Bibliotheca Polyglotta

♦ 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.

▪ …
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▪ Engl Capernaum ↗kafr. – Engl giaour, kafir, Kaffir, takfir, takfiri ↗kāfir, ↗kafr.
▪ Engl cyprinid, cyprinodont: cf. perh. Ar ↗kafara.

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kafar‑ كَفَرَ , i (¹kafr ; ²kufr , kufrān , kufūr)

ID 760 • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021

√KFR

vb., I

v1 (vn. ¹kafr): to cover, hide
v2 (vn. ²kufr, kufrān, kufūr): to be irreligious, be an infidel, not to believe; kafara bi-’llāh also: to blaspheme God, curse, swear; to renege one’s faith, become an infidel; to be ungrateful (for a benefit) – WehrCowan1979.

▪ The vb. kafara in its meaning ‘to cover, hide’ (v1) is old, going back to a Sem vb. that must have meant s.th. like *‘to wipe, clean, polish, purify, cover’ (Huehnergard2011).
▪ The figurative meanings attached to it and a number of derivations, however, may be Hebraisms or Aramaisms. This is evidently the case with the notion of ‘expiation’, as in kaffara ‘to expiate’ (vb. II), kaffāraẗ ‘penance, expiation; (hence also:) expiatory gifts’ and the vn. II takfīr in the sense of ‘expiation, atonement, penance (for a sin)’.
▪ The case of v2 ‘to be infidel’, however, is doubtful. Jeffery connects it to a Hbr-Syr context, while Huehnergard2011 considers it to be derived from kafr ‘village’; in this theory, an ‘infidel’ would thus be, originally, a *‘villager’. But the sense of ‘to deny one’s religion’ is not too far from ‘to cover, hide’, so it may well be a genuinly Ar innovation.

▪ eC7 Used very frequently in Q in the sense of ‘to deny the existence of God’, then also ‘to be an unbeliever’.

▪ DRS 10 (2012)#KPR-1: Akk kapāru ‘étendre, essuyer (en frottant)’, ? Ug kpr ‘essuyer (?)’, JP kəpar ‘essuyer, nettoyer’; Akk kuppuru ‘purifier’, kāpir : un ouvrier du temple, Hbr kipper ‘expier’, JP kapper ‘expier’, Sab kfr ‘pardonner (un péché)’, Palm kprh, Nab kprʔ, Liḥy kafr‑ ‘tombeau, sépulcre’.

▪ Jeffery1938, 250: »In its various forms it is of common use in the Qurʔān, and the root is undoubtedly Ar, but as a technical religious term it has been influenced by outside usage. – The primitive sense of kafara ‘to cover or conceal’, corresponds with the Aram כפר; Syr kfr, and a derivative from this primitive sense occurs in the Qurʔān, 57:20, in the word kuffār ‘husbandmen’, i.e. ‘they who cover the seed’. The form kaffara, however, corresponds with the Hbr kippēr, Aram kappēr, and means ‘to cover’ in the sense of ‘atone’.¹ In this sense it is used with ʕan, and al-Suyūṭī, Itq, 324; Mutaw, 56, tells us that some early authorities noted this kafara ʕan as derived from Hebr or Nabataean. The commoner use, however, is with bi‑, in the sense of ‘to deny the existence or goodness of God’, and this use with bi‑ is characteristic of Syriac. The form kāfir, an ‘unbeliever’, and kufr ‘unbelief’, may indeed be independent borrowings from the [Talm]Hbr kōp̄ā̈r, Syr kāp̄ōrā and kāp̄ōrūṯā (Ahrens, Christliches, 41), though a kpr as a proper name seems to occur in the Thamudic inscriptions (Ryckmans, Nom propres, i, 115). The form [Ar] kaffāraẗ may, however, be a direct borrowing from the Jews, cf. Horovitz, JPN, 220. – Hirschfeld, Beiträge, 90; Horovitz, KU, 59, and Torrey, Foundation, 48, 144, would have the dominant influence on the Ar in this connection from the Jewish community, and Pautz, Offenbarung, 159, n.; Mingana, Syriac Influence, 86, stand for a Christian source. Again it is really impossible to decide (cf. Ahrens, Christliches, 21).«
▪ Pennacchio2014: 138 follows Jeffery in assigning vb. II, kaffara to Hbr Aram kippär ‘to expiate’, while she thinks that kaffāraẗ ‘expiation’ is not a borrowing from late [Talm] Hbr kappārā ‘expiation’, but must be earlier (from where? – Ahrens1930: 22 excluded BiblHbr kappōräṯ ‘propitiatory’, a late technical term from ‘to cover over sin’…).
▪ In contrast to all other references, Huehnergard2011 connects the meaning ‘to be infidel’ to ↗kafr ‘village’ (‘infidel’ < *‘villager’). For further discussion, see ↗kāfir.

1. The SAr kfr seems also to have this meaning; cf. Rossini, Glossarium, 170.

▪ (Huehnergard2011:) Engl cyprinid; cyprinodont, from Grk kuprīnos ‘carp’, perh. from kúpros ‘henna’ (from the fish’s color), prob. from a Sem source akin to Ug kpr and Hbr kōper ‘henna’ (perh. ultimately from √KPR in the meaning ‘to wipe, cover’ > ‘to cover with dye’, cf. Ar ↗kafara).
▪ Not from Ar, but from Hbr (to which the Ar vb. is akin), is Yom Kippur, the name of the Jewish holiday. According to EtymOnline, the word came into English by mC19 (first attested 1854) from Mishnaic Hbr yôm kippûr (BiblHebr yôm kippûrîm), lit. ‘day of atonement,’ from yôm ‘day’ + kippûr ‘atonement, expiation.’

v1
► kaffara, vb. II, to cover, hide: ints.

v2
► kaffara, vb. II, 1 to expiate; to do penance, atone, make amends; to grant remission (of one’s sins); to forgive, grant pardon: probably a Hebraism-Aramaism; 2 to make an infidel, seduce to unbelief: caus., denom. from kāfir or kufr.
► ʔakfara, vb. IV, to make an infidel; to call an infidel, accuse of infidelity: caus., denom. from kāfir or kufr.

► kafr, n., village ↗s.v.
► ^BP#3044C kufr, kufrān, n., unbelief, infidelity ↗kufr
► kafar, pl. ‑āt (saud.-ar., Eg.), n., rubber tire (for cars, bicycles): ?
► kaffār, n., infidel, unbeliever: ints.
► kaffāraẗ, n.f., penance, atonement (for a sin), expiation; reparation, amends; expiatory gifts, expiations (distributed to the poor at a funeral):
► takfīr, n., 1 expiation, atonement, penance (for a sin); 2 seduction to infidelity; charge of unbelief
► ^BP#3646C kāfir, pl. ‑ūn, kuffār, kafaraẗ, kifār, adj./n., irreligious, unbelieving; unbeliever, infidel, atheist; ungrateful: PA I (but see "Discussion").
► kāfūr, n., camphor ↗s.v..

kafr كَفْر , pl. kufūr

ID … • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021

√KFR

small village, hamlet – WehrCowan1979.

Probably from Aram kaprā ′village’, from protSem *kapar‑ ′village’.

▪ …

▪ DRS 10 (2012)#KPR-2: Akk kapr‑, Hbr kāpār, koper, oEmpAram kpr, JP kaprā ‘village’.
▪ Unrelated to ↗kafara ‘to hide; (but also to ′be an unbeliever’?) and ↗kāfūr ‘camphor’.

▪ DRS 10 (2012)#KPR: »L’arabe est probablement un emprunt à l’araméen.«
▪ Huehnergard2011: from Aram kaprā ‘village’, from Sem *kapar ‘village’.
▪ Huehnergard2011 derives the figurative meaning of the vb. kafara, ‘to be infidel’, not from the vb.’s basic value ‘to hide, conceal’ but from kafr, the ‘infidel’ being, originally, the *‘villager’. For further discussion, see ↗kāfir.

▪ Kluge2002: Ge Kaff ‘awful hole, godforsaken place’ (C19), from Rotwelsch, from Romani gāw ‘village’, influenced by older Rotwelsch kefar ‘village’, from WYid kefar, from Hbr kāp̄ār ‘village’.

Derivational situation not clear yet. Should Huehnergard2011 be right in connecting ‘infidelity’ to ‘village’ then the following items may be derived from kafr :

► kafara, i (kufr, kufrān, kufūr), vb. I, to be irreligious, be an infidel, not to believe: denom. from kāfir or kufr (?).
► kaffara, vb. II, to make an infidel, seduce to unbelief: caus., denom. from kāfir or kufr. – For another value see ↗kafara.
► ʔakfara, vb. IV, to make an infidel; to call an infidel, accuse of infidelity: caus., denom. from kāfir or kufr.

► ^BP#3044C kufr, kufrān, n., unbelief, infidelity.
► kaffār, n., infidel, unbeliever: ints.
► takfīr, n., seduction to infidelity; charge of unbelief: vn. II. – For another value see ↗kafara.
► ^BP#3646C kāfir, pl. ‑ūn, kuffār, kafaraẗ, kifār, adj./n., irreligious, unbelieving; unbeliever, infidel, atheist; ungrateful: PA I (but see "Discussion").

kufr كُفْر

√KFR

… – WehrCowan1979.

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▪ …
▪ …

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►

kāfir كافِر , pl. ‑ūn , kuffār , kafaraẗ , kifār

√KFR

¹adj.; ²n.

irreligious, unbelieving; unbeliever, infidel, atheist; ungrateful – WehrCowan1979.

▪ C
▪ Either simply a PA I from the vb. ↗kafara (′one who conceals his belief’), or from TalmHbr kōp̄ēr ′unbeliever’ (Horovitz), or inspired by Syr kāp̄ōrā ′unbeliever’, kāp̄ōrūṯā ′unbelief’ (Ahrens), or derived from, or akin to, Ar ↗kafr ′village’, an ′infidel’ originally being a *′villager’ (Huehnergard).

▪ …

Depending on how the etymological situation is viewed, (indirect) cognates (via the non-Ar words from which the etymon of kāfir is borrowed) belong to the complexes of KFR_1 or KFR_2, see ↗KFR.

▪ Huehnergard2011 derives the figurative meaning ‘to be infidel’ of the vb. kafara not from the vb.’s basic value ‘to hide, conceal’ but from ↗kafr, the ‘infidel’ being, originally, the *‘villager’. Huehnergard is the only reference who makes this connection. But cf. the extra-Sem evidence, see section "Loans into Western languages", below.

▪ Kluge2002: Ge Kaffer ‘silly person, idiot’ (attested since C18), from Rotwelsch kaffer, from WYid kaf(f)er ‘peasant, villager’, from post-TalmHbr kafrī ‘rural’, akin to WYid kefar ‘village’, from Hbr kāp̄ār ‘village’.
▪ Huehnergard2011: from Ar kāfir are Engl giaour ¹ , kafir, Kaffir ² , takfir, takfiri.

1. In contrast, EtymOnline says: »1560s, Turkish term of contempt for non-Muslims, from Pers gaur, var. of gabr ‘fire-worshipper,’ originally applied to the adherents of the Zoroastrian religion.« 2. Cf. also EtymOnline : »1790, from Arabic kāfir ‘unbeliever, infidel, impious wretch,’ with a literal sense of ‘one who does not admit the blessings of God,’ from kafara ‘to cover up, conceal, deny, blot out.’ Technically, ‘non-Muslim,’ but in Ottoman times it came to be used almost exclusively for ‘Christian.’ Early English missionaries used it as an equivalent of ‘heathen’ to refer to Bantus in South Africa (1792), from which use it came generally to mean ‘South African black’ regardless of ethnicity, and to be a term of abuse since at least 1934.«

Derivational situation not clear yet. Should kāfir, as Huehnergard2011 thinks, be from kafr ′village’, then the following items must be considered derivations that ultimately go back to kāfir (otherwise they belong to the vb. kafara on which then also would depend):

kāfūr كافور

√KFR

camphor, camphor tree; (EgAr) blue gum (Eucalyptus ‎globulus Lab.; bot.) – WehrCowan1979.

▪ The word is ultimately of East Asian origin. Camphor came to the Arabs ‎via India, and to Europe via Arab physicians. In East Asia and India, it had been used since ancient times as a fumigant in religious rituals and other ceremonies. In the Qur’an it is mentioned as a cooling agent or flavouring for the drinks of the blessed in heaven. Arab physicians introduced camphor in the West as a drug. In C11 Italy and C12 Germany it is used as a remedy against gout and rheumatism (mentioned, among others, by Hildegard of Bingen) – Osman 2002.

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘[n.] camphor; a mixture of chosen scents; a name of a spring in Paradise’

▪ C6 ʕAntara b. Šaddād bayna šifāhihā miskun ʕabīrun wa-kāfūrun yumāziǧuhū mudāmū (Polosin1995)
▪ eC7 al-Aʕšā wa-bāridin ratilin ʕaḏbin maḏāqatuhū | ka-ʔannamā ʕulla bi’l-kāfūri wa-’ġtabaqā ‘und ein kühles, schönes (Gebiß), von süßem Geschmack, gleich wie wenn es getränkt wäre mit Kâfūrwein und einen Abendtrunk getan hätte’ (Geyer1905: 61-2).
▪ eC7 Q 76: 5-6 ʔinna ’l-ʔabrāra yašrabūna min kaʔsin kāna mizāǧuhā kāfūran | ʕaynan yašrabu bihā ʕibādu ’ḷḷāhi yufaǧǧirūnahā tafǧīran “Die Frommen (dagegen) trinken (im Paradies Wein) aus einem Becher, dessen Mischwasser (mit) Kampfer (gewürzt) ist, | von einer Quelle, an der die (auserwählten) Diener Gottes trinken, und die sie unausgesetzt (oder: stark) (aus der Erde hervor)sprudeln lassen” (Paret)

see DISC section below.

▪ According to Jeffery1938, »The verse [Q 76: 5] is an early one ‎descriptive of the joys of Paradise, where the Commentators were uncertain whether kāfūr was ‎the name of the fountain from which the Blessed drink, or the material used to temper the drink ‎‎(cf. Ṭab. and Bayḍ. on the verse). – It is usually taken as an Ar word (LA, vi, 465), but the ‎variety of spellings – kāfūr, qāfūr, qafūr, and qaffūr – would suggest otherwise, and several ‎of the early authorities noted it as a loan-word from Pers. The ultimate source ‎is probably to be found in the Munda dialects of India, whence it passed into Dravidian, e.g. Tamil karppūram, Malayalam kappūram, and into Skr, cf. karpūr. It passed also into Iranian, where we find Phlv kāpūr, which gives the modPers kāfūr, and Arm ‎k'ap'owr, and into Aram where we find Syr ‎qapūrā and Mand ‎גופארא‎. – It is very probable that the Syriac like the Grk kaphourá is from the Iranian, and Addai Sher, 136, would make the Ar also a ‎borrowing from the Persians. The probabilities are, however, that it, like the Eth [Gz] kəfūr,² is to ‎be taken as derived from the Syriac. We find the ‎word in the early poetry (e.g. in al-Aʕshā), but the story ‎told by Balādhurī (ed. de Goeje, 264), that the Arab soldiers who conquered Madā’in found stores ‎of camphor there and took it for salt, would seem to show that the article was not widely known in ‎Arabia«.
▪ Geyer1905: 61-62: »Es ist schwer zu sagen, ob wir unter kāfūr wirklich stets den heute bei uns nur mehr medizinal gebrauchten Kampferwein oder auch anderweitig gewürzten Wein zu verstehen haben (vgl. die einander widersprechenden Angaben bei Lane, s.v.). Er wird ziemlich häufig genannt, am häufigsten wohl bei ʕUmar ibn ʔAbī Rabīʕah [lC7/eC8], und zwar VI 19, X 16, XVI 14, CLXXI 6, CLXXXIII; an den Stellen XXXII 1 und CXV 12 bezeichnet kāfūr‑ nur den Riechstoff, und es ist nicht auszuschließen, daß dies auch an einer oder der anderen von den früher angeführten der Fall ist«.
▪No relation whatsoever with the many KFR roots ‎‎(↗√KFR).

2. Stefan Weninger informs me that kəfūr is wrong and should definitely be kafūr, which is a loan from Ar. Jeffery’s opinion that Syr played a roll in the transfer of the word to Gz is therefore to be refuted – Personal communication, 07Jan2014.

▪ Kluge2002: A loan, ultimately, from an ‎Austroasian word (cf. Khmer kāpōr etc.). The many inlaut consonsants (Ge Kampfer, ‎nEngl camphor, Ital canfora, Ar kāfūr, oInd karpū́ra-) can be explained, probably, as a ‎variation that goes back to different prefixes.
▪ Ar kāfūr gave mLat ‎camphora, oItal cafura, Fr camphra, SpanPort cánfora, alcanfor, mHGe gaffer (C13) ‎and campher. Later attestations in Ge: 1556 Gampher (Frisius), 1616 Campher ‎‎(Henisch) – Osman2002.

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