لقم

Henri Fleisch translated it as peut-être (“maybe, perhaps”) and analyzed it as *لَقَام (*laʔ̣ām /⁠*laʔ̣ōm⁠/), a univerbation of لَـ (la-) +‎ قَام (ʔ̣ām /⁠ʔ̣ōm⁠/, “to rise”) like لَكَان (lakān) and South Levantine Arabic لَعَاد (laʕād). The expression would have shifted *laʔ̣ṓm → *láʔ̣ōm → لَقُم (/⁠laʔ̣om⁠/),^{[note 1]} the same stress shift as in لَكَن (lakan, “then”) and خَلَص (ḵalaṣ, “enough”).

Alternatively, though, its meaning may be closer to lest than to peut-être (“maybe, perhaps”) in the below quotation. The etymon in this case could be *لَاقَام (/⁠*lāʔ̣ōm⁠/), a univerbation of لَا (lā, literally “not”) +‎ قُام (ʔ̣ām /⁠ʔ̣ōm⁠/, “to rise”), as if "let it not turn out that...". This would have contracted to *laʔ̣ōm due to second-syllable stress^{[note 2]} before undergoing the same subsequent changes as above. This hypothesis may be disproven by further attestations, though; Fleisch's translation may reflect additional encounters with the term beyond the quotation below.

• IPA^(key): [ˈlaʔom]

لَقُم • (laʔum)

1. (North Lebanon, possibly dated) maybe, perhaps
   • 1961, Henri Fleisch, Études d'Arabe Dialectal [Studies of Dialectal Arabic] (overall work in French), Beirut: Dar el-Machreq, published 1974, →ISBN, →OCLC, Hadchîte, page 371:

     Mau̯te͕t ᵊfransai̯s. ʾōle͕t-lau̯n bī^y nəzel ta i̯žib ᵊḥšai̯š ləl-baʾra̠ w-ma sarrå̠b, laʾom əthawwo̠ṛ, ʾəssa ma sarrab, daḫᵊlkon brumū-li ʿloi̯.

     [(مَوْتِة فْرَنْسِيس.) قالتلن بِي نِزِل تَيْجِيب حْشِيش للبَقْرَة وما سَرَّب، لَقُم تْهَوَّر، إسَّا ما سَرَّب، دَخْلْكُن ابرُمُولي عْليه]

     The death of Francis. She told them My father went down to gather feed for the cow and he hasn't come back, there's a chance he collapsed, he still hasn't come back, please search for him for me.
     [original: La mort de Francis. Elle leur dit: « Mon père est descendu pour chercher de l’herbe pour la vache et il n’est pas revenu, peut-être qu’il est tombé, il n’est pas encore revenu. Je vous en prie, cherchez-le moi. »]

• Fleisch has the following to add:

  c. 1961–1974, Henri Fleisch, Études d'Arabe Dialectal [Studies of Dialectal Arabic] (overall work in French), Beirut: Dar el-Machreq, published 1974, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 374:

  l’expression n’est pas particulière à Hadchîte et au Nord (laqum, dans le Akkâr), elle est connue et employée dans la région de Batroûn; laʾom vient probablement de *la-qām, comme lakan de *la-kān.

  The expression is not specific to Hadchit and in the North (laqum, in Akkar), it is known and used in the region of Batroun; laʾom probably comes from *la-qām, like lakan from *la-kān.