علجوم

Arabic

Etymology

From the root ع ل ج (ʿ-l-j) meaning “to be strong or sturdy”, “to be robust or bulky”, “to be massive”, “to be big or thick”, “to be long or tall”; a variant of عَلْجَن (ʿaljan, a female camel with a bulkier male-like frame; a camel strong enough to use for work). Applied semantically to a great variety of things mostly to animals of bulky shape, or for describing the male figure in the dichotomy of sexes of animals, like the generic usage of the terms bull or buck. The sense of a kingfisher derives from Ancient Greek ἀλκυών (alkuṓn).

Noun

عُلْجُوم (ʿuljūm) m (plural عَلَاجِيم (ʿalājīm))

  1. kingfisher, halcyon
  2. toad, male frog
  3. male duck, mallard
  4. male ostrich
  5. wild he-goat
  6. dragon
  7. deep water, big wave
  8. louse
  9. dense orchard of palm-trees
  10. darkness of night, big shadow blocking light

Declension

Descendants

  • Hebrew: עלגום

References

  • Blois, François de (1990) Burzōy’s Voyage to India and the Origin of the Book of Kalīlah wa Dimnah, London: Royal Asiatic Society, →ISBN, page 12
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