سورة
Arabic

Etymology 1
Assigned to the root س و ر (s-w-r). It is not clear from which word it was borrowed, it might be from Classical Syriac ܫܘܽܪܳܐ (šūrā, “wall; also figuratively for any divider”), compare سُور (sūr, “wall”) from the same word, or from Classical Syriac ܣܽܘܪܓܳܕܳܐ (sūrgāḏā, “line; writing”), or from Hebrew סִדְרָה (siḏrā, “technical term for the section marks in the Hebrew scriptures”), or from Hebrew שִׁיר (šīr, “lyric song; poem”), or from a variant vocalization of Classical Syriac ܣܻܝܪܳܐ (sīrā, “thread; chapter, topical division of a book”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /suː.ra/
Noun
سُورَة • (sūra) f (plural سُوَر (suwar))
- (Islam) sura, surah
- Meronym: آيَة (ʔāya)
- Holonym: اَلْقُرْآن (al-qurʔān)
- Hyponyms: سُورَة مَدَنِيَّة (sūra(t) madaniyya), سُورَة مَكِّيَّة (sūra(t) makkiyya)
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 2:23:
- وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ فِي رَيْبٍ مِمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَى عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُوا بِسُورَةٍ مِنْ مِثْلِهِ وَٱدْعُوا شُهَدَاءَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
- wa-ʔin kuntum fī raybin mimmā nazzalnā ʕalā ʕabdinā fa-ʔtū bisūratin min miṯlihi wa-dʕū šuhadāʔakum min dūni llāhi ʔin kuntum ṣādiqīna
- And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful.
Declension
Lua error: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
Descendants
Etymology 2
From the root س و ر (s-w-r).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /saw.ra/
Declension
Lua error: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
References
- Ahrens, Karl (1930), “Christliches im Qoran. Eine Nachlese”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (in German), volume 84, page 19
- Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 238
- Freytag, Georg (1833), “سورة”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 374
- Jeffery, Arthur (1938) The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān (Gaekwad’s Oriental Series; 79), Baroda: Oriental Institute, pages 180–182
- Lane, Edward William (1863), “سورة”, in Arabic-English Lexicon, London: Williams & Norgate, page 1465
- Nöldeke, Theodor (1910) Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, page 26
- Wehr, Hans (1979), “سورة”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN, page 514