▪ According to
DRS 2 (1994) #GDD, the many values they group under #GDD-1 »semblent toutes fondées sur la notion générale ‘couper, inciser, etc.«, i.e., the obsolete value listed here as
†[v7]. This would include also [v3] ‘(to be) great; serious’ (as < *‘making a “cutting, decisive” difference, standing out’) (and with [v3] perh. also [v1] ‘grandfather, ancestor’, as *‘the great one, “majesty”’), as well as prob. [v5] ‘Jidda’ (perh. orig. *‘region on the West coast’), which in turn may be based on
†[v8] ‘dividing line’,
hence (?) also
†[v10] ‘shore, river bank’; cf. perh. also [v6] ‘main street, boulevard’ (main road that clearly “cuts” the city into quarters).
†[v11] ‘dog’s collar’ is treated separately in
DRS (their #GDD-4); but why shouldn’t it be *‘streak/dividing line on the neck of a dog’? – Thus, with the exception of [v2] ‘good luck, fortune’, values [v1] through
†[v11] may all be based on
†[v7] ‘to cut, cut off’. – In contrast, Kogan2015: 33 #59 n.64 thinks that »[t]here is hardly any immediate connection betw.
†[v7] *‘to cut, cut off’, [v3] *‘to be great; serious’, or [v2] *‘fortune, success, luck’.« – For values
†[v12]–
†[v14] see below.
▪ [v1] ‘grandfather’:
DRS quotes Blachère (in
DAFA) who maintains that Ar ¹
ǧadd ‘aïeul, grand-père’ reflects a more general notion of ‘ancêtre’ underlying [v3] ‘gravité, sérieux’. In contrast, Nöldeke1904: 94 saw ‘grandfather’ connected to [v2] ‘good luck, fortune’ and corresponding Can names of divinities and tribes (see next paragraph).
▪ [v2] (≙
DRS #GDD-3) ‘good luck, good fortune’: from protSem *
gadd- ‘fortune, chance’. – Accord. to Kogan2015: 33 #59 n.64, there is hardly any immediate connection betw. this value and [v3] *‘to be great; serious’ or
†[v7] *‘to cut, cut off’. The latter is not excluded by
DRS, however, where the separation by a distinct number is preceded by a question mark. ¬–
DRS further refers to Nöldeke1904: 94 who saw [v1] ‘grandfather’ connected to ‘good luck, fortune’ and the latter to Can names of divinities and, hence, also of tribes and individuals, such as Hbr
Gad ‘Gad’, a god of fortune as well as a personal name (BDB1906: cf. Lat
Fortunatus) and the name of a tribe (cf. also the n.prop.loc.
Mᵊgiddô ‘Mageddo’). – Related is perh. also Ar ↗
maǧd ‘glory, honor, dignity, nobility’ (Hbr
mägäd ‘excellence (of gifts of nature)’, Syr
magdā ‘fructus’, all < protCSem *
magd- ‘excellence’), possibly to be analyzed as composed of an old
ma-prefix derivate from the protWSem biconsonantal element *GD ‘to be good, lucky, excellent’. – Cf. also ↗ǦWD ‘to be good, approvable, excellent’.
▪ [v3] ‘to be great; seriousness’:
DRS groups this value under their #GDD-1, assuming that ‘greatness, “majesty”, seriousness etc.’ are essentially a form of *‘standing out’, thus being prominent, marking o.s. as different from the surroundings, “cutting edge”, thus related to
†[v8] ‘mark, dividing line’, from
†[v7] ‘to cut, cut off’. Against this assumption, Kogan2015: 33 #59 n.64 thinks there is hardly any immediate connection betw. this value and [v7] *‘to cut, cut off’ (nor [v2] *‘fortune, success, luck’). – Perh. related to [v1] ‘grandfather, ancestor’ (as *‘the great, serious one, “majesty”).
▪ [v4] ‘(to be) new, recent’: Accord. to Kogan2015: 33 #59, the origin of Ar
ǧadīd- is uncertain (immediate parallels only in Syr, Sab and Qat, see above, section COGN). However, »[a]n ultimate derivation from
†[v7] protSem *
gdd ‘to cut, make an incision’ is not improbable« (so also
DRS where the grouping of ‘to be new, recent’ as a separate value #GDD-2 is preceded by an interrogation mark, i.e., doubtful). ClassAr lexicographers suggest a semantic development along the line *‘to cut off, separate from the whole > piece of tissue sufficient to sew a garment > new garment (cf.
labisa l-ǧadīd ‘he put on a new garment’) > new; youth, young age’ (BK1860).
▪ [v5] ‘Jidda’: According to U. Freitag, most ClassAr authors »agree that the correct name is
Ǧuddaẗ (‘coastline’), while others mention the designation
Ǧaddaẗ (‘grandmother’) or, in dialect,
Ǧiddaẗ, as referring to the tomb of Eve, which, among other locales given in the traditions, was said to be situated north of what was once the city wall […]. As the city did not have any springs, rain was collected in large cisterns both inside and outside the city walls, or to be supplied from sources outside.«
1
These remarks allow for three etymologies: (a) from – or actually identical with –
†[v10] ‘shore, bank/side of a river’, itself prob. based on
†[v7] ‘to cut’ (see above/below); (b) from – or actually identical with –
ǧaddaẗ ‘grandmother’, f. of [v1]
ǧadd; (c) from
†[v7-II.c] *‘scarcity of water’ (<
†[v7-I] ‘to be cut off (sc. from water supply), dryness’).
▪
†[v6]–[v14] : see above, section CONC.
▪ …
▪ …