Sonobar
Sonobar arabice pinus.
Translation:
Sonobar is Arabic for Latin pinus {"pine"}.
Commentary:
Wehr (1976: 527): ﺻﻨﻮﺑﺮ /ṣanaubar/ "stone pine (Pinus pinea; bot.)". Siggel (1950: 48): ﺻﻨﻮﺑﺮ /ṣanaubar/ e. Pinus, Kiefer. {"pine-, fir-tree"}.
Simon's transcription is a reasonably exact phonetic rendering of the word. Emphatic consonants like /ṣ/ in Arabic influence the following /a/ sound towards a sound similar to the one in British English "hot", IPA [ɒ], and classical Arabic /au/ - the sound in English "cow" - is dialectally often pronounced /ō/, as in French "eau", German "so", Scottish "boat". The Arabic pronunciation Simon portrays is therefore most likely /ṣɒ'nōbar/.
Cf. Gairdner (1925: 46f).
Another possibility is that Simon is trying to transcribe a different vocalisation pattern as found in some glossaries from Spain:
- Vocabulista, ed. Schiaparelli (1871: 131): /ṣunubra/ Pinus [[1]]; (1871: 523): PINUS ﺼﻨﺑﺮﺓ ﺼﻨﺑﺮﺍﺕ ﻭﺼﻨﻮﺑﺮ /ṣunubra, ṣunubrāt wa-ṣunūbar/ [[2]].
- de Alcalá (1883: 350): pino generalmente {generic “pine tree”} çunubra çunúbar; pino aluar {“Scotts pine”} çonóbra çonóbar; pino negral {"Corsican pine”} çonóbra çonóbar; piña de piñones {"pine cone with pine nuts"} çonóbra çonóbar [[3]].
- The form ﺻﻨﻮﺑﺮ /ṣunūbar/ is also confirmed in Karbstein’s (2002: 143) early 17th c. glossary of Morisco Arabic: "7) Pinienkern {i.e. 'pine-kernel'} ﺣﺐ ﺍﻟﺼﻨﻮﺑﺮ /ḥabu al-ṣunūbar/", Classical Arabic /ḥabb al- ṣanaubar/.
Cf. also Corriente (1997: 311), s.v. *(ṢNBR).
Cf. Dozy (1877-81: I.845): ﺼﻨﺑﺮﺓ /ṣunubra/ pin ("pine"} with Vocabulista as his souce; also ﺻﻨﻮﺑﺮ /ṣanaubar/, but in the Vocabulista vocalised /ṣunūbar/, nomen unitatis ﺓ, pignon {"pine-seed, -kernel"}.
WilfGunther 03/06/2012
See also: Pinus arbor
