كف مريم

Arabic

Etymology

Literally, “Mary's hand”. From the appearance of the plant's branches, put into the tea or charms to ease childbirth, clenching like a hand when drying, equated with female role models in the Abrahamic transmission, Virgin Mary as well as in the later Islamic tradition Aisha and Fatima in some of the synonyms, clenching their fists to endure in childbed.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kaff mar.jam/

Noun

كَفّ مَرْيَم • (kaff maryam) f

  1. Rose of Jericho (Anastatica hierochuntica)
    Synonyms: كَفّ عَائِشَة (kaff ʕāʔiša), كَفّ الْعَذْرَاء (kaff al-ʕaḏrāʔ), جُمَيْع فَاطِمَة (jumayʕ fāṭima), كَفْن (kafn), جَفْن (jafn), كَفّ الْكَلْب (kaff al-kalb), شُجَيْرَة الْبَرَكَة (šujayra(t) al-baraka), قُنَيْفِذَة (qunayfiḏa), بَرُكَان (barukān), كَفْتَة (kafta)
  2. chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus)
    Synonyms: حَبّ الْفَقَد (ḥabb al-faqad), بَنْجَنْكُشْت (banjankušt), فَنْجَنْكُشْت (fanjankušt), سَرْسَاد (sarsād), ذُو خَمْسَةِ أَصَابِعَ (ḏū ḵamsati ʔaṣābiʕa)

Declension

Declension of noun كَفّ مَرْيَم (kaff maryam)
singular basic singular triptote
indefinite definite construct
informal — كَفّ مَرْيَم
kaff maryam 		—
nominative — كَفُّ مَرْيَمَ
kaffu maryama 		—
accusative — كَفَّ مَرْيَمَ
kaffa maryama 		—
genitive — كَفِّ مَرْيَمَ
kaffi maryama 		—

Further reading

  • Dietrich, Franz Eduard Christoph (1844), Abhandlungen für semitische Wortforschung (in German), Leipzig: Friedrich Christian Wilhelm Vogel, page 76
  • Mandaville, James Paul (2011), Bedouin Ethnobotany. Plant Concepts and Uses in a Desert Pastoral World, Tucson: University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, pages 303–304
  • “الجفن (كف مريم) / Anastatica hierochuntica”, in طبيعة السعودية‎[1] (in Arabic), 15 July 2025
  • كف عائشة on the Arabic Wikipedia.Wikipedia ar
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