תמרא

Aramaic

Etymology 1

Cognate to a Hebrew hapax in Psalm 77, 5 transmitted שְׁמֻרֹות (šəmūrōṯ, “eyelids”) of which the singular is conjectured שְׁמֻרָה (šəmūrā), however Paul Haupt recommends to vocalize שִׁמֻּרֹות (šimmūrōṯ) in view of Jewish Literary Aramaic תִּמּוּרְתָּא (timmūrtā, “eyelid”). Related further to Arabic ثَمَلَ (ṯamala, “to stay, to remain staying; to assist, to stand by”) and ثُمَالَة (ṯumāla, “dregs, sediment”), affirming an original meaning of “to stare at” or else to “attend to, to be in a fixed position with” for Hebrew שָׁמַר (šāmár, “to guard”), Akkadian 𒊭𒈠𒊒𒌝 (šamārum, “to rear up, to be enraged, to glower”), Proto-Semitic *ṯamar-; Arabic سَمَرَ (samara, “to stay awake at night”) is hence unrelated to the Hebrew “guarding”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /timrɑ/

Noun

תמרא • (timrā) m (plural תמרא (timrē))

1. eyelid

Alternative forms

• תימרא (timrā)
• תימורא (timōrā), תמורתא (timmūrtā)

Etymology 2

Cognate with Arabic ثَمَر (ṯamar, “fruits”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tamre/

Noun

תמרא • (tamrā, tamrē, təmārā) m (singulative תמרתא (tmartā), and תומרתא (tumartā), collective of təmārā תמריא (təmārayyā), plural of tamrā and the singulative תמרי (tamrē), and תומרי (tumrē))

1. dates (fruit)
2. date palms

Descendants

• → Arabic: تَمْر (tamr)
  • → Amharic: ተምር (tämər)
  • → Argobba: ትምር (təmər)
  • → Ge'ez: ተምር (tämr)
  • → Gurage: ተምሪ (tämər)
  • → Malay: tamar
  • → Mehri: تومر (tōmər)
  • → Portuguese: tâmara
  • → Somali: timir
  • → Soqotri: timreh
  • → Tigre: ተመር (tämär)
  • → Tigrinya: ተምሪ (tämri)
• → Hebrew: תָּמָר (tāmā́r)
• → Minaean: 𐩩𐩣𐩧 (tmr)
• → Sabaean: 𐩩𐩣𐩧 (tmr)

References

• “tmr²”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• “twmrh”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• Haupt, Paul (1917) “The Disease of King Teumman of Elam”, in Journal of the Society of Oriental Research‎^[1], volume 1, pages 90–91