Bibliotheca Polyglotta

1 setting (of broken bones): see ↗ǧabara; 2a force, compulsion; b coercion, duress; c power, might; d (predestined, inescapable) decree of fate; ǧabrᵃⁿ forcibly, by force – WehrCowan1976

conc

▪ vn. of ↗ǧabara, vb. I, with both of its main values.
▪ This entry focusses on [v2] only. For [v1], also in the use in computation/mathematics (algebra), see ↗ǧabara.
▪ Ultimately, both values of ¹ǧabr are certainly connected, though the nature of this relation is not exactly clear. ClassAr lexicographers tend to derive [v2] ‘to force, compel’ (and ǧabr ‘strength, power; ^†man’) from [v1] ‘to set (broken bones)’. But the evidence of Sem, where ‘(strong) man; strength, power, force’ prevails and possible reflections of *‘restoring, repairing, helping, making easy/comfortable’ are restricted to the EthSem context, seems to forbid such a derivation. In contrast, the authors of DRS think [v1] is from [v2], in which case the ‘setting of broken bones’ would be a specialization from ‘to force, compel’. – For a possible derivation of [v1] from ǧabala, see ↗ǧabara and root entry ↗ǦBR. – Irrespective of these considerations, ultimately, both values go prob. back to a 2-cons. pre-protSem root nucleus *GB ‘to assemble, amass, bring together, pile up’ (cf. Ehret1995: *GB ‘great’); for more details, cf. ↗√ǦBR.
▪ [v2] : (Kogan2011:) from protCSem *gabr- ‘man / (DRS:) homme fait, dans toute sa force’ (> Ar ^†ǧabr ‘man’) < protSem *gbr ‘to be strong’. 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’. – 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)’.¹
▪ [v2d] ‘(predestined, inescapable) decree of fate’: means the alleged »doctrine of djabr, “compulsion”, viz. that man does not really act but only God. It was also used by later heresiographers to describe a group of sects. The Muʕtazila applied it, usually in the form Mudjbira, to Traditionists, Ashʕarite theologians and others who denied their doctrine of ḳadar or “free will” [↗qadar]«.²
▪ …

1. For other extensions from the same pre-protSem root, cf. ↗√ǦBǦ (ǧabǧ ‘to recover and regain strength’, cf. [v2]) and ↗√ǦBL (ǧabl ‘numerous’). 2. W.M. Watt, art. »Djbriyya«, in EI².

hist

▪ …

cogn

▪ DRS GBR-1 Akk gabr- ‘fort’, gab/pāru ‘vaincre, être supérieur’; Hbr geber ‘homme’,¹ gibbōr ‘héros’, gābar ‘être fort’; Phoen gbr ‘homme’, Pun gybrh ‘puissance’?; Moab gbrn ‘homme’; YaAram gbrh, epigAram gbrʔ, gbrtʔ ‘force’ ; JudPal Syr gᵊbar ‘être fort, gabrā, Mand gabra, nWAram gabrōnā ‘homme’, JudPal gibbār, Syr gabbārā, Mnd gabara, nSyr (aysor) gʸäbärä ‘héros, géant’, gʸörä, (Ur) gōrā ‘mari’, gōrūnā ‘garçon’; Ar ǧabr ‘puissant’, gabbār ‘puissant, orgueilleux’, ǧabr ‘esclave corvéable; force, contrainte’, ǧubār ‘violence’; Gz gabr ‘travailleur, valet, esclave’, gabra ‘faire’; Te gäbr ‘esclave’, gäbrä ‘faire, faire violence’; Te Amh gəbr ‘tribut’, gäbbärä ‘payer le tribut’; Ar ǧabara ‘se ressouder (os), se rétablir, se raffermir; aider’; Te gäbbärä ‘réparer, sauver’. -2-7 […].
▪ Leslau2006: Akk gapāru ‘to surpass’, gabru, gapru ‘strong’, Hbr gāḇar ‘to prevail’, gibbōr ‘manly’, Phoen gbr-t ‘mighty deeds’, Syr gabber ‘to prevail’, Mnd gbr ‘to be strong, prevail’, Ar ǧabara ‘to force to do s.th., submit’, ǧabr ‘powerful man, constraint, coercion’, Gz gabra (yəgbar) ‘to act, do, work, make, be active, practice, labor, perform, manufacture, produce, bring forth, create, build, fashion, function, carry out, prepare, achieve, execute, procure, enact, keep (ordinances), observe (ordinances, fast)’; gabbara ‘to cultivate land, till land, pay taxes’; ʔagabbara ‘to constrain, force, compel, coerce, impose tribute’; gəbr ‘affair, matter, thing, act, work, workmanship, manner, mode, action, task, office, duty, event, deed, service, business, function, procedure, charge, activity, occupation, doing of work, situation, product, produce, conduct, tribute, contribution, religious service, magical activity, force, reality, compulsion, constraint, necessity, (K*) taxes’; gabir ‘practice, conduct, prescription against black magic, practice of magic’; gabbār ‘workman, laborer, farmer, peasant; one who pays taxes’, gəbrat ‘work, working, construction, building, workmanship’; gabbārāwi ‘workman, laborer, farmer, peasant’; gəbrənāt ‘service, action, servitude, enslavement, bondage’, ʔagbərtāwi (< ʔagbər , pl. of gabr + āwi) ‘pertaining to servants’, Te gäbra ‘to do, make’, gäbbära ‘to enslave, subdue’, Tña gäbärä ‘to make, do’, Amh gäbbärä ‘to farm’, agäbbärä ‘to force’, Har agäbära ‘to tame’, Gur gäbbärä. For Gz gəbr ‘taxes’, cp. Tña Amh gäbbärä ‘to pay taxes’, Te Arg gäbbära, Gur gäbärä, Amh Te Gur gəbər ‘taxes’, Tña Har gəbri. The root passed into Cush: Kam gabbárro ‘to tame’, Ṭem gäbärre, Sa gibr-e ‘to work’, Had gibirā-kko ‘to pay taxes’, Kam gibirro.
▪ Sabaweb: Sab gbr ‘Arbeit, Werk’, gbry ‘Arbeiter, Beauftragter’ (both not reliably attested)
▪ …

1. Kogan2015: 382 #6: »Hbr gäbär with the general meaning ‘man’ is relatively common in poetic texts only. Outside the poetic corpus, attestations of gäbär are sparse, and in most of them this term is markedly opposed to designations of women and/or children (cf. Dt 22:5, Ex 10:11 and 12:37, Jer 43:6, 44:20). Such a distribution suggests a specialized meaning ‘adult male’ rather than simply ‘man’.«

disc

▪ Does the associative L-stem ↗ǧābara ‘to treat with kindness, with friendliness, be nice to s.o.’ reflect ^†ǧabr ‘man’, thus orig. *‘to treat as a fellow human being’, or is it a *‘(friendly) coercion’, or rather *‘to make it easy/comfortable for s.o.’ (↗ǧabara)? As a support of the first option could serve ClassAr ^†ʔaǧbara ‘to consider (s.o.) as honest’ (Hava1899), perh. denom., thus *‘to consider as a man’; on the other hand, an expression like ClassAr ^†ǧabara ḫāṭira-hū ‘to converse kindly with s.o’ (ibid.) may mean *‘to force/exert [mild?] coercion on s.o.’s mind, oblige s.o.’ or *‘to make s.o. feel at ease/comfortable’. 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’.
▪ The ClassAr values ^†‘king’ and ^†‘slave’ for ǧabr are with all likelihood instances special use of the underlying *‘strong one, strong man’ (though ‘slave’ may be an Ethiopism as the notion of ‘slave, servant’ is prevalent in the EthSem region.¹ ) – ^†al-mutaǧabbir ‘the lion’ is prob. *‘the one boasting of his power’; cf. also ↗ǧibriyāʔᵘ ‘pride, arrogance’.
▪ In MSA, ǧabr is no longer used in the sense of ‘man’ but is attested as such in ClassAr: ^†‘(young, courageous) man | homme, surtout fort, puissant’ (Lane|BK); cf. also DaṯAr ǧuburraẗ ‘naturel de l’homme’ (Landberg1920). – Cf., however, Kogan’s remark that this attestation may be spurious, built on only one single verse.²
▪ Perh. ClassAr ^†²ǧubār ‘torrent’ is connected to [v2] 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’.
▪ ^†³ǧubār ~ ǧibār in the meaning of ‘(pre-Islamic name of) Tuesday’ seems to go back to an original attestation apparently only in a single verse, according to Fischer1896 a »distichon memoriale« made by a little gifted poet for his students to help them memorize the names of the pre-Islamic weekdays.³ Fischer considered the possibility of a specifically South Arabian origin of these names, but no SAr or EthSem cognates seem to have been found until today. Moreover, he questioned the reliability of the transmission of the verse in general. In contrast, Rotter1993 is convinced that ^†³ǧubār 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.).⁴ If this is correct, the “martial” name is related to [v2] ‘strength, power; ^†man’.
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1. Kogan2015: 382 #6 thinks the Ar value ‘slave’ may be due to acquaintance with Gz gabr ‘slave’. 2. Kogan2015: 382 #6: »Lane LA iv 133 adduces one verse in support of this meaning (wa-ʔanʕim ṣabāḥan ʔayyuhā l-ǧabru ‘Good morning, oh man!’), commented upon as ʔayy ʔayyuhā l-raǧulu. One may legitimately wonder whether such a usage could be ascribed to the author’s acquaintance with Aram. 3. August Fischer, »Die altarabischen Namen der sieben Wochentage«, ZDMG 50 (1896): 220-26, here 222. The other six days mentioned in the verse are ↗ʔawwalᵘ (also ʔawl) ‘Sunday’, ʔahwanᵘ (also ʔahwadᵘ or ʔawhadᵘ) ‘Monday’, dubārᵘ ‘Wednesday’, muʔnis ‘Thursday’, ↗ʕarūbaẗᵘ ‘Friday’, and šiyārᵘ (var. šibārᵘ, sibārᵘ) ‘Saturday’. 4. »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.

west

▪ Engl algebra, from Ar al-ǧabr ‘the might, force; restoration’, from ǧabara, vb. I, ‘to force; to restore, set (bones)’ – Huehnergard2011.
▪ For related Engl Gabriel see ↗Ǧibrīl.
▪ …

deriv

NB: Given that the etymological relation between [v1] and [v2] is still unclear, this section lists derivations from both, but tries to keep them apart for systematic reasons

[v1]
►ʕilm al-ǧabr, algebra: orig. *‘reparing’.
►ǧabara, u (ǧabr, ǧubūr), vb. I, 1a to set (broken bones); b to restore, bring back to normal; c to help back on o.’s feet, help up (e.g., one fallen into poverty); 2 see [v2] : vn. I
►ǧabbara, vb. II, to set (broken bones): D-stem, ints.
►taǧabbara, vb. V, 1a see [v2]; 2 to be set (broken bones): tD-stem, self-ref.
►ĭnǧabara, vb. VII, to be mended, repaired, restored: N-stem, pass.
►ǧibāraẗ, n.f., (art of) bonesetting: vn. I
►ǧabīraẗ and ǧibāraẗ, pl. ǧabāʔirᵘ, n.f., splint (surg.): quasi-PP I.f.
►taǧbīr, n., taǧbīr al-ʕiẓām, orthopedics: vn. II
►ǧābir and muǧabbir, n., bonesetter: PA I and PA II

[v2]
►yawm ǧabr al-baḥr, a local holiday of Cairo (the day on which, in former times, the water of the Nile was channeled into the now-abandoned ↗ḫalīǧ, or City Canal, thus marking the beginning of the irrigation season)
►ǧabara, u (ǧabr, ǧubūr), vb. I, 1 see [v1]; 2 to force, compel (s.o. ʕalà to do s.th.) | ǧabara ḫāṭira-hū, expr., to console, comfort, gratify, oblige s.o.; to treat (s.o.) in a conciliatory or kindly manner: vn. I
►ʔaǧbara, vb. IV, 1 to force, compel (s.o. ʕalà to do s.th.); 2 to hold sway (ʕalà over): *Š-stem, ints.
►taǧabbara, vb. V, 1a to show o.s. proud, haughty; b to act strong, throw one’s weight around; c to show o.s. strong or powerful, demonstrate one’s strength or power; 2 see [v1]: tD-stem, self-ref. | taǧabbara ḷḷāhu bi-bni-ka, God has demonstrated His power on your son, i.e., He has taken him unto Himself
►ǧabrī, adj., 1 algebraic; 2 compulsory, forced: nsb-adj. of ↗¹ǧabr
►ǧabarī, adj./n., 1a adherent of the doctrine of predestination and the inescapability of fate; b fatalist: nsb-adj., from ↗¹ǧabr (2.d)
►ǧabariyyaẗ, n.f., 1a an Islamic school of thought teaching the inescapability of fate; b fatalism: abstr. formation in -iyyaẗ, from ↗¹ǧabr (2.d)
►^BP#4246ǧabbār, pl. -ūn, ǧabābirᵘ, ǧabābiraẗ, 1 n., a giant; colossus; b tyrant, oppressor; 2 adj., a almighty, omnipotent (God); b gigantic, giant, colossal, huge; 3 Orion [perh. *‘the Giant’] : ints. formation; see also ↗s.v. | ǧabbār al-ḫuṭwaẗ, striding powerfully, taking huge strides
►ǧabarūt, n.f., 1a omnipotence; b power, might; 2 tyranny: n. formation along the FaʕaLūt pattern
►ǧibriyāʔᵘ, n., pride, haughtiness: see ↗s.v.
►ʔiǧbār, n., compulsion, coercion: vn. IV
►ʔiǧbārī, adj., forced, forcible, compulsory, obligatory: nsb-adj., from vn. IV | al-taǧnīd al-ʔiǧbārī, compulsory recruitment; military conscription
►maǧbūr and muǧbar, adj., forced, compelled: PP I and PP IV
►Ǧabraʔīlᵘ, Ǧibrīlᵘ, Gabriel: see also ↗s.v.

[v1] or [v2]?
►ǧabara ḫāṭira-hū, expr., to console, comfort, gratify, oblige s.o.; to treat (s.o.) in a conciliatory or kindly manner
►ǧābara, vb. III, to treat with kindness, with friendliness, be nice (to s.o.): L-stem, assoc., see also ↗s.v.

For other values attached to the root, cf. ↗ǧabbār, ↗ǧabara, ↗ǧābara, ↗ǧibriyāʔᵘ, and ↗Ǧibrīlᵘ as well as, for the overall picture, root entry √ǦBR.

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