Bibliotheca Polyglotta

sign, token, mark, badge, distinguishing mark, characteristic; harelip; road sign, signpost, guidepost; flag, banner; a distinguished, outstanding man; an eminent personality, an authority, a star, a luminary; proper name (gram.) – WehrCowan1979.

conc

▪ Originally a mark made by incision, nicking, notching? (cf. Ehret1989 in the DISC section below).
▪ The word may be the etymon not only of the derivatives of the ‘marking, signing, designating’ theme, but also of the ‘knowledge’ complex, since the vb. ↗ʕalima ‘to know’ may be denominative from ʕalam, ‘knowledge’ originally being the ability to read the signs and to find one’s way through the desert with the help of marks put up earlier.

hist

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cogn

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disc

Ehret1989:163 considers ʕalam an extension in a »deverbative noun-forming suffix« ‑m from a bi-radical base *ʕal‑. In this type of application, the author says, »*m is clearly cognate with suffixes in *m in Cush and can therefore be traced back to AfrAs«. The sense that connects ʕalam with other extensions of the bi-rad. base is ‘to nick, notch’ (^†ʕalb ‘to mark by an incision or impression, cut off’, ^†ʕalṭ ‘to mark a camel across the neck’, ^†ʕalm ‘to split the upper lip’).

west

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deriv

► nār ʕalà ʕalam, n., a leading light or celebrity. ʔašhar min nār ʕalà ʕ., adj., very famous.
► ĭsm ʕalam, pl. ʔasmāʔ al-ʔaʕlām, n., proper name (gram.).
► ḫidmaẗ al-ʕalam, n., (Syr.) military service.

► ^BP#3450ʕallama, vb. II, to designate, mark, earmark, provide with a distinctive mark (ʕalà s.th.); to put a mark (ʕalà on): denom. – For other meanings ↗ʕalima, ↗ʕilm.
► ^BP#1552ʕalāmaẗ, pl. ‑āt, n., mark, sign, token; (conventional) sign or symbol (also linguistics); punctuation mark; grade or mark (in school); badge, emblem; distinguishing mark, characteristic; indication, symptom | ʕ. tiǧāriyyaẗ trade-mark; ʕ. al-rutbaẗ insignia of rank; ʕ. al-taʔaṯṯur and ʕ. al-taʕaǧǧub exclamation point; ʕ. al-ĭstifhām question mark; ʕ. al-tanṣīṣ quotation mark; ʕ. al-waqf period, full stop (as punctation mark); naẓariyyaẗ al-ʕalāmāt theory of signs, semiotics:.
► ʔuʕlūmaẗ, pl. ʔaʕālīmᵘ, n., road sign, signpost, guidepost:.
► ^BP#2288maʕlam, pl. maʕālimᵘ, n., place, abode, locality, spot; track, trace; landmark, mark, distinguishing mark, characteristic; road sign, signpost, guidepost; peculiarity, particularity; pl. sights, curiosities; characteristic traits; outlines, contours (e.g., of the body), lineaments, features (of the face):.
► muʕallam ʕalayh, adj., designated, marked | m. ʕalayh bi’l-ʔaḥmar marked with red pencil: PP II, denom. – For other meanings ↗ʕalima, ↗ʕilm.

For other items of ʕLM ↗ʕalima, ↗ʕilm, ↗ʕālim, ↗ʕālimaẗ, ↗ʕālam, ↗ʕalmānī.

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