لlām
How it is made
phoneticsedge of the tongue to its tip, against the palate above the front teeth; voiced, between stop and continuant.
In brief, from the lines below. English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
Sībawayh · al-Kitāb (d. c. 180/796)
No sentence of its own in this text (see the note below).
ومنها المنحرف، وهو حرف شديد جرى فيه الصوت لانحراف اللسان مع الصوت
Among them is the 'deflected' letter: a stop through which the voice runs, because the tongue turns aside with the voice. [It is the lām.] lines 26587–26588 ↗
Ibn Jinnī · Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb (d. 392/1002)
ومن حافة اللسان من أدناها إلى منتهى طرف اللسان، من بينها وبين ما يليها من الحنك الأعلى، مما فويق الضاحك والناب والرباعية والثنية، مخرج اللام
From the edge of the tongue, from its nearest part to the end of its tip, between it and the upper palate next to it, just above the premolar, the canine, the lateral and the central incisor, is the place of the lām. lines 977–978 ↗
ومن الحروف حرف منحرف، لأن اللسان ينحرف فيه مع الصوت
Among the letters is a 'deflected' letter, because the tongue turns aside in it with the voice. [It is the lām.] lines 1240–1242 ↗
On the texts (our observation): In this digital text of Sībawayh a line seems to have dropped: L26555 begins with the words Ibn Jinnī gives for the lām (L977) but ends 'is the place of the nūn', so the lām has no place of its own there. Ibn Jinnī, who follows Sībawayh's list, has both sentences. Check a print of the Kitāb before relying on L26555.
Reference
Ibn Jinnī’s chapter on the lāmits opening
اللام حرف مجهور يكون أصلا وبدلا، وزائدا
The lām is a voiced letter; it is a radical, a substitute and an augment. line 4685 ↗
The chapter begins at line 4679 ↗; the rest of it is on the letter's substitutions, assimilation and uses.
In the Breath of the All-MercifulIbn ʿArabī · metaphysics
Level of existence: السماء الثالثة · the third heaven
Divine Name: القاهر · the Subduer (al-Qāhir)
Lunar mansion: العوا · al-ʿAwwā
وعن حركة هذا الفلك ظهر حرف اللام من الحروف اللفظية
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64654Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 7 line 2576 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
منها دون الألف فطبعها الحرارة واليبوسة
[Zāy and lām] of it, excluding alif: their nature is heat and dryness. AI
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2577Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي حصول المتكلم على شيء عظيم، وتكون إشارة إلى شيء عظيم.
It is the speaker's attaining of something great, and it serves as an indication of something great. AI
al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-LamaṭīWith ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نهاية له.
It is an indication of the thing that has no end. AI
al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-LamaṭīWith kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة من المتكلم إلى وجود ذاته أو إلى ذاته.
It is an indication by the speaker of the existence of his self, or of his self. AI
al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-LamaṭīFurther
هذا إذا كانت مرققة، فإن كانت مفخمة فهي إشارة مع قلق، وقال مرة: مع قبح.
This applies when it is light (muraqqaqa). If it is emphatic (mufakhkhama), it is an indication with agitation; on one occasion he said: with ugliness. AI
al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-LamaṭīSībawayh (d. c. 180/796), al-Kitāb, ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Hārūn (Cairo: al-Khānjī), vol. 4, pp. 431–436. Digital text: 0180Sibawayhi.KitabSibawayhi.Shamela0023018-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 Jinnī (d. 392/1002), Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb, Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya (as recorded by OpenITI), vol. 1. Digital text: 0392IbnJinniMawsili.SirrSinacatIcrab.Shamela0012017-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.