عجق

North Levantine Arabic

Etymology 1

Related to Hijazi Arabic مَعْزُوق (maʕzūg, cramped, stuck), which is from the passive participle of Arabic عَشِقَ (ʕašiqa, to stick to) via its attested Classical variants عَسِقَ (ʕasiqa, to stick to) and in particular عَزِقَ (ʕaziqa, to stick to).

The Arabic radicals ج (j) and ق (q) were historically forbidden from sharing a root, so the ج (j) of North Levantine Arabic عجق (ʕajaʔ) cannot be original. It may instead originate in the ش (š) of Arabic عَشِقَ (ʕašiqa) or in the ز (z) observed in the Hijazi Arabic cognate. For more on the latter possibility, which is that ز (z) developed sporadically into ج (j) in this word, see the development of جَقَر (jaʔar, to glower (at)) and جَعَق (jaʕaʔ, to scream, to shout).

Early dictionaries of vernacular Arabic only record senses of عجق (ʕajaʔ) related to overwhelming and encroaching on someone, which are reasonably similar to the Classical verbs' senses and suggest that the "to clutter" sense is modern.

Pronunciation

Verb

عجق • (ʕajaʔ) I (non-past يعجق (yiʕjuʔ))

  1. to clutter
  2. to overwhelm, to occupy (someone)
  3. (possibly obsolete) to shove
  4. (possibly obsolete) to surround
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Intensive of the above's "to clutter" sense.

Pronunciation

Verb

عجق • (ʕajjaʔ) II (non-past يعجق (yʕajjiʔ))

  1. to do too much at once
    Synonym: خَبَّص (ḵabbaṣ)

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

Adjective

عجق • (ʕijiʔ) (feminine عجقة (ʕijʔa), common plural عجقين (ʕijʔīn))

  1. cluttered, messy