صِيَغ المُبَالَغَة وَاسْم التَّفْضِيلIntensives and the elative

• Qaṭr al-nadāIbn HishāmChapter: Seven [kinds of word] govern as their verb governsChapter on the exclamation of wonder (taʿajjub): it has two patterns (ṣīghatān)
• The AlfiyyaIbn MālikThe Governing Action of the Active Participle (vv. 428–439)Exclamation of Wonder (vv. 474–484)The Elative (afʿal of Preference) (vv. 496–505)with Ibn ʿAqīl's commentary under each verse
• Shudhūr al-dhahabIbn HishāmNouns that govern like verbs, beginning with the verbal noun
• Sībawayh, al-KitābSībawayhThe pattern afʿalAfʿal minka: diptote because it is an adjective
• DisputedIbn al-Anbārī, al-Inṣāf
  • Is the afʿal of wonder (mā aḥsana Zaydan, ‘how fine Zayd is!’) a noun or a verb?Kufa: a noun · Basra: a past verb · he sides with Basra›

    Question 15: مسألة القول في أفعل في التعجب اسم هو أو فعل

    ذهب الكوفيون إلى أن أفعل في التعجب نحو ما أحسن زيدا اسم

    KufaThe Kufans held that afʿal in exclamations of wonder, as in mā aḥsana Zaydan, is a noun. al-Inṣāf, line 1500 (vol. 1, p. 126) ↗

    وذهب البصريون إلى أنه فعل ماض

    BasraThe Basrans held that it is a past verb. al-Inṣāf, line 1501 (vol. 1, p. 126) ↗

    VerdictHe gives the Basran proofs, then answers the Kufans’ arguments one by one; that is how he sides with Basra:

    وأما الجواب عن كلمات الكوفيين

    As for the answer to the Kufans' arguments… al-Inṣāf, line 1619 (vol. 1, p. 138) ↗

    al-Kisāʾī, a Kufan, sided with Basra.

    English: AI translation ✦AI The summary lines are ours.

    Ibn al-Anbārī (d. 577/1181), al-Inṣāf fī masāʾil al-khilāf bayna al-naḥwiyyīn al-Baṣriyyīn wa-l-Kūfiyyīn, ed. Muḥammad Muḥyī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd (Damascus: Dār al-Fikr; year not recorded by OpenITI). Digital text: 0577AbuBarakatAnbari.InsafFiMasail.JK001424-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.

  • May the elative (afʿal min) take nunation in verse, when the metre needs it?Kufa: no · Basra: yes · he sides with Basra›

    Question 69: مسألة هل يجوز صرف أفعل التفضيل في ضرورة الشعر

    ذهب الكوفيون إلى أن أفعل منك لا يجوز صرفه في ضرورة الشعر

    KufaThe Kufans held that afʿal minka may not be fully declined even under the necessity of verse. al-Inṣāf, line 5226 (vol. 2, p. 488) ↗

    وذهب البصريون إلى أنه يجوز صرفه في ضرورة الشعر

    BasraThe Basrans held that it may be, under the necessity of verse. al-Inṣāf, lines 5226–5227 (vol. 2, p. 488) ↗

    VerdictHe gives the Basran proofs, then answers the Kufans’ arguments one by one; that is how he sides with Basra:

    وأما الجواب عن كلمات الكوفيين

    As for the answer to the Kufans' arguments… al-Inṣāf, line 5256 (vol. 2, p. 491) ↗

    English: AI translation ✦AI The summary lines are ours.

    Ibn al-Anbārī (d. 577/1181), al-Inṣāf fī masāʾil al-khilāf bayna al-naḥwiyyīn al-Baṣriyyīn wa-l-Kūfiyyīn, ed. Muḥammad Muḥyī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd (Damascus: Dār al-Fikr; year not recorded by OpenITI). Digital text: 0577AbuBarakatAnbari.InsafFiMasail.JK001424-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.

• al-Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt · 1 definition

  • اسم التفضيل: ما اشتق من فعل لموصوف بزيادة على غيره.

    The elative [ism al-tafḍīl]: that which is derived from a verb for something described as exceeding another. ✦AI

    OpenITI · Taʿrīfāt, line 474

Arabic texts from OpenITI (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0); English titles and translations are AI. All the classics →

• W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, 3rd ed., rev. W. Robertson Smith & M. J. de Goeje, vol. 1 (Cambridge, 1896) ↗