Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ »The etymology of the word is obscure; its synonyms ↗ibrīsam and ↗qazz, as well as ↗dībāǧ which more particularly denotes silk brocade, are Persian loanwords; ↗ḫazz, properly speaking a mixture of silk and wool, but sometimes also used for silk, is etymologically isolated in Arabic, and perhaps connected with qazz. ḥarīr occurs in the Qurʔān, sūras 23:23 = 35:33, and 76:12, where it is said that the raiment of the people of Paradise will be silk« – EI² (red.).
▪ Any relation between ḥarīr and other values of ↗√ḤRR? Perhaps with ↗ḥurr as the tissue is ‘free’ from defects, has a ‘faultless’, smooth fabric.

hist

▪ eC7 Q 35:33 wa-libāsu-hum fī-hā ḥarīrun ‘and their clothes therein [sc. Paradise] will be [of] silk’

cogn

* DRS 9 (2010)#ḤRR 5 Ar ḥarīr, Jib ḥárír, Soq ḥárhir, Gz ḥarīr, Te Tña ḥarir, Te har, Amh harir, har ‘soie’.¹ — Outside Sem: (Cush) Sa harīr, Af harēr.²

1. Les formes éthiopiennes [i.e., Gz Te Tña Amh] sont des emprunts à l’arabe. 2. Probablement emprunts directs à l’arabe.

disc

▪ A relation between ḥarīr and other values of √ḤRR (‘heat, to burn’, ‘stony area’, ‘to be born free’) seems rather unlikely at first sight, cf. ↗ḤRR. But it may be akin to ↗ḥurr if the latter’s primary meaning could be established as *‘free from defects, default’. In this case, silk would properly be the ‘faultless’, smooth fabric. Cf. Ǧabal 2010-I: 395-6 where the basic value of ḤRR is assumed to be ḫulūṣ al-šayʔ min al-ġalīẓ allaḏī yaʕrūhu ʔaw yuḫāliṭu ʔaṯnāʔahū (bi-ʔan yaḫruǧa minhā) fa-yaṣfū wa-yanqà, and silk is al-ḥarīr min al-ṯiyāb, i.e., raqīq nāʕim laysa fīhi ġalaẓ.
▪ Hassan1986 suggested a Chinese origin of the word,¹ but although the idea should not be rejected from the outset his study does not fulfil scientific standards and can therefore not be taken as a serious contribution to etymological research.

1. From the words for ‘fine silk’ which, according to the author, are »Ssu-Li« [probably 絲 sī, 麗 lì ]. S. Mahdi Hassan, “The Arabic word ḥarīr as traceable to the Chinese term signifying fine-silk”, Islamic Studies, 25/3 (Autumn 1986): 333-5.

west

▪ Any relation to Grk Sêres, Lat Seres, the term used in Antiquity as a name for Chin traders? According to Lokotsch1927#1878, this name derives from Chin 丝儿 (絲兒) sī-ér, composed of sī ‘silk’ and the nominal suffix designating persons, -ér, »common among the inhabitants of the NChin provinces«. From the n.gent. Lat Seres are the name of the country Serica, the adj. seric-us ‘Seric, made from silk’, as n. serica ‘silk dress’. The Lat serica (~ sarica ~ sirica) gave Fr serge, sarge, Prov serga, It sargia, Cat sarja, Span Port sarga, Rum sarecă ‘serge, kind of woolen material, (wiki:) type of twill fabric that has diagonal lines or ridges on both sides, made with a two-up, two-down weave’, Span jergo, Port xergo ‘paillasse, straw mattress’, Span jergon, Port enxergão ‘paillasse’, Span sirgo ‘waste silk’, (Calabr)It siricu ‘silk worm’, Ge Sarsche; Ru sarža, Bulg sarža, Cz sarše, Pol sarza, szarsza ‘type of woolen material’. From Lat seric-um, adj.neutr., ‘silken, made of silk’, are also (mediated by oFr) Engl silk, as well as oSlav šelkŭ ‘silk’ > Ru šëlk, Ukr šołk ‘silk’, Ru (deriv.) šelkovica, šelkovnik ‘mulberry tree’. – It seta, Span Port Prov seda, Fr soie, Ge Seide go back to mLat seta ‘silk’ which is probably short for seta serica ‘Seric hair’, from Lat saeta ‘thick hair, bristle’ and the adj.f. seric-a, described above.

deriv

► ḥarīr ṣaḫrī, n., asbestos.
► ḥarīr ṣināʕī, n., rayon.

► ḥarrara, vb. II, to mercerize (cotton yarn or fabrics to achieve a silky lustre). – For other meanings see ↗ḥurr.

► ḥarīrī, adj., silken, silky, of silk: nsb-adj.
► ḥarāʔirī, adj., silken, silk (in compounds), of silk: nsb-adj from pl.; silk weaver: n.prof., nominalized nisba adj.
► ḥarrār, n., silk weaver: n.prof.

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