Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ Paret, in his commentary on Q I:2, says that in Aram the word means ‘world’ (and the plural ‘worlds’), whereas in the Qurʔān it rather refers to the world’s ‘inhabitants’. He therefore translated rabb al-ʕālamīn as ‘Herr der Menschen in aller Welt’ [Lord of men all over the world, i.e. of all mankind].
▪ Article “ʕālam” (Tj. de Boer, L. Gardet) in EI², s.v.

hist

▪ …

cogn

▪ Rajki 2002: Sem *ʕLM, Hbr ʕōlam, Syr ʕalmā, JNA ʕalam, BAram ʕalmā, Amh alem, Ug ʕLM, Phn ʕLM

disc

▪ Ar lexicography generally holds that the word is derived from ↗ʕalima. But
▪ Paret 1980, in his commentary on sura 1:2, confirms that the Qurʔānic ‎word is a loan from Aram ʕālmā. Among his references he mentions also Jeffery 1938: 208-9, who confirms ‎‎ Fraenkel’s opinion that both the pattern ‎‎(CāCaC^un) and the plural in ‑īna point to a non-Ar provenance ‎‎(although there is a ʕLM meaning ‘world’ in SAr; but this may be a borrowing either, ‎since the plural is ʕLMYN, conforming to the Qur’anic form). Jeffery favours a Jewish (instead of a ‎Christian) origin, following (among others) Grünebaum (ZDMG 39: 571) who pointed out that ‎‎»the common Qurʔānic rabb al-ʕālamīn is precisely the rabbōn ha-ʕōlamīm of the Jewish ‎liturgy« (Jeffery1938: 209). »Hbr ʕōlam means any duration of time, and in the Rabbinic ‎writings it, like Aram ʕālᵉmā, comes to mean ‘age’ or ‘world’« (ibid.). – There are ‎however also evidences that make a Christian origin probable. The Syr ʕālmā, suggested by ‎Fraenkel, means both aiōn and kósmos [age and world].

west

▪ Rajki 2002: Aze alem, Ind alam, ‎Kyr aalam, Per ʕālam, Tat galem, Tur alem, Uzb olam, all borrowed from Ar.

deriv

► al-ʕālamānⁱ, n.du., the two worlds = Europe and America.
► ʕālamūn, n.pl., inhabitants of the world, specif. human beings:.

► ^BP#308ʕālamī, adj., worldly, secular, world (adj.); international; world-wide, worldfamous, enjoying world-wide renown
► ʕālamiyyaẗ, n.f., internationality: n.abstr. in ‑iyyaẗ.
► ^BP#4288ʕalmānī, var. ʕā̆lmānī, adj., laic, lay; (pl. ‑ūn) layman (in distinction from the clergy):.
► ^BP#4288ʕalmāniyyaẗ, n.f., secularism: n.abstr. in ‑iyyaẗ.
► ^BP#2842ʕawlamaẗ, n.f., globalization: neologism, calqued from ʕālam.

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