رعي الحمام

Arabic

رِعْي الْحَمَام – Verbena officinalis

Etymology

A science translation calque of Classical Syriac ܪܥܝܐ ܕܝܘܢܐ (reʿyā də-yawnē), which is depending on the meaning of the first word “meadow of doves”, “kit of doves”, “food of doves”, apparently the Arabic translators took the “fodder” meaning as this is what Arabic رِعْي (riʕy) means—unless the Arabic phytonym is a loanblend even—, while the Syriac translators took the other meanings, misinterpreting Ancient Greek περῐστερεών (peristereṓn), περῐστεριών (peristeriṓn), περῐστέριον (peristérion, “vervain”) as the same word as περῐστερεών (peristereṓn, “dovecote”), both being from περῐστερᾱ́ (peristerā́, “pigeon”). Spread from the materia medica into general use, but modernly half of the time deformed as رِجْل الْحَمَام (rijl al-ḥamām) or سَاق الْحَمَام (sāq al-ḥamām) due to the alienness of the first word.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /riʕj al.ħa.maːm/

Noun

رِعْي الْحَمَام • (riʕy al-ḥamām) m

1. vervain (Verbena gen. et spp., especially Verbena officinalis)

Declension

Declension of noun رِعْي الْحَمَام (riʕy al-ḥamām)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	—	رِعْي الْحَمَام riʕy al-ḥamām	—
Nominative	—	رِعْيُ الْحَمَامِ riʕyu l-ḥamāmi	—
Accusative	—	رِعْيَ الْحَمَامِ riʕya l-ḥamāmi	—
Genitive	—	رِعْيِ الْحَمَامِ riʕyi l-ḥamāmi	—

References

• “rˁy⁴”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• Brockelmann, Carl (1928) Lexicon Syriacum (in Latin), 2nd edition, Halle: Max Niemeyer, published 1995, page 737b
• Dozy, Reinhart Pieter Anne (1881) “رعي الحمام”, in Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes‎^[1] (in French), volume 1, Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 537a
• Abu Rejxan Beruni (1973) Izbrannyje proizvedenija. Tom 4. Farmakognozija v medicine (Kitab as-Sajdana fi-tibb) [Selected Works. Volume 4. Book on the Pharmacopoeia of Medicine] (in Russian), research, translation, notes and indexes by U. I. Karimov, Tashkent: Uzbek SSR Academy Press, pages 474–475 Nr. 468
• Löw, Immanuel (1924) Die Flora der Juden‎^[2] (in German), volume 3, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, page 491
• Löw, Immanuel (1881) Aramæische Pflanzennamen‎^[3] (in German), Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, pages 365–366 Nr. 312