Bibliotheca Polyglotta

For other values attached to the root, cf. ↗qaṭara, ↗qaṭṭara, ↗qiṭār, ↗taqāṭara, ↗¹quṭr, ↗²quṭr, ↗Qaṭar, ↗quṭ(u)r, ↗qaṭrān, ↗miqṭaraẗ, and, for the general picture (incl. earlier values, now obsolete), root entry ↗QṬR.

QṬRB قطرب

√QṬRB

“root”

NB: For reasons of convenience, paragraphs ^†QṬRB_1-3 try to group several interrelated values attached to the root under three overarching meanings; but these “parent” values are all derived from one, see ↗quṭrub and sections CONC and DISC, below.

▪ ^†QṬRB_1 ‘(a certain) wolf (whose hair has fallen off, scanty, mischievous, malignant)’.
▪ ^†QṬRB_2 ‘to rove around by night, without sleeping’: 2.1 a bird that does so (owl; strix); 2.2 insects (esp. glowworms); 2.3 thief who is skilful, active, in thievishness; 2.4 rat, mouse; 2.5 a demon: 2.5.1 male demon called ġūl (= suʕlāẗ), 2.5.2 young, or little, jinnee, 2.5.3 young, little dog, puppy; 2.6 restlessness: 2.6.1 never-resting insect, going about quickly, moving about on the surface of water; to hasten, speed, go quickly; 2.6.2 to move about one’s head; 2.6.3 light, active.
▪ ^†QṬRB_3 ‘possession’: 3.1 mental disorder, demoniacal possession, melancholy: 3.1.1 mélancolie qui fait fuir la société des hommes (BK), vitiating, or disordering, the intellect, contracting the face, causing to wander about in the night (etc.), lycanthropy | werewolf (St); 3.1.2 ignorance, stupidity: ignorant person, boasting by reason of his ignorance; light-witted | stultus (F), imbécile (BK); 3.1.3 cowardice, cowardly; 3.2 to throw o.s. down, prostrate on the ground, by reason of diabolical possession or wrestling | epilepsia correptus (F), homme qui tombe du haut-mal (BK).

Other meanings attached to the root (but apparently/seemingly unrelated to any of the preceding ones) include:

▪ ^†QṬRB_4 ‘flag’ (?): ^†qiṭrīb
▪ ^†QṬRB_5 ‘slippers | mules, chaussure sans quartier’: ^†qaṭārib (pl.)
▪ ^†QṬRB_6 ‘burdock plant, arctium | bardane, glouteron’: ^†quṭrub
▪ ^†QṬRB_7 ‘peg by which the oxen are tied to a plough, plough-peg’: ^†qaṭrīb or ^†qiṭrīb
▪ …

▪ ^†QṬRB_1-3: The “parent values” [v1]–[v3] of √QṬRB can serve as a fine example of the surprising semantic diversity that may arise from one single borrowing: all the respective values go back to Grk lukánθrōpos ‘wolf-man’, a word that entered Ar via Syr qanṭropos.
▪ ^†QṬRB_4 qiṭrīb ‘flag’: semantics unclear.
▪ ^†QṬRB_5 qaṭārib ‘slippers | mules, chaussure sans quartier’: semantics unclear.
▪ ^†QṬRB_6 quṭrub ‘burdock plant, arctium | bardane, glouteron’: semantics unclear; connected to [v7]?
▪ ^†QṬRB_7 qaṭrīb, qiṭrīb ‘peg by which the oxen are tied to a plough, plough-peg’: related to [v6]? The word may have a cognate in postBiblHbr and Aram; perh. based on Sem *QṬR ‘to tow, tie, bind’?

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▪ ^†QṬRB_1-3: Syr qanṭropos (< Grk) ‘wolf-man, lycanthrope’.
▪ ^†QṬRB_4: ?
▪ ^†QṬRB_5: see perh. [v1]-[v3]?
▪ ^†QṬRB_6: cf. perh. [v7]?
▪ ^†QṬRB_7: postBiblHbr qēṭrāḇ ‘cotter-pin, crosspiece of a yoke’, Aram qeṭrabâ.

▪ ^†QṬRB_1-3: When Grk lukánθrōpos ‘wolf-man’ entered Ar via the Syr qanṭropos it must have meant a person possessed by a demon, looking (or believing to look) like a wolf, restlessly roving around at night. From the three main ideas attached to this being – the scary, wolf-like shape, its restless roving about by night, and its possession – a large variety of derived values developed, all expressed by the word quṭrub or the (denom.) vb.s qaṭraba (I) and taqaṭraba (II). For details see ↗quṭrub.
▪ ^†QṬRB_4 ^†qiṭrīb ‘flag’: The value is given only by al-Zabīdī in his Tāǧ (explained there as »ʕalam«).
▪ ^†QṬRB_5 ^†qaṭārib ‘slippers | mules, chaussure sans quartier’: value given only by Dozy1881. The form qaṭārib is obviously a pl. of quṭrub, but in which of the latter’s many senses? Perh. ironical use of [v2], slippers being called the sandals with which one *‘roves around in the night’?
▪ ^†QṬRB_6 ^†quṭrub ‘bardane, glouteron’ (burdock plant, arctium): value reported by Dozy1881; semantics perh. related to [v7] as *‘plant that remains sticked (tied, towed) to s.o.’?
▪ ^†QṬRB_7 ^†qaṭrīb or qiṭrīb ‘peg by which the oxen are tied to a plough, plough-peg’: value reported by Dozy1881 as well as Hava1899 (where it is marked as »LevAr«). Semantically, one is tempted to connect postBiblHbr qēṭrāḇ ‘cotter-pin, crosspiece of a yoke’ and Aram qeṭrabâ ‘dto.’, which both are of uncertain origin (Klein1987).¹ This QṬRB may be based on 3-rad. ↗√QṬR ‘to tow (ship, trailer, glider)’, Syr qṭar ‘to bind’, qeṭrā ‘chain’, Ar ↗qiṭār ‘train’ etc.

▪ None of the values is in any way related to Qurṭubaẗ ‘Córdoba’, which not only shows ‑rṭ‑ instead of ‑ṭr‑, but also has a completely different etymology: from Lat Corduba, from Grk Κορδύβη ~ Κορδυβά, from an earlier Old Iberian name.²

1. According to Klein1987, both are possibly borrowed from an Akk qartabu ‘small beam’ – but this item is not verifiable in vonSoden or CAD, where I could only find qan ṭuppi ~ qanṭuppu, qarṭuppu ‘reed stylus’ and kartappu ~ qartappu, kirdippu ‘groom for leading donkeys and horses and as title of a court official, a high administrative official’ (< Sum kìri/kir₄[KA]‑dib/dab ‘dto.’, composed of ‘nose’ + ‘to catch, hold’); neither ‘reed stylus’ nor ‘groom’ come close in meaning to Klein’s ‘small beam’). 2. The name has also »frequently been explained as from the Phoen-Pun qrt ṭwbh ‘good town’ since Conde first suggested this etymology in his Description de España de Xerif Aledris, Madrid 1799, 161 (…). The name is certainly not Semitic but Old Iberian« – C.F. Seybold and M. Ocaña Jiménez, “Ḳurṭuba”, in EI², first published online 2012, consulted 01Jul2020.

▪ See ↗^†quṭrub.

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