conc▪ 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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