Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ RǦL_1 ‘foot’ ↗¹riǧl
▪ RǦL_2 ‘swarm (esp. of locusts)’ ↗²riǧl
▪ RǦL_3 ‘common purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.; bot.)’ ↗³riǧl
▪ RǦL_4 ‘man’ ↗raǧul, ‘masculinity, virility, manhood’ ↗ruǧūlaẗ
▪ RǦL_5 ‘to comb (hair)’ ↗raǧǧala
▪ RǦL_6 ‘to improvise, extemporise’ ↗ĭrtaǧala
▪ RǦL_7 ‘cooking kettle, caldron; boiler’ ↗mirǧal

Other values, now obsolete, include (Hava1899):

▪ ^†RǦL_8 ‘set free with its mother (suckling)’: ^†raǧil~raǧal; cf. also ^†ʔarǧala ‘to let (a young one) free with his mother; (fig.) to grant a respite to s.o.’
▪ ^†RǦL_9 ‘somewhat curly (hair)’: ^†raǧil~raǧl~raǧal
▪ ^†RǦL_10 ‘variegated (garment)’: ^†muraǧǧal
▪ ^†RǦL_11 ‘hard ground’: ^†raǧlà~raǧlāʔᵘ
▪ ^†RǦL_12 ‘blank paper; misfortune; precedence; time’: ^†riǧl
▪ ^†RǦL_ ‘...’: ^†...
▪ For several names of plants and stars, cf. [v1] ↗¹riǧl ‘foot’ and [v3] ↗³riǧl ‘purslane’

♦ Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘man, manhood, masculinity; foot, leg, to go on foot, dismount; to comb one’s hair; to improvise, talk or give an improvised speech; rocky land difficult to walk upon; (of locusts) to swarm; poverty, lazy person’.

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▪ [gnrl] : There is hardly any value in this root that does not seem to be ultimately based on [v1] ‘foot’, though exact details remain unclear in many cases. The hypothesis of ‘foot’ as the overall etymon is corroborated by the fact that no other value but [v1] ‘foot’ has cognates in Sem and the broad spectrum of other meanings covered by √RǦL apparently is an Ar idiosyncrasy.
▪ [v1] : As Kogan2011 #6.3.2 observes, »[t]here is no single protSem term for ‘foot’. [… cf. Ar ↗faʕama ‘to have fat hips; to be fat (arms)’]. Reflexes of *rigl- ‘foot’ are attested throughout CSem (Hbr, Syr, Ar, Sab […; see] SED I No. 228) except Ug and Phoen […]. There is no consensus about whether Gz ʔəgr and related EthSem terms (SED I #7) are connected with *rigl- (similar forms in Ar dialects, such as DaṯAr ʔižr, SyrAr ʔəžər, make the picture especially complicated. […].« – V. Christian thought √RǦL was an extension in -L from the 2-cons. root nucleus *RǦ , reflected in Ar ↗raǧǧa ʻ(to rustle, shake, rock >) be convulsed, tremble, quake, sway, be excited, be distressed; to move, (move away >) deter’, reduplicated in raǧraǧa ‘to be moved, tremble, quiver, sway, be faint’. According to the author, the basic value of RǦL, assumed to be *‘to shake > to hit’, also produced ¹riǧl ʻ(to hit > kick >) foot’ and raǧlaẗ ʻfirm step’, whereas [v4] raǧul ʻman’ probably was *‘strong one < who beats < who makes tremble\shake’.¹
▪ [v2] : ‘Swarm (esp. of locusts)’ is prob. based on, or akin to, ^†[v8] ‘to let/set free’, and is thus *‘(s.th., animal, etc.) set free and now spreading freely, uncontrollably’, cf. also below, values [v3], [v5], [v6], ^†[v9], and ^†[v10].
▪ [v3] : The use of riǧl for ‘common purslane’ seems to be motivated by the plant’s similarity with ‘curly hair’, which would make [v3] ³riǧl dependent on ^†[v9] ^†raǧil~raǧl~raǧal ‘curly (hair)’ and, via the latter, on ^†[v8] *‘to be set free and spread uncontrollably’, cf. also [v2] ²riǧl ‘swarm (esp. of locusts)’.
▪ [v4] : ‘Man’ and derivatives (‘to behave like a man, masculinity, virility, manhood, etc.’) are prob. from ‘pedestrian’ (in Syr also ‘foot-soldier’), cf. the EgAr form rāgil which looks very much like a PA I, ‘going by foot’. But it could also be based on ^†riǧlaẗ~ruǧlaẗ ‘vigour in walking’. See also V. Christian’s view, sketched above sub [v1].
▪ [v5] : raǧǧala ‘to comb (hair)’ is a D-stem with (prob.) the original caus. meaning of *‘to let (hair) fall down freely’, thus derived from ^†[v8], cf. also values [v2], [v3], [v6], ^†[v9], and ^†[v10].
▪ [v6] : The notion of ‘improvisation, extemporisation’, associated with the Gt-stem ĭrtaǧala, is most likely a development from ^†[v8] *‘to let/set free to spread/unfold spontaneously, uncontrolled’, itself prob. derived from [v1] ‘foot’; cf. also [v2], [v3], [v5], ^†[v9], ^†[v10]. Derivation from [v4] ‘man’ – improvisation as proof of ‘manliness, manly virtue’ – looks less likely, though perh. not impossible, cf. DaṯAr (Dt-stem) taraǧǧal »‘marchander’, […] et en cela faire preuve de raǧālaẗ ou m?rǧalaẗ [< raǧul]« Landberg1923 (s.v. raqam) – in the extemporisation of verses, the ideas of *‘letting free’ and *‘manly virtue’ may overlap like in bargaining for a good price.
▪ [v7] : Etymology obscure. The idea that ‘cooking kettle, caldron; boiler’ could be from [v1] ‘foot’ (as *‘kettle with “feet”’) is rejected by some sources. If not *‘kettle with feet’, is mirǧal then a *‘kettle put/set down on (some kind of) feet (e.g., stones)’? (Cf. ^†ʔarǧala ‘to set down, discharge’, denom. vb. IV, from ¹riǧl ‘foot’). In principle, the miFʕaL pattern is used to form a n.instr., but this does not seem very meaningful for any of the other values that one may imagine as possible bases.
▪ ^†[v8] : The value ‘set free with its mother’ (said of a suckling) is with all likelihood based on [v1] ‘foot’, from *‘newly born, managing/strong enough to stand on its own feet and to run around and/or to drink from her teats’. Apparently, the freedom and lack of control granted to a suckling or a foal was the model on which further ideas were developed, esp. ^†ʔarǧala ‘to let free; (fig.) to grant a respite to s.o.’, as well values [v2], [v3], [v5], and [v6], discussed above, in addition to ^†[v9] and ^†[v10], below.
▪ ^†[v9] : The fact that the same words (^†raǧil~raǧl~raǧal) are used in ClassAr to express both ^†‘somewhat curly (hair) and ^†‘set free’ makes it rather likely that ^†[v9] represents some kind of fig. use of ^†[v8], so that the original meaning of ‘curly hair’ would be *‘hair “set free”, hair that grows without control, like a young foal running/hopping freely around’; for related values see [v2], [v3], [v5], [v6], and ^†[v10].
▪ ^†[v10] : The term ^†muraǧǧal for ‘variegated’ (said of a garment) is prob. extended use of ^†muraǧǧal in the sense of ‘leaving traces of wings on the sand (locusts)’, a PP II which is evidently derived from [v2] ‘swarm (esp. of locusts)’, as such akin to [v3], [v5], [v6], ^†[v8], and ^†[v9].
▪ ^†[v11] : The value ‘hard ground’ is mentioned also by BAH2008 as one of the chief values attached to √RǦL in ClassAr. The corresponding item, ^†raǧlà~raǧlāʔᵘ is the f. of the elative ^†ʔarǧalᵘ, meaning ‘white-spotted on one foot; large-footed’ (evidently from [v1] ‘foot’). It thus seems that ‘hard ground’ is somehow based on ‘foot’, though it seems difficult to find the tertium comparationis that would connect the two.
▪ ^†[v12] : In ClassAr, the term ^†riǧl appears not only with the values ‘foot’ (↗¹riǧl = [v1]), ‘swarm (esp. of locusts)’ (↗²riǧl = [v2]) and ‘common purslane (↗³riǧl’ = [v3]’), but also with still other values, as diverse as ‘blank paper; misfortune; precedence; riǧl time’). We may assume that these are somehow based on [v1], [v2], or [v3], but it is complete unclear how exactly one can get from the latter to the former.

1. Viktor Christian, »About some verbs of speaking«, WZKM, 29 (1915): 438-444, 444 link.

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▪ [v1] Kogan2015 175-6 #3: Ug ri-i[g]-lu, Hbr rägäl, Syr reglā, Ar riǧl, Sab rgl, Min rgl ‘foot’
▪ [v4] : According to Zammit2002, Ar raǧul ‘man’ has no cognates in Sem. But cf., perh. Syr ragālā, ragālāṯā ‘foot-soldier’.
▪ ...

disc

▪ [gnrl] : See above, section CONC. In a more systematic manner, the spectrum of semantic values that seem to have developed from the basic ‘foot’, may perh. be sketched as follows:
0 – ^†¹riǧl ‘foot; (esp.) hind-leg of beasts\quadrupeds; (meton.) part, portion’. – Several natural phenomena are named ‘foot of...’, due to their resemblance with a foot:
0.1 riǧl al-baḥr ‘sea-gulf’
0.2 stars in Orio: ^†riǧl al-ǧabbār, riǧl al-ǧawzāʔ al-yusrà ‘Rigel, fixed star in the left foot of Orio’, ^†riǧl al-ǧawzāʔ al-yusrà ‘star in the right foot of Orio’
0.3 Several plants, too, may owe their name to a resemblance with *‘feet’: ^†riǧl al-ʔasad ‘filago, lion’s foot; ^†riǧl al-baqaraẗ ‘arum, friar’s cowl; ^†riǧl al-ǧarād ‘atriplex, oroche; ^†riǧl al-ḥamāmaẗ ‘anchusa, pigeon’s foot; ^†riǧl al-daǧāǧaẗ ‘chamemelum, hen’s foot; ^†riǧl al-ʔarnab ‘layopus, hare’s foot; ^†riǧl al-zāġ, riǧl al-ġurāb ‘lotus ornithopodus, bird’s foot, trefoil; ^†riǧl al-ʕuṣfūr ‘ornithopodus, bird’s foot; ^†riǧl al-qiṭṭ ‘glechoma, ground-ivy; ^†riǧl al-qaʕq, riǧl al-zurzūr, riǧl al-ʕiqāb ‘coronopus, crow’s foot; ^†riǧl al-wazz ‘podophyllum, duck’s foot (dangerous plant); ^†riǧl al-yamāmaẗ ‘delphinium, lark’s spur’. However, cf. also below on derivations from ^†raǧil, raǧl ‘curly’.
Immediately from ‘foot’ are three ideas, the third of which has sparked a larger sub-field in its own right:
1 – ^†raǧila (a, raǧal) ‘to have a white-spotted foot (horse)’, ^†ʔarǧalᵘ (f. raǧlāʔᵘ, ^†raǧlà, pl. ruǧl) ‘white-spotted on one foot; large-footed’, ^†tarǧīl ‘white spot on a horse's foot’
2 – ^†raǧala (u, raǧl) ‘to tie s.o. by the feet’, ^†ĭrtaǧala ‘to tie (a beast) by the foot; to seize s.o.’s foot’
3 – ^†raǧila (a, raǧal) ‘to go foot’, ^†raǧl ‘walking on foot’, ^†riǧlaẗ, ruǧlaẗ ‘pedestrianism’, ^†raǧil, rāǧil (pl. raǧl, raǧǧālaẗ, ruǧǧāl, riǧāl, ruǧlān) ‘pedestrian, on foot’, ^†raglān (pl. ruǧālà, raǧālà, raǧlà) ‘foot-passenger’, ^†raǧīl (pl. ʔarǧilaẗ, ʔarāǧilᵘ, ʔarāǧīlᵘ) ‘foot-passenger, pedestrian’, (pl. raǧlà, ruǧālà, raǧālà) ‘good walker, tramp’ > al-^†ʔarāǧīl (pl.) ‘hunters’; ^†ĭrtaǧala ‘to go at a middling pace (horse)’
3.1 ^†riǧlaẗ, ruǧlaẗ ‘vigour in walking’
3.1.1 ^†raǧl, raǧul ‘man; perfect; vigorous; husband’ > ^†raǧulaẗ ‘manlike woman, virago’, ^†ruǧlaẗ, ^†ruǧliyyaẗ, ^†raǧūliyyaẗ ‘manliness’, ^†taraǧǧala ‘to be manlike (woman); to go down (a well) without rope’. – The identification, in EgAr rāgil, of PA I ‘pedestrian’ with ‘man’ may be influenced by Syr ragālā, ragālāṯā ‘foot-soldier’.
3.2 ^†taraǧǧala ‘to alight (rider); (fig.) to be advanced (day)’. – Cf. Syr etraggal ‘to come\go on foot, dismount, step forward’?
3.3 ^†ʔarǧala ‘to let s.o. go on foot; to let (a young one) free with his mother; (fig.) to grant a respite to s.o.’; ^†raǧila, a (raǧal) ‘to be set free with his mother (young beast)’; ^†raǧala (u, raǧl) ‘to let (a female) suckle her young; to suck (his mother: young)’, ^†raǧil, raǧal ‘set free with his mother (suckling)’
3.3.1 ^†raǧil, raǧl ‘somewhat curly (hair)’, ^†raǧal (pl. ʔarǧāl, raǧālà) ‘having curly hair’, ^†raǧila (a, raǧal) ‘to be curly (hair)’
3.3.1.1 ^†raǧǧala ‘to comb (the hair); to comfort s.o.’, ^†mirǧal ‘comb’, ^†muraǧǧal ‘combed; hence also: variegated (garment)’
3.3.1.2 perh. from *‘curly’ also the names of some plants: riǧl, ^†riǧlaẗ ‘garden purslane’, ^†tarāǧīl ‘smallage (herb)’.
3.3.2 ^†²riǧl ‘swarm of locusts; hence also: large troop of beasts; and also: army’, ^†muraǧǧal ‘leaving traces of wings on the sand (locusts)’
3.3.3 ^†ĭrtaǧala ‘to extemporise (speech)’
?4 – mirǧal ‘copper caldron’ > ^†ĭrtaǧala ‘to cook s.th. in a kettle’
?5 – ^†²riǧl ‘blank paper; misfortune; precedence; time’
?6 – ^†raǧlà, raǧlāʔᵘ ‘hard ground’
▪ [v1] Kogan2015 175-6 #3: »The origin of protCSem *rigl ‘foot’ is uncertain; no directly comparable roots or forms are attested in either Akk, or EthSem,¹ or modSAr. One may suspect that *rigl- was the protCSem alternative to a more ancient general designation of ‘foot’, viz. *paʕm- (perhaps the main protSem term with this meaning in view of its basic status in Ug, Phoen and some of modSAr [...]). The spread of this replacement was uneven. In Aram and Ar, *paʕm- was completely (or almost completely) ousted by *rigl-,² whereas in Hbr the presence of *paʕm- ‘foot’ is rather marginal (purely anatomic attestations listed in HALOT 952 scarcely exceed half a dozen).³ Conversely, in Ug and Phoen *paʕm- fully preserves its basic status (Ug pʕn, Phoen pʕm), whereas *rigl- is hardly attested at all.⁴ «
▪ ...

1. »Notwithstanding numerous attempts to prove the contrary (cf. Kaye 1991b, Voigt 1998a), Gz ʔəgr ‘foot’ is probably not to be identified with this root (cf. SED I #7).« 2. »There seems to be no trace of *paʕm- in Aram. In Ar, cf. perhaps fʕm ‘to be fullformed, thick in her shank (a woman)’.« 3. »It has been argued that the meaning ‘foot’ for paʕam is a Northern (Israelite) feature (Rendsburg 2006:322).« 4. »It is of course enigmatic why *rigl-, so conspicuously absent from Ug texts, found its way into the quardilingual lexical list. Note, on the one hand, that its position in the list (= Sum ur, Akk pe-nu) does not favor a general meaning ‘foot’, but rather ‘thigh’ – not attested for the reflexes of *rigl- in any other Sem language. On the other hand, this is probably not the only case when the choice of the ancient Ug lexicographer does not fully match our expectations. Why, for example, ʔadānu (rather than ʔabu) was chosen to designate ‘father’ (Huehnergard 1987a:104) or tunnanu (rather than naḥ(a)šu or baṯ(a)nu) was used for ‘snake’ (ibid. 185)? As for Phoen, the hypothetical mrgl ‘servant at the feet of ...’ is very uncertain (DNWSI 1060).«

west

▪ [v1] (Huehnergard2011:) Engl (etc.) Rigel, a fixed star in Orio, from Ar ↗riǧl ‘foot’

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