Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ In MSA and many Ar dialects, both eastern and western, the word maḥramaẗ means ‘handkerchief’, while it signifies ‘head-scarf, turban’ in ḤḍrAr (as does also Soq mḥármeh) –see DRS #ḤRM-3. For Soq mḥármeh, Leslau suggests a connection with Ar ↗ḫimār ʻveil covering head and face of a woman’.¹ In contrast, the authors of DRS rather feel inclined to relate it to the basic notion of ʻcovering’, cf. ↗ḥirām ʻwoolen blanket (worn as a garment around head and body)’ (DRS #ḤRM-1), which in turn may be related to the largest semantic field associated with the root √ḤRM, namely ʻto forbid, taboo, respect\dignity’ – see ↗ḥaram.
▪ Any interference of, or influence on, Engl (hand)kerchief or Fr mouchoir? Originally, the Eur words seem to have designated, like Ar maḥramaẗ, pieces of cloth used to veil/protect the head or body…
▪ …

1. Allegedly also akin to an Aram ḥūmrā ʻcover (n.)’, but I was unable to verify this word in any of the dictionaries at my disposal – SG.

hist

▪ …

cogn

▪ DRS 9 (2010) #ḤRM-1 Akk ḫarāmu ‘couvrir’ (CAD: arāmu~ḫarāmu~erēmu ʻto stretch or place (a membrane, skin or a layer of metal) over and object, place a tablet in a clay case’), Ar ḥirām ‘couverture’. -?2 Akk ḫarāmu ‘séparer’; – Moab *hḥrm, Hbr hęḥ^ęrīm ‘consacrer, vouer’; Hbr ‘vouer à la destruction totale’, JP ḥarem ‘excommunier, interdire, déclarer qc mise à part pour l’usage du Temple, vouer à la destruction’, Nab ḥrm ‘chose sacrée, inviolable’, hḥrm ‘vouer’, Mnd ḥrm ‘interdire, maudire’; Ar ḥarama ‘repousser, tenir à distance, prohiber, déclarer illicite’, ḥarima ‘être illicite, être sacré et interdit à l’usage profane’, ḥaram ‘chose illicite, sacrée; enceinte sacrée; femme’; ḥurumāt ‘ordres et interdits inviolables (de Dieu)’, DaṯAr miḥrām ‘sanctuaire’; SAr ḥrm (vb.): Sab ‘être interdit, proscrit; être en état de sacralisation (pèlerin)’, Qat ‘être prohibé, puni; décréter, commander’, Soq ḥrm ‘maudire’, Ḥrs ḥerm ‘être privé (de droits conjugaux)’, Mhr ḥōrəm, Ḥrs ḥārəm ‘se repentir, jurer de ne pas’, Jib oḥúrm ‘jurer de ne pas’, Mhr ḥrūm ‘provoquer un désastre en enfreignant un interdit’, Jib aḥrím ‘interdire’; – ḥrm (n.): Sab ḥrm, Sab Qat Min mḥrm ‘enclos, sanctuaire’, Mhr Ḥrs ḥərōm, Jib ḥárúm ‘interdit, tabou’, Ḥrs ḥərām ‘mariage, légitimité’, Mhr ḥərmēt ‘femme, épouse; femme sans défense, veuve’, Jib ḥarmɛ́t ‘veuve’; Gz ḥarama, Te ḥarräma, Amh harrämä,arrämä ‘interdire’, Te məḥram ‘sanctuaire’, Tña ḥarämä ‘être interdit’. – ? YemAr ḥaram(ä) ‘mort naturelle’. -3 ḤḍrAr maḥrameh ‘foulard de tête’, EAr maḥrameh, MġrAr maḥramah, mḥarmah ‘mouchoir, foulard’, Soq mḥármeh ‘turban’. -4 […].
▪ …

disc

▪ As the meaning ‘head-scarf, turban’ of ḤḍrAr maḥrameh and Soq mḥármeh as well as the more general ‘scarf’ of EAr maḥrameh and MġrAr maḥramah~mḥarmah (alongside ‘handkerchief’) show, the exact meaning of the words vacillates between ‘handkerchief’ and ‘piece of tissue used to cover/protect (the head, or parts of the body)’. Therefore, maḥramaẗ ‘handkerchief’ is quite likely to be akin to ↗ḥirām ‘wooden blanket (worn as a garment around head and body)’ (DRS #ḤRM-1). Interestingly enough, a semantic shift from ‘head-cloth’ (via ‘scarf’) to ‘(hand)kerchief’ can be observed also for Engl kerchief: according to EtymOnline (as of 25Nov2020), Engl kerchief was originally a *ʻsquare piece of fabric folded and worn about the head, cloth for covering the head’, from mEngl kovrechief ʻpiece of cloth used to cover part of the head’, esp. a woman’s head-cloth or veil, from AngloFr courchief, oFr couvrechief ʻa kerchief’, lit. *ʻcover head’, from couvrir ʻto cover’ + chief ʻhead’ (< Lat caput ʻhead’). From lC14 onwards the Engl word came to be used as ʻpiece of cloth used about the person’ generally, for purposes other than covering the head; and from c. 1400 as ʻpiece of cloth used about the person, carried in the hand’ to wipe the face, etc., »a curious confluence of words for ʻhand’ and ʻhead’«. So, is this parallel a mere coincidence? Or is it due to a typological similarity in the development of Eastern and Western cultural history, esp. court culture? Or is it perh. the result of cultural contact and borrowing? In other words, is Ar maḥramaẗ in some way a calque from Engl kerchief, or the latter calqued on the model of the former? If this should be the case, one would have to search for the contact milieu through which the borrowing was initiated.
▪ …

west

▪ Was the semantic shift in Engl kerchief from ʻhead-cloth, veil’ to ʻhandkerchief’ (see above, section DISC) influenced by a similar shift in Ar, or the shift in Ar motivated by the development in Engl?
▪ …

deriv

See also ↗ḥaram, ↗ḥarām, ↗ḥirām, ↗ḥarīm, ↗ḥarāmī, and, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√ḤRM.

Permanent link

http://www2.hf.uio.no/common/apps/permlink/permlink.php?app=polyglotta&context=record&uid=d81869aa-06ff-11ee-937a-005056a97067

Choose languages

Choose images, etc.

Choose languages

Choose display