صير

Arabic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sˤaj.ja.ra/

Etymology 1

Verb

صَيَّرَ • (ṣayyara) II, non-past يُصَيِّرُ‎ (yuṣayyiru)

1. (ditransitive) to cause to become, to render, to make

   Synonyms: حَوَّلَ (ḥawwala), جَعَلَ (jaʕala), قَلَبَ (qalaba), أَحَالَ (ʔaḥāla)

   صَيَّرَتِ الْبُرُودَةُ الْمَاءَ جَلِيدًا.

   ṣayyarati al-burūdatu l-māʔa jalīdan.

   Coldness turned the water into ice.

   صَيَّرَ ٱلْحُلْوَ مَرِيرًا

   ṣayyara l-ḥulwa marīran

   to turn sweet into bitter

Conjugation

Etymology 2

From Aramaic צִיר (ṣīr, “the own juice wherein fish is conserved; fish brine”). Also in Hebrew צִיר (ṣīr, “sauce, broth, gravy, brine”). In Classical Syriac instead with unemphatic anlaut: ܣܼܝܪܵܐ (sīrā) used for the sense of small dried fish in the Grecized plural ܣܼܝܪ̈ܲܣ (sīras) or ܣܼܝܪܸ̈ܣ (sīres), hence apparently identical to the “strap” word found in Arabic more usually as سَيْر (sayr) than as صَيْر (ṣayr), referring to fish so small that they would only be apprehended as a “thread”.

Noun

صِير • (ṣīr) m (obsolete)

1. brine
2. (perhaps various kinds of) dried and fermented river fish, fry (main ingredient of the spice paste صِحْنَاء (ṣiḥnāʔ))

Declension

Descendants

• → Coptic:

  Sahidic Coptic: ϫⲓⲣ (čir)

  Bohairic Coptic: ϫⲓⲣ (čir)

  Fayyumic Coptic: ϫⲓⲗ (čil)

See also

• مُرِّيّ (murriyy), بُنّ (bunn), أُجَاج (ʔujāj), رُبَيْثَاء (rubayṯāʔ)

Further reading

• Bishai, Wilson B. (1964) “Coptic Lexical Influence on Egyptian Arabic”, in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, volume 23, number 1, →DOI, page 45b claims it from Coptic
• Dozy, Reinhart Pieter Anne (1881) “صير”, in Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes‎ (in French), volume 1, Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 856b
• نَجِيب الدِّين السَّمَرْقَنْدِيّ [najīb ad-dīn as-samarqandiyy] (a. 1222) Juliane Müller, editor, كِتَاب الْأَغْذِيَة وَٱلْأَشْرِبَة [kitāb al-ʔaḡdiya wa-l-ʔǎšriba] (Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies; 101)‎ (in Arabic), Leiden: Brill, published 2017, →ISBN, page 379
• 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 173, claims Indo-European provenance cognate to Proto-Slavic *syrъ (“cheese”)
• “ṣyr²”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–

Etymology 3

Noun

صَيْر • (ṣayr) m

1. verbal noun of صَارَ (ṣāra) (form I)

Declension

Etymology 4

Verb

صِيرَ • (ṣīra) (form I)

1. third-person masculine singular past passive of صَارَ (ṣāra)

Etymology 5

Noun

صَيْر • (ṣayr) m (plural صُيُور (ṣuyūr))

1. Nonstandard form of سَيْر (sayr, “strap; antler …”)

Declension