# Arabic لثة "gum"



## CyrusSH

As a loanword in Persian, لثه (lase) means "gum" (flesh around teeth) but according to this dictionary: معنی انگم | دیکشنری فارسی به عربی it also means _angum_ in Persian! 

gum | Origin and meaning of gum by Online Etymology Dictionary

gum (n.1): c. 1300, "resin from dried sap of plants," from Old French gome "(medicinal) gum, resin," from Late Latin gumma, from Latin gummi, from Greek kommi "gum," from Egyptian kemai. 
gum (n.2): "soft tissues of the mouth," Old English goma "palate, side of the mouth" (single or plural), from a Germanic source represented by Old Norse gomi "palate," Old High German goumo.

It seems the Arabic word has both meanings of "gum", does it mean this word has different origins in Arabic too or there is a relation between these two meanings?


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## berndf

English _gum (n.1) _and _gum (n.2)_ are completely unrelated words.


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## CyrusSH

berndf said:


> English _gum (n.1) _and _gum (n.2)_ are completely unrelated words.



Wordreference website says that the Arabic word for _gum (n.1) _ is صمغ: gum - قاموس WordReference.com إنجليزي - عربي It is possible that there is a mistake in that Persian dictionary because of using an Arabic-to-English dictionary as the source!


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## berndf

CyrusSH said:


> Wordreference website says that the Arabic word for _gum (n.1) _ is صمغ: gum - قاموس WordReference.com إنجليزي - عربي It is possible that there is a mistake in that Persian dictionary because of using an Arabic-to-English dictionary as the source!


Yes, possible. Those are the perils of indirect translation. You are a native speaker. Would you use لثه to mean _gumma _in Persian?


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## CyrusSH

berndf said:


> Yes, possible. Those are the perils of indirect translation. You are a native speaker. Would you use لثه to mean _gumma _in Persian?



No, as I said in Persian لثه just means "gum" (flesh around teeth), that is a strange mistake in a reliable Persian dictionary!


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## CyrusSH

According to another Persian dictionary, Arabic لثة (laṯa) means "milky sap, *latex*".


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## Treaty

Latex in Arabic is لثی (not sure about the pronunciation, laṯa or liṯa). I'm not sure if it is a loan or not (the verb لث seems to have something to do with rain or dripping). Almaany lists _acacine _(gum arabic) as a meaning of لثه. Though, I'm not sure it originally referred to that certain acacia tree or the gum produced by it (it is listed as "some kind of tree" in Dehkhoda's).


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## fdb

In Arabic these are two different words:

liϑatun لثة means “gum (of the mouth)”
laϑan لثى  (with the article: al-laϑā اللثى) means “dew, gum of a tree”


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## berndf

fdb said:


> laϑan لثى means “dew, gum of a tree”


With a floating Alif or with a nūn?


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## jimqk

Any plausible link between these two Arabic words? Seems a very odd coincidence that English and Arabic both have same/similar words for concepts that don't seem related - unless I'm missing something?


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## CyrusSH

Maybe "chewing gum" makes a relation?!


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## Borin3

Treaty said:


> Latex in Arabic is لثی (not sure about the pronunciation, laṯa or liṯa). I'm not sure if it is a loan or not (the verb لث seems to have something to do with rain or dripping).


 Interesting.. root lit in Slavic means to pour.

Guma in most European languages means rubber. What is rubber produced from?
Do You Know How to Say Rubber in Different Languages?


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## fdb

berndf said:


> With a floating Alif or with a nūn?



I did not design this miserable font. It is with alif maqsura (alif in the shape of ya').


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## fdb

jimqk said:


> Any plausible link between these two Arabic words? Seems a very odd coincidence that English and Arabic both have same/similar words for concepts that don't seem related - unless I'm missing something?



Yes, I think it is a very odd coincidence. لثى is a rare word, but it is in the mediaeval lexica.


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## Borin3

berndf said:


> English _gum (n.1) _and _gum (n.2)_ are completely unrelated words.


I'm not sure they are completely unrelated. "Gum"root is basically rubber in many other languages...rubber is soft, and gum in English describes soft tissue around the teeth. Gum is like rubber. Why is the chewing gum called chewing gum?　Because that gum is also similar to rubber. 
Etymonline says there is a verb "to gum" which means to chew without teeth. What is the reasoning behind "chewing gum"? Can someone chew their gums? No, the deepest meaning should be chewing gum(gum as rubber).
There is also an adjective "gummy". If something is gummy than it's sticky. 
How come these are unrelated?


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## fdb

Borin3 said:


> How come these are unrelated?



They are unrelated etymologically. You can look it up in any dictionary.


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## CyrusSH

It seems English _Gum_ and Arabic لثة have some other similar meanings in Persian!!

English Gum in Aryanpour dictionary:

لثه دندان ، انگم ، صمغ ، چسب ، قي چشم ، درخت صمغ ، وسيع كردن ، با لثه جويدن ، چسب زدن ، چسباندن ، گول زدن ، صمغي شدن.

Arabic لثة in Almaany:

لثه دندان , انگم , صمغ , چسب , قي چشم , درخت صمغ , وسيع کردن , با لثه جويدن , چسب زدن , چسباندن , گول زدن , صمغي شدن

Is it really possible?


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## Borin3

fdb said:


> They are unrelated etymologically. You can look it up in any dictionary.


No need to, i believe it.


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## Borin3

Sorry, Cyrus..I have a question. Are you posting only for Arabians, Iranians and other non natives who can read(understand) the two languages?


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## CyrusSH

Sorry, I meant English _gum_ and Arabic _laṯa_ have some other similar meanings in Persian too, for example one of them is "eye mucus".


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## Treaty

CyrusSH said:


> It seems English _Gum_ and Arabic لثة have some other similar meanings in Persian!!


You already mentioned why this is not reliable in post #3. Almaany, like Vajeyab, simply copies from other dictionaries (in this case from Aryanpour). Because it doesn't have an original Arabic-Persian dictionary, it uses English "gum" as an intermediate which makes this confusion.


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## CyrusSH

But I can find other Persian meanings in famous Persian-Arabic dictionaries too, like al-Munjid Fārsī Arabī, by Luwīs Maʻlūf; "قي چشم" (eye mucus) page 234: http://www.ghbook.ir/index.php?name...khashk=CBA3C24522&page=234&Itemid=214&lang=fa


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## Treaty

CyrusSH said:


> al-Munjid Fārsī Arabī, by Luwīs Maʻlūf


Ma'luf's Al-Munjid is solely Arabic, not Persian. The book you linked is a miserable alleged translation of Al-Munjid. Regarding its quality I doubt the "translator" is honest about its source. I guess it is the same case with Almaany's Aryanpour copying (e.g., "gum" means both قی چشم and لثة so لثه = gum = قی). Considering اللثت in p. 234, Arabic dictionary don't start an entry with ال, and they wouldn't replace ـة with ت. 

By the way, there is no entry for لثة in Ma'luf's Al-Munjid which I have.


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