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

     ʾalā dafantum rasūla llāhi fī safaṭin — mina l-ʾaluwwati 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

     ʾinna l-ʾabrāra yašrabūna min kaʾsin kāna mizājuhā kāfūran

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

3. 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 (kaphourá), καφούρα (kaphoúra)
  • 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 (kāfūr)
  • → Middle Armenian: քաֆուր (kʿafur)
    • Armenian: քաֆուր (kʿafur)
  • → Punjabi:

    Gurmukhi: ਕਾਫ਼ੂਰ (kāfūr)

    Shahmukhi: 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] (in English), Leiden: Brill, published 2020, DOI:10.1163/9789004413344, →ISBN, 211 (fol. 19v,15–17), page 398
• 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 (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 (in Latin), volume 3, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 479b
• Löw, Immanuel (1924) Die Flora der Juden‎^[1] (in German), volume 2, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, page 335
• Nöldeke, Theodor (1875) Mandäische Grammatik‎^[2] (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^[3] (in German), volume 50, page 616