ترب

Core meaning

The stock from which a thing is drawn and whose nature it keeps: the earth from which the human is created, the bosom from which the being comes forth, what is of the same stock.

Uses

1. تُرَاب → "earth" : the matter from which the human is drawn and to which he returns; the translation does not say "dust".

   • «خَلَقَهُۥ مِن تُرَابٍۢ» — "He created him from earth" (3:59)
   • «أَءِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًۭا وَعِظَٰمًا» — "When we are dead, earth and bones" (37:16)

2. ٱلتَّرَآئِب → "the bosom" : the female share of the origin, paired with ٱلصُّلْب, "the loins".

   • «يَخْرُجُ مِنۢ بَيْنِ ٱلصُّلْبِ وَٱلتَّرَآئِبِ» — "emerging from between the loins and the bosom" (86:7)

3. أَتْرَاب → "fertile and of shared stock" : companions of one same stock, fruitful as sound earth.

   • «وَعِندَهُمْ قَٰصِرَٰتُ ٱلطَّرْفِ أَتْرَابٌ» — "And beside them will be companions of reserved gaze, fertile and of shared stock" (38:52)

4. مَتْرَبَة → "privation" : the state of one who has nothing left but the earth beneath him.

   • «أَوْ مِسْكِينًۭا ذَا مَتْرَبَةٍۢ» — "or a destitute person in privation" (90:16)
   • Written exception: "earth" shared with ارض: تُرَاب names the original matter; "dust" and "clay" belong to other roots.

Evidence from the text

Wherever the human is said to be created from تُرَاب, the translation writes "earth": "He created you from earth" (30:20), "God created you from earth, then from a drop" (35:11), and likewise for Issa and Adam (3:59). The same matter returns in the mouth of those who doubt they will be raised, "When we are dead, earth and bones" (37:16, also 23:82, 56:47); and the one who disowns wishes, on the Day, to have been nothing more: "Oh, that I were earth!" (78:40).

The three other uses keep the idea of stock. ٱلتَّرَآئِب is paired with ٱلصُّلْب: the gushing water emerges "from between the loins and the bosom" (86:7), and the origin comes from both. أَتْرَاب qualifies the companions of the gardens (38:52, 56:37, 78:33), always among fruits, vines and the brimming cup. مَتْرَبَة names the destitute reduced to the earth itself (90:16).

Distinctions

• طين — clay: earth wetted and shapeable, whereas تُرَاب is earth itself
• ارض — the earth as ground and as world, whereas تُرَاب is the matter

See also

صلب (the loins)