Bibliotheca Polyglotta

Since it is difficult to decide what was first – a vb. ‘to announce good news’ or a n. ‘good news’, or ‘joy’ –, the present lemma functions as if it were a disambiguation entry. For items belonging to the theme, see below, section “Derivatives".

conc

▪ Jeffery1938, 79-80 (on baššara, in the Qurʔān): »The probabilities are that the word was an early borrowing and taken direct from the Jews, though in the sense of ‘to preach’ the influence was probably Syriac.«
▪ According to Orel&Stolbova1994#361, the NSem words from which the Ar items seem to be derived, go back to a Sem *b˅ŝir‑ ‘to announce (good news)’, which in turn may be from an AfrAs vb. *b˅ĉir‑ ‘to announce’.

hist

baššara : ▪ eC7 Of frequent occurrence in the Qurʔān, cf. ii, 23; iii, 20; iv, 137, etc. ʻto announce good news’.

cogn

▪ Bergsträsser1928: Akk bsr, Hbr bśr, Aram sbr (metath.), Ar baššara, Gz bsr (caus.) ‘frohe Botschaft bringen’.
▪ DRS 2 (1994)#BŚR-1: Akk bussuru, Ug bšr, JP bᵉśar, bᵉsar, Ar baššara, SAr tbśr, Soq bśr, Mhr bīšár, Gz ʔabsara, Te bäššärä, Amh abässärä ‘annoncer (une bonne nouvelle)’; Akk bussurt‑ , Ug bšr, bšrt, Hbr bᵉśōrā, JP bᵉsortā, Syr (avec métathèse) sᵉbartā, nSyr (pl.) bašārāt, Ar bišāraẗ, Gz bəsrāt ‘bonne nouvelle’; SAr tbšr(n) ‘révélation’.
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994#361: Akk bašāru, Ug bšr, Hbr bŝr, Aram (Palest) beŝar, SAr tbŝr, Soq bsr, Ḥrs abēśer, Mhr abōśer, Śḥr ōśer. – Outside Sem, there are parallels in a number of Berb languages (i-βdər, i-bdər, Kby yəβḍər); the common ancestor may be reconstructed as Berb *b˅c̣˅r‑ ‘to announce’ (reflecting earlier *‑ć̣‑).

disc

▪ Jeffery1938, 79-80: Apart from items belonging to BŠR_2, there are also many that belong to another theme: »ʻto announce, good tidings’. Thus we have the verb baššara as above; bušrā ʻgood news’ (ii, 91; iii, 122; viii, 10, etc.); bašīr (v, 22; vii, 188, etc.), and bušr (vii, 55; xxv, 50, etc.) ʻthe bringer of good tidings’: also mubaššir (ii, 209, etc.) with much the same meaning; ʔabšara (xli, 30) ʻto receive pleasure from good tidings’: and mustabšir (lxxx, 39) ʻrejoicing’. This use, however, seems not to be original in Ar but derived from the older religions. Thus Akk bussuru is ʻto bear a joyful message’: Hbr BŚR both ʻto bear good tidings’ and ʻto gladden with good tidings’: hiṯbaśśēr ‘to receive good tidings’.¹ – The SSem use of the word seems to be entirely under the influence of this Jewish usage. In Eth the various forms basara ʻto bring a joyful message’, ʔabsara ʻto bring good tidings’, tabasara ʻto be announced’, bəsarāt ʻgood news’, ʔabsār ʻone who announces good tidings’, are all late and doubtless under the influence of the Bible. So the SAr tbs²r ʻto bring tidings’ and bs²rn ʻtidings’ (cf. ZDMG, xxx, 672; WZKM (1896), p. 290; Rossini, Glossarium, 119), are to be considered of the same origin, especially when we remember that the use of [SAr] bs²rn is in the Raḥmān inscription. The Syr sbr has suffered metathesis, but in the Christian Palestinian dialect we find bsr ʻto preach’, used just as baššara in iii, 20; ix, 34, etc., and so basūrā = [Grk] euangélion, where again the influence is undoubtedly Jewish. – The probabilities are that the word was an early borrowing and taken direct from the Jews, though in the sense of to preach the influence was probably Syriac.² «
▪ DRS 2 (1994)#BŚR-1: Ar bišāraẗ < Aram or > nSyr ?
▪ Orel&Stolbova1994#361: The NSem forms (from which Ar seems to be borrowed) probably go back to Sem *b˅ŝir‑ ‘to announce (good news)’, which in turn may have developed from an AfrAs vb. *b˅ĉir‑ ‘to announce’ as the origin of both the Sem and Berb forms. The reconstruction however is slightly doubtful, the authors add, because available data display an irregular correspondence of affricates.

1. Also [Hbr] bᵊśārā ‘tidings’ = Ar bušrà and bišāraẗ, which latter, however, is not Qurʔānic. Cf. also now the Ras Shamra בשר ‘to bring good news.’ 2. As probably the Phlv basarīā, PPGl, 95.

west

–

deriv

► bašara, i, var. bašira, a, vb. I, to rejoice, be delighted: denominative or itself the etymon?
► ^BP#4466baššara, vb. II, to announce (as a good news); to forecast (sth good), give good prospect; to spread, propagate, preach (sth, a religion, a doctrine): denominative (from ?) or itself the etymon (after having been loaned from NSem)?.
► ʔabšara, vb. IV, to rejoice (at a good news): probably denominative (from ?).
► ĭstabšara, vb. X, to rejoice, be delighted, be happy (esp. at good news), welcome; to take as a good omen: autobenefactive, probably from a noun like bišr or bušr.

► bišr, n., joy: deverbative or itself the etymon of the verbs?
► bušr, n., glad tidings: deverbative, or itself the etymon of the verbs?
► bušrà, pl. bušrayāt, n., glad tidings, good news: a loan from Aram?
► bašīr, pl. bušarāʔᵘ, n., bringer of glad tidings, messenger, herald, harbinger, forerunner, precursor; evangelist (Chr.): ?
► bišāraẗ, pl. bašāʔirᵘ, n., good news, glad tidings; annunciation, prophesy; gospel; pl. good omens, propitious signs: possibly < Aram.
► bušāraẗ, n.f., gift to a bringer of glad tidings:.
► tabšīr, n., announcement (of glad tidings); preaching of the Gospel; evangelization, missionary activity: vn. II.
► tabšīrī, adj./n., missionary: nsb-adj from tabšīr.
► tabāšīrᵘ, n.pl., foretokens, prognostics, omens, first signs or indications, heralds (fig.); beginnings, dawn: pl. of tabšīr.
► mubaššir, pl. ‑ūn, n., announcer, messenger (of glad tidings); evangelist (Chr.); preacher; missionary (Chr.): lexicalized PA II.
► mustabšir, adj., happy, cheerful: lexicalized PA X.

For the semantic complexes ‘scrape, peel; skin’ (bašaraẗ, mibšaraẗ, mabšūr) as well as ‘pursuit, practice’ and ‘directness, immediateness’ (bāšara, mubāšaraẗ, mubāšir) see ↗BŠR_2.

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