سجنجل
Arabic
سَجَنْجَل
Etymology
Manfred Ullmann expounded in an analysis of the occurrences that all known poets who use this word after Imruʾ al-Qays owe it to him, and using it as “round mirror” they actually misunderstood him, who in his verse actually meant sheeny papyrus leaves, forming a *سِجِلْجِل (*sijiljil), *سَجَلْجَل (*sajaljal) after the known سِجِلّ (sijill, “scroll”) which was dissimilated to سَجَنْجَل (sajanjal); only thus far it is a Byzantine Greek word as it was believed in the Middle Ages to be رُومِيّ (rūmiyy).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sa.d͡ʒan.d͡ʒal/
Noun
سَجَنْجَل • (sajanjal) m (obsolete, poetic)
- mirror, looking-glass
- a. 965, الْمُتَنَبِّي (al-mutanabbī), وَمَنزِلٍ لَيسَ لَنا بِمَنزِلِ (…):
- لَهُ إِذَا أَدْبَرَ لَحْظُ المُقْبِلِ / كَأَنَّمَا يَنْظُرُ مِن سَجَنْجَلِ
- la-hū ʾiḏā ʾadbara laḥẓu l-muqbili / kaʾannamā yanẓuru min sajanjali
- For it, when a look of what follows turns its back / It is as though one saw by a mirror.
- Synonyms: (the normal word) مِرْآة (mirʾāh), (poetic) مَاوِيَّة (māwiyya), (dialect) مِنْظَرَة (minẓara)
-
- glossy papyrus, pages or sheets with a shine or glaze, glistening surface
- 6th century CE, اِمْرُؤ ٱلْقَيْس (imruʾ l-qays), Stop, Let Us Weep قِفَا نَبْكِ (qifā nabki):
- مُهَفْهَفَةٌ بَيْضَاءُ غَيْرُ مُفَاضَةٍ / تَرَائِبُهَا مَصْقُولَةٌ كَٱلسَّجَنْجَلِ
- muhafhafatun bayḍāʾu ḡayru mufāḍatin / tarāʾibuhā maṣqūlatun kas-sajanjali
- Slender, fair-colored, not obese / Her collar bone gleaming like the glossy page.
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Declension
Declension of noun سَجَنْجَل (sajanjal)
| Singular | basic singular triptote | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Indefinite | Definite | Construct | |
| Informal | سَجَنْجَل sajanjal | السَّجَنْجَل as-sajanjal | سَجَنْجَل sajanjal |
| Nominative | سَجَنْجَلٌ sajanjalun | السَّجَنْجَلُ as-sajanjalu | سَجَنْجَلُ sajanjalu |
| Accusative | سَجَنْجَلًا sajanjalan | السَّجَنْجَلَ as-sajanjala | سَجَنْجَلَ sajanjala |
| Genitive | سَجَنْجَلٍ sajanjalin | السَّجَنْجَلِ as-sajanjali | سَجَنْجَلِ sajanjali |
References
- Fraenkel, Siegmund (1880) De vocabulis in antiquis Arabum carminibus et in Corano peregrinis (in Latin), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 8
- Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 97
- Ullmann, Manfred (1992) Das Motiv des Spiegels in der arabischen Literatur des Mittelalters (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen: Philologisch-historische Klasse; 198) (in German), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pages 17–30