Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ Ar ʕammada ‘to baptize’ is a D-stem belonging to the root √ʕMD which in general expresses the basic notion of *‘strength, firm support’, as, e.g., in the vb. ʕamada ‘to support, prop, shore, buttress’ or the n. ↗ʕamūd~ʕamad ‘post, pillar, column’ (Bergsträsser1928: *‘supporting wall’, for the protSem etymon). As it is not evident in which way the meaning ‘to baptize’ could be derived from this basic meaning of the root, it is quite likely that it we are dealing with a case of borrowing, all the more so since it is a Christian term. The giver language was probably Syr, where we find the vb. ʕmaḏ ‘to dive, plunge, sink; to penetrate; to dip (in\under water), bath, wash’ which in its turn is a calque from the Grk baptízein with the same original meaning, but also used in the NT to render the act of baptism.
▪ A derivation of Ar ʕammada ‘to baptize’ from the obsolete adj. ^†ʕamid ‘moistened by rain (earth)’ and the denom. intr. vb. ^†ʕamida ‘to be(come) moistened by rain’ seems less likely. But even in this case ʕammada would prob. be akin to Syr ʕmaḏ ‘to dive, plunge, sink; to penetrate; to dip (in\under water), bath, wash’.
▪ Should one consider also the possibility of an inner-Ar development according to which ʕammada ‘to baptize’ would be *‘to confirm’ (one’s belief in God)? In this case the vb. would depend on ↗ʕamūd~ʕamad ‘post, pillar, column’.

hist

▪ …

cogn

▪ (If loaned from Syr): Syr ʕmaḏ ‘to dive, plunge, sink; to penetrate; to dip (in\under water), bath, wash; to be baptized’, ʕmāḏā ‘setting (of the sun or stars); plunge, somersault; dipping; baptism’ – Brockelmann1895, PayneSmith1903.
▪ (If lit. *‘to confirm/assert one’s belief, make one’s belief stronger’): ↗ʕMD_1.
▪ …

disc

See above, sections CONC and COGN.

west

…

deriv

► ^BP4677ʕamada, i (ʕamd), vb. I, 1 ↗ʕamūd; 2 ↗ʕamada; 3 to baptize, christen.
► ʔaʕmada, vb. IV, 1 ↗ʕamūd; 2 to baptize, christen: *Š-stem.
► taʕammada, vb. V, 1-3 ↗ʕamada; – 4 to be baptized, be christened: Dt-stem, pass./self-refl.

► ^BP#3409ʕimād, pl. ʕumud, ʔaʕmidaẗ, n., 1-6 ↗ʕamūd; – 7 baptism
► Yūḥannā ’l‑maʕmadān, n., John the Baptist
►taʕmīd, n., baptism: vn. II.
►maʕmūdiyyaẗ, n.f., 1 baptism; 2 baptismal font: : n. formation in -iyyaẗ for the process of baptizing or the tool used to carry out baptism.
►muʕammad, adj., baptizee, one receiving baptism: PP II.

For other meanings of the root, cf. ↗ʕamada, ↗ʕamūd, ↗ʕumdaẗ, ↗ ʕamīd, as well as, for the overall picture, ↗√ʕMD.

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