Bibliotheca Polyglotta

1a square, open place, open tract; b field; arena; 2a battleground, battlefield; b combat area, fighting zone; c race course, race track; d playground (fig.); 3 field, domain, line, sphere of activity – WehrCowan1976.

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▪ (Huehnergard2011:) Engl maidan, from Ar maydān ‘city square, open space, racetrack, combat area’, from māda, vb. I, ‘to be moved, sway’.

►maydān al-tadrīb, drill ground; military training center
►maydān al-ḥarb, theater of war
►maydān al-sibāq, race course, race track
►maydān al-ʕamal, field of activity, scope of action
►maydān al-qitāl, battlefield
►ḫaraǧa min maydān al-ʕamal, to be put out of service or commission
►ẓahara fī l-maydān, to turn up, appear on the scene
►fī maydān al-šaraf, on the field of honour
►madāfiʕ al-maydān, fieldpieces, field guns, infantry howitzers

For other values attached to the root, cf. ↗māda, ↗mīdaẗ, ↗mīdāʔ, ↗māʔidaẗ, as well as, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√MYD.

MYR مير

ID – • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 14May2023

√MYR

“root”

▪ MYR_1 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ MYR_2 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ MYR_3 ‘...’ ↗...

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘food stock, provision, to provide with food, keep well-stocked/supplied with food; to melt down’

▪ …

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MYZ ميز

ID – • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 14May2023

√MYZ

“root”

▪ MYZ_1 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ MYZ_2 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ MYZ_3 ‘...’ ↗...

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘to sort out, separate, mark out, distinguish; to weed out; to stand out; to fall apart; to fall into factions’

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MYL ميل

ID – • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 14May2023

√MYL

“root”

▪ MYL_1 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ MYL_2 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ MYL_3 ‘...’ ↗...

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘to incline, lean towards, tilt, bend, lean over, take sides, deviate; to attack; to be crooked; to swagger; to waver, be in doubt, win s.o. over’

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nūn نون

ID – • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021

√

R₁

The letter n of the Arabic alphabet.

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▪ …
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▪ (Huehnergard2011:) Engl nu, from Grk nū ‘nu’; nun, from Mishnaic Hbr nûn ‘nun’; both from Phoen *nūn ‘fish; fourteenth letter of the Phoen alphabet’.

►

NʔY نأي

√NʔY

“root”

▪ NʔY_1 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ NʔY_2 ‘...’ ↗...
▪ NʔY_3 ‘...’ ↗...

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘small ditch encircling a tent to keep sewage away, go a long distance, walk away, shun, be far removed, keep away, remove’

▪ …

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*NB‑ نبـ

√*NB‑

“root” nucleus

‘to call, proclaim’, ↗NBḤ ‘to bark, bellow, hiss’, ↗NBR ‘to shout to, drive away by cries or shouts’, ↗NBZ ‘to give one a nickname, revile’, ↗NBṢ ‘to speak’.

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► NBː (NBB) ‘1 to be haughty; 2 to utter a low voice; to call, proclaim; 3 to bleat from rut’
► NBʔ ‘to be high, tower over, elevated place; to come upon from above, conquer, surpass’
► NBT ‘to germinate, sprout, grow; (height of) growing plants’
► NBṮ ‘to dig out with o.’s hand, clean a well, uproot’
► NBǦ ‘to creep out ouf the egg, break forth, flow’
► NBḤ ‘to bark, bellow, hiss’
► NBḎ ‘to fling, throw away, cast, reject, let go’
► NBR ‘1 to raise, elevate, thrive, grow; 2 to pierce through and draw the lance back quickly’ (second part of meaning shows influence from *NB ‘to bring out’); 3 to shout to, drive away by cries or shouts’
► NBZ ‘1 skin of the leprous; palm root, or bark of upper part of a palm; 2 to give one a nickname, revile’
► NBŠ ‘to uncover, dig out, dig, bring to light’
► NBṢ ‘1 to be on the point of sprouting; 2 to speak’
► NBṬ ‘to well out, gush out’
► NBʕ ‘to well, well up, gush forth’
► NBĠ ‘1 to fly off; 2 to appear, come to light, get known, break forth’
► NBQ ‘1 to spurt out of a wound (blood, pus); 2 to write’
► NBL ‘1 to surpass in any skill; 2 to shoot arrow, throw spears, take as a mark, shoot at, surpass in shooting arrows’ (last part of meaning shows influence from *NBL formed from *NB#92 ‘to rise, become high’)
► NBH ‘to awake’
► NBW ‘1 to remove, withdraw; 2 to tower over a place’
► NWB ‘agglomeration/accumulation fitting with (the degree) of elevation’

NBʔ نبأ

√NBʔ

“root”

▪ NBʔ_1 ‘to be high, tower over, …’ ↗nabaʔa
▪ NBʔ_2 ‘to speak in a low voice, utter a low sound; to announce’ ↗nabaʔ, ↗nabiyy, ↗nubuwwaẗ
▪ ^†NBʔ_3 ‘to turn away, withdraw, be repelled, disgusted, shocked’ ↗nabā .
▪ ^†NBʔ_4 ‘to wander around’: now obsolete.

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘protrusion, to rise; to overpower; to leave one’s town and settle in another; news item, to ask for news, to inform; prophecy, to predict, to foretell, to prophesy, to claim to be a prophet’

▪ While Gabal2012 thinks that all values of NBʔ can be derived from one basic value (‘unexpected appearance, accompanied by a hiddenness’), other researchers agree on that NBʔ is a homonymous root with at least two values: 1 ‘to be high, tower over’ (= NBʔ_1) and 2 ‘to speak in a low voice, utter a low sound; to announce’ (= NBʔ_2). Albright1927#47 thinks that among NBʔ_2 is original while NBʔ_1 ‘(to be) high’ is the result of a dissimilation of an underlying *NM- ‘to grow’ into *NB-.
▪ For NBʔ_2, the »reconstruction of Sem *n-b-ʔ as a transitive root meaning ‘to name, proclaim’« is »uncomplicated« (following Huehnergard1999).
▪ Militarev2006 assumes an AfrAs dimension of NBʔ_2 (AfrAs *nab‑ ‘to call by name’ ), and Dolgopolsky2012 goes even farther, putting Sem *NBʔ ‘to name, give a name’ together with IE *‘no(ː)m-n(-) / *‘n̥m-n(-) ‘name’ and assuming Nostr *‘nimʔ˅‑ ‘name’ as the common ancestor. For him, Nostr *NM dissimilated into Sem *NB.
▪ NBʔ_3 ‘to turn away’ seems to be etymologically the same as ↗nabā ‘to move away, withdraw; to bounce off; to disagree, be in conflict with; to be repugnant’ (↗NBW).
▪ NBʔ_4 ‘to wander around’: etymology still unclear (see DISC).

▪ BadawiAbdelHalim2008 #NBʔ: ‘1 protrusion, to rise; to overpower; 2 news item, to ask for news, to inform; prophecy, to predict, foretell, prophesy; to claim to be a prophet; 3 to leave o.’s town and settle in another’.

For cognates, see DISC below as well as ↗nabaʔ and ↗nabaʔa.

NBʔ_1 and NBʔ_2:
▪ 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). – ClassAr nabīʔ ‘clear path’ is said to belong to ↗NBW, while nabiyy ‘prophet’ is believed 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’.
▪ 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.
▪ BDB1904 (#NBʔ): cf. [NBʔ_2] Ar nabaʔa ‘to utter a low voice, or sound (esp. of dog); to announce’, (but also) [NBʔ_1] to be exalted, elevated (nabʔaẗ eminence); [NBʔ_2] III, IV, ‘to acquaint, inform’; nabaʔ ‘information, announcement, intelligence’; Akk nabū ‘to call, proclaim, name’, Gz nababa ‘to speak’, Sab tnbʔ ? => Hbr nāḇî(ʔ) ‘spokesman, speaker, prophet’, nᵊḇûʔâh ‘prophecy’.

NBʔ_1:
▪ Cf. also obsolete items like ^†nabʔ ‘superiority, victory, success’, ^†nubuʔ ‘being high, superiority’, ^†nabiʔ ‘high point’, ^†nābiʔ ‘bossed, convex’, and also (NBʔ ~ NBW) ^†nabwaẗ, ^†nabāwaẗ ‘height; rising ground’, ^†nābin, det. nābī, pl. nubiyy, ‘high ground’, ^†nābiyaẗ ‘strongly-bent bow’ (all BK, Munǧid, Wahrmund1887/Steingass1894).
▪ 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’
▪ Albright1927#47 holds that Ar »nabaʔa ‘to be high’ is connected with Hbr nûb ‘to grow’¹ and Ar nabt ‘plant’, old pl. nabāt, from which ↗nabata ‘to grow’ is denom., as well as with Ar ↗namā ‘to grow, rise’, nammà ‘to raise’. The root is probably nm, from which the dissimilated form nb (cf. banna for manna, etc.) has arisen.« – Outside Sem, Eg nb3 ‘carrying pole’ (= Calice1936#655) is perhaps to be connected.

NBʔ_2:
▪ Huehnergard2011: Sem *NBʔ ‘to name, proclaim, summon’ (Huehnergard1999: an »uncomplicated reconstruction«).
▪ Calice1936#59 mentions Ar nabaʔa ‘to announce’, nabʔaẗ ‘faint noise’ together with Ar nabba ‘to bark’, Gz nababa ‘to growl’ and the Sem vb.s Akk nabû ‘to call, name’, Sab nbʔ ‘to proclaim’, Hbr √NBH ‘to prophesy’ as cognate with Eg (MK) nmj ‘to scream, yell, roar’. Akin to the latter, and thus also to nabaʔa, are also Ar naʔama ‘to whisper’, naʕama ‘to say yes’, namma ‘to whisper’ and Hbr √NʔM ‘to say’.²
▪ Ehret1989#95 does not mention NBʔ among the root extensions he gives for the bi-consonantal “pre-Proto-Semitic” (pPS, i.e. preSem) root *NB ‘to call, cry’, but the semantics clearly allow us to group Ar NBʔ_2 here. For extensions from the same pre-Sem nucleus that Ehret did list, cf. ↗NBː (NBB) ‘to bleat from rut’, ↗NBḤ ‘to bark, bellow, hiss’, ↗NBR ‘to shout to, drive away by cries or shouts’, ↗NBZ ‘to give one a nickname, revile’, ↗NBṢ ‘to speak’.
▪ Militarev2006 (#603): Sem *n˅b˅ʔ‑ ‘to call; to speak; to nominate’, WCh *nab‑ ‘to read, count’, Omot *nab‑ ‘name’ < AfrAs *nab‑ ‘to call by name’
▪ Dolgopolsky2012: Sem *NBʔ ‘to name, give a name’, IE *‘no(ː)m-n(-) / *‘n̥m-n(-) ‘name’, and alleged cognates in other macro-families < Nostr *‘nimʔ˅‑ ‘name’ (with dissimilation of Sem *NB from Nostr *NM).

NBʔ_3 and NBʔ_4:
▪ There seems to be a lot of overlapping of NBʔ with ↗NBW. Thus, NBʔ_3 ‘to turn away, withdraw, be repelled, disgusted, shocked’ seems to be etymologically the same as ↗nabā ‘to move away, withdraw; to bounce off; to disagree, be in conflict with; to be repugnant’.
▪ No explanation so far with regard to NBʔ_4 ‘to wander around’. Belonging to NBʔ_3 ‘to turn away’? – In ClassAr, there is, e.g. (data from Freytag1837 and Hava1899): ^†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’. Gabal2012 thinks it belongs to ↗NBW. Albright1927#47 considers a connection with Eg nmy ‘to traverse’ and Eg nby ‘to swim’.³

1. BDB: ‘to bear fruit’; cf. also nîḇ ‘fruit’, tᵊnûḇâh ‘fruit, produce’. 2. BDB1906: nāʔam ‘to utter a prophecy, speak as a prophet’, nᵊʔūm ‘utterance’. Klein1987: √NʔM ‘to make a speech, utter, give an address; to utter a prophecy, speak as a prophet’: probably related also: √NWM ‘to speak’. 3. ErmanGrapow1921/ThesLingAeg nbj, Copt neebe (Crum: niēbe, and var.).

–

See
► nabaʔa and
► nabaʔ.

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