محراب

Arabic

Etymology

Borrowed from Old South Arabian 𐩣𐩢𐩧𐩨 (mḥrb) attested several times for a certain architectural feature of a palace or court, and for a “part of a temple where 𐩩𐩢𐩧𐩨 (tḥrb) oracles are obtained”, compare 𐩩𐩢𐩧𐩨𐩩 (tḥrbt, “votive relief”), 𐩩𐩢𐩧𐩨 (tḥrb, “to obtain a vision or an oracle”), 𐩢𐩧𐩨 (ḥrb, “to obtain an oracle”). Possibly also related to Old South Arabian 𐩣𐩫𐩧𐩨 (mkrb, “sanctuary, temple”), Ge'ez ምኵራብ (məkʷrab, “sanctuary, temple”), Old South Arabian 𐩫𐩧𐩨 (krb, “to carry out instructions”), Old South Arabian 𐩫𐩧𐩨 (krb, “to bless”) = Arabic بَرَّكَ (barraka, “to bless”), Akkadian 𒅗𒊏𒁍 (/⁠karābu⁠/, “to pray”), Hebrew כְּרוּב (kerūḇ, “cherub”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miħ.raːb/

Noun

مِحْرَاب • (miḥrāb) m (plural مَحَارِيب (maḥārīb))

1. the prayer chamber of the imam in a mosque or instead, a symbolic niche in the wall in the direction of the qibla; mihrab
   • 14th century CE, ʾIbn Kaṯīr, al-Bidāya wan-Nihāya [The Beginning and the End]:

     وقد قال الشافعي رحمه الله تعالى: إن لم تكن العلماء العاقلون أولياء الله فلا أعلم لله وليا، وكان يؤم الناس للصلاة في محراب الحنابلة هو والشيخ العماد، […]

     And Ash-Shāfiʿī — God, He be exalted, have mercy on him — had said: If the prudent scholars are not the allies of God, then I know not of any ally for God; and he used to lead the people in prayer in the mihrab of the Hanbalis, along with Sheikh Al-ʿImād; […]

   • 2008, Zulaikha Amin Hussain, Mawsūʿat Yanābīʿ al-Maʿrifa [Encyclopedia of the Fountains of Knowledge]:

     ونري المحاريب التي شيدها المماليك في مصر والشام من أبدع المحاريب الرخامية، حيث تنتهي تجويفة المحراب بطاقية على شكل نصف قبـة مكسوة بأشرطة رخامية متعددة الألوان.

     And we see the mihrabs the Mamluks erected in Egypt and Syria (the Levant) are from among the finest made marble mihrabs, where the hollow of the mihrab ends with an arch in the shape of a semi-dome covered with multicoloured marble bands.

2. the chief, uppermost or most honorable sitting place, throne room, the highest chamber; sanctum of a king
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 34:13:

     يَعْمَلُونَ لَهُ مَا يَشَاءُ مِنْ مَحَارِيبَ وَتَمَاثِيلَ وَجِفَانٍ كَالْجَوَابِ وَقُدُورٍ رَاسِيَاتٍ

     yaʕmalūna lahu mā yašāʔu min maḥārība watamāṯīla wajifānin kāljawābi waqudūrin rāsiyātin

     They made for him what he willed of throne rooms and statues, and bowls like watering troughs and pots unwieldy.

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 38:21:

     وَهَلْ أَتَىٰكَ نَبَئُوا ٱلْخَصْمِ إِذْ تَسَوَّرُوا ٱلْمِحْرَابَ

     wahal ʔatāka nabaʔū l-ḵaṣmi ʔiḏ tasawwarū l-miḥrāba

     And has news come to you of the litigants when they scaled up the sanctum of King [David]?

3. (Jewish antiquity) oracle (the sanctuary, or most holy place in the temple); sanctum sanctorum
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 3:37-39:

     […] كُلَّمَا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهَا زَكَرِيَّا ٱلْمِحْرَابَ وَجَدَ عِنْدَهَا رِزْقًا قَالَ يَٰمَرْيَمُ أَنَّىٰ لَكِ هَٰذَا […] فَنَادَتْهُ ٱلْمَلَٰئِكَةُ وَهُوَ قَائِمٌ يُّصَلِّي فِي ٱلْمِحْرَابِ أَنَّ ٱللهَ يُبَشِّرُكَ بِيَحْيَىٰ مُصَدِّقًا بِكَلِمَةٍ مِّنَ ٱللهِ […]

     […] kullamā daḵala ʕalayhā zakariyyā l-miḥrāba wajada ʕindahā rizqan qāla yāmaryamu ʔannā laki hāḏā […] fanādathu l-malāʔikatu wahuwa qāʔimun yyuṣallī fī l-miḥrābi ʔanna llāha yubašširuka biyaḥyā muṣaddiqan bikalimatin mmina llāhi […]

     […] Every time Zechariah entered upon her in the oracle (inner sanctuary of the Temple) he found with her provisions. [One day] he said: O Mary, whence have you this? […] So the angels called out to him, and [at that time] he was standing in the oracle supplicating, [saying]: God brings you glad tidings of John, one who would verify a Word from God […]

   • 1865 CE, Bible (SVD), First Book of Kings, 6:19:

     وَهَيَّأَ مِحْرَابًا فِي وَسَطِ ٱلْبَيْتِ مِنْ دَاخِلْ لِّيَضَعَ هُنَاكَ تَابُوتَ عَهْدِ ٱلرَّبِّ.

     wahayyaʔa miḥrāban fī wasaṭi l-bayti min dāḵil lliyaḍaʕa hunāka tābūta ʕahdi r-rabbi.

     And he prepared an oracle in the midst of the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

Declension

Declension of noun مِحْرَاب (miḥrāb)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	مِحْرَاب miḥrāb	الْمِحْرَاب al-miḥrāb	مِحْرَاب miḥrāb
Nominative	مِحْرَابٌ miḥrābun	الْمِحْرَابُ al-miḥrābu	مِحْرَابُ miḥrābu
Accusative	مِحْرَابًا miḥrāban	الْمِحْرَابَ al-miḥrāba	مِحْرَابَ miḥrāba
Genitive	مِحْرَابٍ miḥrābin	الْمِحْرَابِ al-miḥrābi	مِحْرَابِ miḥrābi
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	مِحْرَابَيْن miḥrābayn	الْمِحْرَابَيْن al-miḥrābayn	مِحْرَابَيْ miḥrābay
Nominative	مِحْرَابَانِ miḥrābāni	الْمِحْرَابَانِ al-miḥrābāni	مِحْرَابَا miḥrābā
Accusative	مِحْرَابَيْنِ miḥrābayni	الْمِحْرَابَيْنِ al-miḥrābayni	مِحْرَابَيْ miḥrābay
Genitive	مِحْرَابَيْنِ miḥrābayni	الْمِحْرَابَيْنِ al-miḥrābayni	مِحْرَابَيْ miḥrābay
Plural	basic broken plural diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	مَحَارِيب maḥārīb	الْمَحَارِيب al-maḥārīb	مَحَارِيب maḥārīb
Nominative	مَحَارِيبُ maḥārību	الْمَحَارِيبُ al-maḥārību	مَحَارِيبُ maḥārību
Accusative	مَحَارِيبَ maḥārība	الْمَحَارِيبَ al-maḥārība	مَحَارِيبَ maḥārība
Genitive	مَحَارِيبَ maḥārība	الْمَحَارِيبِ al-maḥārībi	مَحَارِيبِ maḥārībi

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: mehrab
• → Middle Armenian: մէհրապ (mēhrap), մեհրաբ (mehrab), մահրապ (mahrap)
• → Ottoman Turkish: محراب (mihrâb)

  > Turkish: mihrap (inherited)

• → Persian: محراب (mehrâb)
  • → Urdu: محراب (mihrāb, mehrāb)
• → Uyghur: مېھراپ (mëhrap)
• → Uzbek: mehrob

References

• Dillmann, August (1865) “ምኵራብ”, in Lexicon linguae aethiopicae cum indice latino (in Latin), Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, column 836
• Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 274
• Lane, Edward William (1863) “محراب”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[1], London: Williams & Norgate, page 541
• Leslau, Wolf (1991) Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 341
• Nöldeke, Theodor (1910) Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎^[2] (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, page 52
• Praetorius, Franz (1907) “Äthiopische Etymologien”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft‎^[3] (in German), volume 61, page 621
• Rhodokanakis, Nikolaus (1905) “Mschatta II. Kunstwissenschaftliche Untersuchung von Josef Strzygowski (Sonderabdruck aus dem Jahrbuch der königl. preußischen Kunstsammlungen 1904, Heft IV, pag. 225–373, 12 Tafeln und 119 Phototypen). G. Grote, Berlin”, in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes‎^[4] (in German), volume 19, page 296 seqq.
• Rhodokanakis, Nikolaus (1911) “Zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft”, in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes‎^[5] (in German), volume 25, pages 71–80
• Schwally, Friedrich (1901) “Zur ältesten Baugeschichte der Moschee des ʿamr in Alt-Kairo”, in Straßburger Festschrift zur XLVI. Versammlung deutscher Philologen und Schulmänner, herausgegeben von der philosophischen Fakultät der Kaiser Wilhelms-Universität‎^[6], Karl. J. Trübner, page 110
• Shapira, Dan D. Y. (2009) “Irano-Arabica: contamination and popular etymology. Notes on the Persian and Arabic lexicons (with references to Aramaic, Hebrew and Turkic)”, in Христианский Восток – Новая Серия, volume 5 (XI), Moscow: Издательство Российской Академии Наук и Государственного Эрмитажа, page 174
• Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “محراب”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart‎^[7] (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 242
• Wellhausen, Julius (1897) Reste arabischen Heidentumes‎^[8] (in German), Berlin: Georg Reimer, page 232
• Söller on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic مِحْرَاب (miḥrāb).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mih.ˈɾaːb/

Noun

محراب • (mihrâb)

1. (Islam) mihrab

Declension

This entry needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Turkish: mihrap

Further reading

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “mihrap”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

Persian

Etymology

From Arabic مِحْرَاب (miḥrāb).

Noun

محراب • (mehrâb) (plural محراب‌ها (mehrâb-hâ))

1. mihrab

Descendants

• → Urdu: محراب (mihrāb, mehrāb)

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian محراب (mihrāb), from Arabic مِحْرَاب (miḥrāb).

Pronunciation

(Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /meːɦ.ɾɑːb/, /mɪɦ.ɾɑːb/, [mɛʱ.ɾɑːb]

Noun

محراب • (mehrāb) f (Hindi spelling मेहराब or मिहराब)

1. (Islam) mihrab

Declension

Declension of محراب
	singular	plural
direct	محراب (mehrāb)	محرابیں (mehrābẽ)
oblique	محراب (mehrāb)	محرابوں (mehrābõ)
vocative	محراب (mehrāb)	محرابو (mehrābo)