جذور كلمةالسلام
Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris
Welcome to the roots of the Arabic word Islām
Salām, سَلاَم, is a Proto-Semitic term, used in the ancient Middle East meaning ‘peace’, before the coming of the Prophet Muhammad. This word has become one of 99 names of the Prophet, peace upon him, as-Salām. Solomon, Süleyma, Absalom, Selim, Salma, are given names whose roots come from an ancient era.
Sīn, lām, and mīm are the letters for the concept of peace, or something strictly related to this term.
Islām, a religion of peace. But as learnt in the first lesson about greetings, this root is also the same for the word ma3a salāma, literally with peace
For some Muslims Islām reflects the concept of “voluntary submission to God”. Indeed, the verbal noun of the 4th Form of the root means “submission to God” or surrender. Therefore Muslim means submitter to God or one who surrenders.
Used as the most common word to greet in the Arabic world, we find the root s-l-m in al-Qurā’n al-karīm.
The triliteral root system, characterizing the Arabic words, is common to all the other Semitic languages, coming from the same origin.
Let’s see some of the derived terms:
sālama – to keep, make peace سَالَمَ
ʾaslam, safer أَسْلَم
sallama – to wish peace upon to somebody سَلَّمَ
silmiyy, peaceful سِلْمِيّ
peace Salāma سَلَامَة
peace – salām سَلَام
muslim مُسْلِم
قوات حفظ السلا م Peacekeeping( lit. forces of maintenance of peace)
اتفاق السلام Peace Agreement
Exercise 1.
Try to pronounce the following sentences containing the root s-l-m.
هل أنت مسلمة ؟
Hal anti Muslima? – are you muslim?
Lit. (go) with peace! – Bye!
Exercise 2.
Fill the sentences with the correct word
Muslim, Salīm, as-salāmu, Salma, as-salām, muslim, aslamtu (I became muslim)
– …… 3alay-kum, yā …… wa …
- Wa 3alay-ka ..-…… yā …
- Hal anta ……?
- Na3am, āna …… mundhu 3āmīn (two years ago)
- (إنا أسلمت منذ عامين)
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