# قلقاس
## Arabic
### Alternative forms

* قُلْقَاص (qulqāṣ)
* قُرْقَاص (qurqāṣ) dubiously read and mistranslated in يحيى بن محمد بن أحمد بن العوام [yaḥyā ibn muḥammad ibn ʔaḥmad ibn al-ʕawwām] (c. 1200) José Antonio Banqueri, editor, كتاب الفلاحة [Book on Agriculture] (in Arabic), volume 2, Madrid: Imprenta Real, published 1802$^{IA}$, Cap. 24, Art. 9, page 212

### Etymology

From Classical Syriac ܩܠܩܐܣ (qōlqās), ܩܠܘܩܣ (qōlqōs), ܩܠܘܩܘܣ (qōlōqōs), ܩܠܩܐ (qalqā, qelqā, “taro”), still attested in Turoyo ܩܰܠܩܳܐ (qalqo, “a kind of cardoon or artichoke”), Northeastern Neo-Aramaic ܩܰܠܩܳܐ (qalqa) and in some dialects ܩܰܩܢܳܐ (qaqna), which also explains Persian کنگر (kangar, “thistle; acanthus”), and also in Mishnaic Hebrew קולקס, קרקס (“taro”).
This is said to be from Egyptian, as the Ancient Greek κολοκασία (kolokasía) and Latin colocasia meaning taro is known to be transferred only from the 4th century AD from the meaning of sacred lotus which also has an edible rhizome, but Coptic ⲕⲟⲗⲧⲁϧ (koltax), ⲕⲟⲗⲅⲁⲥ (kolgas), ⲕⲟⲣⲕⲁⲥⲓ (korkasi) is reckoned as from Hebrew or Arabic.
The origin is then Semitic at least ultimately in view of Akkadian qulqulliānu, qulqullânu (“a type of cassia?”), Ugaritic 𐎖𐎍𐎖𐎍 (qlql, some medicinal plant also fed to horses), Hebrew קְלוֹקֵל (qəlōqēl, “inferior, poor; miserable food”), Arabic قِلْقِل (qilqil, “some kind of hard-grained plant”), قُلَاقِل (qulāqil, “devil-bean, Crotalaria retusa”), the latter and قُلْقُل (qulqul) also meaning “agile, exuberant”, evidently all just reduplications of the root ق ل ل (q-l-l).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /qul.qaːs/
** (Hijazi) IPA: /ɡul.ɡaːs/, [ɡʊl.ɡaːs]

### Noun

قُلْقَاس • (qulqās) m (collective, singulative قُلْقَاسَة f (qulqāsa))
* Colocasia; taro
* (obsolete, rare) Cynara; cardoon or artichoke
    Synonyms: قَنَّارِيَّة (qannāriyya), خُرْشُوف (ḵuršūf), كَنْكَر (kankar)

#### Descendants

* Cypriot Arabic: korkás
* → French: koulkas
* → German: Kulkas f, Culcas f (rare)
* → Latin: culcas, colcas
* → Middle Armenian: ղուլղաս (ġulġas)
* → Spanish: alcolcaz
* → Ottoman Turkish: قلقاس (kulkas)

#### References

* “qwlqsyyh”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
* Brockelmann, Carl (1928) Lexicon Syriacum (in Latin), 2nd edition, Halle: Max Niemeyer, published 1995, page 670b, incorrectly entered as equalling Latin calx (“chalk”)
* Crum, Walter E. (1939) A Coptic Dictionary‎, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, page 106a
* Grimaldi, Ilaria Maria (2018 June 5) “Literary evidence for taro in the ancient Mediterranean: A chronology of names and uses in a multilingual world”, in PLoS One‎, volume 13, number 6, →DOI
* Löw, Immanuel (1928) Die Flora der Juden‎ (in German), volume 1, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, page 218
* Löw, Immanuel (1881) Aramæische Pflanzennamen‎ (in German), Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, page 240
* Payne Margoliouth, Jessie (1927) Supplement to the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith, S.T.P., Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 304b
* Payne Smith, Robert (1879–1901) Thesaurus Syriacus (in Latin), Oxford: Clarendon Press, column 3643
* Tezel, Aziz (2021) “On the Origin of Some Plant Names in Ṣūrayt/Ṭūrōyo in Ṭūr ʿAbdīn”, in Geoffrey Khan, Paul M. Noorlander, editors, Studies in the Grammar and Lexicon of Neo-Aramaic‎, Cambridge: University of Cambridge, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 335–352
* Vollers, Karl (1897) “Beiträge zur Kenntniss der lebenden arabischen Sprache in Aegypten”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft‎ (in German), volume 51, page 302