Root · 140 in the Quran · 256 in 25 texts of the library
سلمPer Ibn Fāris, the great majority of this chapter concerns ṣiḥḥa wa-ʿāfiya — soundness, … (root slm)
السين واللام والميم معظم بابه من الصحة والعافية ويكون فيه ما يشذ والشاذ عنه قليل فالسلامة أن يسلم الإنسان من العاهة …
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering AI
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of س ل م that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
53 words8 verbs7 verbal nouns5 participles1 place or instrument4 intensives and elatives16 other nouns10 plurals2 relatives and abstracts
- سَلَامgramm
- سَلَّمَhe made him to be safe, secure, or free
- مُسْلِمMuslim
- أَسْلَمَhand over; surrender
- مُسْلِمُونplural of Muslim
The whole family8 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs8سَلِمَ · سَلَّمَ · أَسْلَمَ
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: فَعِلَ يَفْعَلُ (i – a; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)
- سَلِمَhe was, or became, safe, or secureLaneForm Ilibrary ×13LaneIbn Fāris
- سَلَّمَhe made him to be safe, secure, or freeLaneForm IIQurʾān ×6library ×73LaneIbn Fāris
- أَسْلَمَhand over; surrenderauto · Lane: see Form IIForm IVQurʾān ×22library ×5LaneIbn Fāris
- اِسْتَسْلَمَsurrender; capitulateauto · Lane: see Form IVForm Xlibrary ×4Lane
Verbal nouns7تَسْلِيم · سَلَامَة · سَلْم
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
Participles5مُسْلِم · مُسَلَّم · سَالِم
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
- مُسْلِمMuslimautoactive, Form IVQurʾān ×39library ×6Lane
- مُسَلَّمgranted; obviousautopassive, Form IVlibrary ×4
- سَالِمsecure; soundautoactive, Form Ilibrary ×1Lane
- مَسْلُومpassive, Form ILane
- مُسْتَلَمpassive, Form VIIILane
Place, time and instrument1مَسْلَمَة
Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →
- مَسْلَمَةnoun of place (with -a)Lane
Intensives, qualities and the elative4أَسْلَم · سَلِيم · سَلَمَان
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
- أَسْلَمmore, and most, safe or secure or free from evils of any kindLaneelative or colour adjective (afʿal)library ×6LaneIbn Fāris
- سَلِيمsafeautoquality (faʿīl)Qurʾān ×2library ×2LaneIbn Fāris
- سَلَمَانintensive (faʿlān)Lane
- سَلْمَانselmán is of us, the people of the houseLaneintensive (faʿlān)Lane
Other nouns16سَلَام · سَلَم · سُلَّم
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
- سَلَامgrammLanenounQurʾān ×42library ×53LaneIbn Fāris
- سَلَمany money, or property, paid in advance, or beforehand, as the price of a …LanenounQurʾān ×5LaneIbn Fāris
- سُلَّمladder, or a series of stairs or stepsLanenounQurʾān ×2LaneIbn Fāris
- سِلْمpeace, or reconciliationLanenounlibrary ×2LaneIbn Fāris
Plurals10مُسْلِمُون · مُسْلِمَات · أَسْلَام
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
- مُسْلِمُونplural of Muslimfrom the singularsound plural of مُسْلِمQurʾān ×14
- مُسْلِمَاتsound plural of مُسْلِمَةQurʾān ×2
- أَسْلَامbroken plural of سَلَمLaneIbn Fāris
- سَالِمُونsound plural of سَالِمQurʾān ×1
Relative and abstract2سِلْمِيّ · إِسْلَامِيّ
-iyy relates a thing to its source; -iyya makes an abstract noun.grammar →
- سِلْمِيّpeaceful; pacifistautorelative adjective (-iyy)library ×10
- إِسْلَامِيّrelative adjective (-iyy)Lane
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 22 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.
- Attested: مَسْلَمَة, noun of place (with -a) (Lane)
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 · 170Al-silm (السلم): an elongated bucket with a single handle, plural salām (سلام), as in the verse: 'a bucket (silm) by which you see the one hauling it up tilted (azwar)' [poetry fragment, verse no.
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 · 393Abū ʿAmr said: al-silm (السلم) is a bucket with a single handle, like the bucket of water-carriers.
al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowIbn Fāris · 395Sīn, lām, and mīm: the greater part of this root's meanings pertain to soundness and well-being (al-ṣiḥḥah wa-l-ʿāfiyah), though there are some exceptional forms, and what deviates from this is rare.
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Rāghib · 502Al-silm (السلم) and al-salāmah (السلامة): freedom from afflictions, both outward and inward, as in [the Qurʾānic phrase]: 'with a sound heart' (bi-qalbin salīm) [Qurʾān 26:89], meaning free from corruption/malady — this
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 · 711Al-salām (السلام) and al-salāmah (السلامة): freedom/innocence [from fault].
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 definitions8 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt
الإسلام
الخضوع والانقياد لما أخبر به الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم. وفي الكشاف: أن كل ما يكون الإقرار باللسان من غير مواطأة القلب، فهو إسلام، وما واطأ فيه القلب اللسان فهو إيمان. أقول: هذا مذهب الشافعي، وأما مذهب أبي حنيفة فلا فرق بينهما.
Al-Islām (الإسلام): submission and compliance with what the Messenger, God bless him and grant him peace, has informed. In al-Kashshāf it is stated: whatever consists of verbal affirmation without corresponding conviction of the heart is Islām, while that in which the heart agrees with the tongue is Īmān (faith). I say: this is the doctrine of al-Shāfiʿī; as for the doctrine of Abū Ḥanīfah, there is no distinction between the two [terms]. AI
التسليم
هو الانقياد لأمر الله تعالى وترك الاعتراض فيما لا يلائم.
Al-Taslīm (التسليم): submission to the command of God Most High and abandoning objection to whatever does not accord [with one's wishes]. AI
التسليم
استقبال القضاء بالرضا، وقيل: التسليم، هو الثبوت عند نزول البلاء من تغير في الظاهر والباطن.
Al-Taslīm: receiving the divine decree with contentment; it is also said that al-taslīm is steadfastness upon the descent of affliction, without change in outward or inward state. AI
السالم
عند الصرفيين ما سلمت حروفه الأصلية، التي تقابل بالفاء والعين واللام، من حروف العلة، والهمزة، والتضعيف، وعند النحويين: ما ليس في آخره حرف علة، سواء كان في غيره أو لا، وسواء كان أصليا أو زائدا، فيكون نصر سالما عند الطائفتين، ورمى غير سالم عندهما، وباع غير سالم عند الصرفيين وسالما عند النحويين، وسنلقى سالما عند الصرفيين، وغير سالم عند النحويين.
Al-Sālim (السالم): according to the morphologists (al-ṣarfiyyūn), that whose original root letters — corresponding to the fāʾ, ʿayn, and lām [pattern positions] — are free from letters of weakness (ḥurūf al-ʿillah), the hamzah, and doubling (tadʿīf); according to the grammarians (al-naḥwiyyūn), it is that whose final letter is not a letter of weakness, whether such a letter occurs elsewhere in the word or not, and whether it is original or augmented. Thus naṣara ('he helped') is sālim according to both groups, ramā ('he threw') is not sālim according to either group, bāʿa ('he sold') is not sālim according to the morphologists but is sālim according to the grammarians, and sanulqā ('we shall meet') is sālim according to the morphologists but not sālim according to the grammarians. AI
السلم
هو في اللغة التقديم والتسليم، وفي الشرع: اسم لعقد يوجب الملك للبائع في الثمن عاجلا، وللمشتري في الثمن آجلا، فالمبيع يسمى مسلما به، والثمن، يسمى: رأس المال، والبائع يسمى: مسلما إليه. والمشتري يسمى: رب السلم.
Al-Salam (السلم): linguistically means advancement and delivery (al-taqdīm wa-l-taslīm); in legal terminology (al-sharʿ) it is the name for a contract that establishes ownership for the seller of the price immediately, and for the buyer of the merchandise at a deferred time. The merchandise [sold in this way] is called al-muslam bihi (المسلم به), the price is called raʾs al-māl (رأس المال, the capital), the seller is called al-muslam ilayhi (المسلم إليه), and the buyer is called rabb al-salam (رب السلم). AI
السلام
تجرد النفس عن المحنة في الدارين.
Al-Salām (السلام): the soul's freedom from affliction in both abodes [this world and the next]. AI
السلامة في علم العروض
بقاء الجزء على الحالة الأصلية.
المسلمات
قضايا تسلم من الخصم ويبنى عليها الكلام لدفعه؛ سواء كانت مسلمة بين الخصمين، أو بين أهل العلم، كتسليم الفقهاء مسائل أصول الفقه، كما يستدل الفقيه على وجوب الزكاة فيحلي المبالغة، بقوله صلى الله عليه وسلم، "في الحلي زكاة"، فلو قال الخصم، هذا خبر واحد ولا نسلم أنه حجة، فنقول له: قد ثبت هذا في علم أصول الفقه، ولا بد أن تأخذه هاهنا.
The same letters, turned
The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.
س ل م
السين واللام والميم معظم بابه من الصحة والعافية ويكون فيه ما يشذ والشاذ عنه قليل فالسلامة أن يسلم الإنسان من العاهة والأذى
s-l-m: most of its chapter is about soundness and well-being, and there is in it what deviates, and what deviates from it is little; al-salāma is for a person to be free from defect and harm. AI
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
- سsīntongue-tip, by the front teeth · voiceless, continuantSīb. · I. Jinnī
- لlāmedge of the tongue · voiced, in betweenI. Jinnī
- مmīmbetween the lips · voiced, in betweenSīb. · 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
س
ومما بين طرف اللسان وفويق الثنايا مخرج الزاي، والسين، والصاد
From between the tip of the tongue and just above the front teeth is the place of the zāy, the sīn and the ṣād. Sībawayh, line 26560 ↗
ومما بين الثنايا وطرف اللسان، مخرج الصاد والزاي والسين
From between the front teeth and the tip of the tongue is the place of the ṣād, the zāy and the sīn. Ibn Jinnī, line 983 ↗
ل
ومن حافة اللسان من أدناها إلى منتهى طرف اللسان، من بينها وبين ما يليها من الحنك الأعلى، مما فويق الضاحك والناب والرباعية والثنية، مخرج اللام
From the edge of the tongue, from its nearest part to the end of its tip, between it and the upper palate next to it, just above the premolar, the canine, the lateral and the central incisor, is the place of the lām. Ibn Jinnī, lines 977–978 ↗
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 AI
س
Level of existence: ما ظهر في الماء · what appears in water
Divine Name: المحيي · al-Muḥyī, the Life-Giver
Lunar mansion: النعائم · al-Naʿāʾim
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62110Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
السين والشين فطبعهما الحرارة واليبوسة
Sīn and shīn: their nature is heat and dryness.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2581ل
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 2577م
Level of existence: الإنسان · the human being
Divine Name: الجامع · al-Jāmiʿ, the Gatherer
Lunar mansion: المؤخر · al-Muʾakhkhar
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62119Spheres 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 2582Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
س
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء المليح الذي من طبعه الرقة.
It is an indication of the comely thing whose nature is delicacy.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القبيح الخشن، أو إشارة إلى سواد حسا ومعنى.
It is an indication of the ugly, rough thing, or of blackness, sensible and figurative.
With kasra ـِ
وبالكسر إشارة إلى الشيء الطابع وتكون الإشارة منه.
With kasra it is an indication of the impressing/stamping thing, and the indication proceeds from it.
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.
م
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي جميع المكونات.
It is all created beings.
With ḍamma ـُ
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'.
With kasra ـِ
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.
Two-letter nucleus11 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterس 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 13962 ↗
- سلمالسين واللام والميم معظم بابه من الصحة والعافية ويكون فيه ما يشذ والشاذ عنه قليل فالسلامة أن يسلم الإنسان من العاهة والأذىQ 140 · L13963
- سلوىالسين واللام والحرف المعتل أصل واحد يدل على خفض وطيب عيشL13981
- سلتالسين واللام والتاء أصل واحد وهو جلف الشيء عن الشيء وقشرهL14011
- سلجالسين واللام والجيم أصل يدل على الابتلاعL14015
- سلحالسين واللام والحاء السلاح وهو ما يقاتل به وكان أبو عبيدة يفرق بين السلاح والجنة فيقول السلاح ما قوتل به والجنة ما اتقى به ويحتج بقوله — حيث ترى الخيلQ 4 · L14018
- سلخالسين واللام والخاء أصل واحد وهو إخراج الشيء عن جلده ثم يحمل عليه والأصل سلخت جلدة الشاة سلخا والسلخ جلد الحية تنسلخ ويقال أسود سالخ لأنه يسلخ جلده كلQ 3 · L14023
- سلسالسين واللام والسين يدل على سهولة في الشيءL14028
- سلعالسين واللام والعين أصل يدل على انصداع الشيء وانفتاحهL14035
- سلغالسين واللام والغين ليس بأصل لكنه من باب الإبدال فسينه مبدلة من صادL14039
- سلفالسين واللام والفاء أصل يدل على تقدم وسبقQ 8 · L14041
- سلكالسين واللام والكاف أصل يدل على نفوذ شيء في شيءQ 12 · L14060
In the sister scriptsHebrew ס/ש ל מSyriac ܣ/ܫ ܠ ܡ
| Arabic | س ل م |
| Hebrew | ס/ש ל מ |
| Syriac | ܣ/ܫ ܠ ܡ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩯/𐩦 𐩡 𐩣 |
| Phoenician | 𐤎/𐤔 𐤋 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.
Lenses
AIClassical lexiconAl-Khalīl records concrete and quasi-taboo uses: silm, a bucket with one handle;well attested
The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.
Al-Khalīl records concrete and quasi-taboo uses: silm, a bucket with one handle; salm, a snakebite, with the bitten man euphemistically called maslūm or salīm — the euphemism itself ('may God keep him safe,' sallamahu Allāh) already presupposing the core sense of safety. Al-Jawharī's entry is dominated by onomastics (Salm, Salmā, the tribe Sulaym), showing the root's high productivity in proper names without adding new core sense. Al-Rāghib crystallizes the semantic center: salāma is freedom from apparent and hidden ills — qalb salīm (Q 26:89) for the inward heart free of corruption, and 'musallama lā shiyata fīhā' (Q 2:71) for an outwardly unblemished animal — and cites God 'keeping safe' (sallama, Q 8:43) and entry 'in safety, secure' (bi-salāmin āminīn, Q 15:46). Ibn Manẓūr extends the root to a social-legal sense: tasallama minhu, 'he disassociated himself from him,' and reads Q 25:63's 'qālū salāman' — via Sībawayh — not as the greeting but as tasallum, a disclaiming formula of peaceable non-engagement, since the verse predates the command to greet polytheists; Ibn ʿArafa glosses it as 'words entailing neither wrong nor sin.' Lane's summary — 'to be or become safe, secure, or free from evils, from trial, from affliction' — confirms this as the stable semantic base beneath the onomastic, theological, and social extensions.
Draws on: al-Khalīl · al-Jawharī · Ibn Fāris · al-Rāghib · Ibn Manẓūr · Lane
- al-ʿAyn, s.v. s-l-m
- al-Ṣiḥāḥ, s.v. s-l-m
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, s.v. s-l-m
- al-Rāghib, al-Mufradāt, s.v. s-l-m
- Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, s.v. s-l-m
- Lane, Lexicon, s.v. salima
Letters & soundIn the given celestial correspondences, sīn is linked to 'what appears in water,' lām to the third heaven, and mīm to the human being.speculative
What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.
In the given celestial correspondences, sīn is linked to 'what appears in water,' lām to the third heaven, and mīm to the human being. Al-Dabbāgh's letter-meanings read sīn as indicating the comely thing whose nature is delicacy, lām as the speaker's attainment of something great (and an indication of greatness generally), and mīm as all created beings. A speculative reading of s-l-m as 'the delicate thing (sīn), attaining greatness (lām), for all created beings (mīm)' is available on this scheme, resonant with salām as a state granted to creatures, but this is mnemonic resonance, not linguistic evidence; mainstream historical linguistics does not recognize sound-symbolic value at the single-letter level as explanatory.
Draws on: Ibn ʿArabī celestial correspondences · al-Dabbāgh letter-meanings
- Ibn ʿArabī, celestial letter correspondences (as supplied)
- al-Dabbāgh, letter-meanings on fatḥa (as supplied)
Root structureIbn Fāris's s-l-* chapter siblings scatter across unrelated senses — slw (ease of life), slt (scraping/peeling), slj (swallowing), slḥ (weapon), slkh (skinning), sls (smoothness/ease), slʿ (splitting open), slgh (irregular, by substitution of ṣ), slf (precedence) — so the bare s-l nucleus carries no demonstrable shared charge;uncertain
The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).
Ibn Fāris's s-l-* chapter siblings scatter across unrelated senses — slw (ease of life), slt (scraping/peeling), slj (swallowing), slḥ (weapon), slkh (skinning), sls (smoothness/ease), slʿ (splitting open), slgh (irregular, by substitution of ṣ), slf (precedence) — so the bare s-l nucleus carries no demonstrable shared charge; the chapter is an alphabetic grouping, not a semantic family. Among the six permutations, slm itself dominates by frequency (140 occurrences), while sml is attested but rare and means 'weakness, paucity' — a near-antonym reached by a mere letter-swap; lms (5 occurrences) means 'to seek by touch,' and its metathesis mls means 'smoothness, that to which nothing clings' — an intriguing opposition (grasping/touching versus nothing sticking) that Ibn Jinnī's greater-derivation method would flag as suggestive. lsm and msl survive only as irregular or augmented forms (ibdāl, or masīl with an augmented mīm). All of this is offered as juxtaposition of attested forms, not as an asserted etymological chain.
Draws on: Ibn Fāris nucleus siblings · permutations · Ibn Jinnī greater derivation
- Wiktionary Arabic root appendix س-ل-م ↗
- Ibn Jinnī, al-Khaṣāʾiṣ (link not verified)
Semitic kin & loanwordsThis is a pan-Semitic root with strong, confident cognates: Hebrew shālōm, Aramaic/Syriac shlāmā, Akkadian šalāmu/šulmu, and Geʿez salām all carry the core sense of wholeness, well-being, and peace.well attested
Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.
This is a pan-Semitic root with strong, confident cognates: Hebrew shālōm, Aramaic/Syriac shlāmā, Akkadian šalāmu/šulmu, and Geʿez salām all carry the core sense of wholeness, well-being, and peace. This is inherited common Semitic vocabulary rather than a case of borrowing in either direction; Arabic salām/silm/islām sit squarely within this shared inheritance rather than as a loanword from any one of these languages.
Draws on: Hebrew · Aramaic/Syriac · Akkadian · Geʿez
- Brown–Driver–Briggs, s.v. שָׁלוֹם
- Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, s.v. shlm (root)
Quranic exegesisAt Q 2:112, 'man aslama wajhahu li-llāh' is read by al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī as sincere, exclusive submission of the whole self to God, aslama here carrying full theological weight rather than mere linguistic 'safety.' At Q 2:128–132, in Abraham's prayer ('waj'alnā muslimayni laka';well attested
How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.
At Q 2:112, 'man aslama wajhahu li-llāh' is read by al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī as sincere, exclusive submission of the whole self to God, aslama here carrying full theological weight rather than mere linguistic 'safety.' At Q 2:128–132, in Abraham's prayer ('waj'alnā muslimayni laka'; 'aslamtu li-Rabbi l-ʿālamīn'), islām is read by al-Rāzī and others as submission to the one Lord specifically, tying the term to the pure Abrahamic ḥanīfiyya prior to any later communal label. At Q 4:94, the phrase 'liman alqā ilaykum al-salām/al-salam' generates a recorded exegetical dispute — al-Ṭabarī preserves both readings — over whether al-salām denotes simply the greeting of peace or, on the variant vocalization al-salam, the profession of islām itself, i.e. that the person has already submitted; the ambiguity is treated as consequential for the ruling on whether such a person may be attacked in battle.
Philosophy & kalāmIslām/īmān is a central kalām distinction: the mutakallimūn (early Ashʿarīs and others) generally treat islām as outward submission and adherence to the legal/ritual obligations, and īmān as inward assent (taṣdīq) of the heart, debating whether the two coincide or diverge — a debate with real stakes for the status of the nominal Muslim who lacks inner conviction.well attested
The word as a technical term in falsafa and theology.
Islām/īmān is a central kalām distinction: the mutakallimūn (early Ashʿarīs and others) generally treat islām as outward submission and adherence to the legal/ritual obligations, and īmān as inward assent (taṣdīq) of the heart, debating whether the two coincide or diverge — a debate with real stakes for the status of the nominal Muslim who lacks inner conviction. Al-Ghazālī, drawing on the ḥadīth of Jibrīl, arranges islām, īmān, and iḥsān as ascending grades of religious commitment rather than synonyms. Separately, al-Salām as one of the divine names is explained via Ibn Fāris's etymology: God is al-Salām because He is free (sālim) from the defect, deficiency, and perishing that attach to created things, and 'the abode of al-salām' (dār al-salām) is Paradise, itself free from such defects — a theological extension of the root's basic sense of freedom from harm.
Draws on: kalām · islām/īmān distinction · divine names
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, s.v. s-l-m (on al-Salām as divine name)
- al-Ghazālī on islām/īmān/iḥsān, general kalām discussion
Reference