Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ [v1] : From Pers kāh-robā ‘amber’, lit. *‘stealing straw, robber of straw’ (Pers kāh ‘straw’ + rubā, prs-stem of rubādan ‘to rob, steal, take away’ – Lokotsch1927), so called »because amber, when it is rubbed, attracts light objects, such as feathers or little blades of straw« (al-Bīrūnī, q. in J. Schönfeld, “Amber”, EI³).
▪ [v2] : In the same way as Engl electricity goes back to the Grk word for ‘amber’, ḗlektron, the modPers and Ar words are based on the old Pers words for the same material, due to its electromagnetic features. According to Braune1933, ¹ the first Ar attestation in this sense is from the 1830s, coined by R.R. al-Ṭahṭāwī.
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1. quoted in Monteil1960: 191.

▪ [v1] WKAS
▪ [v2] 1834 (electricity) al-Ṭahṭāwī, Taḫlīṣ al-ʔibrīz (Braune 1933¹ )
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1. As quoted in Monteil1960: 191.

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▪ Rolland2014: »Du persan kāh-robā ‘ambre’, littéralement ‘voleur de paille’, du pehlevi kah-rupāti, id. – L’élément kah est apparenté du sanskrit kāša ‘paille’, et l’élément rupāti à l’avestique rupā ‘voler’, IE *reup‑ ‘saisir, arracher’« [cf. Engl to rob, Ge raub-en].
▪ Cf. also ↗kahramān ‘amber’.
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▪ [v1] : Lokotsch1927 #1004: Pers kahrubā ‘amber’ gave not only Ar kahrabā, but also (with dissimilation) vulgTu kehribar, kihlibar, which into several Eur langs: Bulg kehlibar, Serb hilibar, Rum chihlibar, chihlimbar, chihrimbar; > mLat (C13) carabe > Span It carabe, Fr carabé ‘amber’, Ge Karabe (1492; now obsol.), Dan rav. – Cf. also the term’s literal translation into Grk as pterugofóros, Fr tire-paille, Ge Strohzieher.
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kahrabā كَهْرَبا , var. kahrubā, kahrabāʔ

√KHRB

1 amber; 2 ↗kahrabāʔ – WehrCowan1976.

▪ From Pers kāh-robā ‘amber’, lit. *‘stealing straw, robber of straw’ (Pers kāh ‘straw’ + rubā, prs-stem of rubādan ‘to rob, steal, take away’ – Lokotsch1927), so called »because amber, when it is rubbed, attracts light objects, such as feathers or little blades of straw« (al-Bīrūnī, q. in J. Schönfeld, “Amber”, EI³).
▪ Since eC19, the term is also used to signify ‘electricity’, see ↗kahrabāʔ.
▪ »Amber (Grk ἤλεκτρον; Ar Pers kahrubā, kahrabā; Tu kehribar; for other forms, see WKAS, s.v.) consists of the petrified resin of conifers. In antiquity and the Middle Ages amber was a very popular gem and an important commercial item, imported from the shores of the Baltic Sea. The Grk word ἤλεκτρον, like the Persian word kahrubā, has passed into the modern language with the meaning “electricity” (Ar kahrabāʔ, kahrabāʔiyyaẗ, Pers kahrobāʔi)« – J. Schönfeld, »Amber«, EI³ (2007).
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▪ »The word kahrubā […] appears in the third/ninth-century Arabic translation of Dioscorides’ Materia medica (s.v. αἴγειρος, “black poplar”), undertaken by Iṣṭifān b. Bāsīl and revised by Ḥunayn b. ʔIsḥāq (d. 260/873), as well as in the Firdaws al-ḥikmaẗ of ʕAlī b. Sahl Rabban al-Ṭabarī (d. c.250/864) and in the ʔAqrābāḏīn of ʔAbū Yūsuf Yaʕqūb b. ʔIsḥāq al-Kindī (d. c.252/866)« – J. Schönfeld, »Amber«, EI³ (2007).
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▪ Al-Bīrūnī (d. after 442/1050) »explained the word kahrubā as meaning ‘robber of straw’, because amber, when it is rubbed, attracts light objects, such as feathers or little blades of straw. The same explanation is found in the great cosmography on Islamic culture written by al-Qazwīnī (d. 682/1283). Al-Bīrūnī reported that amber was very popular with the eastern Turks, who preferred the Byzantine amber to the Chinese because of its pure yellow colour and the fact that it occurred in larger pieces. They also believed that amber provides protection from the evil eye. Its power to attract other substances was compared to that of the lodestone. Al-Bīrūnī mocks authors ignorant of the substance’s non-mineral origin, as such ignorance would suggest they had not observed leaves and insects encased in the substance. – Other authors discussed the medical attributes of amber. The Persian pharmacologist Muwaffaq al-Dīn, who in the fourth/tenth century wrote a book on drugs for the Sāmānid ʔamīr Manṣūr b. Nūḥ, likewise ascribed to amber the power to heal palpitations of the heart, catarrh, and gastric troubles, in addition to haemorrhages and menstrual bleeding. He also recommended it as a fumigating agent for cleaning “cholera-air.” The Spanish pharmacologist Ibn al-Bayṭār (d. 646/1248) confirmed most of these applications and added that amber rids one of hot swellings, prevents the pregnant woman from aborting, and cures jaundice, burns, and fractured and crushed bones« – J. Schönfeld, »Amber«, EI³ (2007).
▪ Another word for ‘amber’ is ↗kahramān (prob. akin to kahrabā). For ‘ambergris’, cf. ↗ʕanbar.
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For other values, cf. ↗kahrabāʔ and, for the general picture, ↗√KHRB. – See also another word for ‘amber’, ↗kahramān.

kahrabāʔ كَهْرَباء , var. kahrubāʔ, kahrabā, kahrubā

√KHRB

1 ↗kahrabā; 2 electricity – WehrCowan1976.

▪ [v1] ↗kahrabā
▪ [v2] In the same way as Engl electricity goes back to the Grk word for ‘amber’, ḗlektron, the modPers and Ar words are based on the old Pers words for the same material, due to its electromagnetic features, see ↗[v1] kahrabā. According to Braune1933, ² the first Ar attestation in this sense is from the 1830s, coined by R.R. al-Ṭahṭāwī.
▪ …

2. quoted in Monteil1960: 191.

▪ [v1] WKAS
▪ [v2] 1834 (electricity) al-Ṭahṭāwī, Taḫlīṣ al-ʔibrīz (Braune 1933² )
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2. As quoted in Monteil1960: 191.

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▪ See above, section CONC.
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►al-kahrabāʔ (Eg.), n.def., the streetcar, the trolley.

►kahraba, vb., 1a to electrify, electrize; b to ionize: vb. I, denom., a C19 coining.
►takahraba, vb. II, 1a to be electrified, be electrized, become electric; b to be charged with electricity; c to be ionized: t-stem of kahraba, pass./med.

►kahrabaẗ, n.f., 1a electrization, electrification; b electricity: vn. of kahraba.
►kahrab, pl. kahāribᵘ, n., electron: prob. a C19 neologism, based on the vb. kahraba.
►kuhayrib, pl. -āt, n., electron: dimin. of kahrab, most prob. a C19 neologism.
►kuhayribī, adj., electronic, electron‑ (in compounds): nisba-formation from kuhayrib | al-miǧhar al-kahrabāʔī, n., electron microscope
►kahāribī, adj., electronic, electron- (in compounds): nisba-formation, from kahāribᵘ, pl. of kahrab.
►kahrabāʔī and kahrabī, 1a adj., electric(al); b n., electrician: nisba-formation, from kahrabāʔ and kahrab, respectively | tayyār kahrabāʔī, n., electric current; ǧāmiʕaẗ kahrabāʔiyyaẗ, n.f., storage battery, secondary battery, accumulator; miṣbāḥ kahrabāʔī, n., electric lamp, lightbulb; ʕilāǧ kahrabāʔī, n., diathermy; ʕālim kahrabāʔī, n., electrophysicist; maġnaṭīs kahrabāʔī, n., electromagnet; maġnaṭīsiyyaẗ kahrabāʔiyyaẗ, n.f., electromagnetism; nūr kahrabāʔī, n., electric light
►kahrabāʔiyyaẗ and kahrabiyyaẗ, n.f., electricity: abstr. formation in ‑iyyaẗ.
►mukahrab, adj., electrically charged, electrized, electrified; electrically conductive, conducting, ionised; electrically ignited, provided with electric ignition: PP I.

For other values, cf. ↗kahrabā and, for the general picture, ↗√KHRB. – See also the a porte-manteau formation ↗kahraṭīsī.

kahrabāʔī كَهْرَبائيّ

√KHRB 

adj., n.

▪ nsb-formation, from kahrabāʔ

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