Quranic root
زلم
z · l · m
The root centers on slenderness, fineness, and tapering or paring, with the divining arrow as a principal lexical branch.
From the idea of a slender or pared form, the lexicon develops meanings for arrows, cutting and shaping, smallness, pendulous appendages, and physically slight forms; the arrow branch also yields the conventional instrument of divination.
- Maqāyīs · row 2284
- Lane · entry 31496
- Lane · entry 31497
- Lane · entry 31500
- Lane · entry 31509
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 2
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
زَلَمٌ
zalamun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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 divining arrow: an arrow used in sortilege to seek an indication of what one should do or what has been allotted to one.
The Quranic form is the plural أَزْلَام. The arrows were traditionally marked with commands, prohibitions, or left blank, and drawn to decide whether to proceed with an affair.
- Lane · entry 31500
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:3word 28
“by divining arrows”
Quran 5:90word 8
“and divining arrows”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
View all 2 occurrencesBroader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 21 Classical meanings
زَلَمَ
To cut off the nose, or another projecting or prominent part.
The extension to anything projecting is reported as an apparent or assumed figurative use.
- Lane · entry 31496
زَلَمَ، مُزَلَّمٌ
To make a gift small or scant in amount; مُزَلَّمٌ describes a gift that is small or scanted.
The verb is explained as a figurative extension of cutting something away.
- Lane · entry 31496
- Lane · entry 31509
زَلَمَ
To fill a watering-trough, tank, or vessel.
- Lane · entry 31496
زَلَّمَ
To cut or pare an arrow and shape it evenly, supplely, and with good proportion and workmanship; by extension, to round or properly prepare a millstone or stone.
The principal construction is with an arrow; the same shaping action is also applied to millstones and stones.
- Lane · entry 31497
اِزْدَلَمَ
To cut off someone's head or extirpate the nose.
- Lane · entry 31498
زَلَمٌ، أَزْلَامٌ
The slender legs of a wild ox or cow.
This is a figurative comparison of the legs to slender arrows.
- Lane · entry 31500
زَلَمٌ
A strong, light, or active boy.
The description is explained as likening the boy to a slender arrow.
- Lane · entry 31500
زَلَمٌ، زُلَمٌ
A cloven hoof, especially that of an ox or similar animal, or the projection behind it.
The plural is أَزْلَام.
- Lane · entry 31500
زَلَمٌ، زُلَمٌ
The hyrax, one of the animals called وَبْرٌ.
The plural is أَزْلَام.
- Lane · entry 31500
زَلْمَة، زُلْمَة
In the idiom هُوَ العَبْدُ زَلْمَةً, a person whose appearance or conformation is that of a slave; by extension, one who is truly or completely a slave, and figuratively a low, ignoble, or mean person.
The expression is proverbial and is used in disapproval. Some authorities interpret زَلْمَةً as meaning “truly” or “in reality.”
- Lane · entry 31502
زَلَمَةٌ
A pendulous wattle hanging externally from a goat's throat; a she-goat may have two such appendages.
A similar appendage of the ear is distinguished by the form with ن.
- Lane · entry 31504
أَزْلَمُ، زَلْمَاءُ
Having the end of the ear cut, with a portion left hanging; of a goat, having the two wattles called زَلَمَتَانِ.
Applied to certain camels, sheep, and goats; the feminine form is زَلْمَاءُ.
- Lane · entry 31508
الأَزْلَمُ الجَذَعُ، الزَّلْمَاءُ
The male mountain-goat, or the female mountain-goat in the corresponding feminine form.
Used in the expression الأَزْلَمُ الجَذَعُ and its feminine counterpart الزَّلْمَاءُ.
- Lane · entry 31508
الأَزْلَمُ الجَذَعُ
A hard or rigorous time or fortune, marked by trials and deaths.
A conventional figurative expression for a period whose course brings destruction or inescapable hardship.
- Lane · entry 31508
الزَّلْمَاءُ
The female of a hawk species.
- Lane · entry 31508
مُزَلَّمٌ، مُزَلَّمَةٌ
Well pared, proportioned, shaped, even, and supple.
Applied especially to an arrow; the feminine form is also applied to a staff.
- Lane · entry 31509
مُزَلَّمٌ
Short or cropped in the tail.
An assumed figurative extension of something having its projecting part cut away.
- Lane · entry 31509
زَلَّمَ
To give someone bad or inadequate nourishment, so that the person's body becomes small.
The meaning is an assumed figurative extension associated with making something small.
- Lane · entry 31497
مُزَلَّمٌ
Small in body, or badly fed.
The adjective may describe one rendered small by poor feeding or simply one who is badly fed.
- Lane · entry 31509
مُزَلَّمٌ، مُزَلَّمَةٌ
Of slight, light, short, or active build; of a woman, not tall.
Applied to a man in the masculine form and to a woman in the feminine form; some descriptions also include elegance or cleverness.
- Lane · entry 31509
مُزَلَّمٌ
Of a horse, middling or moderate in build.
The expression concerns the horse's overall conformation.
- Lane · entry 31509
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic form is plural أَزْلَام; the public headword is normalized to the singular زَلَمٌ. زُلَمٌ is also recorded as a vocalic variant.
The Quranic usage concerns divining arrows. The lexical evidence reports, but rejects, an identification of أَزْلَام with the arrows used in the game of maysir.