Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ ^†ẒFR_3 ‘disease of the eye, pellicle growing on the eyes, cataract’: ^†ẓufur and ^†ẓafaraẗ
▪ ^†ẒFR_4 ‘odoriferous substance added to incense’: ^†ẓafār, ^†ʔaẓfār

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘fingernails, toenails, claws, talons; to capture; victory, triumph, to succeed, to win’

▪ DRS 10 (2012) #Ṯ̣PR thinks that »la base sémantique générale peut être le nom de l’ongle, avec des développements métaphoriques«. But semantic relations inside the root, if any, remain far from evident.
▪ ẒFR_1 : (Orel&Stolbova1994#513:) The Sem word *ṯ̣upr‑ ‘fingernail’ (Kogan2015 Sw#13 < SED I #285: protSem *ṯ̣ipr‑ ‘claw’) has cognates in Agaw, HEC, Omot, and Rift. An AfrAs etymon may be reconstructed as *č̣upar‑ ‘fingernail’. According to the authors, the item is phonetically close to AfrAs *c̣ib˅ʕ ‘finger’ (↗Ar ʔiṣbaʕ).
– Relation (if any) to ↗ẓafira ‘be victorious, triumphant’ remains obscure.
▪ ẒFR_2 : Ar ẓafira ‘to be successful, victorious’ has an obvious cognate only in Sab. Etymology obscure. Any relation to ↗ẓufr ‘fingernail, claw’ ?
▪ ẒFR_3-4 : see below, section DISC.

▪ …

▪ DRS 10 (2012) #Ṯ̣PR-1 Akk ṣupr-, ṣupur-, Hbr ṣippōren, JudPal ṭuprā, Ar ẓufr, Mhr ẓēfēr, ṭayfir, Soq ṭifer, ṭayfher, Jib ẓifär, Ḥrs ẓefīr, Gz Te ṣəfər, Tña ṣəfri, Gaf ṣəfrä, Amh Gur ṭəfər, Har ṭifir, Arg č̣əffər ‘ongle, griffe’. – Ar ẓafara ‘égratigner avec les ongles’, Gz ṣafara ‘couper les ongles’, Gur č̣äfärä ‘griffer en laissant une marque’. - ? 2 Ar ẓafira ‘se saisir de; avoir le dessus, vaincre’, Sab ṯ̣fr ‘vaincre’. - ? 3 Ar ẓafār ‘arôme, parfum’, ʔaẓfār ‘espèce d’aromate’, Phoen ṣpr ‘parfum (?)’. -4 PalAr ẓafar ‘maladie qui atteint les naseaux de l’âne’. – Outside Sem: Pour AfrAs, Cohen 160 fournit: (Berb) Tua atfer ‘partie antérieure du pied (avec les doigts)’; aussi tifḍənt ‘orteil’?, (Cush) Ag Bil čiffer ‘ongle’.

See above, section CONC.

…

▪ For ẒFR_1 and _2, cf. also above, section CONC.
▪ ẒFR_3 : The value ‘disease of the eye, pellicle growing on the eyes, cataract’, registered by Hava1899 and others for the obs. items ^†ẓufur or ^†ẓafaraẗ appears to be close to PalAr ẓafar ‘maladie qui atteint les naseaux de l’âne’, given in DRS 10 (2012) #Ṯ̣PR-4. – Cf. also the (denom.) vb. ^†ẓafira or (pass.) ^†ẓufira (a, ẓafar) ‘to have a pellicle over the eye, have the cataract’ (Hava1899). – The value is likely to be a metaphorical use of ẓufr, though the exact nature of a possible relation betw. ‘fingernail, claw’ and ‘eye-disease’ remains to be explained.
▪ ẒFR_4 : Accord. to Ar lexicographers, the odoriferious substance is attained from claw-shaped plants. That the value ‘perfume’ is metonymic use of ‘claw’ becomes clear also from several combinations of the type *‘claw of…x’, such as ^†ẓufr al-ṭīb\al-ʕifrīt ‘unguis odoratus: odoriferous substance added to incense’, lit., *‘claw of fragrance\the genie’, ^†ẓufr al-ḥaǧar ‘sard, cornelian (stone)’, lit., *‘fingernail of the stone’, or ^†ẓufr al-qiṭṭ ‘lion’s (lit., *the cat’s’) foot (a plant)’ (Hava1899). Moreover, DRS reports that *‘odoriferous fingernail\claw’ also is »l’opercule de certains gastéropodes, utilisé en parfumerie dans l’antiquité«, which would make the use of ‘fingernail, claw’ for ‘perfume’ quite plausible.
▪ Accord. to DRS, »Dolgopol’skij 129 propose un rapprochement avec ZRP«.

ẓafir‑ ظَفِرَ , a (ẓafar)

√ẒFR

vb., I

1a to be successful, succeed, be victorious, be triumphant; 1b to gain a victory, conquer, vanquish, defeat, overcome, surmount, overwhelm, get the better; 2a to seize, take possession; 2b to get, obtain, attain, achieve, gain, win – WehrCowan1976

▪ Ar ẓafira ‘to be successful, victorious’ has an obvious cognate only in Sab (see below). Etymology obscure. Any relation to ↗ẓufr ‘fingernail, claw’ ?

▪ …

▪ DRS 10 (2012) #Ṯ̣PR-1 [perh. unrelated to -2!] Akk ṣupr-, ṣupur-, Hbr ṣippōren, JudPal ṭuprā, Ar ẓufr, Mhr ẓēfēr, ṭayfir, Soq ṭifer, ṭayfher, Jib ẓifär, Ḥrs ẓefīr, Gz Te ṣəfər, Tña ṣəfri, Gaf ṣəfrä, Amh Gur ṭəfər, Har ṭifir, Arg č̣əffər ‘ongle, griffe’. – Ar ẓafara ‘égratigner avec les ongles’, Gz ṣafara ‘couper les ongles’, Gur č̣äfärä ‘griffer en laissant une marque’. - ? 2 Ar ẓafira ‘se saisir de; avoir le dessus, vaincre’, Sab ṯ̣fr ‘vaincre’. -3–4 […].

▪ See above, section CONC.

…

►ẓaffara, vb. II, to grant victory, make triumph, render victorious: D-stem, caus.
►ʔaẓfara, vb. IV, = II: *Š-stem, caus.
►taẓāfara, vb. VI, to ally, enter into an alliance or confederacy, join forces: Lt-stem, assoc.

►ẓafar, n., victory, triumph: vn. I, which may be the etymon proper.
►ẓafir, adj., victorious, successful, triumphant; (pl. ẓufrān) ↗ẓufr
►ʔuẓfūr, n., ↗ẓufr
►ẓāfir, adj., victorious, triumphant; successful; victor, conqueror
►muẓaffar, adj., victorious, successful, triumphant

For other items formed from the root, cf. ↗ẓufr and, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√ẒFR

ẓufr ظُفْر , var. ẓufur, ẓifr, pl. ʔaẓfār, ʔaẓāfirᵘ, ʔaẓāfīrᵘ

√ẒFR

1a nail, fingernail; 1b toenail; 1c claw, talon – WehrCowan1976.

▪ (Kogan2015 Sw#13:) from protSem *ṯ̣ipr‑ ‘claw’ (SED I #285). Passim throughout Sem.
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994#513: from protSem *ṯ̣upr‑ < AfrAs *č̣upar‑ ‘fingernail’, phonetically close to AfrAs *c̣ib˅ʕ ‘finger’ (> Ar ↗ʔiṣbaʕ).
▪ Any connection to ↗√ẒFR ‘to be victorious, triumphant’?

▪ …

▪ Bergsträsser1928: (*‘fingernail, toe nail’) Akk ṣupru, Hbr (ṣippóren), Syr ṭep̄rā, Gz ṣefr.
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994#513: Akk ṣupru, Hbr ṣipporen, PalAram ṭuprā, Ar ẓufr, Gz ṣǝfr, Te ṣǝfǝr, Tña ṣǝfri, Amh ṭǝfǝr, Gaf ṣǝfra, Arg č̣uffǝr, Gur ṭǝfǝr, Soq ṭifǝr, Mhr ṭayfer, Šḥr ẓefer, Jib ẓifɛr ‘fingernail’. – Outside Sem cognates in Agaw, HEC, Omot, Rift (see DISC below).
▪ Is ↗√ẒFR ‘to be victorious, triumphant’ cognate?

▪ Orel&Stolbova1994#513: protSem *ṯ̣upr‑ ‘fingernail’, protAgaw *c̣ifar ‘finger’, protHEC *ʒurup‑ ‘finger’ (unexpected *ʒ‑), protOmot *ǯafar‑ ‘finger’ (which may be a common HEC‑Omot innovation or a loan), protRift *č̣araf‑ ‘fingernail’, all from an hypothetical AfrAs *č̣upar‑ ‘fingernail’. According to the authors, the word is phonetically close to AfrAs *c̣ib˅ʕ ‘finger’ (> Ar↗ʔiṣbaʕ).
▪ Any connection to ↗ẓafira ‘to be victorious, triumphant’ ?

…

►min/munḏu nuʕūmaẗ ʔaẓfārih, adv.expr., from (the days of) his earliest youth
►nāʕim al‑ẓufr, adj., youthful, of tender age
►ḤiǧAr ẓafir, pl. ẓufrān, n., young man, youth

For other items formed from the root, cf. ↗ẓafira and, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√ẒFR

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