Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ (BadawiHinds1986:) From Engl sandal(s), via Lat from Grk sándalon ‘sandal’ (which, accord. to most sources, is of Pers origin – see DISC below).
▪ Rolland2014a thinks that Grk sándalon ‘sandal’ on which the Engl sandal is based is orig. a *‘sandale de bois fixée par des courroies passant sur le pied’ and may therefore be based on ‘sandalwood’ (↗¹ṣandal): « Les sandales originelles ont dû être fabriquées avec du bois de santal. » – But why should shoes be made from sandal wood in particular? Unlikely. See below, section DISC.
▪ Grk sándalon may be the etymon of ↗³ṣandal ‘(freight) barge, lighter; (EgAr) pontoon’ and the perh. identical ^†⁶ṣandal ‘skiff, rowboat’ (↗√ṢNDL), see below, section DISC.
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▪ Is Grk sándalon ‘sandal(s)’ related to ‘sandal wood’ (↗¹ṣandal)? Rolland thinks that the Grk ‘sandals’ orig. were a *‘wooden sole, firmly bound on by straps round the instep and ankle’ (LiddellScott1901) and that the word therefore is based on ‘sandal wood’. But is that likely? Etymologists of Grk (Chantraine, Beekes) usually think that Grk sándalon is from a non-Grk source, but they do not identify this source with a word meaning ‘sandal wood’. Accord. to Jastrow1904 (reprod. also by Nişanyan_23Mar2018), the Grk sándalon is attested as early as -C7, and in TargAram (sandal) from C1 onwards, both with the meaning ‘sole with straps, shoe’ and (hence also) ‘flat fish like the sole or turbot’, and both are poss. from a common Pers source, specified by Jastrow as Pers sandal and translated as ‘calceus’.¹ If the sole really was wooden, could there be an influence of Grk sanís (Gen -ídos) ‘board, plank, wooden scaffold, etc.’ (cf. also nGrk sanidénios ‘wooden, plank‑…’)?
▪ A relation, likewise assumed by Rolland2014a, between Grk sándalon ‘sandals’ and ↗³ṣandal ‘(freight) barge, lighter; (EgAr) pontoon’/^†⁶ṣandal ‘skiff, rowboat’ seems to be more likely than a dependence of ‘sandal(s)’ on ‘sandal wood’, as the small boat (and also the name of a flat fish) are easily conceivable as metaphorical use of ‘sandals’, as all are flat and open. « Le […] sens […] relève d’une dérivation métaphorique habituelle entre les noms de poissons, de chaussures et d’embarcations ; une datation des occurrences devrait permettre de vérifier quels rôles ont joués le grec et le turc dans le sémantisme de l’arabe. » – Cf., however, further discussion s.v. ↗³ṣandal.
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1. I.e., a »mid-weight, outdoor walking ‘shoe-boot’, worn in ancient Rome. It was flat-soled, usually hobnailed and entirely covered the foot and ankle, up to the lower shin. It was secured with crossed thongs or laces« – en.wiki, 6Jul2021.

west

▪ NB: The items given below are not from Ar ²ṣandal. Rather, they are registered with the aim of giving an overview of the etymologies, suggested in various sources, of the European words from which Ar ²ṣandal was borrowed.

▪ Engl sandal ‘type of shoe’ (lC14), from oFr sandale, from Lat sandalium ‘a slipper, sandal’, from Grk sandálion, dimin. of sándalon ‘sandal’, of unknown origin, perh. from Pers – etymonline.
▪ Ge Sandale, enGe Sandaly (pl., c1500), from Lat sandalia, pl. of Lat sandalium ‘strap shoe’, from Grk sandálion, dimin. of Grk sándalon, of unknown (Pers? Eg?) origin – DWDS.
▪ Fr sandale (c1160 sandaires, c1170 sçandales): from mLat sandalium ‘sandal’, from Grk sandálion, dimin. of sándalon ‘sandale de bois, fixée par des courroies passant sur le pied’ – CNRTL.
▪ Tu sandal ‘sandal (shoe)’: 1680 Meninski, Thesaurus: »sendel vulg. sandal: Başmak. Calceamenti genus« – Nişanyan_23Mar2018; Tu sandalet ‘small sandal, open shoe’: 1941 Cumhuriyet (newspaper): »bilumum yalın kat ayakkabı, sandalet, ağaç çivili kadın ve erkek ayakkabı satanlar...« < Fr sandalette, dimin. of Fr sandale etc., see above – Nişanyan_19Sept2017.
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For other values attached to the root, see ↗¹ṣandal and ↗³ṣandal as well as, for the overall picture, “root” entry ↗√ṢNDL.

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