Mashrabaمشربة

أصلIbn Fāris treats أصل as three separate, mutually remote roots — the foundation/base of a … (root sl)

الهمزة والصاد واللام ثلاثة أصول متباعد بعضها من بعض أحدها أساس الشيء والثاني الحية والثالث ما كان من النهار بعد العشي …

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

أصل
Patterns computed · our data

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

29 words5 verbs6 verbal nouns2 participles1 intensive or elative9 other nouns4 plurals2 relatives and abstracts

  • أَصْلthe lower, or lowest, part of a thing
  • أَصِيلhaving root, or a foundation
  • أُصُول—
  • ءَاصَال—
  • اِسْتِئْصالeradication; extermination
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs5أَصُلَ · أصلّ · آصلَ

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: فَعُلَ يَفْعُلُ (u – u; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)

  • أَصُلَit had, or came to have, root, or a foundationLaneForm ILaneIbn Fāris
  • أصلّhe made it to have a firm, or fixed, root, or foundation, whereon to buildLaneForm IILaneIbn Fāris
  • آصلَForm IVLaneIbn Fāris
  • تأصّلَForm VLane
  • استأصلَForm XLane
Verbal nouns6أَصْل · أَصَل · إِيصال

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

Participles2مُؤْصِل · مُسْتَأْصِل

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

  • مُؤْصِلactive, Form IVLane
  • مُسْتَأْصِلactive, Form XLane
Intensives, qualities and the elative1أَصِيل

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

Other nouns9أَصيلَة · أَصَلَة · أَصِل

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

Plurals4أُصُول · ءَاصَال · أَصَل

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

Relative and abstract2أَصْلِيَّة · أَصْلِيّ

-iyy relates a thing to its source; -iyya makes an abstract noun.grammar →

  • أَصْلِيَّةabstract noun (-iyya)Lane
  • أَصْلِيّradicalLanerelative adjective (-iyy)Lane
Why this shape?What each of the 13 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 ص لمَأْصَلَة

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 · 170'Istaʾṣaltu this tree' (استأصلت هذه الشجرة) means its root became firmly established.

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

    'Istaʾṣaltu this tree' (استأصلت هذه الشجرة) means its root became firmly established. 'God istaʾṣala so-and-so' (استأصل الله فلانا) means He left him no root [i.e., utterly destroyed him]. It is said: 'the palm trees in our land are aṣīl (أصيل),' meaning they remain there, never perishing or disappearing. So-and-so is aṣīl al-raʾy (أصيل الرأي), 'sound in opinion'; one says 'aṣula raʾyuhu aṣāla' (أصل رأيه أصالة), and he is aṣīl al-raʾy wa-l-ʿaql (أصيل الرأي والعقل), 'firm in opinion and intellect.' [Al-aṣl (الأصل) is the lowest part of anything.] Al-aṣīl (الأصيل) is the evening (al-ʿashiyy), also called al-aṣl (الأصل); its diminutive is uṣaylāl (أصيلال). 'I met him muʾṣilan (مؤصلا)' means 'at the time of aṣīl.' Al-aṣla (الأصلة) is a short snake that leaps and springs upon a person; found in barren sand, resembling a contracted lung; when it swells you would think it a lung. It has a single leg on which it stands, then turns and leaps; whatever its puff/breath touches, it destroys, for the poison is in it. [Al-aṣīl (الأصيل) also means destruction; Aws said: 'They feared al-aṣīl (destruction), when their kings had grown weary, and they had borne heavy loads from those of Ghawm.' And al-aṣīl also means the evening (al-aṣīl); and a man who is aṣīl (أصيل) is one who has a [firm] root.]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    واستأصلت هذه الشجرة أي ثبت «239» أصلها. واستأصل الله فلانا أي لم يدع له أصلا. ويقال: إن النخل بأرضنا أصيل أي هو بها لا يفنى ولا يزول. وفلان أصيل الرأي، وقد أصل رأيه أصالة، وإنه لأصيل الرأي والعقل. [والأصل أسفل كل شيء] «240» . والأصيل: العشي، وهو الأصل، وتصغيره أصيلال. ولقيته مؤصلا أي بأصيل. والأصلة: حية قصيرة تثب فتساور الانسان وتكون برمل عاقر شبيهة «241» بالرئة منضمة، فاذا انتفخت ظننتها بها «242» ، ولها رجل واحدة تقوم عليها ثم تدور فتثب لا تصيب نفختها شيئا الا أهلكته لأن السم فيها. [والاصيل: الهلاك، وقال أوس: خافوا الأصيل وقد أعيت ملوكهم ... وحملوا من ذوي غوم بأثقال والأصيل: الأصيل، ورجل أصيل: له أصل] «243»

  • al-Jawharī · 393Al-aṣl (الأصل) is the singular of uṣūl (الأصول, 'roots').

    al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.

    Al-aṣl (الأصل) is the singular of uṣūl (الأصول, 'roots'). One says 'aṣl muʾaṣṣal' (أصل مؤصل), 'a firmly-rooted root.' 'Istaʾṣalahu' (استأصله) means he pulled/uprooted it from its root. Abū Yūsuf said: their saying 'jāʾū bi-aṣīlatihim' (جاءوا بأصيلتهم) means 'they came all together, in their entirety.' Al-Kisāʾī said: their saying 'lā aṣla lahu wa-lā faḍla,' al-aṣl is noble lineage (al-ḥasab), and al-faṣl is the tongue [eloquence]. Al-aṣīl (الأصيل) is the time from after ʿaṣr until sunset (al-maghrib); its plural is uṣul (أصل), āṣāl (آصال), and aṣāʾil (أصائل), as though it were the plural of aṣīla (أصيلة). The poet said: 'By my life, you are indeed the tent whose people are noblest, and most firmly seated in its shade at the times of aṣāʾil.' It is also pluralized as aṣlān (أصلان), like baʿīr/ʿirān; then they made a diminutive of the plural, saying uṣaylān (أصيلان), then substituted lām for the nūn, saying uṣaylāl (أصيلال). From this is the saying of al-Nābigha: 'I stopped there at uṣaylāl, questioning it [the abode]; it was too weary to answer, and there was no one at the encampment.' Al-Liḥyānī related: 'laqītuhu uṣaylālan wa-uṣaylānan' ('I met him at evening-time'). One says 'āṣalnā' (آصلنا), 'we entered into the time of aṣīl,' and 'ataynā muʾṣilīna' (أتينا مؤصلين), '[we] came at evening-time.' It is said: 'akhadhtu al-shayʾa bi-aṣīlatihi' (أخذت الشيء بأصيلته), meaning 'I took the thing entirely, root and all.' A man who is aṣīl al-raʾy (أصيل الرأي) has firm/sound judgment. One says 'aṣula aṣāla' (أصل أصالة), like 'ḍakhuma ḍakhāma.' 'Majd aṣīl' (مجد أصيل) is glory possessing firmness/rootedness. Al-aṣla (الأصلة) is a species of snake, the most vicious of them. In the ḥadīth mentioning the Dajjāl: 'as if his head were an aṣla'; its plural is uṣul (أصل).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الأصل: واحد الأصول، يقال: أصل مؤصل. واستأصله، أي قلعه من أصله، قال أبو يوسف: قولهم جاءوا بأصيلتهم، أي بأجمعهم. قال الكسائي: قولهم لا أصل له ولا فضل، الأصل: الحسب، والفصل: اللسان. والأصيل: الوقت بعد العصر إلى المغرب، وجمعه أصل وآصال وأصائل، كأنه جمع أصيلة، قال الشاعر (1) : لعمري لأنت البيت أكرم أهله وأقعد في أفيائه بالأصائل. ويجمع أيضا على أصلان، مثل بعير وعران، ثم صغروا الجمع فقالوا أصيلان ثم أبدلوا من النون لا ما فقالوا أصيلال. ومنه قول النابغة: وقفت أصيلالا أسائلها عيب جوابا وما بالربع من أحد وحكى اللحياني: لقيته أصيلالا وأصيلانا. وقد آصلنا، أي دخلنا في الأصيل، وأتينا مؤصلين. ويقال: أخذت الشئ بأصيلته، أي كله بأصله. ورجل أصيل الرأى، أي محكم الرأي. وقد أصل أصالة، مثل ضخم ضخامة. ومجد أصيل: ذو أصالة. والاصلة بالتحريك: جنس من الحيات، وهى أخبثها. وفى الحديث في ذكر الدجال: " كأن رأسه أصلة " والجمع أصل.

  • Ibn Fāris · 395The letters hamza, ṣād, and lām form three root meanings, far apart from one another.

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

    The letters hamza, ṣād, and lām form three root meanings, far apart from one another. The first is the foundation (asās) of a thing; the second is the snake; and the third is the part of the day that comes after the late afternoon (al-ʿashiyy). As for the first, al-aṣl (الأصل) is the root/foundation of a thing. Al-Kisāʾī said, concerning their saying 'he has no aṣl (root/lineage) and no faṣl (eloquence),' that al-aṣl means noble lineage (al-ḥasab) and al-faṣl means the tongue (eloquence). One says: majd aṣīl (مجد أصيل), 'deeply-rooted glory.' As for al-aṣla (الأصلة), it is the great snake. In the ḥadīth mentioning the Dajjāl: 'as if his head were an aṣla (أصلة).' As for the time-meaning, al-aṣīl (الأصيل) is [the time] after the late afternoon (al-ʿashiyy); its plural is uṣul (أصل) and āṣāl (آصال); one also says aṣīl and aṣīla (أصيلة), whose plural is aṣāʾil (أصائل). He said [in poetry]: 'By my life, you are indeed the tent whose people are noblest, and most firmly seated in its shade at the times of aṣāʾil.'

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الهمزة والصاد واللام ثلاثة أصول متباعد بعضها من بعض أحدها أساس الشيء والثاني الحية والثالث ما كان من النهار بعد العشي فأما الأول فالأصل أصل الشيء قال الكسائي في قولهم لا أصل له ولا فصل له إن الأصل الحسب والفصل اللسان ويقال مجد أصيل وأما الأصلة فالحية العظيمة وفي الحديث في ذكر الدجال : ( كأن رأسه أصله ) وأما الزمان فالأصيل بعد العشي وجمعه أصل وآصال و يقال أصيل وأصيلة والجمع أصائل قال : — لعمري لأنت البيت أكرم أهله … وأقعد في أفيائه بالأصائل —

  • al-Rāghib · 502'Bi-l-ghuduwwi wa-l-āṣāl' (بالغدو والآصال) [Q 7:205]: meaning the evenings (al-ʿashāyā).

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

    'Bi-l-ghuduwwi wa-l-āṣāl' (بالغدو والآصال) [Q 7:205]: meaning the evenings (al-ʿashāyā). The evening is called aṣīl (أصيل) and aṣīla (أصيلة); the plural of aṣīl is uṣul (أصل) and āṣāl (آصال), and the plural of aṣīla is aṣāʾil (أصائل). God Most High said: 'bukratan wa-aṣīlan' (بكرة وأصيلا) [Q 48:9]. The aṣl (أصل) of a thing is its base, such that if it were imagined raised up, everything else built upon it would rise along with it. God Most High said: 'aṣluhā thābitun wa-farʿuhā fī al-samāʾ' (أصلها ثابت وفرعها في السماء) ['its root is firm and its branch is in the sky'] [Q 14:24]. One says 'taʾaṣṣala kadhā' (تأصل كذا) and 'aṣṣalahu' (أصله); and 'majd aṣīl' (مجد أصيل); and 'so-and-so has no aṣl and no faṣl.'

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    بالغدو والآصال [الأعراف/ 205] أي: العشايا، يقال للعشية: أصيل وأصيلة، فجمع الأصيل أصل وآصال، وجمع الأصيلة: أصائل، وقال تعالى: بكرة وأصيلا [الفتح/ 9] . وأصل الشيء: قاعدته التي لو توهمت مرتفعة لارتفع بارتفاعه سائره لذلك، قال تعالى: أصلها ثابت وفرعها في السماء [إبراهيم/ 24] ، وقد تأصل كذا وأصله، ومجد أصيل، وفلان لا أصل له ولا فصل.

  • Lisān · 711Al-aṣl (الأصل) is the lowest/bottommost part of anything;

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

    Al-aṣl (الأصل) is the lowest/bottommost part of anything; its plural is uṣūl (أصول), and it is not pluralized otherwise; it is also called al-yaʾṣūl (اليأصول). One says 'aṣl muʾaṣṣal' (أصل مؤصل). Ibn Jinnī used the term 'al-aṣliyya' (الأصلية) in place of 'al-taʾaṣṣul' (التأصل), saying: 'The alif, though in most of its states is a substitute [for another letter] or an augment, when it is a substitute for a root letter it functions in radical-ness (al-aṣliyya) the same way [as the original letter]. This is not something the Arabs actually pronounced; rather it is something the early [grammarians] used in some of their discourse.' 'Aṣala al-shayʾu' (أصل الشيء) means the thing became possessed of a root. Umayya al-Hudhalī said: 'My preoccupation is nothing but that I am wary of your honor, so long as you do not let the thing take root (yaʾṣulu).' Likewise 'taʾaṣṣala' (تأصل) means the same. It is said: 'istaʾṣaltu hādhihi al-shajara' (استأصلت هذه الشجرة) means its root became firmly established. 'Istaʾṣala Allāhu banī fulān' (استأصل الله بني فلان) is said when He leaves them no root [i.e., annihilates them]. 'Istaʾṣalahu' (استأصله) means he pulled it out by its root. In the ḥadīth on the sacrificial animal: he forbade al-mustaʾṣala (المستأصلة); that is [an animal] whose horn has been taken off at its very root; and it is said this is from al-aṣīla (الأصيلة) in the sense of destruction. 'Istaʾṣala al-qawm' (استأصل القوم) means their root was cut off. 'Istaʾṣala Allāhu shaʾfatahu' (استأصل الله شأفته) — al-shaʾfa is a sore that appears on the foot and is then cauterized so that it goes away; so [a person] would pray to God that it be removed from him. 'Qaṭʿ aṣīl' (قطع أصيل) means completely severed/eradicated (mustaʾṣal). 'Aṣala al-shayʾa' (أصل الشيء) means he knew the thing thoroughly and learned its root. It is said: 'the palm trees in our land are indeed aṣīl,' meaning they remain there, neither ceasing nor perishing. A man who is aṣīl (أصيل) has a [firm] root. An opinion that is aṣīl (رأي أصيل) has firm grounding. A man who is aṣīl is one of firm judgment and intelligence. One says 'aṣula aṣāla' (أصل أصالة), like 'ḍakhuma ḍakhāma'; and 'so-and-so is aṣīl al-raʾy' (أصيل الرأي), and one says 'aṣala raʾyuhu aṣāla' (أصل رأيه أصالة), and 'he is indeed aṣīl al-raʾy wa-l-ʿaql' (أصيل الرأي والعقل). 'Majd aṣīl' (مجد أصيل) means glory possessed of firmness. Ibn al-Kisīt said: 'jāʾū bi-aṣīlatihim' (جاءوا بأصيلتهم) means 'they came all together.' Al-aṣīl (الأصيل) is the evening (al-ʿashiyy); its plural is uṣul (أصل) and uṣlān (أصلان), like baʿīr/buʿrān, and āṣāl (آصال) and aṣāʾil (أصائل), as though it were the plural of aṣīla (أصيلة). Abū Dhuʾayb al-Hudhalī said: 'By my life, you are indeed the tent whose people are noblest, and most firmly seated in its shade at the times of aṣāʾil.' Al-Zajjāj said: āṣāl (آصال) is the plural of uṣul (أصل), so on this view it is a plural of a plural; and it is also possible that uṣul is itself a singular, like ṭunub (طنب). Thaʿlab recited: 'So my soul grew sick because of that, and I did not cease [to be] a substitute for my whole day, until al-aṣl (evening).' His saying 'a substitute for my whole day' indicates that al-aṣl here is a singular. Its diminutive is uṣaylān (أصيلان) and uṣaylāl (أصيلال), by substitution — they substituted lām for the nūn. From this is the saying of al-Nābigha: 'I stood there at uṣaylāl, questioning it [the abode]; it was too weary to answer, and there was no one at the encampment.' Al-Sīrāfī said: 'If uṣaylān is the diminutive of uṣlān, and uṣlān is the plural of aṣīl, then its diminutive is irregular, because only that which is on the pattern of the paucal plural is diminutived from a plural, and the patterns of the paucal plural are four: afʿāl, afʿul, afʿila, and fiʿla — and uṣlān is none of these; so it must be judged anomalous. But if uṣlān is itself a singular, like rummān and qurbān, then its diminutive follows the regular rule.'

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الأصل: أسفل كل شيء وجمعه أصول لا يكسر على غير ذلك، وهو اليأصول. يقال: أصل مؤصل؛ واستعمل ابن جني الأصلية موضع التأصل فقال: الألف وإن كانت في أكثر أحوالها بدلا أو زائدة فإنها إذا كانت بدلا من أصل جرت في الأصلية مجراه، وهذا لم تنطق به العرب إنما هو شيء استعملته الأوائل في بعض كلامها. وأصل الشيء: صار ذا أصل؛ قال أمية الهذلي: وما الشغل إلا أنني متهيب ... لعرضك، ما لم تجعل الشيء يأصل وكذلك تأصل. ويقال: استأصلت هذه الشجرة أي ثبت أصلها. واستأصل الله بني فلان إذا لم يدع لهم أصلا. واستأصله أي قلعه من أصله. وفي حديث الأضحية: أنه نهى عن المستأصلة ؛ هي التي أخذ قرنها من أصله، وقيل هو من الأصيلة بمعنى الهلاك. واستأصل القوم: قطع أصلهم. واستأصل الله شأفته: وهي قرحة تخرج بالقدم فتكوى فتذهب، فدعا الله أن يذهب ذلك عنه «1». وقطع أصيل: مستأصل. وأصل الشيء: قتله علما فعرف أصله. ويقال: إن النخل بأرضنا لأصيل أي هو به لا يزال ولا يفنى. ورجل أصيل: له أصل. ورأي أصيل: له أصل. ورجل أصيل: ثابت الرأي عاقل. وقد أصل أصالة، مثل ضخم ضخامة، وفلان أصيل الرأي وقد أصل رأيه أصالة، وإنه لأصيل الرأي والعقل. ومجد أصيل أي ذو أصالة. ابن الكسيت: جاؤوا بأصيلتهم أي بأجمعهم. والأصيل: العشي، والجمع أصل وأصلان مثل بعير وبعران وآصال وأصائل كأنه جمع أصيلة؛ قال أبو ذؤيب الهذلي: لعمري لأنت البيت أكرم أهله، ... وأقعد في أفيائه بالأصائل وقال الزجاج: آصال جمع أصل، فهو على هذا جمع الجمع، ويجوز أن يكون أصل واحدا كطنب؛ أنشد ثعلب: فتمذرت نفسي لذاك، ولم أزل ... بدلا نهاري كله حتى الأصل فقوله بدلا نهاري كله يدل على أن الأصل هاهنا واحد، وتصغيره أصيلان وأصيلال على البدل أبدلوا من النون لاما؛ ومنه قول النابغة: وقفت فيها أصيلالا أسائلها، ... عيت جوابا، وما بالربع من أحد قال السيرافي: إن كان أصيلان تصغير أصلان وأصلان جمع أصيل فتصغيره نادر، لأنه إنما يصغر من الجمع ما كان على بناء أدنى العدد، وأبنية أدنى العدد أربعة: أفعال وأفعل وأفعلة وفعلة، وليست أصلان واحدة منها فوجب أن يحكم عليه بالشذوذ، وإن كان أصلان واحدا كرمان وقربان فتصغيره على بابه؛ وأما قول دهبل: إني الذي أعمل أخفاف المطي، ... حتى أناخ عند باب الحميري، فأعطي الحلق أصيلال العشي قال ابن سيده: عندي أنه من إضافة الشيء إلى نفسه، إذ الأصيل والعشي سواء لا فائدة في أحدهما إلا ما في الآخر. وآصلنا: دخلنا في الأصيل. ولقيته أصيلالا وأصيلانا إذا لقيته بالعشي، ولقيته مؤصلا. والأصيل: الهلاك؛ قال أوس: خافوا الأصيل وقد أعيت ملوكهم، ... وحملوا من أذى غرم بأثقال وأتينا مؤصلين «1» وقولهم لا أصل له ولا فصل؛ الأصل: الحسب، والفصل اللسان. والأصيل: الوقت بعد العصر إلى المغرب. والأصلة: حية قصيرة كالرئة حمراء ليست بشديدة الحمرة لها رجل واحدة تقوم عليها وتساور الإنسان وتنفخ فلا تصيب شيئا بنفختها إلا أهلكته، وقيل: هي مثل الرحى مستديرة حمراء لا تمس شجرة ولا عودا إلا سمته، ليست بالشديدة الحمرة لها قائمة تخط بها في الأرض وتطحن طحن الرحى، وقيل: الأصلة حية صغيرة تكون في الرمال لونها كلون الرئة ولها رجل واحدة تقف عليها تثب إلى الإنسان ولا تصيب شيئا إلا هلك، وقيل: الأصلة الحية العظيمة، وجمعها أصل؛ وفي الصحاح: الأصلة، بالتحريك، جنس من الحيات وهو أخبثها. وفي الحديث في ذكر الدجال: أعور جعد كأن رأسه أصلة ، بفتح الهمزة والصاد؛ قال ابن الأنباري: الأصلة الأفعى، وقيل: حية ضخمة عظيمة قصيرة الجسم تثب على الفارس فتقتله فشبه رسول الله، صلى الله عليه وسلم، رأس الدجال بها لعظمه واستدارته، وفي الأصلة مع عظمها استدارة؛ وأنشد: يا رب إن كان يزيد قد أكل ... لحم الصديق عللا بعد نهل ودب بالشر دبيبا ونشل، ... فاقدر له أصلة من الأصل «2». كبساء، كالقرصة أو خف الجمل، ... لها سحيف وفحيح وزجل السحيف: صوت جلدها، والفحيح من فمها، والكبساء: العظيمة الرأس؛ رجل أكبس وكباس، والعرب تشبه الرأس الصغير الكثير الحركة برأس الحية؛ قال طرفة: خشاش كرأس الحية المتوقد». وأخذ الشيء بأصلته وأصيلته أي بجميعه لم يدع منه شيئا؛ الأول عن ابن الأعرابي. وأصل الماء يأصل أصلا كأسن إذا تغير طعمه وريحه من حمأة فيه. ويقال: إني لأجد من ماء حبكم طعم أصل. وأصيلة الرجل: جميع ماله. ويقال: أصل فلان يفعل كذا وكذا كقولك طفق وعلق. اصطبل: الرباعي: الإصطبل موقف الدابة، وفي التهذيب: موقف الفرس، شامية؛ قال سيبويه: الإسفنط والإصطبل خماسيان جعل الألف فيهما أصلية كما جعل يستعور خماسيا، جعلت الياء أصلية. الجوهري: الإصطبل للدواب وألفه أصلية لأن الزيادة لا تلحق بنات الأربعة من أوائلها إلا الأسماء الجارية على أفعالها وهي من الخمسة أبعد، قال: وقال أبو عمرو الإصطبل ليس من كلام العرب. اصطفل: التهذيب: الإصطفلين: الجزر الذي يؤكل، لغة شامية، الواحدة إصطفل …

  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

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

    أَصُلَ

    1. أَصُلَ, (K,) inf. n. أَصَالَةٌ; (TA;) or أَصِلَ; (M;) It (a thing, M) had, or came to have, root, or a foundation; (M, K;) as also تأصّل: (M:) or it was, or became, firm, or established, and firmly rooted or founded; as also تأصّل: (K:) and [in like manner] استأصل it (a thing) was, or became, firm in its root or foundation, and strong. (Msb.) You say, الشَجَرَةُ اِسْتَأْصَلَتِ The tree [took root; or] grew, and became firm in its root. (TA.) [Hence,] أَصُلَ, (S, M, K,) inf. n. as above, (S, M,) He (a man, S, * M) was, or became, firm, (S, M, K;) or sound, (S,) of judgment; (S, M, K;) intelligent. (M: [and so, probably, in correct copies of the K; but in a MS. copy of the K and in the CK; and TA, instead of عَاقِل, the reading in the M, I find عَاقِب.]) Also, (S, * K,) inf. n. as above, (S, TA,) It (judgment, or opinion,) was, or became, firm, or sound, (S, * TA,) or good. (K.) And, inf. n. as above, It (a thing) was, or became, eminent, noble, or honourable. (Msb.) أَصَلَهُ, [aor. and inf. n. as in what follows next after this sentence,] He hit, or struck, its root, or foundation; that by being which it was what it was, or in being which it consisted; or its ultimate constituent. (A, TA.) And hence, (A, TA,) أَصَلَهُ عِلْمًا, (A, K, TA,) aor. اَصُلَ , inf. n. أَصْلٌ: (TA;) or آصَلَهُ [with medd, (which I think to be a mistake, unless this be a dial. var.,) and without علما]; (so in a copy of the M;) (assumed tropical:) He knew it completely, or thoroughly, or superlatively well, syn. قَتَلَهُ, (K,) [i. e.] قَتَلَهُ عِلْمًا, so that he was acquainted with its أَصْل [or root, or foundation, or its ultimate constituent, as is indicated in the A and TA]: (M:) or this is from أَصَلَةٌ, as meaning “a certain very deadly serpent;” (A, TA;) [whence the phrase,] أَصَلَتْهُ الأَصَلَةُ, (K,) inf. n. أَصْلٌ, (TA,) The [serpent called] اصلة sprang upon him (K, TA) and slew him. (TA.) أَصِلَ, aor. اَصَلَ , (M, K,) inf. n. أَصَلٌ, (M,) said of water, i. q. أَسِنَ; (M, K;) i. e. It became altered for the worse (M, TA) in its taste and odour, (TA,) from fetid black mud (K, TA) therein: so says Ibn-'Abbád: (TA:) and said of flesh-meat, it became altered (K, TA) in like manner. (TA.) أَصِلَ فُلَانٌ يَفْعَلُ كَذَا وَ كَذَا Such a one set about, or commenced, doing thus and thus, or such and such things. (TA.)

    أصلّهُ

    2. أصلّهُ, inf. n. تَأْصِيلٌ, He made it to have a firm, or fixed, root, or foundation, whereon to build, (Msb, TA,) i. e., whereon another thing might be built. (El-Munáwee, TA.) [Hence,] أصّل مَالَهُ i. q. أَثَّلَهُ [He made his wealth, or property, to have root, or a foundation; or to become firm, or established, and firmly rooted or founded: see, below, أَصْلُ مَالٍ, and مَالٌ لَهُ أَصْلٌ]. (M and K in art. اثل.) أصّل الأُصُولَ [He disposed, arranged, distributed, classified, or set in order, the fundamentals, fundamental articles, principles, elements, or rudiments, of a science, &c.,] is a phrase similar to بَوَّبَ الأَبْوَابَ and رَتَّبَ الرُّتَبَ. (TA.)

    آصل

    4. آصل, (inf. n. إِيصَالٌ, TA,) He entered upon the time called أَصِيل, q. v. (S, M, K.) See also أَصَلَهُ عِلْمًا.

    تأصّل

    5. تأصّل: see 1, first sentence, in two places.

    استأصل

    10. استأصل: see 1, in two places, first and second sentences. استأصلهُ He uprooted it; unrooted it; eradicated it; extirpated it; pulled it up, or out, or off, from its root, or foundation, or lowest part, (S, TA,) or with its roots, or foundations, or lowest parts;; (TA;) he cut it off (M, Msb) from its root, or lowest part, (M,) or with its roots, or lowest parts. (Msb.) You say, اِسْتَأْصَلَ ٱللّٰهُ شَأْفَتَهُمْ, a precative phrase, meaning May God [extirpate or] remove (from them) their شأفة; which is an ulcer, or a purulent pustule, that comes forth in the foot, and is cauterized, and in consequence goes away: (M:) or استأصل شأفتهم [in general usage] means he extirpated them, or may he extirpate them; or he cut off, or may he cut off, the last remaining of them. (TA. [See also art. شأف.]) And استأصل القَوْمَ, i. e. قَطَعَ أَصْلَهُمْ [He cut off the root, race, or stock, of the people; i. e. he extirpated them]. (M.) And استأصل ٱللّٰهُ الكُفَّارَ God destroyed altogether or entirely, or may God destroy altogether or entirely, the unbelievers. (Msb.) And استأصل الخِتَانَ He performed the circumcision so as to remove the prepuce utterly. (TA in art. سحت.)

    أَصْلٌ

    أَصْلٌ The lower, or lowest, part of a thing; [i. e. its root, bottom, or foot;] (M, Msb, K;) as also يَأْصُولٌ: (M, K:) so of a mountain: and of a wall; (TA;) i. e. its foundation, or base: (Msb:) and of a tree [or plant]; (TA;) i. e. [its stem, or trunk, or stock, or] the part from which the branches are broken off: (TA in art. كسر:) [and also its root, or foot; for] the سَاق of a tree is said to be the part between its أَصْل and the place where its branches shoot out: (TA in art. سوق:) [and a stump of a tree: and hence, a block of wood: (see exs. voce نَقِيرٌ:)] pl. أُصُولٌ (S, M, Msb, K) and [pl. of pauc.] آصُلٌ: (AHn, K:) [ISd says that] the former is its only pl.: (M:) [but] the latter pl. occurs in a verse of Lebeed, (which see below,) as cited by AHn. (TA.) You say, قَعَدَ فِى أَصْلِ جَبَلِ He sat upon, or at, the lowest part [&c.] of the mountain; and فِى أَصْلِ الحَائِطِ at the lowest part [&c.] of the wall. (TA.) And قَلَعَهُ مِنْ أَصْلِهِ [He pulled it up, or out, or off, from its root, or foundation, or lowest part]; and بأُصُولِهِ [with its roots, or foundations, or lowest parts; both meaning, utterly, entirely, or altogether]. (TA in explanation of استأصلهُ, q. v.) And قَلَعَ أَصْلَ الشَّجَرَةِ He pulled up, or out, the lowest part, [or stem or stock or root or foot or stump,] of the tree. (TA.) Lebeed says, [of a wild cow,] [She enters into the midst of the stems of trees with high branches, apart from others, i. e. from other trees, in the hinder parts of sand-hills, the fine loose sand thereof inclining upon her]: (AHn, TA:) but as some relate it, أَصْلًا قَالِصًا. (TA. [See EM, p. 161.]) A thing upon which another thing is built or founded [either properly or tropically]: (KT, Kull p. 50, TA:) the foundation, or basis, of a thing, [either properly or tropically,] which being imagined to be taken away, or abstracted, by its being taken away, or abstracted, the rest thereof becomes also taken away, or abstracted: (Er-Rághib, TA:) that upon which the existence of anything rests [or depends]; so the father is اصل to the offspring, and the river is اصل to the streamlet that branches off from it: (Msb:) or a thing upon which another thing depends as a branch; as the father in relation to the son: (Kull:) [i. e. the origin, source, beginning, or commencement, of a thing: the origin, original, root, race, or stock, from which a man springs. Hence شَىْءٌ لَهُ أَصْلٌ A thing having root, or a foundation; and consequently, having rootedness, fixedness, im- mobility, stability, or permanence; rooted, fixed, immoveable, stable, or permanent. Whence,] مَالٌ لَهُ أَصْلٌ, (Mgh voce عَقَارٌ,) and مِلْكٌ ثَابِتٌ لَهُ أَصْلٌ, (Msb in explanation of that word,) and مَا لَهُ أَصْلٌ, (KT in explanation of the same,) [Real, or immoveable, property;] property such as consists in a house or land yielding a revenue; (Mgh;) or such as a house and palm-trees; (Msb;) or such as land and a house. (KT.) [Hence, also, أَصْلٌ مَالٍ signifying A source of wealth or profit; a stock, fund, capital, or principal. You say,] اِتَّخَذْتُهُ لِنَفْسِى أَصْلَ مَالٍلِلنَّسْلِ لَا لِلِتِّجَارَةِ [I took it for myself as a source of wealth or profit, for breeding, not for traffic]. (Mgh in art. قنو.) You say also, بَاعَ أَصْلَ أَرْضِهِ [meaning He sold the fundamental property, i. e. the property itself, of his land]. (S voce عِكْرٌ.) [See also an ex. in conjugation 4 in art. بقَى: and another in the first paragraph of art. حبس.] And أَخَذَهُ بِأَصْلِهِ [He took it as it were with its root, or the like; meaning, entirely]. (K. [See أَصِيلَةٌ.]) And قَطَعَ أَصْلَهُمْ [He cut off their root, race, or stock; i. e. he extirpated them]. (M.) And فُلَانٌ فِى أَصْلِ صِدْقِ, (S and L in art. ضنأ,) and فِى أَصْلِ سُوْءٍ, (L ibid.,) Such a one is of an excel-lent origin, or race, or stock, (S, L,) and of a bad origin, or race, or stock; (L;) اصل being here syn. with ضِنْء (S, L) and مَعْدِن. (S.) And فُلَانٌ فِى أَصْلِ الكَرَمِ Such a one is of [a race] the source of generosity, or nobleness; اصل being here syn. with بُؤْبُؤ. (S in art. بأ.) And لَا أَصْلَ لَهُ وَ لَا فَصْلَ He has no حَسَب [i. e. grounds of pretension to respect or honour; or rank, or nobility, or the like]; nor tongue [i. e. eloquence]: (Ks, S, O, Msb:) or he has no intellect, (IAar, Msb, El-Munáwee,) nor eloquence: (El-Munáwee, TA:) or he has no lineage, nor tongue: (L:) or he has no father, nor child: (Kull p. 53:) [or he has no known stock nor branch; for] فَصْلٌ is the contr. of أَصْلٌ, and in relationship signifies a branch. (Msb in art. فصل.) You say also, مَا فَعَلْتُهُ أَصْلًا, meaning I have not done it ever; and I will not do it ever; the last word being in the accus. case as an adverbial noun; i. e. I have not done it at any time; and I will not do it at any time. (Msb, El-Munáwee, TA.) [It also signifies The original, or elemental, matter, material, substance, or part, of a thing; syn. with عُنْصُرٌ;] that from which a thing is taken [or made]. (KT voce دَاخِلٌ.) [The fundamental, or essential, part of a thing. Hence, sing. of أُصُولٌ as signifying The fundamentals, fundamental articles or dogmas, principles, elements, or rudiments, of a science &c. Whence,] عِلْمُ الأُصُولِ, (TA,) [meaning] عِلْمُ أُصُولِ الدِّينِ [The science of the fundamentals, fundamental articles or dogmas, or principles, of religion; the science of theology, or divinity; according to the system of the Muslims, as distinguished from that of the philosophers;] the science of the articles, or tenets, of belief; also called الفِقْهُ الأَكْبَرُ; (Kull. voce فِقْه;) and [more commonly] عِلْمُ الكَلَامِ. (Hájjee Khaleefeh.) [See also 2.] A radical (as opposed to an augmentative) letter; as being an essential element of a word. (The Lexicons passim.) The original form of a word. (The same passim.) The original, or primary, signification of a word. (The same passim.) An original copy of a book: and a copy of a book from which one quotes, or transcribes, any portion. (TA, &c., passim.) [The original, or primary, state, or condition: or] the old state, or condition. (Kull p. 50.) You say, الأَصْلُ فِى الأَشْيَآءِ الإِبَاحَةُ وَ الطَّهَارَةُ The old state, or condition, of things is that of being allowable, or lawful, and that of being pure, or clean. (Kull ubi suprà.) And رَجَعَتْ إِلَى أَصْلِهَا She returned, or reverted, [to her original, or old, state, or condition; or to her natural disposition;] to a natural disposition which she had relinquished. (S voce عِتْرٌ.) [The utmost point, or degree, to which a person, or thing, can go, or be brought or reduced: and, app., the utmost that one can do. Hence the saying,] لَأَضْطَرَّنَّكَ إِلَى أَصْلِكَ [I will assuredly impel thee, or drive thee, against thy will, to the utmost point to which thou canst go, or be brought or reduced: or, constrain thee to do thine utmost]. (IAar in L, art. قح [where it is given in explanation of the phrases لَأَضْطَرَّنَّكَ and قُحَاحِكَ; and so in the T in art. تر in explanation of the former of these two phrases; which is said in the M, in art. تر, to mean I will assuredly make thee to have recourse to thine utmost effort, or endeavour; and in the L in art. قح this is given as another explanation of the latter of the same two phrases. See also the saying, لَأُلْجِئَنَّكَ إِلَى قُرِّ قَرَارِكَ, explained voce قَرَارٌ.]) [That by being which a thing is what it is, or in being which it consists; or its ultimate constituent; syn. حَقِيقَةٌ; a meaning well known; and indicated, in the A and TA, by the coupling of حَقِيقَة with أَصْل, evidently as an explicative adjunct.] [The prime of a thing; the principal, purest, best, or choicest, part thereof; what is, or constitutes, the most essential part thereof; its very essence. Hence,] أَصْلُ دَارٍ [The principal part of a country]; (As, S, Msb, K, voce عَقْرٌ;) [which is] the place where the people dwell, or abide. (As and S ibid. [See عَقْرٌ.]) And أَصْلٌ قَوْمٍ [The principal place of abode of a people]. (S and K voce بَيْضَةٌ. [See this word.]) And هُوَ فِى أَصْلِ قَوْمِهِ He is of the prime, or of the purest in race, the best, or the choicest, of his people; i. q. صُيَّابَتِهِمْ, and صُيَّابِهِمْ. (TA in art. صيب.) What is most fit, or proper: as when one says, الأَصْلُ فِى الإِنْسَانِ العِلْمُ [What is most fit, or proper, in man, is knowledge]; i. e., knowledge is more fit, or proper, than ignorance: and الأَصْلُ فِى المُبْتَدَإِ التَّقْدِيمُ What is [most] fit, or proper, in the case of the inchoative, is the putting [it] before [the enunciative], whenever there is no obstacle. (Kull p.50.) What is preponderant in relation to what is preponderated: as, in language, the word used in its proper sense [in relation to that used in a tropical sense]. (Kull ibid.) What is [essential, or] requisite, or needful: as when one says الأَصْلُ فِى الحَيَوَانِ الغِذَآءُ [What is essential, or requisite, or needful, in the case of the animal, is food]. (Kull ibid.) A [primary, or] universal, or general, rule, or canon. (Kull ibid.) An indication, an evidence, or a proof, in relation to that which is indicated, or evidenced, or proved. (Kull ibid.)

    أَصَلٌ

    أَصَلٌ: see its n. un., أَصَلَةٌ

    أَصِلٌ

    أَصِلٌ, (K,) or أَصِيلٌ, (M,) i. q. مُسْتَأْصِلٌ. (M, K.) You say قَلْعٌ أَصِلٌ Eradicating, or extirpating, evulsion: (TA:) or قَطْعٌ أَصِيلٌ extirpating excision. (M.)

    أُصُلٌ

    أُصُلٌ, said by some to be a pl., and by others to be a dial. var., of أَصِيلٌ: see the latter word, in two places.

    أَصَلَةٌ

    أَصَلَةٌ: see أَصِيلَةٌ. Also A kind of serpent, the most malignant, or noxious, of serpents: (S:) or a serpent, (M, K,) short, (M, [where, in the only copy to which I have access, I find added, كَالرِئَةِ, app. a mistranscription, for كَالرُّمَّةِ, like the fragment of a rope,]) or small, (K,) red, but not intensely red, (M,) very deadly, of the most malignant, or noxious, kind, (TA,) having one leg, upon which it stands, (M, TA,) then turns round, then springs, (TA,) that springs upon a man, and blows, killing everything upon which it blows: (M:) or, as some say, a great serpent, (M, K,) that kills by its blowing: (K:) or one of the very crafty kinds of serpents, short and broad, said to be like the shaft of an arrow, and it springs upon the horseman: (Msb:) pl. أَصَلٌ, (S, M. Msb, K,) [or rather this is a coll. gen. n.,] and [pl. of pauc.] آصَالٌ. (Msb.) [Hence, app.,] (assumed tropical:) Short and broad: applied to a man and to a woman. (TA.)

    أَصْلِىٌّ

    أَصْلِىٌّ [Radical; fundamental; primitive; original; underived: an epithet of extensive application; and particularly applied to a letter of a word, as opposed to augmentative; and to a signification]. (The Lexicons &c. passim.)

    أَصْلِيَّةٌ

    أَصْلِيَّةٌ [The quality denoted by the epithet أَصْلِىٌّ; radicalness, &c.:] a term used by IJ [and others] in the place of تَأَصُّلٌ: see 5. (M.)

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

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

أ ص ل

الهمزة والصاد واللام ثلاثة أصول متباعد بعضها من بعض أحدها أساس الشيء والثاني الحية والثالث ما كان من النهار بعد العشي

a-ṣ-l has three roots, far removed from one another: one is the foundation of a thing, the second is the snake, and the third is what comes of the day after the evening.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗Quran ×10

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 ↗

ص

ومما بين طرف اللسان وفويق الثنايا مخرج الزاي، والسين، والصاد

From between the tip of the tongue and just above the front teeth is the place of the zāy, the sīn and the ṣād. Sībawayh, line 26560 ↗

ومما بين الثنايا وطرف اللسان، مخرج الصاد والزاي والسين

From between the front teeth and the tip of the tongue is the place of the ṣād, the zāy and the sīn. Ibn Jinnī, line 983 ↗

ل

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. Ibn Jinnī, lines 977–978 ↗

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

ص

Level of existence: التراب · earth

Divine Name: المميت · al-Mumīt, the Death-Giver

Lunar mansion: البلدة · al-Balda

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62111

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 8 line 2571 ↗

الثمانية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The eightfold [rank]: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2580

ل

Level of existence: السماء الثالثة · the third heaven

Divine Name: القاهر · the Subduer (al-Qāhir)

Lunar mansion: العوا · al-ʿAwwā

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64654

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 7 line 2576 ↗

منها دون الألف فطبعها الحرارة واليبوسة

[Zāy and lām] of it, excluding alif: their nature is heat and dryness.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2577
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

ص

فهي جميع غبار الأرض في الموقف بين يدي الله عز وجل.

It is all the dust of the earth at the Standing (on the Day of Judgement) before God, Mighty and Majestic.

فهي جميع نباتاتها.

It is all its (the earth's) plants.

فهي الأرضون السبع.

It is the seven earths.

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

ل

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.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نهاية له.

It is an indication of the thing that has no end.

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.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
In the sister scriptsHebrew א צ לSyriac ܐ ܨ ܠ
Arabicأ ص ل
Hebrewא צ ל
Syriacܐ ܨ ܠ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩱 𐩮 𐩡
Phoenician𐤀 𐤑 𐤋

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 already gives the base sense (استأصل = the tree's root is firmly fixed;well attested

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

    Al-Khalīl already gives the base sense (استأصل = the tree's root is firmly fixed; أصيل الرأي = sound in judgment) alongside the homonymous snake (al-aṣala) and the time-of-day sense (al-aṣīl, evening). Al-Jawharī confirms أصل as 'one of the uṣūl' with استأصله = to uproot from its base, and fixes أصيل as the period from ʿaṣr to maghrib. Ibn Fāris formalizes this as three distinct, unrelated roots sharing the letters أ-ص-ل by coincidence rather than derivation. Al-Rāghib supplies the defining formula: aṣl al-shayʾ is 'its foundation such that, were it imagined elevated, the rest of the thing would rise with its rising' — glossing the tree-parable of Q14:24 — and treats aṣīl as the Quranic evening (7:205, 48:9). Ibn Manẓūr adds that aṣl is 'the bottom/underside of anything' (asfal kull shayʾ) and reports Ibn Jinnī's technical extension of aṣliyya to grammatical root-letters.

    Draws on: cayn · sihah · Ibn Fāris · mufradat · lisan

    • al-Khalīl, Kitāb al-ʿAyn, أصل
    • al-Jawharī, al-Ṣiḥāḥ, أصل
    • Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, أصل
    • al-Rāghib, al-Mufradāt, أصل
    • Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, أصل
  • Letters & soundIn the letter-tables given, ص is assigned to 'earth/dust' (al-Dabbāgh: the dust of the earth at the Standing before God) and ل to 'the third heaven' (al-Dabbāgh: the speaker's attainment of something great, an indication of greatness) — a striking pairing with al-Rāghib's definition of aṣl as the low foundation whose elevation raises the whole.speculative

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

    In the letter-tables given, ص is assigned to 'earth/dust' (al-Dabbāgh: the dust of the earth at the Standing before God) and ل to 'the third heaven' (al-Dabbāgh: the speaker's attainment of something great, an indication of greatness) — a striking pairing with al-Rāghib's definition of aṣl as the low foundation whose elevation raises the whole. No entry is given for أ. This reading is suggestive only; mainstream historical linguistics does not treat individual root-letters as bearers of stable meaning, and the correspondence should be held loosely.

    Draws on: dabbagh_fatha · akbari198

    • al-Dabbāgh, letter-meanings of the fatḥa series (as supplied)
  • Root structureNo chapter-neighbor roots for أ-ص-ل were supplied by Ibn Fāris's arrangement, so the two-letter nucleus cannot be triangulated against siblings here.uncertain

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

    No chapter-neighbor roots for أ-ص-ل were supplied by Ibn Fāris's arrangement, so the two-letter nucleus cannot be triangulated against siblings here. Among the six permutations of the letters, only أصل itself is robustly attested (and, per Ibn Fāris, internally trebled in meaning); ألص, صأل, and لأص are unattested. صلا and لصا are marked as attested roots but no gloss was supplied, so any semantic link (e.g., to fire/roasting for صلا) remains an open juxtaposition rather than a claim. Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation (al-ishtiqāq al-akbar) would invite comparison of أصل with these transpositions, but the data here do not confirm a shared kernel-meaning across them.

    Draws on: Ibn Fāris · permutations

    • Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, أصل
  • Semitic kin & loanwordsNo confident Semitic cognate is available for the 'foundation/root' sense of أصل;uncertain

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

    No confident Semitic cognate is available for the 'foundation/root' sense of أصل; Hebrew has a root ʾ-ṣ-l (as in אצל, 'beside; to withhold/set apart', e.g. Numbers 11:17) that shares the consonants but not clearly the meaning, so any connection is speculative at best. This appears to be an Arabic-internal semantic cluster rather than a loanword or a transparently inherited Common Semitic term for 'root/base' (the more usual Semitic word-family for 'root' is š-r-š, cf. Hebrew šōreš, Arabic shirsh/jidhr).

    Draws on: no confident cognate

  • Quranic exegesisAt 14:24, in the parable of the good word as a good tree ('aṣluhā thābitun wa-farʿuhā fī l-samāʾ'), al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī read aṣl as the fixed root of faith/the confession of unity, with the branch reaching heaven figuring the ascent of good deeds and speech;plausible

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    At 14:24, in the parable of the good word as a good tree ('aṣluhā thābitun wa-farʿuhā fī l-samāʾ'), al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī read aṣl as the fixed root of faith/the confession of unity, with the branch reaching heaven figuring the ascent of good deeds and speech; al-Rāghib cites the same verse for his technical definition of aṣl as load-bearing foundation. The far more frequent Quranic occurrences are of aṣīl (evening) paired with bukra (morning) as in 7:205, 33:42, 48:9, marking the two poles of the day for remembrance and glorification (dhikr/tasbīḥ); exegetes gloss aṣīl simply as the time from ʿaṣr to sunset, following the lexicographical consensus.

    Draws on: quran · mufradat

  • Akbarian readingIn Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī speaks of knowing 'the root (aṣl) of the forms of the world receptive to its spirits' as a matter attainable only through divine unveiling (kashf ilāhī), not discursive reasoning — this is what qualifies the human being to be called 'human' and 'vicegerent'.plausible

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    In Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī speaks of knowing 'the root (aṣl) of the forms of the world receptive to its spirits' as a matter attainable only through divine unveiling (kashf ilāhī), not discursive reasoning — this is what qualifies the human being to be called 'human' and 'vicegerent'. Here aṣl functions not merely lexically but as the hidden ontological ground of receptive forms, mirrored by al-Rāghib's 'foundation that lifts the whole with it' but redirected toward cosmological origination. No separate Iṣṭilāḥ entry for aṣl was supplied.

    Draws on: inFassAdam

    • Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, Faṣṣ Ādam
Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out