Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ With the meaning ‘purity’ (and also ‘alms tax’, ↗zakāẗ), the root ZKW/Y is most probably an Aramaism that came in addition to the earlier value ‘to grow, increase’ (↗zakā / zakiya), making the root a homonymous one.
▪ According to Huehnergard 2011, the source from which the Ar items are borrowed, Aram zəkā ‘to be innocent, be worth, give alms’, is from Can *zakā ‘to be worth, be worthy’, or Akk *zakû ‘to be(come) pure, innocent’, from Sem *ḏkw ‘to be(come) clean, pure’.
▪ Thus, etymologically speaking, the Ar items with this meaning are not akin to ZKW/Y but to ↗ḎKW/Y.

hist

▪ eC7 Of frequent occurrence in many forms in the Q : ʻto be pure’, e.g.,
▪ (zakā, u, vb. intrans., to reach a level of acceptability [by God], to attain enough purity; to increase in purity) Q 24:21 wa-law-lā faḍlu ’ḷḷāhi ʕalay-kum wa-raḥmatu-hū mā zakā min-kum min ʔaḥadin ʔabadan ‘were it not for God’s grace and mercy towards you, not a single one of you would ever have attained [enough] purity [to be acceptable to God]’
▪ (zakkà, vb II. trans., to purify, to cause to grow in purity) Q 9:103 ḫuḏ min ʔamwāli-him ṣadaqatan tuṭahhiru-hum wa-tuzakkī-him bi-hā ‘take from their possessions alms with which you cleanse them and purify them/cause them to grow in purity’, (to vouch for, to praise, to justify, to vindicate) 53:32 fa-lā tuzakkū ʔanfusa-kum huwa ʔaʕlamu bi-man ittaqà ‘so do not praise yourselves—He knows best who is mindful [of Him]’
▪ (tazakkà, v. V intrans., to seek purity, to strive for God’s grace) Q 35:18 wa-man tazakkà fa-ʔinna-mā yatazakkà li-nafsi-hī ‘whosoever purifies himself, does so only for [the good of] his own soul’
▪ (ʔazkà, elat., purer/purest, more/most godly or virtuous) Q 2:232 ḏālikum ʔazkà la-kum wa-ʔaṭharu ‘that is more virtuous/righteous and purer for you’, (better/best in quality) 18:19 fal-yanẓur ʔayyu-hā ʔazkà ṭaʕāman fal-yaʔti-kum bi-rizqin min-hu ‘let him look which is the best quality food, and bring you some of it’
▪ (zakiyy, quasi-AP, pure, pious) Q 19:19 qāla ʔinna-mā ʔanā rasūlu rabbi-ki li-ʔahiba la-ki ġulāman zakiyyan ‘He said, “I am only a messenger from your Lord, [come] to grant you a pure boy”’, (innocent) 18:74 ʔa-qatalta nafsan zakiyyatan bi-ġayri nafsin ‘how could you kill an innocent person without [it being in exchange for his killing of] another?’
▪ (zakāẗ, n., prescribed alms) Q 73:20 wa-ʔaqīmū ’l-ṣalāta wa-ʔātū ’l-zakāta wa-ʔaqriḍū ’ḷḷāha qarḍan ḥasanan ‘keep up the prayer, pay the alms, and make God a goodly loan’

cogn

▪ DRS 4 (1993)# Ḏ/ZKW/Y/K–1 Akk zakū ‘(être) propre, pur, clair, libre d’obligations’, Hbr zākāh ‘être pur’, zak ‘être clair, pur’, Phn zkʔ ‘pur’, EmpAram dky, zky ‘innocent, pur’, Palm *dk ‘rituellement pur’, Mand dakia ‘propre, pur’, BiblAram zākū ‘innocence’, JP Syr zəkā ‘être innocent’, zākūtā ‘innocence, victoire, règne’, Mand zakaia ‘innocent, victorieux’; Ar ḏakā ‘être égorgé selon les règles (animal)’, ḏakwaẗ ‘oblation (pour le péché)’; zakā ‘être pur, sans tache’, Sab ḏkw ‘égorger, achever’, Ar zakāẗ, Sab zkt ‘grâce divine’, Jib zeke, ziki ‘être pur’, Jib Mhr Ḥrs zekōt ‘aumône’, Gz zakik ‘pur, purifié’, Te zäkat ‘aumône légale, impôt’. Les formes en z semblent des emprunts à l’Akk; au contraire: Bauer OLZ 29:803 pense à un emprunt can. Ces formes Aram seraient passées à l’Ar. Sab zkt = empr. Aram. Pour les formes nommant l’aumône légale islamique, SAr et Eth dépendet évidemment de l’Ar. — 2 Ar ḏakiya ‘paraître, pousser, percer’, ḏakā ‘être vif, perçant (esprit), être prompt à comprendre; brûler avec intensité, avec violence (feu), dégager une forte odeur’, Liḥ ḏakaw ‘flamme’, Ar ʔaḏkā ‘allumer, bouter le feu’; ? ‘envoyer’; Sab ḏkw ‘détacher (une troupe)’, ḏky, hḏky ‘envoyer’.

disc

▪ Jeffery1938, 152-53: »The three forms [in the Qurʔān] which particularly concern us are zakā (cf. xxiv, 21), zakkà (ii, 146; iv, 52; xci, 9), and tazakkà (xx, 78; lxxxviL 14). – The primitive meaning of the Ar zky is ʻto grow, to flourish, thrive’, as is recognized by the Lexicons (cf. LA, xix, 77; and Rāghib, Mufradāt, 212).¹ This is the meaning we find in the earliest texts, e.g. Ḥamāsa, 722, 11; Labīd (ed. Chalidi), etc., and with this we must connect the ʔazkà of ii, 232; xviii, 18, etc., as Nöldeke notes.² In this sense it is cognate with Akk zakū ʻto be free, immune’³ ; Aram זכא ‘to be victorious’, Syr zəḵā, etc. – In the sense of ʻclean, pure’, however, i.e. zakā, i, zakkà, and tazakkà, it is obviously a borrowing from the older religions.⁴ Hbr זכא (like Phoen זכא) is ʻto be clean or pure’ in the moral sense, and its forms parallel all the uses in the Qurʔān. So the related Aram דכא, זכא, and זכי, Syr ḏəḵā, ḏəḵī, and zəḵā mean ʻto be clean’ both in the physical and in the moral sense. The Ar equivalent of these forms, of course, is ḏakā ʻto be bright’ [↗ √ḎKW/Y], and so there can be little doubt that zakā used in its technical religious sense was borrowed from an Aramaic form. It is, of course, difficult to decide whether the origin is Jewish or Christian. Nöldeke, Neue Beiträge, 25, n.; Schulthess, ZA, xxvi, 152; and Torrey, Foundation, 141, favour a Jewish origin, but Andrae, Ursprung, 200, points to the close parallels between Muḥammad’s use of the word and that which we find in contemporary Syriac literature,⁵ so that there is ground for thinking that it came to him from Christian sources.«

1. And see Hurgronje, Verspreide Geschriften, ii, p. 11. 2. Neue Beiträge, 25 n. 3. Zimmern, Akkad. Fremdw, 25. 4. Grimme, Mohammed, 1892, p. 15, tried to prove that tazakkà for Muḥammad meant ʻto pay legal alms’ (zakāt), but this is far fetched, as Hurgronje, RHR, xxx, 157 ff., pointed out. It is true, however, that in his later years Muḥammad did associate justification before God with almsgiving (Bell, Origin, 80; see also Ahrens, Christliches, 21; Horovitz, JPN, 206 ff.). 5. Vide also Bell, Origin, 51. It is possible that the Phlv dakia of PPGl, 104, may be from the same origin. Frahang, Glossary, p. 87.

west

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deriv

► zakkà, vb. II, 1 to purify, chasten; to justify, vindicate, vouch for, or bear witness to s.o.’s integrity, declare s.o. honest, upright or just, attest the honorable record of s.o.; to attest to the truth, validity or credibility of s.th.: caus.; 2 for another meaning ↗zakā / zakiya.
► tazakkà, vb. V, to be purified, be chastened: refl./pass. of II.

► zakiyy, pl. ʔazkiyāʔᵘ, adj., pure; chaste; guiltless, blameless, sinless; (also = ḏakiyy, e.g. rāʔiḥaẗ zakiyyaẗ, n., delightful odor).
► zakāʔ, n., 1 (moral) purity, integrity, honesty, righteousness; 2 ↗zakā / zakiya : vn. I.
► ^BP#4006zakāẗ ↗s.v..
► ʔazkà, purer; more befitting, more appropriate; better; (also = ʔaḏkà, e.g., ʔazkà rāʔiḥaẗ, the most delightful odor): elat.
► tazkiyaẗ, n.f., purification, chastening; pronouncement of s.o.’s integrity or credibility; attestation of (a witness’) honorable record (Isl. Law): vn. II.

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