Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ qaranful is attested already in pre-Islamic Ar (siehe below, section HIST). Fraenkel1886: 144 reports that it has often been explained as a borrowing from Grk karyópʰyllon ʻclovesʼ; in contrast, the author himself thinks that it was taken directly from the same Ind language from which also the Grk term was borrowed (the latter with popular re-interpretation as *‘plant with nut-shaped leaves’, from káryon ‘nut’ + pʰýllon ‘leaf’). Genaust1976: 144 suggests that Grk karyópʰyllon may be a folk-etymological re-interpretation of the »oInd« (= Skr) term that was borrowed together with the spice, cf. »oInd« (Skr) kaṭu- ʻhot, spicy, pungent’ and pippalaḥ ʻberry’ (cf. pepper), an explanation that would fit with Pliny’s observation that »est in Indiā piperis grānī simile«.
▪ If the Pers qaranful (Lokotsch1927 #1085: käränfīl, prob. < Skr¹ ) was the direct etymon (as assumed by al-Ṯaʕālibī, Fiqh al-luġaẗ, quoted – and at the same time doubted – by Asbaghi1988: 217), the borrowing must have happened already in pre-Islamic times, from an oPers or mPers ancestor of the modPers term.
▪ …

1. DHDA gives a »Skr karāmpu«, without specifying a reference.

hist

▪ C5 (‘cloves’) Imruʔ al-Qays (describing the smell of his beloved) ʔiḏā qāmatā taḍawwaʕa l-misku min-humā * nasīma ṣ-ṣabā, ǧāʔat bi-rayyā l-qaranfuli.
▪ …

cogn

– (loanword)

disc

▪ See above, section CONC, and below, section WEST.
▪ …

west

▪ Tu karanfil ‘clove; carnation’: first attested as (‘cloves’) in 1069 [Kutadgu Bilig],¹ later also as name of the flower (‘carnation’): 1680 [Meninski, Thesaurus]: »ḳarenfil, ḳarenfül = Caryophyllum; item flos caryophyllus, leucoion«. Tietze iv 2016 assumes an origin of the Tu word in Grk karyópʰyllon, but Nişanyan’s version sounds more plausibleː he thinks it is from Ar~Pers qaranful (1) ‘clove’, name of a spice originating from East Indian islands, syzygium aromaticum’; (2) ‘carnation’, name of a plant/garden flower (dianthus caryophyllus) whose smell and petals remind of cloves’, [ultimately] from some Ind language – NişanyanSözlük (14Mar2020).
▪ According to Nişanyan, Grk karyóphyllon ‘clove’ (from which many Eur words for ‘cloves’ and ‘carnation’ seem to have been borrowed) is either directly from an Ind language or was transmitted via Pers. Following LiddellScott, Nişanyan gives “C6” as earliest attestation of the Grk term. As a flower, carnation came to Europe after 1270 via Arab countries.
▪ Lokotsch1927 #1085 considers Pers karanfīl ‘cloves’ (which, accord. to the author, prob. is from Skr) as the source (with popular etymological re-interpretation) of Grk karyópʰyllon [*nut-tree leaves].² The Grk term gave It garofano, Sic galofaru ‘carnation’, Fr girofle ‘id.’, giroflée ‘stock, gillyflower’, Prov Cat Span girofle, Port girofre ‘carnation’, Rum garoufă, carofil, garofil, Bulg kalamfir, karamfil, Serb karamfil. From Fr girofle emerged Engl gilliflower (with interpretation of the second component as flower), and even Juliflower (with misinterpretation of gilli‑ as July‑). In Ge, the Aachen dial. knows Groffelsnagel for ‘cloves’ (with -nagel likening the form of cloves to small ‘nail’s).
▪ Fr girofle: C12 gerofle (Gloss. de Tours, “gariofilum = g.”), 1165 girofle, 1225-30 (clos de) girofle, from Lat caryophyllum (-on) ‘giroflier, clou de girofle’, transcription of Grk χαρυόφυλλον ‘clou de girofle’, « qui était peut-être une adaptation d’un terme exotique, v. Chantraine, s.v. χάρυον), également attesté sous la forme gariofilum (C6), gariofolum; le développement phon. irrég. du mot peut s’expliquer par le fait que ce terme, avec l’épice qu’il désignait, s’est très largement répandu à travers les pays par l’intermédiaire des marchands » – https://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/girofle
▪ Is also Engl carnation related? EtymOnline does not mention any connection with Grk karyópʰyllon: »common name of the Dianthus Caryophyllus or ‘pink’, a herbaceous perennial flowering plant; 1530s, a word of uncertain origin. The early forms are confused; perhaps (on evidence of spellings) it is a corruption of coronation, from the flower’s being used in chaplets or from the toothed crown-like look of the petals. Or it might be called for its pinkness and derive from Fr carnation ‘person’s colour or complexion’ (C15), which probably is from It dialectal carnagione ‘flesh colour’, from lLat carnationem (nom. carnatio) ‘fleshiness’, from Lat caro ‘flesh’ (originally ‘a piece of flesh’, from IE root ¹*sker- ‘to cut’). OED points out that not all the flowers are this colour. This Fr carnation had been borrowed separately into Engl as ‘colour of human flesh’ (1530s) and as an adj. meaning ‘flesh-coloured’ (1560s; the earliest use of the word in Engl was to mean ‘the incarnation of Christ’, mC14). It also was a term in painting for ‘representation of the flesh, nude or undraped parts of a figure’ (1704). / The flowering plant is native to southern Europe but was widely cultivated from ancient times for its fragrance and beauty, and was abundant in Normandy« – EtymOnline. Nevertheless, we would suspect an involvement of Grk karyópʰyllon, prob. corrupted and re-interpreted according to what sounded plausible and at the same time exotic enough.
▪ …

1. saba yéli kopdı karnful yıḏın / ajun barça bütrü yıpar burdı kin [= modTu saba yeli esti karanfil kokulu / dünyanın her yeri misk ve amber kokusu doldu] ‘The morning breeze blew with the scent of cloves / The smell of musk and amber was in the air everywhere’. 2. The mGrk forms karoúmpʰoul, karoumpʰíl given by Lokotsch in addition to ClassGrk karyópʰyllon seem to be re-imported from (Ott) Tu.

deriv

–

Permanent link

http://www2.hf.uio.no/common/apps/permlink/permlink.php?app=polyglotta&context=record&uid=d9f4e5dc-06ff-11ee-937a-005056a97067

Choose languages

Choose images, etc.

Choose languages

Choose display