# ورس
## Arabic
### Etymology

Cognate to Classical Syriac ܘܐܪܫܐ (wʾršʾ), ܘܪܘܫ (wrwš), ܘܪܝܫܐ (wryšʾ), ܘܪܫܐ (wršʾ), which shows by its initial /w/, as this in inherited Northwest Semitic words becomes /j/, that it is a foreign word. The varying vocalization of the Arabic may indicate an Iranian borrowing akin to Persian وش (vaš, “flax or boll thereof; uncleaned cotton; a kind of rich satin or other textile”), Old Armenian վուշ (vuš, “flax; tows thereof”), as /a/ regularly switches to /u/ after initial labial during the transition from Middle Persian to Persian in most of its regiolects.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /wars/, /wa.ras/, /wurs/, /wu.rus/

### Noun

وَرْس or وَرَس or وُرْس or وُرُس • (wars or waras or wurs or wurus) m
* Flemingia macrophylla syns. Flemingia rhodocarpa, Flemingia grahamiana, a perennial shrub native to Yemen cultivated because the red glands of it secrete a yellow powder used as a pigment and medicinally, but also for a red pigment from the ground hairs of the red fruits, as well as for medicinal purposes
    Synonym: غُمْرَة (ḡumra)
** 975–997, محمد بن أحمد الخوارزمي [muḥammad ibn ʕaḥmad al-ḵwārizmī], edited by Gerlof van Vloten, مفاتيح العلوم [mafātīḥ al-ʕulūm], Leiden: E. J. Brill, published 1895, pages 169 line 12–170 line 2:الَوْرْس يجلب من اليمن أحمر قانٍ يوجد على قشور شجر ينحت منها ويجمع وهو شبيه بالزعفران المسحوقWars is imported from Yemen, blood-red, produces a tree-rind hewn out and collected and it is similar to brayed saffron.commented in Seidel, Ernst (1915) “Die Medizin im Kitâb Mafâtîḥ al ʿUlûm”, in Sitzungsberichte der Physikalisch-Medizinischen Sozietät zu Erlangen‎ (in German), volume 47, page 37 Anm. 89

#### Declension
### Verb

وَرَّسَ • (warrasa) II (non-past يُوَرِّسُ (yuwarrisu), verbal noun تَوْرِيس (tawrīs))
* to dye with Flemingia macrophylla

#### Derived terms

* وَرِيس (warīs, “garment dyed with wars”)
* وَرَّسَ (warrasa, “to dye with wars”)
* أَوْرَسَ (ʔawrasa, “to put forth wars”)

#### Descendants

* → Harari: ወርሲ (wärsi)
* → Somali: waris

### References

* “wrwš”, 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 186
* Freytag, Georg (1837) “ورس”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 4, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 455b
* Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “ورس”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc‎ (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et C$^{ie}$, page 1519b
* Lane, Edward William (1863) “ورس”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate, pages 2936b–2937a
* Löw, Immanuel (1924) Die Flora der Juden‎ (in German), volume 2, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, pages 26–27
* Schönig, Hanne (2002) Schminken, Düfte und Räucherwerk der Jemenitinnen: Lexikon der Substanzen, Utensilien und Techniken (Beiruter Texte und Studien; 91)‎, Würzburg: Ergon-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 297–308