Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ Accord. to Kogan2011, Ar ʔaḥmarᵘ replaced protSem *ʔdm ‘red’, a term for one of the four basic colours in the protSem colour spectrum¹ (see also Ar ↗LBN and ↗BYḌ for ‘white’, ↗ẒLM and ↗SWD for ‘black’, ↗WRQ and ↗ḪḌR for ‘green’). The fact that ʔaḥmarᵘ is not the original Sem term for ʻred’, may be an indication for the colour term’s development from other notions, such as *ʻto glow, burn’ or *ʻto scrape off, flay, excoriate’.
▪ Accord. to Landberg1920, »[l]e thème ḤMR doit être un développement de √ḤM ʻêtre chaud, être brûlant’ vhv. [↗√ḤMː (ḤMM)], ce qui a motivé le sens de ʻrouge’« (DRS 9 #ḤMR-1); similarly Kogan2011: »perhaps related to Hbr ḥmr ‘to glow, burn’«, thus akin to, or perh. even dependent on, ^†‘to burn with anger’ (↗√ḤMR [v5]) and ʻviolence, severity, intensity’ (↗√ḤMR [v6]).
▪ If not dependent on *‘to glow, burn’, should one perh. consider ‘to scrape off, flay (sheep); to shave (the head); to excoriate’ (↗√ḤMR [v12]) as an alternative origin? It may well be that the colour is called ʔaḥmarᵘ after the redness of the flesh that appears when scraping, skinning, excoriating. On the other hand, semantically, it may also be the other way round, i.e., the latter actions being called ḥamara because they cause blood to flow and thus *ʻmake red’. The entry on √ḤMR in Lane ii 1865 – which starts with this value – gives the impression that ClassAr lexicographers tend to make ʻto scrape off, skin, etc.’ dependent on ʻred’.
▪ Values, now obsolete, that obviously depend on ‘red’ are: diseases causing red skin, etc., like ^†ʻerysipelas; anthrax; ‘measles’ (↗√ḤMR [v8], perh. in itself akin to ↗√ḤMR [v12] ‘to scrape off, flay, shave, excoriate, pare, peel, divest’); ^†‘red-headed sparrow, redstart’ (↗√ḤMR [v9]); ^†ḥammara ‘to cut in pieces’ (<*‘to make red by causing to bleed’) (↗√ḤMR [v13]); ^†‘choice part of a flock, anything precious’ (↗√ḤMR [v17], < *ʻthe red ones’, “red” skin signaling maturity and excellency; see below, section HIST, for more details); ^† ‘Anchusa, pigeon-foot (plant)’ (↗√ḤMR [v19]).
▪ Perhaps akin are also: ↗ḥumar ‘asphalt’, ↗ḥimār ‘donkey’, ↗yaḥmūr ‘deer, roebuck’ and obsolete values such as ^†‘to burn with anger’ (↗√ḤMR [v5], prob. < *ʻto become red’ out of anger), ^†ʻviolence, vehemence, intensity’ (↗√ḤMR [v6]); ^†‘tamarind’ (↗√ḤMR [v11]); perh. even the n.gent. ^†‘Hymiarites (ancient tribe of Yemen)’ (↗√ḤMR [v20]) = ḤMYR)?
▪ …

1. As reconstructed by Bulakh 2003, 2004, 2006a, 2006b.

hist

▪ Rare vb. XI: ^†ĭḥmārra ʻto become accidentally red’.
▪ »Applied to a camel, ʻof a colour like that of saffron when a garment is dyed with it so that it stands up by reason of [the thickness of] the dye: or of an unmixed red colour’ […]. It is said that, of she-camels, the ḥamrāʔᵘ is the most able to endure the summer midday-heat; […] and that the ṣahbāʔᵘ is the most beautiful to look at […]; and the Arabs say that the best of camels are the ḥumr and the ṣuhb. [Hence,] ḥumr al-naʕam signifies the ʻhigh-bred\excellent of camels’, and is proverbially applied to ʻanything highly prized, precious, valuable, excellent’. – Applied to a man, ʻwhite in complexion’, because abyaḍᵘ might be considered as of evil omen [implying the meaning of leprosy]: or […] because the latter epithet, applied to a man, was only used by the Arabs as signifying ʻpure’ or ʻfree from faults’; but they sometimes used this latter epithet in the sense of ʻwhite in complexion’, applied to a man &c. So, accord. to some, in the trad., buʕiṯtu ʔilà l-ʔaḥmar wa’l-ʔabyaḍ, i.e. ʻI have been sent to the white and the black’, because these two epithets comprise all mankind; [therefore, by the former we should understand the white and the red races; and by the latter, the negroes; but some hold that by the former are meant the foreigners, and] by the latter are meant the Arabs. One says also, [when speaking of Arabs and more northern races] ʔatā-nī kullᵘ ʔaswadᵃ min-hum wa-ʔaḥmarᵃ, meaning ʻevery Arab of them, and foreigner, came to me’; and one should not say, in this sense, ʔabyaḍ. – al-ḥamrāʔᵘ, also, is applied to ʻthe foreigners (al-ʕaǧam, collectively)’ because a reddish white is the prevailing hue of their complexion, or […] ʻthose foreigners mostly characterized by whiteness of complexion, as the Greeks and Persians’. You say, laysa fī l-ḥamrāʔi miṯluhū ʻthere is not among the foreigners (al-ʕaǧam) the like of him’. And, accord. to some, al-ʔaḥmarᵘ wa’l-ʔabyaḍᵘ means ʻthe Arabs and the foreigners’. […] al-ḥamrāʔᵘ (= ʔabnāʔ al-ḥamrāʔⁱ) is an appellation applied to ʻemancipated slaves’, and ĭbn ḥamrāʔ al-ʕiǧān, meaning ʻson of the female slave’, is an appellation used in reviling and blaming« – Lane ii 1865.
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cogn

▪ DRS 9 (2010) #ḤMR-1 Akk emēru ‘être rouge’, emr‑, Ug ḥmr, Ar ʔaḥmar, yaḥmūr ‘rouge’, Sab ḥmrt (?) ‘rouge (?)’, Gz ḥamar ‘baie rouge’, Tña ḥamär, ḥamray ‘rouge; roux, brun clair (cheval)’, Amh ḥamär ‘roux (cheval)’. Hbr ḥᵃmarmar ‘être rougeâtre’. – nHbr ḥämar ‘brûler’; EmpAram hmr ‘colère’, Ar ḥamira ‘être rouge de colère’, ḥamrāʔ, ḥamārraẗ ‘chaleur brûlante (de midi, de l’été)’, ḥimirr ‘très violent’, ḥamira ‘avoir mauvaise haleine’ Jib aḥmír ‘mauvaise haleine et indigestion’.
▪ …

disc

▪ DRS 9 (2010) #ḤMR: On their grouping, the authors remark that »[l]e classement a ici principalement pour but d’ordonner commodément les diverses valeurs. Il n’implique pas toujours des séparations fondamentales. Les valeurs peuvent, pour certaines, être liées à d’autres dont elles constitueraient des emplois métaphoriques.«
▪ …

west

–

deriv

►dūn al-ʔaḥmar, taḥt al-ʔaḥmar, adj., infrared;
►al-baḥr al-ʔaḥmar, n., the Red Sea;
►al-ṣalīb al-ʔaḥmar, n., the Red Cross;
►al-mawt al-ʔaḥmar, n., violent death;
►al-hawà al-ʔaḥmar, n., sexual intercourse;
►al-ʔaḥmarān, expr., (ʻthe two red ones’, i.e.) wine and meat;
►al-ʔaswad wa’l-ʔaḥmar, expr., (ʻthe black and the red’, i.e.) all mankind;
►ʔaḥmar al-šafāyif, n., lipstick.

►ḥammara, vb. II, 1 to redden, color or dye red (s.th.); 2a to roast (s.th.); b to fry (s.th.); c to brown (flour in preparing a roux): D-stem, denom.caus.
►ĭḥmarra, vb. IX, to turn red, take on a reddish color, redden, blush: denom.

►ḥumraẗ, n.f., 1a redness, red color(ation), red; b rouge (cosm.); 2 brick dust, brick rubble; 3 erysipelas, St. Anthony’s fire (med.)
►ḥumūr, n., red, red color(ation), redness.
►ḥumayraẗ, n., redstart (zool.)
►ḥamrāʔᵘ, n.f., smut, rust (disease affecting cereals); al-ḥamrāʔ, n.f., Alhambra, the Citadel of Granada: f. of ʔaḥmar
►yaḥmūr, n., 1 red; 2 deer, roe, roebuck; 3 wild ass; 4 hemoglobin (physiol.)
►ĭḥmirār, n., 1 reddening, blush(ing), redness, red coloration; 2 erythema (med.): vn. IX.
►muḥammar, adj., roasted: PP II. | baṭāṭis muḥammar(aẗ), n.(f.), fried potatoes.

For other values attached to the root, cf. ↗ḥumar, ↗ḥimār, ↗yaḥmūr, as well as, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√ḤMR.

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