ʕašāʔ عَشاء , pl. ʔaʕšiyaẗ
ID … • Sw – • BP 2239 • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ʕŠW/Y
dinner, supper – WehrCowan1979.
▪ The item belongs to a root that has the two basic connotations of ‘dim-sightedness’ and ‘(actions performed, or to be performed in the) evening, at nightfall’. Given that neither Sem nor AfrAs give any clue as to semantic development within the root, the author of the present entry assumes the etymon proper of both to be s.th. like the *‘time of the day when it gets dark and it becomes difficult to see’. This entry treats only the notion of ‘actions performed, or to be performed in the evening, at nightfall’. For the broader picture cf. ↗ʕišāʔ , the item whose semantic value comes closest to the hypothetical etymon’s value (‘the time of nightfall, i. e. the first, or beginnng, of the darkness of night’ – Lane).
▪ See ↗ʕŠW/Y and ↗ʕišāʔ.
▪ The value the word has in MSA is the result of a development that can be imagined to have happened along the following line: *‘time of beginning darkness’ > actions performed at this time of the day: ‘†pasture of cattle; dinner, supper; †evening prayer’.
► al-ʕašāʔ al-sirrī, n., the Lord’s supper, the Eucharist (Chr.) ► ʕaššà, vb. II, 1 See ↗ʕišāʔ. – 2 to give a dinner (DO for s.o.): denom. (from ʕašāʔ or ↗ʕišāʔ).
► taʕaššà, vb. V, to have dinner (or supper), to dine, to sup: t-stem of vb. II [v2], autobenefactive.
► ʕašwaẗ, n.f., 1 See ↗ʕišāʔ. – 2 dinner, supper: transfer of meaning from [v1] to the meal that is (to be) taken at this time of the day. – †3 See ↗ʕišāʔ, ↗ʕašwāʔī.
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