Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ BRQ_1 ‘lightning; to shine, glitter, flash; (ClassAr:) ^†to threaten (with evil), frighten’ ↗barq
▪ BRQ_2 ‘telegram, wire, cable’ ↗barqiyyaẗ
▪ BRQ_3 ‘Alborak (name of the creature on which Mohammed made his ascension to the seven heavens)’: al- ↗burāq
▪ BRQ_4 ‘Cyrenaica (region of E Libya)’: al- ↗Barqaẗ

Other values, now obsolete or dialectal only, include:

^†BRQ_5 ‘to attire o.s. (woman)’ ↗baraqa u (burq)
^†BRQ_6 ‘to be astounded, dazzled; dread, fright’: bariqa a (baraq); cf. also barūq ‘cowardly man’
^†BRQ_7 ‘to undertake a long journey’: barraqa
^†BRQ_8 ‘African lizard’: burq
^†BRQ_9 ‘ram, sheep, (Lane) lamb’: baraq (pl.pauc. ʔabrāq, pl.mult. birqān, burqān)
^†BRQ_10 (Lev.) ‘lumbago’: barqaẗ
^†BRQ_11 ‘hard ground, hard soil’: burqaẗ (pl. buraq), ʔabraqᵘ (pl. ʔabāriqᵘ)
^†BRQ_12 ‘asphodill (a plant)’: barūq (Hava1899), barwaq, barwiq (Lane, Kaz.)
^†BRQ_13 ‘wart, verruca’: barrūqaẗ, burrūqaẗ (pl. barārīqᵘ)
^†BRQ_14 ‘blotty, spotted, stained (goat, eye), piebald (white and black)’: ʔabraqᵘ (f. barqāʔᵘ, pl. ʔabāriqᵘ)

Not from √BRQ but often listed under this root because the items/roots look as if they could have s.th. to do with √BRQ:

BRQ_15 ‘pitcher; jug’ ↗ʔibrīq (*√ʔBRQ)
BRQ_16 ‘brocade, silk garment embroidered with gold’ ↗ʔistabraq (*√ʔSTBRQ)
BRQ_17 ‘borax’ ↗bawraq (*√BWRQ)
BRQ_18 ‘banner, flag’ ↗bayraq (*√BYRQ)
BRQ_19 ‘apricot, (Eg) plum’ ↗barqūq (*√BRQQ)
^†BRQ_20 ‘wine-leaves stuffed’: yabraq (*√YBRQ)

BAH2008 gives the following main values for ClassAr: ‘1 thunderbolt, lightning; to shine [cf. BRQ_1]; 2 to be dazzled [cf. ^†BRQ_6]; 3 to become belligerent [cf. BRQ_1]’

▪ Most of the values that belong to the root BRQ proper (without additional ʔ, W, Y, or reduplication of Q), i.e., BRQ_1-14, seem to derive, ultimately, from BRQ_1 ‘lightening; to shine, glitter, flash’ (which can be traced back to Sem *BRḲ ‘to flash [esp. of lightning]’ and/or the n. Sem *bar(a)ḳ‑ ‘lightning, thunderbolt’. In this group, only the obsol. ^†baraq ‘ram, sheep, lamb’ (BRQ_9) and the MġrAr ^†barrūqaẗ, burrūqaẗ ‘wart, verruca’ (BRQ_13) stand out as a loanwords, the former probably from Pers, the latter from Span. – ^†barūq (BRQ_12) does not belong to BRQ proper since it is only a var. of ^†barwaq, ^†barwiq, or ^†barwāq (name of a plant, perh. with Sem etymology). – There is also some uncertainty around al-Burāq (BRQ_3), the name of the mysterious animal with which the Prophet made his famous night-journey, but most lexicographers think al-Burāq is called so due to its swiftness, *‘fast as a lightning’. – For the other values BRQ_1-14, see below, section DISC.
▪ For items BRQ_15-20, cf. s.v.
▪ …

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▪ DRS 2 (1994)#BRQ-1 [corresp. BRQ_1] Akk berq-, birq-, Ug brq, Hbr bārāq, Aram barqā, EpigrAram brq(ʔ), Aysor birqa, Ar barq, SAr brq, Śḫr brq, Mhr barq, Te bärq, Tña bärqi ‘éclair, foudre’; Gz mabraq ‘éclair’; Akk barāqu, Hbr *bāraq, JP ʔabrēq, Ar baraqa, Soq brq, Gz baraqa, Tña bärräqʷä ‘lancer des éclairs’; Amh bärräqä ‘tonner’; Akk barāqu, nHbr bāraq, Aram bᵉraq, bᵉrēq, nSyr bāriq, Ar baraqa, Amh bärräqä ‘briller, scintiller’. – [corresp. BRQ_5] Ar baraqa, barraqa ‘s’orner, se parer’; ETH. bēräqa ‘décorer’; ? nSyr birqu ‘vaine (femme)’. – Amh bäräqqʷa ‘commencer à blanchir, à mûrir (céréales)’. – Ar tabarraqa ‘regarder fixement (avec colère)’; Soq beroq (be) ‘envier’; Har bēräqa ‘décorer’; Amh bärräqä ‘fondre sur’. -?2 nHbr barqīt, Aram barqīt, bᵉraqtītā, bᵉruqtītā, Mand buruqta ‘cataracte (de l’œil)’. -3 Akk barraqtu (CAD: a gem, nBab), Hbr bāréqet, JP *bariqtā, Syr barqā ‘émeraude’. -4 [corresp. BRQ_12] Hbr barqōn, JP barqānayyā : plante épineuse; Akk barraqītu (CAD: var. paraqītu): plante; Ar barūq ‘asphodèles’.
▪ BRQ_1: Outside Sem, Borg2021#30 (b-r-q) compares Eg bꜣq/bqꜣ (Pyr) ‘bright, white, be bright’; ‘hell sein, klar sein’ (Faulkner 1962: 79; DLE I 127, 137, 141; Wb I 424; Hannig 1995: 257).
▪…

▪ BRQ_1: It is the value ‘lightning’ (Ar barq, from Sem *bar(a)ḳ- ‘lightning’ – Kogan2011) on which most of the values BRQ_2 through ^†BRQ_14 seem to be based (but not sup>†BRQ_9 ‘ram, sheep, lamb’, nor perhaps ^†BRQ_12, the name of a certain plant). In the present dictionary, we also assume the vb. baraqa ‘to shine, glitter, flash; ^†to threaten (with evil), frighten’ to be denominative from ‘lightning, thunderbold’.
▪ BRQ_2: barqiyyaẗ ‘telegram, wire, cable’ is a neologism (C19) coined from barq ‘lightning’.
▪ BRQ_3: burāq, the name of the fantastic creature on which the prophet Mohammed made his ascension to the seven heavens, is usually explained as being given to the animal on account of its exceptional fleetness (‘like a lightning’). There are, however, also other theories; in any case, the idea of the burāq is probably of pre-Isl origin. – Is burāq the basis of ^†barraqa ‘to undertake a long journey’ (BRQ_7) ?
▪ BRQ_4 al- ↗Barqaẗ ‘Cyrenaica (region of E Libya)’: of obscure etymology. It may be from a Phoen or Lib name, or been so called after its ^†burqaẗ ‘hard ground, hard soil’ (BRQ_11) ?, or its ‘spotted’ appearance, cf. ^†ʔabraqᵘ, f. barqāʔᵘ ‘blotty, spotted, stained (goat, eye), piebald (black and white)’ (BRQ_14).
▪ BRQ_5: The value ^†‘to attire o.s.’ that the vb. I baraqa can take in ClassAr when women are the subject, seems to be fig. use of the basic value ‘to shine, glitter, flash’, attiring o.s. meaning ‘to exhibit o.’s beauty intentionally, beautify o.s.’ (Lane) and thus look brilliant ‘as a lightning’.
▪ BRQ_6: The meaning of the intr. vb. I ^†bariqa ‘to be astounded, dazzled’ is explained in ClassAr dictionaries as ‘to fear, be astonished, amazed, stupefied at seing the gleam of lightning, etc.’ (Lane), thus denom. from barq ‘lightning’ (BRQ_1), cf. Q 75:7 fa-ʔiḏā bariqa ’l-baṣaru ‘when sight is dazzled’. Hence also ^†barūq ‘cowardly man’. – Another meaning, now obsolete, of the same vb. is ‘to melt, become decomposed’ (fat, butter). This, too, can be explained as meaning, literally, ‘to (begin to) shine, flash’ (in the pan etc. when melting).
▪ BRQ_7 ^†barraqa ‘to undertake a long journey’: denom. from burāq (BRQ_3)?
▪ BRQ_8 ^†burq ‘African lizard’: Accord. to Lane, this is apparently a pl. of barūq, properly a ‘she-camel raising her tail, and feigning herself pregnant, not being so’, applied to the lizards in analogy, from the raising of the tail that is a habit of those animals (and letting the vulva flash as ‘bright as a lightening’). Another etymology explains it as the pl. of ʔabraqᵘ ‘having two colours; twisted with a black strand and a white strand, having blackness and whiteness together’ (on account of the colour of the lizards’ skin), see BRQ_14 below.
▪ BRQ_9: ^†baraq ‘ram, sheep, (Lane) lamb’ was recognized as a foreign word already by al-Ǧawālīqī. The etymon seems to be Pers barah, barreh ‘lamb’.
▪ BRQ_10: ^†barqaẗ ‘lumbago’ is attested already in Wahrmund1887 and marked as a LevAr expression both in Hava1899 and Landberg1920 (»Syrie ‘douleur au dos’«). It is probably fig. use of BRQ_1 ‘lightning’, qualifying lumbago as a pain that comes as suddenly and strongly as a lightning.
▪ BRQ_11: The value ‘hard ground, hard soil’ is attested for the n.f. ^†burqaẗ (pl. buraq) as well as for the elative-like n. ^†ʔabraqᵘ (pl. ʔabāriqᵘ) and its pl.f., ^†barqāwāt (Wahrmund1887: ‘steiniger, sandiger Boden mit Lehm’). Landberg1920 and others interpret ^†ʔabraqᵘ ‘hard ground, soil’ as the same ʔabraqᵘ that also means ‘spotted, piebald’ and seems to be a phonetic var. of ↗ʔablaq (see BRQ_14, below). If this is true, the ‘hard ground, hard soil’ would have its name on account of its surface that lets it look spotted or piebald. – The name al- ↗Barqaẗ for the ‘Cyrenaica (region of E Libya)’ (BRQ_4) may belong here. – Lokotsch1927 holds that Ar ^†burqaẗ (via Portug and other langs) is the etymon of Engl baroque, see section WESTLANG below.
▪ BRQ_12: The n. ^†barūq (thus in Hava1899 and DRS), or ^†barwaq, ^†barwiq (Kazimirski, Lane), meaning ‘asphodill’ according to the first three sources, but ‘a certain kind of plant which camels do not feed upon except in cases of necessity; small, feeble tree, which, when the sky becomes clouded, grows green’ according to Lane (for whom only barwāq is ‘asphodel’, i.e. ‘a certain plant also called ḫunṯà ’ the eating of whose »fresh, juicy stalk, boiled with olive-oil and vinegar, counteracts jaundice; and the smearing with its root, or lower part, removes the two kinds of ↗bahaq ’«) seems to have relatives in Akk, Hbr and JP and thus perhaps be of Sem origin. – Related in any way to BRQ_1?
▪ BRQ_13: ^†barrūqaẗ, burrūqaẗ ‘wart, verruca’ is mentioned by Dozy and said to stem from Span berruga ‘id.’. The latter is akin to Engl wart, oEngl weart, from protGerm *warton- (cognates: oNo varta, oFris warte, Du wrat, oHGe warza, Ge warze ‘wart’), from the IE root *wer- (1) ‘high, raised spot on the body, or other bodily infirmity’ (cf. Lat verruca ‘swelling, wart’, and also Engl vary, varied, varying, etc.) – EtymOnline.
▪ BRQ_14: The elat. adj. ^†ʔabraqᵘ (f. barqāʔᵘ, pl. ʔabāriqᵘ) ‘blotty, spotted, stained (goat, eye)’ is said by Wahrmund and others to be a var. of ↗ʔablaqᵘ (f. balqāʔᵘ, pl. bulq) ‘brindle, dappled, piebald (white and black)’. Given that there is nothing that would prove this assumption, one should not exclude beforehand the possibility of a relation to BRQ_1 ‘lightning’ (contrast between brightness and darkness); note that the pl.s of ^†ʔabraq and ʔablaq show differing patterns (ʔabāriq, not *burq, as would be the logical correspondence of pl. bulq). – For the pl.f. barqāwāt ‘stony, sandy soil with clay’, cf. above, BRQ_11.

▪ BRQ_1: A Sem word for ‘lightning; to shine glitter, flash’ may be the etymon of Grk smáragdos ‘emerald’ and, hence, of many Eur words for ‘emerald’ (Span esmeralda, It smeraldo, Fr émeraude, Ge Smaragd, etc.) as well as (via Pers) Ar ↗zumurrud ‘emerald’ and ↗zabarǧad ‘green jewels, cut from chrysolite or peridot’.
▪ BRQ_11: Lokotsch1927 thinks that Ar ^†burqaẗ ‘schlechter Boden aus Sand, Lehm und Steinen; unbebautes Gelände’ (poor soil of sand, clay and stones; uncultivated land) gave Portug barroca ‘rough terrain, sandy soil with clay and stones’, and barroco, a technical term applied first by Portug pearl fishers and tradesmen to ‘eine doppelkugelige, höckerige, verwachsene Perle’ (bumpy, deformed, two-ball pearl),¹ then generalized into ‘crooked, lopsided, irregular’, whence Span barroco (term.techn. in architecture) ‘irregular, deviating from traditional ways of building’, Fr baroque, It barocco, Ge Barock, barock. Lokotsch dismisses derivations from Lat (bis-)verruca ‘double wart’, bisrocca ‘double stone’ etc. as »untenable«. Cf., however, the etymology of Engl baroque as given in EtymOnline: »1765, from Fr baroque (C15) ‘irregular’, from Portug barroco ‘imperfect pearl’, which is of uncertain [!] origin, perhaps [!] related to Span berruca ‘a wart’«. – Cf. also BRQ_13, Ar ^†barrūqaẗ, burrūqaẗ ‘wart, verruca’.

1. Constancio Dicc 163 b.

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barq بَرْق , pl. burūq

ID 071 • Sw – • BP 4392 • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021

√BRQ

1 lightning; flash of lightning. – 2 telegraph | barqun ḫullabun, n., 1 lightning without a downpour; 2 a disappointing, disillusioning matter; an unkept promise – WehrCowan1979.

▪ From protSem *bar(a)ḳ‑ ‘lightning’ (Kogan2011), from AfrAs *baraḳ‑ ‘id.’ (Orel&Stolbova1994).

▪ eC7 (lightning) Q 13:12 huwa ’llaḏī yurī-kum-u ’l-barqa ḫawfan wa-ṭamaʕan ‘He it is who shows you lightning, (inspiring) fear and hope’

▪ Bergsträsser1928, Zammit2002: Akk berqu, Ug brq, Hbr bārāq, Aram barqā, Syr barqā, Ar barq ‘lightning, thunderbolt’, SAr brq ‘lightning storm > stormy season’, Gz mabraq ‘lightning, thunderbolt, bright light’
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994#226: Akk berq-, birq-, Ug brq, Hbr brq, Syr barqō, SAr brq, Te bārq , Tña bärqi, Ar barq- ‘lightning’.
▪ Kogan2011: Akk birqu, Ug brq, Hbr bārāq, Syr barqā, Ar barq, Sab Min brq, Gz mabraq, Mhr bōrəq, Jib bɛrq ‘lightening’

Cf. also the corresponding vb.:
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994#231: Akk barāqu, Aram berēq, beraq, Gz brq, Amh bärräqä ‘to shine, glitter, flash’. – Outside Sem: Eg bꜣḳ (Borg2021: bꜣq/bqꜣ) ‘to be light, be bright’ (pyr.) (with -ꜣ- reflecting earlier -r-).
▪ Ehret1995#23: Outside Sem: Eg brḳ ‘to shine, glitter, flash’ (Copt ɛbrēčɛ), Cush *bǎrk'- / bǐrk'- ‘to flash’, vb. p'arìq- in an Omot lang.
▪ Militarev&Stolbova2007 (in StarLing)#1733: Sem cognates: as in earlier studies. – Outside Sem: (CChad) Logone bárak (< Ar), (CCush / Agaw) Khamir birqa, (HEC) Sid banḳo, biraḳo, and the forms balaḳa and banḳu-ta in 2 other HEC langs, as well as Dahalo biriḳina ‘lightning’ and (in 1 Omot lang) ṗariqq(i)- ‘shine’.
▪ DRS 2 (1994)#BRQ-1 Akk berq-, birq-, Ug brq, Hbr bārāq, Aram barqā, EpigrAram brq(ʔ), Aysor birqa, Ar barq, SAr brq, Śḫr brq, Mhr barq, Te bärq, Tña bärqi ‘éclair, foudre’; Gz mabraq ‘éclair’; Akk barāqu, Hbr *bāraq, JP ʔabrēq, Ar baraqa, Soq brq, Gz baraqa, Tña bärräqʷä ‘lancer des éclairs’; Amh bärräqä ‘tonner’; Akk barāqu, nHbr bāraq, Aram bᵉraq, bᵉrēq, nSyr bāriq, Ar baraqa, Amh bärräqä ‘briller, scintiller’. – Ar baraqa, barraqa ‘s’orner, se parer’; ETH. bēräqa ‘décorer’; ? nSyr birqu ‘vaine (femme)’. – Amh bäräqqʷa ‘commencer à blanchir, à mûrir (céréales)’. – Ar tabarraqa ‘regarder fixement (avec colère)’; Soq beroq (be) ‘envier’; Har bēräqa ‘décorer’; Amh bärräqä ‘fondre sur’. -?2 nHbr barqīt, Aram barqīt, bᵉraqtītā, bᵉruqtītā, Mand buruqta ‘cataracte (de l’œil)’. -3 Akk barraqtu (CAD: a gem, nBab), Hbr bāréqet, JP *bariqtā, Syr barqā ‘émeraude’.

▪ Kogan2011: from Sem *bar(a)ḳ- ‘lightning’.
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994 reconstruct (#226) Sem *baraḳ- ‘lightning’, CCh *baraḳ-, HEC *baraḳ- , all from AfrAs *baraḳ- ‘lightning’, as well as (#231) Sem *b˅riḳ- ‘to shine (of lightning)’, Eg b3ḳ ‘to be light, be bright’ (pyr.), both ultimately from AfrAs *bariḳ- ‘to shine, be bright’.
▪ Ehret1995#23: Sem *brḳ ‘to lighten; lightning’, Eg brḳ ‘to shine, glitter, flash’ (Copt ɛbrēčɛ), Cush *bǎrk'- / bǐrk'- ‘to flash’ and the vb. p'arìq- in an Omot lang, all from an AfrAs *-bǐrk'- /*-bǎrk'- ‘to flash’ which the author thinks is in itself composed of *-bir- ‘to burn brightly’ + *k as an intensive extension of effect.
▪ Militarev&Stolbova2007 (in StarLing)#1733: Sem *bariḳ-, CChad *barak- (< Ar?), CCush (Agaw) *bir˅ḳ- (< Sem?), ? HEC *ban/laḳ- (irregular changes of *-r- in the cluster *-rḳ- ?), Dahalo (Sanye) *biriḳ- ‘lightning’ (< Sem?), Omot *ṗariḳḳ- ‘shine’ (secondary ṗ- < *b- influenced by *ḳ ?), all from AfrAs *bariḳ- ‘lightning’.

▪ DRS 2 (1994)#BRQ-3 mentions that accord. to Zimmern1914, the Akk word barraqtu for a gem, perh. an emerald, probably is a late borrowing from some other lang, but that it is not clear whether this was a Sem lang (in which case the Akk word and its successors in Hbr, JP and Syr would be akin to Ar barq, i.e., ‘brilliant’, flashing like a lightning) or whether the word is from an IE source akin to Skr marakatam, Grk smáragdos ‘emerald’. A supporter of a Sem origin is Huehnergard2011; he groups the gem under Sem *BRQ ‘to flash (especially of lightning)’. – In Ar, the word for ‘emerald’ is ↗zumurrud, which, however, may be ultimately from the same source, cf. s.v.

▪ According to some etymologists, Eur words for ‘emerald’ should perhaps be traced back to a Sem word belonging to the root *BRQ ‘to flash (especially of lightning)’. Cf. entry emerald in EtymOnline: »‘bright green precious stone,’ c1300, emeraude, from oFr esmeraude (C12), from mLat esmaraldus, from Lat smaragdus, from Grk smáragdos ‘green gem’ (emerald or malachite), from Sem baraq ‘shine’ (compare Hbr bāreqet ‘emerald’, Ar barq ‘lightning’). Skr maragdam ‘emerald’ is from the same source, as is Pers zumurrud, whence [Ar zumurrud and] Tu zümrüd, source of Ru izumrud ‘emerald’.«

► baraqa, u (barq, burūq, barīq, baraqān), vb. I, to shine, glitter, sparkle, flash: denom. (unless itself the etymon) | baraqat-i ’l-samāʔ, expr., there was lightning.
► ʔabraqa, vb. IV, 1 = I. – 2 to emit bolts of lightning (cloud); to flash up, light up: denom. – 3 to brighten (face): fig. – 4 to cable, wire, telegraph (ʔilà to): neolog., denom. from barqiyyaẗ.

► barqī, adj., telegraphic, telegraph- (in compounds): neolog., nsb-adj., *‘as fast as a lightning’.
► ^BP#4430barqiyyaẗ, pl. ‑āt, n.f., telegram, wire, cable: neologism, nsb-adj.f. coined from barq, i.e. *‘message that reaches the addressee with the swiftness of a lightning’.
► ^BP#4653barīq, pl. barāʔiqᵘ, n., glitter, shine, gloss, luster: quasi-vn. | ḏū barīq maʕdanī, adj., lustered, coated with metallic luster.
► burāq, n.pr., Alborak, name of the creature on which Mohammed made his ascension to the seven heavens (↗miʕrāǧ): probably so called on account of its swiftness; see also ↗s.v..
► barrāq, adj., shining, lustrous, sparkling, flashing, glittering, twinkling: ints.adj.
► mabraq, n., glitter, flash: vn. | fī mabraq al-ṣubḥ, adv., with the first rays of the morning sun.
► bāriq: bāriq al-ʔamal, n., glimpse of hope: PA I.
► bāriqaẗ, pl. bawāriqᵘ, n.f., gleam, twinkle: f. of the preceding.
► mubriq: mubriq kātib, n., teletype; ʔālaẗ mubriqaẗ, n.f., id.: PA IV, denom. from neolog. barqiyyaẗ.

barqiyyaẗ بَرْقِيّة , pl. ‑āt

√BRQ

n.f.

telegram, wire, cable – WehrCowan1979.

neologism (C19), nsb-adj.f., coined from ↗barq, i.e. *‘message that reaches the addressee with the swiftness of a lightning’.

▪ …

Cf. ↗barq.

▪ …
▪ …

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burāq بُراق

√BRQ

n.prop.

Alborak, name of the creature on which Mohammed made his ascension to the seven heavens (↗miʕrāǧ) – WehrCowan1979.

Perhaps called so on account of the exceptional fleetness—‘like a lightning’, ↗barq—of the fantastic beast, but it may also be of pre-Isl origin.

▪ …

Cf. ↗barq (?), ↗BRQ.

▪ »Islamic legend has it that »Muḥammad made the [famous night-] journey [↗ʔisrāʔ, ↗miʕrāǧ ] from Mecca to Jerusalem and back, not merely in a dream, but—accompanied by Gabriel—in the living flesh and within the space of a single night. The miraculous speed of such a feat was held to be explicable on the ground that Muḥammad rode a beast of exceptional fleetness. It was in this connexion that the legend of al-Burāḳ arose. […] The etymology of the name Burāḳ is not yet fully elucidated. E. Blochet believed it to come from the mPers bārag ‘steed’. J. Horovitz has rightly questioned this interpretation and has declared himself in favour of a derivation from the Ar root baraqa ‘to lighten, to flash’. According to this view, Burāq could be explained as a (rare) diminutive form. The miraculous beast would thus have received its name ‘the little lightning-flash’ on account of its fleetness or of its brilliant colour. Yet even this explanation is not wholly convincing. The possibility must also be envisaged that the name Burāq goes back to a pre-Islamic tradition now unknown to us. In general, much that is reported about the steed of the miraculous ‘night-journey’ will derive from pre-Islamic tradition. It is, however, difficult to uncover the various links in all their detail« – Paret, art. “al-Burāḳ”, in EI².
▪ Lane mentions that, according to lexicographical tradition, the animal may not only be called Burāq »because of the quickiness of his motion« but also »because of the intense whiteness of his hue, and his great brightness«. However, the latter option too would be based on a likening with the lightining. In both cases, Burāq is believed to be akin to barq.

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al-Barqaẗ البَرْقة

√BRQ

n.pr.loc.f.

Cyrenaica (region of E Libya) – WehrCowan1979.

Of obscure etymology.

Grk Bárkē.

…

Is it taken from a Phoen or Libyan name (barkaẗ, barqaẗ ?), or was it called al-Barqaẗ after its ^†burqaẗ, i.e., ‘hard ground, hard soil’ (cf. BRQ_11 s.v. ↗BRQ)?, or after its ‘spotted’ surface—a reinterpretation of the adj. barqāʔᵘ, f. of ^†ʔabraqᵘ ‘blotty, spotted, stained (goat, eye), piebald (black and white)’ (BRQ_14 s.v. ↗BRQ)?

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