ع ر مʿ-r-m
— عَرِمʿarim: the exegetes and the lexicographers hold several views: (1) a dam, a wall built to hold back water (plural عَرِمَةʿarimah); (2) the rat that hollowed out the dam; (3) violence and severity, so that «sayl al-ʿarim» means a violent flood. The first view is that of most of the exegetes. Only once in the Quran, in the account of the fate of the people of Sabaʾ: ﴿فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ سَيْلَ الْعَرِمِ﴾ (Sabaʾ 34:16).