Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ From Pers kāh-robā ‘amber’, lit. *‘stealing straw, robber of straw’ (Pers kāh ‘straw’ + rubā, prs-stem of rubādan ‘to rob, steal, take away’ – Lokotsch1927), so called »because amber, when it is rubbed, attracts light objects, such as feathers or little blades of straw« (al-Bīrūnī, q. in J. Schönfeld, “Amber”, EI³).
▪ Since eC19, the term is also used to signify ‘electricity’, see ↗kahrabāʔ.
▪ »Amber (Grk ἤλεκτρον; Ar Pers kahrubā, kahrabā; Tu kehribar; for other forms, see WKAS, s.v.) consists of the petrified resin of conifers. In antiquity and the Middle Ages amber was a very popular gem and an important commercial item, imported from the shores of the Baltic Sea. The Grk word ἤλεκτρον, like the Persian word kahrubā, has passed into the modern language with the meaning “electricity” (Ar kahrabāʔ, kahrabāʔiyyaẗ, Pers kahrobāʔi)« – J. Schönfeld, »Amber«, EI³ (2007).
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hist

▪ »The word kahrubā […] appears in the third/ninth-century Arabic translation of Dioscorides’ Materia medica (s.v. αἴγειρος, “black poplar”), undertaken by Iṣṭifān b. Bāsīl and revised by Ḥunayn b. ʔIsḥāq (d. 260/873), as well as in the Firdaws al-ḥikmaẗ of ʕAlī b. Sahl Rabban al-Ṭabarī (d. c.250/864) and in the ʔAqrābāḏīn of ʔAbū Yūsuf Yaʕqūb b. ʔIsḥāq al-Kindī (d. c.252/866)« – J. Schönfeld, »Amber«, EI³ (2007).
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cogn

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disc

▪ Al-Bīrūnī (d. after 442/1050) »explained the word kahrubā as meaning ‘robber of straw’, because amber, when it is rubbed, attracts light objects, such as feathers or little blades of straw. The same explanation is found in the great cosmography on Islamic culture written by al-Qazwīnī (d. 682/1283). Al-Bīrūnī reported that amber was very popular with the eastern Turks, who preferred the Byzantine amber to the Chinese because of its pure yellow colour and the fact that it occurred in larger pieces. They also believed that amber provides protection from the evil eye. Its power to attract other substances was compared to that of the lodestone. Al-Bīrūnī mocks authors ignorant of the substance’s non-mineral origin, as such ignorance would suggest they had not observed leaves and insects encased in the substance. – Other authors discussed the medical attributes of amber. The Persian pharmacologist Muwaffaq al-Dīn, who in the fourth/tenth century wrote a book on drugs for the Sāmānid ʔamīr Manṣūr b. Nūḥ, likewise ascribed to amber the power to heal palpitations of the heart, catarrh, and gastric troubles, in addition to haemorrhages and menstrual bleeding. He also recommended it as a fumigating agent for cleaning “cholera-air.” The Spanish pharmacologist Ibn al-Bayṭār (d. 646/1248) confirmed most of these applications and added that amber rids one of hot swellings, prevents the pregnant woman from aborting, and cures jaundice, burns, and fractured and crushed bones« – J. Schönfeld, »Amber«, EI³ (2007).
▪ Another word for ‘amber’ is ↗kahramān (prob. akin to kahrabā). For ‘ambergris’, cf. ↗ʕanbar.
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west

▪ [v1] : Lokotsch1927 #1004: Pers kahrubā ‘amber’ gave not only Ar kahrabā, but also (with dissimilation) vulgTu kehribar, kihlibar, which into several Eur langs: Bulg kehlibar, Serb hilibar, Rum chihlibar, chihlimbar, chihrimbar; > mLat (C13) carabe > Span It carabe, Fr carabé ‘amber’, Ge Karabe (1492; now obsol.), Dan rav. – Cf. also the term’s literal translation into Grk as pterugofóros, Fr tire-paille, Ge Strohzieher.
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deriv

For other values, cf. ↗kahrabāʔ and, for the general picture, ↗√KHRB. – See also another word for ‘amber’, ↗kahramān.

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