Shamma
Understood from al-shamam — loftiness of bearing — and not from shamma, 'to smell', though the two share one root.
- Root
- sh-m-m (ش-م-م)
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Loftiness of bearing, dignity that does not stoop
- Origin
- Arabic; the form is Peninsular
Two senses in one root
sh-m-m (ش-م-م) carries two things a reader easily collapses together. The first is smelling: *shamma al-shayʾ*, and *shamma* as the single act of it. The second is height — *al-shamam* is the raised, high bridge of the nose, and from it a mountain with a lifted peak is *ashamm*, and a man who does not lower his head is *ashamm* too: unbending, high in his own regard. The feminine of that adjective is *shammāʾ*.
Which sense the name carries
Shamma is understood from the second. Reading it as 'a whiff' is grammatically available and misses the name entirely: what is intended is the bearing the lexicographers describe under *al-shamam* — dignity that will not stoop, said of mountains and of people in the same breath.
A Peninsular form
The dictionaries record the root and both senses, but they do not list Shamma as a given name; its currency is in the Gulf. As with Mūḍī and Ḥiṣṣa, this reference gives the root the name is understood from rather than an attestation it does not have.
Frequently asked questions
Does Shamma mean 'a smell'?
The word can be the single act of smelling, and that is the same root — but the name is understood from the root's other sense, al-shamam: a high, unbending bearing.
Is a mountain called ashamm for the same reason?
Yes — the lexicographers use one word for both: a peak that stands high and a man who will not lower his head are each ashamm.
Sources
- ابن منظور، لسان العرب، 711هـ — مادة: شمم — الشَّمَم: ارتفاع قصبة الأنف، ورجل أشمّ: أبيّ
Last reviewed: 2026-09-01