Root · 77 in the Quran · 72 in 15 texts of the library
بلغa single meaning, arrival at a thing, extended by courtesy to mere approach or … (root blgh)
الباء واللام والغين أصل واحد وهو الوصول إلى الشيء تقول بلغت المكان إذا وصلت إليه وقد تسمى المشارفة بلوغا بحق المقاربة …
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering AI
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ب ل غ that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
36 words6 verbs7 verbal nouns4 participles1 place or instrument3 intensives and elatives11 other nouns4 plurals
- بَلَغَthat clave to him, or adhered to him, , rising to its highest degree or point
- بَلَاغthe bringing, conveyance, delivery, or communication, of a message
- بَالِغreaching, attaining, arriving at, or coming to, a place
- بَلَّغَhe caused him, or it, to reach, attain, arrive at, or come to, the place
- أَبْلَغَhe brought his utmost power or ability, or effort or endeavour, to the …
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6بَلَغَ · بَلَّغَ · أَبْلَغَ
The root as an action: the bare Form I, and the Forms made by adding letters before, inside or after the root.grammar →
Form I vowels: فَعَلَ يَفْعُلُ (a – u; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)
- بَلَغَthat clave to him, or adhered to him, , rising to its highest degree or pointLaneForm IQurʾān ×40library ×25LaneIbn Fāris
- بَلَّغَhe caused him, or it, to reach, attain, arrive at, or come to, the placeLaneForm IIQurʾān ×6LaneIbn Fāris
- أَبْلَغَhe brought his utmost power or ability, or effort or endeavour, to the …LaneForm IVQurʾān ×5Lane
- بَالَغَhe exceeded the usual, or ordinary, or the just, or proper, bounds, or …LaneForm IIILane
Verbal nouns7بَلَاغ · بَلَاغَة · إِبْلَاغ
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
- بَلَاغthe bringing, conveyance, delivery, or communication, of a messageLaneForm I · Lane: inf. n.Qurʾān ×15library ×1LaneIbn Fāris
- بَلَاغَةeloquenceautoForm I · Lane: inf. n.library ×2LaneIbn Fāris
- إِبْلَاغForm IV · Lane: inf. n.Lane
- بُلُوغForm I · Lane: inf. n.Lane
Participles4بَالِغ · مَبْلُوغ · مُبَالَغ
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
Place, time and instrument1مَبْلَغ
Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →
- مَبْلَغamount; sumautonoun of place or timeQurʾān ×1library ×6Lane
Intensives, qualities and the elative3بَلِيغ · بِلَغْن · أَبْلَغ
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
Other nouns11بَلَغ · بَلْغ · بَلْغَة
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
Plurals4بَالِغُو · بُلَغاء · تَبَالِغ
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
- بَالِغُوsound plural of بَالِغQurʾān ×1
- بُلَغاءplural of eloquentfrom the singularbroken plural of بَلِيغlibrary ×1
- تَبَالِغbroken plural of تَبْلِغَةLane
- مَبَالِغbroken plural of مَبْلَغLane
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 19 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.
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 AI
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)' AI
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 AI
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
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.
The dictionaries
English: AI translation AIal-Khalīl · 170A man [described as] balgh (بلغ) is baligh (بليغ, 'eloquent'), and he has [attained] balāghah (بلاغة, eloquence).
al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Jawharī · 393Balaghtu (بلغت) the place, bulūgh (بلوغا): I arrived at it;
al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowIbn Fāris · 395The letters bā', lām, and ghayn form one root, meaning 'reaching/arriving at a thing.' You say balaghtu (بلغت) the place when you have arrived at it.
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Rāghib · 502Al-bulūgh (البلوغ) and al-balāgh (البلاغ): reaching the farthest goal and terminus, whether it be a place, a time, or one of the determined matters;
al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowLisān · 711Balagha (بلغ) the thing, yablughu (يبلغ), bulūgh (بلوغا) and balāgh (بلاغا): it arrived and came to its end (waṣala wa-ntahā);
Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), Lisān al-ʿArab. The great compendium of the earlier dictionaries (entry shortened).
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowLane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.
E. W. Lane (d. 1876), An Arabic-English Lexicon. English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.
Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Technical definitions2 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt
البلاغة في المتكلم
ملكة يقتدر بها إلى تأليف كلام بليغ، فعلم أن كل بليغ؛ كلاما كان، أو متكلما، فصيح؛ لأن الفصاحة مأخوذة في تعريف البلاغة، وليس فصيح بليغا.
Al-balāghah (البلاغة) in the speaker: a faculty by which one is enabled to compose eloquent speech (kalām balīgh). Hence it is known that everything baligh (بليغ, 'eloquent') — whether speech or a speaker — is faṣīḥ ('clear/correct in expression'), because faṣāḥah is taken up within the definition of balāghah; but not every faṣīḥ [thing] is baligh. AI
البلاغة في الكلام
مطابقته لمقتضى الحال. والمراد بالحال: الأمر الداعي إلى التكلم على وجه مخصوص مع فصاحته، أي فصاحة الكلام.
Al-balāghah (البلاغة) in speech: its conformity to the requirement of the situation (muqtaḍā al-ḥāl). What is meant by 'the situation' (al-ḥāl) is the factor calling for speaking in a particular manner, together with its faṣāḥah, i.e., the faṣāḥah (clarity/correctness) of the speech. AI
The same letters, turned
The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.
ب ل غ
الباء واللام والغين أصل واحد وهو الوصول إلى الشيء تقول بلغت المكان إذا وصلت إليه وقد تسمى المشارفة بلوغا بحق المقاربة
b-l-gh has one root, which is reaching a thing. You say balaghtu al-makān when you reached it, and approaching may be called bulūgh by virtue of nearness. AI
an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them
Do these six share one core meaning?
Reference
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:
- 1 of 6319
- 2 of 6218
- 3 of 6164
- 4 of 6155
- 5 of 6107
- 6 of 658
- 1 of 6148
- 2 of 6108
- 3 of 6157
- 4 of 6179
- 5 of 6111
- 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.
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.
Letters & sound
- بbāʾbetween the lips · voiced, stopSīb. · I. Jinnī
- لlāmedge of the tongue · voiced, in betweenI. Jinnī
- غghayntop of the throat · voiced, continuantSīb. · I. Jinnī
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)
Reference
How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ب
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 ↗
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 ↗
غ
وأدناها مخرجا من الفم: الغين والخاء
The nearest of them to the mouth in place: the ghayn and the khāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26549 ↗
ومما فوق ذلك مع أول الفم، مخرج الغين والخاء
From above that, at the start of the mouth, is the place of the ghayn and the khāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 971 ↗
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 AI
ب
Level of existence: الجن · the jinn
Divine Name: اللطيف · al-Laṭīf, the Subtle
Lunar mansion: الفرع المقدم · al-Farʿ al-Muqaddam
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62118Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة
The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582ل
Level of existence: السماء الثالثة · the third heaven
Divine Name: القاهر · the Subduer (al-Qāhir)
Lunar mansion: العوا · al-ʿAwwā
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64654Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 7 line 2576 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
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 2577غ
Level of existence: الجسم الكل · the Universal Body
Divine Name: الظاهر · al-Ẓāhir, the Outward
Lunar mansion: الميسان وهي الهقعة · al-Maysān, which is al-Haqʿa
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62077Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ب
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي هو في غاية العز أو في غاية الذل.
It is an indication of the thing that is at the utmost of might or at the utmost of abasement.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة معها قبض.
It is an indication accompanied by contraction (qabḍ).
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى ما دخل أو هو داخل على الذات.
It is an indication of what has entered, or is entering, upon the self.
ل
With fatḥa ـَ
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.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نهاية له.
It is an indication of the thing that has no end.
With kasra ـِ
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.
غ
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي اسم للنظر الذي يبلغ به حقيقة الشيء.
It is a name for the gaze by which one reaches the reality of a thing.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي اسم من أسمائه تعالى ويدل على الحنانة فيه.
It is one of the names of God (Exalted is He), and it denotes the tenderness in Him.
With kasra ـِ
فهي سؤال مما يجهله ليجيبه بما يعلمه.
It is a question, from one who does not know, so that someone may answer him with what he knows.
Two-letter nucleus11 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterب ل
Ibn Fāris groups his roots under two-letter chapters (“the X and the Y and what makes them three”). These are the roots of this root's chapter with the core sense he gives each. Setting them side by side is our juxtaposition; he does not himself draw a shared meaning. His chapter heading, line 3557 ↗
- بلمالباء واللام والميم أصلان أحدهما ورم أو ما يشبهه والثاني نبتL3558
- بلهالباء واللام والهاء أصل واحد وهو شبه الغرارة والغفلةL3567
- بلخالباء واللام والخاء أصل واحد وهو التكبرL3650
- بلدالباء واللام والدال أصل واحد يتقارب فروعه عند النظر في قياسه والأصل الصدر ويقال وضعت الناقة بلدتها بالأرض إذا بركتQ 19 · L3651
- بلزالباء واللام والزاء ليس بأصل وفيه كليمات فالبلز المرأة القصيرة ويقولون البلأز القصير من الرجال والبلأزة الأكل وفي جميع ذلك نظرL3667
- بلسالباء واللام والسين أصل واحد وما بعده فلا معول عليه فالأصل اليأسQ 5 · L3669
- بلصالباء واللام والصاد فيه كلمات أكثر ظني أن لا معول على مثلها وهي مع ذلك تتقارب يقولون بلصت الغنم إذا قلت ألبانها وتبلصت الغنم الأرض إذا لم تدع فيها شيئL3676
- بلطالباء واللام والطاء أصل واحد والأمر فيه قريب من الذي قبلهL3679
- بلعالباء واللام والعين أصل واحد وهو ازدراد الشيء تقول بلعت الشيء أبلعه والبالوع من هذا لأنه يبلع الماء وسعد بلع نجم والبلع السم في قامة البكرة والقياس واQ 1 · L3690
- بلغالباء واللام والغين أصل واحد وهو الوصول إلى الشيء تقول بلغت المكان إذا وصلت إليه وقد تسمى المشارفة بلوغا بحق المقاربةQ 77 · L3694
- بلقالباء واللام والقاف أصل واحد منقاس مطرد وهو الفتحL3702
In the sister scriptsHebrew ב ל עSyriac ܒ ܠ ܥ
| Arabic | ب ل غ |
| Hebrew | ב ל ע |
| Syriac | ܒ ܠ ܥ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩨 𐩡 𐩶 |
| Phoenician | 𐤁 𐤋 𐤏 |
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.
Lenses
AIClassical lexiconAl-Khalīl already gives the full semantic spread: rajulun baligh 'an eloquent man' (balāgha), balagha 'reached' (bulūgh), ablagha/ballagha 'conveyed' (of a message), and balāgh/tablīgh as kifāya 'sufficiency';well attested
The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.
Al-Khalīl already gives the full semantic spread: rajulun baligh 'an eloquent man' (balāgha), balagha 'reached' (bulūgh), ablagha/ballagha 'conveyed' (of a message), and balāgh/tablīgh as kifāya 'sufficiency'; a thing that is bāligh is 'good, excellent'. Ibn Fāris reduces all this to one root-sense, al-wuṣūl ilā al-shayʾ (arrival at a thing), noting that mere approach (muqāraba) is by extension also called bulūgh, as in Q 2:234's 'fa-idhā balaghna ajalahunna'; he traces balāgha (eloquence) and bulgha (subsistence) to the same idea of a speech or a livelihood that 'reaches' what is required of it. Al-Rāghib sharpens this into a technical definition: bulūgh/balāgh is the arrival at the furthest point intended or sought — spatial, temporal, or notional — and he explicitly notes it is sometimes used for mere approach short of actual arrival, citing balagha ashuddahu, balagha arbaʿīna sanatan, fa-balaghna ajalahunna, and aymānun ʿalaynā bālighah ('oaths utmost in confirmation'). Ibn Manẓūr assembles the same range and adds the poetic witness of Abī Qays ibn al-Aslat ('qad ablaghat asmāʿī', glossed as intahayta fīhi wa anʿamt, 'you were thorough and exhaustive in it') and the ḥadīth of the rain-prayer where balāgh is glossed as 'that by which one attains and reaches what is sought'. Lane's summary distils the whole tradition: bulūgh and balāgh denote reaching, attaining, or coming to the utmost point of that towards which one directs his course or which one seeks or pursues.
Draws on: al-Khalīl al-ʿAyn · al-Jawharī al-Ṣiḥāḥ · Ibn Fāris al-Maqāyīs · al-Rāghib al-Mufradāt · Ibn Manẓūr al-Lisān · Lane
- al-Khalīl, al-ʿAyn, root بلغ
- al-Jawharī, al-Ṣiḥāḥ, root بلغ
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, root بلغ
- al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt, root بلغ
- Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, root بلغ
- Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, root بلغ
Letters & soundIn the letters-in-the-Breath scheme, ب signifies the jinn, ل the third heaven, and غ the Universal Body — a triad that could be read as movement from the hidden (ب) through an intermediate celestial station (ل) to full corporeal actualization (غ), a pattern consonant with بلغ's sense of arriving at an end-point.speculative
What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.
In the letters-in-the-Breath scheme, ب signifies the jinn, ل the third heaven, and غ the Universal Body — a triad that could be read as movement from the hidden (ب) through an intermediate celestial station (ل) to full corporeal actualization (غ), a pattern consonant with بلغ's sense of arriving at an end-point. Al-Dabbāgh's fatḥa-glosses describe ب as indicating a thing at the utmost of might or abasement, ل as the speaker's attaining of something great, and غ as the name for the gaze by which one reaches the reality of a thing — the ل and غ glosses in particular align closely with بلغ's ordinary sense of 'attaining/reaching'. This convergence is noteworthy but remains within the domain that mainstream linguistics regards as suggestive symbolism at most, not causal explanation of the word's meaning.
Draws on: Ibn ʿArabī letters-in-the-Breath (akbari198) · al-Dabbāgh letter meanings
- Ibn ʿArabī, letters in the Breath (akbari198 table)
- al-Dabbāgh, letter meanings (fatḥa)
Root structureIbn Fāris lists بلغ among a run of ب-ل- roots (بلم swelling, بله dullness/heedlessness, بلخ arrogance, بلد settling/land, بلس despair, بلع swallowing) whose common thread is a body or substance coming to rest at, or being taken in to, a terminus — بلع 'to swallow' is the closest neighbour, arrival via the throat mirroring arrival at a goal.plausible
The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).
Ibn Fāris lists بلغ among a run of ب-ل- roots (بلم swelling, بله dullness/heedlessness, بلخ arrogance, بلد settling/land, بلس despair, بلع swallowing) whose common thread is a body or substance coming to rest at, or being taken in to, a terminus — بلع 'to swallow' is the closest neighbour, arrival via the throat mirroring arrival at a goal. More striking is the permutation set: alongside بلغ (77 occurrences) stand بغل 'mule, bodily strength' (1), لغب 'fatigue, exhaustion' (2), and غلب 'to overcome, dominate' (31), all independently attested roots from the same three radicals. Read through Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation, this cluster juxtaposes reaching a goal (بلغ) with the effort that exhausts (لغب), the strength that endures it (بغل), and the domination that crowns it (غلب) — a suggestive but not demonstrated semantic family, since each root has its own independent Ibn Fāris chapter and etymology. This should be read as juxtaposition, not as an asserted derivational fact.
Draws on: Ibn Fāris nucleus siblings · permutation attestation · Ibn Jinnī al-ishtiqāq al-akbar
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, roots بلم / بله / بلخ / بلد / بلس / بلع / بلغ / بغل / لغب / غلب
Semitic kin & loanwordsA plausible cognate exists in Hebrew בלג (b-l-g), used in Amos 5:9 and Job 9:27/10:20 in senses of 'to gain strength, to brighten, to find relief' — a semantic field ('to attain a desired state') close to Arabic بلغ's 'to reach, attain'.plausible
Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.
A plausible cognate exists in Hebrew בלג (b-l-g), used in Amos 5:9 and Job 9:27/10:20 in senses of 'to gain strength, to brighten, to find relief' — a semantic field ('to attain a desired state') close to Arabic بلغ's 'to reach, attain'. The correspondence is not fully regular (Hebrew ג for Arabic غ is not the expected reflex of Proto-Semitic *ġ, which normally surfaces in Hebrew as ע), so lexicographers who note the connection (e.g. BDB) do so cautiously rather than as an established sound law. No Aramaic, Akkadian, or Gəʿəz cognate can be identified with confidence. بلغ shows no signs of being a loanword; it is a productive, richly derived native Arabic root already in the earliest philology.
Draws on: BDB Hebrew lexicon · comparative Semitic phonology
- Brown–Driver–Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon, entry בלג
Quranic exegesisThe exegetes give بلغ two major registers.well attested
How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.
The exegetes give بلغ two major registers. In legal-descriptive verses such as Q 2:231–232 ('fa-idhā balaghna ajalahunna'), al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī debate — following the lexical point al-Rāghib makes explicit — whether balagha here means the actual completion of the ʿidda or only its approach (mushārafa), since the ruling (return or release) differs depending on which sense is meant; this ambiguity is treated as load-bearing for fiqh. In the prophetic-mission verses (Q 3:20, 5:67, 5:92) al-balāgh al-mubīn 'the clear conveyance' becomes a technical term for the Prophet's sole responsibility: al-Zamakhsharī and al-Rāzī stress that these verses exonerate the Messenger of any duty to compel belief, his task being only tablīgh, delivering the message, after which the response lies with the hearer. Al-Rāzī also treats innAllāha bālighu amrihi (Q 65:3) theologically, as an assertion that God's decree inevitably attains its object, unopposable by created causes — a proof-text in his discussions of divine power and the impossibility of frustrating God's will.
Draws on: al-Ṭabarī · al-Zamakhsharī · al-Rāzī · al-Rāghib
- al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān, on Q 2:231–232
- al-Zamakhsharī, al-Kashshāf, on Q 3:20, 5:92
- al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, on Q 5:67, 65:3
- Quran 2:231 ↗
- Quran 3:20 ↗
- Quran 5:67 ↗
- Quran 5:92 ↗
Akbarian readingThe opening of Faṣṣ Ādam uses بلغ negatively of a limit that cannot be reached: the Real's most beautiful Names are such that enumeration (al-iḥṣāʾ) 'cannot attain' them (lā yablughuhā al-iḥṣāʾ).plausible
The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.
The opening of Faṣṣ Ādam uses بلغ negatively of a limit that cannot be reached: the Real's most beautiful Names are such that enumeration (al-iḥṣāʾ) 'cannot attain' them (lā yablughuhā al-iḥṣāʾ). This sets up the whole chapter's logic — because the divine Names exceed any finite counting or grasp, the Real willed to see their entities (aʿyān) actualized outside Himself, in a cosmos and ultimately in the human being as polished mirror. Here بلغ marks the boundary of human comprehension against which the necessity of engendered existence (khalq) as a locus of self-disclosure is argued; the inexhaustibility of the Names, expressed through the negation of bulūgh, is what makes Adam's comprehensive receptivity (as barzakh and isthmus) required rather than incidental.
Draws on: Faṣṣ Ādam
- Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, Faṣṣ Ādam, opening passage
Reference