ID – • Sw – • BP … • APD … • © SG | 13Apr2023, last update 21May2023
√ǦNḤ
darkness, gloom – WehrCowan1976
▪ It seems that ǧunḥ ‘darkness, gloom’ belongs to ↗ǧinḥ ‘side’ (with which it sometimes is exchangeable) and ↗ǧanāḥ ‘wing; side, flank’, perh. as a result of lexicalisation of frequent fig. expressions like fī ǧunḥ al-layl ‘in the dark of night, under cover of night’ (< *‘under the wings of the night’) or bayna ǧunḥay al-karà, lit. ‘between the two halves (*‘sides’) of slumber’, i.e., ‘at night when everyone’s asleep’. Such an etymology is supported by DRS where ǧunḥ ‘crépuscule | dawn, dusk’ is treated as belonging to the same group as ǧinḥ etc. – For the latter’s etymology, see ↗s.v.
▪ …
▪ DRS 3 (1993) #GNḤ-1-2 .... -3 Ar ǧanāḥ ‘aile, bord, côté’, ǧinḥ ‘bord, côté’, ǧunḥ ‘crépuscule’, ǧanaḥa ‘(se) pencher, s’incliner, décliner’, Jib génaḥ ‘aile’, Mhr agonəḥ ‘voler’, Soq ganḥ ‘côté’.
▪ See also ↗ǧinḥ.
▪ ...
►fī ǧunḥ al-layl, expr., in the dark of night, under cover of night;
►bayna ǧunḥay al-karà, expr., lit.: between the two halves of slumber, i.e., at night when everyone’s asleep For other values attached to the root, cf. ↗ǧanaḥa, ↗ǧinḥ, ↗ǧanāḥ, ↗ǧunāḥ, and ↗ǧāniḥaẗ, as well as, for the whole picture, root entry ↗ǦNḤ.
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