Oceans of words

One huge dictionary

The most commonly used Arabic word for “dictionary” is qamous (قاموس).  Some sources suggest it is derived from the root “q-m-s”, which supposedly means “rising water”.  I think this verb was retro-fitted into the language to give an Arabic root to what is clearly a foreign word.  For behind qamous, it is hard to miss the Greek Ὠκεανός (okeanus), which is the root of the English ocean and the French océan.

But how did it come to mean “dictionary” in Arabic?  For that, blame Abu Tahir bin Ibrahim Majduddin al-Fairuzabadi, a 14th century Arab-Persian lexicographer who composed the most authoritative Arabic dictionary of his time.  He named it Al-Qamous Al-Muheet, or “The Ocean”, by which he meant to suggest comprehensiveness.  His dictionary was such a hit that over the centuries its name was genericised and qamous came to mean “a dictionary”.

قاموس

أكبر قاموس على وجه الارض 

تذكر بعض المصادر العربية أن كلمة ”قاموس“ مشتقة من فعل ”قـَمَـسَ“ أي علا الماء و طغى.  الحقيقة أنني لم أسمع بهذا الفعل من قبل و أظن أنه لـُـفِّـقَ تلفيقا لأسباغ أصل عربي على كلمة أجنبية.  أذ أنه من الواضح أن كلمة ”قاموس“ مشتقة من اليونانية Ὠκεανός (أوقيانوس) و معناها ”البحر المحيط“، و هي أصل كلمة ocean الأنجليزية و océan الفرنسية. 

أما كيف تحولت هذه الكلمة من معناها الأصلي لتكتسب معنى ”المعجم“ فالفضل في ذلك يرجع للفيروز آبادي الذي سمى معجمه بـ”القاموس المحيط“، و كان يقصد بذلك أن معجمه أحاط باللغة علما و لم يفرط في شيء.  و من شهرة هذا الكتاب عبر القرون صار اسمه علما على نوعه و صار أي معجم يدعى قاموسا.  

Buraq

Burak (head and wings are later additions)In Islamic mythology al-Buraq is believed to be a sort of a divine horse that carried Prophet Mohamed on his trip from Mecca to Jerusalem and then to heaven on the night of Israa & Miraj.  The word has no roots, derivatives or relatives in Arabic and is not used otherwise, suggesting it is of foreign origins. In some Muslim countries (Turkey notably), Buraq or Burak is a common male proper name.

Islamic sources describe the Buraq as a “bright-coloured beast bigger than a donkey but smaller than a mule”.  In other words it sounds an awful lot like a Roman burricus, which is a bright-reddish small horse or pony.  I have no evidence to prove the link, but it looks plausible.

The Latin burricus is the origin of the French words bourrique, bourricot and the Spanish borrico, all of which mean the same thing: donkey, ass, and also a thick, stubborn person.

If you have a Turkish friend named Burak, don’t show him this.

Thanks to Florent de Gigord for suggesting this etymology.

Boya

The word boya (بوية) originally came to dialectal Arabic from the Turkish word for “paint” and has long been used in that sense, in Egypt notably.  Recently, though, it has acquired a completely different meaning through a completely different route. 

In the dialectal Arabic of Gulf countries, the word boya has become the feminine of “boy” — yes, that is the English word boy as commonly understood.  The derivation is morphologically correct: in Arabic adding a short ǝ vowel at the end of a word makes it feminine.  And that Arabic “female boy” means just that: a masculine-looking, tomboyish girl.  It seems that in recent years boyish looks have become fashionable among girls in certain circles in these countries, so people coined this wonderfully oxymoronic term to describe them.   

Innovative use of language should not hide the deep conservatism of these societies: boya is a pejorative term, and the people it is applied to — usually girls with short hair —  are regularly subject to pressure and even persecution.

Update on Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at 10:44 by Hazem Eseifan

This word is an updated version of the French garçonne of the early 20th century.  The word is the feminine form of garçon or "boy" and it means the same thing: a man-like woman; though in the France of 1920s that referred more to the way of life than the looks.  A graçonne was a liberated modern woman who went out, smoked, drove cars, played sport etc.

ميناء

يقول القاموس المحيط أن كلمة ”ميناء“ مشتقة من فعل ”وني“، و تزعم مصادر عربية أخرى أنها جاءت من فعل ”مـَـوَنَ“ الذي اشتـُـقـَّـت منه كلمة ”مؤن“.  عندي أن كلا هذين الاشتقاقين ضعيفان؛ فلا علاقة بين فعل ”ونى“ ، و معناه ”ضعف“ أو ”كـَلَّ“ و معنى الميناء، و لا أرى فعل ”مون“ يمكن اشتقاقه على ”ميناء“.

الأصح عندي أن الكلمة جاءت من اليونانية λιμένας (و تلفظ ”لميميناس“) و تعني الميناء.  من عادة العرب عند تعريب الكلمة الاجنبية التي تبدأ بحرف اللام أن يقلبوها ”أل“ تعريف؛ فهكذا تصبح ”ليميناس“ ”الميناس“ و من ثم الميناء.  الكلمة اليونانية وردت إلى العربية عن طريق آخر، هو اللغة التركية، التي استعارت λιμένας على شكل liman بنفس المعنى و هذه الكلمة بدورها وردت إلى العربية العامية بصورة ”ليمان“ التي كانت تستعمل في أوائل القرن العشرين في مصر بمعنى الميناء.