Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ Not from Ar bisillaẗ, but ultimately from the same source is Engl pea(s): e/mC17, from mEngl pease (pl. pesen), which was both single and collective (as wheat, corn) but the /s/ sound was mistaken for the pl. inflection; from oEngl (WSaxon) pise, (Mercian) poise ‘pea’, from lLat pisa, var. of pisum ‘pea’, prob. a loan-word from Grk pison ‘the pea’, a word of unknown origin (Thracian? Phrygian?) – EtymOnline.

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BSM بسم

ID – • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 3Mar2023

√BSM

“root”

▪ BSM_1 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ BSM_2 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ BSM_3 ‘...’ ↗...

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘to smile; to bloom; (of clouds) to display a faint flash of lightning; white teeth’

▪ …

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BŠR بشر

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

√BŠR

“root”

▪ BŠR_1 ‘(to announce) good news’ ↗BŠR_1
▪ BŠR_2 ‘to scrape, peel; skin, (flesh); man, mankind; to get in direct contact; to initiate’ ↗BŠR_2

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘skin; to skin; to be in skin-to-skin contact, to be intimate with one’s wife; first signs, to give good tidings, good tidings, a hum.a n being’

Homonymous root with two principle values.

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▪ Both WehrCowan1979 and DRS 2 (1994) differentiate between two main values, BŠR_1 and BŠR_2.
▪ However, Lane I (1863) reports that Arab lexicographers think that there is a connection between ‘good news’ (BŠR_1) and ‘skin’ (BŠR_2), interpreting the vb. bašira a / bašara i as »He became changed in his bašaraẗ (or ‘complexion’) by the annunciation of an event […] and, hence, he rejoiced […]« (op.cit., s.v. bšr 1.). Furthermore, most of them think (as also DRS ) that ‘skin’ is related to ‘man, mankind’ as well as to ‘having direct contact’ (see BŠR_2).

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¹BŠR بشر

√BŠR_1

“root”

Since it is difficult to decide what was first – a vb. ‘to announce good news’ or a n. ‘good news’, or ‘joy’ –, the present lemma functions as if it were a disambiguation entry. For items belonging to the theme, see below, section “Derivatives".

▪ Jeffery1938, 79-80 (on baššara, in the Qurʔān): »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.«
▪ According to Orel&Stolbova1994#361, the NSem words from which the Ar items seem to be derived, go back to a Sem *b˅ŝir‑ ‘to announce (good news)’, which in turn may be from an AfrAs vb. *b˅ĉir‑ ‘to announce’.

baššara : ▪ eC7 Of frequent occurrence in the Qurʔān, cf. ii, 23; iii, 20; iv, 137, etc. ʻto announce good news’.

▪ Bergsträsser1928: Akk bsr, Hbr bśr, Aram sbr (metath.), Ar baššara, Gz bsr (caus.) ‘frohe Botschaft bringen’.
▪ DRS 2 (1994)#BŚR-1: Akk bussuru, Ug bšr, JP bᵉśar, bᵉsar, Ar baššara, SAr tbśr, Soq bśr, Mhr bīšár, Gz ʔabsara, Te bäššärä, Amh abässärä ‘annoncer (une bonne nouvelle)’; Akk bussurt‑ , Ug bšr, bšrt, Hbr bᵉśōrā, JP bᵉsortā, Syr (avec métathèse) sᵉbartā, nSyr (pl.) bašārāt, Ar bišāraẗ, Gz bəsrāt ‘bonne nouvelle’; SAr tbšr(n) ‘révélation’.
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994#361: Akk bašāru, Ug bšr, Hbr bŝr, Aram (Palest) beŝar, SAr tbŝr, Soq bsr, Ḥrs abēśer, Mhr abōśer, Śḥr ōśer. – Outside Sem, there are parallels in a number of Berb languages (i-βdər, i-bdər, Kby yəβḍər); the common ancestor may be reconstructed as Berb *b˅c̣˅r‑ ‘to announce’ (reflecting earlier *‑ć̣‑).

▪ Jeffery1938, 79-80: Apart from items belonging to BŠR_2, there are also many that belong to another theme: »ʻto announce, good tidings’. Thus we have the verb baššara as above; bušrā ʻgood news’ (ii, 91; iii, 122; viii, 10, etc.); bašīr (v, 22; vii, 188, etc.), and bušr (vii, 55; xxv, 50, etc.) ʻthe bringer of good tidings’: also mubaššir (ii, 209, etc.) with much the same meaning; ʔabšara (xli, 30) ʻto receive pleasure from good tidings’: and mustabšir (lxxx, 39) ʻrejoicing’. This use, however, seems not to be original in Ar but derived from the older religions. Thus Akk bussuru is ʻto bear a joyful message’: Hbr BŚR both ʻto bear good tidings’ and ʻto gladden with good tidings’: hiṯbaśśēr ‘to receive good tidings’.¹ – The SSem use of the word seems to be entirely under the influence of this Jewish usage. In Eth the various forms basara ʻto bring a joyful message’, ʔabsara ʻto bring good tidings’, tabasara ʻto be announced’, bəsarāt ʻgood news’, ʔabsār ʻone who announces good tidings’, are all late and doubtless under the influence of the Bible. So the SAr tbs²r ʻto bring tidings’ and bs²rn ʻtidings’ (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 [SAr] bs²rn is in the Raḥmān inscription. The Syr sbr has suffered metathesis, but in the Christian Palestinian dialect we find bsr ʻto preach’, used just as baššara in iii, 20; ix, 34, etc., and so basūrā = [Grk] euangélion, 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 «
▪ DRS 2 (1994)#BŚR-1: Ar bišāraẗ < Aram or > nSyr ?
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994#361: The NSem forms (from which Ar seems to be borrowed) probably go back to Sem *b˅ŝir‑ ‘to announce (good news)’, which in turn may have developed from an AfrAs vb. *b˅ĉir‑ ‘to announce’ as the origin of both the Sem and Berb forms. The reconstruction however is slightly doubtful, the authors add, because available data display an irregular correspondence of affricates.

1. Also [Hbr] bᵊśārā ‘tidings’ = Ar bušrà and bišāraẗ, which latter, however, is not Qurʔānic. Cf. also now the Ras Shamra בשר ‘to bring good news.’ 2. As probably the Phlv basarīā, PPGl, 95.

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► bašara, i, var. bašira, a, vb. I, to rejoice, be delighted: denominative or itself the etymon?
► ^BP#4466baššara, vb. II, to announce (as a good news); to forecast (sth good), give good prospect; to spread, propagate, preach (sth, a religion, a doctrine): denominative (from ?) or itself the etymon (after having been loaned from NSem)?.
► ʔabšara, vb. IV, to rejoice (at a good news): probably denominative (from ?).
► ĭstabšara, vb. X, to rejoice, be delighted, be happy (esp. at good news), welcome; to take as a good omen: autobenefactive, probably from a noun like bišr or bušr.

► bišr, n., joy: deverbative or itself the etymon of the verbs?
► bušr, n., glad tidings: deverbative, or itself the etymon of the verbs?
► bušrà, pl. bušrayāt, n., glad tidings, good news: a loan from Aram?
► bašīr, pl. bušarāʔᵘ, n., bringer of glad tidings, messenger, herald, harbinger, forerunner, precursor; evangelist (Chr.): ?
► bišāraẗ, pl. bašāʔirᵘ, n., good news, glad tidings; annunciation, prophesy; gospel; pl. good omens, propitious signs: possibly < Aram.
► bušāraẗ, n.f., gift to a bringer of glad tidings:.
► tabšīr, n., announcement (of glad tidings); preaching of the Gospel; evangelization, missionary activity: vn. II.
► tabšīrī, adj./n., missionary: nsb-adj from tabšīr.
► tabāšīrᵘ, n.pl., foretokens, prognostics, omens, first signs or indications, heralds (fig.); beginnings, dawn: pl. of tabšīr.
► mubaššir, pl. ‑ūn, n., announcer, messenger (of glad tidings); evangelist (Chr.); preacher; missionary (Chr.): lexicalized PA II.
► mustabšir, adj., happy, cheerful: lexicalized PA X.

For the semantic complexes ‘scrape, peel; skin’ (bašaraẗ, mibšaraẗ, mabšūr) as well as ‘pursuit, practice’ and ‘directness, immediateness’ (bāšara, mubāšaraẗ, mubāšir) see ↗BŠR_2.

²BŠR بشر

√BŠR_2

“root”

▪ BŠR_2a ‘skin’ ↗bašaraẗ .
▪ BŠR_2b ‘to touch, be in direct contact with s.o.; to have sexual intercourse; to initiate’ ↗bāšara .
▪ BŠR_2c ‘man, mankind’ ↗bašar .

▪ Ultimately, the items of this entry all go well back to Sem *baśar‑ ‘skin, flesh’ (as reconstructed by DRS 2 (1994)).
▪ BŠR_2b ‘to touch, be in direct contact with s.o.; to have sexual intercourse’ < *‘to have skin-to-skin contact’.
▪ The Sem cognates suggest that also BŠR_2c ‘man, mankind’ belongs here and is thus akin to bašaraẗ ‘skin’.

▪ eC7 Q

DRS 2 (1994)#BŚR-2: Ug bšr, Hbr baśār ‘chair’; Pun bšr ‘enfant, descendant’; JP bᵉśar, bᵉsar, biśrā, bisrā, Syr besrā, Mand bisra, nSyr bisra, pisra ‘chair’; Ar bašar ‘peau’, SAr bśr ‘peau’ ou ‘chair’, Gz bāsor, Har Gur bäsär ‘chair’; Ar bašara ‘racler (une peau)’; ? Te bašur ‘selle de mariée’. – Ar bašara ‘avoir commerce charnel avec’, ‘avoir un contact immédiat avec, entreprendre personnellement, surveiller de près (un travail)’; ? nSyr *mbašir ‘savoir faire, se tirer d’affaire, être habile’, bašrānā ‘habile’.

▪ Lane I (1863) gives the opinion of some Arab lexicographers that the meaning ‘man, mankind’ of bašar »is a secondary application of the word […], i.e., this signification is tropical« and that »a human being is thus called because his bašaraẗ [‘skin’] is bare of hair and of wool« (s.v. bašar).
▪ Furthermore, Lane mentions that Arab lexicographers suggest a connexion between ‘good news’ (BŠR_1) and ‘skin’ (BŠR_2) in that they interpret [the vb.] bašira a / bašara i as »he became changed in his bašaraẗ (or >complexion) by the annunciation of an event […] and, hence, he rejoiced […]« (op.cit., s.v. bšr 1.).
▪ Jeffery1938, 79-80: »The primitive verb bašara ʻto peel off bark’ [↗BŠR_2 ], then ʻto remove the surface of a thing’, i.e. to ʻsmooth’, is not found in the Qurʔān, though it occurs in the old literature. From this we find bašar un ‘skin’ and thence ʻflesh’, as Syr besrā; Hbr bāśār ³ ; Akk bišru ʻblood-relation’, whence it is an easy transition to the meaning ʻman’, cf. Hbr bāśār; Syr bar bisrā (pl. banī bisrā = [Grk] ánthrōpoi). bašar^un in this sense occurs frequently in the Qurʔān⁴ and Ahrens, Christliches, 38, thinks it is of Aramaic origin. – The wider use of the root in the Qurʔān, however, is in the sense of ʻto announce good tidings’ […]. This use, however, seems not to be original in Ar but derived from the older religions [etc., ↗BŠR_1 ].«

3. So Sab bs²r and Eth [Gz] bāsor, but these apparently developed late under Jewish or Christian influence. 4. And note bāšara ʻto go in unto a wife’ (ii, 183, only), with Hbr bāśār ‘membrum virile’ [BDB : ‘male organ of generation’ = an euphemism]; Syr bisrā ʻper euphemismum de pudendis viri et feminae.’

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► bašara, u, vb. I, to scrape off, shave off, scratch off; to grate, shred: the proper etymon?
► bāšara, vb. III, to touch, be in direct contact with; to have sexual intercourse with; to attend, apply o.s., take up, take in hand, pursue, practice, carry out (s.th., a job, a task, etc.): properly *‘to have skin-to-skin, or flesh-to-flesh, contact with s.o.’.

► ^BP#3786bašaraẗ, n.f., outer skin, epidermis, cuticle; skin; complexion: the proper etymon?
► bašarī, adj., epidermal, skin (adj.): nsb-adj from bašaraẗ | ṭabīb b. dermatologist.
► mibšaraẗ, pl. mabāširᵘ, n., skraper, grater: n.instr.
► ^BP#1150mubāšaraẗ, n.f., pursuit practice; direct, physical cause (Isl.Law): vn. III; mubāšaratan, adv., immediately, directly: temporal acc. of vn. III, giving adv. of time.
► mabšūr: ǧubnaẗ m.aẗ shredded cheese: PP I.
► ^BP#912mubāšir, adj., direct; immediate; live (broadcast): PA III, properly *‘having skin-to-skin contact’; – (pl. ‑ūn) practitioner, pursuer, operator; director; manager (Eg.); court usher (Syr.): nominalized PA III.

For bašar ‘man, mankind’, ^BP#1120bašarī ‘human’, and ^BP#2953bašariyyaẗ ‘mankind’ ↗bašar.

For the theme ‘(to announce) good news’ cf. ↗BŠR_1.

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