كافور

Arabic

FWOTD – 25 January 2023

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaː.fuːr/

Etymology 1

كَافُور – Cinnamomum camphora

From an Austronesian language such as Malay kapur, possibly via Middle Persian 𐭪𐭠𐭯𐭥𐭫 (kʾp̄wl /⁠kāpūr⁠/).

Alternative forms

• قَافُور (qāfūr), قَفُّور (qaffūr) — obsolete

Noun

كَافُور • (kāfūr) m

1. camphor tree, Cinnamomum camphora
   • a. 675, Ḥasan ibn Ṯābit, ألا دفنتم رسول الله في سفط:

     أَلَا دَفَنْتُم رَسُولَ اللّٰهِ فِي سَفَطٍ — مِنَ الْأَلُوَّةِ وَٱلكَافُورِ مَنْضُودِ

     ʔalā dafantum rasūla llāhi fī safaṭin — mina l-ʔaluwwati wal-kāfūri manḍūdi

     Verily you buried God’s prophet in a basket – layered of aloe and camphorwood!

2. the chemical compound camphor
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 76:5:

     إِنَّ ٱلْأَبْرَارَ يَشْرَبُونَ مِن كَأْسٍ كَانَ مِزَاجُهَا كَافُورًا

     ʔinna l-ʔabrāra yašrabūna min kaʔsin kāna mizājuhā kāfūran

     Lo! the righteous shall drink of a cup whereof the mixture is of camphor

   • a. 869, الْجَاحِظ [al-jāḥiẓ], “باب ما يُعتبر من الجواهر النفيسة ومعرفتها وقيمتها [About how one esteems precious gems, their morphology and value]”, in التَبَصُّر بِٱلتِّجَارَة [at-tabaṣṣur bi-t-tijāra]‎^[1]:

     وزعم البحريون أن اللؤلؤ الكبار المتغير اللون تلُفُّ عليه الألْيَة الطرية المشرحة، وتُؤخذ في جوف عجين ويُدخل التنور ويُبالغ في إحمائه؛ فإنه يصفو ويَحسُن ويعود إليه الماء، وإذا بُخِّر بكافور كان ذلك، وإذا عُولج بمخ العظم وبماء البِطِّيخ فإنه يصفو.

     Coastal people claim that the great motley pearls should be wrapped in a freshly cut fat-tail, then taken into a dough inserted into the oven heated up high; thereby they get pure and fair and restore their moisture, and when smoked with camphor the same happens; but if treated with bone-marrow and watermelon-juice they shine.

3. river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis)

Declension

Declension of noun كَافُور (kāfūr)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	كَافُور kāfūr	الْكَافُور al-kāfūr	كَافُور kāfūr
Nominative	كَافُورٌ kāfūrun	الْكَافُورُ al-kāfūru	كَافُورُ kāfūru
Accusative	كَافُورًا kāfūran	الْكَافُورَ al-kāfūra	كَافُورَ kāfūra
Genitive	كَافُورٍ kāfūrin	الْكَافُورِ al-kāfūri	كَافُورِ kāfūri

Descendants

• Andalusian Arabic: كافور (al-kāfūr)
  • → Spanish: alcanfor
    • → Tagalog: alkampor
  • → Portuguese: alcânfora
• → Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܟܐܦܘܪ, ܩܦܘܪ

  Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: כפורא, כופרא

• → Byzantine Greek: καφουρά f (kaphourá), καφούρα f (kaphoúra), καφούριoν n (kaphoúrion), καφοῦριν n (kaphoûrin)
  • Greek: καφουρά (kafourá)
• → Georgian: ქაფური (kapuri)
• → Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: kafûr

  Central Kurdish: کافوور (kafûr)

  Southern Kurdish: کافوور (kafûr)

• → Latin: caphura
  • → Catalan: càmfora
  • →? Albanian: kamfuri
• → Persian: کافور (kâfur)
  • → Middle Armenian: քաֆուր (kʻafur)
    • Armenian: քաֆուր (kʻafur)
  • → Punjabi:

    Gurmukhi script: ਕਾਫ਼ੂਰ (kāfūr)

    Shahmukhi script: كافور (kāfūr)

• → Turkish: kâfur

Etymology 2

The shape KāLūM and the variant form vocalized in three ways especially as ending with ā suggests an Aramaic origin; attested in a broader meaning in Classical Syriac ܟܘܦܪܐ (kuppārā, “sindon; cover of a calyx”) and in Qumranic and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic כופרא (kuppārā, “palm spadix or spathe”), and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic גופרא (guppārā, “inflorescence of a palm”), Classical Mandaic ࡂࡅࡐࡀࡓࡀ (“inflorescence of a palm”), Classical Syriac ܓܘܦܪܐ (guppārā, “inflorescence also of a palm”). But still these are deemed foreign by Nöldeke following Bar ʿAlī and are probably formed in yet another Semitic language, connecting to the Arabic root ك ف ر (k-f-r) and غ ف ر (ḡ-f-r) related to “covering”.

Noun

كَافُور • (kāfūr) m (plural كَوافِير (kawāfīr))

1. bract of the inflorescence of the date palm

   Alternative forms: كُفَرَّى (kufarrā), جُفَرَّى (jufarrā)

Declension

Declension of noun كَافُور (kāfūr)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	كَافُور kāfūr	الْكَافُور al-kāfūr	كَافُور kāfūr
Nominative	كَافُورٌ kāfūrun	الْكَافُورُ al-kāfūru	كَافُورُ kāfūru
Accusative	كَافُورًا kāfūran	الْكَافُورَ al-kāfūra	كَافُورَ kāfūra
Genitive	كَافُورٍ kāfūrin	الْكَافُورِ al-kāfūri	كَافُورِ kāfūri
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	كَافُورَيْن kāfūrayn	الْكَافُورَيْن al-kāfūrayn	كَافُورَيْ kāfūray
Nominative	كَافُورَانِ kāfūrāni	الْكَافُورَانِ al-kāfūrāni	كَافُورَا kāfūrā
Accusative	كَافُورَيْنِ kāfūrayni	الْكَافُورَيْنِ al-kāfūrayni	كَافُورَيْ kāfūray
Genitive	كَافُورَيْنِ kāfūrayni	الْكَافُورَيْنِ al-kāfūrayni	كَافُورَيْ kāfūray
Plural	basic broken plural diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	كَوافِير kawāfīr	الْكَوافِير al-kawāfīr	كَوافِير kawāfīr
Nominative	كَوافِيرُ kawāfīru	الْكَوافِيرُ al-kawāfīru	كَوافِيرُ kawāfīru
Accusative	كَوافِيرَ kawāfīra	الْكَوافِيرَ al-kawāfīra	كَوافِيرَ kawāfīra
Genitive	كَوافِيرَ kawāfīra	الْكَوافِيرِ al-kawāfīri	كَوافِيرِ kawāfīri

References

click to show literature concerning either term

• “kˀpwr”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• “kwpr”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• “kwprˀ²”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986– (CAL misses the Syriac at Brockelmann, Carl (1928) Lexicon Syriacum (in Latin), 2nd edition, Halle: Max Niemeyer, published 1995, page 341a, giving only the “dregs” meaning above it)
• “gwpr”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986– (and Brockelmann, Carl (1928) Lexicon Syriacum (in Latin), 2nd edition, Halle: Max Niemeyer, published 1995, page 129a already proposed Aramaic origin of the Arabic “bract” word. Another Syriac meaning he gives as spūma maris = pumice would be an ancient equation for coral which is an animal however comparable to a palm inflorescence and not “a plant name” as in CAL)
• مروان بن جناح [Marwān ibn Janāḥ] (a. 1050) Gerrit Bos, Fabian Käs, editors, كتاب التلخيص [kitāb at-talḵīṣ] [On the Nomenclature of Medicinal Drugs], Leiden: Brill, published 2020, →DOI, →ISBN, 211 (fol. 19v,15–17), page 398
• Fonahn, Adolf Mauritz (1907) “Assyrische Medizinalpflanzen”, in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung‎^[2] (in German), →DOI, column 640
• Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 147
• Freytag, Georg (1837) “قافور”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[3] (in Latin), volume 4, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 47b
• Freytag, Georg (1835) “كافور”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[4] (in Latin), volume 3, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 479b
• Löw, Immanuel (1924) Die Flora der Juden‎^[5] (in German), volume 2, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, page 335
• Nöldeke, Theodor (1875) Mandäische Grammatik‎^[6] (in German), Halle: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, page 112 § 95 footnote 1, apparently the first to claim its Aramaic origin.
• Vollers, Karl (1896) “Beiträge zur Kenntniss der lebenden arabischen Sprache in Aegypten”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft‎^[7] (in German), volume 50, page 616