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Etymological Dictionary of Arabic
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zīr زِير (disambig.) 
ID … • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ZYR 
n. 
▪ zīr_1 ‘large jar’ ↗¹zīr
▪ zīr_2 ‘highest string (of stringed instruments)’ ↗²zīr
▪ zīr_3 (= ZWR_3) ‘ladies’ man, philanderer’ ↗³zīr, arranged under √ZWR. 
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¹zīr زِير , pl. ʔazyār , ziyār (EgAr, MġrAr) 
ID … • Sw – • BP … • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ZYR 
n. 
large jar – WehrCowan1979. / large handle-less earthenware jar used for storing and filtering water (BadawiHinds1986), wide in the upper part and nearly pointed at the bottom (Lane). 
Of unknown origin, probably Sem – Rolland2014a. 
▪ … 
▪ DRS 8 (1999)#ZW/YR-3: Ar zīr, Mhr zayr, Jib zir ‘grande jarre à eau’, Sab zwyr (pl.) ‘distributeur d’eau’?.
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994#2629: (outside Sem) Eg i͗ḏr.t ‘kind of vessel’. 
▪ On account of the Ar and Eg evidence, Orel&Stolbova1994#2629 reconstruct Sem *zīr- ‘big vessel’, Eg i͗ḏr.t (ḏ- <*ʒ- before a front vowel?) ‘kind of vessel’ (TLA: ‘ein Ölgefäß’), from AfrAs *ʒir- ‘vessel’. TLA, however, following Hoch1994, thinks the Eg word is a borrowing from Sem.
▪ In EgAr, the zīr figures in some proverbs/popular sayings, like ʔādi z-zīr wi-ʔādi ġaṭā-h (lit., here is the zīr and here is its cover – part of a children’s rhyme) ≈ ‘here is what clinches it!’ (in presenting proof); dawwar iz-zīr ʕala ġaṭā-h lamma ltaqā-h (lit., the zīr search for its cover, so/until it found it) ≈ ‘he met his match’; kasar zīr warā-h (lit., he broke a zīr behind him) ≈ ‘he said good riddance to him’ – BadawiHinds1986. 
▪ Lokotsch1927#2222: Ar zīr ‘large jar’ [similar in form to the Lat dolium, Grk píthis; ZDMG 50: 631] > Ital ziro ‘id.’. 
► EgAr mazyaraẗ, pl. mazāyir, n.f., cupboard-like stand on which a zīr is placed: n.loc. – BadawiHinds1986.

For other values connected to the root, cf. ↗zīr (disamb.), ↗zīr_2, ↗zīr_3, and ↗ZYR; cf. also ↗zār and ↗ZWR. 
²zīr زِير 
ID … • Sw – • BP … • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ZYR 
n. 
highest string (of stringed instruments) – WehrCowan1979. 
▪ Lane specifies the meaning as ‘slender watar [or bow-string]: or the most slender (of such cords) and the most firmly twisted; hence the zīr [or smallest string] of muzhir [or lute]’. In this sense, he adds, zīr is apparantly of Pers origin. Rolland2014a gives the etymology as: from Pers zīr ‘smallest string of a lute, guitar, etc.’ (Steingass1892), from mPers azīr ‘under’, ultimately from IE *ndʰer‑ ‘under’. 
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See above, section CONC. 
▪ Cf. IE *ndʰer- ‘under’ (Skr adhas ‘below’ [cf. adhaḥ-stha ‘placed low, below’, adhaḥ-sthita ‘standing below’, ádhara-tas ‘below’], Av aṯara- ‘lower’, Lat infernus ‘lower’, infra ‘below’), Engl under. 
For other values connected to the root, cf. ↗zīr (disamb.), ↗zīr_1, ↗zīr_3, and ↗ZYR; cf. also ↗zār and ↗ZWR. 
ZYĠ زيغ 
ID – • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 25Mar2023
√ZYĠ 
“root” 
▪ ZYĠ_1 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ ZYĠ_2 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ ZYĠ_3 ‘...’ ↗...

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘to deviate, turn aside, swerve, turn away’ 
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ZYL زيل 
ID – • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 25Mar2023
√ZYL 
“root” 
▪ ZYL_1 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ ZYL_2 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ ZYL_3 ‘...’ ↗...

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘separation, sorting out, distinguishing between; disappearance’ 
▪ [gnrl] Two different verbs are classified under this root: zāla, impf. yazālu, which, with preceding negative particles, means ‘still’ or ‘continuing to be’, and zāla, impf. yazīlu ‘to sort out’ – BAH2008.
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ZYN زين 
ID – • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 25Mar2023
√ZYN 
“root” 
▪ ZYN_1 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ ZYN_2 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ ZYN_3 ‘...’ ↗...

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘to decorate, ornament, adorn’ 
▪ From protSem *√ZYN or *√ḎYN. Root of uncertain meaning – Huehnergard2011.
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sīn سين 
ID – • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ 
R₁ 
The letter s of the Arabic alphabet. 
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▪ (Huehnergard2011:) Engl shin, from Hbr šîn, from Phoen *šinn ‘tooth; twenty-first letter of the Phoen alphabet’, akin to Hbr šēn, Ar↗sinn ‘tooth’. (The use of the word for ‘tooth’ for this letter is the result of folk etymology and is based on the shape of the letter, which resembles a row of pointed teeth. The letter originally depicted a composite bow, a powerful kind of bow that is made of layers of different materials such as horn and wood and usually has the tips curving away from the archer when unstrung. The earlier name of the letter was *šann < *ṯann ‘composite bow’).
 
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SʔL سأل 
ID … • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√SʔL 
“root” 
▪ SʔL_1 ‘to ask, question, demand, interrogate; to beg’ ↗saʔala
▪ SʔL_2 ‘…’ ↗…

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘asking, inquiring, requesting, quest’ 
↗saʔala 
↗saʔala 
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↗saʔala 
▪ For Engl n.prop. Saul cf. ↗saʔala. 
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