شبر

Noun

span (the measure of the hand)

Verb

to mete with the span, to apportion by the شِبْر (šibr)

Verb

1. to magnify, to extol
2. to gesture, to sign with the hand

Etymology

A trade term presumably acquired by Arabic when it was employed for transactions to the north of the Peninsula in farther antiquity, from Hebrew שֶׁבֶר (šeḇer) in a vocalization more conservative than the Tiberian one, or from Ammonite or Old Aramaic, or even directly Akkadian 𒆬𒉻𒁺 (KU₃.PAD.DU /⁠šibirtu, šabartu, šebirtu, šipirtu⁠/, “break, fragment, lump of a stone or ore etc.”), derivations of Proto-Semitic *ṯabar- (“to break in twain”), the later Aramaic parallel to which also was borrowed by Arabic as تِبْر (tibr, “pure ore of gold or silver”).

Concepts

foot

🦶

gesticulate

measure with the hand

span of the hand

Translations

empan