Sharia
/ʃəˈriːə/noun
Islamic law based on the Qur'an, Hadith, and legal tradition.
Did you know?Its Arabic root š-r-ʕ is tied to the idea of an open, accessible path to a watering place, so the legal sense grew from a very physical image of survival and direction.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
PS
*šaraʕ-
“to open a way, begin, or make a path”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
شَرَعَ (šaraʿa)
“to lay down, ordain, or make a way”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
شريعة (šarīʿa)
“a path to water; a prescribed way”
Medieval Arabic
Arabic
الشريعة (al-sharīʿa)
“the divinely prescribed law or way of life”
Modern English
English
Sharia
“Islamic religious law”