زبور

Arabic

Etymology

• From the root ز ب ر (z-b-r), meaning “to be well composed, to be well written”, “to be engraved or written skillfully”, a variant of ذ ب ر (ḏ-b-r) – ذَبْر (ḏabr, “a writing on palm-leaves, a book”), ذَبَرَ (ḏabara, “to write, to point; to read thoroughly; to understand well”) –, which latter root is declared to be from the Himyaritic dialect and either cognate with Hebrew דִּבּוּר (dibbū́r, “speech”) and Ugaritic 𐎄𐎁𐎗 (dbr, “to speak, to proclaim”) or one of the many descendants of Sumerian 𒁾 (dub, “tablet”) present in words like دِيوَان (dīwān), دَفْتَر (daftar), أَدَب (ʔadab) دَفّ (daff), طُوب (ṭūb), طَابَع (ṭābaʕ), ذَبْر (ḏabr, “a writing on palm-leaves, a book”), ذَبَرَ (ḏabara, “to write, to point; to read thoroughly; to understand well”).
• Less likely a variation of the root ز م ر (z-m-r), meaning "to play a pipe or reed", "use a musical instrument", "to make music or play a melody"; semantically borrowed from Hebrew זָמַר (zamar, “to make music, sing; to praise, to sing psalms”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /za.buːr/

Noun

زَبُور • (zabūr) m (plural زُبُر (zubur))

1. the Psalms
2. a writing, composition
3. psalter

Declension

Declension of noun زَبُور (zabūr)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	زَبُور zabūr	الزَّبُور az-zabūr	زَبُور zabūr
Nominative	زَبُورٌ zabūrun	الزَّبُورُ az-zabūru	زَبُورُ zabūru
Accusative	زَبُورًا zabūran	الزَّبُورَ az-zabūra	زَبُورَ zabūra
Genitive	زَبُورٍ zabūrin	الزَّبُورِ az-zabūri	زَبُورِ zabūri
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	زَبُورَيْن zabūrayn	الزَّبُورَيْن az-zabūrayn	زَبُورَيْ zabūray
Nominative	زَبُورَانِ zabūrāni	الزَّبُورَانِ az-zabūrāni	زَبُورَا zabūrā
Accusative	زَبُورَيْنِ zabūrayni	الزَّبُورَيْنِ az-zabūrayni	زَبُورَيْ zabūray
Genitive	زَبُورَيْنِ zabūrayni	الزَّبُورَيْنِ az-zabūrayni	زَبُورَيْ zabūray
Plural	basic broken plural triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	زُبُر zubur	الزُّبُر az-zubur	زُبُر zubur
Nominative	زُبُرٌ zuburun	الزُّبُرُ az-zuburu	زُبُرُ zuburu
Accusative	زُبُرًا zuburan	الزُّبُرَ az-zubura	زُبُرَ zubura
Genitive	زُبُرٍ zuburin	الزُّبُرِ az-zuburi	زُبُرِ zuburi

See also

• الْقُرْآن (al-qurʔān, “the Qur'an”)
• تَوْرَاة (tawrāh, “the Torah”)
• إِنْجِيل (ʔinjīl, “the Gospel”)
• الْكِتَاب الْمُقَدَّس (al-kitāb al-muqaddas, “the Bible”)
  • الْعَهْد الْقَدِيم (al-ʕahd al-qadīm, “the Old Testament”)
  • الْعَهْد الْجَدِيد (al-ʕahd al-jadīd, “the New Testament”)

References

• Eilers, Wilhelm (1962) “Iranisches Lehngut im arabischen Lexikon”, in Indo-Iranian Journal (in German), volume 5, number 3, pages 216–218
• Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, pages 248–249
• Jeffery, Arthur (1938) The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān (Gaekwad’s Oriental Series; 79), Baroda: Oriental Institute, pages 148–149