Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ It seems that the word was borrowed in early Islamic times from JudAram zəḵūṯā ‘voluntary deed of merit in accordance with God’s commandments’ to provide a counter-concept ‘collective charity’ against, and to compete with, old Arabian charity as practised by clan/tribe chiefs through individual acts of generosity. The latter was integrated into Islam in a modified, ‘milder’ form as ↗ṣadaqaẗ while zakāẗ was made obligatory (and more reliable) and thus given priority over the latter. However, pre-Islamic ideals were not completely replaced by zakāẗ and ṣadaqaẗ; rather, they continued into Islamic times (↗ǧūd, ↗karam, ↗saḫāʔ). The meaning ‘alms (tax)’ does not seem to have been attached to the Aram source yet and was therefore probably added by Islam.
▪ Together with the vb. ↗zakā ‘to be pure in heart, be just, righteous’ (which is from Aram zəkā ‘to be innocent, be worth, give alms’), the item goes back to Can *zakā ‘to be worth, be worthy’, or Akk *zakû ‘to be(come) pure, innocent’, both from Sem *ḏkw ‘to be(come) clean, pure’.¹

1. …with Aram *dəkā > zəkā under Akk influence?

hist

▪ eC7 Q 2:43,83,110,177,277; 4:77, etc. ʻlegal Alms’. Occurs only in Medinan passages, such as Q 2:43,83,110,177,277; 4:77, etc. Another example is 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

Aram zkwt, Syr zᵊḵūṯā are not cognates proper since zakāẗ is loaned from there. This notwithstanding, it does of course belong to the same Sem root, cf. ↗ZKW/Y. The word appears already in some Sab inscriptions as zkt (dated 542 and 619 Himyarite era, i.e., c. 430 CE and 508 CE, respectively), meaning ‘Heilstat, Gnade (Gottes)’¹ SAr zkt ? – Aram zkwt, Syr zᵊḵūṯā are not cognates proper since zakāẗ is loaned from there. This notwithstanding, the item does of course belong to the same Sem root, cf. ↗ZKW/Y.

1. Müller2010

disc

▪ Jeffery1938, 153: »Naturally the Muslim authorities explain this word from ↗zakā, and tell us that an Alms is so called because it purifies the soul from meanness, or even because it purifies wealth itself (cf. Bayḍ, on ii, 40, etc.),¹ though some sought to derive it from the primitive meaning of ʻto increase’ (see Rāghib, Mufradāt, 212, and the Lexicons). – zakāẗ, however, is another of the technical religious terms taken over from the older faiths. Fraenkel, Vocab, 23, suggested that it was from the Aram זכות. The primary sense of זכות, זכותא is ʻpuritas, innocentia’, from which developed the secondary meaning of ʻmeritum’ as in the Targum on Ruth iv, 21, but it does not seem that זכותא, or its Syr equivalent zəḵūṯā, ever meant ʻalms’, though this meaning could easily be derived from it. Fraenkel is inclined to believe that the Jews of Arabia had already given it this meaning before Islam "sed fortasse Iudaei Arabici זכות sensu eleemosynarum adhibuerunt" (so Torrey, Foundation, 48, 141). Nöldeke, however (Neue Beiträge, 25), is inclined to believe that the specializing of the word for alms was due to Muḥammad himself.² «
▪ Pennacchio2014, 19: The old writing with و as mater lectionis (زكوة) is a strong indication of the word’s Aram origin.
▪ Pennacchio2014, 138: »Dans la littérature rabbinique, zkwtʔ ‘bénéfice’, ‘mérite’ fonctionne comme l’équivalent hébraïque des ṣədāqā ‘aumône’. […] Le fait qu’on ait deux mots en ar., zakāẗ et ṣadaqaẗ, et en héb. zəkūtâ et ṣədāqā, suffit à prouver l’emprunt au judaïsme.«
▪ Huehnergard2011: from Aram zākutā ‘innocence, justification, merit, meritorious deed’, from zəkā ‘to be innocent, be worth, give alms’, from Can *zakā ‘to be worth, be worthy’, or Akk *zakû ‘to be(come) pure, innocent’, from < Sem ḏkw ‘to be(come) clean, pure’.
▪ Kerr 2014: »The nearest cognate meaning of this root is found in JP / Galilean Aram zky ‘to give to charity’. The precursors of this semantic development can probably still be seen in Syr zāḵūṯā ‘acquittal, innocence’ (also ‘grave of a martyr’) or possibly in Jewish-Babylonian Aram, Pal Targ-Aram and Galilean Aram zəḵūṯā ‘reward‚commendable deed’. The latter seems more likely to me.«

1. The origin of this idea, of course, is in the Qurʔān itself, cf. ix, 104. 2. See also Bell, Origin, 80; Schulthess, in ZA, xxvi, 1.50, 151; Ahrens, Muhammad, 180; Von Kremer, Streifzüge, p. xi; Horovitz, JPN, 206. Wensinck, Joden, 114, says: »Men zal misschien vragen of tot se Mekkaansche instellingen niet de zakat behoort. En men zou zich voor deze meening op talrijke Mekkaansche openbaringen kunnen beroepen waar van zakāẗ gesproken wordt. Men vergete echter niet, dat het woord zakāẗ het Joodsche זכות, verdienste beteekent. Deze naam is door de Arabische Joden of door Mohammed uitsluitend op het geven van aalmoezen en daarna op de aalmoes zelf toegepast.«

west

▪ zakat: in Engl attested since 1802. Via Pers zakāt, from Ar zakāẗ – EtymOnline.
▪ (Huehnergard2011:) Engl zakat, from Ar zakāẗ ‘purity, justness, alms, charity’, from Aram zākutā ‘innocence, justification, merit, meritorious deed’, from zᵊkā ‘to be innocent, be worth, give alms’, from Can zᵊkā or Akk zakû ‘to be(come) pure, innocent’.

deriv

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