كرمIbn Fāris gives two bābs: intrinsic nobility/excellence in a thing itself or in … (root krm)

Al-karam (الكرم): the nobility of a man. Rajul karīm (رجل كريم), and qawm karam and kirām (قوم كرم وكرام) — like adīm/udum (أديم وأدم) and ʿamūd/ʿumud (عمود وعمد) — for it often happens that the pattern faʿl comes as a plural of faʿīl and faʿūl. The poet said: '...and that they go bare, if the [other] girls are clothed, so that the eye turns away from lean nobility (karam ʿijāf)...' And rajul kurām (رجل كرام) means karīm. Takarrama (تكرم) [ʿan al-shā'inat, 'from disgraceful things'] means to keep oneself aloof/pure, and akrama nafsahu ʿanhā (أكرم نفسه عنها) means he purified and elevated himself above it. Al-karāma (الكرامة): a lid/tray placed atop a water-skin. Al-karāma (الكرامة) is a noun for al-ikrām (الإكرام, 'honoring'), like ṭāʿa for iṭāʿa and similar verbal nouns. Al-mukramān (المكرمان): the noble one, [the opposite] of al-malāmān (الملامان, 'the blamed one'). Karuma karaman (كرم كرما) means he became noble. Al-karm (الكرم): the necklace. Al-karma (الكرمة): a single shoot of the grapevine. Abū Miḥjan al-Thaqafī said: 'If I die, bury me at the root of a vine (karma), that after my death its roots may water my bones.' And [the Arabs] say: 'This land is nothing but vine and palm (karma wa nakhla),' meaning by this abundance. And the Arabs say: 'It is the richest and sweetest of lands.' When the clouds are generous with rain one says karama (كرم). And so-and-so karuma ʿalaynā karāma (كرم فلان علينا كرامة, 'was dear/noble to us'). Al-karm (الكرم): land that has been turned over and cleared of stones. Al-Ḍarīr said: one says 'akramta fa-rbiṭ' (أكرمت فاربط) — 'you have gained something of worth, so secure it.'

Al-karam (الكرم): the opposite of baseness (al-lu'm). Karuma al-rajul (كرم الرجل), with ḍamma, so he is karīm (كريم), plural qawm kirām and kuramā' (كرام وكرماء), and women are karā'im (كرائم). One also says rajul karam (رجل كرم), imra'a karam (امرأة كرم), and nisā' karam (نساء كرم). And [the poet] said: '...so the eye turns away from lean nobility (karam ʿijāf)...' Al-kurām (الكرام), with ḍamma, is like al-karīm. If one is excessive in karam one says kurrām (كرّام), with doubling. Kāramtu al-rajul (كارمت الرجل) means I vied with him in nobility, and karama-tuhu akrumuhu (كرمته أكرمه), with ḍamma, means I outdid him in it. Al-karīm (الكريم): the one who forgives (al-ṣafūḥ). Karama al-saḥāb (كرم السحاب): when clouds bring rain. Akramtu al-rajul akrimuhu (أكرمت الرجل أكرمه): its origin is u'akrimu, like udaḥriju, but the coming together of two hamzas was found heavy, so the second was dropped, and the remaining prefixes of the imperfect follow the pattern of the hamza. They do likewise elsewhere — note how they dropped the wāw from yaʿidu (يعد), finding it heavy between a yā' and a kasra, then dropped it too with alif, tā', and nūn. But a poet under metrical necessity may restore the original form, as one said: 'fa-innahu ahlun li-an yu'karama' (فإنه أهل لأن يؤكرما) — restoring it to its origin. In expressions of wonder one says: 'mā akramahu lī' (ما أكرمه لي, 'how noble he is to me!') — this is anomalous, not applied generally to quadriliteral verbs. Al-Akhfash said: some read 'wa-man yuhin Allāhu fa-mā lahu min mukrim' (Q 22:18) with fatḥa on the rā', meaning ikrām; it is a verbal noun like makhraj and madkhal. Al-karm (الكرم): the grapevine. Al-karm (الكرم) also: the necklace. One says 'ra'aytu fī ʿunuqihā karman ḥasanan min lu'lu'' (رأيت في عنقها كرما حسنا من لؤلؤ) — 'I saw on her neck a beautiful pearl necklace.' The poet said: 'And a breast upon which pearls shine, its necklaces (kurūmuhu) are collarbones — neither reddish and faulted, nor dusky.' Al-karma (الكرمة): the round head of the thigh-bone, as though a walnut turning in the socket of the hip. He said, describing a horse: 'Its haunches (?) were made firm, and its thigh-heads (kurūmuhu) were fitted to a solid croup and a firmly-set back.' Al-makrama (المكرمة): one of the al-makārim (noble deeds). Arḍ mukrima li-l-nabāt (أرض مكرمة للنبات): excellent for vegetation. Al-Kisā'ī said: al-mukram (المكرم) = al-mukrama (المكرمة); he said the pattern mafʿal for the masculine occurs in only two rare, non-analogical words: mukram and maʿūn (مكرم ومعون), and cited: 'li-yawmi rawʿin aw fiʿālin mukrami' (ليوم روع أو فعال مكرم). Jamīl said [of Buthayna, a fragmentary line invoking 'maʿūn,' 'despite abundant slanderers']. Al-Farrā' said it is the plural of makruma and maʿūna (مكرمة ومعونة), holding that mafʿal is not a valid [singular] pattern of speech. Al-ukrūma (الأكرومة) is from al-karam, like al-uʿjūba from al-ʿajab. One says to a man 'yā mukramān' (يا مكرمان), with fatḥa on the rā', the opposite of 'yā malāmān' (يا ملامان), from lu'm and karam. Al-takarrum (التكرم): affecting nobility. And he said: 'takarram li-taʿtāda...' [line incomplete].

Kāf, rā', and mīm (ك ر م) is a sound root with two branches. The first is nobility (sharaf) in a thing in itself, or nobility in a trait of character. One says rajul karīm (رجل كريم, 'a noble man'), faras karīm (فرس كريم, 'a noble horse'), nabāt karīm (نبات كريم, 'excellent vegetation'). Akrama al-rajul (أكرم الرجل) means he produced noble offspring (awlād kirām). Istakrama (استكرم) means he acquired a noble mount/mate. Karama al-saḥāb (كرم السحاب) means the clouds brought rain. Arḍ mukrima (أرض مكرمة) for vegetation means it is excellent for growth. Al-karam (الكرم) in character is said to mean overlooking the sin of a wrongdoer. ʿAbdallāh ibn Muslim ibn Qutayba said: 'al-karīm (الكريم) is the one who forgives (al-ṣafūḥ),' and God Most High is al-Karīm al-Ṣafūḥ (الكريم الصفوح), who overlooks the sins of His believing servants. The second root-meaning is al-karm (الكرم), 'the necklace.' He [a poet] said: 'One who presses on through the night journey — her neck has never known the necklace...' And al-karm (الكرم) also means the grapevine ('inab), because it is a gathering of branches, with its clusters strung together like beads.

Al-karam (الكرم), when God Most High is described by it, is a name for His manifest beneficence and bestowal, as in His words: 'Indeed my Lord is Self-Sufficient, Generous (ghaniyyun karīm)' (Q 27:40). When a human being is described by it, it is a name for the praiseworthy character traits and deeds that appear from him — one is not called karīm (كريم) until that appears from him. Some scholars said: al-karam is like al-ḥurriyya ('nobility/freedom'), except that al-ḥurriyya may apply to both small and great excellences, while al-karam applies only to great excellences — such as one who spends wealth equipping an army in God's path, or who assumes a burden to end bloodshed among a people. His saying Most High: 'Indeed the most noble of you before God (akramakum) is the most God-fearing of you (atqākum)' (Q 49:13) is so because al-karam consists of praiseworthy deeds, and the noblest and most excellent of these is that which is intended for God's sake alone; whoever intends that by his good deeds is the God-fearing one, so the noblest of people are the most God-fearing of them. And everything excellent in its category may be described by al-karam. He Most High said: 'Then We caused every noble kind (kulli zawjin karīm) to grow therein' (Q 31:10); 'and crops and a noble station (maqāmin karīm)' (Q 44:26); 'Indeed it is a noble Qur'an (qur'ānun karīm)' (Q 56:77); 'and speak to them a noble word (qawlan karīman)' (Q 17:23). Al-ikrām and al-takrīm (الإكرام والتكريم): to convey ikrām — i.e., a benefit entailing no disgrace — to a person, or to make what is conveyed to him something noble/excellent, as He said: 'Has the story of Abraham's honored guests (ḍayfi Ibrāhīma al-mukramīn) reached you?' (Q 51:24). And His saying 'Rather, honored servants (bal ʿibādun mukramūn)' (Q 21:26) means He made them noble ones, as in 'noble ones, writing (kirāman kātibīn)' (Q 82:11), and 'by the hands of noble, righteous scribes (safaratin kirāmin bararah)' (Q 80:15–16), 'and made me among the honored ones (min al-mukramīn)' (Q 36:27). And His saying 'Possessor of Majesty and Honor (dhū al-jalāli wa-l-ikrām)' (Q 55:27) comprises both meanings.

Al-karīm (الكريم): one of the attributes and names of God — He is abundant in good, generous, giving, whose gift never ceases; He is al-karīm al-muṭlaq (the absolutely Generous). Al-karīm: he who combines all kinds of good, nobility, and virtue. Al-karīm is a comprehensive name for everything praiseworthy: God, Mighty and Exalted, is karīm, praised in His acts, Lord of the noble, mighty Throne (rabb al-ʿarsh al-karīm al-ʿaẓīm). Ibn Sīdah: al-karam (الكرم) is the opposite of al-lu'm; it occurs in a man himself even without noble ancestors, and is used of horses, camels, trees, and other things when 'freedom/refinement' (al-ʿitq) is meant, though its root usage is for people. Ibn al-A'rābī said: karam al-faras ('nobility' in a horse) means fine skin, soft hair, and a pleasant scent. Karuma al-rajul wa-ghayruhu (كرم الرجل وغيره), with ḍamma, karaman wa-karāma (كرما وكرامة); so he is karīm, karīma, karama, mukrim, mukrima (كريم وكريمة وكرمة ومكرم ومكرمة), and kurām, kirām, karāma (كرام وكرام وكرامة). The plural of al-karīm is kuramā' and kirām (كرماء وكرام); the plural of al-kirām is kirāmūn (كرامون). Sībawayh said: kirām is not broken further into a plural — they dispensed with that by using the sound masculine plural in wāw and nūn. 'Innahu la-karīmun min karā'imi qawmihi' (إنه لكريم من كرائم قومه, 'he is noble among the nobles of his people') is contrary to analogy — Abū Zayd related this. 'Innahā la-karīmatun min karā'imi qawmihā' (إنها لكريمة من كرائم قومها) follows analogy. Al-Layth said: one says rajul karīm and qawm karam (رجل كريم وقوم كرم), as one says adīm/udum, ʿamūd/ʿumud, and nisā' karā'im (نساء كرائم). Ibn Sīdah and others: rajul karam (رجل كرم) means karīm, likewise for dual, plural, and feminine — one says imra'a karam and nisā' karam (امرأة كرم ونساء كرم), since it is described by the verbal noun itself. Saʿīd ibn Masḥūḥ al-Shaybānī said this — so al-Sīrāfī records, also noting it is attributed to a man of Taym Allāt ibn Thaʿlaba named ʿĪsā, who was blamed for not aiding Abū Bilāl Mirdās ibn Udayya, restrained by pity for his daughters; while al-Mubarrad, in his accounts of the Khawārij, attributes it to Abū Khālid al-Qanānī, saying: 'Among the curious reports of the Khawārij is the saying of Qaṭarī ibn al-Fujā'a al-Māzinī to Abū Khālid al-Qanānī: "O Abū Khālid, go forth — you are not immortal (Khālid), and the Merciful gives no excuse to one who stays behind. Do you claim the Khārijite follows guidance, while you remain standing between the content and the resentful?" So Abū Khālid wrote back to him: "Life has indeed grown dearer to me for the sake of my daughters, among the weak. For fear they see hardship after me, and drink turbid water after clear, and go bare, if the [other] girls are clothed, so that the eye turns away from lean nobility (karam ʿijāf). Were it not for that, I would have saddled my steed — in the Merciful is sufficiency for the weak. O father of ours, who is ours if you are gone, and the tribe falls after you into discord?"' Abū Manṣūr said: the grammarians reject what al-Layth said — one says rajul karīm and qawm kirām, just as ṣaghīr/ṣighār and kabīr/kibār, but one [also] says rijāl karam (رجال كرم), meaning 'possessors of karam,' and nisā' karam, meaning 'possessors of karam'... [entry continues]