Going back to something I mentioned in my previous thread:
me said:
The Hebrew for autumn is סתיו (stav). I see no connection to an Arabic root at the present time.
I don't know how I missed it before*, but it just hit me like a ton of bricks when I was laying in bed last night thinking about this thread, that the Hebrew סתיו (
stav, autumn) is the cognate of the Arabic شتاء (
shitaa2, winter).
The root of the Arabic word is ش-ت-و (sh-t-w). Now normally, the Arabic ش is the cognate of Hebrew ש (
shiin), not the ס (
samekh), but I'm sure there must be exceptions. The other two root letters, ת (t) and ו (v), however, are the usual cognates of the Arabic ت (t) and و (w). Brown, Driver, and Briggs, in their "Hebrew and English Lexicon" say, on the authority of some Semitic scholar by the name of Friedrich Zacharias Schwally, that the word was probably originally שתיו with a ש
shiin.
They also mention that the word is a loan from Aramaic סיתוא (
siitvah). In this word we also see, in addition to the root letters ס (s), ת (t), and ו (v), a further similarity with the Arabic word -- namely the letter א (aleph), the cognate of the Arabic ء.
*Well, actually I do. It is because the Hebrew ס is not the normal cognate of Arabic ش. If the word were spelled שתיו, I probably would have picked up on the connection right away.
----------------------------
Regarding some other matters:
Wow, Josh, this is great !
Thanks. I am glad you appreciated it.
Regarding Khareef though, it does mean rainy season in Arabic too- as I already mentioned in my post, not necessarily Autumn so Hebrew cognate makes sense as in the Levant, the rainy season is winter.
It may mean rainy season in general now, however, originally it appears to have meant the rains at this particular time of year; that is, autumn (perhaps heading into winter).
___________________________________
From الصّحّاح في اللغة:
l
والخَريفُ: المطرُ في ذلك الوقت وقد خُرِفْنا أي أصابنا مطر الخَريفِ.ـ
Al-khariif: the rain during this time (the season of
al-khariif),
wa-qad khurifna, i.e. the rains of
al-khariif have befallen us.
___________________________________
___________________________________
From القاموس المحيط:
l
والخَريفُ : المَطَرُ في ذلك الفَصْلِ، أو أوّلُ المَطَرِ في أوّلِ الشِتاءِ.
Al-khariif: the rain during this division [of the year: the seaon of
al-khariif], or the first rain of the beginning of
ash-shitaa2 (winter).
___________________________________
However, that appears to not be the primary meaning, and not the reason for the naming of the season.
___________________________________
Also from القاموس المحيط:
l
خَرَفَ الثِمارَ خَرْفاً ومَخْرَفاً وخَرافاً، ويُكْسَرُ: جَناهُ،
...
ثلاثةُ أشْهُرٍ بين القَيظِ والشتاءِ تُخْتَرَفُ فيها الثِمارُ،
kharafa ath-thimaara, (verbal nouns)
kharfan, makhrafan, kharaafan: to pick/gather [fruit].
...
three months between
al-qayDH (summer) and
ash-shitaa2 (winter) in which fruit is picked/gathered.
___________________________________
___________________________________
And from الصّحّاح في اللغة:
l
الخُرْفَةُ بالضم: ما يُجْتنى من الفواكه. يقال: التمر خُرْفَةُ الصائم.
...
والخَرِيفُ: أحد فصول السنة تُخْتَرَفُ فيه الثمارُ أي تُجْتَنى.
Al-khurfa: fruit(s) that have been picked/gathered.
...
Al-khariif: one of the divisions of the year in which fruit is picked/gathered.
___________________________________
___________________________________
And from the Lisaan:
والخَريفُ أَحَدُ فُصُولِ السنةِ، وهي ثلاثة أَشْهر من آخر القَيْظِ وأَوَّل الشتاء، وسمي خَريفاً لأَنه تُخْرَفُ فيه الثِّمار أَي تُجْتَنى.
al-khariif: one og the divisions of the year, which is three months from the end of
al-qayDH to the beginning of
ash-shitaa2. It was termed
khariif because it is (the season) when fruit is picked/gathered.
___________________________________
So it appears that the season known as والربيعُ الثاني الذي تُدْرِكُ فيه الثِّمارُ ((
the season) in which fruits ripen) ended up becoming known as, or just was also known as, الخَرِيفُ because this is the time of year in which fruit is يُخرِف (picked/gathered). This helps to understand the comment related by Maha (in post #2) that this season was called
rabii3, but then people started calling it
khariif.
Regarding the different forms of ربع it is the question of the chicken and the egg, are these verbs you mentioned used because the maSdar is ربيع or is it the other way round? It seems that meaning could have evolved from ربع as posted in my entry above particularly if you observe the migration patterns of the Bedouins and the times of the year they actually set camp . But I will not be dogmatic about that.
Yes, I agree, it is a chicken and the egg thing. There's no way to know what came first. One thing seems to be for sure though. This root has to do with both the number four and water/rain. And perhaps we could add vegetation in there.
IN Lebanon some uses of this word related to but not meaning Spring season:We say ربَّعت الارض for vegetation beginning to grow after Winter (just like Josh shared above), and many villagers call the fields of Daisies which are a common sight in March/ April : ربيع
That is interesting. Thanks for sharing that information.
I think we touched upon this issue in
a recent thread. It seems that
rabii3 doesn't mean a particular season/month in the badawi dialects, but simply "the growth of vegetation". And it seems that the badawi concept of seasons are not the same as that of a modern city dweller (cf. Donald Cole,
Bedouins of the Empty Quarter, 2010,
p.39).
Yes, what we have discovered here, seems to indicate that the word originally had nothing to do with any season, per se, but had to do with water/rain (and the ensuing growth of vegetation). Only later did the word come to be applied to that time of year (or those times of years) in which there is more rain than other times and in which vegetation growth occurs or becomes ready for harvest.
