Arabic Roots – Word Roots

The ا is not an original letter but is only a “liaison” that is added in front of some words for a phonological reason. More about this is available on this page and this one.

Classical Arabic grammarians did not recognize biliteral roots and considered them all to be modified from triliteral roots. For example, grammarians of the classical period (8th & 9th centuries) debated whether the root of اِسْم wasس م و or و س م .

However, the truth is that Arabic indeed has biliteral roots. Moreover, there was a time at which Arabic did not have any roots but biliteral roots.

This can be shown by comparing the meanings of different triliteral roots; for example:

Notice that all these triliteral roots have a common general meaning, and they all share the first and second root-letters. This indicates that all these roots were derived from a common biliteral ancestor, which is the proto-root ق ط .

Surprisingly, this is also the root of the English verb “cut!” In fact, this has to do with more than mere chance. Such basic verbs are often related to the sound that an action produces, so it is not unusual that they be similar in totally unrelated languages.

Knowing this idea of proto-roots will be very helpful in determining the original meanings of a large number of roots.

For example, knowing that there was a proto-root ق ط whose meaning was related to cutting and to “pieces” will help us figure out easily the original meaning of the following root:

قَطَنَ

qatan(a)

 (he) dwelled

This verb has an odd meaning compared to the meaning of the proto-root  ق ط . However, there is another word of the same root whose meaning seems more original:

قُطْن

qutn

cotton (masc.)

The English word “cotton” was borrowed from Arabic in Middle Ages. The meaning of “cotton” is more consistent with the general meaning of the proto-root, so we can easily infer that the verb qatan(a) has an altered meaning and that the original meaning of the root ق ط ن is related to “pieces.”

Hebrew has the same root:

קָטֹנ

qaaton

 (He) became small(er)

 

Another interesting point is that there are several roots that were derived from the same proto-root but they look somewhat different these days. For example:

These words have the proto-root ق ت , which is very similar to ق ط , and they probably were one thing initially. Because we know the meaning of ق ط, we can easily determine the original meaning of ق ت (“pieces”).

Knowing these principles will help us figure out the original meanings of countless vague roots, and it will help us avoid making mistakes like, for example, saying that the original meaning of the Arabic root ع ر ف is “to know.” This is clearly false as the proto-root ر ف has a totally different meaning.

So it is clear that the proto-root ر ف had a meaning that is related to “moving,” “flowing,” or “straightness.”

As for the root ع ر ف :

عَرَفَ

“araf(a)

 (he) knew, became acquainted with

(used for “being familiar with people, things, etc.,” equivalent to the French connaître )

This verb is irregular both in meaning and structure, as it is shown in the verb section.

However, another word from the same root is:

عُرْف

“urf

 comb, crest (of rooster)

This word is clearly related to the original meaning of the root (“moving,” “flowing,” or “straightness”). Thus, the original meaning of  ع ر ف is not “to know.”

The proto-root ر ف is an interesting one. The Arabic letter ف was originally a P like the English P, so it is not surprising that roots derived from the proto-root ر ب have similar meanings to the ones derived from ر ف .

For example:

All these words, and others, are related to the same meaning which is “moving,” “flowing,” or “straightness.”

So now that we have an understanding of the original meanings of ر ف & ر ب , we can try to answer some famous questions, like the etymology of the word “Arab” عَرَبٌ.

A German man once said that the word “arab originally meant “arid land.” This became so popular that it was taught at schools in some Arab countries; but when taking the meaning of the proto-root in consideration, this meaning appears unconvincing.

Another, better, theory said that this word was altered from “abar عَبَر, which is related to “passing” or “traversing.” This root is also the root of the word “Hebrew,” and they are all related to the nomadic lifestyles of those peoples.

However, by comparing many roots derived from the proto-roots ف ر & ب ر, it appears clearly that the original meanings of these roots were related to “filling” and “earth” not to “moving.” So the truth is that the word “abar is modified from “arab not the other way around.

Thus, the word “Arab” originally meant a “wanderer” or a “nomad.” The roots ع ر ب

and غ ر ب carry related meanings in several Semitic languages.

 

 

 

 

Quadriliteral Roots

Triliteral roots were created by adding a third letter to a biliteral roots. Quadriliteral roots were mostly created by doubling a biliteral root, and sometimes by adding a fourth letter to a triliteral root.

Many examples exist on this page. We will mention here only two examples based on the proto-roots we talked about above:

 

 

Quadriliteral and Pentaliteral roots were often extracted from foreign loanwords.

Example,

A traditional Arab currency is the dirham, which is still a currency unit in several Arab countries today. A dirham was a silver coin in old times. The name of the dirham comes from the Greek drachmē or drachma. It was Arabized to follow the standard Arabic noun structure fi“lal فِعْلَلٌ .

drachmē → dirham دِرْهَم

 

Some triliteral roots were also extracted from foreign loanwords. An interesting example is the word siraat  صِرَاْطٌ meaning “a way” or “a path.” This word comes from the Latin strata = “paved road.”The Latin word was rendered into the standard verbal noun structure fi“aal فِعَاْلٌ . This is the same structure as that of the word kitaab كِتَاْبٌ = “a book” or “a dispatch.”

strata → siraat  صِرَاْط