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Etymological Dictionary of Arabic
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k˅fʔ : kafʔ كَفْء , kifʔ كِفْء , kufʔ كُفْء 
ID … • Sw – • BP … • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√KFʔ 
¹adj.; ²n. 
equal, alike; adequate, appropriate, suitable, fit (li‑ for); equal (li‑ to s.o.), a match (li‑ for); qualified, capable, able, competent, efficient – WehrCowan1979. 
▪ … 
▪ eC7 kufuw (equal, peer) Q 112:4 wa-lam yakun la-hū kufuwan ʔaḥadun ‘and equal to Him there is none’ 
▪ DRS 10 (2012)#KPʔ/P-2: Ar kāfaʔa ‘égaler, être égal à; rétribuer qn pour ce qu’il a fait’. No direct cognates given. But cf. also ↗KFʔ and ↗kafaʔa.
▪ Zammit2002 #KFʔ: no cognates at all. 
▪ Like Zammit, DRS does not give any direct cognates. But there may be a relation between ‘(to be/come) equal, alike, etc.’ and ↗kafaʔa ‘to reverse, inverse, turn over’, cf. ↗KFʔ. 
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► kāfaʔa, vb. III, to reward; to requite, return, repay, recompense (s.th. bi‑ with); to compensate, make up (for s.th. bi‑ with); to be similar, equal (DO to s.th.), to equal, be commensurate with; to measure up, come up to, compare favorably with: associative.
► takāfaʔa, vb. VI, to be equal, be on a par; to (counter)balance each other, be perfectly matched: T-stem of III.

► kufūʔ, kufuʔ, n., equal, comparable (li‑ to), a match (li‑ for):…
► kifāʔ, n., an equivalent:…
► kafāʔ, n., equality; adequacy, adequateness: quasi-vn. I.
► BP#2085 kafāʔaẗ, n.f., equality; adequacy, adequateness; comparableness; fitness, suitability, appropriateness; competence, efficiency, ability, capability: quasi-vn. I; pl. ‑āt, qualifications, abilities, capabilities | šahādat al-~, n., certificate of competence (for practice of a trade, Alg.; formerly for school teachers, Eg.).
► BP#4475 mukāfaʔaẗ, pl. ‑āt, n., requital; recompense, remuneration; compensation, indemnification, indemnity; reward; stipend; premium (ʕalà for): vn. III.
► takāfuʔ, n., mutual correspondence, equivalence; homogeneity, sameness; equality: vn. VI | ~ al-furaṣ, n., equal chances, equal opportunity; ~ al-ḍiddayn, n., ambivalence.
► ĭnkifāʔ, n., retreat, withdrawal: vn. VII.
► mukāfiʔ, adj., equal, (a)like, of the same kind, homogeneous, corresponding, commensurate, equivalent: PA III.
► mutakāfiʔ, adj., alike, (mutually) corresponding, commensurate, equivalent, equal: PA VI. 
KFT كفت 
ID – • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 20Feb2023
√KFT 
“root” 
▪ KFT_1 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ KFT_2 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ KFT_3 ‘...’ ↗...

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘to alter, change; to detain, hiding place, place for burying things/people; to compete; difficulty; livelihood; small cooking pot, to sheathe; death’ 
▪ … 
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KFR كفر 
ID 757 • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√KFR 
“root” 
▪ KFR_1 ‘to cover, hide; be irreligious, infidel’ ↗kafara
▪ KFR_2 ‘village’ ↗kafr
▪ KFR_3 ‘camphor’ ↗kāfūr

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘to cover, to hide, to cover seed in the soil, to plant seeds, planter; to wear a garment over the shield; to be ungrateful, to hide God’s existence, to deny God, not to believe, to blaspheme, to be an infidel; darkness of night, night; the sea; great valley; rain; to prostrate, to show humility’. – Al-Suyūṭī quotes an opinion that kaffir is a borrowing from either Nab or Hbr. 
While kafr ‘village’ and kāfūr ‘camphor’ are loanswords, the vb. kafara in its meaning ‘to cover, hide’ is older (Huehnergard2011: protSem *√¹KPR ‘to wipe clean, polish, purify, cover’). The figurative meanings attached to this vb. and some of its derivations, however, may be Hebraisms or Aramaisms. This is evidently the case with ‘expiation’. But it is less obvious with ‘to be irreligious, infidel’. The latter may be a genuinely Ar innovation – unless the ‘infidel’ originally is the *‘villager’ (as Huehnergard2011 has it), in which case ‘to be irreligious, infidel’ belongs to KFR_2, not KFR_1. 
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▪ DRS 10 (2012)#KPR: With 14 values, this root is one of the most complex in Sem. Out of these 14, however, only 4 are realized in Ar: –1 kafara ‘couvrir, recouvrir; renier les bienfaits reçus, être ingrat envers; être infidèle, incrédule, nepas croire en un dieu unique’. –2 kafr ‘village’. –7 kāfūr ‘camphre’. –13 (Moroccan) kafūra ‘groin’. – For cognates see the entries referred to in the "Nutshell" section above. The dialectal value has no correspondence in MSA, thus no entry. 
▪ …
▪ … 
▪ Engl Capernaum ↗kafr. – Engl giaour, kafir, Kaffir, takfir, takfiri ↗kāfir, ↗kafr.
▪ Engl cyprinid, cyprinodont: cf. perh. Ar ↗kafara. 
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