A Comparative Lexical Study of Qur?anic Arabic

DIAGHRONIC SEMANTIC OBSERVATIONS 553
xliii. Arab, makara - 3: 54 "And (the unbelievers) plotted and
planned and Allah too planned. . . ."; 40: 45 "Then Allah saved him
from (every) ill that they plotted (aganst him). . . .": Ge., Heb., Akk.:
The sense of 'deceit' in Arab., with its negative connotations, is not
attested in the cognates from different areas of Semitic. 126
xliv. Arab, nasiya — 96: 15 "... We will drag him by the forelock-":
NWS, Akk.: It seems quite likely that Arab, shifted from the basic
meaning of 'plumage' to 'forelock'.
xlv. Arab, nakata (cf. also ESA) - 48: 10 "... then anyone who
violates his oath, does so to the harm of his own Soul. . . .": Ge.,
NWS, Ug., Akk.: Arab, and ESA adapted the Common Semitic
notion of 'biting' to 'breaking'.
xlvi. Arab. hadd(y) (cf. also ESA, Syr., Aram.) 2: 143 ". . . Indeed
it was (a change) momentous, except to those guided by Allah. . . .";
2: 213 "... Allah by His Grace .guided the Believers to the Truth.
. . .": Heb. hadd. The Heb. sense 'to stretch out the hand' (to which
corresponds Arab, hadiyya 'a present') 127 might be considered more
generic and neutral than the sense 'to guide' attested in Arab., ESA,
Syr.-Aram. and which could have developed later.
xlvii. Arab, halaka — 4: 176 ". .. If it is a man that dies, leaving
a sister but no child. . . ."; 69: 29 "My power has perished from
me!": NWS, Ug. Akk.: The neutral sense 'to go, walk, travel' in
most Semitic languages became semantically marked and specialized
in Arab., implying 'falling, perishing, dying'.
xlviii. Arab, urdbil - 2: 264 ". . . on it falls heavy rain which leaves
it (just) a bare stone.": Ug., Akk.: The notion 'stream, rain shower'
which is common to Arab., ESA, Syr., Aram, and Heb. is not attested
in Ug. and Akk. Both retain the primary basic meaning of the root,
namely 'to bring, convey', which is also attested in Syr., Aram., and
Heb. YBL.
xlix. Arab, zvaqaba — 113: 3 "From the mischief of Darkness as
it overspreads.": Heb.: The verbal forms in Arab, and Heb. are
126 For the Hebrew cognate see HAL 551. Murtonen (1989: 258) relates this root
to ESA. mkr 'a merchant, tradesman'; Syr. rrfkar 'to betroth, espouse'; Aram, rrfkar
'to marry (buy as a wife)'; Heb. mdkar 'to sell'; Ph. mkr 'to sell; merchant (seller)';
Ug. mkr 'merchant'; Akk. makdru 'im Handel einsetzen'?
127 Lane 3042.