find 
the Mandaeans calling themselves K^K*niS13, 5 which may be from 
the Nafapaioi of the N.T., though, as it is difficult to imagine the 
Mandaeans wanting to be known as Christians, 6 it may be that this 

1 CIS, ii, 209, 1. 9; Lidzbarski, Handbuch, 453; Euting, Nab. Inschr., No. 12 ; 
Cook, Glossary, 82, and cf. Horovitz, JPN, 224. 

Yaqut, Mu'jam, iv, 729 ; Raghib, Mufrarlat, 514 ; aUi-Tha'labl, Q wo/ f 272. 

The Commentaries on ii, 59. See Hirschfold, Beitrage, 17, and Sprenger, Leben, 
ii, 533. 

Krauss in JE, ix, 194. 

Lidzbarski, Manddische Liturgien, xviff. ; Brandt, ERE, viii, 384. 

Lidzbarski, Z8, i, 233 ; Noldeke, ZA, xxxiii, 74, says : " aber wie die Mandaer 
zu dem Namen Nasoraye gekommen sind, bleibt doch dunkel." Pallis, Mandaean 
Studies, 1926, p. 161, suggests that the Mand. hTXIIXXJ is simply the Arabic ^jLi, 
which name was assumed by the Mandaeans in Islamic times to escape Muslim persecu- 
tion, and this is very likely the truth. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 281 

also represents the Natra/ocucn of Epiphanius and Jerome, 1 who were 
a Judseo-Christian sect related to the Elkesites, and the name may have 
come to the Arabs from this source. 2 

The most probable origin, however, is the Syr. U'V* which 
represents the Nafopdtot of Acts xxiv, 5, and was a commonly 
used designation of Christians who lived under Persian suzerainty. 3 
As it was .from this area that the old Arm. Yiu/ui was borrowed, 4 



the case is very strong for the Ar. (^jUx? having come from the 
same source. 



' 4 

*j (Namdriq). 

Ixxxviii, 15. 

Cushions. 

Only in an early Sura in a description of the delights of Paradise. 

al-Kindl, Risala, 85, noted it as a loan-word from Persian, 5 though 
it is not given as such by al-Jawallqi or as-Suyutl. It occurs not in- 
frequently in the early poetry for the cushion on a camel's back, and 
must have been an early borrowing. 

Lagarde, Sytnmicta, i, CO, 6 pointed out that it is from the Iranian 
namr meaning soft. In the old Iranian we find namrd, 7 which gives 
Av. -u3g.u> natnra (Bartholomae, AI W, 1042, cf. Skt. WU), 
and Phlv. v> varm (West, Glossary, 240 ; Salemann, Mamchaeiscke 
Studien, i, 101), and from some Middle Persian form namr + the 

suffix ) ak, it passed both into Aram. ^p"1133 and Ar. 
for which a plu. 3jL was then formed. 



1 Epiphanius, Panarion, xxix, and Jerome, Comment, on Matt. xii. 
Bell, Origin. 149 ; Margoliouth, ERE, x, 540, thinks it was Heb. 
Horovitz, KU, 145, 146. See also Mingana, Syriac Influence, 96; Fischer, 
Glossar, 135. 

Hiibschmann, ZDMG, xlvi, 245 ; Arm. Gramm., i, 312. 

See also Sprenger, Leben, ii, 504, n. 

Followed by Fraenkel, Vocab, 8. 

This form occurs in nemr in the Zaza dialect to-day (Horn, Qrundriss, No. 1028). 



282 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE 

jT > (Nuh). 

Occurs some fifty-three times, e.g. iii, 30 ; iv, 161 ; xi, 34. 

Noah. 

Some of the Muslim authorities would derive the name from 

s> 
r\J to wail, 1 though as al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 144, shows, it was com- 

monly recognized as of non-Arabic origin. 2 

The story of Noah was well known in pre-Islamic days, and was 
often referred to by the poets, though as a personal name it apparently 
was not used among the Arabs before Islam. 3 

The form of the Ar. r~ y is in favour of its having come from the 
Syr. *j*OJ rather than directly from the Heb. 113. 4 ' 

V > 

jy (Nun). 

xxi, 87. 

Fish. 

Only in the title J^lM }> given to Jonah, so that it is the equivalent 



of d>>*i < *s>-U? in Ixviii, 48, whence came the theory 



(Raghib, Mufradat, 531 ; LA, xvii, 320). 

It is a N. Semitic word, cf. Akk. nunu ; Aram. KTIJ ; Syr. ]jQJ, 
and Phon. and late Heb. ]13. Guidi, Delia Sede, 591, recognized that it 
was a loan-word in Arabic, and there can be little doubt that it was 
from he Syriac that it entered Arabic, though as the word is used in 
the early poetry it must have been an early borrowing. 5 



(Hdrut wa Mdrut). 

ii, 96. 

Harut and Marut are the two fallen angels at Babylon who teach 
men Magic. 

Vide. Goldziher, ZDMG, xxiv, 209. 
Vide also Jawhari, s.v. }*^. 
Horovitz, KU, 146. 

Margoliouth, ERE, x, 540; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 82. 
It possibly occurs as a proper name in the Safaite inscriptions ; cf. Ryckmans, 
Noms propres, i, 138. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 283 

The philologers recognized the names as non-Arabic, as is clear 
from al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 140. 1 

Lagarde, GA, 15 and 169, identified them with the Haurvutat 
and AmQratat of tlie Avesta, 2 who were known in later Persia as 
Khurdad and Murdad, 3 and from being nature spirits became, names 
of archangels and were revered by the ancient Armenians as gods. 

This identification has been generally accepted, 4 though Nestle, 
ZDMG, Iv, 692, wants to compare them with Khillit andMilllt, 5 and 
Halevy, JA, ix e ser., vol. xix, 148 ff., claims that Marut is the Ap/JLapo? 
of Enoch vi, 7, which he thinks in the original text may have read 
rmOnn. This, however, is unlikely in itself and is practically 
put out of the question by the fact that the better reading in that 
passage of Enoch is <t>apjmapo?. It is curious, however, that in the 
Slavonic Enoch (xxxiii, 11, B), we find appearing the two angel names 
Orioch and Marioch. 6 

Margoliouth, ERE, viii, 252, thought that the form of the names 
pointed to an Aramaic origin and would look on them as Aramaic 
personifications of mischief and rebellion, and Wensinck, El, ii, 273, 
notes that }2o^D is a common Syriac word for power or dominion, 
so it may be that there has been Aramaic influence on the transmission 
of the names to Muhammad. 



(Hdrun). 

Occurs some twenty times, e.g. ii, 249 ; iv, 161 ; xxxvii, 114. 
Aaron. 

1 Vide Sachau's notes, p. 63, and al-KhafujI, 183. 

2 It had been earlier recognized ; cf. Boetticher, Horae aramaicae, Berlin, 1847 
p. 9, and Littmann says that Andreas independently of Lagarde had come to the same 
conclusion. On the spirits see Darmestetcr, Haurvatad et Ameretad, 1875. 

3 On this form of the name sec Marquart, Untermchungen zur Geschichte von Eran, 
ii, 214, n. 6. 

4 Littmann in Andreas Festschrift, 84; Tisdall, Sources, 99; Rudolph, Abhdn* 
gigkeit, 67, 75 ; Fr. Miiller, in WZKM, viii, 278. Marquart, Untersitchungen zur 

Qeachichte von Eran, Philol. Suppl. x, i, 1905, p. 214, n. 6, suggests Phlv. C})}*> 

harot, and Cj) )** amurt, which he would derive from O J?ers. haruvatah and amrtatah. 

See Horzfeld, Paikuli, Glossary, 144. 

6 Burton, Nights, x, 130, claimed these as Zoroastrian, but Bergmann, MQWJ, 
xlvi, 631, compared them with the Talmudic pbw p^fl. Horovitz, KU, 148, 
rightly insists that they could have had no influence on the Qur'anic forms. 

8 See Littmann, op. cit., 83 ; Horovitz, KU, 147 ; JPN, 164, 165. 



284 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

It always refers to the O.T. Aaron, though in xix, 29, where 
Muhammad makes his well-known confusion between Miriam the sister 
of Moses and Mary the mother of Jesus, the exegetes endeavour to 
show that some other Aaron is meant, 

The name was commonly recognized as foreign (LA, xvii, 326 ; 
al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 151 ; TA, ix, 367), but its origin is not at once 
apparent. The Hebrew form is "p^nNI, which by interchange of 



the first and second letters, would give us J^jl^, as some have 



suggested. 1 This interchange, however, is not necessary to explain it, 
for in the Christian-Palestinian dialect we find that the usual tOiOll 
has become tOioi by dropping the lightly pronounced initial I, 2 
and it was douotless from this source that the word came into Arabic. 
It seems to have been known and used by the Arabs long before 
Islam. 3 

JU^U* (Hdmdn). 

xxviii, 5, 7, 38 ; xxix, 38 ; xl, 25, 38. 

Haman. 

In the Qur'an, instead of being concerned in the story of Esther, 
he figures as a dignitary at the court of Pharaoh in Egypt during 
the time of Moses. 

Many of the early authorities recognized it as a foreign name (al- 
Jawallql, Mu'arrab, 153 ; al-Khafaji, 207). There was an attempt by 



some of the exegetes to make out that this jL^L* was a different 
person from the Haman of the Esther story, whom they call 



as Geiger, 156, notes. There is no doubt, however, that by j* is 

meant the ^JQil of Esth. iii, 4 and we may find the source of the con- 
fusion in xxix, 38 ; xl, 25, where he is associated with Korah, for in 
Rabbinic legends Haman and Korah were bracketed together. 

The probabilities are that the word came to the Arabs from Jewish 
sources. 

1 Sycz, Eigennamen, 43 ; but see Horovitz, JPN, 161. 

2 Schulthess, Lex, 3, and cf. the Palestinian Syriac Lectionary, p. 51. 

3 Horovitz, KU, 149 ; JPN, 162. 

4 Sycz, Eigennamen, 41 ; Horovitz, KU, 149 ; Eisenberg, -77, ii, 245. 



.FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 285 

(Hdwiya). 



ci, 6. 

The verse is early Meccan, and Hdwiya is apparently one of the 
names of Hell. 

The passage reads : " and as for him whose balances are light 
Hdwiya is his mother. And who shall teach you what that is ? It is a 
raging fire/' 

The common explanation is that < JlA is jtJi /%-"], but this 

obviously depends on the A-^U-ju at the end of the verse, and makes 

* ** 

the A! difficult, 1 so some Commentators said that *! in this passage 



means skull and that \)\* is the participle of c^ to/aB, the verse 



meaning that he was to be cast into the abyss (Zam. and ar-Razi in 
loc.). 2 Others, however, insisted that >l must have its natural sense of 

mother, and Ai Jl* must mean childless, as in the old poetry 4^1 C>^ 

means " his mother is bereft of him " (Tab. and LA, xx, 250). 

Sprenp^r, Leben, ii, 503, claims that this latter was the only natural 
explanation of the word, and Fischer in the Noldeke Festschrift, i, 33 if., 
makes an elaborate defence of it. 3 If this is correct, then the two 
later clauses are meaningless, and Fischer takes them as a later inter- 
polation by someone who had no clue to the meaning. 4 This is a tempt- 
ing solution, but a little difficult, as the concluding clauses are quite 
characteristic, and as Torrey points out (Browne Festschrift,, 467), 



the curious lengthened form of the pron. in O^ which is paralleled by 

such forms as <U u5 and <J IkL* in Ixix, is unlikely to have been the 
work of a later interpolator. 

1 The usual way out is to make <il mean aljU ; cf. Shaikh Zade's super- com- 
mentary to Baid. in loc. 

2 BDB, 217, equate i jU meaning pit of hell with H^H a chasm ; cf. Syr. (LOO! 

a gulf or chasm. 

3 His arguments have been accepted by Goldziher, Vorlesungen, 33, and Casanova, 
Mohammed et la Fin du Monde, 153. 

4 He thinks that the i jl- jl' was borrowed from Ixxxviii, 4. 



286 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QURAN 

Torrey's own suggestion is that it is the Heb. Pm disaster, occurring 
in Is. xlvii, 11, and Ez. vii, 26. Torrey thinks that this word would 
have been very frequently on the lips of the Jews whom Muhammad 
met, " every educated Jew had it at his tongue's end. The whole 
splendid passage in Isaiah may well have been recited to Muhammad 
many times, with appropriate paraphrase or comment in his own tongue, 
for his edification. The few hell-fire passages in the Hebrew Scriptures 
must have been of especial interest to him, and it would be strange if 
some teacher had not been found to gratify him in this respect " 

p. 471. 

There are objections, however, to this theory. Neither of the O.T. 
passages mentioned above, though they do prophesy destruction, can 
strictly be called " hell-fire " passages, and the word neither in the 
Bible nor in the Rabbinic writings seems to have any connection with 
" hell-fire ", as the Qur'an certainly thinks it has, if we are to admit 
the authenticity of the whole passage. Moreover this Sura is very early, 
much earlier than the time when he had much contact with the Jews, 
even if we could admit that the word was as constantly on Jewish lips 
as Torrey supposes. It would seem rather to have been one of those 
strange words picked up by Muhammad in his contact with foreigners 
in Mecca in his early years, and thus more likely of Christian than of 
Jewish origin. One might venture a suggestion that it is connected 
with the Eth. AlDf / which in the form &? means the fiery red 
glow of the evening sky (cf. Matt, xvi, 2), and as rhIO- means fire or 



burning coal This at least gives us the connection with 

and the change of guttural is not difficult in Ethiopic where such 

changes are common. 


^ (Waihn). 

xxii, 31 ; xxix, 16, 24. 

An idol. * 

Used only in the plu. juj I , and only in fairly late passages. 

The word H8<& occurs in the S. Arabian inscriptions, 2 and as this 
corresponds with the Eth. flf-J^ (plu. h<D*2*Tr) 3 meaning idol, 

1 Mainz in J)er Islam, xxiii, 300, suggests (]iV)>) OUOO1. 

x * a 

9 JA, viie ser., vol. xix, p. 374 ; Bossini, Olossarium, 142. 
3 Cheikho, Nasraniya, 206, wrongly gives this as 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE TQUR ? AN 287 

we may agree with Fraenkel, Fremdw, 273, that the word came from 
S. Arabia. Margoliouth, ERE, vi, 249, however, thinks that it is 
perhaps connected with the Heb. ]2T old, which may have been used 
as a term of abuse. 



(Warda). 

Iv, 37. " 

Rose. 

The passage is eschatological and a^J means rose-red, referring 

to the colour of the sky, a meaning derived, of course, from the original 
sense of rose. 

It was very commonly recognized that it was a loan-word, 1 though 
it is curious that the philologers make no suggestion as to its origin, 
for it is obviously a borrowing from Persia. The primitive Indo- 
European root *urdho means a spiny tree, from which comes the Gk. 

poSov = Fpo8ov, and the Av. jjgjJi> vawSa (Bartholomae, 

AIW, 1369), whence Arm. '/_"/?. rose, 2 and Phlv. jjqo)> varta 
(PPGl, 228). 3 From the Iranian it was borrowed into Semitic, 4 where 
we find Aram. XTll, Syr. }jio, 5 and from the Aram., as Fraenkel, 
Vocab, 11, noted, it passed into Arabic. As a proper name Ovdpda, 
QvapSi]? is found in the N. Arabian inscriptions. 6 

*> ^ 
jljj (Wazir). 

xx, 30 ; xxv, 37. 
A minister, counsellor. 

Both passages refer to Aaron being given to Moses as his Wazir, 
where the reference is obviously to Ex. iv, 16. 

1 as-Suyuti, Itq, 325 ; Muzhir, i, 137 ; al-Jawaliqi, Mu'arrab, 151 ; TA, ii, 531. 

2 Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 244. So Sogd. wrd (Henning, Manichdisches 
Beichtbuch, 1937, p. 137) and Parthian u>V (Kenning, BSOS, ix. 88). 

8 Though some suspect the Phlv. form of being a reborrowing from Semitic, vide 
Horn, Grundriss, 207 ; Frahang, Glossary, 77. Mod. Pers. borrowed back jj) from 
Arabic in Islamic times. 

4 Of. Telegdi in JA, ccxxvi (1935), p. 241. 

5 Cf. also the Mand. NT1N1, Noldeke, Mand. Gramm., 56, and cf. Zimmern, 
Akkad. Fremdw., 65, for an even earlier borrowing. 

8 Wuthnow, Die semitischen Menschennamen ingriechischenlnschriflen und Papyri 
des vorderen Orients, 1930, p. 92 ; Ryckmans, Noms propres, i, 81. 



288 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR J AN 

The usual explanation of the word is that it is a form Ju,* from 

J j J to bear or carry, and thus means one who carries the burdens of the 

Prince (cf. Kaghib, Mufraddt, 542). Lagarde, Ubersicht, 177, n., 
however, pointed out that it is an Iranian word, and in his Arm. 
Stud, 2155, he derives it from the Phlv. JSg) weir, which originally 

meant a decree, mandate, command, but which later, as in the Dinkard, 
came to mean judge or magistrate. 1 This word, of course, is good Iranian, 
being from the Av. .ujj^j/? vicira meaning deciding,* which was 
borrowed into Arm. as *t&bn-? and is related to the form behind the 

Mod. Pers. j>-$ or ^>-J judge*', J^J or prefect* and jjjj, which is 

generally regarded as a loan-word from Arabic but which Bartholomae, 
AIW, 1438, rightly takes as a genuine derivative from the older 
Iranian word. 

The borrowing was doubtless direct from the Middle Persian, for the 
Syr. }^1O seems to be late and a borrowing from Arabic (PSm, 1061). 



> > i ^ ^ > > i .- 

tr J>\-A } r j>\-s (Ycijuj wa Mdjuj). 

xviii, 93 ; xxi, 96. 
Gog and Magog. 

Both passages are reflections of Syriac legends concerning Alexander 
the Great. 

< It was recognized very commonly that the names were non- Arabic 
(cf. ai-Jawaliqi, Mtfarrab, 140, 156 ; al-KhafajI, 215 ; LA, iii, 28), and 
* there was some doubt as to whether they should be read with Hamza 
or without. 

The names were apparently well known in pre-Islamic Arabia, 
and we find references to them in the early poetry, where the statements 
about them would indicate that knowledge of them came to Arabia 

1 West, Glossary, 237. It was a fairly common word, and enters into a number 
of compounds ; cf. Nyberg, Qlossar, 242. 

2 Bartholomae, AIW, 1438 ; Reichelt, Awestisches Elementarbuch, 490. 

3 Hiibschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 248 ; Spiegel, Huzvaresh Grammatik, Wien, 1856, 
p. 188. 

* Vullers,Zes,ii, 1411. 

6 Vullers, Lex, ii, 1000 ; Horn, Qrundriss, 242 ; Hubschmann, Pers. Studien, 94. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QTJR S AN 289 

from Christian eschatological writings. 1 The names, of course, were 
originally Heb. 313 and 3130, which in Syr. are ..CU and yt ^^ - I n 
the Syriac Alexander legend ..0,1 is generally spelled yt^vjlL 2 which is 

a variant reading of the word in the Qur'an (Noldeke, Qorans, 270). 
The Mandaean demons Hag and Mag, which Horovitz, 7P2V,163, quotes, 
are more likely to be derived from the Qur'an than the Qur'anic 
names from them. 3 



(Ydqul). 
Iv, 58. 
Ruby. 

It was very generally recognized as a loan-word from Persian. 4 
Some Western scholars such as Freytag 5 have accepted this at face 

value, but the matter is not so simple, for the Modern Pers. O^Su is 

from the Arabic (Vullors, Lex, ii, 1507), and the alternative form AlJ u, 

like the Arm. jui^ai^ 9 is from the Syr. JjJOQj. 6 

The ultimate source of the word is the Gk. vaxivdos, used as a 
flower name as early as the Iliad, 7 and which passed into the Semitic 
languages, cf. Aram. ]1B3 l 'p <l 8 ; Syr. lAjQQji, and into Arm. as 
juiltfilift-. 9 It was from Syr. ]AjQQji that the word passed into 
Eth. as flillV and with dropping of the weak 3 into Arabic. 11 

It occurs in the old poetry (cf. Gcyer, Zwei Gedichte, i, 119), ancfthus 
must have been an early borrowing. 



I Noldeke, Alfjranderroman, passim ; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 95 ; Geiger, 74, 
however, would derive the names from Rabbinic legend. See Horovitz, KU, 150. 

Cf. Budge's edition of the metrical discourse of Jacob of Serug in ZA, vi, 357 if. 
See on them Lidzbarski, Ginza, p. 154 ; Brandt, Mandaiftche Schriften, p. 144. 
al- Jawallqi, Mu'arrab, 156 ; ath-Tha*alibi, Fiqh, 317 ; as-Suyutf, Itq, 325 ; 
Mu aw, 47, 48 ; al-KhafajI, 216 ; TA, i, 598. 
Lexicon, sub voc. 

Noldeke in Bessenberger's Beitrdge, iv, 63 ; Brockelmann, ZDMG, xlvii, 7. 
II, xiv, 348. Boissacq, 996, points out that the word is pre-Hellenic. 
For other forms see Krauss, Griechische Lehntvorter, ii, 212. 
Hubschmann, Arm. Gramm, i, 366. 
10 Noldeke, Neue Beitrdge, 40. 

II Fraenkel, Vocab, 6 ; Fremdw, 61 ; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 90 ; Vollers, 
ZDMG, Ii, 305. Note also Parthian y'kimd (Hennmg, BSOS, ix, 89). 



290 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR J AN 

^2w (Yakya). 

iii, 34 ; vi, 85 ; xix, 7, 13 ; xxi, 90. 

John the Baptist. 

Usually the Muslim authorities derive the name from the Arabic 
verb of similar form, and say that John was so called because of his 
quickening virtue, either in quickening the barrenness of his mother, or 
in quickening the faith of his people. 1 Some felt that they were com- 

>' ' ' ' 

mitted to an Arabic origin of the name by Sura xix, 8 <) Jf* J 

> ' * 

, which, however, as Marracci pointed out, 2 is merely 



a misunderstanding of Lk. i, 61, and there were some (e.g. Baid. on iii, 
34, and xix, 8) 3 who knew and admitted that it was a foreign name. 

We may be sure that the name came into Arabic from some 
Christian or Christianized source. 

Sprenger, Leben, ii, 335, thought that perhaps it might have come 
from the Sabians, for in the Mandaean books we find the name in the 
form KTIN 1 * (Lidzbarski, Johannesbuch, ii, 73), but the probability 
is that this form is due to Islamic influence. 4 ^ 

A more subtle theory is that it is a misreading for /^*-^ which 

would be derived from the Syr. ^l*Q.a. 5 The primitive script had no 

. & ** } X'O X" 

vowel points, and ,g>* might have been read /4-*-=*^ as easily as /^-^^ 

This solution has much in its favour, and might be accepted were 
it not for the fact that we have epigraphical evidence from N. Arabia 
that in pre-Islamic times Christians in that area were using a form XTP, 
probably derived from the Syriac. 7 Jaussen and Savignac found this 

1 Tab. on iii, 34, and ath-Tha'labi, (?tVwfl. 262. 

2 Refutationes, 435. So Sayous, 27, n. ; Palmer, Qoran, ii, 27, n. ; Pautz, Offen- 
barung, 254. 

3 So al-Khafaji, 215; al-'Ukbarl, Imld\ i, 88. Zam. halts between two opinions. 

4 Noldeke, ZA, xxx, 159. 

5 Noldeke noted that |3m\ from which .IxtCLfc was formed, can occur in a 
hypochoristic form ^Xm 1 , and as a matter of fact ^T\T or Tll^ does occur in late 
Jewish names, and Fraenkel, W ZKM, iv, 337, and Grimme, Mohammed, ii, 96, n. 8, 
have thought that .^ could be derived from this. Barth, Der Islam, vi, 126, n., and 
Mingana, Syrian Influence, 84, have rightly insisted, however, that the name is of 
Christian not Jewish origin. 

Barth, op. cit. ; Casanova, JA, 1924, p. 357; Margoliouth, ERE, x, 547 ; Cheikho, 
Natraniya, 189 ; Torrey, Foundation, pp. 50, 51. 

7 But see Lidzbarski, Johannesbiich, ii, 73, and Rhodokanakis, WZK M, xvii, 283.. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OP THE QUR ? AN 291 

form KTP in a graffito at Al-'Ala, 1 and it is possibly found again 
in another inscription from the same area. 2 It would thus seem that 
Muhammad was using a form of the name already naturalized among 
the northern Arabs, though there appears to be no trace of the name 
in the early literature. 



ii, 126-134 ; iii, 78 ; iv, 161 ; vi, 84 ; xi, 74 ; xii, 6, 38, 68 ; xix, 6, 
50 ; xxi, 72 ; xxix, 26 ; xxxviii, 45. 

Jacob. 

He is never mentioned save in connection with some other member 
of the Patriarchal group. 

There were some who considered it as Arabic derived from 



but in general it was recognized as a foreign word, cf. al-Jawallql, 155 ; 
Zam. on xix, 57 ; Baid. on ii, 29 ; as-Suyutl, Muzhir, i, 138, 140 ; 
al-Khaf aji, 215. Apparently it was known among the Arabs inpre-Islamic 
days. 3 

Tt may have come from the Ileb. SpIT 1 , though the fact that 
Muhammad has got his relationship somewhat mixed 4 might argue 
that he got the name from Christian sources, probably from the Syr. 
tOQQL^, 5 which was the source of the name in the Manichaean frag- 
ments (tSalemann, Manichaeische Studien, i, 86). 

> A /. ^ 

<*~> j*j> ( Yayh uth ) . 

Ixxi, 23. 
Yaghuth. 

It is said to have been an idol in the form of a lion, worshipped 
among the people of Jurash and the Banu Madhhij. 6 It would thus 

1 Mission archeologique, ii, 228. For the form TIT see Euting, Sin. Inschr., 
No. 585 ; CIS, ii, 1026. 

2 Lidzbarski, Ephemeris, iii, 296, and cf. Horovitz, KU, 151, for an inscription 
from Harnln. It is possible that a Jewish form ""IT occurs in the Elephantine papyri 
(cf. Cowley, Aramaic, Papyri, No. 81, 1. 28), but the reading is not sure. 

3 Cheikho, Naxraniya, 234 ; Horovitz, K U, 153. Horovitz plays with the idea 
that it may have been a genuine old Arab name. Cf. JPN, 152. 

4 xi, 74, on which see Hurgronjo, Verspreide Geschriften, i, 24. 
6 Mingana, Syriac Influence, 82. 

Ibn al-Kalbi, Kitab al-Amam, p. 10 ; Wellhausen, Reste, 19 if. ; Kyckmans, 
Noms propres, i, 16. 



292 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR ? AN 

appear to be of S. Arabian origin, and this is confirmed by the fact that 

we find HiT~Dn in the Thamudic inscriptions, 1 and laovdo? 
in Safaite 2 and Thamudic. 3 

The name would seem to mean helper (Yaqut, Mu'jam, iv, 1022), 



and the S. Arabian X^U means to help (cf. Ar. <*1> ; Heb. 
Rossini, Glossarium, 215). 



xxxvii, 146. 
A gourd. 

The word occurs in the Jonah story for the gourd tree which 
Allah caused to grow up over the Prophet. The reference is obviously 



to the Biblical story in Jonah iv, 6-11, and ^^ seems to be an 
attempt to reproduce the IVp^j? of the Hebrew story. 4 The word was 
apparently heard during an oral recitation of the story, and then 
reproduced from memory in this garbled form. 

^ 

!. (Yaqm). 

iv, 156 ; xv, 99 ; xxvii, 22 ; Ivi, 95 ; Ixix, 51 ; Ixxiv, 48 ; cii, 5, 7. 
Certain. ^ i 

The simple verb sji ,j does not occur in the Qur'an, but we find ^AJ I 



* ~ - I 

ii, 3; v, 55, etc. ; ^LJuJ xxvii, 14 ; Ixxiv, 31, and the participles 

(J*JA and ^LJu^*, besides ( ^^. 

At first sight it seems clearly to be a borrowing, for there is no 

Semitic V ]p\ and yet we find both ^JI^ and the verbal forms there- 
from used in the oldest poetry, so it must have come into the language 

1 D. H. Miiller, Epigraphische flenkmdler aus Arabian, p. 19 ; Littmann, Entziffer- 
ung, 27, 32. It is possible that we have a parallel to the name in the Edomitish 
proper name OTJ^ in Gen. xxxvi, 18. 

2 DuBsaud et Macler, Voyage arcMol. an Safd, p. 77 ; Wuthnow, Die semitischen 
Menschennamen, p. 56. 

3 Ryckmans, JVoww propres, i, 174 ; Hess, Entzifferung, Nos. 46, 67. 

4 So Torrey, Foundation, 52. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 293 

at an early date. The prevalent theory is that it is derived from 
Gk. IKCOV through the Aramaic. 1 eiK(ov means image, likeness, 
similitude, and from eiKOva were borrowed the Aram, fcOlp^ 2 ; 
Syr. IIDQ.I meaning image, picture. From liOQu was formed a verb 
'* to depict, describe, whence |ljnifc> and ]i1iniV) mean character- 
istic. From some dialectal form of }lOO-* the word must have passed 
into Arabfc. 

^ 

,V (Yamm). 

vii, 132 ; xx, 39, 81, 97 ; xxviii, 6, 40 ; li, 40. 

Sea, flood, river. 

It is used only in the Moses story, and refers sometimes to the Nile, 
sometimes to the sea. It was early recognized as foreign (Siddiqi, 
Stndien, 13), 3 though the early authorities were uncertain of its origin. 
al-Jawallql, Mu'arrab, 156, says it is Syriac, which was also the opinion 
of Ibn Qutaiba, 4 according to as-Suyuti, Itq, 326. as-Suyuti, how- 
ever, also.tells us that Ibn al-JawzI said it was Hebrew and Shaidala 
that it was Coptic. 5 

It apparently came to Arabic from Syriac ]SOi, as Fraenkel, Vocabf 
21, saw, 6 though it may possibly have come into Arabic from some 
primitive non-Semitic source. The word clearly is not Semitic, for 
Heb. DJ; Phon. D 1 ; Aram. &W; and Ras Shamra D* 1 cannot 
l>e explained from Semitic material, and the word is a loan-word in 
Egyptian jtn ; Coptic u\*w, ioj^, or IOJYV>, and in Akk. iamu. AS the 
word occurs in the old poetry and was an early borrowing we cannofr 
be absolutely sure that it was not primitive, having come into Arabic, 
as into the other Semitic languages, from some autochthonous source. 



(Yahud). 

ii, 107, 114 ; iii, 60 ; v, 21, 56, 69, 85 ; ix, 30. 
The Jews. 

1 Fraenkel, Fremdw, 273 ; Vollers, ZDMQ, 1, 617 ; li, 305, who depend, 
however, on a suggestion of Noldeke. 

2 Beside the much more common f^p'W from eiVowov. 
8 Cf. as-Suyuti, Muzhir, i, 130, and LA, xvi, 134. 

4 Adab al-Katib, 527. 

6 Mutaw, 55, 57. 

6 So Fraenkel, Fremdw, 231, quoting NOldeke, and cf. Guidi, Dette Sede, 573. 



294 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 

We also find the form ^ j* inii, 105, 129, 134, and the denominative 

verb ^U, ii, 59 ; iv, 48, etc. 

The philologers recognized it as a foreign word, though they 
were uncertain whether to derive it from Hebrew l or Persian. 2 It is 

curious that anyone should have sought for a Persian origin, and yet 

#- 

Addai Sher, 158, accepts the theory, claiming that ^U 



with the meaning of^Ji-l <Jl *> j is from the Pers. a^*. It is true 
th&ti&Sdyast-ne-sayast, vi, 7,wefindPhlv. q&)*o rato, 3 andinAvestic 
the form g aqy^ Yahud, but these, like the cax^l of the Christian 

Soghdian texts (cf. Jansen's " Worterverzeichnis " to F. W. K. Muller's 
SogJtdische Texte, p. 93), are obviously derived from the Aramaic. 
Hirschfeld, New Researches, 27, thinks that Muhammad's use of the 

verb \A shows that he got the word from Jewish Aramaic sources/ 
and not understanding it perfectly, gave it an Arabic etyrhology by 

connecting it with the root ^l* to repent, which is the reason for the 
form ^4* beside > jq . The fatal objection to this theory, however, is 

that we find the form (>j$ in the old poetry, 5 so that it would have 
been well known in Arabia before Muhammad's day. Horovitz points 

out that in the Qur'an 5j$ always means the Jews of Muhammad's 

day, the Jews of antiquity being referred to as Banu Israll. 

The word NV? occurs in the S. Arabian inscriptions (Glaser, 394/5), 6 
and Grimme, ZA, xxvi, 161, suggests that it came to the Hijaz from the 
South, which is very possible, though the ultimate origin, of course, 
will be the Jewish 'HIPP. 

1 al-Jawallqi, Ifu'arruft, 157 ; as-Suyuti, Itq, 326 ; al-Khafaji, 216. 

2 as-Suyutf, Mutaw, 47. 

3 Salemann, Manichaeische Studien, i, 87, and the Paz. Zuhud in Shikand, Glossary. 
Cf. also Kenning, Manichaica, iii, 66. 

4 So also p. 104 ; Beitrage, 15 ff. ; Pautz, Offenbarung, 121 ; Griinbaum, ZDMG, 
xl, 285; Horovitz, KU, 154; Geiger, 113. 

B Imru'1-Qais, xl, 7 (Ahlwardt, Divans, p. 141), and see Margoliouth, Schweich 
Lectures, 79. * See Ryckmans, Noms propres, i, 231, 299. 



FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR'AN 295 



Occurs twenty-two times in Sura xii, elsewhere only in vi, 84, and 
xl, 36. 
Joseph. 
The early authorities differed as to whether it was an Arabic 



word derived from cJu or a borrowing from Hebrew (ath-Tha'labi, 

Qisas, 75). Zam. on xii, 4, in his usual vigorous style combats the theory 
of an Arabic origin,and al- Ja,wallqi,Mu ( arrab, 155, also notes it as foreign. 1 
Geiger, 141, and Sycz, Eigennamen, 26, 27, would take it as a direct 
borrowing from the Heb. ^OV, but the Syr. aa>cu or Eth. ^A,<P 
might equally well have been the source. Grimme, ZA , xxvi, 166, on the 
ground that in N. Arabia we should expect a form Yusif rather than 
Yusuf, would have the name derived from S. Arabia. If the Muslim 

legends about Dim Nawas can be trusted, the name cJu^t would have 

been known in S. Arabia, for they tell us that his name was cJu*^> 


i <j;. The name, however, appears to have been known also 

in the N., for we find a Yusuf b. 'Abdallah b. Salam in Usd al Ghdba, 
v, 132. 2 One suspects that the name came from Jewish sources rather 
than Christian. 



(Yunus). 

iv, 161 ; vi, 86 ; x, 98 ; xxxvii, 139. 

Jonah. 

He is also referred to as Oj>- 1 c-*>- U* in Ixviii, 48, and as J^i) 1 ^i 

in xxi, 87. _ 

Some early authorities endeavoured to derive it from ,-jl, but 

Zam. on xii, 4, vigorously combats the view that the variant readings 

ijj ^ and ( j^j f ji given by Jawharl, s.v. ^jJ I, provide any ground for 

such a derivation, and al- Jawaliql, Mu'arrab, 155 ; al-Khaf aji, 215, give 
it as foreign. 

1 So al-Khaf aji, 215, and see Sprenger, Leben, ii, 336. 

2 Horovitz, KU, 154. 



296 FOREIGN VOCABULARY OF THE QUR*AN 

The form of the word is conclusive evidence that it came to 
Muhammad from Christian sources. 1 The Heb. PUP becomes 'Ieoya9 
in the LXX and N.T., and Sprenger would derive the Arabic form 
directly from the Greek. 2 This is hardly likely, however, from what we 
know of the passage of Biblical names into Arabic, and as a matter of 



fact we find the final .*- both in the Eth. P*Vft and in the, Christian- 

Palestinian JXUQLft, 3 which occurs regularly for the Edessene ]jCLi or 
^JCU. Grimme, ZA, xxvi, 166. thinks that in N. Arabia we would expect 
a form Yunas and that Yunus is due to S. Arabian influence, but there 
is as little to this as to his similar theory of Y usif and Yusuf. The fact 
that the Arm. (Jn^uiVi is from Syr., 4 though from the classical 
dialect, would lead us to conclude that the Qur'anic form also came from 
Syriac. 

The name was possibly known among the pre-Islamic Arabs, though 
the examples collected from the literature are doubtful. 5 

1 This is admitted even by Hirschfeld, Jidtrdge, 50. See also Sycx, Eigennamen, 
48 ; Horovitz, KU, 155 ; Mmgana, Syriac Influence, 83 ; Rudolpk, Abhffngigketf, 47. 

2 Leben, ii, 32, and Margoliouth, ERE, \, 540. 

3 Schulthess, Ley, 82 ; Christ. Pnlast. Fragments (1905), p. 122. 

4 Hiibschmann, Arm. Gramm., i, 295. 

5 Passages in Cheikho, Xasmniya, 234, 275, 276; and see Horovitz, AT, 155; 

no. 



ADDENDA 

p. 32, li'ne 3. Unless the Nabataean bjl is intended to represent 
the Aram. K^K ; Syr. \J\ (cf. Heb. ^K : mtf : 
Eth. JtC). 

p. 94, line 8. Akk. u-dun-tum. Rather atunu from Sumerian 
uduna : cf. Brockelmann, Lexicon Syriacum, 55 b. 



p. 121, line 7. It is possible that the Heb. DIDI"!, Aram. 

)ioAj* are borrowed words, and an Egyptian origin has 
been suggested (ZDMG, xliv, 685 ; xlvi, 117). 

p. 123, % line 5. 111.. . PSm. 751 gives this as the form in Man- 
daean: the normal Syriac form is K, (PSm. 696). 

p. 179, line 9. "?2tt. The nun must have been pronounced 
originally in this word, as it is from 733. See on it 
Fraenkel, Frcmdw. 133. 

p. 186, n. 1. Both the noun and the verb are found in this technical 
sense in the old poetry : cf. al-A sha, Diwdn (ed.'Geyer), 
Ixvi, 9. 



297 



INDICES 



Sumerian 

bd.ag 229 
gida 241 
guza 249 
Pura-nun 222 
udum 297 
uru 236 



Elamitish 

den 132 

Akkadian 

abdu 209, 210 
agarru 49 
agrii 49 

OfflTVUi 11* 

.4r0J<w$ 52 
atunu 297 
jftri-i/tt 74 
ftanw 83 
6arw 76 
bisru 79 
bussuru 80 
daau 132 
c/arifctt 130 
dc(i)nit 132 
edinu 212 
emerfu 216 * 
etegu '211 
gannata 104 
gft'ttu 1 241 
WJ 107 
hakamu ill 
jjaww 293 
indu 216 
kabaru 248 
fcanw 265 
fetJAu 241 
tosw, 249 
Maguhi 259 
mahirtu 274 
munziqu 64 
264 

273 
na^dju 279 

278 



nf&t 279 
nunu 282 

279, 280 
229 

pardisu 224 
92 
221 

, 230 
'pilaqqu 229 
pilu 231 
jjt>w 231 
Purat 222 
Purattit 222 
Sa6a' 160 
SaVa 160 
sadinnu 180 
sahiru 166 
sapannu 172 
sudinnu 180 
silqu 183 
surw 201 
almu 199 

147 
89 
173 
tsalamu 62 

176 

176 
^afartt 170 
Sawiru 180 
fe'w 158 
&u>ira 180 
Altoru 37,172 

^MftM/tt 179 

totaru 95 
tamgaru 90 
takmaru 90 
tinuru 94 
f^iu 97 
tubuqati 205 
205 
204 

88 

JefoZ 204 
itmft'M'w 205 
uduntum 94, 297 
ummatu 69 
zo/kii 152 
zibanitu 148 

147 



Hebrew 
2K 43 

a ax 4.3 

Om3K 45, 46 
50, 51 
130 
127 

284 
75 

71 
72, 73, 184 

55 
73 
55 



67 

38 

68 
81 
55 
69 



69 

pnox eo 



nx, mx 297 

53 
74 



78 
TQ 90 

tfia 84 



34 

nxia 83 

pa 84 

82 
76 
76 
76 

pa 75 

75 
79,80 

298 



mtfa so 
100 

105 
111 288^ 
nat) 251 
W 241 

mm 105 
nV) 91 
rrfa 98 

D^Vl 97, 98 

p P 104, 212, 224 

fill 104 

DID 123, 251 

TH, "W 128 

pm 131 

p 132, 133 
pD-n 130 
12 
52, 129 

70 

285, 286 
284 
274 

nttfann so 

TIT 156 
rot 135, 152 

m 157 
mat 149 

X-lt 156 

Van 107 
nan 50 
am in 
Tin 120 

DIYin 121,297 
TtH 126 

nn no 
xon no, 123 
iron 110 
'n - 245 
nan 111 
naan 111 
npVn 124 
nan 126 



INDICES 



299 



p 112 
paa 51 



112 
pa so 
pa 112 

pa no, 123 
nna ia 233 
oia 37 

204 ' 

205 
205 
203 

ma 1 * 294 
aw 219 
ntrrr 290 
TTP 290 
pat 1 290 
air 296 

*]0r 64, 295 
T 293 

apy 64, 291 

60 

220 
220 
60 

64* 
287 

, 64 



13D 248 

pD 247 

DID 245 

^Bh3 18 

NOD 249 

1DD 250 
V"*D 229 

ana 248 

aiV 254 
ttl 1 ? 255 

aa 259 
aiaa 289 

pa 260 

ana 261 



ata 70, 263 
nata 25, 149 

VND^a 275 

aVa 268 



269 
268 
257 

rvbVa 271 

271 
70 
265 
265 
256 

pya 267 
193 
266 
234 

ana 262 
a*a 275 

258 

257, 258 
258 

aNiaa 277 
N^aa 276 

111 278 

pa 282 
1TI 278 

. na 282 
a*iaa 278 

aoa 279 
iaya 209 

iaO 163 

po iso 
ano isi, 182 

inO 159 

no 201 

TO 185 

aa^DO 172 

pO 172 
1BO 149, 171 
209, 210 
210 

py 212 
ww 214 

209 
292 
214 

ity 214 

NITS 214 

airy 214 

TO 267 



Ty 236 

218 
216 
Dy 50, 85 

nay 216 

217 
213 

fey 219 
pny 211 

222 

36, 221 
55 
230 
99 

223, 224 
225 
218 

181, 226, 
227, 228 
niD 223 
92 
195 
194 
D1S 202 
IIS 201, 207 

pns 55 
nrs 147 

198 
199 

ras iso 

07 245 
P77 292 

231, 232 

236 

236 
B*p 238 

Na aNi 136 



pai us 
yi 136 

ppl 143 

pfe 46, 47, 190 

173 
177 

181 

185 
*?lNtf 204 

160 



57 
162 
179 



aitf s? 

tfltf 182 
pi* 183 

aa'D* 174 

p* 173 

37, 172 
218 
175 
176 
62 
178 

176 
a" 0* 184 

'ana* 159 
ay* iss 
ai* iso 
aaNn 96 
nan ss 
ann 96 
nnn 33 
aa^n ss 
nan 94 
am 54,55 

Phoenician 

paN 104 

DIN 5(f 



DN 40 
nN 72 
Nia 76 

"jia 75 

P 104 
DaaDTT 130 
NDT 135, 152 
nt 157 

nipVaan 112 
pVn 125 
p 112 

205 
293 
i 247 



300 

ana 249 

JK^D 269 
pO 265 

naoofc 172 
iia 278 

pa 282 

ntfna 278 
lar 209,210 
its; 214 

TOS7 216 

221 

194 
199 
236 

137 

173 

62 

&VK 195 

96 

Ras Shamra 



INDICES 



so 

P 104 

nr 157 
DDH 111 

KDn 124 

iran 126 
in& 205 

D** 293 
jrO 247 
OD 245 
KOD 

1p, ni 

ai f i37 

175 



Moabitish 
236 

Aramaic 

49 
49 
, K1K 69 

69 
71 



96 

KtflK 61 
K3*K 43 

293 
66 

KtfttDK 259 
43 

196 
196 

iroUTa 196 
KTVpK 268 
milK 138 
297 
73 
73, 184 

94 
K33 74 

nna 84 

rPTO 84 
113 85, 80 
K113 86 
P113 79 

jana 79 

Km3 76 

Kira 84 

HSPa 86 
57^3 34 

Kn^Kas 84 
Kn"*a3 84 
pa 84 

K13 76 

nna 76 

76 

76 

"[13 75 
KD13 75 
K3a 99 

Ka^a 101 

99 
105 
Kta 251 

K13Ta 251 
Kin 241 
Da 241 

Kisa^a 154 
K^a 91 
Kn^a 98 
Kia 104 



105 

taa 251 

Km 123, 251 

Kraa 251 

104 

131, 160 

132, 133 

lan 134 

KD1 135, 152 
O1 135 
DIDII 130 
Oil 129 

prn 70 

Kill 287 

Kn^aiat 150 

ait 155 
KaiT 155 
OiaiT 155 
K11T 147 

Kn^iint 150 
art 155 
am 153 

KIVT 157 
KDT 152 
mDT 153 
KniDT 153 
OT 152 

154 
107 
31H 117 
K31H 117 

Kp^in 124 

lin 116, 120 
KTTH 126, 179 
pV31 p^H 283 

Kavi 112 
Kao^n no 

in 

in 
nMn 111 

KnDH 111 
K1DH 125 

Kan 112 
pn 112 
pn no 
isn 109 
Vnn 122 

160 



n^nn 121 
Knn 297 

^30 204 
1HD 205 
K3S1D 207 
K11D 207 
K1TD 205 
Ka^O 208 
K22D 203 

mro 203 
uniw 203 

K^T 290, 291 

K" 293 

293 
> 289 
flp 220 
13D 248 
K3HD 247 

KnanD 247 

K31D 252 
KT1D 245 
KO*O 245 
ITOIID 249 
KD^ID 238 
K^D .252 
OD 245 
KOD 245 
1SD 250 
111D 106 
KO'DID 235 
K01D 249 
KtflD 237 
248 

249 
Km 1 ? 254 
n' 1 ? 253 
KaKtt 256 
259 

179, 297 
261 
273 
36 
275 

264 
263 
70 



INDICES 



301 



iwa 69 

268 

271 
269 
273 
263 
265 
261 
141 
265 
258 
257 

KflXtta 277 
K'31 276 
KM 282 
MOU 279 
280 
278 
278 
281 

noa 279 

OD1 273 
1)0 163 
KTUO 163 
KT10 163 
KaHO 180 
187 
166 

KDinO 159 
KaDO 190 
WB100 196 
KliTO 187 
KDO 266 
177 

177 
*?N0 158 
WBO 172 
KTOTO 172 
)DO 172 
159 171 
K1DO 171 
*7310 168 
K*?310 168 
BYHnO 196 
K'010 196 



KTW 210 

TT 212,213,214 



J1BSJ 242 
218 
218 
218 
209 
216 
213 
211 

211 

KJpIlD 227, 228 
222 
231 

KOH1S 224 
K01D 77 

noiD 77 

227 
227 
92 

92 

K3S 191, 192 
191, 192 

195 
D1S 202 
IIS 267 
KTIS 201 
201 
198 
197 
199 

199 
196 
tZhll? 232 
OlDTIp 243 
KOOlp 239 
K*?Dlp 242 
D7 245 

239 
244 
KDOp 239 
KIOOp 240 
YIDp 179 
240 
234 

234 

Hip 106, 107 
jnip 106 
235 



Ktfp 240 
238 
238 
238 

31 137 

331 136 

p31 138 

m 137, 138 

pi 137, 138 

Kttl 139 

on 140 

Ka&11 145 
142 
141 
145 
144 
177 
161 
162 
179 
Xmtf 161 
intf 187 
KD3ltf 58 
182 
176 
176 
183 

niitf i8i 

T\nti 165 



nnn 33 

88 

88 
96 

96 
Kltm 94 

Kaan 94 







45 



Di 



I H I 



49 
L9 

284 
69 



61 



71 



45 



73 



56, 57, 170 
180 



172 

176 
17C 
62 
63 
175 
63 

176 
158 
158 
158 
166 
13D 89 
KIKin 90, 91 

90,91 
87 



60 

61 
61,64 

48 



t 
66 

68 



68 



40 



etc. 52 
16,59 
56 
196 



302 INDICES 

64 Anfli*Q 45 fcCDdAfiQCLfc) 239 9Q** 116 

61 Uo*r^ 76 )o> 152 1*0** 120 

192 1^0 76 **0? 135, 152 )j*V" 126, 179 

75 l&flQO? 239 1A*&M 124 

268 ^^\ 101 faoa-ii? 130 ]ln*w HI 

297 ^r^>% 100 llQOb 129 ttn 111 

57 ^S\ 10 **" 52 ' 129 lASaOj* 40, 111 

63 ^\\ " OU001 286 ]r\*. 124 

64 *^J\^ * I^SfiA* 125 

>1 61 1?0^ 105 ^SQaOl 70 J.<^ j^ J26 

12] 73, 184 ll^ 251, 297 OjJOl 18 .^ 12fi 

251 l mft irn 18 112 



94 |AAV^ 101 i OT 284 | tlfj H2 

74 f&>^ 241 1^ o 288 l^i >. 115 

74 IjQl^t 251 Ijjo 287 Itcn^ HQ 

84 *^ 91 (Aj^Q-O 150 1?*M^ 109 

84 U Q \\ 98 |ojl 194 ]]>'** 122 

86 Vf^^Vl ?1 Kv^ 165 ]Sa^Lii 121 

79 lli^ 123,297 1 ?01 M7 1/uAj* 110 

75 lAl^ 104 lAaidMl 150 lloA*j 121,208, 

22 ]SL^ 179 |A^1 157 297 

8f >00|? 128 ]01 152 ^4 204 

86 piol? 128 IZODI 153 l*^ 205,208 

34 I'QS? 148 Vp1 151 l' 01 ^ 205 

83 riOj 128 V^ACl vV Jl 154 toO^ 206 

^\ 

84 ^OJ 132 ^CL^J] 154 ]l2)Q^ 207 

80 ]L*? 160 *0il 150 l ia ^ 1S5.207 

80 *Oi*J 131 Ijil 169 U^4 208 
79 .ffnnVo^ 48 >f^.M 117 \ 203 

82 ^4} 133 U^^ 107, 108 Uoi^ 203 

81 U-? 132, 133 IOOLM 117 12Oi\^ 203 
76 l*rl^> 134, 135 |Q^Q* 125 -iMGU 290 



INDICES 



303 



i 40 
296 

296 
296 

64, 295 
293 

293 * 
64, 291 

48 

IjJQOj 289 

& i 

289 

293 
219 

246 
248 

> 247. 
) 252 
QO 249 
252 
245 
250 

250 
250 
106 

236 
249 
249 . 
249 
254 
255 
AA 253 
257 



256 (loALO 258 

) 61 U^U 276 

289 )2oUbOJ 277 

259.260 )i,J 278 
179 ]iOIQJ 40 
200 -MOJ 282 

132.261 \*<U 282 
273 teflOQJ 279 

275 
i 264 
70, 263 
149 
149 



278 
279 

22 

oofiQJ 279 
40 
281 



275 
293 

293 
268 
269 

271 

40, 268 
]iiO 271 

263 



179 
258 
30 

71, 182 
[63 
163 
163 
163 
187 



]T nrn^n 264,265 liouo is? 

267 U' 000 182 

D^lD 192 12lMlfi 159 



190 



O 261 
283 
262 
265 
258 



V Q-^s 



163 



184 
185 
185 
191 



304 



INDICES 



k S 
^ 
i 



192 
192 
192 
194 
202 
50. 201 
UiOr 201 
198 

197 

i 

199 

246 
97 
)}QO 232 

268 

ID 243 
242 
179 
246 
234 
1A00 238 

244 
244* 245 



243 

244 
244 
239 
240 

lioaO 246 
O>;O 106, 107 
236 
234 



236 
240 
238 
240 



v v 



GO) 139 



240 

97 



138 
138 
140 
> 147 
ulDOOl* 147 
139 

y 143 

40 



232 

147 
147 

147 

UiOO> 144 
142 
141 
143 

144 
})} 180 
160 



58 
162 
179 



161 
58 
182 
165 
177 
183 

56, 57, 170 
176 
174 
173 

37, 172 
172 
176 
40 

178 
62 
175 
159 

40, 158 
169 
166, 167 

90 
96 
87 
89 
90 
87 
33 
87 

87 
96 
94 



1*2 258 

94 



162 



122 96 



Mandaean 



73 
66 
45 

105 

246 
297 
251 

xrn 132 

XT1X1 287 
151 
207 



232 



65 



261 



X^XTOXl 280 

173 
173 

168 
229 
XaS 192 
238 
139 



xixari us 

179 
174 

xax'xn 95 

XlXn 94 

91 



Nabateean 

onaix n 
n^x 27 
ximox n 

27 
17 



INDICES 



305 



Kind 247 
aro 249 

KllOft 263 
Iftllft 27 

nnoa 279 



17 



199 



may 210 
nan* 199 

D1 147 

am 95 

Thamudic 

292 



DB 199 . 

170 

176 
175 

Palmyrene 

75 
134 

TIT 147 
7W 75 
278 

177 

171 

KTXT1B 967 
VW 214 
1t 214 

209 

216 

piw 211 

238 
183 
170 

Safaite 

ill 

73 
69 

10DN 92 
ODH 111 

toon 112 

'laovtios 292 
VVDD 11 64 
fifi' 292 

ninD 247 

D^O 175 
1DO 171 
DK13i7 210 



T 292 
1DD 250 
OT1D 224 



S. Arabian 

108 



V1N 66 



67 

89 
57, 170 



?hn 

1oR 



84 



86 
76 
75 
79 



N<3> I 99 
X?X1 102 
H?N 132 
h? 286 



109 



117 
111 
112 



123 



> 
NV? 



)DIl l l 



40A 



127 

126 
121 
205 
206 
294 

64 
61 
248 
250 

84 
270 
266 
278 
160 
162 

57, 170 
62, 175 
218 

209, 210 
208 
> 208 
216 

292 
229 

222 
195 
201 
193 

193 
199 

ft 198 
199 
197 



197 

243 

235 
W 235 
$hM 240 
fl) 136 



mhxn) 



142 



141 



187 
186 



71 



T1X 67 



Ethiopia 



254 



35* 



3*7 



126 
fhflA 107 

*h*}HC 126 
rh'JH.C 126 
rhtt 110 

115 
286 

116 
286 
286 

x 



806 
dilM) 108 

269 
271 
266 
0t*Cfl 262 
1Cf9 262 
fl^Ai 275 
0A.fh 265 
9*tlC 266 
264 
266 
265 
272 
70 

255, 256 
65 

149 
129 
193 
"JUC 187 
U'Afll 176 

177 
37 

J40, 190 
CA* 142 
147 
145 
143 

<:** us 

Ifl. 136 
^'flfh 138 

cn/h 138 
en-* 138 

dMl'W! 138 

<:nn 136 



<W} 136 

138 
140 
140 
175 

178 
AA/fl 197 

AAfn ne 

AHA 179 
rtflrh 162 

rtfl^ 90 

Aflfc 160 

185 

176 

37, 172 
37 
266 
ftOhT 182 
158 
158 
48, 190 

AIR 163 

171 
40 
243 
243 
231 

235 
+A.A 240 
232 
232 
85 

(1A0 34 
flCU 78 

new 78 



INDICES 

niti 75 



75 



80 
79 



so 



flmA 8i 

33 

175 
80 
88 

f"flO 89 
94 
133 
205 
197 
221 
221 
124 

121 
IfflH 121 
'Mil. 121 

126 

127 
123 

124 
278 
276 
272 
272 



68 

Jt/hH41 108 

70 
297 



64 
61 
XftVT 182 

35 
34 

45 

80 
80 
94 
35 

52 
286 
65 
205 
247 

236 
248 
248 

249 
246 
286 
72 

0Af 216 
216 
65 

0flm 209 

OtM 35 
HLU'> 151 

HID-*? 155 

H'V 157 

157 
35 
35 

64 
295 



296 

289 

37 
129 

129 

129 
135 
128 



48 



133 

133 
10*19 106 

106 



102 

!U 

1-ttS. 209. 
209 

100 
104 

48 

m9o 204 

203 
203 

XA-V las 

198 
202 

200 

193 
106 



KYI'"} 165 



16R 



230 
227 
225 

221, 222 
221 
l m 221 
36, 221 
221 



Amharic 

Vf 133 



82 



INDICES 

Judaeo-Tunisian 

rw&s 200 



307 



n*A- 



KV6 200 

195 



Tigrina 

fl*A. 82 
? 133 

Mehri 
wit~2 256 



Tigre 
122 

82 



'Umani 

maz 256 

Bilin 

mid 256 

Beja 

mes 256 



Bishari 

mirdim 186 

Elamitish 

den 132 

Judeeo-Persian 

flO J83 
HK10 168 

Egyptian 

db\t 88 
mtk 70 
llcr 173 
/J*. 278 
jm 293 

Coptic 

293 
293 
293 

70 

AO)Of[ 275 
275 



157 
157 
TftOIT 157 

Sanskrit 

54 
47 
211 
246 
211 



243 
123 

123, 251 
251 
134 
281 
229 
231 
264 
143 
147 
146 

103 
105 
154 
59 
119 
119 
119 



Pali 

singivera 154 

Tamil 



Malayalam 

154 
246 



Sinhalese 



154 



Georgian 

'bgooo 157 



308 



INDICES 



Baluchi 

ganj 251 

Old Persian 

amrtatdh 283 
dpi 47 
haruvatah 283 
magum 259 
magush 259 
namra 281 
rawfo 143 
rcwta 146 
*m8a 167, 168 
7/ra/w 222 
zura 156 

Avestic 

01) 47 
)JJJlU 164 
g)JU 47 
JjJtyiAJ 54 

I 215 






f 

3lM^ 211 



l| U^AJ 



130 
132 



294 
287 
155 
288 
143 



145 



146 



/o 

A 



146 



156 



169 



no 



**Jyy 



119 



120 



gundh-sdmdnihd 
hamgunah 103 
mashyde 266 
Mushde 275 
pJ 231 
rod 146 
roz* 142 
vazurg 137 
294 
156 



Pahlavi 

47 
211 

d/riton 215 

283 

147 
dtur 54, 55 
avitias 103 
amstak 60 
bararld 80 
c/aHd 153 
c/e 132 
133 

132 

132 
dermr 134 
dram 130 
draxm 1 30 
faristdk 15 
frasang 77 
frasangan 77 



103 



224 



A3(JJ) 281 

279 
259 
259 



Pazand 

d^ur 50 
d/rida 215 
132 
251 

ganzubar 251 
grunaA 103 
grtmaH 103 
gundhkdr 103 
gundhkdri 103 



251 

yanjapdr 251 
ganjenak 251 
gf/ 164 
yurad 105 
hamden 132 
hamgunah 103 
237 Aaro* 283 
119 

119, 120 
119 



xmr 119 
A2)ilr 246 
Hr 211 
lolt 253 
2of^ 253 
madma 261 
259 

259 
magustan 259 



270 
271 

mashih 266 
wo^ 259 
murvdrit 261 
i 275 
264 
myazd 256 
narm 281 
wasJfe ^79 
pdwafc 224 
pi/ 230 
plr 230 
ra66d 136, 137 
rahik 142 
rexfan 47 
roe? 142 
roJiJfc 142, 143 
rod 146 
romana 145 
roramna 145 
rot 146 

173 
164 

singafier 154 
&[r 32 P 
sidTm 190 
^o^a 183 
to]3ar 59 
staurak 59 
*rd^ 196 
srdttan 167 
170 

94 
lt 97 
Una 208 
varto 287 
vi6ir 288 
vmd5 103 
vindskdr 103 
vinaxkarih 103 

294 

151 
^ 157 
2rf^ 139 
2u6dn 148 
zur 156 
zurgukdsih 156 



Parthian 

287 
289 



INDICES 309 

Persian ^^ 133 jjT 268 1W 155 

J\ 47 #* 132 JL/ 242 ^HL/I 166 

.. yT 46 ,Lo 134 j /" 102 a niuaiub 166 

w'.x* y ^^<* -< * 

jlCT 211 jjj 143 jjjf 288 /"<>. 1^9 

jiT 65 Jjj 146 jf 164 ifjt^uib^ 166 

0, iT 215 3jj 143 [^ 103 juimuiLfiu^ 16, 69 

^jb^T 215 ^jjj 143 ^f 123, 251 ^utl^uip 90 

L-l 60 .yj 47 ,^/251 ^uil^uiji 90 

w V-^V"^ 

^Ul 172 j.j 146 o'/*15 fiuitjinLw 88 

53 <l3 148 . 259 p-nlb^f 94 

16,58,59 oTjj 151 ^ 256 p r fb[iuiuinL li 94 



59 - *,: 169 fti . a Aii/n/i 125 

>-/ )v* 2.^6 

59 MJ 156 " &nb 202 

JJJ *JJA 294 

59 l^j 151 ///i/t 164 

60 )\ 150 ^^ littinfiiiun 244 



i 72 KIM* 59 JvJ ljnnni_D 106 

287 
53 W- 163 JJ <ii| no 108 



53 ^Ij- 167 -*- w ^iT^n^ll 15 

224 4^1 - 167 ^ 289 <nfiiT 147 



85 j|- 167 "". 289 ^n-nJiT 147 



jJL 224 jil^l^- 167 ^tp- 167 

224 ,c\ - 167 Armenian H^tll, 157 



167 4J| , -. 168 11 unui^wiT 45 2f/iiiiflL 167 



77 d^^- 164 utiifti 213 iTu/bubai 272 



lj< 78 JljJCL** 179 pm-pifU 79 f/w^ui^in 2$1 

230 J-i 168 nutqnLft 98 ^^[_ 268 % 

> 88 jl^ 168 yui^r^ 251 IJ^M^wy 265 

/" 271 Ji^ 154 ituhZiuLnp 251 i/n^ 259 

166, 167 jw 32 ifilr^lrL 106 IF" 1 -^ 275 

197 &-ji 77 ^ni_^i 99 i/ni_^ 264 

119 O^i 15 ^nLir^. 105 jui^fiLp- 289 

237 jlT 211 if-lfL 132 jui^ni^ij. 289 

237 <u-lf 246 ^uf/i 134 {]n$Lujl 296 

130 >j^ 24 ^ ifcpuid 130 *biu&[iiuijlt 281 

130 4, r 15 A^nT 213 U> 279 



310 

'linuifuuij 279 
?ufi.Afr 162 



183 
224 



224 



>// 138 
143 ' 
utuuiiuliuij 190 
164 
171 
ruj^ 168 

168 

uinrtL tup 59 
uLiffiniitj 154 
J turn 287 
288 
103 
231 

227 

247 

4>ui/;ffiii 235 
ui^flLf 246 

Greek 

dyyapcia 49 
dyyapevav 49 
ayyapos 49 
dyyeAoj 269 
dyvoia 38 
dyopd 183 
*^40ap 49, 50 

' A , Qt^J, 1 Q 
fiiuioyi lo 

atpecis 108 
cupcTtttd? 272 
dwuv 209 
diidpTTjua 103 
avdaram? 244 
MvSp&s 52 
18 



INDICES 

dird<m>Aos 40, 116 'HXeias 68 

"Apfjiapos 283 'HAtas 68 

dr/it? 94 i)/icpa 40 

duA^ 168 dpa 54 

jSaoifefa 271 appa 54 

yda 251 Oe/At'Aioy 61 

251 (9eo8cz>po? 62 

106 010*7 88 

154 7aad 60 

yAuwra 99 7a/ia^A 64 

yAu^w 99 7apaijA 61 

To/jSuata 106 laropta 56 

yi'coGi? 40 /cuj3 7o 

ypa/i/iarei;? 50, 171 7ajm? 296 

99 KaAajLtos 213 

130 Ka/uaiov 243 

JaWS 128 ^cd/i/Liapoj 243 

133 
108 

Sijvapiov 133, 134 
Std>Ao? 47, 48, 190 <"7>" 

SiKtWTTis 48,230 
SIKO.LOS 105 
8o'fa 248 



^tocpa 



181 

237 
240 

207 
246 
v 244 
222 

KpajllKTJ 222 
Klo<t>TOS 8S 

K\Wpor 242 
*Aei's 268 
K-AijSaro? 94 
Kope 231 
jc(J<j/-io? 209 
/covTia 252 
w/z/fy 252 
Adoj 108 
120 
? 18 

Ao'yoj 40, 269 
/xdyos 259 
Mayovaairn 259 

206 

r^ds 206 
271 
247 
/xapyupiy 261 

261 
262 
187 

MaajSwlatot 192 
jjidcmf 182 
164,155,239 ^drata 81 

154 fjLnf$pdvai, 143 

(uyoorraafa 239 /i^pos 125 

{uycoorts 1 155 Meaatas 265 

{ycftdvta 271 (jLravou)v 87 

212 MoScava 260 



129, 130 

48 
213 

52 

0/iAlWc 61 

erScuAa 203 
ctVowov 293 
293 
22 
194 

p^ff-f, AO 

'EXioatc 69 
'JBAiaaioj 69 
e'fouma 176 



cma^payia/xa 121 
52 

64 
euayyc'Atov 71, 80 

Ev<f>pdrys 223 

17, 230 
155 



Trerpa 



124 
264 

139 
139 

Naftaraiai 27 
Nagupaiot 280,281 
ATaarapawH 280,281 

VOfJLtKOS 171 

po>cr/-ta 205 
vd/io? 96 

239 

183 

OLKTlpflOiV 141 

-ai 18 
287 
287 
TraAdnoi' 83 
7rapaj3oArj 258 
TrapdSctars 223 
Trapaadyy^s 77 

229 
207 
267 
191 
52 
240 
198 
163 
78,79 
242 
138 
138 
26!) 
287 
146 
146 
146 
160 

av 160 
UP 178 

/ > 1 Q/\ 

oavoug loU 
<rapdj3aAAa 169 
Tarav 190 
27arava9 1 87 

192 
163 

186 
184 

73, 184 
oiyiXXov 163 

37, 173 
185 
alvarri 122 
aivSalv 180 
aiajvij 127, 173 
aravpd; 59 



pd|38oi 



p^a 
pd8ov 

pUCTlJ 



Zaj3d 



acj3a> 



INDICES 



311 



tmxa/uoc 18 


Soghdian 


Old Turkish 


Turkish 


crroa 168 


&XtlcZ 294 


anglion 72 


*M AM 


or par a 196 


yw,? 251 


^avtZ 75 


j^T 95 


OTpflTWy Off 1 1 


m^' 266 


m&xa 265 




arpancoTT/? 196 


sVnh 190 


Ftw 220 




ovyK\r}TU(6s 17 






Turki 


OVKWV) 173 




Latin 




a^payfe 121, 205 
aco/xartKo; 220 
aanjjpia 63 


Ossetian 

ciray 167 
zed 157 


antiquus 211 
burgus 78 
camisia 243 


towwr 95 

Norse 


TiVAos 254 


sJ'wr 59 


constans 239 
ottjpa 252 


Aa2mr 243 


ru^aiv 207 . 
uaiavflos 289 
(papawv 225 
(papuapo? 283 


Kurdish 

. . 224 
gunah 103 


denarius 133, 134 
gingiber 154 
iungere 155 
palatium 83 
flowa 146 


Slavonic 

s?ama 243 


L,,\~f 1H8 


o;^ ior> 


sextarius 239 




(pUAdL l\Jif ^P 

J..\ ' flO 
(pVAij OO 




siyillum 163 


Edomitish 


YflpTT? ^J) 

XapTTjy 235,241 


Turlan 


we 247 


tfW 292 


vftoovoatioi' 57 


hrvm 147 






^Aa/tuy 1 50 


Yisho 220 


Afghan 




aipa 40 


(iaJbrdn 100 


tanardh 95 





GAEKWAD'S ORIENTAL &ERIES. 

I. RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 

72. Rajadharma-Kaustubha : an elaborate Smrti work on 
Rajadharma, Rajamti and the requirements of kings, 
by Anantadeva : edited by the late Mahamahopadhyaya 
Kaniala Krishna Smrtitirtha, 1935 10-0 

74. Portuguese Vocables in Asiatic Languages : translated 

into English from Portuguese by Prof. A. X. Scares, 
M?A., LL.B., Baroda College, Baroda, 1936 . . . . 12--0 

75. Nayakaratna : a commentary on the Nyayaratnamala 

qf Parthasaratlii Misra by Ramanuja of the Prabhakara 
School : edited by K. S. Ramaswami Sastri of the 
Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1937 4-8 

76. A Descriptive Catalogue of MSS. in the Jain Bhandars 

atattan : edited from the notes of the late Mr. C. D. 
Dalai, M.A., by L. B. Gandhi, 2 vols., vol. I, 1937 . . 8-0 

78. Ganitatilaka : of Sripati . with the commentary of 

Simhatilaka, a non-Jain work on Arithmetic with a 

Jain commentary : edited by H. R. Kapadia, M.A., 1937 4-0 

79. The Foreign Vocabulary of the Quran : showing the extent 

of borrowed words in the sacred text : compiled by 
JKrofess^or Arthur Jeffery of the School of Oriental 
Studies, Cairo, 1938 12-0 

80. Tattvasangraha : of Santaraksita with the commentary 

o Kamalasila : translated into English by Mahama- 
hopadhyaya Dr. G'liiganath Jha, 3 vols., vol. I, 1937 17-0 

81. Harhsa-vilasa : of Hamsa Mitthu : forms an elaborate 

delViice of the various mystic practices and worship : 
edited by Swami Tribikrama Tirtha and Mahamaho- 
padhyaya Hathihhai Shastri, 1937 . . .... 5-8 

82. Suktimuktavali : a well-known Sanskrit work oft 

Anthology, of Jalhana, a contemporary of King Krsna 
of the Northern Yadava Dynasty (A.D. 1247) : edited 
by Pandit E. Krishriamacharya, Sanskrit Patha^ala, 
Yadtal, 1938 .' ..11-0 

II. BOOKS IN THE PRESS. 

1. Natyasastra : edited by M. Ramakrishna Kavi, 4 vols., 

vol. III. 

2. Manasollasa or Abhilasitarthacintamani, edited by G. K. 

Shrigondekar, M.A., 3 vols., vol. II. 

3. Alamk&ramahodadhi : a famous work 011 Sanskrit 

Poetics composed by Narendraprabha Suri at the request 
of Minister Vastupala in A.D. 1226 : edited by 
Lalchandra B. Gandhi of the Oriental Institute, Baroda. 

4. Dvadas&ranayacakra : an ancient polemical treatise 

giving a r6sum6 of the different philosophical systems 



with a refutation of the same from the Jain standpoint 
by Mallavadi Suri with a commentary by Simhasuri 
Grani : edited by Muni Caturvijayaji. 

5. Kftyakalpataru : of Laksmidhara, minister of King 

Govindachandra of Kanauj ; edited by Principal K. V. 
Rangaswami Aiyangar, Hindu University, Benares. 

6. Brhaspati Smrti, being a reconstructed text of the now 

lost work of Brhaspati : edited by Principal K. V. 
Rangaswami Aiyangar, Hindu University, Benares. 

7. A Descriptive Catalogue of MSS. in the Oriental Institute 

Baroda : compiled by K. S. Ramaswami Sastri, Srauta, 
Pandit, Oriental Institute Baroda, 12 vols., vol. II 
(Srauta, Dhariiia, and Grhya Siitras). 

8. M&dhavanala-Kamakandal& : a romance in old Western 

Rajasthani by Ganapati, a Kayastha from Aijod : edited 
by M. R. Majumdar, M.A., LL.B. 

9. Tattvopaplava : a masterly criticism of the opinions of fcp 

prevailing Philosophical Schools by .Iayaras*i : edited by 
Pandit Sukhalalji of the Benares Hindu University. 

10. Anekantajayapataka : of Haribhadru Suri (c. A.D. 1120) 

with his own commentary and Tippanaka by Muni- 
chandra the Guru of Vadideva Suri : edited by II. H. 
Kapadia, M.A. 

11. Parama-Samhita : an authoritative work on the 

Pancharatra system ; edited by Dewan Bahadur S. 
Krishnaswami Aiyangar, of Madras. 

III. BOOKS UNDER PREPARATION. 

1. Prajnap&ramitas : commentaries on the Prajnapara- 

mita, a Buddhist philosophical work : odited by Prof. 
Giuseppe Tucci, 2 vols., vol. If. 

2. S^ktisangama Tantra : comprising four books on Kfili, 
.Tara, SundarT, and Chhinnarnaata : edited by B. 

Bhattacharyya, Ph.D., 4 vols., vols. II IV. 

3. N&tyadarpana : introduction in Sanskrit giving an account 

of the antic juity and usefulness of the Indian drama, 
the different theories on Rasa, and an examination of 
the problems raised by the text, by L. B. Gtuidhi, 2 vols., 
vol. II. 

4. Gurjarar&savali : a collection of several old Gujaiati 

Rasas : edited by Messrs. B. K. Thakore, M. D. Desai, 
and M. 0. Modi. 

5. Tarkabh&sa : a work on Buddhist Logic, by Moksakara 

Gupta of the Jagadclala monastery : edited with a 
Sanskrit commentaijr by Pandit Embar Krishnama- 
charya of Vadtal. 

6. A Descriptive Catalogue of MSS. in the Oriental Institute, 

Baroda : compiled by the Library staff, 12 vols., vol. Ill 
(Srnrti MSS.).