Triliteral Root of the Day

Be slight; swift; trifling. The Triliteral Root of the Day from OCABS, in Hebrew and Arabic, with passages from the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Qurʾan.

Show Notes

ק-ל-ל (qof–lamed–lamed) / ق–ل–ل (qāf–lām–lām)

Be slight; swift; trifling

In the Hebrew Bible: qalal, be slight · qelalah, curse · qal, light · qalal, burnished

In the Qurʾan: qalīl, a little · ʾaqall, lesser · qalīla, small · qalla, little

Sound-law correspondence and an explicit cognate link. Each radical answers its like, letter for letter; no shift is needed.

Passages

  • Exodus 21:17: Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
  • Deuteronomy 11:26: Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse:
  • Genesis 12:3: I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.”
  • Matthew 25:41: Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
  • Hebrews 6:8: but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
  • Romans 12:14: Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’t curse.
  • Sūrat al-Shuʿarāʾ سورة الشعراء “The Poets” 26:54: (Who said): Lo! these indeed are but a little troop,
  • Sūrat al-Muzzammil سورة المزمل “The Enshrouded One” 73:2: Keep vigil the night long, save a little -
  • Sūrat al-Naḥl سورة النحل “The Bee” 16:117: A brief enjoyment (will be theirs); and theirs a painful doom.

The whole card on ocabs.org · The Consolation of Consonants

Opening music: Touchia Ḥijāz, Thami Ben Abdelkrim, violin, with percussion (Morocco, 1920s), public domain. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF, Archives de la Parole.

What is Triliteral Root of the Day?

Every day, one Semitic triliteral root heard in three scriptures: the root in Hebrew and Arabic, how it functions, and a passage from the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Qurʾan, read in the original languages with the English. Two or three minutes a day, from OCABS on the Ephesus School Network.