الحَرَكَاتThe names of the vowels
al-ḥarakāt
Early Arabic script wrote only consonants. Abū l-Aswad al-Duʾalī is credited with marking vowels by dots; al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad (d. c. 175/791) gave the signs their present shapes. Ibn ʿArabī's own autographs are largely unvowelled, which is why the reader shows every vowel's source and a view without vowels. AI
The words behind the terms
حَرَكَةvowel (lit. 'movement')ḥaraka
Root ح ر ك · moving
A consonant with a vowel 'moves'; one without is 'still'.
فَتْحَةafatḥa
Root ف ت ح · opening
The mouth opens.
ضَمَّةuḍamma
Root ض م م · joining, drawing together
The lips draw together.
كَسْرَةikasra
Root ك س ر · breaking
The line of the mouth 'breaks' downward.
سُكُونno vowelsukūn
Root س ك ن · stillness, rest
The letter is still.
تَنْوِينnunation (-n)tanwīn
Root ن و ن · adding a nūn
The final -n written by doubling the vowel sign.
Reference
In the classics5 books · definitions
- The ĀjurrūmiyyaIbn ĀjurrūmChapter on Knowing the Signs of Declension (iʿrāb)
- Qaṭr al-nadāIbn HishāmSection: Where all the vowels are impliedChapter on the pause (waqf), according to the most correct usage (al-afṣaḥ)
- The AlfiyyaIbn MālikThe Declinable and the Indeclinable (vv. 15–51)Pause (al-Waqf): the Forms Words Take at a Stop (vv. 881–899)with Ibn ʿAqīl's commentary under each verse
- Shudhūr al-dhahabIbn HishāmImplied inflection: the maqṣūr and manqūṣ nouns
- al-ShāfiyaIbn al-ḤājibMeeting of two vowelless consonantsPause (waqf)
al-Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt · 3 definitions
الحركة: الخروج من القوة إلى الفعل على سبيل التدريج، قيد ب التدريج ليخرج الكون عن الحركة، وقيل: هي شغل حيز بعد أن كان في حيز آخر، وقيل: الحركة: كونان في آنين في مكانين، كما أن السكون: كونان في آنين في مكان واحد.
Motion [al-ḥaraka]: the passage from potentiality [al-quwwa] to actuality [al-fiʿl] by gradation [al-tadrīj]. It is qualified by 'gradation' to exclude generation [al-kawn] from motion. It is also said: it is the occupying of a space [ḥayyiz] after having been in another space. It is also said: motion is two states of being [kawnān] in two instants in two places, just as rest [al-sukūn] is two states of being in two instants in one place. AI
OpenITI · Taʿrīfāt, line 1708السكون: هو عدم الحركة عما من شأنه أن يتحرك، فعدم الحركة عما ليس من شأنه الحركة لا يكون سكونا، فالموصوف بهذا لا يكون متحركا ولا ساكنا.
Rest [al-sukūn]: the absence of motion in that which is of a nature to move. So the absence of motion in what is not of a nature to move is not rest; what is described in this way is neither moving nor at rest. AI
OpenITI · Taʿrīfāt, line 2430التنوين: نون ساكنة تتبع حركة الآخر؛ لا لتأكيد الفعل.
Nunation [al-tanwīn]: a quiescent nūn that follows the vowel of the final letter, and is not for emphasizing the verb. AI
OpenITI · Taʿrīfāt, line 1377
Arabic texts from OpenITI (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0); English titles and translations are AI. All the classics →