Bibliotheca Polyglotta

1 word; 2 speech, address; 3 utterance, remark, saying; 4 aphorism, maxim; 5 brief announcement, a few (introductory) words; 6 short treatise; 7 importance, weight, influence, authority, ascendancy, powerful position – WehrCowan1979.

conc

▪ Etymologically, Ar kalimaẗ belongs to the SSem theme ‘speech, utterance, to speak’. A relation with (ESem) Akk kullumu ‘to show, indicate, point out’ and/or Hbr Aram ‘to humiliate’, and with this also to Ar ↗kalm ‘wound’, is not impossible, but difficult to prove; see DISC s.v. ↗KLM.
▪ In the expression kalimaẗ Allāh, kalimaẗ means ‘a’ (single) divine utterance. It has to be distinguished from ↗kalām Allāh ‘the Word of God’ – EI², art. »kalām« (L. Gardet). »[kalimaẗ ] ‘the spoken word, utterance’, can be extended to mean ‘discourse’ and ‘poem’. The falāsifaẗ prefer to limit their discussion to the problems of grammar and logic: thus in the preamble to the Naǧāẗ (Cairo² 1357/1938: 11) Ibn Sīnā defines kalimaẗ as “a single word (lafẓaẗ) which refers to an idea and the length of time that this idea is applied to any indeterminate subject whatsoever; for example, when we say ‘he walked’.” Cf. also Manṭiq al-mašriqiyyīn, Cairo 1328/1910: 57-8, and 66, where kalimaẗ is given as a synonym for ‘that which grammarians call fiʕl ’. But according to the ʔIšārāt (ed. Forget, Leiden 1892: 11), logicians use kalimaẗ to apply to any wholly descriptive spoken word, noun or verb, which designates an indeterminate entity in a fixed period of time. (Cf. A. M. Goichon, Lexique de la langue philosophique d’Ibn Sīnā, Paris 1938, and Fr. tr. of ʔIšārāt, Paris 1951: 84, n.l.). / The term kalimaẗ and the pl. kalimāt occur frequently in the Qurʔān. It is used on numerous occasions in the very general sense of ‘spoken word’, good (14:24, 48:26) or bad (9:74, 14:26, 18:5, 23:100). Yet it most frequently pertains to the realised Word of God. ‘The words of God cannot be altered’, says the Qurʔān, 10:64. Subsequently kalimaẗ acquires a sense closely akin to ʔamr ‘decision’, ‘order’, or indeed qadar ‘decree’. R. Blachère frequently translates kalimaẗ by ‘arrêt ’. There are numerous references (e.g., 6:115, 7:137, 10:33, 96, 11:119, etc.; in the pl.: 6:34, 115, 18:109, 31:26, etc.). In 43:28 it is said of Abraham: ‘and he made it an everlasting word (kalimaẗ^an bāqiyaẗ^an) among his descendants’. The commentators (see al-Bayḍāwī, ed. Fleischer, ii: 237, 25) usually emphasised that this referred to an affirmation of the Oneness of God, the equivalent of the ‘first šahādaẗ ’, as is suggested in 43:26-7. One of the most frequently cited passages of the Qurʔān is 3:39 and 45, where Jesus is proclaimed as ‘a word coming from God’. The commentators regarded this kalimaẗ Allāh who is Jesus as a divine word linked to the creative kun (‘be!’; cf. 3:47) and subsequently related the creation of Jesus to that of Adam: ‘Yes, in the case of Jesus God acted just as He did with Adam: God created the earth, then He said ‘be!’ and there he was’ (3:59). / Thus kalimaẗ is not an attribute of the Word [see ↗kalām ] but its expression, through which divine decisions are formulated and communicated. Qurʔānic commentaries discuss it with particular reference to the verses concerning Jesus, and also in the ‘professions of faith’ (ʕaqāʔid), e.g., La Profession de foi d’Ibn Baṭṭaẗ, ed. and Fr. tr. H. Laoust, Damascus 1958: 58/107-8).« – EI², art. »kalima« (L. Gardet / D.B. MacDonald).

hist

▪ kallama (to speak, talk to) Q 6:111 wa-law ʔanna-nā nazzalnā ʔilay-him-u ’l-malāʔikata wa-kallama-hum-u ’l-mawtà ‘even if We sent the angels down to them, and the dead spoke to them’.
▪ kalām 1 (speech, talk, utterance, spoken words) Q 2:75 wa-qad kāna farīqun min-hum yasmaʕūna kalāma ’llāhi ṯumma yuḥarrifūna-hū min baʕdi mā ʕaqalū-hu ‘when a group of them used to hear the words of God and then pervert them, [even] after they had understood them’; 2 (the act of speaking) Q 7:144 qāla yā Mūsā ʔin-nī ’ṣṭafaytu-ka ʕalā ’l-nāsi bi-risālāt-ī wa-bi-kalām-ī ‘He said, “Moses, I have chosen you over the people by [giving you] My messages and by my speaking [to you]”’.
▪ kalimaẗ 1 (word) Q 14:24 kalimatan ṭayyibatan ka-šaǧaratin ṭayyibatin ‘a good word is like a good tree’; 2 (mere words, empty talk) Q 23:100 laʕall-ī ʔaʕmalu ṣāliḥan fī-mā taraktu, kallā, ʔinna-hā kalimatun huwa qāʔilu-hā ‘“that I might act righteously in the things I neglected”, no indeed!, this is a [mere] word [only words] he is saying’; 3 (advise, message, instruction) Q 43:27 wa-ǧaʕala-hā kalimaẗan bāqiyaẗan fī ʕaqibi-hī laʕalla-hum yarǧiʕūna ‘and he bequeathed this advice to his descendants that they might return [to God]’; 4 (decree) Q 10:33 ka-ḏālika ḥaqqat kalimaẗu rabbi-ka ʕalā ’llaḏīna fasaqū ʔanna-hum lā yuʔminūna ‘in this way, your Lord’s decree about those who defy [the Truth] has come true—they do not believe’; 5 (status, position, cause) Q 9:40 wa-ǧaʕala kalimaẗa ’llaḏīna kafarū ’l-suflā wa-kalimatu ’llāhi hiya ’l-ʕulyā ‘and He brought down the cause of the disbelievers; God’s cause is always uppermost’; 6 (promise) Q 6:115 wa-tammat kalimaẗu rabbi-ka ṣidqan wa-ʕadlan lā mubaddila li-kalimāti-hī wa-huwa ’l-samīʕu ’l-ʕalīmu ‘the words of your Lord have com to pass in truth and justice: no one can change His words’; 7 (direct creation, miraculous creation – an epithet for Jesus) Q 4:17 kalimaẗu-hū ‘His Word’
▪ kalim (pl. of kalimaẗ) 1 (words) Q 35:10 ʔilay-hi yaṣʕadu ’l-kalimu ’l-ṭayyibu ‘to Him ascend good words’; 2 (revelation) Q 4:46 min-a ’llaḏīna hādū yuḥarrifūna ’l-kalima ʕan mawāḍiʕi-him ‘some of those who are Jews distort words [of revelation] out of their contexts’
▪ taklīm (vn. II, used adverbially for emphasis: the act of speaking) Q 4:164 wa-kallama ’llāhu Mūsā taklīman ‘and to Moses God spoke directly’

cogn

▪ DRS 10 (2012)#KLM -1 Akk kullumu ‘montrer, indiquer’, Hbr hiklīm ‘importuner (une femme), insulter par des propos; faire honte’, niklam ‘avoir honte de’, kᵉlimmāh ‘injure, outrage’, JP ʔaklem ‘faire honte, humilier’, Ar kalama ‘blesser’, kalm ‘blessure’. -2 […] -3 Ar kallama ‘parler à, adresser la parole à’, kalmaẗ, kilmaẗ, kalimaẗ ‘mot, parole’, kalām ‘discours, langage’, Sab klm ‘mot, discours, message’, Te kälam ¹ ‘discours, voix’.
▪ Zammit2002: Ar kallama ‘to speak to or with’, SAr klm ‘word, speech, message, utterance’, Gz kēlamāṭē ‘language’²

1. Probably from Ar kalām. 2. Zammit: From Ar?

disc

▪ Obvious cognates exist only in SAr Sab (Te and Gz items are probably from Ar). – For the question whether the idea of ‘word, speech, language; to speak, talk’ is related to ‘(humiliation), wound’ (Can, Ar) and ‘to show, indicate, point out’ (Akk), see section CONC above as well as DISC s.v. ↗KLM.

west

–

deriv

► kalimaẗan fa-kalimaẗan, adv., word by word, literally
► bi-kalimaẗ ʔuḫrà, adv., in other words
► ʔalqà kalimaẗan, vb. IV, to make a speech, give a public address
► lī kalimaẗ maʕa-k I’ve got to talk to you
► ǧamaʕū kalimata-hum ʕalà, expr., they decided unanimously to…, they were unanimous about…
► ĭǧtamaʕat kalimaẗu-hum, expr., they united, joined forces, came to an agreement
► ĭǧtamaʕat kalimaẗu-hum ʕalà, expr., they were agreed that…
► ǧamʕ al-kalimaẗ, tawḥīd al-kalimaẗ, n.f., union, joining of forces, unanimity
► ĭttiḥād al-kalimaẗ, n.f., concord, agreement, harmony
► taqsīm al-kalimaẗ, n.f., dissension, variance, disunion
► ʔaʕlà kalimata-hū, vb. IV, to raise the prestige of s.o.
► ʕuluww al-kalimaẗ and al-kalilmaẗ al-ʕulyā, n., supremacy, hegemony
► qāla kalimata-hū, expr., he said what he had to say, he had his say
► kalimaẗ allāh, n.f., the word of God, the Holy Scriptures
► kalimaẗ al-murūr, n.f., password, watchword, parole
► al-kalimāt al-ʕašr, n.pl., the ten Commandments
► kalimaẗ tamhīdiyyaẗ, n.f., preface
► kalimaẗ al-sirr, n.f., parole, password, watchword, countersign
► kalimāt mutaqāṭiʕaẗ, n.pl., crossword puzzle

► ^BP#2986kallama, vb. II, to address (s.o.), speak, talk (DO to or with s.o.): denom. (from kalimaẗ or kalām).
► kālama, vb. III, to speak, talk, converse (DO with s.o.): associative.
► ^BP#926takallama, vb. V, to speak, talk (maʕa with or to s.o., ʕan or ʕalà about, of); to utter, express, voice, say (bi‑ or DO s.th.) : denom. (from kalimaẗ or kalām).

► ^BP#242kalām, n., 1a talking, speaking; b speech; c language, mode of expression, style; 2a talk, conversation, discussion; b debate, dispute, controversy; 3a words, word, saying, utterance, statement, remark; b aphorism, maxim, phrase, idiom, figure of speech; c (gram.) sentence, clause: quasi-vn. I | bi’l-kalām, adv., orally, verbally; fataḥa fama-hū bi’l-kalām, vb. I, to open one’s mouth in order to say s.th., prepare to say s.th.; kalām fāriġ, n., idle talk, prattle, poppycock, bosh, nonsense; ṭarīqaẗ al-kalām, n.f., manner of speaking, diction; ʕilm al-kalām, scholastic theology (Isl.); kaṯīr al-kalām, adj., talkative, loquaoious, garrulous; luġat al-kalām, n.f., colloquial language, everyday speech.
► kalāmī, adj., of or pertaining to speech or words, speech-, word (in compounds), verbal; spoken, oral; scholastic, theological: nsb-adj., from kalām | mušāddaẗ (or maʕrakaẗ) kalāmiyyaẗ, n.f., battle of words, dispute, altercation.
► kalīm, 1 see ↗kalm. 2 (pl. kulamāʔᵘ), n., a person addressed; b speaker, spokesman, mouthpiece: quasi-PP I | kalīm allāh, epithet of Moses.
► kalīm, see also alphabetically.
► kalmānī, kalamānī, killimānī, adj., eloquent; n., fluent speaker: ints. adj.
► tiklām, tikillām, tiklāmaẗ, adj., eloquent; n., good talker, conversationalist; adj., talkative, loquacious, garrulous:…
► ^BP#2226mukālamaẗ, pl. ‑āt, n.f., talk, conversation, discussion: vn. III | ~ tilīfūniyyaẗ, n.f., telephone conversation.
► takallum, n., speaking; talk, conversation; speech: vn. V.
► mutakallim, 1 adj., speaking (act. part.); 2 n., speaker, spokesman; 3 first person (gram.): PA V; 4 Muslim theologian, scholastic: denom., from kalām.

For other items of the root cf. ↗KLM, ↗kalm, ↗kalām, ↗kalīm.

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