Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ The value ‘joy, happiness, to make glad’ of √SRː (SRR) seems to be dependent on ↗sirr ‘secret’, originally signifying the *‘joy experienced when let into a secret’, or, with a more specific sense of sirr, the *‘pleasure experienced when being shown the pudenda’ or the ‘navel’ (↗surraẗ, from ↗surr ‘umbilical cord’; cf. also ↗surriyyaẗ ‘concubine’). But the semantic distance is still rather great. Alternatively, one may think of ‘joy, happiness, tranquility of the mind’ resulting from ‘affluence, ease’, a value connected to ↗sarīr ‘bed, throne’. ClassAr lexicographers, however, would see it the other way round, deriving sarīr ‘bed, throne’ from surūr ‘pleasure, tranquility of the mind’ because »it [sc. a sarīr] generally belongs to persons of ease and affluence and of authority, and to kings« – Lane iv (1872). In contrast, a dependence of ‘joy’ on ↗surur, sirār ‘line of the forehead, facial feature’ (as *‘emotion recognizable from facial expression’) is not discussed anywhere. Moreover, on a few occasions, surūr is also interpreted as a pl., meaning ‘bundle of scented herbs’ (or flowers), so that the vb. sarra sometimes also takes the specific sense of ‘complimenter qn en lui présentant des herbes odoriférantes’ – Kazimirski1860. The values of sarra and surūr appear as specifications here; but couldn’t it be the other way round, so that ‘joy, happiness, pleasure’ could be read as a generalisation of ‘bundle of scented herbs’?
▪ Extra-Ar evidence that could help sort things out is scarce and perh. irrelevant, as the “cognates” suggested by some scholars probably aren’t genuine cognates or are based on weak textual evidence.

hist

▪ Lane iv (1872) also has: ^†sarr ‘man who rejoices, or gladdens, another, makes him happy’ (also in the connection with barr: raǧul^un sarr^un barr^un ‘man who treats his brethren with goodness, affection, gentleness, rejoices them’)

cogn

▪ According to Leslau2006 (CDG), C. Rabin (in Hamito-Semitica, 1975: 90) connected Ar sarra ‘to rejoice’ with the complex Akk šarāru ‘to sway, vacillate’, Ug m-srr ‘bird’ (from srr ‘fly’), Aram srsr ‘to fly’, Gz sarara, śarara ‘to fly, fly forth, leap up in the air, leap upon, rush upon, spring forth, assault, cover (of male animal), roam’. Leslau himself would be reluctant to accept such a relation and rather connect the items put forward by Rabin to Ar ↗sāra ‘to leap, mount’.
▪ Zammit2002: cf. Ug mšr (< šrr) ‘Gegenstand der Freude’?
▪ For cognates of ↗surr, ↗surraẗ, or ↗sarīr on which sarra most likely is dependent, see s.v., and, for the general picture, ↗√SRː (SRR).

disc

▪ See above, section CONC and, for the overall picture, ↗√SRː (SRR).

west

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deriv

► sarrara, vb. II, to make happy, gladden, delight, cheer: caus.
► ʔasarra, vb. IV, 1 to make happy, gladden, delight, cheer: caus.; 2 ↗sirr.

► ^BP#3830surūr, n., joy, happiness, delight, pleasure; glee, gaiety, hilarity, mirth: vn. I.
► sarrāʔᵘ, n., happiness, prosperity: | fī ’l-sarrāʔ wa’l-ḍarrāʔᵘ, expr., in good and bad days, for better or for worse.
► masarraẗ, pl. āt, n.f., joy, happiness, delight, pleasure; glee, gaiety, hilarity, mirth: vn. I.
► sārr, adj., gladdening, gratifying, joyous, glad, cheering, delightful: PA I.
► masrūr, adj., glad, happy, delighted (bi at), pleased (bi with): PP I.
► musirr, adj., gratifying, delightful, pleasant: PA IV.

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