Truncation (tarkhīm) of the Vocative Noun
التَّرْخِيمُ
Verses 608–619 · chapter 51 of 78
This chapter teaches tarkhīm: deleting the end of a noun in the vocative. It sets out which nouns may be truncated, how much is deleted (the final letter, a preceding weak letter, the second element of a compound), and the two ways of treating what remains. It closes by allowing truncation outside the vocative in poetry. AI
- 608
Metre: not scanned
As vowelled here, this verse does not fit al-rajaz, the metre of the poem; it is left unscanned rather than forced.
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
As truncation, delete the last letter of the noun addressed in the vocative, as in yā suʿā, said by someone calling Suʿād.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 608Arabic
الترخيم في اللغة ترقيق الصوت ومنه قوله
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 6116 · vol. 3, p. 286 ↗315 ( لها بشر مثل الحرير ومنطق … رخيم الحواشي لا هراء ولا نزر
أي رقيق الحواشي
وفي الاصطلاح حذف أواخر الكلم في النداء نحو يا سعا والأصل يا سعاد
- 609
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Allow it unconditionally in every noun made feminine with the hāʾ [the tāʾ marbūṭa], whether or not it is a proper name and whatever its length: yā thuba for thubah, yā jāri for jāriyah. As for the noun that has been truncated
OpenITI line 796 · vol. 1, p. 52 ↗AI vowelling differs in letters from OpenITIAI note on the transcription: أُنِّثَ بِالْهَا وَالَّذِي قَدْ رُخِّمَا: the transcription reads وبالذي, which has an extra bāʾ. The editions read والذي, and the extra syllable breaks the rajaz.
- 610
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
by deleting that hāʾ, leave the rest of it intact afterwards [delete nothing more: marjānah → yā marjā]. Forbid the truncation of a noun that lacks this hāʾ
- 611
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
except a proper name of four letters or more that is not an iḍāfa and not a compound completed by predication [isnād]: yā jaʿfa for Jaʿfar, yā ḥāri for Ḥārith. ʿAmr cannot be truncated because it is too short, ʿAbd Shams because it is an iḍāfa, and Taʾabbaṭa Sharran because it contains predication.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 609–611Arabic
لا يخلو المنادى من أن يكون مؤنثا بالهاء أو لا
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 6124 · vol. 3, p. 288 ↗فإن كان مؤنثا بالهاء جاز ترخيمه مطلقا أي سواء كان علما كفاطمة أو غير علم كجارية زائدا على ثلاثة أحرف كما مثل أو غير زائد على ثلاثة أحرف كشاة فتقول يا فاطم ويا جاري وياشا ومنه قولهم ياشا ادجني أي أقيمي بحذف تاء التأنيث للترخيم ولا يحذف منه بعد ذلك شيء آخر وإلى هذا أشار بقوله وجوزنه إلى قوله بعد
وأشار بقوله واحظلا إلخ إلى القسم الثاني وهو ما ليس مؤنثا بالهاء فذكر أنه لا يرخم إلى بثلاثة بشروط
الأول أن يكون رباعيا فأكثر
الثاني أن يكون علما
الثالث أن لا يكون مركبا تركيب إضافة ولا إسناد
وذلك كعثمان وجعفر فتقول يا عثم ويا جعف
وخرج ما كان على ثلاثة أحرف كزيد وعمرو وما كان على أربعة أحرف غير علم كقائم وقاعد وما ركب تركيب إضافة كعبد شمس وما ركب تركيب إسناد نحو شاب قرناها فلا يرخم شيء من هذه
وأما ما ركب تركيب مزج فيرخم بحذف عجزه وهو مفهوم من كلام المصنف لأنه لم يخرجه فتقول فيمن اسمه معدى كرب يا معدى
- 612
Metre: not scanned
As vowelled here, this verse does not fit al-rajaz, the metre of the poem; it is left unscanned rather than forced.
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Together with the last letter, also delete the letter it followed, if that letter is an added weak letter [alif, wāw, yāʾ], vowelless, and completing
OpenITI line 799 · vol. 1, p. 52 ↗AI vowelling differs in letters from OpenITIAI note on the transcription: إِنْ زِيدَ لَيِّنًا سَاكِنًا مُكَمِّلَا: the transcription has ريد with rāʾ. The verb is زِيدَ ('was added'), so the dot on the zāy has been lost.
- 613
الرَّجَزal-rajaz–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
four letters or more [it stands in fourth place or later]: yā manṣu for Manṣūr, yā ʿamma for ʿAmmār, yā miski for Miskīn. Saʿīd gives only yā saʿī, and Mukhtār only yā mukhtā, because the alif there is not added. There is a disagreement about a wāw or yāʾ that follows a fatḥa [as in Firʿawn and Ghurnayq]. Al-Farrāʾ and al-Jarmī delete it (yā firʿa, yā ghurna). The others keep it (yā firʿaw, yā ghurnay).
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 612–613Arabic
أي يجب أن يحذف مع الآخر ما قبله إن كان زائدا لينا أي حرف لين ساكنا رابعا فصاعدا وذلك نحو عثمان ومنصور ومسكين فتقول يا عثم ويا منص ويا مسك فإن كان غير زائد كمختار أو غير لين كقمطر أو غير ساكن كقنور أو غير رابع كمجيد لم يجز حذفه فتقول يا مختا ويا قمط ويا قنو ويا مجى
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 6143 · vol. 3, p. 289 ↗وأما فرعون ونحوه وهو ما كان قبل واوه فتحة أو قبل يائه فتحة كغرنيق ففيه خلاف فمذهب الفراء والجرمى أنهما يعاملان معاملة مسكين ومنصوره فتقول عندهما يا فرع ويا غرن ومذهب غيرهما من النحويين عدم جواز ذلك فتقول عندهم يا فرعو ويا غرني
- 614
الرَّجَزal-rajaz–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
From a blended compound, delete the second element: yā baʿla for Baʿlabakk, yā sība for Sībawayh. Truncation of a sentence-name is rare. ʿAmr [Sībawayh] reported it: yā taʾabbaṭa for Taʾabbaṭa Sharran.
OpenITI line 801 · vol. 1, p. 52 ↗AI vowelling differs in letters from OpenITIAI note on the transcription: تَرْخِيمُ جُمْلَةٍ وَذَا عَمْرٌو نَقَلْ: the transcription has حملة with ḥāʾ. The word is جُمْلَة ('sentence'), so the dot of the jīm has been lost.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 614Arabic
تقدم أن المركب تركيب مزج يرخم وذكر هنا أن ترخيمه يكون بحذف عجزه فتقول في معدى كرب يا معدى وتقدم أيضا أن المركب تركيب إسناد لا يرخم وذكر هنا أنه يرخم قليلا وأن عمرا يعني سيبويه وهذا اسمه وكنيته أو بشر وسيبويه لقبه نقل ذلك عنهم والذي نص عليه سيبويه في باب الترخيم أن ذلك لا يجوز وفهم المصنف عنه من كلامه في بعض أبواب النسب جواز ذلك فتقول في تأبط شرا يا تأبط
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 6152 · vol. 3, p. 290 ↗ - 615
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
If, after the deletion, you still intend what was deleted, use what remains with the vowel it already had [lughat man yantaẓir]: yā ḥāri, yā jaʿfa, yā qima for Qimaṭr.
- 616
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
If you do not intend the deleted part, treat the remainder as though it had been complete with its present last letter in its original form, and give that letter the vocative ḍamma [lughat man lā yantaẓir]: yā ḥāru, yā jaʿfu, yā qimu.
- 617
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
So, for Thamūd, under the first way you say yā thamū. Under the second you say yā thamī, with yāʾ [a noun cannot end in wāw after ḍamma, so the wāw becomes yāʾ and the ḍamma becomes kasra].
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 615–617Arabic
يجوز في المرخم لغتان إحداهما أن ينوى المحذوف منه والثانية أن لا ينوى ويعبر عن الأولى بلغة من ينتظر الحرف وعن الثانية بلغة من لا ينتظر الحرف
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 6161 · vol. 3, p. 292 ↗فإذا رخمت على لغة من ينتظر تركت الباقي بعد الحذف على ما كان عليه من حركة أو سكون فتقول في جعفر يا جعف وفي حارث يا حار وفي قمطر يا قمط
وإذا رخمت على لغة من لا ينتظر عاملت الآخر بما يعامل به لو كان هو آخر الكلمة وضعا فتبنيه على الضم وتعامله معاملة الاسم التام فتقول يا جعف ويا حار ويا قمط بضم الفاء والراء والطاء
وتقول في ثمود على لغة من ينتظر الحرف يا ثمو بواو ساكنة وعلى لغة من لا ينتظر تقول يا ثمى فتقلب الواو ياء والضمة كسرة لأنك تعامله معاملة الاسم التام ولا يوجد اسم معرب آخره واو قبلها ضمة إلا ويجب قلب الواو ياء والضمة كسرة
- 618
الرَّجَزal-rajaz–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Use only the first way with words like muslimah [a feminine adjective]: yā muslima. The second way, yā muslimu, would be confused with the masculine. Allow both ways with words like Maslamah [a proper name]: yā maslama and yā maslamu.
OpenITI line 806 · vol. 1, p. 52 ↗AI vowelling differs in letters from OpenITIAI note on the transcription: وَالْتَزِمِ الْأَوَّلَ فِي كَمُسْلِمَهْ: the transcription has كمسمله, with the lām and mīm transposed. The word is مُسْلِمَه, contrasted with the name مَسْلَمَه in the ʿajuz.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 618Arabic
إذا رخم ما فيه تاء التأنيث للفرق بين المذكر والمؤنث كمسلمه وجب ترخيمه على لغة من ينتظر الحرف فتقول يا مسلم بفتح الميم ولا يجوز ترخيمه على لغة من لا ينتظر الحرف فلا تقول يا مسلم بضم الميم لئلا يلتبس بنداء المذكر
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 6173 · vol. 3, p. 293 ↗وأما ما كانت فيه التاء لا للفرق فيرخم على اللغتين فتقول في مسلمة علما يا مسلم بفتح الميم وضمها
- 619
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ
Ibn Jinnī on al-rajaz, “the trembling”
وهو على ستة أجزاء مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن مستفعلن
It has six feet: mustafʿilun, six times. Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, lines 842–843 (p. 101) ↗
Scanned by rule, not by a model. The vowelled text is read as it is pronounced, as Ibn Jinnī says scansion must be: doubled letters count twice, tanwīn adds an n, long vowels lengthen, the connecting alif drops inside the line, the article's l merges into a sun letter, and the last vowel of a line is drawn out. The syllables, long (–) and short (∪), are then fitted to each metre's feet with the common licences (zihāfāt) and line-endings. A poem has one metre: the one that fits most of its verses. A verse that does not fit it is marked 'not scanned'; nothing is guessed. Vowels scanned: AI vowelling (no vowelled edition is available to us).
Scanned by rule English: AI translation AI
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Kitāb al-ʿArūḍ, ed. Aḥmad Fawzī al-Hayb (Kuwait: Dār al-Qalam, 1407/1987). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Carud.JK000956-ara1 (OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (OpenITI digital text); the classical text is public domain, the modern edition is not.
Under the constraint of verse, poets have truncated without a vocative a noun that is fit to be called, such as Aḥmad. [Example: ṭarīfu bnu mālin for Mālik, in 'la-niʿma l-fatā taʿshū ilā ḍawʾi nārihi / ṭarīfu bnu mālin laylata l-jūʿi wa-l-khaṣar'.]
OpenITI line 807 · vol. 1, p. 52 ↗AI vowelling differs in letters from OpenITIAI note on the transcription: مَا لِلنِّدَا يَصْلُحُ نَحْوُ أَحْمَدَا: the transcription drops the final alif of أحمدا. This is the alif of iṭlāq that closes the rhyme (نِدَا / أَحْمَدَا), and the editions write it.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 619Arabic
قد سبق أن الترخيم حذف أواخر الكلم في النداء وقد يحذف للضرورة آخر الكلمة في غير النداء بشرط كونها صالحة للنداء كأحمد ومنه قوله
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 6179 · vol. 3, p. 293 ↗316 ( لنعم الفتى تعشو إلى ضوء ناره … طريف بن مال ليلة الجوع والخصر
أي طريف بن مالك . .
- التَّرْخِيمُ al-tarkhīm · truncation: deleting the end of a noun, normally in the vocative · رخم
- الْمُنَادَى al-munādā · the noun addressed in the vocative · ندو
- الْعَلَمُ al-ʿalam · proper name · علم
- الْإِضَافَةُ al-iḍāfa · genitive construct (annexation) · ضيف
- الْإِسْنَادُ al-isnād · predication: the relation of subject and predicate that makes a sentence · سند
- اللَّيِّنُ al-layyin · weak (soft) letter: alif, wāw, or yāʾ · لين
- الْمُرَكَّبُ al-murakkab · compound (here the blended compound, such as Baʿlabakk) · ركب
- الْعَجُزُ al-ʿajuz · the second element of a compound · عجز
- الِاضْطِرَارُ al-iḍṭirār · poetic necessity (constraint of metre and rhyme) · ضرر