غِطَمّ
root: غ-ط-م / noun / definition: a vast sea
There I was, wandering whimsically through the dictionary (Lane’s Lexicon, to be precise), when a curious word bellowed for my attention—a horizontally-heavy, six-letter word, with three of those letters being ط.
غَطْمَطيط.
Isn’t it a beauty? In a beastly way. It’s got those hefty ط sounds compounding the initial, weighty غ, but lifted by the romantic sounds of م and ي.
On page 2272, we can find its definition:
Lane’s tells us that غطمطيط is the “sound of the sea when the waves are great and the water is abundant“, as well as the sea of that definition itself.
It can also refer to the “sound of the boiling of the sea” or “of the cooking-pot”. Nice.
غطمطيط is listed under the quadriliteral root غ-ط-م-ط, which comes straight after غ-ط-م—a root we’ve seen before.
We’ve encountered the word غِطَمّ (alongside its twin خِطَمّ) in Arabic Observations: More Word Twins. Its meaning isn’t far from غطمطيط, with غِطَمّ being defined as “a great sea, abundant in water“.
So, clearly, the roots غ-ط-م-ط and غ-ط-م are linked. But it doesn’t end there.
The root غ-ط-ط is related to immersion and plunging into water.
Meanwhile, ط-م-م is all about flooding and inundation.
And maybe we can also mention م-ط-ط, which centres on the idea of expansion and stretching.
Perhaps, then, غطمطيط’s root (غ-ط-م-ط) is an example of a compound quadriliteral, merging previously-existing roots and their meanings into something more comprehensive.
But—with another, more tentative perhaps—غِطَمّ itself may derive from a compound root. Because although غِطَمّ is listed under the root غ-ط-م, the shadda on its final letter draws our minds back to the geminate root ط-م-م.
So did the word غطمّ originate from a merging of غ-ط-ط and ط-م-م, both related to an abundance of water? It’s certainly possible.
Oh, and did I mention that the emphatic word غَطَمْطَم (found under the root غ-ط-م) exists? An adjective to describe a sea with abundant water and crashing waves?
The derivational possibilities! The abundance! The roots (the waves!) are crashing together!
!إلى اللقاء
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