Mashrabaمشربة

أتيThe coming of a thing, together with its being brought along and its compliance. (root ty)

تقول أتاني فلان إتيانا وأتيا وأتية وأتوة واحدة ولا

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

أتي
Patterns computed · our data

The words of أ ت ي that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.

23 words6 verbs3 verbal nouns2 participles2 places and instruments1 intensive or elative8 other nouns1 plural

  • أَتَىhe or it came
  • اتَىhe came with, or brought, him, or it
  • آتِيcoming; following
  • إِيتَاء—
  • تَأَتَّىit (an affair, T, Mgh, Msb, K, or a thing, S, M) was, or became, prepared, …
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6أَتَى · اتَى · تَأَتَّى

The root as an action: the bare Form I, and the Forms made by adding letters before, inside or after the root.grammar →

Form I vowels: فَعَلَ يَفْعِلُ (a – i; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)

Verbal nouns3إِيتَاء · إِتْيَان · تَأْتِيَة

The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →

Participles2مَأْتِيّ · مُؤْتَى

The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →

  • مَأْتِيّverily that which He hath promised, or the fulfilment of his promise, is comingLanepassive, Form IQurʾān ×1Lane
  • مُؤْتَىpassive, Form IVLane
Place, time and instrument2مَأْتَى · مِئْتاء

Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →

  • مَأْتَىplace of comingLanenoun of place or timeLane
  • مِئْتاءroad to which people come much, or oftenLanenoun of instrumentLane
Intensives, qualities and the elative1إِتْيَان

The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →

Other nouns8آتِي · آتِيَة · أَتَاء

Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →

Plurals1مُؤْتُون

Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →

  • مُؤْتُونsound plural of مُؤْتQurʾān ×1
Why this shape?What each of the 15 patterns does

What each pattern does. The pattern gives a tendency, not a rule: many words have drifted into meanings of their own.

The pattern machinePour the root into a pattern; see whether the word exists

Choose a pattern; the root's letters pour into it. Then see whether the word exists in our sources. The machine makes shapes; only usage makes words.

مَفْعَلَةأ ت يمَأْتَيَة

Not in our sources. A possible shape, not a word we can show: the Quran, the library and Lane do not have it for this root.

Place noun with -a. The place noun with the feminine -a. Sometimes it is only a variant of mafʿal; often it names the place where a thing is found in abundance (maʾsada, 'a place full of lions'). So maktab is the place of writing, and maktaba, where writings are gathered: a library, a bookshop. Our summary

But: maktaba is not in our classical dictionaries for k-t-b: Lane and al-Jawharī give maktab ('a school'), none gives maktaba. Its sense of 'library, bookshop' fits the pattern of abundance, but that is our reading of the pattern, not a classical entry. Many mafʿala words are single items of usage (maqbara 'cemetery'), which the grammarians call heard, not formed by rule.

The grammarians on this pattern (4)
  • ما يكون مفعلة لازمة لها الهاء والفتحة … وذلك إذا أردت أن تكثر الشيء بالمكان، وذلك قولك: أرض مسبعة، ومأسدة

    Chapter on what is mafʿala, with the -a and the a-vowel always: that is when you mean that a thing abounds in a place, as you say 'a land of many beasts of prey (masbaʿa), of many lions (maʾsada)'

    Sībawayh (d. c. 180/796), al-Kitāb, ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Hārūn, 3rd ed. (Cairo: al-Khānjī, 1988), 4:94 · OpenITI line 21027–21028 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • و نحو المظنة و المقبرة فتحا و ضما ليس بقياس

    and words like maẓinna and maqbara (with a or u) are not by rule

    Ibn al-Ḥājib (d. 646/1249), al-Shāfiya fī ʿilm al-taṣrīf, ed. Ḥasan Aḥmad al-ʿUthmān (Mecca: al-Maktaba al-Makkiyya, 1995), 1:30 · OpenITI line 223 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • “designate the place where the object signified by the noun from which they are formed, is found in large numbers or quantities” Wright, Grammar I, §247, p. 148 ↗ · on nouns of abundance, maf'ala · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain
  • “Nouns of time and place not unfrequently take the feminine form” Wright, Grammar I, §225, p. 128 ↗ · on maf'ala as a variant of maf'al · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain

This root has a weak or doubled letter, so real words change shape (qāla → qāʾil, not qāwil); the machine pours the letters in as they are, and matches attested words by their regular pattern.

About thisWhat “attested” means here; the sources

Attested means found in our data: the Quranic Arabic Corpus (lemmas, verb Forms, participles, verbal nouns, plurals), the library's words (automatic analysis), Lane's Lexicon (his headwords, the Forms he numbers, the verbal nouns and plurals he names) and Ibn Fāris's entry. Nothing is generated for this list. Meanings are Lane's first gloss in his entry, or else the analyser's gloss (“auto”). Vowelling follows the corpus, then Lane, then the analyser; verbs are given in the regular perfect. Lane's Lexicon thins out after qāf, and a few of his entries cover several roots at once: those roots show no Lane. The patterns, written with ف ع ل, are computed by us.

English: AI translation
  • al-Khalīl · 170You say: atānī fulān — atyan, ityānan, atyatan, for a single instance.

    al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.

    You say: atānī fulān — atyan, ityānan, atyatan, for a single instance. It is not said 'ityānatan' as a single instance [because all verbal nouns, when denoting a single instance, are reduced to the pattern faʿlah], and that applies when the verb is on the pattern faʿala or faʿila; but if the verb has augmentative letters beyond that, their augmentation is likewise added in the single-instance form, as in iqbālatan for a single instance, and likewise tafaʿʿul giving tafaʿʿulatan, and the like — this applying where it is proper to say 'faʿlatan wāḥidatan,' otherwise not. [The poet] said: 'Indeed, [I swear by] my coming (atī) to Ibn Ghallāq to seek his hospitality... like a dog sniffing around, seeking scraps in the tail-fat.'

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الأتو: الاستقامة في السير والسرعة، ويأتو البعير أتوا. وتقول العرب: أتوت فلانا من أرض كذا، أي سرت إليه، ويجوز في معنى أتيته، قال: يا قوم، ما لي وأبا ذؤيب، ... كنت إذا أتوته من غيب يشم عطفي ويبز ثوبي ... كأنني أربته بريب «97» والإيتاء: الاعطاء. ويقال: هات في معنى آت على فاعل، فدخلت الهاء على الألف. والمؤاتاة: حسن المطاوعة. وتأتى لفلان أمره وأتاه الله تأتية، قال: تأتى له الدهر حتى انجبر «97» والآتي والأتي لغتان، والصواب: الأتي. والأتي جماعة، وكذلك الآتاء الجماعة، وهو وقع في النهر من خشب أو ورق ونحوه مما لا يحبس الماء. والأتي عند العامة النهر الذي يجري فيه الماء إلى الحوض، والجمع الأتي والآتاء، وقالت طائفة من الناس: الأتي السيل الذي لا يدرى من أين أتى. وأتيت للماء تأتيا إذا حرفت له مجرى، قال الشاعر: وبعض القول ليس له عناج ... كسيل الماء ليس له إتاء «98»

  • Ibn Fāris · 395You say: atānī fulān (أتاني فلان) — ityānan, atyan, atyatan, and atwatan — for a single occurrence;

    Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).

    You say: atānī fulān (أتاني فلان) — ityānan, atyan, atyatan, and atwatan — for a single occurrence; 'ityānatan' is not said as a single-instance form except under poetic necessity, and that is objectionable, because all verbal nouns, when made to denote a single instance, are reduced to the pattern faʿlah — this being when the verb is on the pattern faʿala; but if the verb has augmentative letters beyond that, these are likewise added in forming the single-instance noun, as in iqbālatan for a single instance. A poet said regarding al-atā (الأتى): 'Indeed, [I swear by] my coming (atā) to Ibn Ghallāq to seek his hospitality... like a dog sniffing around, hoping for scraps in the tail-fat.' Al-Liḥyānī related 'ityānah.' Abū Zayd said: one says 'tanna bi-fulānin, iʾtani' [come to so-and-so], for two 'tayānā bihi,' for a group 'tawnā bihi,' for a woman 'tayanī bihi,' for a group of women 'taynina.' And 'atayt al-amra min maʾtāhu wa-maʾtātihi' [I approached the matter from its proper approach]. [A poet] said: 'And a need I spent the night pondering in its silence... I approached it (atayt-hā) alone, from its proper approach.' Al-Khalīl said: 'ātaytu fulānan ʿalā amrihi muwātātan' [I cooperated with so-and-so in his matter], meaning good compliance; 'wātaytuhu' is said only in an objectionable Yemeni dialect. Forms like āsaytu, ākaltu, āmartu, akhaytu are rendered with wāw simply as a lightening of the hamza throughout, as in yuwāmiru and the like. Al-Liḥyānī said: 'mā ataytanā ḥattā istaʾtaynāka,' meaning: you did not come to us until we grew impatient and asked you to come. It is said: 'taʾatta li-hādhā l-amri' meaning: proceed deliberately with this matter. Al-ītāʾ: giving; ātā yuʾtī ītāʾan. And 'hāti' is used in the sense of 'āti' [do it] — the hāʾ substituted for the hamza. 'Taʾattā li-fulānin amruhu' [his affair turned out well for him]; 'atāhu Llāhu taʾtiyatan' [God granted him good fortune]; from this the poet's line: '...and time favored him (taʾattā lahu l-dahru) until he was set right...' — a lightened form of taʾattā. Labīd said: '...with a well-set arrow, its thumb-notch favorably fitted (taʾtī lahu) for it...' Al-Khalīl said: al-atā is whatever falls into a watercourse — wood or leaves — that dams the water; 'atti li-hādhā l-māʾ' means: clear its flow. Among common people al-atā [also means] the channel by which water runs to the trough; plural al-atā and al-ātāʾ. Al-atā is also: a flash-flood coming from a land other than one's own. Al-Nābighah said: 'It cleared the course of a flood that had been dammed up, and raised it to the two curtains, then to the heap.' Some say he meant 'atā al-nuʾy,' i.e. its channel; or what dams the channel — leaves or dry grass. 'Ataytu li-l-māʾ taʾtiyatan': I directed a channel for it. Al-Liḥyānī: 'rajulun atīy': an effective/penetrating man. Al-Khalīl: 'rajulun atīy' [also]: a stranger among a people not his own; 'atāwī' likewise. Al-Aṣmaʿī cited: 'Do not treat unfairly strangers (atāwiyyīn) whom the biting cold wind strikes, compared to the settled folk.' In the hadith of Thābit ibn al-Daḥdāḥ: 'He is but a stranger (atā) among us.' Al-itāʾ: the yield/growth of crops and palms; 'nakhlun dhū itāʾ' means of abundant yield. Al-Farrāʾ said: 'atat al-arḍu wa-l-nakhlu atwan' [the land and palms yielded produce]; 'atā l-māʾu itāʾan' means it became abundant. [A poet]: 'And some speech has no support to it, like a flow of water with no increase (itāʾ)...' Another said: 'There, I care not whether palms are watered [by irrigation] or by rain alone, even if the yield (itāʾ) be great...'

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    تقول أتاني فلان إتيانا وأتيا وأتية وأتوة واحدة ولا يقال إتيانة واحدة إلا في اضطرار شاعر وهو قبيح لأن المصادر كلها إذا جعلت واحدة ردت إلى بناء فعلها وذلك إذا كان الفعل على فعل فإذا دخلت في الفعل زيادات فوق ذلك أدخلت فيها زياداتها في الواحدة كقولنا إقبالة واحدة قال شاعر في الأتى — إني وأتى ابن غلاق ليقريني … كغابط الكلب يرجو الطرق في الذنب … وحكى اللحياني إتيانة قال أبو زيد يقال تنى بفلان ائتنى وللاثنين تيانى به وللجمع تونى به وللمرأة تينى به وللجمع تينني وأتيت الأمر من مأتاه ومأتاته قال — وحاجة بت على صماتها … أتيتها وحدي من مأتاتها … قال الخليل آتيت فلانا على أمره مؤاتاة وهو حسن المطاوعة ولا يقال واتيته إلا في لغة قبيحة في اليمن وما جاء من نحو آسيت وآكلت وآمرت وأخيت إنما يجعلونها واوا على تخفيف الهمزة في كل ويوامر ونحو ذلك قال اللحياني ما أتيتنا حتى استأتيناك أي استبطاناك وسألناك الإتيان ويقال تأت لهذا الأمر أي ترفق له والإيتاء الإعطاء تقول آتى يؤتى إيتاء وتقول هات بمعنى آت أي فاعل فدخلت الهاء على الألف وتقول تأتي لفلان أمره وقد أتاه الله تأتية ومنه قوله — وتأتي له الدهر حتى جبر … وهو مخفف من تأتي قال لبيد — بمؤتر تأتي له إبهامها … قال الخليل الأتى ما وقع في النهر من خشب أو ورق مما يحبس الماء تقول أت لهذا الماء أي سهل جريه والأتى عند العامة النهر الذي يجري فيه الماء إلى الحوض والجمع الأتى والآتاء والأتى أيضا السيل الذي يأتي من بلد غير بلدك قال النابغة — خلت سبيل أتى كان يحبسه … ورفعته إلى السجفين فالنضد … قال بعضهم أراد أتى النؤى وهو مجراه ويقال عنى به ما يحبس المجرى من ورق أو حشيش وأتيت للماء تأتية إذا وجهت له مجرى اللحياني رجل أتى إذا كان نافذا قال الخليل رجل أتى أي غريب في قوم ليس منهم وأتاوي كذلك وأنشد الأصمعي — لا تعدلن أتاويين تضربهم … نكباء صر بأصحاب المحلات … وفي حديث ثابت بن الدحداح ( إنما هو أتى فينا ) والإتاء نماء الزرع والنخل يقال نخل ذو إتاء أي نماء قال الفراء أتت الأرض والنخل أتوا وأتى الماء إتاء أي كثر قال — وبعض القول ليس له عناج … كسيل الماء ليس له إتاء … وقال آخر — هنالك لا أبالي نخل سقى … ولا بعل وإن عظم الإتاء …

  • al-Rāghib · 502Al-ityān: coming with ease.

    al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.

    Al-ityān: coming with ease. From this the flood running over the surface [of the ground] is called atī and atāwī; and by this the stranger too is likened, called atāwī. Al-ityān is used for coming in person, and of a command, and of a plan/decree; used for good and for evil, and for entities and for accidents, as in His saying, Most High: 'if the punishment of God should come to you (atākum) or the Hour should come to you (atatkum)' [al-Anʿām 6:40], and His saying: 'the command of God has come (atā)' [al-Naḥl 16:1], and His saying: 'so God came upon their structure (fa-atā Llāhu bunyānahum) from the foundations' [al-Naḥl 16:26], meaning: with [His] command and decree, similar to 'and your Lord came' [al-Fajr 89:22]. And in this vein is the saying of the poet: [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الإتيان: مجيء بسهولة، ومنه قيل للسيل المار على وجهه: أتي وأتاوي «5» ، وبه شبه الغريب فقيل: أتاوي «6» . والإتيان يقال للمجيء بالذات وبالأمر وبالتدبير، ويقال في الخير وفي الشر وفي الأعيان والأعراض، نحو قوله تعالى: إن أتاكم عذاب الله أو أتتكم الساعة [الأنعام/ 40] ، وقوله تعالى: أتى أمر الله [النحل/ 1] ، وقوله: فأتى الله بنيانهم من القواعد [النحل/ 26] ، أي: بالأمر والتدبير، نحو: وجاء ربك [الفجر/ 22] ، وعلى هذا النحو قول الشاعر:

  • Lisān · 711Al-ityān: coming. Ataytuhu — atyan, atyan, ityan, ityānan, ityānatan, and maʾtāh: I came to him.

    Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), Lisān al-ʿArab. The great compendium of the earlier dictionaries (entry shortened).

    Al-ityān: coming. Ataytuhu — atyan, atyan, ityan, ityānan, ityānatan, and maʾtāh: I came to him. A poet said: 'So devise a plan for yourself before the coming (atī) of the army.' In the hadith: 'The best of women is the one cooperative (muwātiyah) toward her husband.' Al-muwātāh: good compliance and agreement; its origin has hamza, but it was lightened [to wāw] until it came to be said with pure wāw — though that is not the correct form. Al-Layth said: one says 'atānī fulānun' — atyan and atyatan for a single instance, and ityānan; and do not say 'ityānatan' as a single instance except under objectionable poetic necessity, since all verbal nouns denoting a single instance are reduced to the pattern faʿlah, when the verb is on faʿala or faʿila; if augmentative letters beyond that are added to the verb, their augmentation is added likewise, as in iqbālatan, and tafaʿʿulatan, and the like — where it is proper to say 'faʿlatan wāḥidatan,' otherwise not. And he said: 'Indeed, [I swear by] my coming (atī) to Ibn Ghallāq to seek his hospitality... like a dog sniffing around, seeking scraps in the tail-fat.' Ibn Khālawayh said: one says 'mā ataytanā ḥattā istaʾtaynāka' [you did not come until we pressed you to]. In the Noble Qurʾān: 'and the sorcerer will not succeed wherever he comes (ḥaythu atā)' — said to mean 'wherever he may be,' or 'wherever the sorcerer is found he must be executed,' which is also the jurists' position on sorcerers. As for the verse: '...come (ti) to me [regarding] the family of Zayd, and show them to me assembled... and ask the family of Zayd what thing harms it...' — Ibn Jinnī said: it is related that some Arabs form the imperative of atā as 'ti Zaydan,' dropping the hamza as a lightening, as it is dropped in khudh, kul, mur. It has been read 'yawma taʾt' with the yāʾ dropped, as in 'lā adri' — a Hudhayl dialect feature. As for Qays ibn Zuhayr al-ʿAbsī's line: 'Has it not come to you (a-lam yaʾtīka), while reports spread, of what befell the milk-camels of Banū Ziyād?' — he retained the yāʾ despite the jussive, as poetic license, restoring it to its origin. Al-Māzinī said: in poetry one may say 'Zaydun yarmīka' with the yāʾ raised, and 'yaghzūka' with the wāw raised, and 'hādhā qāḍī' with tanwīn, treating the weak letter like the sound letter throughout, in nouns and verbs, since that is the original rule. Al-mītāʾ and al-mīdāʾ, both long: the far end of a racecourse where horses' running terminates. Al-mītāʾ [also]: the well-traveled road; and the point where roads converge is also mītāʾ/mīdāʾ. Ibn Barrī cited from Ḥumayd al-Arqaṭ: 'When the road's thoroughfare (mītāʾ) presses on the two of them, they go straight on, the girth-strap worn thin...' In the hadith on lost property: 'whatever you find on a well-traveled road (ṭarīqin mītāʾ), announce it for a year' — meaning a frequented road, on the pattern mifʿāl from al-ityān, the mīm being an augment. It is said: 'the people built their houses along a single thoroughfare (mītāʾ)' and mīdāʾ, and... [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    حكى أبو علي، في التذكرة، عن ابن حبيب: أتأة أم قيس بن ضرار قاتل المقدام، وهي من بكر وائل. قال: وهو من باب أجأ «1». قال جرير: أتبيت ليلك، يا ابن أتأة، نائما، ... وبنو أمامة، عنك، غير نيام وترى القتال، مع الكرام، محرما، ... وترى الزناء، عليك، غير حرام

  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    E. W. Lane (d. 1876), An Arabic-English Lexicon. English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    أَتَى

    1. أَتَى, aor. يَأْتِى, (Msb,) and, in the dial. of Hudheyl, يَأْت, without ى; (S;) and أَتَيْتُهُ, (T, S, M, Msb, K,) [aor. آتِيهِ;] and in the imperative, some of the Arabs say, تِ, suppressing the ا, like as is done in خُذْ and كُلْ and مُرْ; (IJ, M;) inf. n. إِتْيَانٌ, (T, S, * M, Mgh, Msb, K,) or this is a simple subst., (Msb.) and إِتْيَانَةٌ, (M, K,) which should not be used as an inf. n. of un., unless by a bad poetic licence, (Lth, T,) and أَتْىٌ (T, S, M, Msb, K) and أُتِىٌ and إِتِىٌ and مَأْتَاةٌ; (M, K;) He [or it] came; (Msb;) and I came to him, or it; (S, M, Mgh, * Msb, K;) or was, or became, present at it, namely, a place: (Mgh:) as also أَتَا, aor. يَأْتُو; (Msb;) and أَتَوْتُهُ, (T, S, M, K), aor. آتُوهُ: (S:) for which reason, we assign the generality of the words mentioned in art. اتو to the present art. also. (M.) [Accord. to the authorities here indicated for the signification of أَتَى, this verb and جَآءَ are syn.: some attempt to distinguish them; but contradict one another in so doing: the slight distinctions that exist between them will be best seen by a comparison of the exs. in this art. with those in art. جيأ:] accord. to Er-Rághib, the proper [or primary] signification of الإِتْيَانُ is The coming with ease. (TA.) أَتَاهَا, (Mgh, Msb,) inf. n. إِتْيَانٌ, (Msb,) [lit. He came to her,] means (assumed tropical:) he lay with her; syn. جَامَعَهَا; (Mgh, Msb;) namely, a woman, (Mgh,) or his wife. (Msb.) Hence an expression in the Kur xxvi. 165. (TA.) أَتَى القَوْمَ [He came to the people: and hence,] he asserted his relationship to the people, not being of them. (Msb.) [See أَتِىُّ in art. اتو.] أَتَي بِهِ [He came with, or brought, him, and it; or] he made him (a man), and it (a thing, such, for instance, as property), to come. (Kull.) [See also 4: and see, in what follows, other significations of أَتَى trans. by means of بِ. Hence, أَتَى بِوَلَدٍ He begot a child, or children. And أَتَتْ بِهِ She brought him forth; gave birth to him.] Accord. to Aboo-Is-hák, the meaning of the words in the Kur [ii. 143] أَيْنَمَا تَكُونُوا يَأْتِ بِكُمُ اللّٰهُ جَمِيعًا is, Wherever ye be, God will bring you all back unto Himself. (M.) [You say also, أَتَى بِبَيِّنَةٍ He adduced a proof.] See also 3. أَتَى الأَمْرَ [He entered into, engaged in, or occupied himself with, the thing, or affair: and, as also أَتَى بِهِ,] he did, executed, or performed, the thing, or affair; (M. K;) and in like manner, الذَّنْبَ, [and بَالذَّنْبِ,] the crime, sin, or offence. (M.) It is said in the Kur [ix. 54], وَلَا يَأْتُونَ الصَّلَاةَ إِلَّا وَهُمْ كُسَالَى, meaning And they do not enter into, or engage in, prayer, unless when they are heavy, or sluggish. (TA.) And you say, أَتَى الفَاحِشَهَ, [and بِالفَاحِشَةِ, (see Kur iv. 23 and lxv. 1,)] He entered into, engaged in, or occupied himself with, [or he did, or committed,] that which was excessively foul or evil. (TA.) And أَتَى بِالجَيِّدِ مِنْ قَوْلٍ أَوْ فِعْلٍ [He said, gave utterance to, uttered, or expressed, or he brought to pass, did, or effected, what was good, or excellent; he said, or did, well, or excel-lently]. (Msb in art. جود.) And أَتَى بِجَرْىِ بَعْدَ جَرْىٍ[He (a horse) performed, or fetched, run after run]. (S in art. تأم, &c.) وَلَا يُفْلِحُ السَّاحِرُ حَيْثُ أَتَى[in the Kur xx. 72] means حَيْثُ كَانَ [And the enchanter shall not prosper where he is, or wherever he may be]; (M, Bd, K;) and where he cometh: (Bd:) or حَيْثُ أَتَى بِسِحْرِهِ[where he cometh with his enchantment; or where he performeth his enchantment]: (Jel:) and it is said to mean that where the enchanter is, he must be slain: such is the doctrine of the lawyers. (M.) Z mentions that أَتَىoccurs in the sense of صَارَ [He, or it, became; like as we sometimes say, he, or it, came, or came to be]; like جَآءَin the saying, جَآءَ البِنَآءُ مُحْكَمًا. (Kull.) [So you say, البِنَآءُ مُحْكَمًا The building became, or came to be, firm, strong, or compact.] The saying, in the Kur [xvi. 1], أَتَى أَمْرُ آللّٰهِ فَلَا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُmeans [The threatened punishment ordained of God hath approached: therefore desire not ye to hasten it:] its coming hath approached. (TA.) [And in like manner,] أُتِىَ فُلَانٌ, like عُنِىَ, means Such a one was approached by the enemy come in sight of him. (K.) أُتِيتَ يَا فُلَانٌ[Thou art approached &c., O such a one,] is said when one is warned of an enemy that has come in sight of him. (Sgh, TA.) And أَتَى عَلَيْهِمُ العَدُوُّmeans The enemy came to them, [or came down upon them, for, as MF observes, أَتَىwhen trans. by means of عَلَىseems to imply the meaning of نَزَلَ,] overcoming, or overpowering, them. (Bd in xviii. 40.) Hence, أَتَى عَلَيْهِ[and أَتَاهُ, as will be seen by what follows,] (assumed tropical:) He destroyed him, or it. (Bd ubi suprà.) And hence, from إِتْيَانُ العَدُوِّ, (Mgh,) أَتَى عَلَيْهِ الدَّهْرُ(tropical:) Time, or fortune, destroyed him. (M, Mgh, Msb, K.) Destruction is meant in the Kur [lix. 2], where it is said, فأَتاهُمُ اللّٰهُ مِنْ حيْثُ لَمْ يَحْتَسِبُوا(assumed tropical:) [But God brought destruction upon them whence they did not reckon, or expect]. (EsSemeen, TA.) And it is said in the Kur [xvi. 28], فَأَتَى اللّٰهُ بُنْيَانَهُمْ مِنَ القَوَاعِدِ, i. e. (assumed tropical:) But God removed their building from the foundations, and demolished it upon them, so that He destroyed them. (TA.) أَتَى عَلَيْهِalso signifies (assumed tropical:) He caused it to come to an end; made an end of it; consumed it; [devoured it;] exhausted it; came to, or reached, the end of it; namely, a thing; (Kull;) as, for instance, what was in a bowl; (K in art. جردم;) and what was in a vessel; (K in art. جرجب;) like فَرَغَ مِنْهُ: (ISd cited in the TA in art. نكش:) or i. q. مَرَّ بِهِ[which may be rendered he went away with it; but this, as an explanation of أَتَى عَلَيْهِ, has another meaning, which see in what follows]. (Kull.) And one says, أُتِىَ فُلَانٌ مِنْ مَأْمَنِهِ(assumed tropical:) Destruction came to such a one from the quarter whence he felt secure. (TA.) And أُتِىَ عَلَي يَدِ فُلَانٍ(assumed tropical:) Property belonging to such a one perished. (T.) And يُؤْتَى دُونَهُ(assumed tropical:) He is taken away, or carried off, and overcome. (TA.) A poet says, meaning (assumed tropical:) [Misfortunes, in the footsteps of which were misfortunes,] took away [what was sweet, of life, and rendered it bitter]. (TA.) One says also, مِنْ هٰهُنَا أُتِيَتْ, [so I find it written, but I think that the last word should be أُتِيتَ, agreeably with a preceding phrase from the T,] (assumed tropical:) Hence the trial, or affliction, came in upon thee. (Mgh.) And أُتِىَ مِنْ جِهَةِ كَذَا, with the verb in the passive form, (assumed tropical:) He missed [his object in respect of such a thing] by laying hold upon it when it was not fit to be laid hold upon. (Msb.) And أُتِىَ الرَّجُلُ, [also] like عُنِىَ, (assumed tropical:) The man was deceived, or deluded, and his faculty of sense became altered to him, so that he imagined that to be true which was not true. (TA.) أَتَى عَلَيْهِ is also syn. with مَرَّ بِهِ[meaning He, or it, (as, for instance, a period of time,) passed by him, or over him]. (Msb.) You say, أَتَ عَلَيْهِ حَوْلٌ[A year passed over him; or he became a year old]. (S, K, Msb, in art. حول; &c.) أَتَتِ النَّاقَهُ, and مَا أَحْسَنَ أَتْىَ يَدَى هذِهِ النّاقَةِ: see art. اتو.

    أتّى لِلمَآءِ

    2. أتّى لِلمَآءِ, (T, S, M,) or المَآءَ, (K,) or both, (TA,) inf. n. تَأْتِيَةٌand تَأْتِىٌّ, He smoothed, made easy, or prepared, (سَهَّلَ, S, K, or هَيَّأَ, T,) the way, course, passage, or channel, of the water, (T, S, K,) in order that it might pass forth to a place; (S;) he directed a channel for it (M, TA) so that it ran to the places wherein it rested or remained. (TA.) And أتّى لِأَرْضِهِ أَتِيَّا He made a rivulet, or a channel for water, to run to his land. (M.) أتّى اللّٰهُ لِفُلَانٍ أَمْرَهُ, inf. n. تَأْتِيَةٌ, (T, M, * TA,) God prepared, disposed, arranged, or put into a good or right state, [and thus rendered feasible or practicable or easy,] for such a one, his affair. (M, * TA.)

    آتَاهُ

    3. آتَاهُ, [inf. n. as below,] He requited, compensated, or recompensed, him. (M, K.) The saying, in the Kur [xxi. 48], وَإِنْ كَانَ مِثْقَالَ بِهَا حَبَّةٍ مِنْ خَرْدَلٍ أَتَيْنَا, some read thus, (M, * TA,) meaning [Though it be the weight of a grain of mustard,] we will bring it [forward for requital]: others read بها آتَيْنَا, meaning we will give [a recompense] for it; in which case the verb is of the measure أَفْعَلَ: or we will requite for it; in which case the verb is of the measure فَاعَلَ. (M, TA.) آتَيْتُهُ عَلَى الأَمْرِ, (T, S, M, Msb,) inf. n. مُؤَاتَاةٌ, (T, S,) I agreed with him, or was of one mind or opinion with him, upon, or respecting, the thing, or affair; I complied with him respecting it; (T, S, M, Msb;) in a good manner: (T:) the vulgar say, وَاتَيْتُهُ: (S:) this is of the dial. of the people of El-Yemen, inf. n. مُوَاتَاةٌ; and is the form commonly current: (Msb:) but it should not be used, except in the dial. of the people of El-Yemen. (T.) [Hence, app., آتَىas meaning He aided; a signification mentioned by Golius, on the authority of Z and Ibn-Maaroof.]

    آتَاهُ

    4. آتَاهُ, (S, M, &c.,) inf. n. إِيتَآءٌ, (TA,) i. q. أَتَى[He came with, or brought, him, or it]; (S;) he made it (a thing) to come, إِلَيْهِ to him; (TA;) he made, or caused, him, or it, to be present; (Ksh, TA;) he made, or caused, it (a thing) to go, pass, or be conveyed or transmitted, (syn. سَاقَهُ,) إِلَيْهِ to him. (M, K.) It is said in the Kur [xviii. 61], آتِنَا غَدآءَ نَا, i. e. اِيتِنَا[Come thou to us with, or bring thou to us, our morningmeal]. (S.) Hence, (Ksh, TA,) inf. n. as above, (T, S,) He gave him (T, S, M, Msb, K) a thing, (M, K,) or property: (Msb:) and you say, هَاتِin the sense of the [imperative] آتِ[give thou]. (T.) We read in the Kur. [v. 60, &c.] وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ[And they give the portion of property which is the due of the poor]. (TA.) And in [xxvii. 23 of] the same, وَأُوتِيَتْ مِنْ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ, meaning And she hath been given somewhat of everything. (M, TA.) [You say also, أُوتِىَ كَذَا as meaning He was gifted, or endowed, with such a thing; as, for instance, a faculty.] See also 3. آتَيْتُ المُكَاتَبَ I made a gift to the slave between whom and me was a contract that he should become free on payment of a certain sum: or I abated, or took off, somewhat of his appointed part-payments, or instalments. (Msb.) مَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ, in the Kur lix. 7, means What the Apostle giveth you, of the [spoil termed] فَىْء, (Bd, Jel,) &c.: (Jel:) or what command he giveth you: (Bd:) or what he commandeth you [to receive]. (Kull.) أُوتِىَ فِى شَىْءٍ A dispute, or an altercation, was held before him, respecting the meaning of a thing: [perhaps more properly signifying he was given authority to decide respecting a thing:] occurring in a trad. (Mgh.)

    تأتّى لَهُ

    5. تأتّى لَهُ It (an affair, T, Mgh, Msb, K, or a thing, S, M) was, or became, prepared, disposed, arranged, or put into a good or right state, for him; (T, * S, M, Mgh, Msb, K;) and hence, it (a thing) was, or became, feasible or practicable, and easy, to him; (Mgh;) it (an affair) was, or became, facilitated, or easy, to him; (Msb;) the way thereof (i. e. of an affair) was, or became, facilitated, or easy, to him. (TA.) The following is an ex.: [Fortune became well, or rightly, disposed for him, so that he became restored to wealth, or competence]: (T:) or تَأَتَّى لَهُ الخَيْرُ الخ[good fortune, or prosperity, became prepared, &c., for him, &c.]. (So in the TA.) And hence the saying, هٰذَا مِمَّا يَتَأَتَّى لِىَ المَضْغُ This is of the things which it is feasible or practicable, and easy, to me to chew. (Mgh). He applied himself to it with gentleness, (As, S, K,) and so تأتّى لَهَا, meaning لِحَاجَتِهِ, to his needful affair or business, (T,) and entered into it, engaged in it, occupied himself with it, did it, executed it, or performed it, by the way, or manner, proper, or suitable, to it. (As, T, S, K. [In the CK, for أَتَاهُ مِنْ وَجْهِهِ, we find اتاهُ عن وَجْهِه.]) And تأتّى فِى أَمرِهِ He used gentleness, or acted gently, in his affair. (Msb.) تأتّى لَهُ بِسَهْمٍ حَتَّى أَصَابَهُ He sought him leisurely or repeatedly [with an arrow, app. taking aim in one direction and then in another, until he hit him]. (Z, TA.) جَآءَ فُلَانٌ يَتَأَتَّىis explained by Fr as meaning يَتَعَرَّضُ لِمَعْرُوفِكَ[Such a one came, or has come, addressing, or applying, or directing, himself, or his regard, or attention, or mind, to obtain thy favour, or bounty]. (S.) And you say, تأتّى لِمَعرُوفِهِ, meaning تَعَرَّضَ لَهُ[He addressed, applied, or directed, himself, &c., to obtain his favour, or bounty]. (TA.) Some say that تأتّىsignifies He prepared himself to rise, or stand. (TA.)

    استآتى فلَاناً

    10. استآتى فلَاناً He asked such a one to come, deeming him slow, or tardy. (K.) استأتت النَّاقَةُ The she-camel desired to be covered; (A, TA;)IE desired the stallion; (S, M, K;) being excited by lust. (S, A.)

    إِتَّى

    إِتَّى: see أَتِىٌّ.

    أَتْيَةٌ

    أَتْيَةٌ A single coming; as also أَتْوَةٌ; but not إِتْيَانَةٌ, unless by a bad poetic licence. (T.) See also أُتِيَّةُ الجُرحِ.

    إِتْيَانٌ

    إِتْيَانٌ is either an inf. n. of أَتَى, or a simple subst. [signifying A coming]. (Msb.)

    إِتْيَانَةٌ

    إِتْيَانَةٌ an inf. n. of 1 [q. v.]: (M, K:) see also أَتْيَةٌ.

    أَتَآءٌ

    أَتَآءٌ or إِتَآءٌ: see أتِىٌّ.

    أَتِىٌّ

    أَتِىٌّ as syn. with أتَاوِىٌّ: see art. اتو. Also, (M, and so in some copies of the K, where it is said to be like رَضِىٌّ,) or إِتًى, like رِضًى, (so in other copies of the K,) and أَتَآءٌ, (M, K,) written by some إِتَآءٌ, (TA,) What falls, of wood or leaves, into a river: (M, K:) from الإِتْيَانُ: (M:) pl. آتَآءٌ[in the CK اِتاء] and أُتِىٌّ. (M, K.) رَجُلٌ أَتِىٌّ A man who is sharp, energetic, vigorous, and effective, in affairs; who applies himself to them with gentleness, and enters into them, or performs them, by the way, or manner, proper, or suitable, to them. (M.) فَرَسٌ أَتِىٌّ: see مُسْتَأْتٍ.

    Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗

The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.

أ ت ي

الهمزة والتاء والواو والألف والياء يدل على مجئ الشيء وإصحابه وطاعته الأتو الاستقامة في السير

ʾ-t-w-ʾ-y: denotes the coming of something, its accompanying, and its obedience; "al-ataw" is straightness in gait.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗Quran ×549

an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them

Do these six share one core meaning?

About thisal-Khalīl, Ibn Jinnī, Ibn Fāris; the counts across the dictionary

al-Khalīl (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn, as transmitted by al-Layth: a two-letter word “turns in two ways”, a three-letter word “in six ways” (masdūsa), four letters in 24, five in 120; “its used forms are written down and its unused ones dropped” (line 975 ↗). The dictionary is built on this: each chapter takes a set of letters and names which orders are used (mustaʿmal) and which unused (muhmal). The ring shows that verdict, from the chapter heading as edited (documented in the text; how much of the book is al-Khalīl's own is disputed).

A reported total. al-Suyūṭī transmits, from Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī, that al-Khalīl put the possible forms, used and unused, of two to five letters at 12,305,412 (al-Muzhir, line 1347 ↗). It is reported, not found in the ʿAyn. It equals exactly the arrangements of 2 to 5 different letters out of 28 (756 + 19,656 + 491,400 + 11,793,600); the breakdown printed beside it is corrupt, and al-Zubaydī's count, given next, differs (6,659,400).

Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, names the greater derivation (al-ishtiqāq al-akbar): bind a three-letter root and its six orders to one meaning, and bring stray members back “by the subtlety of the craft and interpretation” (line 7536 ↗). He says himself that it does not hold for every root (line 167 ↗; line 7603 ↗).

Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004) gives each root its own aṣl and treats a rearranged word as maqlūb, “turned round”, and so not a root of its own: “j-b-dh is not a root, because it is a single word, turned round” (Maqāyīs, line 6147 ↗). The ring sets his aṣl for each order side by side; whether they meet is the question.

Neighbours on the ring differ by one swap of two letters.

The critique. A source quoted by al-Suyūṭī calls the greater derivation Ibn Jinnī's innovation, “not relied on in the language” (al-Muzhir, line 6159 ↗).

The other axis. The root's letters also go into patterns that keep their order and change the frame: the patterns (awzān) and the verb Forms I–X.

Across Ibn Fāris's dictionary. Of the 2,300 possible sets of three different sound letters (no hamza, w or y), 1,021 have at least one order as an entry. How many of their six orders are entries:

Ibn Fāris, entries found (1,021 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6319
  2. 2 of 6218
  3. 3 of 6164
  4. 4 of 6155
  5. 5 of 6107
  6. 6 of 658
al-Khalīl, orders his headings call used (746 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6148
  2. 2 of 6108
  3. 3 of 6157
  4. 4 of 6179
  5. 5 of 6111
  6. 6 of 643

Of the orders al-Khalīl calls used, 2,097 are entries in Ibn Fāris and 267 are not; 17 that he calls unused are entries in Ibn Fāris.

Our computation from the OpenITI texts; heading detection can miss entries

Attested here means found in our digital texts (Ibn Fāris, Lisān al-ʿArab, Lane, the Quranic Arabic Corpus), with w and y kept apart and hamza spellings merged; it is our data, not a classical verdict. English beside the Arabic is AI translation. Sources and grades: docs/research/root-permutations.md.

How each letter is made, in brief, from Sībawayh's and Ibn Jinnī's own sentences (linked); their words are under Reference.

Sharing two of its three letters (computed; kinship of form, not of meaning)

16 more
How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

أ

فأقصاها مخرجا: الهمزة والهاء والألف

The furthest of them [the three in the throat] in place: the hamza, the hāʾ and the alif. Sībawayh, line 26548 ↗

فأولها من أسفله وأقصاه، مخرج الهمزة والألف والهاء، هكذا يقول سيبويه

The first of them [in the throat], from its lowest and furthest part, is the place of the hamza, the alif and the hāʾ: so Sībawayh says. Ibn Jinnī, line 965 ↗

ت

ومما بين طرف اللسان وأصول الثنايا مخرج الطاء، والدال، والتاء

From between the tip of the tongue and the roots of the front teeth is the place of the ṭāʾ, the dāl and the tāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26559 ↗

ومما بين طرف اللسان وأصول الثنايا، مخرج الطاء والدال والتاء

From between the tip of the tongue and the roots of the front teeth is the place of the ṭāʾ, the dāl and the tāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 982 ↗

ي

ومن وسط اللسان بينه وبين وسط الحنك الأعلى مخرج الجيم والشين والياء

From the middle of the tongue, between it and the middle of the upper palate, is the place of the jīm, the shīn and the yāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26553 ↗

ومن وسط اللسان بينه وبين وسط الحنك الأعلى، مخرج الجيم والشين والياء

From the middle of the tongue, between it and the middle of the upper palate, is the place of the jīm, the shīn and the yāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 974 ↗

Sībawayh, al-Kitāb (ed. Hārūn) and Ibn Jinnī, Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb; OpenITI digital texts (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Full credits on each letter's page.

In the Breath of the All-MercifulIbn ʿArabī · metaphysics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

أ

وإلا الهاء والهمزة فإنهما باردتان رطبتان

And except hāʾ and hamza, for these two are cold and moist.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2583

ت

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗

المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582

ي

Level of existence: السماء الأولى · The First Heaven

Divine Name: الرب · The Lord (al-Rabb)

Lunar mansion: الخرتان · al-Kharatān

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64500

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗

المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

أ

فهي إشارة إلى جميع الأشياء قلت أو كثرت، وتكون الإشارة في بعض الأحيان من المتكلم إلى ذاته ونفسه، وهذه الإشارة سالمة من القبض.

It is an indication of all things, whether few or many. At times the indication is from the speaker to his own essence and self, and this indication is free of contraction (qabḍ).

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القريب القليل.

It is an indication of the near, small thing.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القريب المناسب.

It is an indication of the near, fitting (congruent) thing.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

ت

فهي اسم للخير الكثير العظيم.

It is a name for abundant, great good.

فهي اسم للقليل البارز.

It is a name for the small, protruding/manifest thing.

فهي اسم لما صنع وأبرز.

It is a name for what has been made and brought forth.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

ي

فهي للنداء، وقد يؤكد بها.

It is for the vocative (calling), and it may be used for emphasis.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا يثبت كالبرق ونحوه.

It is an indication of the thing that does not remain fixed, like lightning and the like.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي يستحيا به أو يستحيا منه كالعورة.

It is an indication of the thing that causes shame, or of which one is ashamed, like the private parts.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
Two-letter nucleus11 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterء ت

Ibn Fāris groups his roots under two-letter chapters (“the X and the Y and what makes them three”). These are the roots of this root's chapter with the core sense he gives each. Setting them side by side is our juxtaposition; he does not himself draw a shared meaning. His chapter heading, line 541 ↗

  • أتلالهمزة والتاء واللام يدل على أصل واحد وهو البطء والتثاقلL542
  • أتنالهمزة والتاء والنون أصل واحد وهو الأنثى من الحمر أو شيء استعير له هذا الاسمL558
  • أتهالهمزة والتاء والهاءL569
  • أتوالهمزة والتاء والواو والألف والياء يدل على مجئ الشيء وإصحابه وطاعته الأتو الاستقامة في السيرL570
  • أتىتقول أتاني فلان إتيانا وأتيا وأتية وأتوة واحدة ولاQ 549 · L581
  • أتبالهمزة والتاء والباء أصل واحد وهو شيء يشتمل به الإبط قميص غير مخيط الجانبينL612
  • أثرالهمزة والثاء والراء له ثلاثة أصول تقديم الشيء وذكر الشيء ورسم الشيء الباقيQ 21 · L622
  • أثفالهمزة والثاء والفاء يدل على التجمع والثباتL672
  • أثمالهمزة والثاء والميم تدل على أصل واحد وهو البطء والتأخرQ 48 · L711
  • أثنالهمزة والثاء والنون ليس بأصل وإنما جاءت فيه كلمة من الإبدال يقولون الأثن لغة في الوثن ويقولون الأثنة حرجة الطلح وقد شرطنا في أول كتابنا هذا ألا نقيس L721
  • أثوىالهمزة والثاء والواو والياء أصل واحد تختلط الواو فيه بالياء ويقولون أثى عليه يأثي إثاوة وإثاية وأثوا وأثيا إذا نم عليه وينشدون — ولا أكون لكم ذا نيرب L724
In the sister scriptsHebrew א ת יSyriac ܐ ܬ ܝ
Arabicأ ت ي
Hebrewא ת י
Syriacܐ ܬ ܝ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩱 𐩩 𐩺
Phoenician𐤀 𐤕 𐤉

Letter for letter, by the regular sound correspondences of the Semitic languages (Arabic keeps several sounds the others merged). This shows how the root would be spelled; whether a related word exists is a separate question, answered in the Semitic lens. Where an Arabic sibilant (s, sh) continues two older sounds, both spellings are shown.

  • Classical lexiconal-Khalīl treats the adjacent form al-atw as a steady, swift camel-gait and glosses al-ītāʾ simply as al-iʿṭāʾ, 'giving' — already splitting the root's two poles, coming and bringing/giving.well attested

    The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.

    al-Khalīl treats the adjacent form al-atw as a steady, swift camel-gait and glosses al-ītāʾ simply as al-iʿṭāʾ, 'giving' — already splitting the root's two poles, coming and bringing/giving. Ibn Fāris's entry (paired with أتو) fixes the core sense as the coming of a thing together with its being brought along and its compliance (iṣḥābuhu wa-ṭāʿatuhu), extended to al-itāwa, tribute or tax that is 'brought' from a people. al-Rāghib distinguishes ityān as 'coming with ease,' applicable to the coming of an entity, a command, or a plan, in both good and evil senses, citing Qur'an 6:40 and 16:1. Ibn Manẓūr and Lane mainly preserve the grammatical apparatus — imperfect yaʾtī, apocopated imperative ti, verbal nouns ityān, atw, utiyy — the descriptive semantics having already stabilized by al-Rāghib.

    Draws on: al-Khalīl · Ibn Fāris · al-Rāghib · Lane

  • Letters & soundal-Dabbāgh reads tāʾ as marking abundant, great good, and yāʾ as the letter of address or vocative emphasis — both compatible with a root whose two poles are giving (a good bestowed) and coming toward (an approach, as in a summons).speculative

    What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.

    al-Dabbāgh reads tāʾ as marking abundant, great good, and yāʾ as the letter of address or vocative emphasis — both compatible with a root whose two poles are giving (a good bestowed) and coming toward (an approach, as in a summons). Ibn ʿArabī's letter-cosmology assigns yāʾ to the First Heaven, near the start of the cosmic ladder, apt for a letter closing a root about arrival. No meaning is supplied for hamzah in either source for this root. This is suggestive sound-symbolism at most; mainstream historical linguistics does not derive lexical meaning from individual radicals this way.

    Draws on: al-Dabbāgh · Ibn ʿArabī letters-in-the-Breath

  • Root structureIn Ibn Fāris's arrangement أتي sits among hamza-tāʾ neighbors أتل (a slow, sluggish gait), أتن (the she-ass), أته, and the closely fused أتو (steady swift gait), with أتب (an unstitched garment) just beyond.plausible

    The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).

    In Ibn Fāris's arrangement أتي sits among hamza-tāʾ neighbors أتل (a slow, sluggish gait), أتن (the she-ass), أته, and the closely fused أتو (steady swift gait), with أتب (an unstitched garment) just beyond. Of the formal permutations of ا-ت-ي, only أتي itself carries the corpus's 549 occurrences; أيت, يأت and يتأ are both unattested and not reckoned as roots, while تأي and تيا are counted as roots in principle but carry no Qur'anic use. One permutation absorbing the whole semantic field is exactly what Ibn Fāris's method predicts for a basic, high-frequency root; there is no plausible case here for Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation linking أتي to a distinct sibling sense.

    Draws on: maqayis-nucleus · permutations

  • Semitic kin & loanwordsArabic ʾatā/ītā 'to come' continues a genuine West Semitic root ʾ-t-w/y, reflected in Aramaic and Syriac ʾtā (the ordinary verb 'to come,' Aramaic's counterpart to Hebrew bôʾ) and in Biblical Hebrew ʾātâ/ʾātāh, a rarer, largely poetic synonym of bôʾ.well attested

    Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.

    Arabic ʾatā/ītā 'to come' continues a genuine West Semitic root ʾ-t-w/y, reflected in Aramaic and Syriac ʾtā (the ordinary verb 'to come,' Aramaic's counterpart to Hebrew bôʾ) and in Biblical Hebrew ʾātâ/ʾātāh, a rarer, largely poetic synonym of bôʾ. This is inherited cognate vocabulary rather than a loan in either direction. Arabic's causative āta/ītāʾ 'to give, bestow' (literally 'to cause to come to someone') plausibly reflects an old semantic extension paralleled in outline elsewhere in the family. No confident Akkadian or Gəʿez cognate is available for this sense.

    Draws on: Hebrew · Aramaic/Syriac

    • Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, s.v. ʾtā (V) (link not verified)
    • Brown–Driver–Briggs, s.v. אתה
  • Quranic exegesisThe root's 549 occurrences split along the line al-Rāghib draws: the plain verb atā for 'coming' (of punishment, of the Hour, of God's command) and the hamza-form ātā for two-object 'giving' (God gives kingship, wisdom, the Book, mercy).well attested

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    The root's 549 occurrences split along the line al-Rāghib draws: the plain verb atā for 'coming' (of punishment, of the Hour, of God's command) and the hamza-form ātā for two-object 'giving' (God gives kingship, wisdom, the Book, mercy). On verses like 16:1, 'atā amru Allāh,' exegetes read the past tense as expressing the certainty of a still-future event, treated grammatically as already arrived. In the challenge-verse 2:23, 'fa-ʾtū bi-sūratin min mithlihi,' atā carries the sense of producing or bringing forth, not mere physical coming. Verses such as 2:43 and 2:53, with ātū l-zakāta and ātaynā Mūsā l-kitāb, exemplify the giving-sense the tradition treats as basic to the derived form.

    Draws on: al-Ṭabarī · al-Zamakhsharī · al-Rāzī · al-Rāghib

  • Akbarian readingIn Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī uses the passive idiom 'min ayna utiya ʿalā man utiya ʿalayhi' — from where was he come upon, the one upon whom it was come — to trace the point at which a fault or admonition reaches its subject, glossing God's reproach to the angels through Adam's case.plausible

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    In Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī uses the passive idiom 'min ayna utiya ʿalā man utiya ʿalayhi' — from where was he come upon, the one upon whom it was come — to trace the point at which a fault or admonition reaches its subject, glossing God's reproach to the angels through Adam's case. The idiom extends the root's basic sense of coming-to/upon into a technical way of asking after the origin of a lapse. No separate Iṣṭilāḥ entry for this root appears in Ibn ʿArabī's technical vocabulary; its Akbarian use stays close to the ordinary Qur'anic sense of 'coming upon.'

    Draws on: Faṣṣ Ādam

Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out