قنطرة

Arabic

قَنَاطِر (“arcade”)

Etymology

Multiple confounded etymologies:

• Via Classical Syriac ܩܶܢܛܪܳܘܢ‏ (qenṭrōn) from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron, “center”), from the idea of an arch vaulting a central point.
• From Latin cintrum, its plural cintra, a vulgar form of cinctūra (“girthing”) employed as such in Medieval Latin and the source of French cintre (“curve, round arch”) – which would ascribe to Arabic the first attestation of this Romance form, the 6^th-century poet Ṭarafa’s vers كقنطرة الروميّ أقسم رَبّها لتْكتَنَفَنَ حتى تشاد بِقَرْمَد.
• From Latin canthērius – Ancient Greek κανθήλιος (kanthḗlios) –, meaning a “gelding” and because of this a “beast of burden” and then “trellis; chevrons, spars, gantry” (Gebälk, Sparrwerk, Gerüst), compare for such development the etymologies of chevron, chevalet, gantry, easel.
• A genuine formation from the root ق ط ر (q-ṭ-r) from which قَطَرَ (qaṭara, “to put (camels) into a file”), قِطَار (qiṭār, “train”), the ن (n) being not a rare augment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /qan.tˤa.ra/

Noun

قَنْطَرَة • (qanṭara) f (plural قَنَاطِر (qanāṭir))

1. arch, vault
2. bridge
   1. viaduct
   2. aqueduct
   3. barrage, dam

Declension

Declension of noun قَنْطَرَة (qanṭara)

Singular	singular triptote in ـَة (-a)
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	قَنْطَرَة qanṭara	الْقَنْطَرَة al-qanṭara	قَنْطَرَة qanṭarat
Nominative	قَنْطَرَةٌ qanṭaratun	الْقَنْطَرَةُ al-qanṭaratu	قَنْطَرَةُ qanṭaratu
Accusative	قَنْطَرَةً qanṭaratan	الْقَنْطَرَةَ al-qanṭarata	قَنْطَرَةَ qanṭarata
Genitive	قَنْطَرَةٍ qanṭaratin	الْقَنْطَرَةِ al-qanṭarati	قَنْطَرَةِ qanṭarati
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	قَنْطَرَتَيْن qanṭaratayn	الْقَنْطَرَتَيْن al-qanṭaratayn	قَنْطَرَتَيْ qanṭaratay
Nominative	قَنْطَرَتَانِ qanṭaratāni	الْقَنْطَرَتَانِ al-qanṭaratāni	قَنْطَرَتَا qanṭaratā
Accusative	قَنْطَرَتَيْنِ qanṭaratayni	الْقَنْطَرَتَيْنِ al-qanṭaratayni	قَنْطَرَتَيْ qanṭaratay
Genitive	قَنْطَرَتَيْنِ qanṭaratayni	الْقَنْطَرَتَيْنِ al-qanṭaratayni	قَنْطَرَتَيْ qanṭaratay
Plural	basic broken plural diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	قَنَاطِر qanāṭir	الْقَنَاطِر al-qanāṭir	قَنَاطِر qanāṭir
Nominative	قَنَاطِرُ qanāṭiru	الْقَنَاطِرُ al-qanāṭiru	قَنَاطِرُ qanāṭiru
Accusative	قَنَاطِرَ qanāṭira	الْقَنَاطِرَ al-qanāṭira	قَنَاطِرَ qanāṭira
Genitive	قَنَاطِرَ qanāṭira	الْقَنَاطِرِ al-qanāṭiri	قَنَاطِرِ qanāṭiri

Derived terms

• قَنْطَرَ (qanṭara, “to vault, to arch over”)

Descendants

• → Catalan: Alcàntara
• → Georgian: ქანდარა (kandara)
• → Italian: Alcantara
• → Spanish: alcántara

References

• Behnstedt, Peter, Woidich, Manfred (2012) Wortatlas der arabischen Dialekte – Band II: Materielle Kultur (Handbook of Oriental Studies – Handbuch der Orientalistik; 100/II) (in German), Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 24
• Corriente, Federico (2008) “قنطرة”, in Dictionary of Arabic and Allied Loanwords. Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Galician and Kindred Dialects (Handbook of Oriental Studies; 97), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 444–445
• Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 285
• Lane, Edward William (1863) “قنطرة”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[1], London: Williams & Norgate, page 2568
• Vollers, Karl (1897) “Beiträge zur Kenntniss der lebenden arabischen Sprache in Aegypten”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft‎^[2] (in German), volume 51, page 316
• Vollers, Karl (1893) “Vier Lehnwörter im Arabischen”, in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und verwandte Gebiete‎^[3] (in German), volume 8, pages 100–101