# Persian: Alcohol & Sweat



## Bienvenidos

Of course this question is directed towards Tisia, but I'd like to see what you all think about it, as well. I've noticed that I've been having a hard time lately understanding Iranians (they speak Iranian Persian). I've also noticed that the different Persian dialects (Afghan Farsi, Iranian Persian) vary different in vocabulary. For instance, the other day, my aunt's friend (an Iranian) said, "the British girl is drinking "URUQQ". I almost started gagging. Why? Because "uruqq" (sorry, my computer isn't capable of giving the Arabacized word) means *sweat *in Afghan Farsi, and it means *alcohol *in Iranian Persian. The word for alcohol in Afghan Farsi is *sharob*. I'm wondering if you can confirm this, Tisia.

Anyway, I was spooked. 

*Bien*


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## elroy

I don't know jack squat about Farsi, but I find this interesting because the Arabic word عرق (pronounced _'araq_ - the obvious root of the Farsi word in question) means both "sweat" *and *a certain type of alcohol.  Of course, the word for "alcohol" in general is different - الكحول (_alkuHuul_ - indeed, the word that gave rise to the English word!), but I'm convinced there's a connection between the Farsi word and عرق, with both meanings. 

By the way, "sharob" also clearly shows an Arabic influence - the Arabic root for "drink" is ش رب (_sh r b_) and one of the words for "alcohol" (if the context makes it clear) is مشروب (_mashruub_).


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## Bienvenidos

elroy said:
			
		

> I don't know jack squat about Farsi, but I find this interesting because the Arabic word عرق (pronounced _'araq_ - the obvious root of the Farsi word in question) means both "sweat" *and *a certain type of alcohol.  Of course, the word for "alcohol" in general is different - الكحول (_alkuHuul_ - indeed, the word that gave rise to the English word!), but I'm convinced there's a connection between the Farsi word and عرق, with both meanings.
> 
> By the way, "sharob" also clearly shows an Arabic influence - the Arabic root for "drink" is ش رب (_sh r b_) and one of the words for "alcohol" (if the context makes it clear) is مشروب (_mashruub_).


 
And a synonym for sharab in Farsi is "_alkuhall". _Arabic/Farsi have inherited a lot of words from each other. 

Thanks for your interesting imput Elroy. 

*Bien*


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## elroy

Is it "sharob" or "sharab" - because "sharaab" in colloquial Arabic (شراب) is "juice"!


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## badgrammar

Back again to post slightly off-topic, but I think it' s interesting that "sharab" (or is it sharob?) sounds suspiciously like the Turkish word for wine, "şarap....


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## Bienvenidos

elroy said:
			
		

> Is it "sharob" or "sharab" - because "sharaab" in colloquial Arabic (شراب) is "juice"!


 
Honestly, I'm not that great at translating into Roman text. But I'm pretty sure it's *sharob* . Juice in Afghan Farsi is a complete borrowed word from English; we say "juice" too! I guess we may have took the Arabic word for "juice" and turned it into "happy juice (alcohol!)". 

Now I'm wondering if there are more similaritie between Afghan Farsi and Arabic or Iranian Persian and Arabic...or both! 

*Bien*


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## Jhorer Brishti

badgrammar said:
			
		

> Back again to post slightly off-topic, but I think it' s interesting that "sharab" (or is it sharob?) sounds suspiciously like the Turkish word for wine, "şarap....


 
  I wonder if this "sharob" arabic root is the progenitor of the english word "syrup" especially now that "sarap" has been shown to be extremely similar..


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## Bienvenidos

Jhorer Brishti said:
			
		

> I wonder if this "sharob" arabic root is the progenitor of the english word "syrup" especially now that "sarap" has been shown to be extremely similar..


 
You're 100% correct. It does come from "sharab" (Arabic).

*Bien*


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## Tisia

Hello every one

In Persian we say *عرق* (_araq_) for both *alcohol* and *sweat*. *شراب* _(sharab)_ we use to refer to *wine*. *Alcohols* in general we call *مشروبات الکلي* _(mashrubate alkoli).
_I haven't done the slightest study on this, but I think the Persian word *شراب* (_sharab_) for WINE come from arabic word *شرب *(shorb) for DRINKING, since in old times drinking wine has been common. WELL IT STILL EXISTS

Regards
Tisia


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## Bienvenidos

Tisia said:
			
		

> Hello every one
> 
> In Persian we say *عرق* (_araq_) for both *alcohol* and *sweat*. *شراب* _(sharab)_ we use to refer to *wine*. *Alcohols* in general we call *مشروبات الکلي* _(mashrubate alkoli)._
> I haven't done the slightest study on this, but I think the Persian word *شراب* (_sharab_) for WINE come from arabic word *شرب *(shorb) for DRINKING, since in old times drinking wine has been common. WELL IT STILL EXISTS
> 
> Regards
> Tisia


 
Always informative.  Thank you! 

*Bien*


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## Manuel_M

Bienvenidos said:
			
		

> You're 100% correct. It does come from "sharab" (Arabic).
> 
> *Bien*


 
As of course does _sherbet_ in English.

As a Maltese and as worker in the field of alcohol problems, this discussion is very interesting to me.

The Maltese word for sweat is *għaraq* (pronounced _araq_). Drink is *xorb* (pronounced _shorb_). *Xorb* and its derivatives (e.g *xorob* - he drank) in the right contexts, can at times also mean alcoholic drink, but only in the sane way as 'drink" can mean alcoholic drink in English.


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## cherine

Manuel_M said:
			
		

> The Maltese word for sweat is *għaraq* (pronounced _araq_). Drink is *xorb* (pronounced _shorb_). *Xorb* and its derivatives (e.g *xorob* - he drank) in the right contexts, can at times also mean alcoholic drink, but only in the sane way as 'drink" can mean alcoholic drink in English.


 
This is interesting too   I've heard many times that Maltese has Arabic words, and this looks like an illustrative example 
In Arbic, the word "shorb" means "drinking". And in Egypt, this word used in a certain context does mean drinking alcohol.

The word 3araq عرق which literaly means "sweat" or "sweatting", is a name of a certain time of alcoholic drink, made of dates عرق البلح , but as I don't drink, I don't know much about it.


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## mansio

3araq is a very popular beverage made of destilled wine and anise. It is known as rakı in Turkey, ouzo in Greece and pastis in France. It gets whitish when your pour water in it because of the anise.


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## DushTaker

From what I understand, عرق (or "aragh") in Iranian Farsi can mean sweat or (a certain type of alcohol)  vodka.  I don't know where this meaning comes from, but my guess is that the first Iranian to drink vodka started sweating. 

And as for شراب (or "sharab") in Iranian Farsi means (another type of alcohol) wine. 

The common word for alcohol in Iranian Farsi is مشروب (or "mashrub") and works for sharab, aragh, and any other type of alcohol you wish to speak of.

I am only learning Farsi so my knowledge is limited, but this is what I learned from my teachers, whom are native Iranians. 

خدا حافظ شما


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## Alijsh

araq (عرق) has three different meanings in Persian:

1. sweat. The native Persian word for sweat is xoy (خوی), which is found in classic literature and is still used in some dialects.

2. liquid obtained from *distillation* of herbs and fruits e.g. araq-e âvišan (عرق آویشن origan water?)

3. type of alcoholic drink. araq is produced from *distillation* (_now you know why we say araq_) of the wine of grape, dried grape (we say کشمش kešmeš ), apple, pear or fermented dates. I don't drink but I think it's stronger than wine (distillation in fact purifies the substance). As far as I know, its alcohol is from 50 to 70 percent. Araq is also (artificially) produced from ethylic alcohol and water.

šarâb (شراب) means wine. The native Persian words are bâda/bâde (باده) and may/mey (می) which are extensively used in Persian literature. Given that Tajiki Persian has no â sound and has replaced it with o, I suppose they say šarob.

explaining šarbat (شربت) is rather hard. Say we prepare a jam of sour cherry, the thick juice of the jam is called šarbat.

mašrub (مشروب) means alcoholic drink.


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## Alijsh

Bienvenidos said:


> And a synonym for sharab in Farsi is "_alkuhall". _Arabic/Farsi have inherited a lot of words from each other.
> 
> Thanks for your interesting imput Elroy.


 
Sorry Bienvenidos but I must voice my disagreement here. al[e]kol is not a synoym for šarâb. On a side note, alcohol (ethyl(ic) alcohol, ethanol) is the invention of a Persian scientist (Râzi) but as you know they usually wrote their works in Arabic and that's why he chose an Arabic name for it


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