حصن

Borrowed from Aramaic חִצְנַא / ܚܶܨܢܳܐ (ḥeṣnā, “stronghold, fortress”), assimilating the laryngeal from earlier 𐡇𐡎𐡍𐡀 / ܚܶܣܢܳܐ (ḥesnā, “stronghold, fortress”), also חוּסנַא / ܚܽܘܣܢܳܐ (ḥusnā), already attested in Old Aramaic 𐤇𐤎𐤍𐤀 (ḥsnʾ), deriving from a well-used root ח־ס־ן ܚ ܣ ܢ, which would be cognate to the Arabic root خ ش ن (ḵ š n) related to roughness, or perhaps ح س ن (ḥ s n) related to goodliness, comeliness, if one relates pulchritude with brawn, and fortresses with exaltedness of appearance. This ascription of Aramaic origin is corroborated by the consideration that fortresses are not to be sought in the original place of the Arabic language, and in conformity with this, most other terms for fortresses, castles, and towers are borrowed, بُرْج (burj), قَصْر (qaṣr), بَلَاط (balāṭ), مِجْدَل (mijdal), صَرْح (ṣarḥ), مِحْرَاب (miḥrāb), صَوْمَعَة (ṣawmaʕa), سَرَاي (sarāy), إِيوَان (ʔīwān), قَشْلَة (qašla).

The root’s other formations, containing meanings related to inaccessibility, protection, strength, are denominal from the word for the fortress, حِصْن (ḥiṣn)

Though the root ح ص ن (ḥ ṣ n) contains حِصَان (ḥiṣān, “horse, stallion, stud”), not even this is a strong contender for a native origin in this root, since this word for a stud or stallion, of high register, could have been invented easily in folk poetry from the idea of strength a fortress is connected to, which is supported by the fact that horses are not to be sought in Arabia either, and the other word فَرَس (faras) has also been picked up.

• IPA^(key): /ħisˤn/
  • (Hijazi) IPA^(key): /ħi.sˤin/, [ħɪ.sˤɪn]

حِصْن • (ḥiṣn) m (plural حُصُون (ḥuṣūn) or حِصَنَة (ḥiṣana) or أَحْصَان (ʔaḥṣān))

1. (also figuratively) stronghold, fortress, entrenchment
   • لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ حِصْنِي فَمَنْ دَخَلَ حِصْنَي أَمِنَ مِنْ عَذَابِي

     lā ʔilāha ʔillā llāhu ḥiṣnī faman daḵala ḥiṣnay ʔamina min ʕaḏābī

     "There is no god but God" is my fortress and whomever enters my fortress is saved from my torture (hadith)

2. armor or weapons

• → Georgian: ისანი (isani)
• → Ottoman Turkish: حصن (hısn)
  • Turkish: hısn
• → Spanish: izn

• Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, pages 235–236
• Praetorius, Franz (1907) “Äthiopische Etymologien”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft‎^[1] (in German), volume 61, pages 616–617
• “ḥṣn”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• “ḥsn²”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• “ḥsn³”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• “ḥsn”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–

After the root ح ص ن (ḥ ṣ n).

حَصُنَ • (ḥaṣuna) I (non-past يَحْصُنُ (yaḥṣunu), verbal noun حَصَانَة (ḥaṣāna))

1. to be inaccessible, to be unattainable, to be fortified (of a fortress or similar location)

حَصُنَ • (ḥaṣuna) I (non-past يَحْصُنُ (yaḥṣunu), verbal noun حَصْن (ḥaṣn) or حُصْن (ḥuṣn) or حِصْن (ḥiṣn))

1. to be continent, to be chaste, to keep decor (by keeping in husbandly home or unapproached)

حَصْن or حُصْن or حِصْن • (ḥaṣn or ḥuṣn or ḥiṣn) m

1. verbal noun of حَصُنَ (ḥaṣuna, “to be continent, to be chaste, to keep decor”) (form I)

حَصَّنَ • (ḥaṣṣana) II (non-past يُحَصِّنُ (yuḥaṣṣinu), verbal noun تَحْصِين (taḥṣīn))

1. to render inaccessible, to make unattainable
2. to immunize, to vaccinate (that is, to make unattainable for pathogens)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): /ħu.sˤun/

حُصُن • (ḥuṣun) m pl

1. plural of حِصَان (ḥiṣān)

Borrowed from Arabic حِصْن (ḥiṣn, “stronghold, fortress”), from Aramaic חִצְנַא (ḥeṣnā, “stronghold, fortress”).

حصن • (hısn) (definite accusative حصنی (hısnı), plural حصون (husun))

1. natural or artificial stronghold, especially a castle, fortress or citadel

   Synonyms: حصار (hisar), دز (diz), قسطل (kastel), قلعه (kalʼe), كرمان (kerman)

• Turkish: hısn

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “hısn”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 1954
• Devellioğlu, Ferit (1962) “hısn”, in Osmanlıca-Türkçe Ansiklopedik Lûgat‎‎^[2] (in Turkish), Istanbul: Türk Dil Kurumu, page 433
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “حصن”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[3] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 509
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Arx”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[4], Vienna, column 88
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “حصن”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[5], Vienna, column 1768
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “حصن”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[6], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 789