Verb-Nouns and Sound-Words
أَسْمَاءُ الْأَفْعَالِ وَالْأَصْوَاتِ
Verses 627–634 · chapter 54 of 78
The chapter defines the ism fiʿl (verb-noun), a word that stands in for a verb in meaning and government, and sorts verb-nouns into imperative, past and present types, both invariable and derived from prepositional phrases or maṣdars. It states that a verb-noun governs as its verb does, that its object may not come before it, and that tanwīn marks it as indefinite. It then covers ism ṣawt (sound-words), which are used to address animals or to imitate sounds, and rules that both kinds are mabnī (indeclinable). AI
- 627
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–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.
Whatever stands in for a verb, like shattāna ['how far apart!', in place of iftaraqa] and ṣah ['be silent!', in place of uskut], is an ism fiʿl (verb-noun). So are awwah ['I am in pain', in place of atawajjaʿu] and mah ['stop!', in place of inkaffa].
- 628
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–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.
Verb-nouns with the meaning of the imperative ifʿal, like āmīna ['answer (our prayer)!', in place of istajib], are numerous. The others are few, such as way ['I marvel!', in place of aʿjabu, a present] and hayhāta ['how far it is!', in place of baʿuda, a past].
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 627–628Arabic
أسماء الأفعال ألفاظ تقوم مقام الأفعال في الدلالة على معناها وفي عملها وتكون بمعنى الأمر وهو الكثير فيها كمه بمعنى اكفف وآمين بمعنى استجب وتكون بمعنى الماضي كشتان بمعنى افترق تقول شتان زيد وعمرو وهيهات بمعنى بعد تقول هيهات العقيق ومعناه بعد وبمعنى المضارع كأوه بمعنى أتوجع ووى بمعنى أعجب وكلاهما غير مقيس
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 6219 · vol. 3, p. 301 ↗وقد سبق في الأسماء الملازمة للنداء أنه ينقاس استعمال فعال اسم فعل مبنيا على الكسر من كل فعل ثلاثي فتقول ضراب زيدا أي اضرب ونزال أي انزل وكتاب أي اكتب ولم يذكره المصنف هنا استغناء بذكره هناك
- 629
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪∪∪–فَعِلَتُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ
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.
Among the verb's names [verb-nouns transferred from a preposition or adverb with its pronoun] is ʿalayka ['hold to!', in place of ilzam]. The same applies to dūnaka ['take!', in place of khudh] and to ilayka ['keep away!', in place of tanaḥḥa].
OpenITI line 827 · vol. 1, p. 53 ↗AI vowelling differs in letters from OpenITIAI note on the transcription: Sadr: وَالْفِعْلُ مِنْ أَسْمَائِهِ عَلَيْكَا; ʿajuz: وَهَكَذَا دُونَكَ مَعْ إِلَيْكَا. The transcription's عليكما and إليكما add a mīm. The editions read عَلَيْكَا and إِلَيْكَا, where the final alif is the alif of iṭlāq closing the rhyme, and the examples are the singular forms ʿalayka and ilayka that match dūnaka.
- 630
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪––فَعُولُنْ
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.
Likewise ruwayda ['give time to', in place of amhil] and bala ['leave aside', in place of daʿ] are verb-nouns when they put their object in the accusative, as in ruwayda Zaydan and bala Zaydan. When they are used as maṣdars, they put the following noun in the genitive, as in ruwayda Zaydin and bala Zaydin.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 629–630Arabic
من أسماء الأفعال ما هو في أصله ظرف وما هو مجرور بحرف نحو عليك زيدا أي الزمه و إليك أي تنح ودونك زيدا أي خذه
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 6229 · vol. 3, p. 302 ↗ومنها ما يستعمل مصدرا واسم فعل كرويد وبله
فإن ابحر ما بعدهما فهما مصدران نحو رويد زيد أي إرواد زيد أي إمهاله وهو منصوب بفعل مضمر وبله زيد أي تركه
وإن انتصب ما بعدهما فهما اسما فعل نحو رويدا زيدا أي أمهل زيدا وبله عمرا أي أتركه
- 631
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–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.
Whatever government belongs to the verbs they stand in for also belongs to the verb-nouns. So a verb-noun takes a subject and, if its verb is transitive, an object, as in darāki Zaydan ['reach Zayd']. Put the word governed after the verb-noun that governs it, so that its object is never placed before it.
OpenITI line 829 · vol. 1, p. 53 ↗AI vowelling differs in letters from OpenITIAI note on the transcription: Sadr: وَمَا لِمَا تَنُوبُ عَنْهُ مِنْ عَمَلْ. The transcription reads عن عمل, which repeats the عن of عنه. The editions have مِنْ, the explanatory min that specifies what 'mā' refers to. (مالذي in the ʿajuz is only a spacing join of مَا لِذِي.)
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 631Arabic
أي يثبت لأسماء الأفعال من العمل ما يثبت لما تنوب عنه من الأفعال
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 6237 · vol. 3, p. 303 ↗فإن كان ذلك الفعل يرفع فقط كان اسم الفعل كذلك كصه بمعنى اسكت ومه بمعنى اكفف وهيهات زيد بمعنى بعد زيد ففي صه ومه ضميران مستتران كما في اسكت واكفف وزيد مرفوع بهيهات كما ارتفع ببعد
وإن كان ذلك الفعل يرفع وينصب كان اسم الفعل كذلك ك دراك زيدا أي أدركه وضراب عمرا أي اضربه ففي دراك وضراب ضميران مستتران وزيدا وعمرا منصوبان بهما
وأشار بقوله وأخر ما لذي فيه العمل إلى أن معمول اسم الفعل يجب تأخيره عنه فتقول دراك زيدا ولا يجوز تقديمه عليه فلا تقول زيدا دراك وهذا بخلاف الفعل إذ يجوز زيدا أدرك
- 632
الرَّجَزal-rajaz––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–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.
Treat as indefinite any verb-noun that takes tanwīn. For example, ṣahin means 'be silent [about anything]'. The definiteness of the others, those without tanwīn, is clear. For example, ṣah means 'be silent [about this particular matter]'.
OpenITI line 830 · vol. 1, p. 53 ↗AI vowelling differs in letters from OpenITIAI note on the transcription: ʿAjuz: مِنْهَا وَتَعْرِيفُ سِوَاهُ بَيِّنُ. The transcription's وتعربف has bāʾ in place of yāʾ. The word is تَعْرِيف, 'definiteness', which is paired with تَنْكِير in the ṣadr.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verse 632Arabic
الدليل على أن ما سمى بأسماء الأفعال أسماء لحاق التنوين لها فتقول في صه صه وفي حيهل حيهلا فيلحقها التنوين للدلالة على التنكير فما نون منها كان نكرة ومالم ينون كان معرفة
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 6248 · vol. 3, p. 304 ↗ - 633
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ–∪∪–مُفْتَعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–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.
Words resembling the verb-noun that are used to address beings without reason are classed as ism ṣawt (sound-word). Examples are hala, said to urge a horse on, and ʿadas, said to a mule.
- 634
الرَّجَزal-rajaz∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ∪–∪–مَفَاعِلُنْ––∪–مُسْتَفْعِلُنْ––∪–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.
The same applies to a word that imitates a sound, like qab [the sound of a sword striking] or ghāq [the cry of a crow]. Always treat both kinds, verb-nouns and sound-words, as mabnī (indeclinable), because that is obligatory for them.
Ibn ʿAqīl on verses 633–634Arabic
أسماء الأصوات ألفاظ استعملت كأسماء الأفعال في الاكتفاء بها دالة على خطاب مالا يعقل أو على حكاية صوت من الأصوات فالأول كقولك هلا لزجر الخيل وعدس لزجر البغل والثاني كقب لوقوع السيف وغاق للغراب
Ibn ʿAqīl, OpenITI line 6253 · vol. 3, p. 305 ↗وأشار بقوله والزم بنا النوعين إلى أن أسماء الأفعال وأسماء الأصوات كلها مبنية وقد سبق في باب المعرب والمبنى أن أسماء الأفعال مبنية لشبهها بالحرف في النيابة عن الفعل وعدم التأثر حيث قال وكنيابة عن الفعل بلا تأثر وأما أسماء الأصوات فهي مبنية لشبهها بأسماء الأفعال
- اسْمُ الْفِعْلِ ism al-fiʿl · verb-noun: a word that stands in for a verb in meaning and government but does not accept verbal inflection · سمو
- اسْمُ الصَّوْتِ ism al-ṣawt · sound-word: a word used to call or drive animals, or to imitate a noise · صوت
- النِّيَابَةُ al-niyāba · standing in for (another word) and taking over its function · نوب
- الْعَمَلُ al-ʿamal · government: the effect of one word on the case or mood of another · عمل
- الْخَفْضُ al-khafḍ · the genitive (Kufan-style term for jarr) · خفض
- الْمَصْدَرُ al-maṣdar · verbal noun · صدر
- التَّنْوِينُ al-tanwīn · nunation: the final -n that marks, among other things, indefiniteness · نون
- التَّنْكِيرُ al-tankīr · making or judging a word indefinite · نكر
- التَّعْرِيفُ al-taʿrīf · making or judging a word definite · عرف
- الْحِكَايَةُ al-ḥikāya · imitation or reproduction of a sound or utterance · حكي
- الْبِنَاءُ al-bināʾ · indeclinability: a fixed ending that does not change with the governing word · بني