Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ ǦDL_1 ‘to twist tight, braid, plait’ ↗ǧadala (ǧadl)
▪ ǦDL_2 ‘to quarrel, wrangle; to argue, debate, dispute, contest’ ↗ǧadal
▪ ǦDL_3 ‘flagstone, ashlar’ ↗¹miǧdāl
▪ ǦDL_4 (= ǦDWL) ‘creek, brook; column, list, index, chart, table, schedule’ ↗ǧadwal

The many other, now obsolete values (as given in BK1860, Hava1899) may be grouped as follows:
▪ ^†ǦDL_5 : specific interpretations, material and figurative, of the element of *‘twisting’ in [v1]. This group not only contains ǧadīl (pl. ǧudul) ‘twisted rope; rein, bridle; girdle’ but also ^†ǧudāl ‘whip’ (< *‘tightly twisted’), and ǧadīl(aẗ) (pl. ǧadāʔilᵘ) not only in the sense of ‘plait of hair’ but also in that of ^†‘ceinture en cuir enrichie de toute sorte d’ornements portée par les femmes | a thing like a ʔitb, of hide, or leather, which boys, and menstruous women, wear round the waist in the manner of an ʔizār’ (whence also ^†ǧadīlaẗ in the meaning ‘menstruous woman’); moreover, ǧadīlaẗ can mean a ^†‘trap to catch pigeons, bird’s cage’ (< *woven from twigs etc.) and hence also ^†ǧaddāl ‘maker of pigeon traps\bird cages | qui s’en sert pour prendre des pigeons’. In a metaphorical sense, ǧadīlaẗ (pl. ǧadāʔilᵘ) is also the ^†‘way, mood | manière, façon, mode; habitude; nature; determination of the mind’ (*way a person is “knitted, made up”). As adj.s, we not only find maǧdūl ‘of slender make | mince sans maigreur, et bien fait’ (e.g., sāʕid maǧdūl ‘bras bien tourné’) but also the elative formation ^†ʔaǧdalᵘ (pl. ʔaǧādilᵘ; f. ǧadlāʔᵘ, pl. ǧudl) ‘graceful, handsome, etc. | qui penche avec grâce’ (e.g., sāq ǧadlāʔ ‘cuisse bien tournée’, f. ǧadlāʔᵘ ‘cuirasse d’un travail solide; femme bien faite, aux formes gracieuses; chienne’).
▪ ^†ǦDL_6 : specific interpretations, material and figurative, of the element of *‘strength, firmness’ in [v1]. In this group we find vb.s like ^†ǧadala (ǧudūl) ‘to be firm, strong, solid, hard’, ^†ǧadila (a, ǧadal) ‘to become strong (gazelle), and ǧadala (ǧadl) ‘rendre fort, solide, en tressant et en tordant fortement (une corde)’, as well as adj.s like ^†ǧadl, ǧadil ‘hard, strong, robust’ (with pl. ǧudūl, ʔaǧdāl also meaning ‘member, esp. penis; sinew’) and ^†ǧudāl ‘strong, hard’; among the nouns belonging to this *‘strength, firmness, hardness’ group we may mention ^†ǧadl ‘tomb’ (*‘the firmly built one’?), ^†ǧadāl (coll., n.un. ǧadālaẗ) ‘unripe dates’, ^†ǧadlaẗ ‘pestle | pilon de mortier’, and ^†miǧdal (pl. maǧādilᵘ) ‘stronghold, fortress, palace, pavilion | château’. [v3] ¹miǧdāl ‘flagstone, ashlar’, listed above as a value in its own right as it is the only item from this group that has “survived” into MSA, actually belongs here, too. – For ^†ǧadl~ǧidl ‘member; sinew | ¹en gén. membre quelconque du corps; ²verge, pénis; ³tendon (des mains ou des jambes); ⁴(pl.) bones of the legs’, MilitarevKogan2000 (SED I) #73 reconstruct a protSem *g˅d(˅)l‑ ‘limb’. – ^†miǧdal ‘stronghold, fortress’ seems to be borrowed from Hbr migdāl rather than an inner-Ar formation.
▪ ^†ǦDL_7 : results of gaining *‘strength, firmness, hardness’, incl. acquired capacities, esp. *‘growth, maturity, ripeness’. This group contains items like ^†ǧadal ‘ripe (corn, grain)’ (< *‘having become strong in the ears’), ^†ǧadala, ǧadila (a, ǧadal) ‘to grow (grain, young men) | grandir et acquérir de la force, grossir (se dit d’un jeune homme, des grains dans les épis)’, ^†ǧādil ‘grandi, adulte (jeune homme); qui peut déjà marcher tout seul (petit de chameau plus fort que celui rāšiḥ)’ and the corresponding denom. vb. IV,^†ʔaǧdala ‘to have a young one (ǧādil) able to follow its mother; (fig.) to cheer up | égayer, rendre gai’; cf. also (ǧadala and) the intens. vb. II, ^†ǧaddala ‘to knock s.o. down | jeter, renverser par terre (d’un coup de lance)’, hence also ^†taǧaddala (V) ‘to fall down | tomber par terre (et y rester étendu)’ and ^†ĭnǧadala (VII) ‘to be thrown down | être jeté, renversé et étendu par terre’.
▪ ^†ǦDL_8 ‘earth, soil, ground, ground having fine sand | terre couverte d’un sable fin’: ^†ǧadālaẗ; cf. also ^†ǧadīlaẗ (pl. ǧadāʔilᵘ) ‘country, state; tribe | pays; plage’
▪ ^†ǦDL_9 ‘a kind of hawk | gerfault, espèce de faucon’: ^†ʔaǧdal^u(n?) (pl. ʔaǧādilᵘ)
▪ ^†ǦDL_10 ‘troop | troupe d’hommes’: ^†maǧdal
▪ ^†ǦDL_11 ‘to melt fat | liquéfier, faire fondre (du beurre, de la graisse)’: ^†ǧadala (ǧadl)

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘to braid, twist tightly; to be well-built; to knock down; to dispute, argue in a contentious manner, debate’.

With the exception of [v4] and perh. [v8]-[v11] (where connection with other values is not, or nor immediately, evident), practically all values in the Ar root √ǦDL can easily be explained as derivations from the basic idea of [v1] ‘twisting strongly (a rope etc.)’. This “roof” value, and some of its derivatives, are also the most widely attested ones in Sem (cf. #GDL-1 in DRS, see below, section COGN).
▪ For an attempt to derive ǦDL from a 2-consonantal root nucleus *GD‑ see below, section DISC.
▪ Ar [v1] unites two basic notions which in other Sem langs appear as distinct values and have developed in many directions also in Ar: ‘twisting (rope)’ and ‘strength, firmness’. As rightly observed by DRS, a semantic relation between ‘twisting’ and ‘making firm\strong’ can be found also in other roots, such as ↗√BRM, ↗√KBR, ↗√KRB, ↗√MSD, ↗√MRR, ↗√ʕSD, ↗√ʕQD, ↗√FTL, and ↗√QWW/Y. In a similar vein, also ‘strong’ and ‘great, big, large’ are connected not only in ǦDL but also in ↗√ʕẒM.
▪ [v1] ‘to twist tight, braid, plait’ is the “roof” value from which most other values in the root can be thought to derive. The value is widely attested in Sem (Akk,¹ Hbr, Aram, Ar, Soq, Te) and can thus be posited, with all likelihood, also for protSem *GDL.
▪ [v2] ‘to quarrel, wrangle; (esp.) to argue, debate, dispute, contest’: obviously a semantic extension from [v1] ‘twisting’, peculiar to Ar where the basic notion of ‘quarreling, fighting’ is found in ↗ǧadal ‘fight’, but mostly in the extended vb. forms. Given that the value is only very scarcely attested outside Ar (only in EthSem, where it came to mean ‘to kill’), it is hard to decide whether the fig. value ‘intellectual argument, dispute’, so prominent in Ar, developed from ‘clashing/quarelling physically’ or whether it is the result of a transfer of meaning directly from ‘twisting’ (in which case ‘physical clash\fighting’ could also be interpreted as a development from ‘firmness, strength, maturity’, etc. – see [v6] below). The value is attested from early on; in the Qurʔān, it is even the only one with which the root √ǦDL is present.
▪ [v3] ¹miǧdāl ‘flagstone, ashlar’: specified in Lane ii 1865 as »oblong roofing-stone, of those which, placed side by side, form the roof of a subterranean passage, &c.«. The value seems to be a specialisation based on [v6] *‘hard, firm, strong’, perh. influenced by ^†miǧdal ‘stronghold, fortress’ (which is usually believed to be a loan from Hbr migdāl ‘tower, stronghold’).
▪ [v4] In ClassAr lexicography, ǦDWL is generally treated s.v. ǦDL. Lane ii 1865 specifies: ǧadwal, var. ǧidwal, ‘rivulet, streamlet (whether natural, or formed artificially for irrigation; being often applied to a streamlet for irrigation, in the form of a trench, or gutter]; (hence:) ĭstaqāma ǧadwaluhum, expr., their affair, or case, was, or became, in a right, a regular, or an orderly, state’, like the ǧadwal when its flow is uniform and uninterrupted; ĭstaqāma ǧadwal al-ḥāǧǧ, expr., the caravan of the pilgrins formed an uninterrupted line; (hence also:) kind of small vein; (and:) ǧadwal kitāb, ruled line (such as is ruled round a page, &c.); column, table (of a book)’. – Relation to ǦDL unclear; perh. *‘trickles uniting (“intertwining”) and thus forming a rivulet’; a (dimin.?) FaʕwaL~FiʕwaL formation (not classified as a standard pattern in any grammar so far)? Can the use of ǧadwal in the sense of ‘ruled line; column; list, roster; chart, table, schedule’ (in MSA the most prevalent use) help to explain the connection betw. ‘twisting’ and ‘rivulet’? Should, e.g., also a table\chart\roster be regarded as *‘intertwining’ lines, the result of some “twisting”?
▪ ^†[v5] : The group comprises other specific interpretations, material and figurative, which, like [v2], are based on the element of *‘twisting’ in [v1] (the only difference being that the values of ^†[v5] have become obsolete in MSA). It is clear that things like ropes and girdles are ‘tightly twisted’ and that also whips and traps/cages belong here. A certain type of girdle (ǧadīlaẗ) that would be worn by menstruous women round their waists could become a synonym for ‘menstruous woman’ as such. In a similar vein, the way s.th. was twisted could take on more general meanings like ‘way, mood’ or (mental structure, the way s.o. is “knitted” =) ‘habit; nature; determination of the mind’. *‘Nicely\beautifully twisted\knitted\woven’ cound take the meaning ‘slender, well-formed, shapely’, hence also ‘graceful, handsome’.
▪ ^†[v6] : In this group we find the obsolete values corresponding to non-obsolete [v3], i.e., specific interpretations, material and figurative, of the other of the two core notions of [v1], namely *‘strength, firmness’. The value is not uncommon outside Ar, but only in forms with prefixed m‑, all meaning ‘tower, fortification’ (Ug, Hbr, Moab, Aram, Syr, LiḥAr, Min), and the cognate Ar term, ^†miǧdal, may in fact be a borrowing (from Hbr), perh. also its relative, [v3] ¹miǧdāl ‘flagstone, ashlar’. In contrast, Ar displays a whole range of lexemes containing the basic notion of be(com)ing or making ‘firm, strong, solid, hard, robust’, incl. vb.s, adj.s, and n.s. While ‘tomb’ may be (like ‘tower, fortification’) *‘the firmly built one’, ‘unripe dates’ are hard, and such should also be the ‘pestle’ of a mortar. – A special case may be ^†ǧadl~ǧidl ‘limb, any part of the body; penis; sinew; (pl.) bones of the legs’. ClassAr “etymology”, ĭštiqāq, tends to interpret the word (esp. the penis) as *‘the hard one’. In contrast, MilitarevKogan2000 (SED I) #73 think it may be independent from the other ǦDL items, going back to a protSem *g˅d(˅)l‑ ‘limb’. The authors concede that attestation in Sem is rather scarce – apart from Ar, there are only postBiblHbr (ʔª)gūdāl ‘thumb, great toe’, and modSAr ‘foot’ (Mhr gēdəl, Ḥrs gédəl, Jib gέdəl) –; nevertheless, they think this is reliable enough to assume a wider Sem dimension.² Moreover, they assume that their hypothetical protSem *g˅d(˅)l‑ ‘limb’ might be »related with suffixed ‑l to [protSem] *g˅d-at‑ ‘(part or bone of) the leg of animal’« [SED I #71, no reflexes attested in Ar].
▪ ^†[v7] : Apart from ‘twisting, rope, etc.’ and ‘strength, firmness, etc.ʼ, the idea of *‘growth, greatness, maturity, ripeness’ and corresponding capacities is rather widespread beyond Ar (Ug, Hbr, Aram). In this group we find not only vb.s signifying ‘to grow (grain, young men)’ but also corresponding adj.s like ‘ripe (corn, grain)’, ‘grown up, being able to walk by itself (young camel) or o.s. (child)’. Here belongs also the vb. II, attested from early on, in the sense of ‘to knock s.o. down’ (with also vb. V ‘to fall down’ and vb. VII ‘to be thrown down’); these could likewise be interpreted as the result of having gained ‘strength’, thus belonging to the complex of [v6] rather than that of [v7]. – For MilitarevStolbova2007, the wider attestation outside Ar (and, perh., even some cognates outside Sem) are reason enough to posit a protSem *g˅d˅l‑ ‘(to be\come) big, strong’ (< AfrAs *g˅d˅l‑ ‘to be big’); see below, sections COGN and DISC, for further details).
▪ ^†[v8] : The specification ‘having fine sand | couverte d’un sable fin’ seems to contradict a derivation of ‘earth, soil, ground’ from the basic notion of [v6] ‘hard, solid, firm’; but also fine sand may be very hard, so it may well belong to [v6]. The same word can also mean ‘country, state; tribe’, which with all likelihood is a specialization of ‘firm ground’.
▪ ^†[v9] : The type of falcon or hawk called ^†ʔaǧdal has its name either from its beautiful, well-shaped appearance (cf. [v5]) or its strength (cf. [v6]). Grammarians discussed whether the word was an elative formation (in which case it should not take nunation: ʔaǧdal^u) or whether it should be treated like a “real” noun (hence ʔaǧdal^un).
▪ ^†[v10] ^†maǧdal ‘troop’: < *‘the strong one, standing firm’?
▪ ^†[v11] ^†ǧadala (ǧadl) ‘to melt fat’: ?

1. Accord. to Zimmern1914: 35, Akk gidl- may be an Aramaism. 2. »The postBiblHbr forms may alternatively be derived from [Hbr] gādal ‘to be high, large’ (and then unrelated to the present root), or semantically influenced by the latter.«

▪ Earliest attestations accord. to DHDA (as of 13Jul2021):

528 ǧadwal ‘rivulet, streamlet’
529 ǧādil (674 ǧadīl, 791 ǧadl, ǧadil) ‘hard, strong, firm’
538 ǧaddala (642 ǧadala) ‘to knock s.o. down’; 600 taǧaddala ‘to fall down’, 600 ǧadīl ‘knocked down, thrown to earth’
538 ǧadīl, 631 ǧadīlaẗ, ‘twisted rope’
539 ǧidāl ‘quarrelsome argument, fight’
544 miǧdal ‘stronghold, fortress’
545 ʔaǧdal ‘a kind of hawk’
573 ǧadīl ‘girdle, ornamented belt (wišāḥ)’
604 ǧādala ‘to argue, quarrel with s.o.’
616 ǧadal ‘vehemence, violence, in altercation or disputation or litigation, sharpness, acrimony in dispute’
631 ǧadl (vn. I) ‘to twist strongly (a rope)’
633 ǧadāl ‘unripe dates’
636 ǧidl ‘bones of the legs’
643 maǧdūl ‘bien tourné, beautiful’
657 ǧadl ‘member, body part’
762 ǧadālaẗ ‘earth, hard soil’
791 ǧadīlaẗ ‘trap to catch pigeons, bird’s cage’
791 miǧdāl ‘qui aime à disputer, prompt, enclin à la dispute; fort et habile à la dispute’

▪ All values: DRS 2 (1994) #GDL-1 Akk gidl- ‘cordon torsadé, cordelière’;¹ Hbr gādal ‘tresser’, *gādil ‘tresse’; Aram gᵊdal ‘tresser’, gᵊdiltā ‘tresse’; Phlv gdyl ‘cordon’; Mand gdal ‘tresser’, gdalta ‘tresse, guirlande’; nSyr gʸädil ‘tresser’; Ar ǧadala ‘tresser une corde, la rendre solide en la tordant fortement’; Soq gadl ‘tresse’; Te gädlä ‘tresser les cheveux, coiffer’. – Ug gdl, Hbr gādōl ‘grand’, gādāl, Aram gᵊdal ‘être grand’; Mand *gdil ‘être exalté’; Ar ǧadala ‘être ferme, solide; jeter à terre, terrasser’, ǧādil ‘grand, adulte’, ǧādala ‘lutter, se quereller’; Soq gódil ‘être fort’; Gz gadala ‘être fort, l’emporter sur; tuer’, gadl ‘combat; exercice ascétique’, gadalā ‘cadavre, charogne’; Te gadälä, Tña Amh tägaddälä ‘lutter’; Amh gäddälä, *gällä ‘tuer’, gäla ‘corps’. – Ug mgdl, Hbr migdāl, Moab mgdlt (pl.), Aram migdᵊlā, Syr magdᵊlā, Ar miǧdal, LiḥAr Min mgdl ‘tour, château fort’. -2 Gz gʷadala ‘être incomplet’, gudāle ‘défaut’; Amh gʷäddälä ‘manquer de’. -3 Akk gudilū-: classe, sorte d’hommes.
▪ ^†[v6] MilitarevKogan2000 (SED I) #73: postBiblHbr gūdāl, ʔªgūdāl ‘thumb, great toe’, Ar ^†ǧadl, ǧidl ‘membre quelconque du corps; verge, pénis; tendon (des mains ou des jambes); os entier, non fracture [BK1860]’, Mhr gēdəl, Ḥrs gédəl, Jib gέdəl ‘foot’.
▪ ^†[v7] MilitarevStolbova2007: Ug gdl ‘big’, Hbr gdl ‘to be big’, gādōl ‘big’, Aram gǝdal ‘to be big’, Ar ǧdl ‘to become big, strong’, ǧādil ‘big’. Outside Sem: dǜgōlù, digàl, dɨgàlu, dɨ̄galu, all meaning ‘big’ in 4 CCh langs.
▪ ^†[v6]/[v7] Borg2021 #91 ǧ-d-l compares Hbr migdāl ‘tower’, Ar ^†miǧdal ‘castle’ and Lev Ar maǧdal (part of the names of many Lebanese and Syrian villages) with Eg (LE) mktr, mkdr, mgdr ‘tower’ (Wb V 631), Copt ⲙⲓⲕⲧⲟⲗ ‘tower’ (Crum 1939: 214b)
▪ …

1. Accord. to Zimmern1914: 35 perh. from Aram.

▪ [v1]-[v11]: See above, section CONC.
▪ ^†[v6] MilitarevKogan2000 (SED I) #73: »Scarce though reliable attestation.« The authors reconstruct protSem *g˅d(˅)l‑ ‘limb’. »Possibly related with suffixed ‑l to [protSem] *g˅d-at‑ ‘(part or bone of) the leg of animal’« [SED I #71, not attested in Ar]. »The postBiblHbr forms may alternatively be derived from [Hbr] gādal ‘to be high, large’ (and then unrelated to the present root), or semantically influenced by the latter.«
▪ ^†[v7] MilitarevStolbova2007: The authors reconstruct protSem *g˅d˅l‑ ‘(to be\come) big, strong’ and protCCh *digwal‑ ‘big’, both from a hypothetical AfrAs *g˅d˅l‑ ‘to be big’, where ‑l is perh. a suffix so that AfrAs *g˅d˅l‑ could be composed of AfrAs *gid-/*gud- ‘to be big, be many’ + modifier ‑l.
▪ Blix1876 (s.v. Hbr nāgîd ‘leader; ruler, prince’) derives Hbr nāgîd from a 2-consonantal root nucleus *√GD‑ (gad) the basic meaning of which he defines as ‘strække, stramme, snøre, knytte; intr. strække sig, være stram, streng, fast’ (to stretch, tighten, lace, tie; intr. to stretch out, be tight, strict, firm); accord. to the author, this basic value is not only present in the 2-consonantal forms like Ar ↗ǧīd ‘neck’, ↗ǧāda ‘to be swift (horse); to be excellent, make s.th. well’, and ↗ǧadda ‘to be serious’, but also in extended, 3-rad. roots like, e.g., Hbr ʔāgad ‘to bind, tie’ (with ʔᵃgûdāʰ ‘band, bundle, bunch’), Hbr gāḏēr ‘fence, hedge, enclosure, wall’ (Aram gâdêrâ, gᵊdêrâ ‘fence’, Ar ǧadr ‘wall of enclosure’, ǧadīr ‘walled place’, Phoen n.top. hgdr, ʔgdr ‘Gadeira, Gades, now Cádiz’, Berb agadir ‘fortress, castle’), Hbr nāgîd, Syr nāgôdâ ‘leader, ruler’ (cf. Ar naǧd ‘highland, the Nejd’), and also Ar ǧadala ‘to twist tight, firmly; [mostly vb. II, ǧaddala] to throw down’, ǧidl ‘sinew, nerve’, ǧadula ‘to be solid, robust, firm’, Hbr gdl ‘to grow up, become great/big’, gādôl ‘big, large’. – There is much in Blix’s theory which looks untenable (esp. the value of the 2-cons. root nucleus), but there may also be some truth to it. Others have identified one or more 2-cons. root nuclei, too, though none meaning ‘to stretch, tighten, lace, tie; intr. to stretch out, be tight, strict, firm’, as claimed by Blix (for instance, Kogan2015: 193 #37 posits a protWSem *gd with a general meaning ‘to be good, lucky, excellent’; Ehret1995 #295 and Kogan2015 #33⁶⁴ assume a protSem *gd‑ ‘to cut, make an incision’; so also DRS 2, adding that *‘trancher, couper, etc.’ often has a »connotation de violence: arracher; frapper, broyer, etc.«); for an overview, see ↗*GD‑.

–

ǧadal‑ جَدَلـ , u, i (ǧadl)

ID … • Sw – • BP … • APD … • © SG | 15Jul2021

√ǦDL

vb., I

1a to twist tight, tighten, stretch (a rope); b to braid, plait (the hair, etc.) – WehrCowan1976.

▪ ‘To twist tight, braid, plait’ is the “roof” value from which most other values in the root ↗√ǦDL can be thought to derive. It unites two basic notions which in other Sem languages appear as distinct values and have developed in many directions also in Ar: ‘twisting (rope)’ and ‘strength, firmness’.
▪ As rightly observed by DRS, a semantic relation between ‘twisting’ and ‘strength, firmness’ can be found also in other roots, such as ↗√BRM, ↗√KBR, ↗√KRB, ↗√MSD, ↗√MRː(MRR), ↗√ʕSD, ↗√ʕQD, ↗√FTL, and ↗√QWY. In a similar vein, also ‘strong’ and ‘great, big, large’ are connected not only in √ǦDL but also in ↗√ʕẒM.
▪ This entry treats only ‘twisting’ proper (more precisely, the “remnants” of this value that have survived into MSA). For the wider semantic spectrum, see root entry ↗√ǦDL as well as individual entries ↗ǧadal (with the related complex of *‘quarreling, wrangling, fighting; arguing, debating, etc.’ – the most prominent complex in MSA), ↗¹miǧdāl (with *‘strength, firmness’) and ↗ǧadwal (prob. a specific interpretation of ‘twisting’, namely the “intertwining” of trickles of water, etc., forming a rivulet, hence also the intertwining of lines in a table, chart, etc.).
▪ The value is widely attested in Sem (Akk,³ Hbr, Aram, Ar, Soq, Te) and can thus be posited, with all likelihood, also for protSem *GDL.
▪ As the list of derivatives (see below) shows, there are only few items left in MSA that still display the original idea of ‘twisting tight, braiding, plaiting’. ClassAr contained a larger variety, including, e.g., ^†ǧadīl(aẗ) ‘girdle, ornamented belt; menstruous woman (who wears that type of belt)’ and ^†ǧadīlaẗ ‘trap for catching pigeons, bird’s cage (made from twigs by “weaving/twisting” them)’ (hence also the ^†ǧaddāl ‘trap\cage-maker’). The way s.th. was twisted could also take the more general meaning of ‘way, mood’ or ‘habit; nature; determination of the mind’ (= the way s.o. is “knitted”, his/her mental structure). Perh. also a type of falcon or hawk was called ^†ʔaǧdal on account of its well-shaped appearance (alternatively, due to its strength).
▪ Metaphorical use of *‘nicely twisted, well-knit’ has survived into MSA in the PP I, maǧdūl, in the meaning ‘slender and trim, shapely’ (in ClassAr also ‘graceful, handsome’).

3. Accord. to Zimmern1914: 35, Akk gidl- may be an Aramaism.

▪ Earliest attestations of ‘twisting’ and directly related values accord. to DHDA (as of 13Jul2021) (for attestations of other values see “root” entry ↗√ǦDL; particular sub-values: for ‘quarelling, disputing’ see ↗ǧadal; for ‘strength, firmness’ see ↗miǧdāl; for ‘rivulet; table, chart’ see ↗ǧadwal):

538 ǧadīl, 631 ǧadīlaẗ ‘twisted rope’
573 ^†ǧadīl(aẗ) ‘girdle, ornamented belt (wišāḥ)’
631 ǧadl (vn. I) ‘to twist strongly (a rope)’
643 maǧdūl ‘bien tourné, beautiful’
791 ^†ǧadīlaẗ ‘trap for catching pigeons, bird’s cage’

▪ All values: DRS 2 (1994) #GDL-1 Akk gidl- ‘cordon torsadé, cordelière’;² Hbr gādal ‘tresser’, *gādil ‘tresse’; Aram gᵊdal ‘tresser’, gᵊdiltā ‘tresse’; Phlv gdyl ‘cordon’; Mand gdal ‘tresser’, gdalta ‘tresse, guirlande’; nSyr gʸädil ‘tresser’; Ar ǧadala ‘tresser une corde, la rendre solide en la tordant fortement’; Soq gadl ‘tresse’; Te gädlä ‘tresser les cheveux, coiffer’. – Ug gdl, Hbr gādōl ‘grand’, gādāl, Aram gᵊdal ‘être grand’; Mand *gdil ‘être exalté’; Ar ǧadala ‘être ferme, solide; jeter à terre, terrasser’, ǧādil ‘grand, adulte’, ǧādala ‘lutter, se quereller’; Soq gódil ‘être fort’; Gz gadala ‘être fort, l’emporter sur; tuer’, gadl ‘combat; exercice ascétique’, gadalā ‘cadavre, charogne’; Te gadälä, Tña Amh tägaddälä ‘lutter’; Amh gäddälä, *gällä ‘tuer’, gäla ‘corps’. – Ug mgdl, Hbr migdāl, Moab mgdlt (pl.), Aram migdᵊlā, Syr magdᵊlā, Ar miǧdal, LiḥAr Min mgdl ‘tour, château fort’. -2-3 […].
▪ …

2. Accord. to Zimmern1914: 35 perh. from Aram.

▪ See above, section CONC.

–

►ǧaddala, vb. II, to braid, plait (s.th.): D-stem, ints.

►ǧadīlaẗ, pl. ǧadāʔilᵘ, n.f., 1a braid, plait; b tress: quasi-PP, f.
►maǧdūl, adj., 1a tightly twisted; b braided, plaited; c interwoven, intertwined (tress of hair); 2 slender and trim, shapely (e.g., leg): PP I.

For the related complex ‘to quarrel, wrangle; to argue, debate, dispute, contest’, see ↗ǧadal. For other values attached to the "root", cf. ↗¹miǧdāl and ↗ǧadwal (ǦDWL) as well as, for the whole picture, root entry ↗√ǦDL.

ǧadal جَدَل

√ǦDL

1a quarrel, argument; b debate, dispute, discussion, controversy – WehrCowan1976.

▪ ǧadal is the vn. I of the (now obsolete) vb. I, ^†ǧadila (a, ǧadal), vb. I, ‘to be quarrelsome, contentious’. In ClassAr, the vb. I (and esp. also vb.s II and III) could still refer to physical fighting, combat, cf., e.g. ^†ǧaddala ‘to knock s.o. down’, ǧādala ‘to fight s.o.’). However, the most widespread use is as *‘fighting each other with words’. This is also the only sense with which ǧadal and related lexemes appear in the Qur’ān.
▪ Metaphorical use is based on an original *‘twisting tight, braiding, plaiting’ (↗ǧadala) which has developed a wide spectrum of semantic extensions, building, on the one hand, on figurative use of *‘twisting’ (> ‘getting into each other = quarreling, wrangling, fighting, disputing’; > ‘shapely, nicely “knitted”, well-formed, handsome’; > ‘way, mode; habit, nature, determination of mind [i.e., the way a person is “knitted, made up”]; > ‘rivulet, i.e., intertwining trickles of water’, > ‘table, chart, intersection of lines’, etc.) and, on the other hand, on *‘firmness, solidity, strength’ (> ‘maturity, ripeness’, > ‘growth, largeness, bigness’, > ‘stronghold, fortification’) – for an overview, see “root” entry ↗√ǦDL.
▪ The range of meanings of ǧadal in ClassAr is summarized by Lane ii 1865 as: ‘vehemence, violence, in altercation or disputation or litigation, sharpness, acrimony in dispute; ability\power to practise it; (also ǧadl, pl. ǧudūl, ʔaǧdāl) well-made syllogism’;⁴ (ʕilm al-) ǧadal ‘polemics’; ǧadalī ‘querelleur, disputeur’.
▪ The value ‘intellectual argument, dispute’, which is so prominent in Ar, is only very scarcely attested outside Ar (only in EthSem, where it came to mean ‘to kill’).
▪ …

4. Lane: »A syllogism composed of things well known, or conceded; the object of which is to convince the opponent, and to make him to understand who fails to apprehend the premises of the demonstration.«

▪ Earliest attestations of ‘fighting, quarelling, disputing’ and directly related values accord. to DHDA (as of 13Jul2021) (for attestations of other values see “root” entry ↗√ǦDL; particular sub-values: for ‘to twist; rope’ see ↗ǧadala; for ‘strength, firmness’ see ↗miǧdāl; for ‘rivulet; table, chart’ see ↗ǧadwal):

539 ǧidāl ‘quarrelsome argument, fight’
604 ǧādala ‘to argue, quarrel with s.o.’
616 ǧadal ‘vehemence, violence, in altercation or disputation or litigation, sharpness, acrimony in dispute’
eC7 ǧadal (disputation, contention, argument) Q 18:54 wa-kāna ’l-ʔinsānu ʔakṯara šayʔin ǧadalan ‘but man is the most contentious of all creatures [lit., things]’. – ǧādala [v. III, trans.] 1 (to argue or dispute with) Q 11:32 qālū yā Nūḥu qad ǧādaltanā fa-ʔakṯarta ǧidālanā ‘they said, “Noah!, you have disputed with us, and have put up a lot of disputation with us”’; 2 ([with prep. ʕan] to plead for, argue the case of) Q 4:109 hā-ʔantum hāʔulāʔi ǧādaltum ʕanhum fī ’l-ḥayāẗi ’l-dunyā fa-man yuǧādilu ’ḷḷāha ʕanhum yawma ’l-qiyāmaẗ? ‘here you are, the ones who argued on their behalf in the life of this world, but who will argue on their behalf with God on the Day of Resurrection?’. – ǧidāl (arguing/argument, disputing/disputation, contending/contention) Q 2:197 fa-lā rafaṯa wa-lā fusūqa wa-lā ǧidāla fī ’l-ḥaǧǧi ‘there is no intercourse [also interpreted as: abusive speech], misbehaviour nor disputation during/on the pilgrimage’
791 miǧdāl ‘qui aime à disputer, prompt, enclin à la dispute; fort et habile à la dispute’

▪ All values: DRS 2 (1994) #GDL-1 Akk gidl- ‘cordon torsadé, cordelière’;³ Hbr gādal ‘tresser’, *gādil ‘tresse’; Aram gᵊdal ‘tresser’, gᵊdiltā ‘tresse’; Phlv gdyl ‘cordon’; Mand gdal ‘tresser’, gdalta ‘tresse, guirlande’; nSyr gʸädil ‘tresser’; Ar ǧadala ‘tresser une corde, la rendre solide en la tordant fortement’; Soq gadl ‘tresse’; Te gädlä ‘tresser les cheveux, coiffer’. – Ug gdl, Hbr gādōl ‘grand’, gādāl, Aram gᵊdal ‘être grand’; Mand *gdil ‘être exalté’; Ar ǧadala ‘être ferme, solide; jeter à terre, terrasser’, ǧādil ‘grand, adulte’, ǧādala ‘lutter, se quereller’; Soq gódil ‘être fort’; Gz gadala ‘être fort, l’emporter sur; tuer’, gadl ‘combat; exercice ascétique’, gadalā ‘cadavre, charogne’; Te gadälä, Tña Amh tägaddälä ‘lutter’; Amh gäddälä, *gällä ‘tuer’, gäla ‘corps’. – Ug mgdl, Hbr migdāl, Moab mgdlt (pl.), Aram migdᵊlā, Syr magdᵊlā, Ar miǧdal, LiḥAr Min mgdl ‘tour, château fort’. -2-3 […].
▪ …

3. Accord. to Zimmern1914: 35 perh. from Aram.

▪ See above, section CONC.
▪ …

–

►faraḍa ǧadalan, expr., to assume for the sake of argument, propose as a basis for discussion.

►ǧādala, vb. III, 1a to quarrel, wrangle, bicker (DO with s.o.); b to argue, debate (DO with s.o.); c to dispute, contest (fī s.th.): L-stem, fig. use, associative.
►taǧādala, vb. VI, 1a to quarrel, have an argument; b to carry on a dispute: Lt-stem, reciproque.

►ǧadalī, 1 adj., controversial; disputatious; 2 n., a disputant: nisba-formation.
►ǧaddāl, adj., disputatious, argumentative: ints. formation (FaʕʕāL).
►miǧdāl, pl. maǧādīlᵘ, 1 n., ↗¹miǧdāl; 2 adj., disputatious, argumentative: ints. formation (miFʕāL).
►ǧidāl, n., and muǧādalaẗ, pl. -āt, n.f., 1a quarrel, argument; b dispute, discussion, debate: vn. III | lā yaqbalu ’l-ǧidāl, expr., incontestable, indisputable; lā ǧidālª and bi-lā ǧidālª, expr., incontestably, indisputably.
►muǧādil, n., disputant, opponent in dispute: PA III.

For the related complex ‘to twist tight, braid, plait’, see ↗ǧadala (ǧadl). For other values attached to the "root", cf. ↗¹miǧdāl and ↗ǧadwal (ǦDWL) as well as, for the whole picture, root entry ↗√ǦDL.

miǧdāl مِجْدال , pl. maǧādīlᵘ

√ǦDL

1 flagstone, ashlar; 2 adj., ↗ǧadal – WehrCowan1976.

▪ The meaning of the term is specified in Lane ii 1865 as »oblong roofing-stone, of those which, placed side by side, form the roof of a subterranean passage, &c.«. The word seems to belong to the complex of *‘strength, firmness’ (see ^†[v6] in root entry ↗√ǦDL) which is a specialization from the basic *‘to twist tight, braid, plait’ ([v1] in ↗√ǦDL, ↗ǧadala).
▪ ¹miǧdāl ‘flagstone, ashlar’ is listed as a value in its own right for the simple reason that it is the only item from the *‘strength, firmness’ complex that has “survived” into MSA.
▪ It is not clear whether it is an inner-Ar formation or whether it has to be seen together with ^†miǧdal ‘stronghold, fortress’, likewise from *‘strength, firmness’ but perh. via Hbr migdāl ‘tower, stronghold’.
▪ …

Earliest attestations of ‘strength, firmness; stronghold, castle, tower’ and related values accord. to DHDA (as of 13Jul2021) (for attestations of other values see “root” entry ↗√ǦDL; for particular sub-values: ‘to twist; rope’ ↗ǧadala; ‘fighting, quarelling, disputing’ ↗ǧidāl; ‘rivulet; table, chart’ ↗ǧadwal):

529 ǧādil (674 ǧadīl, 791 ǧadl, ǧadil) ‘hard, strong, firm’
538 ǧaddala (642 ǧadala) ‘to knock s.o. down’; 600 taǧaddala ‘to fall down’, 600 ǧadīl ‘knocked down, thrown to earth’
539 ǧidāl ‘quarrelsome argument, fight’
544 miǧdal ‘stronghold, fortress’
545 ʔaǧdal ‘a kind of hawk’
616 ǧadal ‘vehemence, violence, in altercation or disputation or litigation, sharpness, acrimony in dispute’

▪ DRS 2 (1994) #GDL-1 Akk gidl- ‘cordon torsadé, cordelière’;⁴ Hbr gādal ‘tresser’, *gādil ‘tresse’; Aram gᵊdal ‘tresser’, gᵊdiltā ‘tresse’; Phlv gdyl ‘cordon’; Mand gdal ‘tresser’, gdalta ‘tresse, guirlande’; nSyr gʸädil ‘tresser’; Ar ǧadala ‘tresser une corde, la rendre solide en la tordant fortement’; Soq gadl ‘tresse’; Te gädlä ‘tresser les cheveux, coiffer’. – Ug gdl, Hbr gādōl ‘grand’, gādāl, Aram gᵊdal ‘être grand’; Mand *gdil ‘être exalté’; Ar ǧadala ‘être ferme, solide; jeter à terre, terrasser’, ǧādil ‘grand, adulte’, ǧādala ‘lutter, se quereller’; Soq gódil ‘être fort’; Gz gadala ‘être fort, l’emporter sur; tuer’, gadl ‘combat; exercice ascétique’, gadalā ‘cadavre, charogne’; Te gadälä, Tña Amh tägaddälä ‘lutter’; Amh gäddälä, *gällä ‘tuer’, gäla ‘corps’. – Ug mgdl, Hbr migdāl, Moab mgdlt (pl.), Aram migdᵊlā, Syr magdᵊlā, Ar miǧdal, LiḥAr Min mgdl ‘tour, château fort’. -2-3 […].
▪ …

4. Accord. to Zimmern1914: 35 perh. from Aram.

▪ See above, section CONC.
▪ …

–

For other values attached to the "root", cf. ↗ǧadala (ǧadl), ↗ǧadal, and ↗ǧadwal (ǦDWL) as well as, for the whole picture, root entry ↗√ǦDL.

ǧadwal جَدْوَل , pl. ǧadāwilᵘ

√ǦDL, ǦDWL

1 creek, brook, little stream; 2a column; b list, roster; c index; d chart, table, schedule – WehrCowan1976.

▪ In ClassAr lexicography, ǧadwal is generally treated s.r. ↗√ǦDL the basic meaning of which is ‘to twist tight, braid, plait’ (↗ǧadala).
▪ The relation between the two values, ‘twisting’ and ‘rivulet’, is not immediately evident, but if ǧadwal should indeed be dependent on ǧadala one could perh. explain it as *‘trickles uniting (“intertwining”) and thus forming a rivulet’. Interestingly enough, ǧadwal ‘rivulet’ is the very earliest lexeme that a search for first attestations of items from √ǦDL yields in DHDA.
▪ The use of ǧadwal [v1] ‘rivulet’ in the sense of [v2] ‘ruled line; column; list, roster; chart, table, schedule’ – the most prevalent value in MSA – can perh. support the above explanation ‘rivulet < twisting, intertwining’ as also a ‘table, chart, roster’ may be regarded as an assembly of *‘intertwining’ lines, the result of some “twisting”. Ar lexicographers, as summarized in Lane ii 1865, describe ǧadwal, var. ǧidwal, as »rivulet, streamlet (whether natural, or formed artificially for irrigation; being often applied to a streamlet for irrigation, in the form of a trench, or gutter]; (hence:) [expr.] ĭstaqāma ǧadwaluhum, their affair, or case, was, or became, in a right, a regular, or an orderly, state’, like the ǧadwal when its flow is uniform and uninterrupted; [expr.] ĭstaqāma ǧadwal al-ḥāǧǧ, the caravan of the pilgrins formed an uninterrupted line; (hence also:) kind of small vein; (and:) ǧadwal kitāb, ruled line (such as is ruled round a page, &c.); column, table (of a book)«.
▪ Morphologically, ǧadwal could be described as a (dimin.?) FaʕwaL~FiʕwaL formation (though no such pattern has been identified by grammarians so far…).

▪ 528 ǧadwal ‘rivulet, streamlet’ – DHDA.

▪ No direct cognates in Sem. – For the wider perspective (‘twisting’ etc.), cf. ↗√ǦDL.
▪ …

▪ See above, section CONC.
▪ …

–

►ǧadwal dirāsī, n., curriculum;
►ǧadwal al-būrṣaẗ, n., stock list;
►ḫāriǧ ǧadwal al-būrṣaẗ, not quoted (stock exchange);
►ǧadwal al-ʔaʕmāl, n., agenda; working plan

For values attached to the "root" √ǦDL under which ǧadwal is usually arranged in dictionaries, cf. ↗ǧadala (ǧadl), ↗ǧadal, and ↗¹miǧdāl as well as, for the whole picture, root entry ↗√ǦDL.

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