نnūn
How it is made
phoneticstip of the tongue, just 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)
ومن حافة اللسان من أدناها إلى منتهى طرف اللسان ما بينها وبين ما يليها من الحنك الأعلى وما فويق الثنايا مخرج النون
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 and what is just above the front teeth, is the place of the nūn. lines 26555–26556 ↗
ومنها حرف شديد يجري معه الصوت لأن ذلك الصوت غنة من الأنف
Among them is a stop with which the voice runs, because that voice is a nasal twang (ghunna) from the nose. [It is the nūn, and so is the mīm.] lines 26591–26593 ↗
Ibn Jinnī · Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb (d. 392/1002)
ومن طرف اللسان بينه وبين ما فويق الثنايا، مخرج النون
From the tip of the tongue, between it and what is just above the front teeth, is the place of the nūn. line 979 ↗
غير أن الميم والنون من جملة المجهورة قد يعتمد لهما في الفم والخياشيم، فتصير فيهما غنة
Except that the mīm and the nūn, among the voiced letters, may be pressed for in both the mouth and the nasal passages, so that a nasal twang (ghunna) comes into them. lines 1197–1199 ↗
On the texts (our observation): Sībawayh's sentence for the nūn (L26555–26556) looks like the lām's sentence run into the nūn's: a line seems to have dropped in this digital text. Ibn Jinnī has the two separately (L977–979).
Reference
Ibn Jinnī’s chapter on the nūnits opening
النون حرف مجهور أغن، يكون أصلا وبدلا وزائدا
The nūn is a voiced, nasal letter; it is a radical, a substitute and an augment. line 6273 ↗
The chapter begins at line 6272 ↗; 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 الرابعة · the fourth heaven
Divine Name: النور · the Light (al-Nūr)
Lunar mansion: السماك · al-Simāk
وكون حرف النون عنها
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64663Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 8 line 2571 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
الثمانية فحروفها حارة يابسة
The eightfold [rank]: its letters are hot and dry. AI
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2580Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي الخير الساكن في الذات الشاعل فيها.
It is the good that dwells in the self, kindling [al-shāʿil, as written] within it. AI
al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-LamaṭīWith ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الخير الكامل أو النور الساطع.
It is an indication of perfect good or radiant light. AI
al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-LamaṭīWith kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى شيء يدركه المتكلم أو هو له.
It is an indication of something that the speaker perceives or that belongs to him. 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.