nabaʔ‑ نَبَأَ a (nabʔ , nubūʔ)
ID … • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√NBʔ
1 to be high, raised, elevated, protruding, projecting, prominent; to overcome, overpower, overwhelm (ʕalà s.o.). – 2 to turn away, withdraw, shrink (ʕan from); to be repelled, repulsed, sickened, disgusted, shocked (ʕan by) – WehrCowan1979. Other values, now obsolete:
†3 to pass (min from a place, ʔilà to another), to wander around
†4 (nabʔ) to bark faintly (dog) – Hava1899
▪ [v1]: The vb. and the corresponding complex of ‘height, elevation, high ground, etc.’ are difficult to relate semantically to the other main value of NBʔ, ‘to utter a low noise; to proclaim, announce, call’ (treated s.v. ↗nabaʔ, ↗nabiyy, ↗nubuwwaẗ), so that one with all probability has to regard NBʔ as a homonymous root with several distinct meanings (↗NBʔ). While Ehret traces the two values back to a biconsonantal nucleus *NB- that shows four separate values (among which *‘to rise, become high’, whence nabaʔa; and *‘to call, cry’, whence nabaʔ), Albright thought that nabaʔa ‘to be high’ and semantically close items in Sem and outside ultimately go back to a *NM that only has dissimilated into *NB; he therefore compares Ar nabaʔa ‘to be high’ with, among others, ↗namā ‘to grow’.
▪ [v2]: This item seems to be etymologically the same as ↗nabā ‘to move away, withdraw; to bounce off; to disagree, be in conflict with; to be repugnant’ and is therefore treated there; cf. also ↗NBW.
▪ For [v3] cf. ↗NBʔ.
▪ [v4] belongs to the complex treated s.v. ↗nabaʔ.
▪ [v1] Albright1927#47: Hbr nûb ‘to grow’1
, Ar nabāt (thought to be an old pl., nab‑ + ‑āt) ‘plant’, Ar ↗namā ‘to grow, rise’, nammà ‘to raise’. – Outside Sem: ? Eg nb3 ‘carrying pole’ (Calice1936#655). ▪ [v2] ↗nabā.
▪ [v3] ↗NBʔ.
▪ [v4] ↗nabaʔ.
▪ [v1] Gabal2012 assumes one basic value for all meanings of ↗NBʔ that occur in the Qurʔān: ‘sudden/unexpected appearance or occurrence of s.th., preceded or accompanied by some secrecy/hiddenness (ẓuhūr ʔaw ṭurūʔ, musbaq ʔaw maknūf bi-ḫafāʔin mā)’. This, he says, is the case in nabʔaẗ ‘elevation, protrusion’ (= appearing above the surface, of a height that more limited than one would have expected) as well as in ↗nabaʔ ‘news’ (information that one receives unexpectedly). – In contrast, the author continues, ClassAr nabīʔ ‘clear path’ belongs to ↗NBW, while he believes nabiyy ‘prophet’ to derive from nabīʔ meaning that the Prophet is both ‘called/informed’ (munbaʔ) by God and ‘informing’ (munbiʔ) about Him, rather than from nabwaẗ ‘elevated place’.
▪ [v1] Albright1927#47 notices that Ar √NBʔ obviously has two values: a) ‘to be high, raised up’ (Ar nabaʔa; cf. also nabiʔ ‘height, mound’, nabāwaẗ ‘high ground’, etc.), b) ‘to make a noise; to proclaim, announce, call by name’ (nabʔaẗ ‘barking of dogs’; nabaʔ ‘news’, nabīʔ [sic!] ‘prophet’, etc.). Therefore, the author holds, »there must evidently have been a confusion of the two distinct root-meanings«. The author thinks the latter value is from an original *NB, while the former is as dissimilation from *NM. He thinks Ar »nabaʔa ‘to be high’ is akin to a Hbr vb. for ‘to grow’ (see COGN above) as well as to Ar ↗NBT ‘plant; to grow’ and Ar ↗namā ‘to grow, rise’. – Outside Sem, Eg nb3 ‘carrying pole’ (Calice1936#655) is perhaps to be connected.
▪ [v1] Ehret1989#92 thinks NBʔ ‘to be high, tower over, come upon from above, conquer, surpass’ is an extension in “concisive” *‑ʔ, from a bi-consonantal “pre-Proto-Semitic” (pPS, i.e. preSem) root ↗*NB ‘to rise, become high’, cf. ↗NBː (NBB) ‘to be haughty’. Other extensions from the same pre-Sem nucleus: ↗NBT ‘to germinate, sprout, grow’, ↗NBR ‘to raise, elevate, thrive, grow’, ↗NBṢ ‘to be on the point of sprouting’, ↗NBĠ ‘to fly off’, ↗NBL ‘to surpass in any skill’, ↗NBH ‘to awake’ [v2] : ↗nabā.
[v3] : Cf. also: †nābiʔ ‘ex alia regione veniens (aquae fluxus, homo), crossing a country (man, stream)’, nabiʔ ‘migrans de locu in locum, wanderer, wayfarer’, (?) nabīʔ ‘well-traced road’ (Freytag1837, Hava1899). – Etymology unclear; see ↗NBʔ. Gabal2012 thinks it belongs to ↗NBW.
[v4] : Cf. also nabʔaẗ ‘faint voice; †barking of dogs’ (Hava1899). Belongs to the complex ‘to utter a low voice; to announce, proclaim’ treated s.v. ↗nabaʔ.
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