النَّحْو وَالصَّرْفSyntax and morphology

Ibn Jinnī's definition

Where does language come from?

Three answers run through the tradition: language was taught by God (tawqīf, 'instruction'), agreed among people (iṣṭilāḥ or muwāḍaʿa, 'convention'), or some of both. Each voice below says which it holds.

• Ibn Fārisd. 395/1004RevealedArabic was taught by God, beginning with Adam, and completed by the time of the Prophet.›

  أقول: إن لغة العرب توقيف. ودليل ذلك قوله جل ثناؤه: وعلم أدم الأسماء كلها

  I say: the language of the Arabs is by instruction (tawqīf). The proof is His word, glorious be His praise: 'And He taught Adam the names, all of them' (Q 2:31). al-Ṣāḥibī, lines 83–84 (vol. 1, p. 1) ↗

  The digital text reads أدم for آدم; quoted as it stands.

  بل وقف الله جل وعز آدم عليه السلام على ما شاء أن يعلمه إياه مما احتاج إلى علمه في زمانه

  Rather, God, mighty and glorious, instructed Adam, peace be on him, in what He willed to teach him, of what he needed to know in his time. al-Ṣāḥibī, lines 103–105 (vol. 1, p. 2) ↗

  Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), al-Ṣāḥibī fī fiqh al-lugha, print edition not recorded by OpenITI. Digital text: 0395IbnFarisQazwini.Sahibi.JK010092-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.

• Ibn Jinnīd. 392/1002UndecidedMost thinkers hold convention; his teacher said revelation; he finds the imitation of natural sounds a sound view, and ends suspended between the two.›

  أكثر أهل النظر على أن أصل اللغة إنما هو تواضع واصطلاح لا وحي وتوقيف

  Most of those who reason hold that the origin of language is only agreement and convention, not revelation and instruction. al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, lines 544–545 (vol. 1, p. 40) ↗

  وذهب بعضهم إلى أن أصل اللغات كلها إنما هو من الأصوات المسوعات كدوى الريح وحنين الرعد وخرير الماء

  Some held that the origin of all languages is in the sounds that are heard: the howl of the wind, the rumble of thunder, the murmur of water. al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, lines 625–628 (vol. 1, p. 46) ↗

  The digital text reads المسوعات for المسموعات; quoted as it stands.

  وهذا عندي وجه صالح ومذهب متقبل

  To me this is a sound approach and an acceptable view. al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, lines 627–628 (vol. 1, p. 47) ↗

  فأقف بين تين الخلتين حسيرا وأكاثرهما فأنكفئ مكثورا

  So I stand between these two positions, worn out; I try to outweigh them, and turn back outweighed. al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, lines 640–642 (vol. 1, p. 47) ↗

  Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, ed. Muḥammad ʿAlī al-Najjār (Beirut: ʿĀlam al-Kutub). Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.Khasais.JK001302-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-Fārābīd. 339/950Convention, arising naturallyThe philosopher's account: people point, then make sounds; the sounds their bodies make most easily become their letters, and a word becomes a word when speaker and hearer settle on it.›

  استعمل الإشارة أولا في الدلالة على ما كان يريد ممن يلتمس تفهيمه إذا كان من يلتمس تفهيمه بحيث يبصر إشارته، ثم استعمل بعد ذلك التصويت

  He first used pointing to show what he wanted to the one he sought to make understand, when that one could see him point; after that he used sounds. Kitāb al-Ḥurūf, lines 1562–1564 (vol. 1, p. 37) ↗

  ويكون ذلك هو السبب الأول في اختلاف ألسنة الأمم. فإن تلك التصويتات الأول هي الحروف المعجمة

  This is the first cause of the difference between the tongues of nations: those first sounds are the letters. Kitāb al-Ḥurūf, lines 1587–1588 (vol. 1, p. 37) ↗

  فيكونان قد اصطلحا وتواطئا على تلك اللفظة

  And so the two of them have agreed and settled on that word. Kitāb al-Ḥurūf, lines 1604–1605 (vol. 1, p. 38) ↗

  al-Fārābī (d. 339/950), Kitāb al-Ḥurūf, print edition not recorded by OpenITI; its paragraph numbers are kept in the text. Digital text: 0339AbuNasrFarabi.Huruf.JK010697-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-Suyūṭīd. 911/1505The map of positionsThe first chapter of the Muzhir gathers the debate. After quoting Ibn Fāris and Ibn Jinnī at length, he gives, from Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī's al-Maḥṣūl, four positions, and says the careful scholars suspend judgement on all but one.›

  الألفاظ إما أن تدل على المعاني بذواتها أو بوضع الله إياها أو بوضع الناس أو بكون البعض بوضع الله والباقي بوضع الناس

  Words signify meanings either by their very selves, or because God laid them down, or because people did, or some by God's laying-down and the rest by people's. al-Muzhir, lines 314–316 (vol. 1, p. 18) ↗

  والمحققون متوقفون في الكل إلا في مذهب عباد

  The careful scholars suspend judgement on all of these, except the view of ʿAbbād [which they reject]. al-Muzhir, line 321 (vol. 1, p. 18) ↗

  al-Suyūṭī (d. 911/1505), al-Muzhir fī ʿulūm al-lugha wa-anwāʿihā, ed. Fuʾād ʿAlī Manṣūr (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya). Digital text: 0911Suyuti.MuzhirFiCulumLugha.Shamela0006936-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.

Contested. Never settled. Ibn Fāris holds revelation; Ibn Jinnī reports a majority for convention and ends undecided; al-Fārābī describes convention arising among people; al-Suyūṭī, after al-Rāzī, records suspended judgement. The stakes were also theological: al-Suyūṭī notes that Ibn Fāris was a Sunnī and that Ibn Jinnī and his teacher Abū ʿAlī al-Fārisī were Muʿtazilīs.al-Muzhir, line 216 (vol. 1, p. 14) ↗al-Muzhir, line 218 (vol. 1, p. 14) ↗

English throughout: AI translation ✦AI. The summaries, positions and “contested” lines are ours. Each voice is quoted in its own words unless marked reported (known only through a later author's report) or parallel, not influence.