Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ KLM_1 ‘wound, cut, slash’ ↗kalm
▪ KLM_2 ‘to speak, talk; word, speech, saying; disputation; (Isl.) theology’ ↗kalimaẗ, ↗kalām
▪ KLM_3 ‘kilim, carpet, rug’ ↗kalīm

Not from KLM but sometimes looked up under the lemma are:

KLM_4 kulla-mā ‘whenever’ ↗kull
KLM_5 k-l-m ‘km’ (abbreviation of ‘kilometer’) ↗kīlūmitr

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘1 to cut, wound; 2 speech, utterance, word, to speak, conversation’

▪ Out of the 3 values that the root KLM, according to DRS, can take in Sem, only two are represented in Ar: ‘to wound’ and ‘speech, to speak’.
▪ KLM_2 ‘to speak, speech’ seems to be an exclusively SSem, if not only Ar phenomenon, while KLM_1 ‘(to) wound’ has a deeper Sem dimension. Are the two related etymologically? See DISC below.
▪ A third value, KLM_3 ‘kilim, carpet, rug’, is of Tu origin.

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▪ Out of the 3 values that the root KLM, according to DRS, can take in Sem, only two are represented in Ar: ‘to wound’ and speech, to speak’.
▪ KLM_2 ‘to speak, speech’ seems to be an exclusively SSem, if not only Ar phenomenon, while the KLM_1 ‘(to) wound’ has a deeper Sem dimension. Are the two related etymologically? See DISC below.
▪ A third value (KLM_3 ‘kilim, carpet, rug’) is of Tu origin.

▪ While KLM_3 clearly is of foreign origin, KLM_1 and KLM_2 have cognates in Sem. The question is: Are the two related etymologically? – The value ‘speech, to speak’ (KLM_2) seems to be an exclusively SSem development, while the value ‘to wound, humiliate’ (KLM_1) is found in Ar as well as in Can (Hbr, Aram). There is also an ESem value: Akk kullumu means ‘to show, point out, indicate, produce evidence; to expose, reveal, exhibit’. DRS groups the Akk item together with Ar Can ‘to humiliate, wound’, but it is not clear why it should not belong to the SSem group. In fact, it may be the link between both and the primary meaning: One could imagine a development from an original *‘to show, indicate’ to the meanings (1) ‘to humiliate’ (by showing s.th. disgraceful, making humiliating statements or proposals) > (by extension) ‘to wound’, and (2) ‘speech, to speak’, i.e., a generalisation of the more specific ‘to put forward, show, indicate, produce evidence’. One could also think of a line ‘to show, point out, expose, reveal, exhibit’ > ‘to speak (i.e., to show, reveal verbally)’ > ‘to humiliate (by words, improper speech)’ > ‘to wound (in general)’. Another semantic chain could be: ‘to show, point out, expose, reveal, exhibit’ > ‘to humiliate, wound (by pointing to s.th.)’ > ‘to make a humiliating utterance’ > ‘to utter, express’ > ‘to speak’. Which of these, if any, is the right one is impossible to decide.

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kalimaẗ كَلِمة , pl. ‑āt (coll. kalim)

ID … • Sw – • BP 173 • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021

√KLM

n.f.

1 word; 2 speech, address; 3 utterance, remark, saying; 4 aphorism, maxim; 5 brief announcement, a few (introductory) words; 6 short treatise; 7 importance, weight, influence, authority, ascendancy, powerful position – WehrCowan1979.

▪ Etymologically, Ar kalimaẗ belongs to the SSem theme ‘speech, utterance, to speak’. A relation with (ESem) Akk kullumu ‘to show, indicate, point out’ and/or Hbr Aram ‘to humiliate’, and with this also to Ar ↗kalm ‘wound’, is not impossible, but difficult to prove; see DISC s.v. ↗KLM.
▪ In the expression kalimaẗ Allāh, kalimaẗ means ‘a’ (single) divine utterance. It has to be distinguished from ↗kalām Allāh ‘the Word of God’ – EI², art. »kalām« (L. Gardet). »[kalimaẗ ] ‘the spoken word, utterance’, can be extended to mean ‘discourse’ and ‘poem’. The falāsifaẗ prefer to limit their discussion to the problems of grammar and logic: thus in the preamble to the Naǧāẗ (Cairo² 1357/1938: 11) Ibn Sīnā defines kalimaẗ as “a single word (lafẓaẗ) which refers to an idea and the length of time that this idea is applied to any indeterminate subject whatsoever; for example, when we say ‘he walked’.” Cf. also Manṭiq al-mašriqiyyīn, Cairo 1328/1910: 57-8, and 66, where kalimaẗ is given as a synonym for ‘that which grammarians call fiʕl ’. But according to the ʔIšārāt (ed. Forget, Leiden 1892: 11), logicians use kalimaẗ to apply to any wholly descriptive spoken word, noun or verb, which designates an indeterminate entity in a fixed period of time. (Cf. A. M. Goichon, Lexique de la langue philosophique d’Ibn Sīnā, Paris 1938, and Fr. tr. of ʔIšārāt, Paris 1951: 84, n.l.). / The term kalimaẗ and the pl. kalimāt occur frequently in the Qurʔān. It is used on numerous occasions in the very general sense of ‘spoken word’, good (14:24, 48:26) or bad (9:74, 14:26, 18:5, 23:100). Yet it most frequently pertains to the realised Word of God. ‘The words of God cannot be altered’, says the Qurʔān, 10:64. Subsequently kalimaẗ acquires a sense closely akin to ʔamr ‘decision’, ‘order’, or indeed qadar ‘decree’. R. Blachère frequently translates kalimaẗ by ‘arrêt ’. There are numerous references (e.g., 6:115, 7:137, 10:33, 96, 11:119, etc.; in the pl.: 6:34, 115, 18:109, 31:26, etc.). In 43:28 it is said of Abraham: ‘and he made it an everlasting word (kalimaẗ^an bāqiyaẗ^an) among his descendants’. The commentators (see al-Bayḍāwī, ed. Fleischer, ii: 237, 25) usually emphasised that this referred to an affirmation of the Oneness of God, the equivalent of the ‘first šahādaẗ ’, as is suggested in 43:26-7. One of the most frequently cited passages of the Qurʔān is 3:39 and 45, where Jesus is proclaimed as ‘a word coming from God’. The commentators regarded this kalimaẗ Allāh who is Jesus as a divine word linked to the creative kun (‘be!’; cf. 3:47) and subsequently related the creation of Jesus to that of Adam: ‘Yes, in the case of Jesus God acted just as He did with Adam: God created the earth, then He said ‘be!’ and there he was’ (3:59). / Thus kalimaẗ is not an attribute of the Word [see ↗kalām ] but its expression, through which divine decisions are formulated and communicated. Qurʔānic commentaries discuss it with particular reference to the verses concerning Jesus, and also in the ‘professions of faith’ (ʕaqāʔid), e.g., La Profession de foi d’Ibn Baṭṭaẗ, ed. and Fr. tr. H. Laoust, Damascus 1958: 58/107-8).« – EI², art. »kalima« (L. Gardet / D.B. MacDonald).

▪ kallama (to speak, talk to) Q 6:111 wa-law ʔanna-nā nazzalnā ʔilay-him-u ’l-malāʔikata wa-kallama-hum-u ’l-mawtà ‘even if We sent the angels down to them, and the dead spoke to them’.
▪ kalām 1 (speech, talk, utterance, spoken words) Q 2:75 wa-qad kāna farīqun min-hum yasmaʕūna kalāma ’llāhi ṯumma yuḥarrifūna-hū min baʕdi mā ʕaqalū-hu ‘when a group of them used to hear the words of God and then pervert them, [even] after they had understood them’; 2 (the act of speaking) Q 7:144 qāla yā Mūsā ʔin-nī ’ṣṭafaytu-ka ʕalā ’l-nāsi bi-risālāt-ī wa-bi-kalām-ī ‘He said, “Moses, I have chosen you over the people by [giving you] My messages and by my speaking [to you]”’.
▪ kalimaẗ 1 (word) Q 14:24 kalimatan ṭayyibatan ka-šaǧaratin ṭayyibatin ‘a good word is like a good tree’; 2 (mere words, empty talk) Q 23:100 laʕall-ī ʔaʕmalu ṣāliḥan fī-mā taraktu, kallā, ʔinna-hā kalimatun huwa qāʔilu-hā ‘“that I might act righteously in the things I neglected”, no indeed!, this is a [mere] word [only words] he is saying’; 3 (advise, message, instruction) Q 43:27 wa-ǧaʕala-hā kalimaẗan bāqiyaẗan fī ʕaqibi-hī laʕalla-hum yarǧiʕūna ‘and he bequeathed this advice to his descendants that they might return [to God]’; 4 (decree) Q 10:33 ka-ḏālika ḥaqqat kalimaẗu rabbi-ka ʕalā ’llaḏīna fasaqū ʔanna-hum lā yuʔminūna ‘in this way, your Lord’s decree about those who defy [the Truth] has come true—they do not believe’; 5 (status, position, cause) Q 9:40 wa-ǧaʕala kalimaẗa ’llaḏīna kafarū ’l-suflā wa-kalimatu ’llāhi hiya ’l-ʕulyā ‘and He brought down the cause of the disbelievers; God’s cause is always uppermost’; 6 (promise) Q 6:115 wa-tammat kalimaẗu rabbi-ka ṣidqan wa-ʕadlan lā mubaddila li-kalimāti-hī wa-huwa ’l-samīʕu ’l-ʕalīmu ‘the words of your Lord have com to pass in truth and justice: no one can change His words’; 7 (direct creation, miraculous creation – an epithet for Jesus) Q 4:17 kalimaẗu-hū ‘His Word’
▪ kalim (pl. of kalimaẗ) 1 (words) Q 35:10 ʔilay-hi yaṣʕadu ’l-kalimu ’l-ṭayyibu ‘to Him ascend good words’; 2 (revelation) Q 4:46 min-a ’llaḏīna hādū yuḥarrifūna ’l-kalima ʕan mawāḍiʕi-him ‘some of those who are Jews distort words [of revelation] out of their contexts’
▪ taklīm (vn. II, used adverbially for emphasis: the act of speaking) Q 4:164 wa-kallama ’llāhu Mūsā taklīman ‘and to Moses God spoke directly’

▪ DRS 10 (2012)#KLM -1 Akk kullumu ‘montrer, indiquer’, Hbr hiklīm ‘importuner (une femme), insulter par des propos; faire honte’, niklam ‘avoir honte de’, kᵉlimmāh ‘injure, outrage’, JP ʔaklem ‘faire honte, humilier’, Ar kalama ‘blesser’, kalm ‘blessure’. -2 […] -3 Ar kallama ‘parler à, adresser la parole à’, kalmaẗ, kilmaẗ, kalimaẗ ‘mot, parole’, kalām ‘discours, langage’, Sab klm ‘mot, discours, message’, Te kälam ¹ ‘discours, voix’.
▪ Zammit2002: Ar kallama ‘to speak to or with’, SAr klm ‘word, speech, message, utterance’, Gz kēlamāṭē ‘language’²

1. Probably from Ar kalām. 2. Zammit: From Ar?

▪ Obvious cognates exist only in SAr Sab (Te and Gz items are probably from Ar). – For the question whether the idea of ‘word, speech, language; to speak, talk’ is related to ‘(humiliation), wound’ (Can, Ar) and ‘to show, indicate, point out’ (Akk), see section CONC above as well as DISC s.v. ↗KLM.

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► kalimaẗan fa-kalimaẗan, adv., word by word, literally
► bi-kalimaẗ ʔuḫrà, adv., in other words
► ʔalqà kalimaẗan, vb. IV, to make a speech, give a public address
► lī kalimaẗ maʕa-k I’ve got to talk to you
► ǧamaʕū kalimata-hum ʕalà, expr., they decided unanimously to…, they were unanimous about…
► ĭǧtamaʕat kalimaẗu-hum, expr., they united, joined forces, came to an agreement
► ĭǧtamaʕat kalimaẗu-hum ʕalà, expr., they were agreed that…
► ǧamʕ al-kalimaẗ, tawḥīd al-kalimaẗ, n.f., union, joining of forces, unanimity
► ĭttiḥād al-kalimaẗ, n.f., concord, agreement, harmony
► taqsīm al-kalimaẗ, n.f., dissension, variance, disunion
► ʔaʕlà kalimata-hū, vb. IV, to raise the prestige of s.o.
► ʕuluww al-kalimaẗ and al-kalilmaẗ al-ʕulyā, n., supremacy, hegemony
► qāla kalimata-hū, expr., he said what he had to say, he had his say
► kalimaẗ allāh, n.f., the word of God, the Holy Scriptures
► kalimaẗ al-murūr, n.f., password, watchword, parole
► al-kalimāt al-ʕašr, n.pl., the ten Commandments
► kalimaẗ tamhīdiyyaẗ, n.f., preface
► kalimaẗ al-sirr, n.f., parole, password, watchword, countersign
► kalimāt mutaqāṭiʕaẗ, n.pl., crossword puzzle

► ^BP#2986kallama, vb. II, to address (s.o.), speak, talk (DO to or with s.o.): denom. (from kalimaẗ or kalām).
► kālama, vb. III, to speak, talk, converse (DO with s.o.): associative.
► ^BP#926takallama, vb. V, to speak, talk (maʕa with or to s.o., ʕan or ʕalà about, of); to utter, express, voice, say (bi‑ or DO s.th.) : denom. (from kalimaẗ or kalām).

► ^BP#242kalām, n., 1a talking, speaking; b speech; c language, mode of expression, style; 2a talk, conversation, discussion; b debate, dispute, controversy; 3a words, word, saying, utterance, statement, remark; b aphorism, maxim, phrase, idiom, figure of speech; c (gram.) sentence, clause: quasi-vn. I | bi’l-kalām, adv., orally, verbally; fataḥa fama-hū bi’l-kalām, vb. I, to open one’s mouth in order to say s.th., prepare to say s.th.; kalām fāriġ, n., idle talk, prattle, poppycock, bosh, nonsense; ṭarīqaẗ al-kalām, n.f., manner of speaking, diction; ʕilm al-kalām, scholastic theology (Isl.); kaṯīr al-kalām, adj., talkative, loquaoious, garrulous; luġat al-kalām, n.f., colloquial language, everyday speech.
► kalāmī, adj., of or pertaining to speech or words, speech-, word (in compounds), verbal; spoken, oral; scholastic, theological: nsb-adj., from kalām | mušāddaẗ (or maʕrakaẗ) kalāmiyyaẗ, n.f., battle of words, dispute, altercation.
► kalīm, 1 see ↗kalm. 2 (pl. kulamāʔᵘ), n., a person addressed; b speaker, spokesman, mouthpiece: quasi-PP I | kalīm allāh, epithet of Moses.
► kalīm, see also alphabetically.
► kalmānī, kalamānī, killimānī, adj., eloquent; n., fluent speaker: ints. adj.
► tiklām, tikillām, tiklāmaẗ, adj., eloquent; n., good talker, conversationalist; adj., talkative, loquacious, garrulous:…
► ^BP#2226mukālamaẗ, pl. ‑āt, n.f., talk, conversation, discussion: vn. III | ~ tilīfūniyyaẗ, n.f., telephone conversation.
► takallum, n., speaking; talk, conversation; speech: vn. V.
► mutakallim, 1 adj., speaking (act. part.); 2 n., speaker, spokesman; 3 first person (gram.): PA V; 4 Muslim theologian, scholastic: denom., from kalām.

For other items of the root cf. ↗KLM, ↗kalm, ↗kalām, ↗kalīm.

kalm كَلْم , pl. kulūm , kilām

√KLM

wound, cut, slash – WehrCowan1979.

▪ A closer relation exists between Ar kalm ‘wound’ and the Can (Hbr, Aram) idea of ‘humiliation, to insult, offend, put to shame’. DRS links these also to the ESem notion of ‘to show, indicate, point out’ as represented in Akk kullumu. For the question whether any, or all, of these may be akin to the other main value attached to KLM in Ar, namely ‘to speak, talk; word, speech, language’ (↗kalimaẗ, ↗ kalām), cf. section DISC below as well as ↗KLM.

▪ …

▪ DRS 10 (2012)#KLM-1 Akk kullumu ‘montrer, indiquer’, Hbr hiklīm ‘importuner (une femme), insulter par des propos; faire honte’, niklam ‘avoir honte de’, kᵉlimmāh ‘injure, outrage’, JP ʔaklem ‘faire honte, humilier’, Ar kalama ‘blesser’, kalm ‘blessure’. -2 […]. -3 Ar kallama ‘parler à, adresser la parole à’, kalmaẗ, kilmaẗ, kalimaẗ ‘mot, parole’, kalām ‘discours, langage’, Sab klm ‘mot, discours, message’, Te kälam ³ ‘discours, voix’.

3. Probably from Ar kalām.

▪ The relation between Ar kalm ‘wound’ and Hbr ‘(N-stem) to be ashamed; (Š-stem) to put to shame, insult, humiliate’ seems to be obvious. DRS sees the Ar and Can value together with Akk kullumu ‘to show, indicate, point out’, while the latter could also belong to Ar (and SAr) ‘to speak, talk; word, speech, language’ (↗kalimaẗ, ↗ kalām). For the question of a possible connection between ‘wound, humiliation’, ‘speech’, and ‘to show’, see DISC in ↗KLM.

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► kalīm, pl. kulmà, adj., 1 wounded, injured; n., sore: quasi-PP I. — 2 and 3: For other meanings see ↗kalimaẗ and ↗kalīm.

For other items of the root cf. ↗KLM, ↗kalimaẗ, ↗kalām, ↗kalīm.

kalām كَلام

√KLM

1a talking, speaking; b speech; c language, mode of expression, style; 2a talk, conversation, discussion; b debate, dispute, controversy; 3a words, word, saying, utterance, statement, remark; b aphorism, maxim, phrase, idiom, figure of speech; c (gram.) sentence, clause – WehrCowan1979.

▪ Etymologically, Ar kalām belongs to the SSem theme ‘speech, utterance, to speak’ (see ↗kalimaẗ, ↗KLM). A relation to (ESem) Akk kullumu ‘to show, indicate, point out’ and/or Hbr Aram ‘to humiliate’, and with this also to Ar ↗kalm ‘wound’, is not impossible, but difficult to prove; see DISC s.v. ↗KLM.
▪ kalām ‘speech’ »is defined by the grammarians as such utterance (↗lafẓ) with the voice as is compound (murakkab), not single words, and which conveys a meaning by convention, not nature (waḍʕ, not ṭabʕ; as in exclamations; θέσις not φύσις). So the ʔĀǧurrūmiyyaẗ; the Mufaṣṣal (§ 1) says it must be a complete sentence, however simple, and Ibn ʕAqīl (Šarḥ al-ʔAlfiyyaẗ) distinguishes in detail between it and kalim (a compound of three or more words, not necessarily giving a complete sense) and ↗kalimaẗ (a single word with a meaning by convention) and ↗qawl which covers them all.« – D.B. Macdonald, in EI¹.
▪ »[kalām ], in the sense of kalām Allāh ‘the Word of God’, must […] be distinguished from 1) kalām meaning ʕilm al-kalām ‘defensive apologetics’, or ‘the science of discourse’ (on God); and 2) ↗kalimaẗ which, in the expression kalimaẗ Allāh, means ‘a’ (single) divine utterance.« – L. Gardet, in EI².

▪ eC7 1 (speech, talk, utterance, spoken words) Q 2:75 wa-qad kāna farīqun min-hum yasmaʕūna kalāma ’llāhi ṯumma yuḥarrifūna-hū min baʕdi mā ʕaqalū-hu ‘when a group of them used to hear the words of God and then pervert them, [even] after they had understood them’; 2 (the act of speaking) Q 7:144 qāla yā Mūsā ʔin-nī ’ṣṭafaytu-ka ʕalā ’l-nāsi bi-risālāt-ī wa-bi-kalām-ī ‘He said, “Moses, I have chosen you over the people by [giving you] My messages and by my speaking [to you]”’

▪ DRS 10 (2012)#KLM -1 Akk kullumu ‘montrer, indiquer’, Hbr hiklīm ‘importuner (une femme), insulter par des propos; faire honte’, niklam ‘avoir honte de’, kᵉlimmāh ‘injure, outrage’, JP ʔaklem ‘faire honte, humilier’, Ar kalama ‘blesser’, kalm ‘blessure’. -2 […] -3 Ar kallama ‘parler à, adresser la parole à’, kalmaẗ, kilmaẗ, kalimaẗ ‘mot, parole’, kalām ‘discours, langage’, Sab klm ‘mot, discours, message’, Te kälam ⁴ ‘discours, voix’.
▪ Zammit2002: Ar kallama ‘to speak to or with’, SAr klm ‘word, speech, message, utterance’, Gz kēlamāṭē ‘language’⁵

4. Probably from Ar kalām. 5. Zammit: From Ar?

▪ See section CONC above.

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► bi’l-kalām, adv., orally, verbally
► fataḥa fama-hū bi’l-kalām, vb. I, to open one’s mouth in order to say s.th., prepare to say s.th.
► kalām fāriġ, n., idle talk, prattle, poppycock, bosh, nonsense
► ṭarīqaẗ al-kalām, n.f., manner of speaking, diction
► ʕilm al-kalām, scholastic theology (Isl.)
► kaṯīr al-kalām, adj., talkative, loquaoious, garrulous
► luġat al-kalām, n.f., colloquial language, everyday speech

► ^BP#2986kallama, vb. II, to address (s.o.), speak, talk (DO to or with s.o.): denom. (from kalām or ↗kalimaẗ).
► kālama, vb. III, to speak, talk, converse (DO with s.o.): associative.
^BP#926takallama, vb. V, to speak, talk (maʕa with or to s.o., ʕan or ʕalà about, of); to utter, express, voice, say (bi‑ or DO s.th.) : denom. (from kalām or ↗kalimaẗ).

► kalāmī, adj., 1 of or pertaining to speech or words, speech-, word (in compounds), verbal; spoken, oral; 2 scholastic, theological: nsb-adj., from kalām | mušāddaẗ (or maʕrakaẗ) kalāmiyyaẗ, n.f., battle of words, dispute, altercation.
► kalmānī, kalamānī, killimānī, adj., eloquent; n., fluent speaker: ints. adj.
► tiklām, tikillām, tiklāmaẗ, adj., eloquent; n., good talker, conversationalist; adj., talkative, loquacious, garrulous:…
► ^BP#2226mukālamaẗ, pl. ‑āt, n.f., talk, conversation, discussion: vn. III | ~ tilīfūniyyaẗ, n.f., telephone conversation.
► takallum, n., speaking; talk, conversation; speech: vn. V.
► mutakallim, 1 adj., speaking (act. part.); 2 n., speaker, spokesman; 3 first person (gram.): PA V; 4 Muslim theologian, scholastic: denom., from kalām.

For other items of the root cf. ↗KLM, ↗kalimaẗ, ↗kalm, ↗kalīm.

kalīm كَليم , pl. ʔaklimaẗ

√KLM

kilim, carpet, rug (usually long and narrow) – WehrCowan1979.

▪ From Tu kilim, from Pers gilīm ‘cover, blanket, bed cover’, akin to Aram galīmā, galīmtā, from Grk kálymma ‘coat, cover’, from Grk vb. kalýptō ‘to cover’ – NişanyanSözlük_30Jun2015.

▪ …

…

▪ The Tu word is first attested around 1300, and in the Codex Cumanicus (1303).

▪ Not from Ar kalīm, but from the same Tu source is Engl kilim: from Tu kilim, from Pers gilīm ‘garment made of wool or goat hair, blanket, rug’; perh. akin to Akk gulēnu ¹ and Aram glīmā ‘cloak’ – Huehnergard (in AHDEL, 5th ed., 2015).

1. CAD: gulēnu, var. gulānu, (a coat), prob. a loanword from WSem.

For other items of the root cf. ↗KLM, ↗kalm, ↗kalimaẗ, ↗kalām.

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