رعيto watch over and guard; secondarily, to turn back (root ry)

Raʿy (رعي): 'so-and-so irʿawā (ارعوى) from ignorance with a fine desisting,' and raʿwā ḥasanah (رعوى حسنة) [means] his desisting from ignorance and his fine return [to sense]. He [the poet] said: 'Whenever he desists [from folly], he returns to his ignorance, like the sick man who returns to his relapse.' Raʿā yarʿā raʿyan (رعى يرعى رعيا). Al-raʿy (الرعي) is pasturage/herbage. Al-rāʿī yarʿāhā riʿāyatan (الراعي يرعاها رعاية) means he manages and lets it out to pasture. Anyone entrusted with the affair of a people is their rāʿī (راعي); the people are his raʿiyyah (رعيته). Al-rāʿī (الراعي) is the manager/governor; al-marʿī (المرعي) is the one managed/governed. The plural is al-riʿāʾ (الرعاء), with hamzah, on the pattern fiʿāl, as related from the Arabs, upon which they are all agreed to the exclusion of any other form. By analogy with similar words it is also permissible [to say] rāʿin and ruʿāh (راع ورعاة), like dāʿin and duʿāh (داع ودعاة). He said: 'No deed is like my deed, nor is the ruled one (al-marʿī) among the people like the ruler (al-rāʿī).' Camels tarʿā and tartaʿī (ترعى وترتعي, 'graze'). Rāʿaytu urāʿī (راعيت أراعي) means 'I looked to see what my affair would come to.' In this sense it is also permissible to say raʿaytu al-nujūm (رعيت النجوم). Al-Khansāʾ said: 'I watch the stars, though I was not tasked with watching them, and at times I cover myself with the remainder of my worn garments.' Raʿaytu al-nujūm means 'I watched them.' 'So-and-so raʿā (يرعى) so-and-so' means he kept track of his affair. Al-Qaṭāmī said: 'We are the flock (raʿiyyah) and they are the shepherds (ruʿāh), and were it not for their care, disgrace would have spread.' Al-riʿyān (الرعيان) means the shepherds (al-ruʿāh). Al-marʿā (المرعى) means al-raʿy — i.e. the verbal noun — and also the place [of grazing]. Istarʿaytuhu (استرعيته) means 'I entrusted him with a matter for him to tend.' Grazing camels are ibil rāʿiyah (إبل راعية), plural rawāʿī (رواعي). Al-irʿāʾ (الإرعاء) means sparing/showing mercy to your brother. 'So-and-so arʿā (أرعى) to so-and-so' means he listened. It is related from al-Ḥasan: rāʿinā (راعنا) with tanwīn and without tanwīn; it is explained in the chapter on r-ʿ-n. A man [called] tirʿiyyah (ترعية): his occupation and that of his forefathers has always been herding. He said: 'A rough, superior herdsman drives them along.' Arʿaytu fulānan (أرعيت فلانا) means 'I gave so-and-so a flock to tend.'

Al-riʿy (الرعى), with kasrah, means pasturage (al-kalaʾ), and with fatḥah [al-raʿy] it is the verbal noun. Al-marʿā (المرعى) means al-riʿy, and also the place, and the verbal noun. In the proverb: 'Pasturage, though not like saʿdān' (marʿan wa-lā ka-l-saʿdān). Al-rāʿī's (الراعي) plural is ruʿāh (رعاة), like qāḍin/quḍāh; riʿyān (رعيان), like shābb/shubbān; and riʿāʾ (رعاء), like jāʾiʿ/jiyāʿ. 'So-and-so raʿā (يرعى) on behalf of his father' means he tends his sheep. Al-Rāʿī (الراعي) is the epithet of the poet ʿUbayd ibn al-Ḥuṣayn al-Numayrī. Al-Farrāʾ said: a man is [called] tirʿiyyah and turʿiyyah (ترعية وترعية), with kasrah or ḍammah on the tāʾ, and doubled yāʾ in both, for one skilled at tending camels. It is also said: a man is [called] tirʿāyah (ترعاية) in the same sense as tirʿiyyah. Al-riʿāwā and al-ruʿāwā (الرعاوى والرعاوى), with fatḥah or ḍammah on the rāʾ, are camels that graze around the people and their dwellings, being the camels used for work. An Arab woman said, reproaching her husband: 'You sucked the marrow from me until, when you left me, like the worn-out working camel (naḍw al-riʿāwā), I said, "I am going."' Rāʿaytu l-amr (راعيت الأمر) means 'I looked to see where the matter would end up.' Rāʿaytuhu (راعيته) means 'I observed him,' and is used in the sense of murāʿāt al-ḥuqūq (مراعاة الحقوق, 'observing rights'). It is said: 'the donkey yurāʿī (يراعي) the [female] donkeys,' meaning it grazes alongside them. Abū Dhuʾayb said: '[He is] like the wild game of Ḥawḍī, grazing alongside the wild animals, apart, as if he were a star isolated in the sky.' Istarʿaytuhu al-shayʾ (استرعيته الشيء) means 'I entrusted him with the thing,' and he tended it (raʿāhu). In the proverb: 'Whoever entrusts the wolf [with guarding the flock] has wronged [it]' (man istarʿā al-dhiʾba ẓalama). Al-rāʿī (الراعي) means the ruler; al-raʿiyyah (الرعية) means the common people/subjects. It is said: 'The ruled is not like the ruler' (laysa al-marʿī ka-l-rāʿī). Raʿā yarʿū (رعا يرعو) means 'he refrained from [reckless] matters.' It is said: 'so-and-so has a good raʿwah (الرعوة), raʿwah [variant], raʿwā (الرعوى), and irʿiwāʾ (الإرعواء).' 'He irʿawā (ارعوى) from the evil thing' — its supposed pattern is ifʿūl, but its true morphological pattern is ifʿalla; it was not assimilated only because of the sukūn on the yāʾ. The noun [from this] is al-ruʿyā (الرعيا), with ḍammah, and al-raʿwā (الرعوى), with fatḥah, like al-buqyā and al-buqwā (البقيا والبقوى). You say: arʿaytu ʿalayhi (أرعيت عليه), when you spared him and had mercy on him. Arʿaytuhu samʿī (أرعيته سمعي) means 'I lent him my ear / listened attentively to him.' From this is His saying, exalted be He: 'rāʿinā' (راعنا) [Q. 2:104]. Al-Akhfash said: it is the form fāʿilnā (فاعلنا) from al-murāʿāh, in the sense of 'lend us your ear,' but the yāʾ was dropped for the imperative. It is also said: 'rāʿinan' (راعنا) with tanwīn, [the verse] treated as governed by 'say,' as if he said: 'Do not say something foolish, and do not say something indecent,' [this] being from al-raʿūnah (الرعونة, 'foolishness'). The ruler (al-amīr) raʿā (رعى) his subjects (raʿiyyatahu) riʿāyatan — i.e. he governed them. Raʿaytu al-ibil arʿāhā raʿyan (رعيت الإبل أرعاها رعيا). The camel raʿā (رعى) the pasturage, i.e. grazed it. Irtaʿā (ارتعى) has the same meaning. Raʿaytu al-nujūm (رعيت النجوم) means 'I watched them.' Al-Khansāʾ said: 'I watch the stars, though I was not tasked with watching them, and at times I cover myself with the remainder of my worn garments.' Ibn al-Sikkīt: it is said 'raʿaytu ʿalayhi ḥurmatahu' (رعيت عليه حرمته), i.e. I observed/respected his inviolable rights on his behalf.

The letters rāʾ, ʿayn, and the weak letter [y] have two root meanings: one is watching over and guarding/keeping, and the other is returning. As for the first: raʿaytu (رعيت) the thing means 'I watched over it / kept an eye on it,' and raʿaytuhu (رعيته) means 'I observed/watched it.' Al-rāʿī (الراعي) means the ruler/guardian. Abū Qays said: 'Not every qaṭā-bird is like my qaṭā-bird, nor... is the ruled one (al-marʿī) among the people like the ruler (al-rāʿī).' And the plural is al-riʿāʾ (الرعاء), which is a plural on the pattern fiʿāl (فعال), rare, and also riʿāh (رعاة). Raʿaytu al-nujūm (رعيت النجوم) means 'I watched the stars.' Al-Khansāʾ said: 'I watch the stars, though I was not tasked with watching them, and at times I cover myself with the remainder of my worn garments.' Al-irʿāʾ (الإرعاء) means 'sparing/showing mercy,' and it belongs to that same root because one preserves what he guards. Dhu al-Iṣbaʿ said: 'The excuse of the tribe against ʿAdwān — they were the serpent of the earth — some of them transgressed against others, and they showed no restraint/mercy toward one another.' A man [called] tirʿiyyah (ترعية) and tirʿāyah (ترعاية) is one skilled at tending camels. From this same root is arʿaytuhu samʿī (أرعيته سمعي), 'I lent him my ear / listened attentively to him,' and arʿinī samʿaka (أرعني سمعك), with kasrah on the ʿayn, meaning 'let your hearing attend to what I say.' The other root meaning: irʿawā (ارعوى) ʿan al-qabīḥ means 'he refrained from the evil thing,' i.e. he turned back from it. Some have related: fulānun ḥasanu l-raʿwi (الرعو), al-raʿwi [variant vocalization], and al-raʿwā (الرعوى). Among the forms anomalous relative to both roots are al-riʿāwā (الرعاوى) and al-ruʿāwā (الرعاوى), which are the camels used for work. A woman said, addressing her husband: 'You sucked the marrow from me until, when you left me, like the worn-out working camel (naḍw al-riʿāwā), I said, "I am going."' It is possible that this belongs to the same root, because such camels grow old and are reduced to a poor condition, as He, exalted be His praise, said: 'whoever is returned to the most decrepit age' (Q. 16:70, 22:5).

Al-raʿy (الرعي) originally means the preservation/care of an animal, whether by [providing] its nourishment that sustains its life, or by driving away enemies from it. It is said: raʿaytuhu (رعيته) means 'I preserved/cared for it,' and arʿaytuhu (أرعيته) means 'I provided for it something to graze on.' Al-riʿy (الرعي) is what is grazed upon; al-marʿā (المرعى) is the place of grazing. He, exalted, said: 'Eat and pasture your cattle' (Q. Ṭā Hā 20:54); 'and brought forth from it its water and its pasture' (Q. Al-Nāziʿāt 79:31); 'and who brings forth the pasture' (Q. Al-Aʿlā 87:4). Al-raʿy (الرعي) and al-riʿāʾ (الرعاء) are used for both safeguarding and governance. He, exalted, said: 'But they did not observe it with due observance' (Q. Al-Ḥadīd 57:27), meaning: they did not preserve it with proper preservation. Every governor of himself or of others is called a rāʿī (راعي), and it is related [in ḥadīth]: 'Each of you is a shepherd (rāʿin), and each of you is responsible for his flock (raʿiyyatihi).' The poet said: [entry continues]

Al-raʿy (الرعي) is the verbal noun of raʿā (رعى) al-kalaʾ and the like — yarʿā raʿyan (يرعى رعيا). Al-rāʿī (الراعي) yarʿā (يرعى) the livestock, i.e. he encompasses/guards and preserves them. The livestock tarʿā (ترعى), i.e. it moves about and eats. Rāʿī al-māshiyah (راعي الماشية) is its keeper — a predominant epithet that has come to function as a proper noun. Its plural is ruʿāh (رعاة), like qāḍin/quḍāh; riʿāʾ (رعاء), like jāʾiʿ/jiyāʿ; and riʿyān (رعيان), like shābb/shubbān — pluralized in the manner of nouns, like ḥājir/ḥijrān, because it is a predominant epithet [functioning as a noun]. And there is no [other] word in the language on the pattern fāʿil that admits both fiʿlah and fiʿāl [as plural patterns] except this one, and except for their saying āsin, asāh, and isāʾ (آس وأساة وإساء) ['physician']. In the ḥadīth on faith: 'until you see the shepherds of sheep (riʿāʾ al-shāʾ) vying with each other in building tall structures.' In the ḥadīth of ʿUmar: 'as though he were a shepherd of sheep' — meaning in his roughness and shabby appearance. In the ḥadīth of Durayd, who said on the day of Ḥunayn to Mālik ibn ʿAwf: 'He is only a shepherd of sheep — what has he to do with war?' — as if deeming him incompetent and placing him beneath the rank of one who leads and commands armies. As for the saying of Thaʿlabah ibn ʿUbayd al-ʿAdawī, describing palm trees: 'Their keepers (riʿāhā) spend the night without fearing their wandering away, even though they are not tethered with fetters or hobbles.' Abū Ḥanīfah held that riʿan (رعى) is a plural of ruʿāh (رعاة), because ruʿāh, though itself a plural, has the grammatical form of a singular, so it becomes like mahāh and mahan (مهاة ومهى) — except that mahāh is a singular (the stallion's fluid in the she-camel's womb), whereas ruʿāh is a plural. As for the saying of Uḥayḥah: 'And it [the palm tree] comes to be in the morning where the keepers (al-riʿāʾ) spent the night, even if they neglected it, even if they were remiss.' He meant by al-riʿāʾ here the keepers of the palm trees, since the poem describes palm trees; he means: the palm trees remain in their places in the morning, not scattering as neglected camels scatter. Al-raʿiyyah (الرعية) [means] grazing livestock, or livestock that is grazed/tended. He said: 'Then we were given a rain, a thoroughly soaking rain, and the herbage sprouted, yet there was no grazing-flock [to eat it].' In the Qurʾān: 'until the shepherds (al-riʿāʾ) go away' [Q. 28:23] — a plural of al-rāʿī. Al-Azharī said: ruʿāh (رعاة) is mostly said of rulers, while riʿyān (رعيان) is [mostly said] of the shepherd of sheep. Of livestock it is said: 'it tarʿā and tartaʿī' (ترعى وترتعي, both meaning 'it grazes'). Some Qurʾān readers recited: 'Send him with us tomorrow that we may narʿaʿ (graze/play) and play' [Q. 12:12, variant reading] — this being the form nafṭaʿil from al-raʿy; and it is said that the meaning of natarʿā is that we watch out for one another. 'So-and-so raʿā (يرعى) on behalf of his father' means he tends his sheep. Al-Farrāʾ: it is said 'he is truly a tirʿiyyat māl (ترعية مال)' when [livestock] wealth thrives in his hands and he is skilled at tending camels. Ibn Sīdah said: a man [may be called] tirʿiyyah (ترعية) or tirʿīy (ترعي), without the tāʾ marbūṭah, [the latter] rare. Taʾabbaṭa Sharran said: 'I am not a herdsman (tirʿīy) whose supper is prolonged, one who leads them to fresh new growth, left free [to roam].' Likewise tirʿiyyah and turʿiyyah (ترعية وترعية), with doubled yāʾ, and tirʿāyah and turʿāyah (ترعاية وترعاية), have this same meaning — that his occupation and that of his forefathers is herding (al-riʿāyah); this is a morphological pattern that Sībawayh did not mention. Al-tirʿiyyah (الترعية) also describes one skilled at seeking out and searching for pasturage for the livestock. Al-Azharī cited, from al-Farrāʾ: 'And an abode of guardians (ḥifāẓ) that has...' [entry continues]