Mashrabaمشربة

أممIbn Fāris's Maqāyīs entry for this root is not among the sources given; on the evidence … (root mm)

English rendering

أمم
Patterns computed · our data

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

19 words6 verbs1 verbal noun1 participle1 intensive or elative7 other nouns1 plural2 relatives and abstracts

  • إِمَامperson, or learned man, whose example is followed, or who is imitated
  • أَمَامthe location that is before
  • إِمامَةimamate; leadership
  • إِمامِيّleadership
  • أَمَّهُhe tended, repaired, betook himself, or directed his course, to, or towards, …
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6أَمَّهُ · أَمَّمَ · آمّهُ

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

  • أَمَّهُhe tended, repaired, betook himself, or directed his course, to, or towards, …LaneForm ILane
  • أَمَّمَForm IILane
  • آمّهُit agreed with it, neither exceeding nor falling shortLaneForm IIILane
  • تَأَمَّمَForm VLane
Verbal nouns1إِمامَة

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

  • إِمامَةimamate; leadershipautoForm I · Lane: inf. n.library ×1Lane
Participles1مأْمُوم

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

  • مأْمُومpassive, Form ILane
Intensives, qualities and the elative1أَمِيم

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

  • أَمِيمbeautiful in statureLanequality (faʿīl)Lane
Other nouns7إِمَام · أَمَام · أَمَم

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

  • إِمَامperson, or learned man, whose example is followed, or who is imitatedLanenounQurʾān ×12library ×59Lane
  • أَمَامthe location that is beforeLanenounlibrary ×12Lane
  • أَمَمnearnessLanenounLane
  • أُمَائِمthree hundred camelsLanenounLane
Plurals1أَمَائِم

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

  • أَمَائِمplural of beautiful in staturefrom the singularbroken plural of أَمِيمLane
Relative and abstract2إِمامِيّ · إِمِامِيَّة

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

  • إِمامِيّleadershipautorelative adjective (-iyy)library ×1
  • إِمِامِيَّةone of the exorbitant sects of the Shee'ah, who asserted that 'Alee was …Laneabstract noun (-iyya)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 م ممَأْمَمَة

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 · 170Al-ʾAyyim (الأيم) among snakes: the white, slender one.

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

    Al-ʾAyyim (الأيم) among snakes: the white, slender one. He said: 'As if her rein were a bold aym-snake ... swaying among the branches of a tangled thicket' — he likened the movement of the rein to a snake among intertwined branches. Al-ʾIyām (الإيام): smoke. Abū Dhuʾayb said: 'When he exposed them to the smoke, they huddled ... in clusters, humiliation and dejection upon them.' A woman is called ʾayyim (أيم) — she has become ʾayyim (تأيمت) — when she has a husband [i.e. is without one], or had a husband before who died, and she is [still] fit for marriage, because there remains in her a remnant of youth. Al-ʾayāmā (الأيامى) is its plural ... You say: āmat al-marʾah taʾīmu ayman (آمت المرأة تئيم أيمًا), and ʾaymah (أيمة) is [the noun of] a single instance, and taʾayyamat (تأيمت). He said [fragment]: '...changing, or dreading widowhood.' Al-āmmah (الآمة): the fault/blemish. ʿAbīd said: 'Gently, may you be spared cursing, gently ... for in what you said is a blemish.' Al-āmmah of an infant is said to be: what clings to his navel when he is born; and it is [also] said to be the cloth he is wrapped in, and what comes out with him [the afterbirth]. Ḥassān said: 'A buried infant girl, chilled in rags ... with her afterbirth-wrap, marked, without a pillow.' Al-uwām (الأوام): the heat of thirst in the belly; I have not heard a verb formed from it, though if it occurred in poetry as 'awwamahu taʾwīman' (أوّمه تأويمًا) there would be no harm in it. ¶ Amm (أم): an interrogative particle prefixed [to a prior question], so that it becomes in meaning like a question following a question; its explanation is in the chapter on (أو 'or'). 'Am' (أم) can also carry the meaning of 'bal' (بل, 'rather'), with 'bal' here being itself interrogative, as when you say: 'Am ʿindakum ghadan ḥāḍir?' (أم عندكم غدًا حاضر؟), meaning 'Is it with you...?' — this is a sound usage. 'Am' can also open a declarative statement; this is a Yemeni dialectal usage. Their speaker says: 'He is among the best of people; am he feeds food, am he strikes heads [in battle]' — while [in fact] making a statement, not asking a question.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    اعلم أن كل شيء يضم إليه سائر ما يليه فإن العرب تسمي ذلك الشيء أما.. فمن ذلك: أم الرأس وهو: الدماغ

  • al-Jawharī · 393Umm al-shayʾ (أم الشيء): its origin/root.

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

    Umm al-shayʾ (أم الشيء): its origin/root. Mecca is Umm al-Qurā (أم القرى, 'Mother of Towns'). Al-umm (الأم): the mother, plural ummahāt (أمات). He said [poetry, fragment]: 'I dispelled the darkness by your mothers...' The origin of umm is ummahah (أمهة), which is why it is pluralized as ummahāt (أمهات). He said: 'My mother (ummahatī) is Khindif, and Ilyās is my father.' Some said: ummahāt (أمهات) is used for humans and ummāt (أمات) for animals. It is said: 'mā kunti ummā, wa-laqad ammamti umūmah' (ما كنتِ أمًّا، ولقد أَمَمتِ أمومةً — 'You were not a mother, but you have attained motherhood'). Its diminutive is Umaymah (أميمة). Umaymah is [also] a woman's name. It is said: 'yā ummata lā tafʿalī' (يا أمّتَ لا تفعلي) and 'yā abata ifʿal' (يا أبتَ افعل) — they make the feminine marker (tāʾ) a substitute for the possessive yāʾ, and one pauses on it with hāʾ. Al-umm (الأم) [also]: the standard/banner that the army follows. Umm al-tanāʾif (أم التنائف): the distant wasteland. Umm mathwāk (أم مثواك): the mistress of your lodging. Umm al-bayḍ (أم البيض) in the poetry of Abū Duwād: 'He came to us running, Umm al-Bayḍ spreading [her wings] in flight, while the day had already climbed high' — he means the ostrich. The chief of a people is their umm (أمهم). Umm al-nujūm (أم النجوم): the Milky Way. Umm al-ṭarīq (أم الطريق): its main part, as in the poet's saying: 'She singles out for it umm al-ṭarīq [the main road] for her dependents' — and it is [also] said to mean the hyena. Umm al-dimāgh (أم الدماغ): the membrane enclosing the brain, also called Umm al-Raʾs (أم الرأس). Regarding His saying (exalted is He): 'hunna umm al-kitāb' (هن أم الكتاب) — He did not say 'ummahāt' (plural), because it follows [grammatical] echoing (ḥikāyah), just as a man says 'I have no helper,' and you reply 'We are your helper (muʿīnuka),' echoing his wording. Likewise His saying: 'wa-jʿalnā lil-muttaqīna imāmā' (واجعلنا للمتقين إماما). Al-ummah (الأمة): the group/community. Al-Akhfash said: it is singular in form and plural in meaning. Every kind of animal is an ummah. In the ḥadīth: 'Were it not that dogs are a community (ummah) among communities, I would have ordered them killed.' Al-ummah [also]: the era/lifetime. Al-Aʿshā said: 'Beautiful of face, long-lived through the ages (umam).' Al-ummah [also]: the way and the religion. It is said: 'so-and-so has no ummah,' meaning he has no religion and no creed. The poet said: 'Is one who has a religion equal to an ingrate?' Regarding His saying: 'kuntum khayra ummatin ukhrijat li-n-nās' (كنتم خير أمة أخرجت للناس) — Al-Akhfash said: He means 'the people of a religion,' i.e. the best people of a religion; and he cited from al-Nābighah: 'I swore, and left no doubt for you regarding myself ... and does one of [true] religion sin while obedient?' Al-ummah [also]: a period of time. He (exalted) said: 'wa-ddakara baʿda ummah' (وادكر بعد أمة), and He said: 'wa-la-in akhkharnā ʿanhumu l-ʿadhāba ilā ummatin maʿdūdah' (ولئن أخرنا عنهم العذاب إلى أمة معدودة). Al-immah (الإمة), with kasrah: the blessing/favor. Al-immah is also a dialectal variant of al-ummah meaning the way and the religion, according to Abū Zayd. Al-Aʿshā said: 'Your raid struck a [settled] community and dislodged it.' Their saying 'waylummih' (ويلمه): they mean 'waylun li-ummihi' (ويل لأمه, 'woe to his mother').

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    أم الشي: أصله. ومكة: أم القرى. والأم: الوالدة، والجمع أمات. وقال: فرجت الظلام بأماتكا (1) * وأصل الأم أمهة، لذلك تجمع على أمهات. وقال (2) أمهتى خندف والياس أبى (1) * وقال بعضهم: الامهات للناس والامات للبهائم. ويقال: ما كنت أما، ولقد أممت أمومة. وتصغيرها أميمة. وأميمة: اسم امرأة. ويقال: يا أمة لا تفعلي ويا أبة افعل، يجعلون علامة التأنيث عوضا من ياء الاضافة. وتقف عليها بالهاء. والام: العلم الذى يتبعه الجيش. وأم التنائف: المفازة البعيدة. وأم مثواك: صاحبة منزلك. وأم البيض في شعر أبي دواد: وأتانا يسعى تفرش أم البيض شدا وقد تعالى النهار يريد النعامة. ورئيس القوم: أمهم. وأم النجوم: المجرة. وأم الطريق: معظمه، في قول الشاعر (1) : تخص به أم الطريق عيالها (2) * ويقال هي الضبع. وأم الدماع: الجلدة التي تجمع الدماغ، ويقال أيضا أم الرأس. وقوله تعالى: (هن أم الكتاب) ولم يقل أمهات، لأنه على الحكاية، كما يقول الرجل: ليس لي معين، فتقول: نحن معينك، فتحكيه. وكذلك قوله تعالى: (واجعلنا للمتقين إماما) . والأمة: الجماعة. قال الأخفش: هو في اللفظ واحد وفي المعنى جمع. وكل جنس من الحيوان أمة. وفي الحديث: " لولا أن الكلاب أمة من الأمم لأمرت بقتلها ". والأمة: القيامة. قال الأعشى حسان الوجوه طوال الأمم (1) * والأمة: الطريقة والدين. يقال: فلان لا أمة له، أي لا دين له ولا نحلة له. قال الشاعر: وهل يستوي ذو أمة وكفور * وقوله تعالى: (كنتم خير أمة أخرجت للناس) قال الأخفش: يريد أهل أمة، أي خير أهل دين، وأنشد للنابغة: حلفت فلم أترك لنفسك ريبة وهل يأثمن ذو أمة وهو طائع والأمة: الحين. قال تعالى: (وادكر بعد أمة) وقال تعالى: (ولئن أخرنا عنهم العذاب إلى أمة معدودة) . والإمة بالكسر: النعمة. والإمة أيضا: لغة في الأمة، وهي الطريقة والدين، عن أبي زيد. قال الأعشى: وأصاب غزوك إمة فأزالها (2) * وقولهم: ويلمه يريدون ويل لأمه، فحذف لكثرته في الكلام. وقول عدى بن زيد: أيها العائب عندم زيد أنت تفدى من أراك تعيب يريد عندي أم زيد، فلما حذف الالف سقطت الياء من عندي لاجتماع الساكنين. ويقال: لا أم لك! وهو ذم، وربما وضع موضع المدح. قال كعب بن سعد يرثي أخاه: هوت أمه ما يبعث الصبح غاديا وماذا يؤدي الليل حين يؤوب والأم بالفتح: القصد. يقال: أمة وأممه وتأممه، إذا قصده. وأمه أيضا، أي شجه آمة بالمد، وهي التي تبلغ أم الدماغ حين يبقى بينها وبين الدماغ جلد رقيق. ويقال: رجل أميم ومأموم، للذي يهذي من أم رأسه. والاميم: حجر يشدخ به الرأس. وقال: بالمنجنيقات وبالأمائم (1) ويقال للبعير العمد المتأكل السنام: مأموم. وأممت القوم في الصلاة إمامة. وائتم به: اقتدى به. وأمت المرأة: صارت أما. والإمام: خشبة البناء التي يسوى عليها البناء. وقال: وخلقته حتى إذا تم واستوى كمخة ساق أو كمتن إمام قال الاصمعي: يصف سهما. ألا ترى إلى قوله بعده: قرنت بحقويه ثلاثا فلم يزغ عن القصد حتى بصرت بدمام والامام: الصقع من الارض، والطريق قال تعالى: (وإنهما لبإمام مبين) . والإمام: الذي يقتدى به، وجمعه أيمة وأصله آممة على فاعلة (2) ، مثل إناء وآنية، وإله وآلهة، فأدغمت الميم فنقلت حركتها إلى ما قبلها، فلما حركوها بالكسر جعلوها ياء. وقرئ: (فقاتلوا أيمة الكفر) ، قال الاخفش: جعلت الهمزة ياء لانها في موضع كسر وما قبلها مفتوح، فلم يهمز لاجتماع الهمزتين. قال: ومن كان من رأيه جمع الهمزتين همزه. قال: وتصغيرها أويمة، لما تحركت الهمزة بالفتحة قبلها واوا. وقال المازنى: أييمة، ولم يقلب. وتقول: كنت أمامه، أي قدامه. وقوله تعالى: (وكل شئ أحصيناه في إمام مبين) قال الحسن: في …

  • al-Rāghib · 502[The Commander of the Believers] ʿAlī, may God be pleased with him, [said]: 'All description falls short before His attributes, and there the inflections of languages go astray.' This is because when the servant reflects

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

    [The Commander of the Believers] ʿAlī, may God be pleased with him, [said]: 'All description falls short before His attributes, and there the inflections of languages go astray.' This is because when the servant reflects upon His attributes he becomes bewildered in them; hence it is reported: 'Reflect upon the bounties (ālāʾ) of God, but do not reflect upon God [Himself].' It is said: its [ilāh's] origin is 'wilāh' (ولاه), with the wāw changed to hamzah, and it is so named because every creature is enraptured (wāliham) toward Him — either through mere subjugation, as with inanimate things and animals, or through subjugation together with will, as with some people. From this some sages said: 'God is the Beloved of all things,' and this is indicated by His saying: 'wa-in min shayʾin illā yusabbiḥu bi-ḥamdihi wa-lākin lā tafqahūna tasbīḥahum' (وإن من شيء إلا يسبح بحمده ولكن لا تفقهون تسبيحهم, Q17:44) ['And there is not a thing except that it exalts Him with praise, but you do not understand their exalting']. And it is said: its origin is from 'lāha yalūhu liyāhan' (لاه يلوه لياهًا), meaning 'he was veiled/hidden.' They said this alludes to His saying: 'lā tudrikuhu l-abṣāru wa-huwa yudriku l-abṣār' (لا تدركه الأبصار وهو يدرك الأبصار, Q6:103) ['Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives [all] vision'], and to what is meant by 'the Hidden' (al-bāṭin) in His saying: 'wa-ẓ-ẓāhiru wa-l-bāṭin' (والظاهر والباطن, Q57:3). Ilāh (إله, 'god') properly should not be pluralized, since there is no object of worship besides Him, but the Arabs, believing there to be [other] objects of worship, pluralized it as 'al-ālihah' (الآلهة). He (exalted) said: 'am lahum ālihatun tamnaʿuhum min dūninā' (أم لهم آلهة تمنعهم من دوننا, Q21:43). And He said: 'wa-yadharaka wa-ālihataka' (ويذرك وآلهتك, Q7:127). And it was [also] recited: 'wa-ilāhataka' (وإلاهتك), meaning 'your worship.' 'Lāha anta' (لاه أنت) means 'li-llāhi anta' (لله أنت), with one of the two lāms elided. 'Allāhumma' (اللهم): it is said its meaning is 'yā Allāh' (O God), the two mīms at the end substituting for the [vocative] yāʾ at its beginning, and it is reserved for invoking God; and it is [also] said: its implied sense is 'yā Allāh, umma-nā bi-khayr' (يا الله أمّنا بخير — 'O God, grant us good'), compounded like 'ḥayyahalā' (حيّهلا). Ilā (إلى): a particle marking the endpoint from [any of] the six directions. 'Alawtu fī l-amr' (ألوتُ في الأمر): I fell short in the matter — derived from [ilā], as though a sense of reaching an end were perceived in it. 'Alawtu fulānan' (ألوتُ فلانًا): I caused him shortfall, like 'kasabtuhu' (كسبته, 'I earned for him'), meaning I granted him earning; and 'mā alawtuhu juhdan' (ما ألوته جهدًا) means 'I did not fall short toward him in effort' — 'juhdan' here being an accusative of specification (tamyīz); likewise 'mā alawtuhu nuṣḥan' (ما ألوته نصحًا). His saying (exalted): 'lā yaʾlūnakum khabālā' (لا يألونكم خبالاً, Q3:118) is from this, meaning: they do not fall short in bringing ruin upon you. And He said (exalted): 'wa-lā yaʾtali ūlū l-faḍli minkum' (ولا يأتل أولوا الفضل منكم, Q24:22) — it is said this is the form 'yaftaʿil' from 'alawtu'; and it is [also] said it is from 'ālaytu' (آليتُ), 'I swore.' And it is said this was revealed concerning Abū Bakr, who had sworn regarding Misṭaḥ to withhold his bounty from him. Some rejected this, [noting] that 'iftaʿala' is rarely built from 'afʿala' but rather from 'faʿala,' as in kasabtu/iktasabtu, ṣanaʿtu/iṣṭanaʿtu, raʾaytu/irtaʾaytu. And it is reported: 'lā darayta wa-lā ʾtalayta' (لا دريت ولا ائتليت) — this being the 'iftaʿalta' form from your saying 'mā alawtuhu shayʾan' (ما ألوته شيئًا), as if it meant 'nor were you able.' And the true reality of al-... [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    ير المؤمنين علي رضي الله عنه: (كل دون صفاته تحبير الصفات، وضل هناك تصاريف اللغات) وذلك أن العبد إذا تفكر في صفاته تحير فيها، ولهذا روي: «تفكروا في آلاء الله ولا تفكروا في الله» «1» . وقيل: أصله: ولاه، فأبدل من الواو همزة، وتسميته بذلك لكون كل مخلوق والها نحوه، إما بالتسخير فقط كالجمادات والحيوانات، وإما بالتسخير والإرادة معا كبعض الناس، ومن هذا الوجه قال بعض الحكماء: الله محبوب الأشياء كلها «2» ، وعليه دل قوله تعالى: وإن من شيء إلا يسبح بحمده ولكن لا تفقهون تسبيحهم [الإسراء/ 44] . وقيل: أصله من: لاه يلوه لياها، أي: احتجب. قالوا: وذلك إشارة إلى ما قال تعالى: لا تدركه الأبصار وهو يدرك الأبصار [الأنعام/ 103] ، والمشار إليه بالباطن في قوله: والظاهر والباطن [الحديد/ 3] . وإله حقه ألا يجمع، إذ لا معبود سواه، لكن العرب لاعتقادهم أن هاهنا معبودات جمعوه، فقالوا: الآلهة. قال تعالى: أم لهم آلهة تمنعهم من دوننا [الأنبياء/ 43] ، وقال: ويذرك وآلهتك [الأعراف/ 127] وقرئ: (وإلاهتك) «3» أي: عبادتك. ولاه أنت، أي: لله، وحذف إحدى اللامين. «اللهم» قيل: معناه: يا الله، فأبدل من الياء في أوله الميمان في آخره «4» ، وخص بدعاء الله، وقيل: تقديره: يا الله أمنا بخير «5» ، مركب تركيب حيهلا. إلى إلى: حرف يحد به النهاية من الجوانب الست، وألوت في الأمر: قصرت فيه، هو منه، كأنه رأى فيه الانتهاء، وألوت فلانا، أي: أوليته تقصيرا نحو: كسبته، أي: أوليته كسبا، وما ألوته جهدا، أي: ما أوليته تقصيرا بحسب الجهد، فقولك: «جهدا» تمييز، وكذلك: ما ألوته نصحا. وقوله تعالى: لا يألونكم خبالا [آل عمران/ 118] منه، أي: لا يقصرون في جلب الخبال، وقال تعالى: ولا يأتل أولوا الفضل منكم [النور/ 22] قيل: هو يفتعل من ألوت، وقيل: هو من: آليت: حلفت. وقيل: نزل ذلك في أبي بكر، وكان قد حلف على مسطح أن يزوي عنه فضله «1» . ورد هذا بعضهم بأن افتعل قلما يبنى من «أفعل» ، إنما يبنى من «فعل» ، وذلك مثل: كسبت واكتسبت، وصنعت واصطنعت، ورأيت وارتأيت. وروي: «لا دريت ولا ائتليت» «2» وذلك: افتعلت من قولك: ما ألوته شيئا، كأنه قيل: ولا استطعت. وحقيقة الإيلاء والألية: الحلف المقتضي لتقصير في الأمر الذي يحلف عليه. وجعل الإيلاء في الشرع للحلف المانع من جماع المرأة، وكيفيته وأحكامه مختصة بكتب الفقه. فاذكروا آلاء الله [الأعراف/ 69] أي: نعمه، الواحد: ألا وإلى، نحو أنا وإنى لواحد الآناء. وقال بعضهم في قوله تعالى: وجوه يومئذ ناضرة إلى ربها ناظرة [القيامة/ 22- 23] : إن معناه: إلى نعمة ربها منتظرة، وفي هذا تعسف من حيث البلاغة «3» . و «ألا» للاستفتاح، و «إلا» للاستثناء، وأولاء في قوله تعالى: ها أنتم أولاء تحبونهم [آل عمران/ 119] وقوله: أولئك: اسم مبهم موضوع للإشارة إلى جمع المذكر والمؤنث، ولا واحد له من لفظه، وقد يقصر نحو قول الأعشى:الأم بإزاء الأب، وهي الوالدة القريبة التي ولدته، والبعيدة التي ولدت من ولدته. ولهذا قيل لحواء: هي أمنا، وإن كان بيننا وبينها وسائط. ويقال لكل ما كان أصلا لوجود شيء أو تربيته أو إصلاحه أو مبدئه أم، قال الخليل: كل شيء ضم إليه سائر ما يليه يسمى أما «1» ، قال تعالى: وإنه في أم الكتاب [الزخرف/ 4] «2» أي: اللوح المحفوظ وذلك لكون العلوم كلها منسوبة إليه ومتولدة منه. وقيل لمكة أم القرى، وذلك لما روي: (أن الدنيا دحيت من تحتها) «3» ، وقال تعالى: لتنذر أم القرى ومن حولها [الأنعام/ 92] ، وأم النجوم: المجرة «4» . قال: 23- بحيث اهتدت أم النجوم الشوابك «5» وقيل: أم الأضياف وأم المساكين «6» ، كقولهم: أبو الأضياف «7» ، ويقال للرئيس: أم الجيش كقول الشاعر:

  • Lisān · 711Al-amm (الأمّ), with fatḥah: intent, to head toward.

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

    Al-amm (الأمّ), with fatḥah: intent, to head toward. 'Ammahu yaʾummuhu amman' (أمّه يؤمّه أمًّا) — when he aims/heads toward it; also 'ammamahu' (أمّمه), 'atammahu' (أتمّه), 'taʾammamahu' (تأممه), 'yammahu' (يمّه), and 'tayammamahu' (تيممه), the last two formed by substitution [of hamzah for yāʾ]. He said: 'I did not flinch nor was I cowardly, but ... I aimed with it at Abū Ṣakhr ibn ʿAmr.' 'Yammamtuhu' (يمّمته): I made for him. Ruʾbah said: 'Radiant, not born under the star of stinginess ... one who makes for the House, noble in aspect.' 'Tayammamtuhu' (تيممته): I made for it. In the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar: 'Whoever's periodic lapse (fatrah) is toward the Sunnah, then he is upon [right] intent' — meaning he aims at the straight path. It is said: 'ammahu yaʾummuhu amman,' and 'taʾammamahu,' and 'tayammamahu.' He said: it is possible that 'al-amm' here stands for 'al-maʾmūm' [the thing aimed at], i.e. he is on a path that ought to be pursued; and if the transmission has the hamzah with ḍammah, it still traces back to its origin. ... it carries the same meaning; and from it is the ḥadīth: 'They used to select (yataʾammamūn) the worst of their fruit for charity,' meaning they deliberately chose it; and it is also transmitted as 'yatayammamūn' (يتيممون), with the same meaning. And from it is the ḥadīth of Kaʿb ibn Mālik: 'And I set out, making my way (ataʾammamu) toward the Messenger of God, peace and blessings upon him.' And in [another] ḥadīth of Kaʿb ibn Mālik: 'fa-tayammamtu bihā t-tannūr' (فتيممت بها التنور), meaning 'I made for the oven with it.' And in [another] ḥadīth of Kaʿb ibn Mālik: 'Then command is given concerning umm al-bāb (أمّ الباب, 'the main gate') over the people of the Fire, so that no relief ever comes out from them' — meaning it is directed/sealed upon them. 'Tayammamtu ṣ-ṣaʿīd' (تيممت الصعيد) for prayer — its origin is deliberate intent and seeking-out, from their saying 'tayammamtuka' and 'taʾammamtuka' [I deliberately sought you]. Ibn al-Sikkīt said: His saying 'fa-tayammamū ṣaʿīdan ṭayyiban' (فتيمموا صعيدا طيبا) means 'seek out clean earth'; then this word's use became so common that 'tayammum' became a technical term for wiping the face and hands with dust. Ibn Sīdah [said]: al-tayammum is purification with earth as a substitute [for water]; its origin lies in the first sense, since one seeks out the earth and wipes with it. Ibn al-Sikkīt: it is said 'ammamtuhu amman' and 'tayammamtuhu tayamman' and 'tayammamtuhu yamāmatan'; he said al-Aṣmaʿī does not recognize 'ammamtuhu' with doubling; he said it is [also] said 'amamtuhu,' 'ammamtuhu,' 'taʾammamtuhu,' and 'tayammamtuhu,' all meaning the same: I sought it out and intended it. He said: tayammum with earth is derived from this, and among ordinary people tayammum came to mean wiping with dust, though its true origin is intent and seeking. Al-Aʿshā said: 'I made for Qays, though how much lay before him ... of land, of rugged trackless waste.' Al-Liḥyānī said: it is said 'ammū' and 'yammū' with the same meaning, then he listed the remaining dialectal forms. 'Yammamtu l-marīḍ' (يممت المريض): I directed the sick person, so he performed tayammum for prayer; and al-Jawharī treated most of this under the entry 'y-m-m' with the yāʾ. 'Yammamtuhu bi-rumḥī taymīman' (يممته برمحي تيميمًا): I made deliberately for him with my spear, singling him out from others. ʿĀmir ibn Mālik, 'Mulāʿib al-Asinnah' (Player with Spearpoints), said: 'I aimed the spear at his chest, then said to him: ... This is manliness, not the play of sliding-boards.' Ibn Barrī said under the entry 'y-m-m': al-yamāmah (اليمامة) means intent/aim. Al-Marrār said: 'When the rain-cloud's water grew light upon it...' [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الأم، بالفتح: القصد. أمه يؤمه أما إذا قصده؛ وأممه وأتمه وتأممه ويمه وتيممه، الأخيرتان على البدل؛ قال: فلم أنكل ولم أجبن، ولكن ... يممت بها أبا صخر بن عمرو ويممته: قصدته؛ قال رؤبة: أزهر لم يولد بنجم الشح، ... ميمم البيت كريم السنح «2» . وتيممته: قصدته. وفي حديث ابن عمر: من كانت فترته إلى سنة فلأم ما هو أي قصد الطريق المستقيم. يقال: أمه يؤمه أما، وتأممه وتيممه. قال: ويحتمل أن يكون الأم أقيم مقام المأموم أي هو على طريق ينبغي أن يقصد، وإن كانت الرواية بضم الهمزة، فإنه يرجع إلى أصله «3». ما هو بمعناه؛ ومنه الحديث: كانوا يتأممون شرار ثمارهم في الصدقة أي يتعمدون ويقصدون، ويروى يتيممون، وهو بمعناه؛ ومنه حديث كعب بن مالك: وانطلقت أتأمم رسول الله، صلى الله عليه وسلم ، وفي حديث كعب بن مالك: فتيممت بها التنور أي قصدت. وفي حديث كعب بن مالك: ثم يؤمر بأم الباب على أهل النار فلا يخرج منهم غم أبدا أي يقصد إليه فيسد عليهم. وتيممت الصعيد للصلاة، وأصله التعمد والتوخي، من قولهم تيممتك وتأممتك. قال ابن السكيت: قوله: فتيمموا صعيدا طيبا* ، أي اقصدوا لصعيد طيب، ثم كثر استعمالهم لهذه الكلمة حتى صار التيمم اسما علما لمسح الوجه واليدين بالتراب. ابن سيده: والتيمم التوضؤ بالتراب على البدل، وأصله من الأول لأنه يقصد التراب فيتمسح به. ابن السكيت: يقال أممته أما وتيممته تيمما وتيممته يمامة، قال: ولا يعرف الأصمعي أممته، بالتشديد، قال: ويقال أممته وأممته وتأممته وتيممته بمعنى واحد أي توخيته وقصدته. قال: والتيمم بالصعيد مأخوذ من هذا، وصار التيمم عند عوام الناس التمسح بالتراب، والأصل فيه القصد والتوخي؛ قال الأعشى: تيممت قيسا وكم دونه، ... من الأرض، من مهمه ذي شزن وقال اللحياني: يقال أمو ويموا بمعنى واحد، ثم ذكر سائر اللغات. ويممت المريض فتيمم للصلاة؛ وذكر الجوهري أكثر ذلك في ترجمة يمم بالياء. ويممته برمحي تيميما أي توخيته وقصدته دون من سواه؛ قال عامر بن مالك ملاعب الأسنة: يممته الرمح صدرا ثم قلت له: ... هذي المروءة لا لعب الزحاليق وقال ابن بري في ترجمة يمم: واليمامة القصد؛ قال المرار: إذا خف ماء المزن عنها، تيممت ... يمامتها، أي العداد تروم وجمل مئم: دليل هاد، وناقة مئمة كذلك، وكله من القصد لأن الدليل الهادي قاصد. والإمة: الحالة، والإمة والأمة: الشرعة والدين. وفي التنزيل العزيز: إنا وجدنا آباءنا على أمة* ؛ قاله اللحياني، وروي عن مجاهد وعمر بن عبد العزيز: على إمة. قال الفراء: قرئ إنا وجدنا آباءنا على أمة* ، وهي مثل السنة، وقرئ على إمة، وهي الطريقة من أممت. يقال: ما أحسن إمته، قال: والإمة أيضا النعيم والملك؛ وأنشد لعدي بن زيد: ثم، بعد الفلاح والملك والإمة، ... وارتهم هناك القبور قال: أراد إمامة الملك ونعيمه. والأمة والإمة: الدين. قال أبو إسحق في قوله تعالى: كان الناس أمة واحدة فبعث الله النبيين مبشرين ومنذرين ، أي كانوا على دين واحد. قال أبو إسحق: وقال بعضهم في معنى الآية: كان الناس فيما بين آدم ونوح كفارا فبعث الله النبيين يبشرون من أطاع بالجنة وينذرون من عصى بالنار. وقال آخرون: كان جميع من مع نوح في السفينة مؤمنا ثم تفرقوا من بعد عن كفر فبعث الله النبيين. وقال آخرون: الناس كانوا كفارا فبعث الله إبراهيم والنبيين من بعده. قال أبو منصور «1»: فيما فسروا يقع على الكفار وعلى المؤمنين. والأمة: الطريقة والدين. يقال: فلان لا أمة له أي لا دين له ولا نحلة له؛ قال الشاعر: وهل يستوي ذو أمة وكفور؟ وقوله تعالى: كنتم خير أمة ؛ قال الأخفش: يريد أهل أمة أي خير أهل دين؛ وأنشد للنابغة: حلفت فلم أترك لنفسك ريبة، ... وهل يأثمن ذو أمة وهو طائع؟ والإمة: لغة في الأمة، وهي الطريقة والدين. والإمة: النعمة؛ قال الأعشى: ولقد جررت لك الغنى ذا فاقة، ... وأصاب غزوك إمة فأزالها والإمة: الهيئة؛ عن اللحياني. والإمة أيضا: الحال والشأن. وقال ابن الأعرابي: الإمة غضارة العيش والنعمة؛ وبه فسر قول عبد الله بن الزبير، رضي الله عنه: فهل لكم فيكم، وأنتم بإمة ... عليكم عطاء الأمن، موطئكم سهل والإمة، بالكسر: العيش الرخي؛ يقال: هو في إمة من العيش وآمة أي في خصب. قال شمر: وآمة، بتخفيف الميم: عيب؛ وأنشد: مهلا، أبيت اللعن مهلا ... إن فيما قلت آمه ويقال: ما أمي وأمه وما شكلي وشكله أي ما أمري وأمره لبعده مني فلم يتعرض لي؟ ومنه قول الشاعر: فما إمي وإم الوحش لما ... تفرع في ذؤابتي المشيب يقول: ما أنا وطلب الوحش بعدما كبرت، وذكر الإم حشو في البيت؛ قال ابن بري: ورواه بعضهم وما أمي وأم الوحش، بفتح الهمزة، والأم: القصد. وقال ابن بزرج: قالوا ما أمك وأم ذات عرق أي أيهات منك ذات عرق. والأم: العلم الذي يتبعه الجيش ابن سيده: والإمة والأمة السنة. وتأمم به وأتم: جعله أمة. وأم القوم وأم بهم: تقدمهم، وهي الإمامة. والإمام: كل من ائ …

  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

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

    أَمَّهُ

    1. أَمَّهُ, (T, S, M, &c.,) aor اَمُمَ , (T, M, Msb,) inf. n. أَمٌّ, (T, S, M, Msb,) He tended, repaired, betook himself, or directed his course, to, or towards, him, or it; aimed at, sought, endeavoured after, pursued, or endeavoured to reach or attain or obtain, him, or it; intended it, or purposed it; syn. قَصَدَهُ, (Lth, T, S, M, Mgh, Msb, K,) and تَوَخَّاهُ, (T,) and تَعَمَّدَهُ, (Mgh,) and تَوَجَّهَ إِلَيْهِ; (TA;) as also أَمَّمَهُ, and تأمّمهُ, (T, S, M, Mgh, Msb, K,) and ائتمّهُ, (M, K,) and يَمَّمّهُ, (T, M, K,) and تَيَمَّمَهُ; (T, M, Mgh, K;) the last two being formed by substitution [of ى for أ]. (M.) Hence, يَااَللّٰهُ أُمَّنَا بِخَيْرٍ [O God, bring us good]. (JK in art. اله, and Bd in iii. 25.) And لَأَمَّ مَا هُوَ, occurring in a trad., meaning He has indeed betaken himself to, or pursued, the right way: or it is used in a pass. sense, as meaning he is in the way which ought to be pursued. (TA.) And رَسُولَ اللّٰهِ انْطَلَقْتُ أَتَأَمَّمُ, in another trad., I went away, betaking myself to the Apostle of God. (TA.) Hence, also, الصَّعِيدَ لِلصَّلَاهِ تَيَمَّمَ [He betook himself to dust, or pure dust, to wipe his face and his hands and arms therewith, for prayer]: (T, * M, * Mgh, TA:) as in the Kur iv. 46 and v. 9: (ISk, M, TA:) whence الَّتَّيَمُّمُ as meaning the wiping the face and the hands and arms with dust; (ISk, T, * M, * Mgh, TA;) i. e. the performing the act termed تَوَضُّؤٌ with dust: formed by substitution [of ى for آ]: (M, K:) originally التَّأَمُّمُ. (K.) See also 8. أَمَّهُ, (S, M, Mgh, &c.,) aor. اَمُمَ , (M, Mgh,) inf. n. أَمٌّ, (M, Mgh, K,) He broke his head, so as to cleave the skin, (S, Msb,) inflicting a wound such as is termed آمَّة [q. v.]; (S;) [i. e.] he struck, (M, Mgh, K,) or wounded, (M, K,) the أُمّ [q. v.] of his head, (M, Mgh, K,) with a staff, or stick. (Mgh.) أَمَّهُمْ (S, M, K) and أَمَّ بِهِمْ, (M, K,) [aor. اَمُمَ ,] inf. n. إِمَامَةٌ, (S, [but in the M and K it seems to be indicated that this is a simple subst.,]) He preceded them; went before them; took precedence of them; or led them, so as to serve as an example, or object of imitation; syn.

    تَقَدَّمَهُمْ

    تَقَدَّمَهُمْ; (M, K;) [and particularly] فِى الصَّلَاةِ [in prayer]. (S.) And أَمَّهُ and بِهِ أَمَّ He prayed as إِمَام [q. v.] with him. (Msb.) And أَمَّ الصُّفُوفَ He became [or acted as] إِمَام to the people composing the ranks [in a mosque &c.]. (Har p. 680.) You say also, لَا يَؤُمُّ الرَّجُلُ الرَّجُلَ فِى سُلْطَانِهِ [A man shall not take precedence of a man in his authority]; meaning, in his house, and where he has predominance, or superior power, or authority; nor shall he sit upon his cushion; for in doing so he would show him contempt. (Mgh in art. سلط.) أَمَّتٌ, (S, M, K,) [first pers. أَمُمْتُ,] aor. اَمُمَ , (M,) inf. n. أُمُومَةٌ, (M, K,) She (a woman, S) became a mother; (S, M, K;) [as also أَمَّتٌ having for its first pers. أَمِمْتُ, aor. اَمَمَ ; for] you say, مَا كُنْتِ أُمَّا وَلَقَدْ أَمِمْتِ [Thou wast not a mother, and thou hast become a mother], (S, M, K, [in the last فَأَمِمْتِ,]) with kesr, (K,) inf. n.

    أُمُومَةٌ

    أُمُومَةٌ. (S, M, K.) أَمَمْتُهُ I was to him a mother. (A in art. ربض.) IAar, speaking of a woman, said, كَانَتْ لَهَا عَمَّةٌ تَؤُمُّهَا, meaning [She had, lit. there was to her, a paternal aunt] who was to her like the mother. (M.)

    أَمَّمَهُ

    2. أَمَّمَهُ يَمَّمَهُ: see 1, first sentence, in two places.

    آمّهُ

    3. آمّهُ It agreed with it, neither exceeding nor falling short. (M.) [See also the part. n. مُؤَامٌّ, voce أَمَمٌ; whence it seems that there are other senses in which آمَّ may be used, intransitively.]

    تَأَمَّمَ

    5. تَأَمَّمَ تَيَمَّمَ: see 1, former part, in four places. تأمّم بِهِ: see 8. تَمَّمْتُ I took for myself, or adopted, a mother. (S.) And تَأَمَّمَهَا He took her for himself, or adopted her, as a mother; (S, * M, K;) as also استآمّها, (M, K,) and تَأَمَّهَهَا. (M.)

    ائتمّهُ

    8. ائتمّهُ [written with the disjunctive alif اِيتَمَّهُ]: see 1, first sentence. ائتمّ بِهِ He followed his example; he imitated him; he did as he did, following his example; or taking him as an example, an exemplar, a pattern, or an object of imitation; (S, Mgh, Msb;) as also أَمَّهُ: (Bd in xvi. 121:) the object of the verb is termed إِمَامٌ; (S, M, Mgh, Msb, K;) applied to a learned man, (Msb,) or a head, chief, or leader, or some other person. (M, K.) He made it an أُمَّة or إِمَّة [i. e. a way, course, or rule, of life or conduct; as explained immediately before in the work whence this is taken]; as also به تأمّم. (M.) You say, ائتمّ بِالشَّيْءِ and ائْتَمَى به, by substitution [of ى for م], (M, K,) disapproving of the doubling [of the م]. (M.)

    إِسْتَاْمَمَ

    10: see 5.

    أَمْ

    أَمْ is a conjunction, (S, M, K,) connected with what precedes it (Msb, Mughnee) so that neither what precedes it nor what follows it is independent, the one of the other. (Mughnee.) It denotes interrogation; (M, K;) or is used in a case of interrogation, (S, Msb,) corresponding to the interrogative أَ, and meaning أَىّ, (S,) or, as Z says, أَىُّ الأَمْرَيْنِ كَائِنٌ; [for an explanation of which, see what follows;] (Mughnee;) or, [in other words,] corresponding to the interrogative أَ, whereby, and by أَمْ, one seeks, or desires, particularization: (Mughnee:) it is as though it were an interrogative after an interrogative. (Lth, T.) Thus you say, أَزَيُدٌ فِى الدَّارِ أَمْ عَمْرٌو [Is Zeyd in the house, or 'Amr?]; (S, Mughnee;) i. e. which of them two (أَيُّهُمَا) is in the house? (S;) therefore what follows ام and what precedes it compose one sentence; and it is not used in commanding nor in forbidding; and what follows it must correspond to what precedes it in the quality of noun and of verb; so that you say, أَزَيْدٌ قَائِمٌ أَمع قَاعِدٌ [Is Zeyd standing, or sitting?] and أَقَامَ زَيْدٌ أَمْ قَعَدَ [Did Zeyd stand, or sit?]. (Msb.) It is not to be coupled with أَ after it: you may not say, أَعِنْدَكَ زَيْدٌ أَمْ أَعِنْدَكَ عَمْرٌو. (S.) As connected in like manner with what goes before, it is preceded by أَ denoting equality [by occurring after سَوَآءٌ &c.], and corresponds thereto, as in [the Kur lxiii. 6,] سَوَآءُ عَلَيْهِمْ أَسْتَغْفَرْتَ لَهُمٌ لَمٌ تَسْتَغُفِرْ لَهُمٌ [It will be equal to them whether thou beg forgiveness for them or do not beg forgiveness for them]. (Mughnee.) It is also unconnected with what precedes it, (S, Msb, Mughnee,) implying always digression, (Mughnee,) preceded by an enunciative, or an interrogative, (S, Msb, Mughnee,) other than أَ, (Mughnee,) or by أَ not meant [really] as an interrogative but to denote disapproval, (Mughnee,) and signifies بَلْ, (Lth, Zj, T, S, M, Mughnee, K,) or بَلْ and أَ together, (Msb,) and this is its meaning always accord. to all the Basrees, but the Koofees deny this. (Mughnee.) Thus, using it after an enunciative, you say, إِنَّهَا لَإِبِلٌ أَمْ شَآءٌ [Verily they are camels: nay, or nay but, they are sheep, or goats: or nay, are they sheep, or goats?]: (S Msb, Mughnee:) this being said when one looks at a bodily form, and imagines it to be a number of camels, and says what first occurs to him; then the opinion that it is a number of sheep or goats suggests itself to him, and he turns from the first idea, and says, أَمْ شَآءٌ, meaning بَلْ, because it is a digression from what precedes it; though what follows بل is [properly] a thing known certainly, and what follows ام is opined. (S, TA.) And using it after an interrogative in this case, you say, هَلْ زيْدٌ مُنْطَلِقٌ أَمْ عَمْرٌو [Is Zeyd going away? Nay rather, or, or rather, is 'Amr?]: you digress from the question respecting Zeyd's going away, and make the question to relate to 'Amr; so that ام implies indecisive opinion, and interrogation, and digression. (S.) And thus using it, you say, هَلْ زَيْدٌ قَامَ أَمْ عَمْرٌو [Did Zeyd stand? Nay rather, or or rather, did 'Amr?]. (Msb.) And an ex. of the same is the saying [in the Kur xiii. 17], هَلْ يَسْتَوِى الْأَعْمَى وَالْبَصِيرُ أَمْ هَلْ تَسْتَوِى الظُّلُمَاتُ وَالنُّورُ [Are the blind and the seeing equal? Or rather are darkness and light equal?]. (Mughnee.) And an ex. of it preceded by أَ used to denote disapproval is the saying [in the Kur vii. 194], أَلَهُمْ أَرْجُلٌ يَمْشُونَ بِهَا أَمْ لَهُمْ أَيْدٍ يَبْطِشُونَ بِهَا [Have they feet, to walk therewith? Or have they hands to assault therewith?]: for أَ is here equivalent to a negation. (Mughnee.) [It has been shown above that] أَمْ is sometimes introduced immediately before هَلْ: (S, K:) but IB says that this is when هل occurs in a phrase next before it; [as in the ex. from the Kur xiii. 17, cited above;] and in this case, the interrogative meaning of ام is annulled; it being introduced only to denote a digression. (TA.) It is also used as a simple interrogative; accord. to the assertion of AO; in the sense of هَلْ; (Mughnee;) or in the sense of the interrogative أَ; (Lth, T, K) as in the saying, أَمْ عِنْدَكَ غَدَآءِ حَاضِرٌ, meaning Hast thou a morning-meal ready? a good form of speech used by the Arabs; (Lth, T;) and allowable when preceded by another phrase. (T.) And sometimes it is redundant; (AZ, T, S, Mughnee, K) in the dial. of the people of El-Yemen; (T;) as in the saying, (T, S, * [in the latter, يا هِنْدُ, and only the former hemistich is given,]) meaning O Dahnà, (the curtailed form دَهْنَ being used for دَهْنَآء,) my walking was not, as now in my age, [a feeble movement like] dancing: but in my youth, my manner of walking used to be a bounding: (T:) this is accord. to the opinion of AZ: but accord. to another opinion, ام is here [virtually] conjoined with a preceding clause which is suppressed; as though the speaker had said, يَا دَهْنَ أَكَانَ مَشْيِى رَقَصَّا أَمْ مَا كَانَ كَذلِكَ. (A 'Hát, TA.) It is also used (T, Mughnee) in the dial. of the people of El-Yemen, (T,) or of Teiyi and Himyer, (Mughnee,) in the sense of ال, (T,) to render a noun determinate. (Mughnee.) So in the trad., لَيْسَ مِنَ امْبِرّ امْصِيامُ فِى امْسَفَرِ, (T, Mughnee,) i. e. الَيْسَ مِنَ البِرِّ الصِّيَامُ فِى السَّفَرِ [Fasting in journeying is not an act of obedience to God]. (T, and M in art. بر.) So too in the trad., اَلْآنَ طَابَ امْضَرْبُ Now fighting has become lawful; as related accord. to the dial. of Himyer, for الضَّرْبُ. (TA in art. طيب.) It has been said that this form ام is only used in those cases in which the ل of the article does not become incorporated into the first letter of the noun to which it is prefixed; as in the phrase, خُذِ الرُّمْحَ وَارْكَبِ امْفَرَسَ [Take thou the spear, and mount the mare, or horse], related as heard in El-Yemen; but this usage may be peculiar to some of the people of that country; not common to all of them; as appears from what we have cited above. (Mughnee.) أَمَ for أَمَا, before an oath: see art. اما. And أَمَ اللّٰهِ and أَمُ اللّٰهِ &c.: see أَيْمُنُ اللّٰهِ, in art. يمن.

    أُمٌّ

    أُمٌّ A mother (T, S, M, Msb, K, &c.) [of a human being and] of any animal; (IAar, T;) as also إِمٌّ, (Sb, M, Msb, K) and إُمَّةٌ, (T, M, Msb, K,) and أُمَّهَةٌ, (S, M, Msb, K,) which last is the original form (S, Msb) accord. to some, (Msb,) or the ه in this is augmentative (M, Msb) accord. to others: (Msb:) the pl. is أُمَّهَاتٌ (Lth, T, S, M, Msb, K) and أُمَّاتٌ; (S, M, Msb, K;) or the former is applied to human beings, and the latter to beasts; (T, S;) or the former to rational beings, and the latter to irrational; (M, K;) or the former is much applied to human beings, and the latter to others, for the sake of distinction; (Msb;) but the reverse is sometimes the case: (IB:) IDrst and others hold the latter to be of weak authority: (TA:) the dim. of أُمٌّ is أُمَيْمَةٌ (T, S, K) accord. to some of the Arabs; but correctly, [accord. to those who hold the original form of أُمٌّ to be أُمَّهَةٌ,] it is أُمَيْمِهَةٌ. (Lth, T, TA. [In a copy of the T, I find this latter form of the dim. written اميهة.]) أُمَّ لَكَ denotes dispraise; (S;) being used by the Arabs as meaning Thou hast no free, or ingenuous, mother; because the sons of female slaves are objects of dispraise with the Arabs; and is only said in anger and reviling: (A Heyth, T:) or, as some say, it means thou art one who has been picked up as a foundling, having no Known mother: (TA:) [or] it is also sometimes used in praise; (A 'Obeyd, T, S, K;) and is used as an imprecation without the desire of its being fulfilled upon the person addressed, being said in vehemence of love; [lit. meaning mayest thou have no mother!], like ثَكِلَتْكَ أُمُّكَ, and لَا أَبَا لَكَ, [and قَاتَلَكَ اللّٰهُ,] &c. (Har p. 165.) Some elide the ا of أُمّ; as in the saying of 'Adee Ibn—Zeyd. [O thou who art blaming in my presence the mother of Zeyd]; meaning, عِنْدِى أُمَّ زَيْدٍ; the ى of عندى being also elided on account of the occurrence of two quiescent letters [after the elision of the ا of أُمّ]: (Lth, T, S:) and as in the phrase وَيْلُمِّهِ, (S,) which means وَيْلٌ لِأُمِّهِ. (S, and K in art. ويل, q. v.) هُمَا أُمَّاكّ means They two are thy two parents: or thy mother and thy maternal aunt. (K.) [But] فَدَّاهُ بِأُمَّيْهِ is said to mean [He expressed a wish that he (another) might be ransomed with] his mother and his grandmother. (TA.) One says also, لَا تَفْعَلِى يَا أُمَّتِ [O my mother, do not thou such a thing], and [in like manner] يَا أَبَتِ افْعَلْ; making the sign of the fem. gender a substitute for the [pronominal] affix ى; and in a case of pause, you say يَا أُمَّهْ. (S.) And one says, مَا أُمِّى وَأُمُّهُ, and مَا شَكْلِى وَشَكْلُهُ, meaning [What relationship have I to him, or it? or what concern have I with him, or it? or] what is my case and [what is] his or its, case? because of his, or its, remoteness from me: whence, (T,) [And what concern have I with the wild animals when hoariness hath spread in the places where my hair parts?]; (T, S;) i. e. مَا أَنَاوَطَلَبُ الوَحْشِ بَعْدَ مَا كَبِرْتُ [i. e. مَا أمْرِي وَطَلَبُ الوَحْشِ: in one copy of the S, وَطَلَبَ, i. e. with وَ as a prep. denoting concomitance, and therefore governing the accus. case: both readings virtually meaning what concern have I with the pursuing of the wild animals after I have grown old?]: he means, the girls: and the mention of أُمّ in the verse is superfluous. (S.) أُمٌّ also relates to inanimate things that have growth; as in أُمُّ الشَّجَرَةِ [The mother of the tree]; and أُمُّ النَّخْلَةِ [the mother of the palm-tree]; and أُمُّ المَوْزِةَ [the mother of the banana-tree; of which see an ex. in art. موز]; and the like. (M, TA.) And it signifies also The source, origin, foundation, or basis, (S, M, Msb, K,) of a thing, (S, Msb, [in the former of which, this is the first of the meanings assigned to the word,]) or of anything; (M, K) its stay, support, or efficient cause of subsistence. (M, K.) Anything to which other things are collected together, or adjoined: (IDrd, M, K:) anything to which the other things that are next thereto are collected together, or adjoined: (Lth, T:) the main, or chief, part of a thing; the main body thereof: and that which is a compriser, or comprehender, of [other] things: (Ham p. 44:) the place of collection, comprisal, or comprehension, of a thing; the place of combination thereof. (En-Nadr, T.) And hence, (IDrd, M,) The head, or chief, of a people, or company of men; (IDrd, S, M, K;) because others collect themselves together to him: (IDrd, TA:) so in the phrase أُمُّ عِيَالٍ [lit. the mother of a household], in a poem of Esh-Shenfarà: (IDrd, M:) or in this instance, it has the signification next following, accord. to Esh-Sháfi'ee. (T.) A man who has the charge of the food and service of a people, or company of men; accord. to EshSháfi'ee: (T:) or their servant. (K.) A man's aged wife. (IAar, T, K.) A place of habitation or abode. (K.) So in the Kur [ci. 6], فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ His place of habitation or abode [shall be] the fire [of Hell]: (Bd, Jel, TA:) or, as some say, the meaning is أُمُّ رَأْسِهِ هَاوِيَةٌ فِيهَا [his brain shall fall into it, namely, the fire of Hell]. (TA.) The ensign, or standard, which an army follows. (S.) [See أُمُّ الرُّمْحِ, below.] It is said in a trad., respecting the prophets, أُمَّهَا تُهُمْ شَتَّى, meaning that, though their religion is one, their laws, or ordinances, or statutes, are various, or different: or the meaning is, their times are various, or different. (TA in art. شت.) See also أُمَّةٌ, in two places. أُمّ is also prefixed to nouns significant of many things. (M.) [Most of the compounds thus formed will be found explained in the arts. to which belong the nouns that occupy the second place. The following are among the more common, and are therefore here mentioned, with the meanings assigned to them in lexicons in the present art., and arranged in distinct classes.] أُمُّ الرَّجُلِ The man's wife; and the person who manages the affairs of his house or tent. (TA.) And أُمُّ مَثْوَى الرَّجُلِ The man's wife, to whom he betakes himself for lodging, or abode: (T:) the mistress of the man's place of abode. (S, M.) أُمُّ عَامِرٍ The hyena, or female hyena; as also أُمُّ عَمْرٍو; (TA;) and أُمُّ الطَّرِيقِ. (S, TA. [See also other significations of the first and last below.]) أُمُّ حِلْسٍ [or أُمُّ الحِلْسِ (as in the S and K in art. حلَس)] The she-ass. (TA.) أُمُّ البَيْضِ The female ostrich. (S, K.) أُمُّ الرَّأُسِ The brain: (T, M, K:) or the thin skin that is upon it: (IDrd, M, K:) or the bag in which is the brain: (T:) or the skin that comprises the brain; [the meninx, or dura mater and pia mater;] (S, Mgh;) which is called أُمُّ الدِّمَاغِ (S, Msb) likewise. (S.) أُمُّ النُّجُومِ The Milky way; (S, M, K) because it is the place where the stars are collected together [in great multitude]: (M:) or, as some say, the sun; which is the greatest of the stars. (Ham pp. 43 and 44.) Because of the multitude of the stars in the Milky way, one says, مَا أَشْبَهَ مَجْلِسَكَ بِأُمِّ النُّجُومِ (assumed tropical:) [How like is thine assembly to the Milky way!]. (TA.) أُمُّ القُرَى [The mother of the towns; the metropolis: particularly] Mekkeh; (T, S, M, K) because asserted to be in the middle of the earth; (M, K;) or because it is the Kibleh of all men, and thither they repair; (M, K; *) or because it is the greatest of towns in dignity: (M, K:) and every city is the أُمّ of the towns around it. (T.) أُمُّ التَّنَائِفِ The most difficult of deserts or of waterless deserts: (T:) or a desert, or waterless desert, (S, K,) far extending. (S.) أُمُّ الطَّرِيقِ (T, S, M) and أُمَّةٌ الطَّرِيقِ (M, K) The main part [or track] of the road: (T, S, M, K:) when it is a great road or track, with small roads or tracks around it [or on either side], the greatest is so called. (T. [The former has also another signification, mentioned above.]) أُمُّ عَامِرٍ The cemetery, or place of graves. (T. [This, also, has another signification, mentioned before.]) أُمُّ الرُّمْحِ The ensign, or standard; (M, K;) also called أُمُّ الحَرْبِ; (TA;) [and simply الأُمُّ, as shown above;] and the piece of cloth which is wound upon the spear. (T, M. *) أُمُّ جَابِرٍ Bread: and also the ear of corn. (T.) أُمُّ الخَبَائِثِ [The mother of evil qualities or dispositions; i. e.] wine. (T.) أُمُّ الكِتَابِ [in the Kur iii. 5 and xiii. 39] (S, M, &c.) The original of the book or scripture [i. e. of the Kur-án]: (Zj, M, K:) or the Preserved Tablet, اللَّوْحُ المَحْفُوظُ: (M, Msb, K:) or it signifies, (M, K,) or signifies also, (Msb,) the opening chapter of the Kur-án; the فَاتِحَة; (M, Msb, K;) because every prayer begins therewith; (M;) as also أُمُّ القُرْآنِ: (Msb, K:) or the former, the whole of the Kur-án, (I'Ab, K,) from its beginning to its end: (TA:) and the latter, every plain, or explicit, verse of the Kur-án, of those which relate to laws and statutes and obligatory ordinances. (T, K.) أُمُّ الشَّرِّ Every evil upon the face of the earth: and أُمُّ الخَيْرِ every good upon the face of the earth. (T.)

    إِمُّ

    إِمُّ: see أُمٌّ, first sentence.

    أَمَّةٌ

    أَمَّةٌ: see آمَّةٌ.

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

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

أ م م

Not in Ibn Fāris; only in later sources.

Lisān ↗Quran ×119

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)

4 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 ↗

م

ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء، والميم، والواو

From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Sībawayh, line 26563 ↗

ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء والميم والواو

From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Ibn Jinnī, line 986 ↗

م

ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء، والميم، والواو

From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Sībawayh, line 26563 ↗

ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء والميم والواو

From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Ibn Jinnī, line 986 ↗

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

م

Level of existence: الإنسان · the human being

Divine Name: الجامع · al-Jāmiʿ, the Gatherer

Lunar mansion: المؤخر · al-Muʾakhkhar

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62119

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

م

Level of existence: الإنسان · the human being

Divine Name: الجامع · al-Jāmiʿ, the Gatherer

Lunar mansion: المؤخر · al-Muʾakhkhar

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62119

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

م

فهي جميع المكونات.

It is all created beings.

فهي العزيز القليل كماء العين، ومنه قيل مومو.

It is the precious, scarce thing, like the water of the eye; from it comes the expression 'mūmū'.

فهي نور الذات ظاهرا كما في العين، وباطنا كما في القلب.

It is the light of the self, outwardly as in the eye and inwardly as in the heart.

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

م

فهي جميع المكونات.

It is all created beings.

فهي العزيز القليل كماء العين، ومنه قيل مومو.

It is the precious, scarce thing, like the water of the eye; from it comes the expression 'mūmū'.

فهي نور الذات ظاهرا كما في العين، وباطنا كما في القلب.

It is the light of the self, outwardly as in the eye and inwardly as in the heart.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
In the sister scriptsHebrew א מ מSyriac ܐ ܡ ܡ
Arabicأ م م
Hebrewא מ מ
Syriacܐ ܡ ܡ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩱 𐩣 𐩣
Phoenician𐤀 𐤌 𐤌

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's chapter groups this root with weak-radical neighbors such as ayyim (a husbandless woman) and īām (smoke), reflecting Kitāb al-ʿAyn's practice of collecting entries by shared strong letters rather than fixed order.well attested

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

    Al-Khalīl's chapter groups this root with weak-radical neighbors such as ayyim (a husbandless woman) and īām (smoke), reflecting Kitāb al-ʿAyn's practice of collecting entries by shared strong letters rather than fixed order. Al-Jawharī fixes the concrete nominal cluster: umm al-shayʾ as 'the origin/root of a thing,' Mecca as umm al-qurā, the wālida (mother), and, tellingly, al-ʿalam alladhī yatbaʿuhu al-jaysh — the standard an army follows — already linking 'mother' to 'that which is followed.' Ibn Manẓūr then names the underlying verb: amma, yaʾummu, amman = qaṣada, 'to head toward, aim at,' with amma, ataamma, taʾammama and even tayammama listed as phonetic variants of the same act of directing oneself toward a goal. Lane's entry confirms this verbal core (qaṣadahu, tawakhkhāhu, tawajjaha ilayhi), so that mother (origin/point of orientation), umma (a people oriented to one path or leader), and imām (the one aimed at, followed) read as branches of a single 'directedness' sense.

    Draws on: al-ʿAyn · al-Ṣiḥāḥ · Lisān al-ʿArab · Lane

    • Lane, Lexicon, root ء-م-م
    • Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, root أمم
    • al-Jawharī, al-Ṣiḥāḥ, root أمم
  • Letters & soundFor mīm, the letters-in-the-Breath scheme gives al-insān — 'the human being' — and al-Dabbāgh's reading of mīm in the fatḥa state gives 'all created beings.' This pairs suggestively with the root's family: umm (mother, the origin of a human being), umma (a collectivity of human beings), and imām (a human exemplar over other human beings) — mīm as 'the human/created' sitting at the semantic center of every word built on this root.speculative

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

    For mīm, the letters-in-the-Breath scheme gives al-insān — 'the human being' — and al-Dabbāgh's reading of mīm in the fatḥa state gives 'all created beings.' This pairs suggestively with the root's family: umm (mother, the origin of a human being), umma (a collectivity of human beings), and imām (a human exemplar over other human beings) — mīm as 'the human/created' sitting at the semantic center of every word built on this root. No data on alif's letter-value is given in these sources, so nothing is claimed about it here. This kind of correspondence is, on any mainstream linguistic account, at most suggestive wordplay, not an explanation of etymology; it is offered here strictly as speculative resonance.

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

    • al-Dabbāgh, letter-meanings in the fatḥa state (as reported)
  • Root structureNo two-letter nucleus chapter (Ibn Fāris's own siblings) is given for this root in the sources at hand.uncertain

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

    No two-letter nucleus chapter (Ibn Fāris's own siblings) is given for this root in the sources at hand. The permutation table shows only أمم itself as attested, 119 times in the Qurʾān; the rearrangements مأم and ممأ are unattested — unsurprising, since the geminate mīm leaves little room for reordering a root that is functionally biliteral (ء-م) reduplicated. Juxtaposing this with Ibn Jinnī's method of al-ishtiqāq al-akbar, one could set umm (mother, origin), umma (a people with one orientation), imām (the one who is headed toward) and the root-variant tayammum (intending clean earth for ablution) side by side as radiations of a shared ء-م core of 'a fixed point one is directed toward' — but this is Ibn Jinnī's speculative procedure, not an established etymology, and no explicit Khaṣāʾiṣ passage on this root is supplied here.

    Draws on: Ibn Fāris permutation data · Ibn Jinnī greater derivation

    • Ibn Jinnī, al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, al-ishtiqāq al-akbar (link not verified)
  • Semitic kin & loanwordsUmm 'mother' belongs to one of the most secure comparative sets in the Semitic family: Hebrew ʾēm, Aramaic/Syriac ʾemmā, Akkadian ummu, Gəʿəz ʾəm — all continuing a common Proto-Semitic *ʾimm-/*ʾumm-.well attested

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

    Umm 'mother' belongs to one of the most secure comparative sets in the Semitic family: Hebrew ʾēm, Aramaic/Syriac ʾemmā, Akkadian ummu, Gəʿəz ʾəm — all continuing a common Proto-Semitic *ʾimm-/*ʾumm-. Umma 'community, nation' likewise has a direct match in Hebrew ʾummāh ('tribe, nation, people'), pointing to a shared inherited noun rather than a borrowing in either direction. Imām, by contrast, looks like an Arabic-internal formation on the same root (the one who is 'headed toward' or followed) without an independent cognate outside Arabic in the material available. There is no reason on this evidence to treat any member of the family as a loanword; it is inherited core Semitic vocabulary.

    Draws on: comparative Semitic *ʾm

    • Brown–Driver–Briggs, s.v. אֵם
    • Wiktionary, Proto-Semitic *ʾimm- (link not verified)
  • Quranic exegesisAt Q2:124, innī jāʿiluka lil-nāsi imāman, the exegetes read imām as an exemplar to be followed in worship and conduct, God's answer to Abraham's hope that the office extend to his offspring too.well attested

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    At Q2:124, innī jāʿiluka lil-nāsi imāman, the exegetes read imām as an exemplar to be followed in worship and conduct, God's answer to Abraham's hope that the office extend to his offspring too. At Q3:7, umm al-kitāb for the muḥkamāt (the clear, decisive verses) is explained by al-Zamakhsharī and al-Rāzī as the interpretive 'mother' or foundation to which the ambiguous (mutashābih) verses must be referred back, on the model of umm as origin/reference point. Q2:128's ummatan muslimatan ('a community submitting to You') is read straightforwardly as a single people united by one religion. The term al-nabī al-ummī (7:157–158) generates real debate: al-Ṭabarī and al-Rāzī weigh the reading 'unlettered, as his mother bore him, untaught in scripture' against a minority reading tying ummī to umm al-qurā (Mecca) — i.e., 'of the Meccans.'

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

  • Philosophy & kalāmImāma became a technical term in kalām, especially in the Muʿtazilī–Ashʿarī–Imāmī disputes over whether the office is established by revelation and explicit designation (naṣṣ) or by the community's choice (ikhtiyār), and whether an imām must be infallible (maʿṣūm).plausible

    The word as a technical term in falsafa and theology.

    Imāma became a technical term in kalām, especially in the Muʿtazilī–Ashʿarī–Imāmī disputes over whether the office is established by revelation and explicit designation (naṣṣ) or by the community's choice (ikhtiyār), and whether an imām must be infallible (maʿṣūm). This is a theological-political usage rather than a falsafa term of the wujūd/ḥaqq type, but it sits centrally in Islamic systematic theology's treatment of leadership after prophecy. The semantic link to qaṣd/being-followed, visible already in the lexicographic material, underlies the kalām definition of the imām as the one whose example and rulings the community is obligated to follow.

    Draws on: kalām al-imāma

    • al-Ījī, al-Mawāqif, bāb al-imāma
  • Akbarian readingIn the opening of Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī calls Adam hādhā al-imām al-wālid al-akbar — 'this greatest father-imām' — into whom God deposited, in the author's secret (sirr), the wisdoms he sets down chapter by chapter;plausible

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    In the opening of Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī calls Adam hādhā al-imām al-wālid al-akbar — 'this greatest father-imām' — into whom God deposited, in the author's secret (sirr), the wisdoms he sets down chapter by chapter; Adam is thus imām in the sense of the archetypal exemplar and source from which the particular prophetic wisdoms (Sethian, Noahic, Abrahamic, and so on) are drawn. The book's chapter titles are themselves called ḥikam imāmiyya, wisdoms 'of the imām-pattern,' tying the term to the structuring, followed pattern rather than to political headship alone. Ibn ʿArabī also closes his introduction by saying he confined himself to what was 'established in umm al-kitāb' — the Mother Book, the archetypal source-text of which his own book is a transcript, reusing umm in its sense of originating pattern.

    Draws on: Faṣṣ Ādam

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