▪ [v1] : (Kogan2011:) from protCSem *
gabr ‘man / (
DRS:) homme fait, dans toute sa force’ (> Ar [v6] ‘man’) < protSem *
gbr ‘to be strong’. According to Huehnergard2011, *√GBR is a WSem variant (assimilated form) of protSem *√GPR ‘to be(come) strong, prevail, work’. – According to Palache1959: 18, the basic meaning of the root in Sem is *‘to rise, raise o.s.;
hence also: strength; to restore; to compel, overpower > man’. – In a similar vein, Ar lexicography tends to regard [v1]/[v6] ‘strength; man’ as secondary, developed from [v2] when ‘setting broken bones’ became equated with ‘force’ and ‘power’. – According to Ehret1995#262, Ar
ǧabbār ‘strong, powerful’ represents an extension in an adj. suffix *-R from a bi-consonantal “pre-Proto-Semitic” root *√GB ‘great’ < AfrAs *
gâb- ‘great (esp. in size and number)’. For other extensions from the same pre-protSem root, cf. ↗√ǦBǦ (
ǧabǧ ‘to recover and regain strength’, cf. [v2]) and ↗√ǦBL (
ǧabl ‘numerous’). – See also below, section DISC. – For the specialized meaning ‘(predestined, inescapable) decree of fate’, see directly s.v. ↗¹
ǧabr.
▪ [v2] : According to
DRS, the value ‘to set (broken bones), repair, restore’ is a « notion dérivée », dependent on [v1]/
†[v6] ‘power, strength; man’ (*‘to press/force broken bones together in order to set them’). In contrast, indigenous Ar lexicography would derive the latter from the former. – For Landberg1920, DaṯAr
ǧabar equals ↗
ǧabal ‘to form, shape, build up’. – See also below, section DISC. – For
(ʕilm al-) ǧabr ‘algebra’ as a *‘restoring, repairing’, see ↗
ǧabara.
▪ [v3] : ?Reflecting value
†[v6] ‘man’, prominent mostly in Can, thus orig. *‘to treat as a fellow human being’, or rather simply *‘(friendly) coercion’ (i.e., from [v1]), or *‘to make it easy/comfortable for s.o.’ (from [v10])? As a support of the first option could serve ClassAr
†ʔaǧbara, vb. IV, ‘to consider (s.o.) as honest’ (Hava1899), obviously a denom., thus perh. *‘to consider as a man’; on the other hand, an expression like ClassAr
†ǧabara ḫāṭira-hū ‘to converse kindly with s.o’ (ibid.) literally means *‘to force/exert [mild?] coercion on s.o.’s mind’. Cf. also the ClassAr expression
†fulān ǧābirᵘⁿ/mustaǧbirᵘⁿ lī ‘s.o. exerting himself much/exceedingly/to the utmost in paying frequent attention to me, taking care of me, putting my affairs into a right/proper state’ (Lane ii 1865) / Wahrmund: ‘einem (
fī mit etw.) ein Vergnügen machen’.
▪ [v4] : Dependent on [v1], orig. *‘to feel powerful, think of o.s. as mighty, behave arrogantly’. Cf. also
†al-mutaǧabbir ‘the lion’, nominalized PA V, prob. *‘the one boasting of his power’ (see also
†[v7] ‘king’). – Pattern
FiʕLiyāʔᵘ in accordance with ↗
kibriyāʔᵘ ‘pride, arrogance’? – For other historically attested synonymous forms, see directly s.v. ↗
ǧibriyāʔᵘ.
▪ [v5] : According to Jeffrey1938 via Aram (ChrPal, Syr) ultimately from Hbr
Gaḇrīʔēl ‘my strength / strong one is God’, explained by Huehnergard2011 as composed of
gaḇrî ‘my strong one’, from
gaḇr‑, presuffixal form of
geḇer ‘strong one, man’ (cf.
†[v6]), from
gāḇar ‘to be strong’ (see [v1]), and Hbr
ʔēl ‘god’, cf. Ar ↗
allāh, ʔLH.
▪
†[v6] ²
ǧabr ‘(young, courageous) man | homme,
surtout fort, puissant’ (Lane|BK); cf. also DaṯAr
ǧuburraẗ ‘naturel de l’homme’ (Landberg1920): value apparently only scarcely attested in Ar,
1
, but the most prominent value in the Hbr Aram context. – Either via protCSem *
gabr ‘man’ (Kogan2011) / ‘homme fait, dans toute sa force’ (
DRS) or directly from protSem *
gbr ‘to be strong’ (see [v1]). – In Aram, successors of protAram *
gabr-2
became the main exponent of the value ‘man’, gradually replacing successors of protCSem *
ʔinš- ‘man’ (> Ar ↗√ʔNS, ↗
nās, ↗
ʔinsān, etc.).
3
▪
†[v7] ³
ǧabr ‘king’: for Lane ii 1865 »of uncertain derivation«, but prob. simply specialized use of
†[v6] ²
ǧabr ‘man’ (which may depend on [v1] or [v2]). Or it is *‘the one boasting of power’ (see [v4]), similar to
†al-mutaǧabbir ‘the lion’.
▪
†[v8] ⁴
ǧabr ‘slave, servant’: Lane ii 1865 remarks that
†[v7] ‘king’ and
†[v8] ‘slave, servant’ seem to be »two contrary significations« of
ǧabr; however, given the basic notion of *‘strength, strong man’, both can be interpreted as specialized use of the latter, i.e, [v1]/
†[v6]. – Kogan2015: 382 #6 thinks the value may be due to acquaintance with Gz
gabr ‘slave’. Thus, [v7] ‘king’ may be an intrinsic, inner-Ar development, while [v8] ‘slave’ could be an Ethiopism.
▪
†[v9] ⁵
ǧabr ‘aloes-wood’: etymology obscure. – See below,
†[v13], and section DISC.
▪
†[v10] ¹
ǧubār ‘
1 vanité, mensonge;
2 ce qui est en pure perte;
3 sang versé et non vengé;
4 exempt, libre ou innocent de quelque chose (BK1860)| thing of which no account, or for which no revenge or retaliation or mulct, is taken (Lane ii 1865) | erlaubtes Blutvergießen; Krieg; frei, quit (Wahrmund1886)’; to this complex one prob. has to add DaṯAr
ǧabar ‘qui ne paie pas d’impôts/l’octroi’,
ǧabar (sens du Sud:) ‘être exempt d’impôt, ne pas être assujetti à l’octroi’,
ǧabbar ‘exempter de payer la dime/l’octroi’ (Landberg1920) (with cognates in Gz
gəbr, Amh Te Gur
gəbər, Tña Har
gəbri ‘taxes’, etc., see section COGN). – Ultimately, all these values seem to be based on [v2], with a hypothetical semantic development *‘to set (broken bones), restore, repair > help to recover | raffermir, consolider > …’. Cf., e.g., Ar
†ǧabbara ‘reverdir (se dit d’une plante foulée ou mangée en partie); reprendre les forces, renaître, recouvrer la santé, être rétabli (se dit d’un malade)’, and even more general, ‘rétablir ses affaires, redevenir riche après avoir été dans la misère; relever qn, le remettre dans l’aisance, le remettre à flot; faire du bien à qn’,
†ĭǧtabara ‘s’enrichir et recouvrer l’ancienne aisance, le bien-être’ (BK1860). In short, ¹
ǧubār seems to be based on a development along the line *‘to set (broken bones) > repair > help to recover > do s.th. good to s.o., exempt/relieve s.o. from s.th.’. With the latter, this value comes close to [v3].
▪
†[v11] ²
ǧubār ‘torrent’: connected to [v1] ‘force, power’, as *‘the powerful one’? Cf. also
yawm ǧabr al-baḥr, name for a local holiday of Cairo, orig. *‘day of “forcing”, i.e., channeling the water (of the Nile) (into the now-abandoned
↗ḫalīǧ, or City Canal)’. Thus, the meaning
†‘torrent’ could also be *‘water masses forced into a narrow bed’.
▪
†[v12] ³
ǧubār ~
ǧibār ‘(pre-Islamic name of) Tuesday’: original attestation apparently only in a single verse which Fischer1896 thought was a »distichon memoriale« made by a little gifted poet for his students to help them memorize the names of the pre-Islamic weekdays.
4
In contrast, Rotter1993 is convinced that
†³
ǧubār can be equated with Mars, the Roman god of war, and that therefore the name for the weekday is identical with Lat
Martis dies (> Fr
mardi, It
martedi etc.).[(»Der
veneris dies im vorislamischen Mekka, eine neue Deutung des Namens „Europa” und eine Erklärung für
kobar = Venus«,
Der Islam 70 (1993): 112-32, here 120.)] If this is correct, the “martial” name is related to [v1]/
†[v6] ‘strength, power; man’.
▪
†[v13]
ǧibāraẗ ~ ¹
ǧabīraẗ ‘bandage; truss; splints (pieces of wood with which bones are set)’ (Hava1899), ‘poignet; bracelet, ornement du poignet’ (BK1860): The basic value here is prob. ‘splints’, which evidently belongs to [v2] ‘to set (broken bones)’, hence also ‘truss’ (*structure made of several splints) and ‘wrap, bandage’ (with which the splints are fixed to broken bones), hence also ‘bracelet’ (*“wrapping”) around the wrist > ‘wrist’. – Does also (
DRS #GBR-4) Akk
gub/pr- ‘needle, pin’ belong here?
▪
†[v14] ²
ǧabīraẗ ‘leather bag; portfolio’: cf. Amh
gäbär ‘board or piece of leather or cloth used as a cover for a book’ (
DRS #GBR-3). – According to Hava1899, ²
ǧabīraẗ here stands for
†ǧafīraẗ ‘id. (?)’; cf.
†ǧafīr ‘kind of quiver (for arrows etc.)’ (Lane ii 1865).
▪
†[v15]
ĭnǧibārī ‘middling in wealth, talents; simple, good (man) (Hava1899) | Mensch von geringem Vermögen od. Talent (Wahrmund1886)’: marked as »modern sense/use« in Wahrmund1886, explained as »for
ranǧ-bar« by Hava1899; if the latter etymology is valid, the adj. would be a “naturalized” borrowing from Pers, meaning ‘working/toiling person, worker, toiler, drudge; proletarian’ (Steingass1892 has still ‘artificer, mechanic’).
▪ …
EtymArab
ʔ
