Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ 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’; cf. also ↗raǧul ʻman’ (*‘strong one < who beats < who makes tremble\shake’).¹
▪ There is hardly any value in the root ↗RǦL that does not seem to be ultimately based on ¹riǧl ‘foot’, though exact details remain unclear in many cases. The hypothesis of ‘foot’ as the overall etymon is corroborated by the fact that hardly any other value but ‘foot’ has cognates in Sem and the broad spectrum of other meanings covered by the root RǦL is, apparently, an Ar idiosyncrasy. For an overview of the ‘foot’-related semantic field, cf. section DISC in root entry ↗√RǦL. Among the many “feet” are the names of several stars (Rigel, in Orio) and plants (“foot of…”). The most productive secondary values derived from ‘foot’ seem to have been: (1) ‘to go on foot, walk’ (> ‘pedestrian’ > ‘foot-soldier’ > ‘man’), (2) ‘to alight (rider) (< *to stand on one’s feet)’, and (3) ‘to let go on foot, let (a young one) free with his mother’ > ‘to spread freely, uncontrollably’ (… > 3.1 ‘curly hair’ > 3.1.1 ‘to comb’ > ‘to comfort’; 3.1.2 ‘garden purslane’; … > 3.2 ‘swarm’ > ‘troop of beasts’ > ‘army’; … > 3.3 ‘to improvise, extemporise’).
▪ …

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

hist

▪ ...

cogn

▪ Kogan2015 175-6 #3: Ug ri-i[g]-lu, Hbr rägäl, Syr reglā, Ar riǧl, Sab rgl, Min rgl ‘foot’
▪ ...

disc

▪ 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 «
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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

▪ (Huehnergard2011:) Engl Rigel, from Ar riǧl ‘foot’.

deriv

►raǧila, a, vb. I, to go on foot, walk
►taraǧǧala, vb. V, 1 = I | taraǧǧala fī ṭarīqi-h, to walk all the way; 2 to dismount (min or ʕan from; rider); 3 ↗raǧul : tD-stem, denom.
►raǧil, adj., going on foot, pedestrian, walking
►¹rāǧil, pl. raǧl, raǧǧālaẗ, ruǧǧāl, ruǧlān, adj., 1a going on foot, walking; b pedestrian: PP I

For other values attached to the root, cf. ↗²riǧl, ↗³riǧl, ↗raǧul (with ↗ruǧūlaẗ), ↗raǧǧala, ↗ĭrtaǧala, and ↗mirǧal, as well as, for the whole picture, root entry ↗√RǦL.

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