أدبTo gather people to one's repast. (root db)

A man who is adīb (أديب) is one who is disciplined/refined (muʾaddab), who trains others (yuʾaddibu ghayrahu) and is himself refined through others (yataʾaddabu bi-ghayrihi). Al-ādib (الآدب) is the host of the banquet (ṣāḥib al-maʾdubah). One says: adaba al-qawma adaban (he gave the people a feast), and adabtu anā (I gave a feast). Al-maʾdūbah (المأدوبة) is the woman for whom the feast was prepared. Al-maʾdubah (المأدبة) and al-maʾdabah (المأدبة) are two dialectal variants [meaning] an invitation to a meal.

Al-adab (الأدب) is the discipline of the self and of learning. From it one says: aduba al-rajulu (أدب الرجل), with ḍammah [on the dāl], meaning 'the man became refined,' so he is adīb (أديب); and addabtuhu (أدبته) [I trained him], fa-taʾaddaba (فتأدب) [and he became refined]. And 'the son of so-and-so has istaʾdaba (استأدب)' is in the sense of taʾaddaba (تأدب). And al-idb (الأدب) [pronounced with kasrah, الإدب] means 'wonder/astonishment' (al-ʿajab). The rajaz-poet said: 'With an ungainly gait, swift to leap, until he came... [entry continues]'

The hamza, dāl, and bāʾ [in adab (أدب)] form a single root from which its various senses branch out and to which they return. Al-adab (الأدب) is 'to gather people for a meal of yours'; this [meal] is called al-maʾdubah (المأدبة, with ḍamma) or al-maʾdabah (المأدبة, with fatḥa), and al-ādib (الآدب) is 'the one who invites [to it].' Ṭarafah said: 'We, in the season of scarcity, call [people] to the general feast (al-jafalā) — you do not see the inviter (al-ādib) among us being selective (yantaqir).' And al-maʾādib (المآدب) is the plural of al-maʾdubah (المأدبة). A poet said: 'As if the hearts of the birds, in the depths of its nest, were date-pits (nawā al-qasb), scattered near some of the banquets (al-maʾādib).' From this same analogy [comes] al-adab (الأدب) [good manners/culture] as well, because it is that which is universally agreed to be commendable. As for the ḥadīth of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd ('Indeed this Qurʾān is the banquet of Allah [maʾdubat Allāh], Most High, so learn from His banquet [maʾdubatihi]'), Abū ʿUbayd said: whoever says maʾdubah (مأدبة, ḍamma) means by it the feast that a person prepares to which he invites people; from it one says adabtu ʿalā al-qawmi ādubu adaban (I gave the people a feast). He then cited the verse of Ṭarafah, and then cited the verse of ʿAdī: 'A resounding sound and a light rain answered by a tambourine, for the clamor of a banquet (maʾdūbah) and a flute...' He said: and whoever says maʾdabah (مأدبة, fatḥa) refers it to al-adab (الأدب), making it a mafʿalah-form from that. And it is said that al-idb (الإدب) means 'wonder/astonishment' (al-ʿajab) — if that is so, then [the meal would be named] for gathering people to marvel at it.

Al-adab (الأدب) is that by which the adīb (الأديب) among people becomes refined; it was named adab because it 'trains' (yaʾdibu) people toward praiseworthy qualities (al-maḥāmid) and restrains them from blameworthy ones (al-maqābiḥ). The origin of al-adab is 'invitation/calling' (al-duʿāʾ); from this, the feast to which people are invited is called madʿāh (مدعاة) and maʾdubah (مأدبة). Ibn Buzurj [said]: 'laqad adabtu ādubu adaban ḥasanan' (I gave an excellent feast), 'wa-anta adīb' (and you are one who gives feasts). Abū Zayd said: adaba al-rajulu yaʾdibu adaban (the man gave a feast/became refined), so he is adīb (أديب); [likewise] araba yaʾrabu arābatan wa-arban, said of intelligence, so he is arīb (أريب). Others [say]: al-adab is the discipline of the self and of learning. And al-adab is also refinement/elegance (al-ẓarf) and graciousness in one's manner (ḥusn al-tanāwul). One says adiba (أدب), with ḍammah, so he is adīb, from a people called udabāʾ (أدباء). Addabahu fa-taʾaddaba (أدبه فتأدب): he taught/trained him [and he became trained]. Al-Zajjāj used this regarding Allah, Mighty and Exalted, saying: 'This is what Allah, Exalted, taught (addaba) His Prophet, peace be upon him, with.' 'So-and-so has istaʾdaba (استأدب)': in the sense of taʾaddaba (تأدب). It is said of a camel, when it has been broken in and made tractable: adīb, muʾaddab (أديب مؤدب). Muzāḥim al-ʿUqaylī said: 'And they turn from the course, between ʿĀlij and Najrān, the turning of the trained, tractable one (al-adīb al-mudhallal)...' Al-udbah (الأدبة), al-maʾdubah (المأدبة), and al-maʾdabah (المأدبة): any food prepared for an invitation or a wedding. Ṣakhr al-Ghayy said, describing an eagle: 'As if the hearts of the birds, in the depths of its nest, were date-pits (nawā al-qasb), scattered near some of the banquets (al-maʾādib).' Al-qasb: dry, hard-stoned dates. He likened the hearts of the birds in the eagle's nest to the pits of qasb-dates, just as Imruʾ al-Qays likened them to jujubes (al-ʿunnāb) in his saying: 'As if the hearts of the birds, both moist and dry, by its nest, were jujubes (al-ʿunnāb) and shriveled, spoiled dates (al-ḥashaf al-bālī).' The well-known form of al-maʾdubah has ḍammah on the dāl; some permit the fatḥah, saying: with fatḥah it is a mafʿalah-form from al-adab. Sībawayh said: they said al-maʾdubah just as they said al-madʿāh (المدعاة). And it is said: al-maʾdabah is from al-adab. In the ḥadīth from Ibn Masʿūd: 'Indeed this Qurʾān is the banquet of Allah (maʾdubat Allāh) on earth, so learn from His banquet (maʾdubatihi)' — meaning His invitation (madʿātihi). Abū ʿUbayd said: one says maʾdubah and maʾdabah; whoever says maʾdubah means by it the feast that a man prepares to which he invites people; from it one says adabtu ʿalā al-qawmi ādubu adaban, and 'a man is ādib' (رجل آدب). Abū ʿUbayd said: the interpretation of the ḥadīth is that he likened the Qurʾān to a feast which Allah prepared for the people, in which there is good and benefit for them, and to which He then invited them; and whoever says maʾdabah makes it a mafʿalah-form from al-adab. Al-Aḥmar used to consider them two dialectal variants — maʾdubah and maʾdabah — with one and the same meaning. Abū ʿUbayd said: I have not heard anyone else say this; he said: and the first explanation is more pleasing to me. Abū Zayd said: ādabtu ūdibu īdāban (آدبت أودب إيدابا), and adabtu ādubu adaban (أدبت آدب أدبا); and al-maʾdabah (المأدبة, fatḥa) is the food itself, distinguishing it from al-maʾdubah which relates to al-adab. And al-adb (الأدب) [with kasrah] is the verbal noun of your saying 'adaba al-qawma yaʾdibuhum,' with kasrah, adban, meaning: he invited them to his food. And al-ādib (الآدب) is the one who invites to food. Ṭarafah said: 'N... [entry continues]'