عرناس

Arabic

FWOTD – 28 October 2021

عَرْنَاس

Alternative forms

• عِرْنَاسَة (ʕirnāsa)
• قِرْنَاس (qirnās) — no uses are known; but in the meaning of a crag

Etymology

Suspected to be borrowed from Aramaic *עַרְנָסָא (*ʿarnāsā, “distaff”), attested as Classical Syriac ܥܱܪܢܳܣܴܐ (ʿarnāsā) but from the 9th century and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic אורנאסא (ʾurnāsā) once in the Tractate Šabbaṯ of the Gemara folio 91b(41) of uncertain meaning, lost already to the Geonim, certainly not distaff, and once mentioned by Hai Gaon commenting Tractate Kēlīm Chapter 21, 1 and referring to the previous occurrence he commented, noting it to be used at his time in Babylonia in the meaning of distaff like the Arabic, else in Neo-Aramaic lects borrowed from Arabic, so the assumed borrowing direction is met with reservation; in either language likely a foreign word, further the provenance is unknown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʕir.naːs/, /ʕar.naːs/

Noun

عِرْنَاس or عَرْنَاس • (ʕirnās or ʕarnās) m (plural عَرَانِيس (ʕarānīs))

1. distaff
2. (obsolete) a kind of bird similar to a dove
   • a. 1229, Yāqūt al-Ḥamawīy, edited by Ferdinand Wüstenfeld, كتاب معجم البلدان [kitāb muʿjam al-buldān]‎^[1], volume 4, Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, published 1869, page 585 line 2:
     quoting
     →, ثعلبة بن غيلان [Ṯaʿlaba ibn Ġaylān], nothing seems to be known of this poet:

     إِذَا شِئْتُ غَنَّانِي ٱلْحَمَامُ بِعَيْكَةٍ
     وَلَيْسَ سَوَاءً صَوْتُهَا وَٱلْعَرَانِس

     ʔiḏā šiʔtu ḡannānī l-ḥamāmu biʕaykatin
     walaysa sawāʔan ṣawtuhā wal-ʕarānis

     When I want, the doves sing me in the thicket
     And their voices and those of the ʿarānīs are not on par

Declension

Declension of noun عِرْنَاس (ʕirnās)‎; عَرْنَاس (ʕarnās)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	عِرْنَاس‎; عَرْنَاس ʕirnās‎; ʕarnās	الْعِرْنَاس‎; الْعَرْنَاس al-ʕirnās‎; al-ʕarnās	عِرْنَاس‎; عَرْنَاس ʕirnās‎; ʕarnās
Nominative	عِرْنَاسٌ‎; عَرْنَاسٌ ʕirnāsun‎; ʕarnāsun	الْعِرْنَاسُ‎; الْعَرْنَاسُ al-ʕirnāsu‎; al-ʕarnāsu	عِرْنَاسُ‎; عَرْنَاسُ ʕirnāsu‎; ʕarnāsu
Accusative	عِرْنَاسًا‎; عَرْنَاسًا ʕirnāsan‎; ʕarnāsan	الْعِرْنَاسَ‎; الْعَرْنَاسَ al-ʕirnāsa‎; al-ʕarnāsa	عِرْنَاسَ‎; عَرْنَاسَ ʕirnāsa‎; ʕarnāsa
Genitive	عِرْنَاسٍ‎; عَرْنَاسٍ ʕirnāsin‎; ʕarnāsin	الْعِرْنَاسِ‎; الْعَرْنَاسِ al-ʕirnāsi‎; al-ʕarnāsi	عِرْنَاسِ‎; عَرْنَاسِ ʕirnāsi‎; ʕarnāsi
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	عِرْنَاسَيْن‎; عَرْنَاسَيْن ʕirnāsayn‎; ʕarnāsayn	الْعِرْنَاسَيْن‎; الْعَرْنَاسَيْن al-ʕirnāsayn‎; al-ʕarnāsayn	عِرْنَاسَيْ‎; عَرْنَاسَيْ ʕirnāsay‎; ʕarnāsay
Nominative	عِرْنَاسَانِ‎; عَرْنَاسَانِ ʕirnāsāni‎; ʕarnāsāni	الْعِرْنَاسَانِ‎; الْعَرْنَاسَانِ al-ʕirnāsāni‎; al-ʕarnāsāni	عِرْنَاسَا‎; عَرْنَاسَا ʕirnāsā‎; ʕarnāsā
Accusative	عِرْنَاسَيْنِ‎; عَرْنَاسَيْنِ ʕirnāsayni‎; ʕarnāsayni	الْعِرْنَاسَيْنِ‎; الْعَرْنَاسَيْنِ al-ʕirnāsayni‎; al-ʕarnāsayni	عِرْنَاسَيْ‎; عَرْنَاسَيْ ʕirnāsay‎; ʕarnāsay
Genitive	عِرْنَاسَيْنِ‎; عَرْنَاسَيْنِ ʕirnāsayni‎; ʕarnāsayni	الْعِرْنَاسَيْنِ‎; الْعَرْنَاسَيْنِ al-ʕirnāsayni‎; al-ʕarnāsayni	عِرْنَاسَيْ‎; عَرْنَاسَيْ ʕirnāsay‎; ʕarnāsay
Plural	basic broken plural diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	عَرَانِيس ʕarānīs	الْعَرَانِيس al-ʕarānīs	عَرَانِيس ʕarānīs
Nominative	عَرَانِيسُ ʕarānīsu	الْعَرَانِيسُ al-ʕarānīsu	عَرَانِيسُ ʕarānīsu
Accusative	عَرَانِيسَ ʕarānīsa	الْعَرَانِيسَ al-ʕarānīsa	عَرَانِيسَ ʕarānīsa
Genitive	عَرَانِيسَ ʕarānīsa	الْعَرَانِيسِ al-ʕarānīsi	عَرَانِيسِ ʕarānīsi

Coordinate terms

• مِغْزَل (miḡzal, “spindle”)

References

• غزل (حرفة) on the Arabic Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ar
• “ˁrns”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• “ˀwrnsˀ”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• Dozy, Reinhart Pieter Anne (1881) “عرناس”, in Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes‎^[2] (in French), volume 2, Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 122
• Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 94
• Freytag, Georg (1835) “عرناس”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[3] (in Latin), volume 3, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 147
• Ullmann, Manfred (1992) Das Motiv des Spiegels in der arabischen Literatur des Mittelalters (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen: Philologisch-historische Klasse; 198) (in German), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pages 27–28 and by Rainer Degen 156–161