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The Quranic word “ʽilm” (knowledge) is one of the central concepts in the language of the Quran and the center of semantic field of knowledge. Because of this, understanding its historical formation is important not only for semantic approach to Quranic lexicology but also for anthropological approach to Quranic revelation context, and is helpful for interpretation of Quran. This paper studies various meanings of stem ʽILM in Arabic and the other Semitic languages such as Sabaic, Ethiopian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Ugaritic, Akkadian; then whith dating these meanings and searching the possible semantic relations, explores the relations between meaning (know) and the other meanings. By this research, it becomes clear that firstly the meaning “conceal” that has a strong presence in the central north branch of Semitic languages is in opposition with the meaning “indicate” that is seen in south branches; And so, this Opposing pair is as old as ancient Semitic language; Secondly the meanings “sign” and “knowledge” have a powerful relation regarding sub branches like “indicate” in one hand And “take notice”,” teach” from the other; And because the meaning “sign” is older, the meaning “knowledge” is derived from it. Thirdly Occurrence of meanings like “write”, “seal” and “signature” in the south Peripheral branch; “scratch” in Akkadian; “see” and “look” in Afro-asiatic and also the kind of referents of the concept of “sign” in the Arabic Make the concept of sign in the Semitic-Arabic space far from auditory signs and near to visual signs. And so, we should conclude that the meaning “Ilm” (knowledge) is derived from the meaning “visual signs”.
 
 
 

Keywords: Quran, Historical Semantics, Etymology, Semitic languages, Knowledge, “ʽIlm”

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