Words Arabic Took In
strāta
الصِّراط
ṣirāṭ
Ṣirāṭ, 'path', is traced by the editor F. Abdurrahim to Latin strāta, 'paved road', because ṣ and ṭ 'hardly ever meet in pure Arabic', as Shamir said. Most lexicographers derive it instead from saraṭa, 'to swallow'. The same strāta gave English street and German Straße.
- Came
- From Latin
- Original meaning
- paved (road)
- Meaning in Arabic
- path, road
«لأنّ الصاد والطاء لا تكادان تجتمعان في محض كلام العرب. قال: وإنّما جاء في الصِّراط والإصطبل.»
A Qur'anic word. Scholars differed over Qur'anic words said to be of foreign origin: some denied any non-Arabic word in the Qur'an, others accepted them. Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam reconciled the two: foreign in origin, Arabised by the Arabs, so Arabic now, and 'both parties are right' (al-Mu'arrab, ed. Shakir, p. 5).
Most lexicographers hold it Arabic: al-Zamakhshari (al-Kashshaf) derives sirāṭ from saraṭa, 'to swallow', 'for it swallows those who travel it'; al-Azhari says the ṣ was originally s, changed before ṭ. It is read ṣirāṭ, sirāṭ and zirāṭ.
English street and German Straße did not pass through Arabic: both come from Latin via strāta, 'paved road' (Wiktionary; DWDS).
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Sources
- الأزهريّ، تهذيب اللغة ١٢/١٩١
- الزمخشريّ، الكشّاف ١/١٥
- الأزهريّ، تهذيب اللغة ١٢/٩٤: أصل هذه الصادات سين
- الجواليقيّ، المعرّب، تحقيق ف. عبد الرحيم، ص١٥٥
- Wiktionary: street
- DWDS (Pfeifer): Straße
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