كرمال

North Levantine Arabic

Etymology

Visibly a univerbation of Arabic كُرْمًا لِ، كُرْمَى لِ (kurman li, kurmā li, “as an act of generosity toward”), attested in that meaning along with كُرْمَةً لِ (kurmatan li) in lexicons compiled as early as the 10th century. Compare عقبال.

Pronunciation

Preposition

كِرْمَال • (kirmāl)

  1. for; for the sake of
    Near-synonym: لَـ (la, “for”) (weaker)
    أنا بعِيش بس كرمال ولادي. ― ʔana bʕīš bas kirmāl wlādi. ― I live only for my children.

Conjunction

كِرْمَال • (kirmāl)

  2. to, in order to
    راحت معي عالمحل كرمال تشتري بندورة
    rāḥit maʕi ʕa l-maḥall kirmāl tištíri banadūra
    She went to the store with me to buy tomatoes.
  4. because
    رُحْت مَعُو كِرْمَال بَدّْنَا بَنَدُورَة
    ruḥt maʕo kirmāl baddna banadūra
    I went with him because we need tomatoes

Usage notes

  • Sense 1 (“in order to”) is often reinforced with the synonym تَا (ta), producing كِرمَال تَا (kirmāl ta, “in order to”). The same is the case for all synonyms that end in a syllable with a long vowel except for عَشَان (ʕašān), for which no expression *عَشَان تَا (*ʕašān ta) is used.

Synonyms

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