Re: did classical Arabic have a word that means 'gas'?
Reply #2 - September 23, 2011, 04:03 AM
Well, the very concept seems to be modern. "Air" (هواء) or "smoke" (دخان) are what people at the time were familiar with. The modern Arabic word for gas (غاز) (ghaaz), seems to be borrowed from the European usage, which only appeared in the 16th century. It is not attested in any of the classical dictionaries, except surprisingly in Lisaan al Arab, which was completed in the 13th century (!!!), but I couldn't find the same definition in other sites that search through Lisaan al Arab, so I'm guessing this was a retroactive edit.
قل للمليحة في الخمار الأسود
مـاذا فـعــلت بــناسـك مـتـعـبد
قـد كـان شـمّر لــلـصلاة ثـيابه
حتى خـطرت له بباب المسجد
ردي عليـه صـلاتـه وصيـامــه
لا تـقــتـلــيه بـحـق ديــن محمد