Littoral north-eastern Arabia had a distinctive culture in Pre-Islamic Arabia. Few centuries before the advent of Islam, this region was predominantly Christian. Its people adopted Syriac as their written language. The name of this region, in Syriac, was: “ܩܲܛܪ̈ܵܝܹܐ Qăṭrāyē”. (other transliterations include: Qatraya, Qatraye, Qaṭraye and Qaṭrayi)
Syriac: “Qăṭrāyē” still exists in Arabic as: “Qătăr/قطر”. “Qatar” now refers only to the “Qatar Peninsula”.
In this case, Qatar is a “Totum-pro-parte” toponym.
Totum pro parte is Latin for “the whole for a part“; it means: a part is referred to by mentioning the whole.
There is no consensus among scholars as to the meaning of “Qatraye”.
Line & Coast
In many cultures, shores are perceived as “lines” that either separate or connect land and sea.
Examples:
Latin “ora” = line, cable, edge, border, side and coastline or coast.
English “strand” = braid, thread, wire and shoreline or shore.
Akkadian “aḫātu”: Limit, line, a bank , a shore , a beach.
Arabic “khăṭ/خط” = line, straight path, route and seaside or coast.
The root of Qaṭraya is [q.t.r]
[k.t.r] or [k.r.t] (after metathesis). As a root-word, it means: cut, line, queue, edge, or side.
Examples:
Syriac: “ܩܵܛܹܪ” (qāṭīr):
– To strand / to form from strands a rope, a plait.
– To plait, to queue, to twine. [1]
ܩܛܵܪܵܐ (qṭārā) = railway-train
Arabic: “قطر” (qăṭără):
– Straight line, alignment,‘train of drops’, side, suburb.
– To drip in a straight line, to queue.
– Railway-train
Littoral north-eastern Arabia used to be called: “bĭlād ăl-khăṭ/بلاد الخط” Literally: “Line country”, but the intended meaning is: “coastline country” or “coastal territory”. Syriac speaking people call this region: “ܩܲܛܪ̈ܵܝܹܐ/Qăṭrāyē”, which can be understood as: (ܩܵܛܹܪ/qāṭīr country).
Obviously, “qăṭrā/ܩܵܛܹܪ” and “khăṭ/خط” are semantic equivalents.
Semantic equivalents: are words in two different languages that have similar or practically identical meanings. They may be cognate, but usually they are not. For example, the German equivalent of the English word “cow” is “Kuh”, which is also cognate, but the French equivalent is “vache”, which is unrelated.
Leaniti
In early European maps [2], this coast is referred to as: “Leaniti”. “Leaniti” is derived from Latin “Linea” which means: LINE.
Line and Cut
In many languages, words such as “cut”, “Line” and “cord” are sometimes used interchangeably as they convey the same contextual meaning.
Examples:
1– Arabic [q.t.r] is doublet of: “qarat/قرط” & “qarad/قرض”, after metathesis, (= to cut, to tear). It also cognate to Akkadian: “kartu“, Amharic: “ቁረጥ/kureti” & Hebrew: “כּרת/karát” (= to cut).
Interestingly, this word is found in Latin!
Latin “curto” means “to cut”, and is more likely to be a doublet of “chorda” (borrowed into English as : cord).
2– Arabic “khăṭ/خط”, (line), and “qăṭ/قط”, (cut), are doublets.
Assyrian “Kardu”
In ancient Assyrian records there is a geographical region called: “Kardu”.
“Certain scholars have suggested the possibility that ‘Kardu‘ is another name for ‘the land of Chaldea’”. [3]
Chaldea “was the name of a small sporadically independent migrant-founded territory under the domination of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC) in southeastern Babylonia, extending to the western shores of the Persian Gulf”. [3] Such geographical designation includes modern-day Kuwait, Qatar and the coastal region between them.
This may lead to the conclusion that the name “kardu” is an ancient variant of “qatraye“, and the latter underwent a metathesis.
“kardu” seems to be a deverbal noun from the Akkadian verb: “kartu/to cut”. (Akkadian was the language of the Assyrians).
Talmudic: qardu (קַרְדּוּ)
‘Talmud’ is the textual record of generations of rabbinic debate about biblical interpretation, compiled between the 3rd and 8th centuries.
The Talmudic commentators in (bb 91a), state that biblical Abraham was imprisoned several years in “khuta/כוּתָא” and “qardu/קַרְדּוּ” and they consider the former to be ‘Ur Kasdim’ (the birthplace of biblical Abraham):
וְאָמַר רַב חָנָן בַּר רָבָא אָמַר רַב: עֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים נֶחְבַּשׁ אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ – שָׁלֹשׁ בְּכוּתָא, וְשֶׁבַע בְּקַרְדּוּ. וְרַב דִּימִי מִנְּהַרְדְּעָא מַתְנִי אִיפְּכָא. אָמַר רַב חִסְדָּא: עִיבְרָא זְעֵירָא דְּכוּתָא – זֶהוּ אוּר כַּשְׂדִּים
This can be translated as: “And Rav Ḥanan bar Rava says that Rav says: Our forefather Abraham was imprisoned for ten years, because he rejected the idol worship that was accepted in his land. He was imprisoned for three years in the city of Khuta, and seven years in qardu. And Rav Dimi of Neharde’a teaches the opposite, (that he was imprisoned seven years in Khuta and three in qardu). Rav Ḥisda said: The narrow passage of Khuta, is Ur Kasdim”.
Here, we’re told that: “qardu” is close to: “Ur Kasdim” (אוּר כַּשְׂדִּים).
Ur Kasdim is generally believed to be in the land of Chaldea. [5]
Accordingly, Assyrian: “Kardu” and Talmudic: “qardu/קַרְדּוּ” are plausibly the same toponym. [6]
Ptolemy’s “Catara/Cadara”
Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100 – 160s/170s AD) was a Greek geographer. Ptolemy produced the first known map to depict Qatar peninsula, referring to it as “Catara“. The map also referenced a town named “Cadara” to the east of the peninsula.[7]
Assyrian “Kardu” & Syriac: “Qatraye” are more likely to be Ptolemy’s “Catara/Cadara”. In many cases an ancient toponym still survives in some small corners of its former extent. Ancient “Kardu” is no exception.
/q/ is the emphatic variant of /k/
/ṭ/ is the emphatic variant of /t/
/t/ is the voiceless variant of /d/
These Phonetic changes are purely allophonic and commonplace in Semitic toponyms.
In summation:
-The placename “Qatar” is originally a toponymic appellative. It simply means: “Line”, but the intended denotation is “coastline“.
-Arabic “Qatar” is a modified form of “Qatraye”, a pre-Islamic Syriac toponym, designated a larger area that encompasses the entire North-Western shores of the Gulf. The name “Qăṭrāyē” is derived from “ܩܵܛܹܪ/qāṭīr” which means: “Line”.
-It is not far fetched to say that “Qatraye” is the Syriac form of “Kardu“, an Assyrian name for Chaldea. The latter includes littoral north-eastern Arabia.
-The toponym “Kardu” is more likely to be a deverbal noun from: “kartu“, (an Akkadian verb meaning: “to cut”). In Semitic languages, words for “cut” are also used for “line” and “cord”. [6]
– Talmudic commentators mention a place named: “qardu“, not far from “Ur Kasdim“. Evidently, “qarduּ” and “Kardu” are one and the same.
– Apparently, Akkadian “kardu”, Hebrew “qardu”, Greek “cadara”, Syriac: “qatraye” & Arabic “qatar” are different variants of the same name.
[1] — https://www.assyrianlanguages.org/sureth/
dosearch.php?searchkey=38190&language=id
[2] — https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668406/
[3] – Raymond Philip Dougherty, The Sealand of Ancient Arabia, Yale University Press, 1932, 66ff.
[4] – McCurdy, J. Frederic; Rogers, Robert W. (1902), “Chaldea”, in Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.), The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 3, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, pp. 661–662
[5] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur_of_the_Chaldees
[6] – Akkadian was the language of the Babylonians and the Assyrians.
[7] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar.
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