▪ ǦBR_1 ‘force, compulsion, coercion, duress; power, might; (predestined, inescapable) decree of fate’ ↗¹ǧabr. – ‘giant, gigantic, colossal, huge; tyrant, oppressor; almighty, omnipotent (God); Orion (astron.)’ ↗ǧabbār ▪ ǦBR_2 ‘to set (broken bones); to restore, bring back to normal; to help back on o.’s feet, help up’ ↗ǧabara (incl. ʕilm al-ǧabr ‘algebra’) ▪ ǦBR_3 ‘to treat with kindness, friendliness, be nice to s.o.’ ↗ǧābara ▪ ǦBR_4 ‘pride, haughtiness’ ↗ǧibriyāʔᵘ ▪ ǦBR_5 ‘(the archangel) Gabriel’ ↗Ǧibrīlᵘ Other values, now obsolete, include (BK1860, Lane ii 1865, Wahrmund1886, Hava1899):▪ †ǦBR_6 ‘man; young man, courageous (Lane) | homme, surtout fort, puissant (BK1860)’: †²ǧabr ▪ †ǦBR_7 ‘king’: †³ǧabr ▪ †ǦBR_8 ‘slave’: †⁴ǧabr ▪ †ǦBR_9 ‘aloes-wood’: †⁵ǧabr ▪ †ǦBR_10 ‘1 vanité, mensonge; 2 ce qui est en pure perte; 3 sang versé et non vengé; 4 exempt, libre ou innocent de qc (BK1860)| thing of which no account, or for which no revenge or retaliation or mulct, is taken (Lane ii 1865) | erlaubtes Blutvergießen; Krieg; frei, quit (Wahrmund1886)’: †¹ǧubār ▪ †ǦBR_11 ‘torrent’: †²ǧubār ▪ †ǦBR_12 ‘(pre-Islamic name of) Tuesday’: †³ǧubār ~ ǧibār ▪ †ǦBR_13 ‘bandage; truss; splints (pieces of wood with which bones are set)’: †ǧibāraẗ, †¹ǧabīraẗ (pl. ǧabāʔirᵘ) ▪ †ǦBR_14 ‘leather bag; portfolio’: †²ǧabīraẗ ▪ †ǦBR_15 ‘middling in wealth, talents; simple, good (man) (Hava1899) | Mensch von geringem Vermögen od. Talent (Wahrmund1886)’: †ĭnǧibārī . ▪ †ǦBR_ ‘…’: †…♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘to set broken bones; to restore, assist; to compel, force, be impregnable; giant, tyrant, almighty’
▪ [v1] : (Kogan2011:) from protCSem *gabr ‘man / (DRS:) homme fait, dans toute sa force’ (> Ar [v6] ‘man’) < protSem *gbr ‘to be strong’. According to Huehnergard2011, *√GBR is a WSem variant (assimilated form) of protSem *√GPR ‘to be(come) strong, prevail, work’. – According to Palache1959: 18, the basic meaning of the root in Sem is *‘to rise, raise o.s.; hence also: strength; to restore; to compel, overpower > man’. – In a similar vein, Ar lexicography tends to regard [v1]/[v6] ‘strength; man’ as secondary, developed from [v2] when ‘setting broken bones’ became equated with ‘force’ and ‘power’. – According to Ehret1995#262, Ar ǧabbār ‘strong, powerful’ represents an extension in an adj. suffix *-R from a bi-consonantal “pre-Proto-Semitic” root *√GB ‘great’ < AfrAs *gâb- ‘great (esp. in size and number)’. For other extensions from the same pre-protSem root, cf. ↗√ǦBǦ (ǧabǧ ‘to recover and regain strength’, cf. [v2]) and ↗√ǦBL (ǧabl ‘numerous’). – See also below, section DISC. – For the specialized meaning ‘(predestined, inescapable) decree of fate’, see directly s.v. ↗¹ǧabr. ▪ [v2] : According to DRS, the value ‘to set (broken bones), repair, restore’ is a « notion dérivée », dependent on [v1]/†[v6] ‘power, strength; man’ (*‘to press/force broken bones together in order to set them’). In contrast, indigenous Ar lexicography would derive the latter from the former. – For Landberg1920, DaṯAr ǧabar equals ↗ǧabal ‘to form, shape, build up’. – See also below, section DISC. – For (ʕilm al-) ǧabr ‘algebra’ as a *‘restoring, repairing’, see ↗ǧabara. ▪ [v3] : ?Reflecting value †[v6] ‘man’, prominent mostly in Can, thus orig. *‘to treat as a fellow human being’, or rather simply *‘(friendly) coercion’ (i.e., from [v1]), or *‘to make it easy/comfortable for s.o.’ (from [v10])? As a support of the first option could serve ClassAr †ʔaǧbara, vb. IV, ‘to consider (s.o.) as honest’ (Hava1899), obviously a denom., thus perh. *‘to consider as a man’; on the other hand, an expression like ClassAr †ǧabara ḫāṭira-hū ‘to converse kindly with s.o’ (ibid.) literally means *‘to force/exert [mild?] coercion on s.o.’s mind’. Cf. also the ClassAr expression †fulān ǧābirᵘⁿ/mustaǧbirᵘⁿ lī ‘s.o. exerting himself much/exceedingly/to the utmost in paying frequent attention to me, taking care of me, putting my affairs into a right/proper state’ (Lane ii 1865) / Wahrmund: ‘einem (fī mit etw.) ein Vergnügen machen’. ▪ [v4] : Dependent on [v1], orig. *‘to feel powerful, think of o.s. as mighty, behave arrogantly’. Cf. also †al-mutaǧabbir ‘the lion’, nominalized PA V, prob. *‘the one boasting of his power’ (see also †[v7] ‘king’). – Pattern FiʕLiyāʔᵘ in accordance with ↗kibriyāʔᵘ ‘pride, arrogance’? – For other historically attested synonymous forms, see directly s.v. ↗ǧibriyāʔᵘ. ▪ [v5] : According to Jeffrey1938 via Aram (ChrPal, Syr) ultimately from Hbr Gaḇrīʔēl ‘my strength / strong one is God’, explained by Huehnergard2011 as composed of gaḇrî ‘my strong one’, from gaḇr‑, presuffixal form of geḇer ‘strong one, man’ (cf. †[v6]), from gāḇar ‘to be strong’ (see [v1]), and Hbr ʔēl ‘god’, cf. Ar ↗allāh, ʔLH. ▪ †[v6] ²ǧabr ‘(young, courageous) man | homme, surtout fort, puissant’ (Lane|BK); cf. also DaṯAr ǧuburraẗ ‘naturel de l’homme’ (Landberg1920): value apparently only scarcely attested in Ar,1
, but the most prominent value in the Hbr Aram context. – Either via protCSem *gabr ‘man’ (Kogan2011) / ‘homme fait, dans toute sa force’ (DRS) or directly from protSem *gbr ‘to be strong’ (see [v1]). – In Aram, successors of protAram *gabr-2
became the main exponent of the value ‘man’, gradually replacing successors of protCSem *ʔinš- ‘man’ (> Ar ↗√ʔNS, ↗nās, ↗ʔinsān, etc.). 3 ▪ †[v7] ³ǧabr ‘king’: for Lane ii 1865 »of uncertain derivation«, but prob. simply specialized use of †[v6] ²ǧabr ‘man’ (which may depend on [v1] or [v2]). Or it is *‘the one boasting of power’ (see [v4]), similar to †al-mutaǧabbir ‘the lion’. ▪ †[v8] ⁴ǧabr ‘slave, servant’: Lane ii 1865 remarks that †[v7] ‘king’ and †[v8] ‘slave, servant’ seem to be »two contrary significations« of ǧabr; however, given the basic notion of *‘strength, strong man’, both can be interpreted as specialized use of the latter, i.e, [v1]/†[v6]. – Kogan2015: 382 #6 thinks the value may be due to acquaintance with Gz gabr ‘slave’. Thus, [v7] ‘king’ may be an intrinsic, inner-Ar development, while [v8] ‘slave’ could be an Ethiopism. ▪ †[v9] ⁵ǧabr ‘aloes-wood’: etymology obscure. – See below, †[v13], and section DISC. ▪ †[v10] ¹ǧubār ‘1 vanité, mensonge; 2 ce qui est en pure perte; 3 sang versé et non vengé; 4 exempt, libre ou innocent de quelque chose (BK1860)| thing of which no account, or for which no revenge or retaliation or mulct, is taken (Lane ii 1865) | erlaubtes Blutvergießen; Krieg; frei, quit (Wahrmund1886)’; to this complex one prob. has to add DaṯAr ǧabar ‘qui ne paie pas d’impôts/l’octroi’, ǧabar (sens du Sud:) ‘être exempt d’impôt, ne pas être assujetti à l’octroi’, ǧabbar ‘exempter de payer la dime/l’octroi’ (Landberg1920) (with cognates in Gz gəbr, Amh Te Gur gəbər, Tña Har gəbri ‘taxes’, etc., see section COGN). – Ultimately, all these values seem to be based on [v2], with a hypothetical semantic development *‘to set (broken bones), restore, repair > help to recover | raffermir, consolider > …’. Cf., e.g., Ar †ǧabbara ‘reverdir (se dit d’une plante foulée ou mangée en partie); reprendre les forces, renaître, recouvrer la santé, être rétabli (se dit d’un malade)’, and even more general, ‘rétablir ses affaires, redevenir riche après avoir été dans la misère; relever qn, le remettre dans l’aisance, le remettre à flot; faire du bien à qn’, †ĭǧtabara ‘s’enrichir et recouvrer l’ancienne aisance, le bien-être’ (BK1860). In short, ¹ǧubār seems to be based on a development along the line *‘to set (broken bones) > repair > help to recover > do s.th. good to s.o., exempt/relieve s.o. from s.th.’. With the latter, this value comes close to [v3]. ▪ †[v11] ²ǧubār ‘torrent’: connected to [v1] ‘force, power’, as *‘the powerful one’? Cf. also yawm ǧabr al-baḥr, name for a local holiday of Cairo, orig. *‘day of “forcing”, i.e., channeling the water (of the Nile) (into the now-abandoned ↗ḫalīǧ, or City Canal)’. Thus, the meaning †‘torrent’ could also be *‘water masses forced into a narrow bed’. ▪ †[v12] ³ǧubār ~ ǧibār ‘(pre-Islamic name of) Tuesday’: original attestation apparently only in a single verse which Fischer1896 thought was a »distichon memoriale« made by a little gifted poet for his students to help them memorize the names of the pre-Islamic weekdays.4
In contrast, Rotter1993 is convinced that †³ǧubār can be equated with Mars, the Roman god of war, and that therefore the name for the weekday is identical with Lat Martis dies (> Fr mardi, It martedi etc.).[(»Der veneris dies im vorislamischen Mekka, eine neue Deutung des Namens „Europa” und eine Erklärung für kobar = Venus«, Der Islam 70 (1993): 112-32, here 120.)] If this is correct, the “martial” name is related to [v1]/†[v6] ‘strength, power; man’. ▪ †[v13] ǧibāraẗ ~ ¹ǧabīraẗ ‘bandage; truss; splints (pieces of wood with which bones are set)’ (Hava1899), ‘poignet; bracelet, ornement du poignet’ (BK1860): The basic value here is prob. ‘splints’, which evidently belongs to [v2] ‘to set (broken bones)’, hence also ‘truss’ (*structure made of several splints) and ‘wrap, bandage’ (with which the splints are fixed to broken bones), hence also ‘bracelet’ (*“wrapping”) around the wrist > ‘wrist’. – Does also (DRS #GBR-4) Akk gub/pr- ‘needle, pin’ belong here? ▪ †[v14] ²ǧabīraẗ ‘leather bag; portfolio’: cf. Amh gäbär ‘board or piece of leather or cloth used as a cover for a book’ (DRS #GBR-3). – According to Hava1899, ²ǧabīraẗ here stands for †ǧafīraẗ ‘id. (?)’; cf. †ǧafīr ‘kind of quiver (for arrows etc.)’ (Lane ii 1865). ▪ †[v15] ĭnǧibārī ‘middling in wealth, talents; simple, good (man) (Hava1899) | Mensch von geringem Vermögen od. Talent (Wahrmund1886)’: marked as »modern sense/use« in Wahrmund1886, explained as »for ranǧ-bar« by Hava1899; if the latter etymology is valid, the adj. would be a “naturalized” borrowing from Pers, meaning ‘working/toiling person, worker, toiler, drudge; proletarian’ (Steingass1892 has still ‘artificer, mechanic’). ▪ …
▪ [gnrl] Most values attached to the root can be explained as belonging to the complex [v1]/[v2]/[v6]. For the time being, it seems impossible to disentangle these three main notions and decide with certainty which of them may have been the “most original” one. Evidently interrelated, [v6] ‘man’ and [v1] ‘strength, power, force’ and prevalent in Sem and have to be regarded as the source of derivation for the larger part of the GBR/ǦBR vocabulary, while [v2] ‘to set (broken bones), restore, repair’ seems to be an Ar peculiarity. Given the Sem evidence, it is prob. safe to reject the derivation, maintained by ClassAr lexicographers, of ‘strength, power, force’ from [v2] ‘to set (broken bones)’. Should we assume an inverse dependence then, i.e., regard ‘to set (broken bones), restore, repair’ as developed from ‘strength, power, force’? Not inconceivable, as the setting of bones is a kind of “forcing” the broken ends back into their place with the help of a splint etc., cf. [v13]. Nevertheless, this looks a bit far-fetched as it would imply that, for the speaker, the element of ‘strength, force’ is the main aspect in setting broken bones. Therefore, as a personal hypothesis, I would prefer to interpret [v2] ǧabara ‘to set (broken bones)’ as a variant of ↗ǧabala ‘to form, shape, build up’, i.e., as a “reshaping” rather than a “forcing” (into previous shape), perh. originating from SArabia. An argument in favour of this view is the semantic identity of ǧabar and ǧabal ‘to form, shape, build up’ in DaṯAr (Landberg1920), and perh. also the fact that, outside Ar, the notion of [v10] ‘relief, ease, exemption (from due taxes etc.)’, which seems to be related to [v2] in the sense of ‘restore, repair, help up again’, is common in EthSem only. – If this is valid, one may assume two lines of development, both originating from a pre-protSem 2-rad. root nucleus *GB with the general meaning ‘to amass, bring together, pile up’ (cf. Ehret1995: *GB ‘great’): (1) > *GBR ‘height, eminence, greatness’ (cf. Palache1956: *‘to rise, raise o.s.’) > ‘power, strength’ (Ehret1995: *‘strong, powerful’) > ‘man’; and (2) > *GBL ‘to assemble, bring/put together, (re)collect, (re)unite; to plait; (pile up >) multitude; mountain’ > (in SArabia?, with liquid L > R) Ar *ǦBR ‘to (re)shape, bring into form (again), repair, restore, set (broken bones)’ > ‘to help recover’ > ‘to relieve, exempt (from paying blood-money, taxes, etc.)’. ▪ [v1]/[v2]/[v6] : In their comments, the authors of DRS mention that, « [d]ans plusieurs langues, le nom de la femme (ou de la «Dame») se tire par suffixation de la désinence du fém. à une forme de *gabr-. - Amh connaît une forme de cette rac. développée en GBRR : gäbärrärä ‘roidir, devenir raide’. - De la notion dérivée ‘restaurer, réparer’, Ar a tiré un nom métaphorique du ‘pain’: (ʔabū) ǧābir, dont il faut peut-être rapprocher Te Tña gäbbara ‘plat à pétrir’; Amh mägbärya ‘vase dans lequel on prend la pâte pour faire le pain’. – […] Comp. GBB, GBʕ et v. s. GB. » ▪ †[v6] ²ǧabr ‘man’: Kogan2015: 382 #6: »protAram *gabr- ‘man’ has transparent cognates in Hbr gäbär and Ar ǧabr and, therefore, must be traced back to protCSem – fn: Or even protWSem if Gz gabr ‘slave’ (cf. [v8]) is thought to be related1
– *gabr- ‘man’. ▪ †[v8] ⁴ǧabr ‘slave’: see fn. to DISC of [v6], and above, section CONC. ▪ †[v9] ⁵ǧabr: According to Lane ii 1865, the value ‘aloes-wood’ is explained in the Qāmūs as signifying ʕūd ‘wood (in general, as well as aloes-wood in particular)’ while the Tāǧ interprets it as …allaḏī yuǧbarᵘ bih ‘wood with which one sets bones’, see [v2]. Lane thinks that yuǧbarᵘ is a mistranscription for yuǧammarᵘ ‘…with which one fumigates’. ▪ …
1a to set (broken bones); b to restore, bring back to normal; c to help back on o.’s feet, help up (e.g., one fallen into poverty); 2 to force, compel (s.o. ʕalà to do s.th.) – WehrCowan1976
▪ Ultimately, both values of ǧabara are certainly connected, though the nature of this relation is not exactly clear. ClassAr lexicographers tend to derive [v2] ‘to force, compel’ (and ↗ǧabr ‘strength, power; †man’) from [v1] ‘to set (broken bones)’. But the evidence of Sem, where ‘(strong) man; strength, power, force’ prevails and possible reflections of *‘restoring, repairing, helping, making easy/comfortable’ are restricted to the EthSem context, seems to forbid such a derivation. In contrast, the authors of DRS think [v1] is from [v2], in which case the ‘setting of broken bones’ would be a specialization from ‘to force, compel’, namely *‘to force broken bones back into their original place/shape’. Though not inconceivable, such a dependence looks a bit unlikely, given the broad field of derivations, esp. in ClassAr (see HIST), building on the basic idea of ‘restoring, repair, helping’ – should all these have developed from the only instance where ‘to force, compel’ had taken a positive meaning, namely when interpreted as ‘setting broken bones’? Therefore, I [S.G.] am inclined to regard [v1] as the result of a development that may have started in a southern Arabian environment, where an original ↗ǧabala ‘to form, shape, build’ became confused with ǧabara ‘to force, compel’; in DaṯAr, ǧabar has even become identical with ǧabal ‘to form’ (Landberg1920). – Irrespective of these considerations, ultimately, both values prob. go back to a 2-cons. pre-protSem root nucleus *GB ‘to assemble, amass, bring together, pile up’ (cf. Ehret1995: *GB ‘great’); for more details, cf. ↗√ǦBR. ▪ For the use of [v1] in mathematics, cf. Lane ii 1865: ǧabr ‘(in computation:) addition of s.th. for the purpose of reparation; [hence: ] algebra, more commonly called al-ǧabr al-muqābalaẗ, perfective addition and compensation subtraction, or restoration and compensation (because of the frequency of these operations in the reduction of equations)’ ▪ For derivations from [v1] as given in section HIST below, see ↗†ǦBR_10. ▪ The L-stem ↗ǧābara ‘to treat with kindness, be nice to s.o.’ is possibly based on [v1.d] in an extended sense of ‘to make things easy/comfortable for s.o.’. – Cf., however, the expression ǧabara ḫāṭira-hū ‘to console, comfort, gratify, oblige s.o.; to treat (s.o.) in a conciliatory or kindly manner’ where the underlying notion also could be [v2] ‘to force, compel’. If ǧābara is from there, its original sense would be *‘to oblige s.o., force s.o. into a feeling of indebtedness (by treating him/her so friendly/nicely)’. ▪ For the semantic field around [v2], see ↗¹ǧabr and ↗ǧabbār. ▪ …
▪ [v1] †ǧibāraẗ, †¹ǧabīraẗ (pl. ǧabāʔirᵘ) ‘bandage; truss; splints (pieces of wood with which bones are set)’ ▪ [v1]: (BK1860, Hava1899:) †taǧabbara and †ĭǧtabara ‘to recover from illness; to recover from destitution, regain wealth; to be reinstated in a former state’, †ĭstaǧbara ‘to recover wealth’ (Hava1899); fig., †ʔabū ǧābir, †ǧābir b. ḥabbaẗ ‘bread’ (*‘what restores, sc. one’s constitution’ ▪ ?[v1]: †¹ǧubār ‘1 vanité, mensonge; 2 ce qui est en pure perte; 3 sang versé et non vengé; 4 exempt, libre ou innocent de qc (BK1860)| thing of which no account, or for which no revenge or retaliation or mulct, is taken (Lane ii 1865) | erlaubtes Blutvergießen; Krieg; frei, quit (Wahrmund1886)’ – see ↗†ǦBR_10. ▪ For [v2], see ↗¹ǧabr and ↗ǧabbār. ▪ …
▪ ↗¹ǧabr, ↗ǦBR, for [v1] perh. also ↗ǧabala, ↗ǦBL. ▪ Borg2021 #85 ǧ-b-r: Ar ǧabara ‘to be restored to a former state’, EgAr gabar ‘to repair’ (Spiro 1895: 92), Tangier žbaṛ ‘trouver’ (W. Marçais 1911: 247), HispAr ⟨anjabar⟩ ‘be restored’ (Corriente 1997: 88), S. Arabia ⟨ǧabar⟩ ‘contenter, satisfaire (chez tous les Bédouins d’Arabie)’ (Landberg 1909: 540), NYemAr ǧabar ‘beistehen, erhalten’ (Behnstedt 1992: 163), Kǝndērīb ǧabaṛ ‘zwingen’ (O. Jastrow 2005: 29), AlepAr ǧabar ‘obliger, assister qn dans le besoin’ (Barthélemy 1935–69: 101), DamAr ja žāber ‘o (Gott) der du Gedeihen gibst’ (Bergsträßer 1924: 107), LebAr jabar ‘faire avoir de bonheur par faire profiter de (fî)’; jabr ‘compensation, bonheur’ (Feghali 1935: 64; 1938: 589), PalAr žabar ‘to console’ (Piamenta 2000: 199); ǧabr ‘zufriedenstellen’ (Kampffmeyer 1 936: 10); maǧbūr il-ḫāṭir ‘höchst zufrieden’ (Schmidt & Kahle 1918 I 273), ḤassAr jbaṛ ‘trouver’ (Taine-Cheikh 1990: 147), Malta ⟨ġabar⟩ ‘cogliere, raccogliere, risarcire, ristaurare’ (Vassalli 1796: 207). | Outside Sem, the author compares Eg (Pyr) ḏbꜣ ‘ersetzen, vergelten | to restore, replace, repay’ (Wb V 555; Faulkner 1962: 321). ▪ …
▪ See above, section CONC. ▪ …
▪ Engl algebra, from Ar al-ǧabr ‘the might, force, restoration’, vn. of ǧabara, vb. I, ‘to force, restore, set (bones)’ – Huehnergard2011. ▪ For related Engl Gabriel see ↗Ǧibrīl. ▪ …
NB: Given that the etymological relation between [v1] and [v2] is still unclear, this section lists derivations from both, but tries to keep them apart for systematic reasons: [v1] ►ǧabbara, vb. II, to set (broken bones): D-stem, ints. ►taǧabbara, vb. V, 1a see [v2]; 2 to be set (broken bones): tD-stem, self-ref. ►ĭnǧabara, vb. VII, to be mended, repaired, restored: N-stem, pass. ►¹ǧabr, n., 1 setting (of broken bones); 2 see [v2]: vn. I | ʕilm al-ǧabr, algebra ►ǧabrī, adj., 1 algebraic; 2 see [v2]: nsb-adj. of ↗¹ǧabr in the sense of ‘restoring, repairing’ ►ǧibāraẗ, n.f., (art of) bonesetting: vn. I ►ǧabīraẗ and ǧibāraẗ, pl. ǧabāʔirᵘ, n.f., splint (surg.): quasi-PP I.f. ►taǧbīr, n., taǧbīr al-ʕiẓām, orthopedics: vn. II ►ǧābir and muǧabbir, n., bonesetter: PA I and PA II [v2] ►ʔaǧbara, vb. IV, 1 to force, compel (s.o. ʕalà to do s.th.); 2 to hold sway (ʕalà over): *Š-stem, ints. ►taǧabbara, vb. V, 1a to show o.s. proud, haughty; b to act strong, throw one’s weight around; c to show o.s. strong or powerful, demonstrate one’s strength or power; 2 see [v1]: tD-stem, self-ref. | taǧabbara ḷḷāhu bi-bni-ka, God has demonstrated His power on your son, i.e., He has taken him unto Himself ►¹ǧabr, n., 1 see [v1]; 2a force, compulsion; b coercion, duress; c power, might; d (predestined, inescapable) decree of fate; ǧabrᵃⁿ forcibly, by force: vn. I, but perh. the etymon proper, see also ↗s.v. | yawm ǧabr al-baḥr, a local holiday of Cairo (the day on which, in former times, the water of the Nile was channeled into the now-abandoned ↗ḫalīǧ, or City Canal, thus marking the beginning of the irrigation season) ►ǧabrī, adj., 1 see [v1]; 2 compulsory, forced: nsb-adj. of ↗¹ǧabr ►ǧabarī, adj./n., 1a adherent of the doctrine of predestination and the inescapability of fate; b fatalist: nsb-adj., from ↗¹ǧabr (2.d) ►ǧabariyyaẗ, n.f., 1a an Islamic school of thought teaching the inescapability of fate; b fatalism: abstr. formation in -iyyaẗ, from ↗¹ǧabr (2.d) ►BP#4246ǧabbār, pl. -ūn, ǧabābirᵘ, ǧabābiraẗ, 1 n., a giant; colossus; b tyrant, oppressor; 2 adj., a almighty, omnipotent (God); b gigantic, giant, colossal, huge; 3 Orion (astron.): ints. formation | ǧabbār al-ḫuṭwaẗ, striding powerfully, taking huge strides ►ǧabarūt, n.f., 1a omnipotence; b power, might; 2 tyranny: n. formation along the FaʕaLūt pattern ►ǧibriyāʔᵘ, n., pride, haughtiness: see ↗s.v. ►ʔiǧbār, n., compulsion, coercion: vn. IV ►ʔiǧbārī, adj., forced, forcible, compulsory, obligatory: nsb-adj., from vn. IV | al-taǧnīd al-ʔiǧbārī, compulsory recruitment; military conscription ►maǧbūr and muǧbar, adj., forced, compelled: PP I and PP IV ►Ǧabraʔīlᵘ, Ǧibrīlᵘ, Gabriel: see ↗s.v. [v1] or [v2]? ►ǧabara ḫāṭira-hū, expr., to console, comfort, gratify, oblige s.o.; to treat (s.o.) in a conciliatory or kindly manner ►ǧābara, vb. III, to treat with kindness, with friendliness, be nice (to s.o.): L-stem, assoc., see also ↗s.v. For other values attached to the root, cf. ↗¹ǧabr, ↗ǧabbār, ↗ǧābara, ↗ǧibriyāʔᵘ, and ↗Ǧibrīlᵘ as well as, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√ǦBR.
to treat with kindness, with friendlinss, be nice to s.o. – WehrCowan1976
▪ The associative L-stem ǧābara is possibly based on ↗¹ǧabara ‘to set (broken bones); (hence also:) to restore, bring back to normal, help back on o.’s feet, help up (e.g., one fallen into poverty)’ in an extended sense of ‘to make it easy/comfortable for s.o.’. – Cf., however, the expression ǧabara ḫāṭira-hū ‘to console, comfort, gratify, oblige s.o.; to treat (s.o.) in a conciliatory or kindly manner’ where the underlying notion also could be that of ²ǧabara, namely ‘to force, compel’. If ǧābara is from there, the original sense would be *‘to oblige s.o., force s.o. into a feeling of indebtedness (by treating him/her so friendly/nicely)’. ▪ …
▪ …
▪ ↗ǧabara (< ↗ǧabala?), ↗¹ǧabr, ↗ǧabbār ▪ ↗…
▪ See above, section CONC.
–
No derivations in the proper sense, but a related item is certainly ►ǧabara ḫāṭira-hū, expr., to console, comfort, gratify, oblige s.o.; to treat (s.o.) in a conciliatory or kindly manner For other values attached to the root, cf. ↗ǧabara, ↗¹ǧabr, ↗ǧabbār, ↗ǧibriyāʔᵘ, and ↗Ǧibrīlᵘ as well as, for the overall picture, root entry √ǦBR.
1 setting (of broken bones): see ↗ǧabara; 2a force, compulsion; b coercion, duress; c power, might; d (predestined, inescapable) decree of fate; ǧabrᵃⁿ forcibly, by force – WehrCowan1976
▪ vn. of ↗ǧabara, vb. I, with both of its main values. ▪ This entry focusses on [v2] only. For [v1], also in the use in computation/mathematics (algebra), see ↗ǧabara. ▪ Ultimately, both values of ¹ǧabr are certainly connected, though the nature of this relation is not exactly clear. ClassAr lexicographers tend to derive [v2] ‘to force, compel’ (and ǧabr ‘strength, power; †man’) from [v1] ‘to set (broken bones)’. But the evidence of Sem, where ‘(strong) man; strength, power, force’ prevails and possible reflections of *‘restoring, repairing, helping, making easy/comfortable’ are restricted to the EthSem context, seems to forbid such a derivation. In contrast, the authors of DRS think [v1] is from [v2], in which case the ‘setting of broken bones’ would be a specialization from ‘to force, compel’. – For a possible derivation of [v1] from ǧabala, see ↗ǧabara and root entry ↗ǦBR. – Irrespective of these considerations, ultimately, both values go prob. back to a 2-cons. pre-protSem root nucleus *GB ‘to assemble, amass, bring together, pile up’ (cf. Ehret1995: *GB ‘great’); for more details, cf. ↗√ǦBR. ▪ [v2] : (Kogan2011:) from protCSem *gabr- ‘man / (DRS:) homme fait, dans toute sa force’ (> Ar †ǧabr ‘man’) < protSem *gbr ‘to be strong’. According to Palache1959: 18, the basic meaning of the root in Sem is *‘to rise, raise o.s.; hence [!] also: strength; to restore; to compel, overpower > man’. – According to Ehret1995#262, Ar ǧabbār ‘strong, powerful’ represents an extension in an adj. suffix *-R from a bi-consonantal “pre-Proto-Semitic” root *√GB ‘great’ < AfrAs *gâb- ‘great (esp. in size and number)’.5 ▪ [v2d] ‘(predestined, inescapable) decree of fate’: means the alleged »doctrine of djabr, “compulsion”, viz. that man does not really act but only God. It was also used by later heresiographers to describe a group of sects. The Muʕtazila applied it, usually in the form Mudjbira, to Traditionists, Ashʕarite theologians and others who denied their doctrine of ḳadar or “free will” [↗qadar]«.6 ▪ …
▪ Does the associative L-stem ↗ǧābara ‘to treat with kindness, with friendliness, be nice to s.o.’ reflect †ǧabr ‘man’, thus orig. *‘to treat as a fellow human being’, or is it a *‘(friendly) coercion’, or rather *‘to make it easy/comfortable for s.o.’ (↗ǧabara)? As a support of the first option could serve ClassAr †ʔaǧbara ‘to consider (s.o.) as honest’ (Hava1899), perh. denom., thus *‘to consider as a man’; on the other hand, an expression like ClassAr †ǧabara ḫāṭira-hū ‘to converse kindly with s.o’ (ibid.) may mean *‘to force/exert [mild?] coercion on s.o.’s mind, oblige s.o.’ or *‘to make s.o. feel at ease/comfortable’. Cf. also the ClassAr expression †fulān ǧābirᵘⁿ/mustaǧbirᵘⁿ lī ‘s.o. exerting himself much/exceedingly/to the utmost in paying frequent attention to me, taking care of me, putting my affairs into a right/proper state’ (Lane ii 1865) / Wahrmund: ‘einem (fī mit etw.) ein Vergnügen machen’. ▪ The ClassAr values †‘king’ and †‘slave’ for ǧabr are with all likelihood instances special use of the underlying *‘strong one, strong man’ (though ‘slave’ may be an Ethiopism as the notion of ‘slave, servant’ is prevalent in the EthSem region.2
) – †al-mutaǧabbir ‘the lion’ is prob. *‘the one boasting of his power’; cf. also ↗ǧibriyāʔᵘ ‘pride, arrogance’. ▪ In MSA, ǧabr is no longer used in the sense of ‘man’ but is attested as such in ClassAr: †‘(young, courageous) man | homme, surtout fort, puissant’ (Lane|BK); cf. also DaṯAr ǧuburraẗ ‘naturel de l’homme’ (Landberg1920). – Cf., however, Kogan’s remark that this attestation may be spurious, built on only one single verse.3 ▪ Perh. ClassAr †²ǧubār ‘torrent’ is connected to [v2] as *‘the powerful one’? –Cf. also yawm ǧabr al-baḥr, name for a local holiday of Cairo, orig. *‘day of “forcing”, i.e., channeling the water (of the Nile) (into the now-abandoned ↗ḫalīǧ, or City Canal)’. Thus, the meaning †‘torrent’ could also be *‘water masses forced into a narrow bed’. ▪ †³ǧubār ~ ǧibār in the meaning of ‘(pre-Islamic name of) Tuesday’ seems to go back to an original attestation apparently only in a single verse, according to Fischer1896 a »distichon memoriale« made by a little gifted poet for his students to help them memorize the names of the pre-Islamic weekdays.4
Fischer considered the possibility of a specifically South Arabian origin of these names, but no SAr or EthSem cognates seem to have been found until today. Moreover, he questioned the reliability of the transmission of the verse in general. In contrast, Rotter1993 is convinced that †³ǧubār can be equated with Mars, the Roman god of war, and that therefore the name for the weekday is identical with Lat Martis dies (> Fr mardi, It martedi etc.).5
If this is correct, the “martial” name is related to [v2] ‘strength, power; †man’. ▪ …
▪ Engl algebra, from Ar al-ǧabr ‘the might, force; restoration’, from ǧabara, vb. I, ‘to force; to restore, set (bones)’ – Huehnergard2011. ▪ For related Engl Gabriel see ↗Ǧibrīl. ▪ …
NB: Given that the etymological relation between [v1] and [v2] is still unclear, this section lists derivations from both, but tries to keep them apart for systematic reasons [v1] ►ʕilm al-ǧabr, algebra: orig. *‘reparing’. ►ǧabara, u (ǧabr, ǧubūr), vb. I, 1a to set (broken bones); b to restore, bring back to normal; c to help back on o.’s feet, help up (e.g., one fallen into poverty); 2 see [v2] : vn. I ►ǧabbara, vb. II, to set (broken bones): D-stem, ints. ►taǧabbara, vb. V, 1a see [v2]; 2 to be set (broken bones): tD-stem, self-ref. ►ĭnǧabara, vb. VII, to be mended, repaired, restored: N-stem, pass. ►ǧibāraẗ, n.f., (art of) bonesetting: vn. I ►ǧabīraẗ and ǧibāraẗ, pl. ǧabāʔirᵘ, n.f., splint (surg.): quasi-PP I.f. ►taǧbīr, n., taǧbīr al-ʕiẓām, orthopedics: vn. II ►ǧābir and muǧabbir, n., bonesetter: PA I and PA II [v2] ►yawm ǧabr al-baḥr, a local holiday of Cairo (the day on which, in former times, the water of the Nile was channeled into the now-abandoned ↗ḫalīǧ, or City Canal, thus marking the beginning of the irrigation season) ►ǧabara, u (ǧabr, ǧubūr), vb. I, 1 see [v1]; 2 to force, compel (s.o. ʕalà to do s.th.) | ǧabara ḫāṭira-hū, expr., to console, comfort, gratify, oblige s.o.; to treat (s.o.) in a conciliatory or kindly manner: vn. I ►ʔaǧbara, vb. IV, 1 to force, compel (s.o. ʕalà to do s.th.); 2 to hold sway (ʕalà over): *Š-stem, ints. ►taǧabbara, vb. V, 1a to show o.s. proud, haughty; b to act strong, throw one’s weight around; c to show o.s. strong or powerful, demonstrate one’s strength or power; 2 see [v1]: tD-stem, self-ref. | taǧabbara ḷḷāhu bi-bni-ka, God has demonstrated His power on your son, i.e., He has taken him unto Himself ►ǧabrī, adj., 1 algebraic; 2 compulsory, forced: nsb-adj. of ↗¹ǧabr ►ǧabarī, adj./n., 1a adherent of the doctrine of predestination and the inescapability of fate; b fatalist: nsb-adj., from ↗¹ǧabr (2.d) ►ǧabariyyaẗ, n.f., 1a an Islamic school of thought teaching the inescapability of fate; b fatalism: abstr. formation in -iyyaẗ, from ↗¹ǧabr (2.d) ►BP#4246ǧabbār, pl. -ūn, ǧabābirᵘ, ǧabābiraẗ, 1 n., a giant; colossus; b tyrant, oppressor; 2 adj., a almighty, omnipotent (God); b gigantic, giant, colossal, huge; 3 Orion [perh. *‘the Giant’] : ints. formation; see also ↗s.v. | ǧabbār al-ḫuṭwaẗ, striding powerfully, taking huge strides ►ǧabarūt, n.f., 1a omnipotence; b power, might; 2 tyranny: n. formation along the FaʕaLūt pattern ►ǧibriyāʔᵘ, n., pride, haughtiness: see ↗s.v. ►ʔiǧbār, n., compulsion, coercion: vn. IV ►ʔiǧbārī, adj., forced, forcible, compulsory, obligatory: nsb-adj., from vn. IV | al-taǧnīd al-ʔiǧbārī, compulsory recruitment; military conscription ►maǧbūr and muǧbar, adj., forced, compelled: PP I and PP IV ►Ǧabraʔīlᵘ, Ǧibrīlᵘ, Gabriel: see also ↗s.v. [v1] or [v2]? ►ǧabara ḫāṭira-hū, expr., to console, comfort, gratify, oblige s.o.; to treat (s.o.) in a conciliatory or kindly manner ►ǧābara, vb. III, to treat with kindness, with friendliness, be nice (to s.o.): L-stem, assoc., see also ↗s.v. For other values attached to the root, cf. ↗ǧabbār, ↗ǧabara, ↗ǧābara, ↗ǧibriyāʔᵘ, and ↗Ǧibrīlᵘ as well as, for the overall picture, root entry √ǦBR.
1 n., a giant; colossus; b tyrant, oppressor; 2 adj., a almighty, omnipotent (God); b gigantic, giant, colossal, huge; 3 Orion (astron.) – WehrCowan1976
▪ Ints. formation on the FaʕʕāL pattern, from ǧabara ‘to force, compel’ (see ↗¹ǧabr ‘strength, power; †man’), from protSem *gbr ‘to be strong’ (Kogan2011) / protCSem *gabr- ‘man / (DRS:) homme fait, dans toute sa force’. According to Palache1959: 18, the basic meaning of the root in Sem is *‘to rise, raise o.s.; hence [!] also: strength; to restore; to compel, overpower > man’. Cf., however, Ehret1995#262, according to whom Ar ǧabbār represents an extension in an adj. suffix *-R from a bi-consonantal “pre-Proto-Semitic” root *√GB ‘great’7
< AfrAs *gâb- ‘great (esp. in size and number)’.8 ▪ [v3] : »For Orion, the translators introduced al-djabbār, “the Giant”, perhaps adopting an older Syr designation, gabbārā.«9 ▪ …
NB: Below only items of most direct / immediate relation are listed (no derivations in the proper sense). For other values, ultimately prob. all related, cf. ↗ǧabara, ↗ǧābara, ↗¹ǧabr, ↗ǧibriyāʔᵘ, and ↗Ǧibrīlᵘ as well as, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√ǦBR. ►ǧabbār al-ḫuṭwaẗ, striding powerfully, taking huge strides ►taǧabbara, vb. V, 1a to show o.s. proud, haughty; b to act strong, throw one’s weight around; c to show o.s. strong or powerful, demonstrate one’s strength or power; 2 ↗ǧabara: tD-stem, self-ref. | taǧabbara ’ḷḷāhu bi-’bni-ka, God has demonstrated His power on your son, i.e., He has taken him unto Himself ►ǧabarūt, n.f., 1a omnipotence; b power, might; 2 tyranny ►ǧibriyāʔᵘ, n., pride, haughtiness: see also ↗s.v.
▪ Coined on the rather rare FiʕLiyāʔᵘ pattern, perh. in analogy to the almost synonymous and similarly sounding ↗kibriyāʔᵘ ‘grandeur, glory, magnificence, majesty; pride, haughtiness, presumption, arrogance’. According to Lane ii 1865, in its essence, the noun signifies the ‘(quality denoted by the epithet ↗ǧabbār, i.e.) self-magnification, pride, haughtiness, insolence […]’, and is thus dependent on ↗¹ǧabr ‘strength, power; †man’, from protSem *gbr ‘to be strong’, protCSem *gabr- ‘man’ (Kogan2011), ‘homme fait, dans toute sa force’ (DRS). ▪ Given the many synonyms, listed below (section HIST), that are coined on similarly rare “un-Arabic” patterns, esp. those in -iyyāʔᵘ, -uwwaẗ, -ūt, -aʔūt, -ūtà, as well as the taFʕāL pattern, it seems safe to assume that these items are borrowings, prob. from Aram. ▪ …
NB: Below only items of most direct / immediate semantic proximity are listed (no derivations in the proper sense). For other values, ultimately prob. all related, cf. ↗ǧabara, ↗ǧābara, ↗¹ǧabr, ↗ǧabbrār, and ↗Ǧibrīlᵘ as well as, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√ǦBR. ►taǧabbara, vb. V, 1a to show o.s. proud, haughty; b to act strong, throw one’s weight around; c to show o.s. strong or powerful, demonstrate one’s strength or power; 2 to be set (broken bones): tD-stem, self-ref. | taǧabbara ḷḷāhu bi-bni-ka, God has demonstrated His power on your son, i.e., He has taken him unto Himself ►BP#4246ǧabbār, pl. -ūn, ǧabābirᵘ, ǧabābiraẗ, 1 n., a giant; colossus; b tyrant, oppressor; 2 adj., a almighty, omnipotent (God); b gigantic, giant, colossal, huge; 3 Orion (astron.): ints. formation, see also ↗s.v. | ǧabbār al-ḫuṭwaẗ, striding powerfully, taking huge strides ►ǧabarūt, n.f., 1a omnipotence; b power, might; 2 tyranny
▪ According to Jeffrey1938 ultimately from Hbr Gaḇrīʔēl, »name of one of the high angels and the agent of Revelation, just as he is in the Qurʔān«, prob. via (ChrPal Syr) Aram Gaḇrīlā. ▪ The underlying Hbr words – Hbr geḇer ‘strong one, man’, and Hbr ʔēl ‘god’ – are of course etymologically related to Ar ↗¹ǧabr and Ar ăḷḷāh (↗ʔLH). ▪ …
▪ eC7 Q ii, 91, 92; lxvi, 4. ▪ …
▪ ↗¹ǧabr ▪ …
▪ Jeffery1938: »Always as the Angel of Revelation, and by name only in Madinan passages. (There is possibly a reference to his name [Hbr] Gaḇrîʔēl ‘mighty one of God’, in liii, 5, ‘one mighty in power’.) / There was considerable uncertainty among the early authorities as to the spelling of the name, for we find Ǧibrīlᵘ, Ǧabraʔīlᵘ, Ǧabrāʔilᵘ, Ǧabrayīlᵘ, Ǧabrāʔīlᵘ, Ǧabraʔillᵘ, Ǧabrīlᵘ, Ǧabrāllᵘ, and even Ǧabrīnᵘ and Ǧibrīnᵘ.6
as-Suyūṭī, Muzhir, i, 140, notes that these variants point to its non-Arabic origin,7
and this was admitted by some of the philologers, cf. Ṭab. on ii, 91; al-Ǧawālīqī, 144, and al-Khafājī, 60. / The ultimate origin, of course, is the Hbr Gaḇrīʔēl, and in Dan. viii, 16; ix, 21, Gabriel is one of the high angels and the agent of Revelation, just as he is in the Qurʔān. There is, however, the possibility that the Gabriel of the Qurʔān is of Christian rather than Jewish origin, and the form Gbrylʔ which is found in the Christian Palestinian dialect,8
gives us the closest approximation to the usual Arabic form. / There is some question how well the name was known in Arabia before Muḥammad’s time. Gabriel was known and honoured among the Mandaeans,9
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 Qurʔānic usage. Cheikho, Naṣrāniyya, 235, gives an instance of a personal name containing the word, but Horovitz, KU, 107, rightly insists on the incorrectness of this.10
Muḥammad 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.« ▪ …
▪ Not from Ar ↗ǧabr, though ultimately from the same source is Engl Gabriel, from Hbr gaḇrîʔēl ‘my strong one (is) God’, from Hbr gabrî ‘my strong one’, from gabr‑, presuffixal form of geber ‘strong one, man’, from gābar ‘to be strong’ (for Hbr ʔēl ‘god’, cf. Ar ↗allāh, ʔLH) – Huehnergard2011.
For other values attached to the root, cf. ↗ǧabr, ↗ǧabbār, ↗ǧabara, ↗ǧābara, and ↗ǧibriyāʔᵘ, as well as, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√ǦBR.
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