كافور

• IPA^(key): /kaː.fuːr/

From an Austronesian language such as Malay kapur, possibly via Middle Persian 𐭪𐭠𐭯𐭥𐭫 (kʾp̄wl /⁠kāpūr⁠/).

• قَافُور (qāfūr), قَفُّور (qaffūr) — obsolete

كَافُور • (kāfūr) m

1. camphor tree, Cinnamomum camphora
   • a. 675, Ḥasan ibn Ṯābit, ألا دفنتم رسول الله في سفط:

     أَلَا دَفَنْتُم رَسُولَ اللّٰهِ فِي سَفَطٍ — مِنَ الْأَلُوَّةِ وَٱلكَافُورِ مَنْضُودِ

     ʔalā dafantum rasūla llāhi fī safaṭin — mina l-ʔaluwwati wal-kāfūri manḍūdi

     Verily you buried God’s prophet in a basket – layered of aloe and camphorwood!

2. the chemical compound camphor
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 76:5:

     إِنَّ ٱلْأَبْرَارَ يَشْرَبُونَ مِن كَأْسٍ كَانَ مِزَاجُهَا كَافُورًا

     ʔinna l-ʔabrāra yašrabūna min kaʔsin kāna mizājuhā kāfūran

     Lo! the righteous shall drink of a cup whereof the mixture is of camphor

   • a. 869, الْجَاحِظ [al-jāḥiẓ], “باب ما يُعتبر من الجواهر النفيسة ومعرفتها وقيمتها [About how one esteems precious gems, their morphology and value]”, in التَبَصُّر بِٱلتِّجَارَة [at-tabaṣṣur bi-t-tijāra]‎^[1]:

     وزعم البحريون أن اللؤلؤ الكبار المتغير اللون تلُفُّ عليه الألْيَة الطرية المشرحة، وتُؤخذ في جوف عجين ويُدخل التنور ويُبالغ في إحمائه؛ فإنه يصفو ويَحسُن ويعود إليه الماء، وإذا بُخِّر بكافور كان ذلك، وإذا عُولج بمخ العظم وبماء البِطِّيخ فإنه يصفو.

     Coastal people claim that the great motley pearls should be wrapped in a freshly cut fat-tail, then taken into a dough inserted into the oven heated up high; thereby they get pure and fair and restore their moisture, and when smoked with camphor the same happens; but if treated with bone-marrow and watermelon-juice they shine.

3. river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis)

• Andalusian Arabic: كافور (al-kāfūr)
  • → Spanish: alcanfor
    • → Tagalog: alkampor
  • → Portuguese: alcânfora
• → Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܟܐܦܘܪ, ܩܦܘܪ

  Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: כפורא, כופרא

• → Byzantine Greek: καφουρά f (kaphourá), καφούρα f (kaphoúra), καφούριoν n (kaphoúrion), καφοῦριν n (kaphoûrin)
  • Greek: καφουρά (kafourá)
• → Georgian: ქაფური (kapuri)
• → Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: kafûr

  Central Kurdish: کافوور (kafûr)

  Southern Kurdish: کافوور (kafûr)

• → Latin: caphura
  • → Catalan: càmfora
  • →? Albanian: kamfuri
• → Persian: کافور (kâfur)
  • → Middle Armenian: քաֆուր (kʻafur)
    • Armenian: քաֆուր (kʻafur)
  • → Punjabi:

    Gurmukhi script: ਕਾਫ਼ੂਰ (kāfūr)

    Shahmukhi script: كافور (kāfūr)

• → Turkish: kâfur

The shape KāLūM and the variant form vocalized in three ways especially as ending with ā suggests an Aramaic origin; attested in a broader meaning in Classical Syriac ܟܘܦܪܐ (kuppārā, “sindon; cover of a calyx”) and in Qumranic and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic כופרא (kuppārā, “palm spadix or spathe”), and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic גופרא (guppārā, “inflorescence of a palm”), Classical Mandaic ࡂࡅࡐࡀࡓࡀ (“inflorescence of a palm”), Classical Syriac ܓܘܦܪܐ (guppārā, “inflorescence also of a palm”). But still these are deemed foreign by Nöldeke following Bar ʿAlī and are probably formed in yet another Semitic language, connecting to the Arabic root ك ف ر (k f r) and غ ف ر (ḡ f r) related to “covering”.

كَافُور • (kāfūr) m (plural كَوافِير (kawāfīr))

1. bract of the inflorescence of the date palm

   Alternative forms: كُفَرَّى (kufarrā), جُفَرَّى (jufarrā)