Bibliotheca Polyglotta

1 to interpret (a dream); 2 to explain, illustrate, expound; 3 to state clearly, declare, assert, utter, express, voice (ʕan s.th.), give expression (ʕan to a feeling); 4 to designate (ʕan s.th., bi with or by); 5 to determine the weight of a coin, weigh (a coin) – WehrCowan1979.

conc

▪ [v1-2] are usually explained as fig. use, lit. *‘to make cross’, caus. D-stem, from ↗ʕabara ‘to cross’, from Sem *ʕ˅b˅r- ‘to cross’, from *ʕib(˅)r- ‘region beyond/across a body of water (river, lake, sea), (further) bank/shore’; cf. also: »taʕbīr ‘the passage of one thing to another, one sense to another’, hence ‘explanation’, like ↗tafsīr, lit. ‘commenting, explaining’. In current usage, ~ is confined to the sense of ‘interpretation of dreams [, oneiromancy]’ (taʕbīr al-ruʔya) while tafsīr is used for commentaries on e.g. the Bible and the Qurʔān« – EI², Glossary and Index of Terms.
▪ [v3] could be regarded as denom. from ↗ʕibāraẗ in the meaning of ‘(verbal) expression, utterance; way of expressing o.s.’; the basic idea is a *‘crossing from the inner world (of feelings, opinions, etc.) to the outer world, hence: verbal articulation’.
▪ [v4] ?
▪ Like [v1-2], [v5] too is traditionally explained as fig. use from ‘to cross’, interpreted as *‘to (make) cross, traverse mentally, ponder about, wander through a world of ideas or possibilities’, hence ‘to contemplate’ (> ‘to draw a lesson from’, cf. ↗ʕibraẗ), and hence also ‘to examine, test’.

hist

▪ …

cogn

↗ʕabara.

disc

Cf. above, section CONC, as well as ↗ʕabara and ↗ʕBR.

west

–

deriv

► ^BP#1062taʕbīr, n., 1 interpretation (of a dream); 2 assertion, declaration, expression, utterance (ʕan of a feeling); 3 (pl. -āt) expression (in general, also artistic); 4 (pl. taʕābirᵘ) (linguistic) expression, phrase, term: vn. II | bi-~ ʔāḫar, adv., in other words, expressed otherwise.
► taʕbīrī, adj., expressional, expressive, emotive: nsb-adj., from taʕbīr, vn. II. | al-ʔadab al-~, n., expressionistic literature; ḥarakāt ~aẗ, n.f.pl., mimic gestures or art; al-raqṣ al-~, n., interpretive dance, expressional dance; al-fann al-~, n., expressionism
► taʕbīriyyaẗ, n.f., expressionism: abstr. formation in -iyyaẗ, from taʕbīr, vn. II.
► ^BP#2741muʕabbir, n., 1 interpreter (ʕan of feelings); 2 expressive, significant: PA II. | raqṣ ~, n., interpretative dancing.

For other values attached to the same root, cf. ↗ʕabara, ↗ʕabīr, ↗ʕibrī, ↗ʕabraẗ, ↗ʕibraẗ, ↗ʕibāraẗ, and, for the whole picture, ↗ʕBR.

Permanent link

http://www2.hf.uio.no/common/apps/permlink/permlink.php?app=polyglotta&context=record&uid=d972bd76-06ff-11ee-937a-005056a97067

Choose languages

Choose images, etc.

Choose languages

Choose display