TORSTEN wrote: Also, I get the impression
the Arabic has a great lexicographic tradition, but that the connection with
languages it met during the phase of expansion of Islam has not been explored to
the same degree.
For this particular complex, I imagine an
origin among the steppe peoples as designations a particular organisation of
'conscription' of cavalry-based troops and their deployment on the battlefield,
and that this particular word spread with that type of cavalry organisation
spreading with incursions of steppe peoples into Europe. Are there traces of
something similar in Arabic?
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ISHINAN: The answer is definetly yes, as there
are many similar traces that deserve close attention. I may
add that some of them are quite baffling for the curious
linguist, to say the least.
But before I get into any detail. I would like
to draw your attention to the fact that all the terms I am
offering are from the Classical Arabic. That is to say: they
existed BEFORE the Arabs burst onto the world scene under the banner of
Islam.
Prior the 7th century A.D., Arab
presence was limited to the Arabian Peninsula, Eastern parts of Egypt
(Sinai), Mesopotamia, and Greater Syria. They never ventured into the Central
Asian stepps not until the 8th c. when Islam
began to penetrate the region and soon became the sole faith of most of the
population.
The desert nomads of Arabia then could militarily
match the nomads of the Steppes, and the early Arab Empire gained control over
parts of Central Asia. The Arab invasion also saw Chinese influence expelled
from western Central Asia. At the Battle of Talas, an Arab army decisively
defeated a Tang Dynasty force and for the next several centuries, Middle Eastern
influences would dominate the region.
Having said this, I would like to point
out that the term 'hnd' referring to hundred (as I
previously alluded to) in Arabic, is closely related to the ancient
Arabian penal code for settlement of a blood feud when the victim's
family agreed to accept financial compensation for its loss. Often the
payment of a number of camels was involved. Hence the term
'hnd' referred to a hundred camels, the penalty for slaying a
chieftain.
However, if you are more interested in military
terms specially related to Arab cavalry, there is an interesting term
for the number thousand.
The term 'tww' in Classical literature refers
to a rope that is twisted of a single strand. In Arabic, 'Tww' and/or
'TAq' literally signifies a "tie". it also means, in a strict military
context, a thousand horses or a thousand
horses. Arab cavalry is known to have used
the system of knots in counting.
Compare with 'thousand": O.E.
þusend, from P.Gmc. *thusundi (cf. O.Fris. thusend, Du. duizend, O.H.G. dusunt,
Ger. tausend, O.N. þusund, Goth. þusundi); related to words in Balto-Slavic (cf.
Lith. tukstantis, O.C.S. tysashta, Pol. tysiac, Czech tisic), and probably
ultimately a compound with indefinite meaning "several hundred" or "a great
multitude" (with first element perhaps related to Skt. tawas "strong,
force"). There was no general IE word for "thousand." Slang shortening
'thou' first recorded 1867.
Strangely enough 'tww-t', a derivative of the
Arabic 'tww', also means: point or portion of time, an hour just as the O.E
'tid' (tide) means exactly the same.
Compare with 'tide':
O.E. tid "point or portion of
time, due time," from P.Gmc. *tidiz "division of time" (cf. O.S. tid, Du. tijd,
O.H.G. zit, Ger. Zeit "time"), from PIE *di-ti-
All the above examples, with full definitions in Arabic and English
dictionaries, can be viewed by clicking the following URL: