Quranic root
سوم
s · w · m
The root's central orientation is seeking or going toward a thing.
From this orientation develop commercial seeking and offering, sending or allowing livestock to pasture, imposing something upon someone, and related senses of release or dispatch. The mark-and-sign branch is treated as a divergent lexical development associated with سُومَة and سِيمَا.
- Maqāyīs · row 2531
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 8
- Quran senses
- 15
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
سَامَ
sāma
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 4 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To inflict or bring evil punishment or torment upon someone; to afflict.
In the Quranic construction يَسُومُونَكُمْ سُوءَ الْعَذَابِ, the verb governs the person subjected to the punishment. The lexical evidence also records interpretations involving imposing, seeking, or making someone incur the punishment.
- Lane · entry 42797
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:49word 6
“(who were) afflicting you (with)”
Quran 7:167word 10
“would afflict them”
أَسَامَ
ʾasāma
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To pasture livestock; to send cattle out to graze, allowing them to pasture freely.
Used of cattle or camels that are taken out to pasture or left to graze by themselves. The Quranic occurrence has the second-person plural subject addressing those who pasture their livestock.
- Lane · entry 42800
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:10word 13
“you pasture your cattle”
مُسَوِّمٌ
musawwimun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Marked or bearing a distinguishing sign.
In the Quranic angel passage, this is an interpretation of مُسَوِّمِينَ in which the angels are identified by marks associated with their horses or equipment.
- Lane · entry 42818
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:125word 15
“[the ones] having marks”
Sent forth or dispatched.
An alternative Quranic interpretation of مُسَوِّمِينَ in the angel passage; the participle may describe forces sent out for action rather than marked by signs.
- Lane · entry 42818
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:125word 15
“[the ones] having marks”
مُسَوَّمٌ
musawwamun
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- Quran occurrences
- 3 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Marked, branded, or identified by a distinguishing sign.
Used of the marked horses and of the stones of baked clay. The mark may be understood as branding, contrasting color, a seal-like impression, an identifying inscription or name, or a sign distinguishing the stones as divinely sent for punishment.
- Lane · entry 42818
Selected Quran examples
Sent forth or dispatched.
An alternative interpretation in the Quranic passages about the horses and the stones; the horses may be sent to pasture or advanced with their riders, and the stones may be understood as sent forth.
- Lane · entry 42818
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:14word 14
“[the] branded”
Quran 51:34word 1
“Marked”
Of goodly make or fine form.
A reported interpretation specifically associated with the Quranic expression الخَيْلُ المُسَوَّمَةُ, the marked or distinguished horses.
- Lane · entry 42818
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:14word 14
“[the] branded”
سِيمَا
sīmā
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 6 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A mark, sign, token, or badge by which something is recognized or distinguished.
The sign may identify people or distinguish one condition from another; in the Quran it is associated with recognizable marks on faces or persons.
- Lane · entry 42807
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:49يَسُومُونَكُمْ(who were) afflicting you (with)
- 2:273بِسِيمَـٰهُمْby their mark
- 3:14ٱلْمُسَوَّمَةِ[the] branded
- 3:125مُسَوِّمِينَ[the ones] having marks
- 7:46بِسِيمَىٰهُمْ ۚby their marks
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 32 Classical meanings
سَوْمٌ
Going out in pursuit of a thing, or seeking to find, obtain, or take it.
The verbal noun of سَامَ; in commercial contexts, seeking to obtain a commodity or its sale.
- Lane · entry 42797
سَامَ
Of livestock, to pasture freely or rove while grazing.
Used of cattle, camels, sheep, or goats that pasture by themselves where they please.
- Lane · entry 42797
سَامَ
To do as one pleases, or to leave someone free to do so.
The expression خَلَّيْتُهُ وَسَوْمَهُ means that someone was left to act according to his own choice.
- Lane · entry 42797
سَامَ
To pass, go along, or move quickly.
Used of camels and of wind or winds; the verbal noun can emphasize rapid passage.
- Lane · entry 42797
سَامَ
To go, hover, or circle around something.
A specialized usage reported of birds moving around an object.
- Lane · entry 42797
سَامَ
To offer a commodity for sale, or seek its sale or purchase by stating a price.
Used of either seller or purchaser in commercial negotiation; the construction may involve offering, asking, or quoting the price of the commodity.
- Lane · entry 42797
سَامَ
To impose, require, or bring a difficult or unwanted affair upon someone; to constrain or abase him.
A broader Classical construction than the Quranic punishment usage, commonly associated with hardship, trouble, punishment, or humiliation.
- Lane · entry 42797
سَامَ
To keep or cleave to something without quitting it.
A reported Form I construction meaning to remain attached to or persist in a matter.
- Lane · entry 42797
سَوَّمَ
To send horses or camels out to pasture.
The animals are sent to graze where they will.
- Lane · entry 42798
سَوَّمَ
To leave someone free to act, or entrust him with authority to decide over property or an affair.
Includes leaving a person to do as he pleases and giving him discretionary control or judicial authority in a matter.
- Lane · entry 42798
سَوَّمَ
To urge one's horses against a people and make havoc among them.
A martial construction with the horses understood as the means of attack.
- Lane · entry 42798
تَسْوِيمٌ
Making a horse sweat thoroughly.
A specialized equestrian usage.
- Lane · entry 42798
سَوَّمَ
To put a distinguishing mark upon a horse.
The mark may be branding, a contrasting sign, or another feature by which the horse is recognized.
- Lane · entry 42798
سَاوَمَ
To bargain, chaffer, or contend over the price of a commodity.
A reciprocal commercial construction in which one party offers a price and another seeks a lower or different price.
- Lane · entry 42799
أَسَامَ
To urge a horse to run, or to mark it.
These are reported interpretations of a specialized Form IV usage.
- Lane · entry 42800
أَسَامَ
To cast one's eye or eyes at someone or something.
Used with إِلَيْهِ بِبَصَرِهِ.
- Lane · entry 42800
تَسَوَّمَ
To set a mark, token, or badge upon oneself by which one may be known.
Especially used of distinguishing oneself in war or battle.
- Lane · entry 42801
مُسْتَامَةٌ
A land where camels pasture freely or roam to graze.
Applied to land into which livestock go to pasture by themselves.
- Lane · entry 42803
سَامٌ
Death.
The Arabic status of this word is questioned in the lexical evidence; it also occurs in the hostile greeting السَّامُ عَلَيْكُمْ.
- Lane · entry 42804
سَامٌ
A tree whose wood is used for ships' masts.
Identified in the evidence with the tree خَيْزُرَان.
- Lane · entry 42804
سَامٌ
A hollow or cavity in the ground where water remains, stagnates, or collects.
A natural depression capable of holding water.
- Lane · entry 42804
سَامٌ
Gold or silver in veins within stone, or an ingot of gold or silver.
The word may denote the veins collectively, a single vein, the metal, or an ingot according to the reported usage.
- Lane · entry 42804
سَوْمٌ
The price or value of a commodity.
A substantivized verbal noun used in commercial expressions; it may describe an expensive or high price.
- Lane · entry 42805
سَامَةٌ
A hollow dug in the ground near a well, apparently intended to hold water for cattle.
Its plural is reported as سِيَمٌ, originally سِوَمٌ.
- Lane · entry 42806
سِيمِيَاءُ
Natural magic.
A later usage reported as an application of the word, with a Persian origin noted in the lexical discussion.
- Lane · entry 42811
سَوَامٌ
Two small hollows beneath a horse's eye.
A specialized anatomical term.
- Lane · entry 42812
سَوَامٌ
An evil or harmful thing.
A reported interpretation of a poetic occurrence; the evidence presents the interpretation as attributed rather than generally established.
- Lane · entry 42812
سُوَامٌ
A certain bird.
The species is not further identified in the supplied lexical evidence.
- Lane · entry 42813
سَائِمٌ
Roving freely; especially, livestock pasturing by themselves in open land rather than being fed with fodder.
Used of cattle, camels, sheep, or goats sent out to graze where they will. A related plural form in a reported tradition is also interpreted as secure or free to roam.
- Lane · entry 42815
مَسَامٌ
A place where cattle pasture freely or rove while grazing.
A place-name or locative usage connected with livestock left to pasture themselves.
- Lane · entry 42816
مَسَامٌ
A place of passage, or a quick passage.
A reported alternative interpretation of the same word, attributed to poetic usage.
- Lane · entry 42816
مَسَامَةٌ
A broad, thick wooden structural member, including a piece at the bottom of a door's side-posts; also a staff in the front of a camel howdah.
Technical vocabulary for wooden components of doors and camel vehicles.
- Lane · entry 42817
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Lane Quran citation rendered as [iii. 121] for مُسَوِّمِينَ is not converted into a modern verse location; the supplied QAC occurrence is independently located at 3:125.
The mark/sign forms سِيمَا and related spellings are linked lexically with the root in the supplied evidence, while the root-level source characterizes this branch as divergent from the central seeking orientation.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
lane-unit:swm:42806:g3:main reports سَامَةٌ as equivalent to سَاقَةٌ, but the supplied unit does not define سَاقَةٌ sufficiently to assign its precise meaning confidently.