Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

by Edward William Lane (1801-1876)

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زنج زنجبيل زنجر


زَنْجَبِيلٌ

زَنْجَبِيلٌ [Ginger; amomum zinziber;] a certain plant growing in the country of the Arabs, in the land of 'Omán, (AḤn, TA,) and in El-Yemen also; (TA;) well known: (Ṣ:) [or the root thereof;] a certain root, or roots, (accord. to different copies of the Ḳ,) creeping beneath the ground; (Ḳ, TA;) burning, or biting, to the tongue; (TA;) growing like the stalks of the papyrus, (Ḳ, TA,) and the رَاسَن [mentioned below]: there is no wild sort of it; nor is it a tree that is eaten fresh like as herbs, or leguminous plants, are eaten; but it is used in a dry state; and its conserve is the best of conserves; and the best thereof is what is brought from the country of the Zinj and China: (TA:) it has a property that is heating, or warming, digestive, lenitive in a small degree, strengthening to the venereal faculty, (Ḳ, TA,) clearing to the phlegm, (TA,) sharpening to the intellect, (Ḳ * TA,) and exhilarating: (TA:) if mixed with the moisture of the liver of the goat, and dried, and pulverized, and used as a collyrium, it removes the film [upon the eye], and obscurity of the sight. (Ḳ, TA.)

Root: زنجبيل - Entry: زَنْجَبِيلٌ Signification: A2

It is mentioned in the Ḳur, where it is said, [lxxvi. 17 and 18,] كَانَ مِزَاجُهَا زَنْجَبِيلًا عَيْنًا فِيهَا تُسَمَّى سَلْسَبِيلًا [The admixture whereof shall be زنجبيل, a fountain therein named Selsebeel]: i. e. it shall have the flavour of زنجبيل [or ginger], which the Arabs esteem very pleasant: it may mean that زنجبيل is [essentially] in the wine of Paradise: or that it is the admixture thereof: or that it is a name for the fountain whence this wine is taken, and which is named Selsebeel also. (Az, O, TA.) As some assert, (ISd, TA,) it means also Wine [absolutely]. (Ṣ, ISd, Ḳ.)

Root: زنجبيل - Entry: زَنْجَبِيلٌ Signification: A3

زَنْجَبِيلُ الكِلَابِ A certain herb, or leguminous plant, the leaves of which are like [those of] the خِلَاف [or salix Aegyptia], and the twigs are red: it clears the [discoloration of the face termed] كَلَف, and the [spots in the skin termed] نَمَش; and it kills dogs; (Ḳ;) wherefore it is named in relation to them. (TA.)

Root: زنجبيل - Entry: زَنْجَبِيلٌ Signification: A4

زَنْجَبِيلُ العَجَمِ i. q. الأُشْتُرْغَازُ [a word of Persian origin, now applied by Arabs to A species of carline thistle]. (Ḳ.) [Accord. to Freytag, Horminum, or salvia silvestris: but this, I believe, is what is called in Pers. أُشْتُرْغَان.]

Root: زنجبيل - Entry: زَنْجَبِيلٌ Signification: A5

زَنْجَبِيلُ الشَّامِ i. q. الرَّاسَنُ [Inula helenium, common inula, or elecampane]. (Ḳ.)


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