صوم

Meaning

abstain

abstinent

Sawm

νηστεία

Oruç

Saoum

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sˤawm/

Compare with Hebrew צוֹם (ṣōm), Ge'ez ጾም (ṣom, “fast”), Ugaritic 𐎑𐎎 (ẓm, “fast”). Nöldeke was convinced that the meaning “to fast” is borrowed from the Aramaic צומא / ܨܰܘܡܳܐ (ṣōmā, ṣawmā, “fast”), referring to the verb’s meaning “to stand still”, Jeffery says that the Arabic verb is “obviously denominative from صَوْم (ṣawm)” and notes that the term is only used in late Qurʾānic passages. Cognate with Armenian ծոմ (com, “fast”) from Aramaic.