Noah's Ship?

S 7:64 But they called him a liar so we saved him and those with him in the ship. And we drowned those who called our signs a lie. They were a blind people.

S 10:74 But they called him a liar so we saved him and him who was with him in the ship and we made them successors and we drowned those who called our signs a lie. So see how the result of the warned was.

S 11:37 And make the ship under our eyes and our inspiration and do not address me concerning those who have wronged. They are drowned.

S 11:38 And they make the ship and every time the chiefs of his people passed by him they mocked him. He said: If you mock us then we shall mock you as you mock.

S 23:27 So we inspired him: Make the ship under our eyes and our inspiration. Then when our command has come and the oven has overflowed insert therein of everything two pairs and your family, except thereof whom the speech has preceded against. And do not address me concerning those who have wronged; they are drowned.

S 23:28 And when you have boarded, you and who is with you on the ship, say: Praise be to Lah who has saved us from the wrongdoing people.

S S 26:119 So we saved him and him with him in the laden ship.

S 29:15 And we saved him and the companions of the ship and we made it a sign to the ‘alamin.

S 36:41  And a sign for them is that we carried their offspring in the laden ship.

Quran uses two words: فلك fulk and سفينه safinah. Fulk is used in the Arabic Bible. Definitions:

Noun

فُلْك • (fulk) m or f (plural فُلْك (fulk))

1. (nautical) ship

   Synonym: سَفِينَة (safīna)

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 2:164:

     إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَالْفُلْكِ الَّتِي تَجْرِي فِي الْبَحْرِ بِمَا يَنفَعُ النَّاسَ وَمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مِن مَّاءٍ فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا وَبَثَّ فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ دَابَّةٍ وَتَصْرِيفِ الرِّيَاحِ وَالسَّحَابِ الْمُسَخَّرِ بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ

     Verily, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, and the ships that float in the sea with what benefits the people; and what Allah sends down from the sky of water and gives life with it(the water) to the earth after its death, and sisters in it (the earth) of all the moving creatures; and (in the) controlling of the wind and the clouds suspended between the sky and the earth are indeed signs for people using sense.

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 17:66:

     رَبُّكُمُ الَّذِي يُزْجِي لَكُمُ الْفُلْكَ فِي الْبَحْرِ لِتَبْتَغُوا مِن فَضْلِهِ إِنَّهُ كَانَ بِكُمْ رَحِيمًا

     rabbukumu llaḏī yuzjī lakumu al-fulka fī l-baḥri litabtaḡū min faḍlihi ʔinnahu kāna bikum raḥīman

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • فلك - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

     
     

   Safinah:

Noun

سَفِينَة • (safīna) f (plural سُفُن (sufun) or سَفَائِن (safāʔin))

1. ship, vessel

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 29:14-15:

     وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَى قَوْمِهِ فَلَبِثَ فِيهِمْ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ إِلَّا خَمْسِينَ عَامًا فَأَخَذَهُمُ ٱلطُّوفَانُ وَهُمْ ظَالِمُونَ فَأَنْجَيْنَاهُ وَأَصْحَابَ ٱلسَّفِينَةِ وَجَعَلْنَاهَا آيَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ

     wa-laqad ʔarsalnā nūḥan ʔilā qawmihi fa-labiṯa fīhim ʔalfa sanatin ʔillā ḵamsīna ʕāman fa-ʔaḵaḏahumu ṭ-ṭūfānu wahum ẓālimūna fa-ʔanjaynāhu wa-ʔaṣḥāba s-safīnati wa-jaʕalnāhā ʔāyatan li-l-ʕālamīna

     And We certainly sent Noah to his people, and he remained among them nine hundred and fifty years, and the flood seized them while they were wrongdoers. But We saved him and the companions of the ship, and We made it a sign for the worlds.

   • 10th century, Al-Mutanabbi

     مَا كُلُّ مَا يَتَمَنَّى ٱلْمَرْءُ يُدْرِكُهُ

     
     

     تَجْرِي ٱلرِّيَاحُ بِمَا لَا تَشْتَهِي ٱلسُّفُنُ

     mā kullu mā yatamannā l-marʔu yudrikuhu

     
     

     tajrī r-riyāḥu bimā lā taštahī s-sufunu

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

     سفينة - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Now, one might argue that 'Allah' was simply using the word that was familiar to Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews. But why use safinah? Did the author actually think that the ark was a ship?

Noah's ark was simply a floating box with no rudder or sails. The word used in the Hebrew Bible is תבה tevah. Definitions:

Noun

תיבה / תֵּבָה • (tevá) f (plural indefinite תיבות / תֵּבוֹת, singular construct תיבת / תֵּבַת־, plural construct תיבות / תֵּבוֹת־)

1. (archaic) box, basket

   • Tanach, Exodus 2:5, with translation of Aryeh Kaplan:

     וַתֵּרֶד בַּת־פַּרְעֹה לִרְחֹץ עַל־הַיְאֹר וְנַעֲרֹתֶיהָ הֹלְכֹת עַל־יַד הַיְאֹר וַתֵּרֶא אֶת־הַתֵּבָה בְּתוֹךְ הַסּוּף וַתִּשְׁלַח אֶת־אֲמָתָהּ וַתִּקָּחֶהָ

     vatéred bat par'ó lirkhóts al hay'ór v'na'arotéha holkhót al yad hay'ór vatére et hatevá b'tokh hasúf vatishlakh et amatáh vatikakhéha

     Pharaoh's daughter went to bathe in the Nile, while her maids walked along the Nile's edge. She saw the box in the rushes, and sent her slave-girl to fetch it.

   • a. 217 C.E., Mishnah. Kelim, section 24.4:

     שָׁלֹשׁ תֵּבוֹת הֵן. תֵּבָה שֶׁפִּתְחָהּ מִצִּדָּהּ טְמֵאָה מִדְרָס. מִלְּמַעְלָן טְמֵאָה טְמֵא מֵת. וְהַבָּאָה בַּמִּדָּה טְהוֹרָה מִכְּלוּם:

     shalósh tevót hen. tevá shepitkháh mi-tsidáh t'meá midrás. mil'ma'lan t'meá t'mé met. v'haba'á bamidá t'horá miklum.

     There are three kinds of boxes. A box with a side-opening is susceptible to treading impurity. If on top, it is susceptible to death-impurity. And one that is a big enough size is pure of anything.

2. (Judaism) Noah's ark

   • Tanach, Genesis 7:9, with translation of the Jewish Publication Society:

     שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם בָּאוּ אֶל־נֹחַ אֶל־הַתֵּבָה זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה אֱלֹהִים אֶת־נֹחַ׃

     shnáyim shnáyim bá'u el nóakh el hatevá zakhár u'nkevá ka'ashér tsivá elohím et nóakh.

     there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah.

   • a. 500 C.E., Babylonian Talmud. Sanhedrin, 108b:

     אָמַר רַב חִסְדָּא שֶׁהֶעֱבִירָן לִפְנֵי הַתֵּבָה כֹּל שֶׁהַתֵּבָה קוֹלַטְתּוֹ בִּידוּעַ שֶׁלֹּא נֶעֶבְדָה בָּהֶם עֲבֵרָה וְכֹל שֶׁאֵין הַתֵּבָה קוֹלַטְתּוֹ בִּידוּעַ שֶׁנֶּעֶבְדָה בָּהּ עֲבֵרָה

     amár rav khísda, shehe'evirán lifné hatevá. kol shehatevá kolat'tó, bidúaʿ sheló ne'evdá bahém averá, v'khol she'én hatevá kolat'tó, bidúa' shene'evdá bah averá.

     Said Rav Ḥisda: so he passed them by the ark. Those that the ark accepted, it was made known that no transgression was done with them, and those that the ark did not accept, it was made known that a transgression was done with it.

3. coffin, casket

4. rectangular cuboid

5. bar (section of written music)

6. (Judaism) ark (a decorated cabinet at the front of a synagogue, in which Torah scrolls are kept)

7. (by extension) word (in written form: the letters between spaces)

   • a. 500 C.E., Babylonian Talmud. Yoma, 38b:

     אָמְרוּ עָלָיו שֶׁהָיָה נוֹטֵל ד׳ קוּלְמוֹסִין בֵּין אֶצְבְּעוֹתָיו וְאִם הָיְתָה תֵּיבָה שֶׁל ד׳ אוֹתִיּוֹת הָיָה כּוֹתְבָהּ בְּבַת אַחַת

     amrú aláv sh'hayá notél arba'á kulmosín ben etsb'otáv v'im haytá tevá shel arbá' otiyót hayá kotváh b'vát akhát.

     They said of him that he would hold four quills between his fingers, and if he came across a word of four letters he would write it at once.

 תיבה - Wiktionary, the free dictionary