مٞدْرَهَم
médrɛhɛm (du. medrέmi or medrɛhέmi, pl. medérhem)
basic morphological information

n. (m.)

heel
пятка
عَقِبٌ
LS 135; Bulakh 2022:203
text examples

ʸháḷaḥk di-mórkit béḷokk medrɛhέmi ḷe-ŝéṭaf kor yoˀokóben ṭahidídšen ‘I jumped onto the trampling mat and let my heels (trample) the dates to make them stick to each other’ (field notes)

root
etymology

The origin of Proto-MSA *madram- heel ‘heeľ is uncertain (Kogan 2015:552). Comparison with Arb. drm ‘to be even, to have no protruding parts’ suggested in GD 767 is semantically problematic, although it is noteworthy that the Arabic root is mostly applied to parts of the body (notably, to ˁurqūb- ‘Achilles’ tendon’). Cf. also Arb. drm ‘to move slowly; to move with small steps (like a hedgehog or a hare)’. Note, finally, Syr. mdarram ‘astutus’, mdarmutā ‘astutia, improbitas, machinatio’, which may be of interest in view of a similar semantic correlation in Hbr. ˁāḳēb ‘heeľ — ˁḳb ‘to betray’.

continental MSA