Bibliotheca Polyglotta

1 to write; 2a to point, provide with points (a text); b to brand (a horse); c to imprint (a trace, a mark); d to mark; 3 to stripe (a fabric); 4 to number – WehrCowan1976

conc

▪ [gnrl] : From among the four main values the vb. raqama can take in MSA, [v2] and [v3] seem to be older, while [v1] and [v4] prob. represent secondary developments. According to Landberg1923, the basic value of ClassAr raqama is [v2d] ‘to mark’ (as distinct, clearly standing out, etc.’), hence also raqm ‘marking, mark, chiffre’. Giving prominence to the Sem evidence outside Ar (Hbr, Pun, Aram Syr, Gz), Kogan2015: 121 #24 reconstructs protSem *rḳm ‘to embroider’, a value that is attested in ClassAr also for raqama. But ‘to mark, make look different, variegate’ may actually be the older value, from which ‘to embroider’ then would only be a specialisation. If Kogan is right, it is the other way round and ‘to mark’ is a generalisation based on the more specific ‘to embroider’.
▪ [v2] : Within [v2], value [v2c] ‘to imprint’ is only a variant of the basic [v2d], focusing on the result of ‘marking’ (i.e., leaving an imprint), and [v2b] ‘to brand’ represents a case of special use (‘marking’ horses etc.). The same may be true for [v2a] ‘to put (diacritical) points on a text’, unless it is secondary from [v1] ‘to write’ (see below).
▪ [v3] : The value ‘striping (a fabric)’ seems to be closely associated with tissues etc., thus in proximity to Kogan’s *‘embroidery’ and the value of RQM in other Sem languages. But one may also regard the ‘striping’ as a special form of the more general [v2d] ‘marking, making distinct’ (which, as we said above, may be the primary value).
▪ [v1] : The value ‘to write’ is prob. a secondary development, either based on [v2a] ‘to put (diacritical) points on a text’ or a denom. derivation from ↗al-raqīm, a term appearing for the first time in the Qurʔān (18:9) and traditionally held to mean ‘inscription tablet, writing, inscription’ (though the commentators were not sure about that and several other meanings have been suggested); the etymology of al-raqīm itself is not clear, but its FaʕīL (quasi-PP) form does not exclude the value *‘s.th. written; s.th. written upon’, which, ultimately, could be from *‘marking, making distinct’.
▪ [v4] : Like [v1], also [v4] ‘to number’ may either be another specialisation of [v2d] ‘to mark’ or denominative from ↗raqm ‘numeral, number’ (itself prob. based on [v2d]).
▪ For other values of, or akin to, raqama in ClassAr see root entry ↗RQM.
▪ …

hist

▪ Lane iii 1867: ^†raqama ‘to write (a writing, book, letter); to seal, stamp, print, impress; to mark the writing with the dots, or points, and make its letters distinct, or plain; (al-ṯawb) to figure, variegate, decorate the garment, or piece of cloth; to make it striped, mark with stripes; to figure, variegate, decorate with a certain, or known, figuring, variegation or decoration, such as became a mark thereof; (esp. also) to mark, put a mark (on a garment, or piece cloth) specifying its price, put a price-mark on s.th.; to mark s.th. so as to distinguish it from other things (e.g., by writing etc.); (hence:) zāda fī ’l-raqm, expr., to add to one’s tradition and lie (from raqm signifying the writing upon a garment or piece of cloth)’
▪ ...

cogn

▪ BDB1906, Zammit2002, Leslau2008 (CDG), Kogan2015: 121 #24 : Hbr rāqam ‘to variegate, weave in colour’, riqmāʰ ‘variegated stuff (woven or embroidered)’, rōqēm ‘variegator, worker\weaver in colours’, Pun rqm ‘to embroider’, Aram riqmᵊṯâ, riqmāṯâ ‘variegated cloth or skin, checks, spots’, Syr tarqᵊmāṯā ‘freckles’, Ar raqama ‘to embroider’, Gz raqama ‘to embroider, paint figures on parchment, (T.Y.M.) make incisions, write’¹
▪ ...

1. Syr raqmā ‘embroidered robe’ and Gz raqama ‘acu pingere, figuris pingere (vestem)’ are marked as borrowings from Ar in Zammit2002, following the view of the sources used by the author. However, the common opinion of the more recent studies, as well as some older ones, sees the Aram and Gz forms as genuine.

disc

▪ See above, section CONC.
▪ ...

west

–

deriv

►raqqama, vb. II, 1 to point, provide with points (a text); 2a to stripe, streak; b to rule; 3 to number: D-stem, denom./caus.

►^BP#351raqm, pl. ʔarqām, n., 1a numeral; b number, No. | al-ʔarqām al-hindiyyaẗ, the numerals of the Arabs; raqm al-qiyās or al-raqm al-qiyāsī, record (athlet.), saǧǧala raqmᵃⁿ qiyāsiyyᵃⁿ , to set a record (athlet.)
►^BP#3664raqmī, adj., 1a numerical; b digital: nsb-formation from raqm
►raqīm, n., 1a inscription tablet; b letter, message: traditionally seen as quasi-PP I; cf., however, also ↗s.v.
►mirqam, pl. marāqimᵘ, n., 1a drawing pencil, crayon; b (painter’s) brush: n.instr.
►tarqīm, n., 1 pointing; 2 numbering, numeration: vn. II
►marqūm, pl. marāqīmᵘ, n., striped blanket: nominalized PP I.

For other values attached to the root, cf. ↗raqm and ↗¹raqīm as well as, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√RQM.

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