šārib شارِب , pl. šawāribᵘ
ID … • Sw – • BP … • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ŠRB
1 (pl. ‑ūn, šarb, šurūb) ↗šariba . – 2 (pl. šawāribᵘ) moustache, frequently dual: šāribān – WehrCowan1979.
▪ Like also (post-classical) ↗šarrābaẗ ~ šurrābaẗ ‘tassel’, šārib ‘moustache’ is usually regarded as derivation from ↗šariba ‘to drink’. The semantic relation however is nowhere explained convincingly in detail and remains rather doubtful.
▪ Therefore, instead of trying to link šārib and šarrābaẗ to ↗šariba, is it not possible (and also more likely) that we are dealing with reflexions of another etymon here? I suggest to put both together with ↗ĭšraʔabba ~ ĭšrābba ‘to stretch/crane one’s neck’, which seems to be cognate to lHbr širbēḇ ‘1 to stretch out, prolong, enlarge; 2 to draw down, let down’, Aram šarbēḇ ‘to prolong, let hang down, let down’, Š-stems belonging to the complex of Sem *rabb‑ ‘big’ (cf. Ar ↗rabb ‘lord, master’). šārib ‘moustache’ as well as šarrābaẗ ‘tassel’ could then be explained as *‘hanging down, projecting, overhanging’. The unusual phonology—the regular correspondence would be (Sem *š >) Hbr š, Aram š ~ Ar s, and (Sem *ś >) Hbr ś, Aram s, Ar š —could be explained as the result of a late development. – Should it be possible to corroborate this hypothetic etymology, then also ↗mašrabiyyaẗ may have to be reconsidered, see s.v.
▪ The fact that ClassAr dictionaries often explain šārib as ‘long portions [of hair] on the two sides of the sabalaẗ [moustache]’ (Lane iv 1872) could corroborate the idea that šārib originally did not signify the moustache itself but only what was ‘overhanging’ from it. Morphologically a PA I, šārib could be seen as derived from a vb. *šar˅b‑ ‘to overhang’.
▪ See section CONCISE above, as well as ↗ŠRB, ↗šariba, ↗ĭšraʔabba, ↗šarrābaẗ, ↗mašrabiyyaẗ.
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