Mashrabaمشربة

شعبtwo disputed original meanings, per Ibn Fāris: separation/splitting, and joining/gathering (root shb)

الشين والعين والباء أصلان مختلفان أحدهما يدل على الافتراق والآخر على الاجتماع ثم اختلف أهل اللغة في ذلك فقال قوم هو من …

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

شعب
Patterns computed · our data

The words of ش ع ب that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.

31 words7 verbs2 verbal nouns1 participle2 places and instruments5 intensives and elatives9 other nouns3 plurals2 relatives and abstracts

  • شُعْبَةbranch; subdivision
  • شِعْبroad
  • شُعَب—
  • شُعُوب—
  • تَشَعَّبَit became collected
The whole family8 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs7شَعَبَ · تَشَعَّبَ · شَعَّبَ

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 يَفْعَلُ (a – a; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)

  • شَعَبَhe collectedLaneForm ILaneIbn Fāris
  • تَشَعَّبَit became collectedLaneForm Vlibrary ×1LaneIbn Fāris
  • شَعَّبَForm IILaneIbn Fāris
  • شَاعَبَhe became distant, or remote, from himLaneForm IIILane
Verbal nouns2شَعَب · شَعْب

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

  • شَعَبwidth, or distance, or great width or distance, between the horns of a goat …LaneForm I · Lane: inf. n.LaneIbn Fāris
  • شَعْبForm I · Lane: inf. n.LaneIbn Fāris
Participles1مَشْعُوب

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

  • مَشْعُوبpassive, Form ILane
Place, time and instrument2مَشْعَب · مِشْعَب

Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →

  • مَشْعَبway, road, or path, in an absolute sense, or branching off from anotherLanenoun of place or timeLaneIbn Fāris
  • مِشْعَبinstrument by means of which a crack in a wooden bowl or some other thing …Lanenoun of instrumentLaneIbn Fāris
Intensives, qualities and the elative5شَعِيب · أَشْعَب · شَعُوب

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

  • شَعِيبdisorganized; dispersedautoquality (faʿīl)library ×1LaneIbn Fāris
  • أَشْعَبgoat, and a gazelle, wide, or very wide, between the hornsLaneelative or colour adjective (afʿal)LaneIbn Fāris
  • شَعُوبdeath became near to himLaneintensive (faʿūl)LaneIbn Fāris
  • شَعْبَانintensive (faʿlān)LaneIbn Fāris
  • شَعَّابrepairer of cracks in wooden bowls , by piecing themLaneintensive (faʿʿāl)Lane
Other nouns9شُعْبَة · شِعْب · شُعَب

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

Plurals3شُعُب · شُعْب · شِعَاب

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

  • شُعُبbroken plural of شَعِيبLaneIbn Fāris
  • شُعْبbroken plural of أَشْعَبLaneIbn Fāris
  • شِعَابroadsfrom the singularbroken plural of شِعْبLane
Relative and abstract2شُعُوبِيَّة · شُعُوبِيّ

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

  • شُعُوبِيَّةsect which does not prefer, or exalt, the Arabs above the 'Ajam or …Laneabstract noun (-iyya)Lane
  • شُعُوبِيّrelative adjective (-iyy)Lane
Why this shape?What each of the 20 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.

مَفْعَلَةش ع بمَشْعَبَة

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
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-shaʿb (الشعب): the crack which the mender (al-shaʿʿāb) mends;

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

    Al-shaʿb (الشعب): the crack which the mender (al-shaʿʿāb) mends; his craft is al-shiʿāba (الشعابة). He said: 'My soul said to me: mend the crack (ishʿab al-ṣadʿ) and take heed for one of the grave, intractable matters, taking heed of it.' Al-mishʿab (المشعب): the awl. Al-shuʿba (الشعبة): the piece by which the mender joins a broken bowl or the like. You say: 'shaʿabahu (شعبه) fa-mā yanshaʿib (فما ينشعب)' — i.e. it will not accept mending; and in more elevated speech, 'shaʿabahu fa-mā yaltaʾim' [it will not rejoin]. Al-shaʿb (الشعب): what has branched off among the tribes of the Arabs, plural shuʿūb (شعوب). It is said: the Arabs are a shaʿb, the mawālī are a shaʿb, the Turks are a shaʿb — plural shuʿūb. Al-shuʿūbī (الشعوبي) is one who belittles the standing of the Arabs and sees no merit for them. 'Shaʿabtu baynahum (شعبت بينهم)': I separated them; 'shaʿabtu baynahum' [lightly pronounced]: I reconciled [between them]. 'Ittalama shaʿbuhum (التأم شعبهم)': they gathered after being dispersed; 'tafarraqa shaʿbuhum': [their union] dispersed. Al-Ṭirimmāḥ said: 'Scattered was the union (shaʿb) of the tribe after being joined together…' And Dhū al-Rumma said: '…and do not divide a single union (shaʿb) [already] divided.' 'Shaʿaba al-rajulu amrahu (شعب الرجل أمره)': he scattered his affair. Al-Khalīl said: 'This is among the wonders of speech, and what the breadth of the language and Arabic encompasses — that shaʿb can be separation and can be gathering, and poetry has spoken so.' Mashʿab al-ḥaqq (مشعب الحق): the path of truth. Al-Kumayt said: 'I have naught but the family of Aḥmad as [my] shīʿa… and I have naught but the path (mashʿab) of truth as my path.' 'Inshaʿabat aghṣān al-shajara (انشعبت أغصان الشجرة)': the branches of the tree branched out. Al-shuʿba (الشعبة): its branch at the top of its trunk. 'A staff with two branches (shuʿbatān) at its head.' Shuʿab al-jibāl (شعب الجبال): the divergent parts of their peaks. 'Inshaʿabat al-ṭarīq (انشعبت الطريق)' when it forks, and 'inshaʿabat minhu anhār (انشعبت منه أنهار)' [rivers branched from it]. The sides and extremities of a horse are called its shaʿb (شعبه) — meaning its neck, withers, and whatever is prominent on it. He said: 'A lofty, noble stallion, whose shaʿb rises high, overwhelming the rider, were it not for his girth…' Abū Laylā said: all sides of the horse are its shaʿb; its extremities are its two forelegs and two hindlegs. It is said: 'a horse ashʿab al-rijlayn (أشعب الرجلين)' — i.e. there is a gap between them. A gazelle 'ashʿab' has its two horns diverging, widely separated. Abū Dāwūd said: '…with contracted sinews of the flanks, barking, from among the diverging-horned [gazelles] (al-shuʿub)…' He describes the horse by comparison with diverging-horned gazelles. Analogically the ʿayn should be quiescent, following the pattern of ashʿab/shuʿb like aḥmar/ḥumr, but from metrical necessity he vocalized the ʿayn, and this is permissible in poetry. It is said: 'In so-and-so's hand is a shuʿba (شعبة) of this matter' — i.e. a portion of it. Likewise 'a shuʿba' of the vicissitudes and states of fate (al-dahr). The crop, while still a single leaf, then branches out (yanshaʿib) — i.e. it acquires shuʿab (branches); it is said 'shaʿaba' [it branched]. It is said of what brings death: 'shaʿabathu shaʿūb (شعبته شعوب)' — i.e. death took him away, and he died.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الشعب: الصدع الذي يشعبه الشعاب، وصنعته: الشعابة، قال: «2» وقالت لي النفس اشعب الصدع واهتبل ... لإحدى الهنات المعضلات اهتبالها والمشعب: المثقب. والشعبة: القطعة يصل بها الشعاب قدحا مكسورا ونحوه. تقول: شعبه فما ينشعب، أي: ما يقبل الشعب، والعالي من الكلام شعبه فما يلتئم. والشعب: ما تشعب من قبائل العرب، وجمعه: شعوب. ويقال: العرب شعب والموالي شعب والترك شعب وجمعه شعوب. والشعوبي: الذي يصغر شأن العرب فلا يرى لهم فضلا. وشعبت بينهم، أي: فرقتهم. وشعبت بينهم بالتخفيف: أصلحت. والتأم شعبهم، أي: اجتمعوا بعد تفرقهم وتفرق شعبهم، قال الطرماح «1» شت شعب الحي بعد التئام وقال ذو الرمة: «2» ولا تقسم شعبا واحدا شعب وشعب الرجل أمره: فرقه. قال الخليل: هذا من عجائب الكلام ووسع اللغة والعربية أن يكون الشعب تفرقا، ويكون اجتماعا وقد نطق به الشعر. ومشعب الحق: طريق الحق. قال الكميت: «3» وما لي إلا آل أحمد شيعة ... وما لي ألا مشعب الحق مشعب وانشعبت أغصان الشجرة، والشعبة: غصنها في أعلى ساقها. وعصا في رأسها شعبتان. وشعب الجبال: ما تفرق من رءوسها. وانشعبت الطريق إذا تفرق، وانشعبت منه أنهار. وأقطار الفرس وأطرافه شعبه، يعني: عنقه ومنسجه وما أشرف منه. قال: «1» أشم خنذيذ منيف شعبه ... يقتحم الفارس لولا قيقبه قال أبو ليلى: نواحي الفرس كلها شعبه، أطرافه: يداه ورجلاه. يقال: فرس أشعب الرجلين أي: فيهما فجوة، وظبي أشعب: متفرق قرناه متباين [ان] «2» بينونة شديدة. قال أبو دواد: «3» وقصرى شنج الأنساء نباج من الشعب يصف الفرس. يعني من الظباء الشعب. وكان قياسه تسكين العين على قياس أشعب وشعب مثل أحمر وحمر، ولحاجته حرك العين، وهذا يحتمل في الشعر. ويقال: في يد فلان شعبة من هذا الأمر، أي: طائفة. وكذلك الشعبة من شعب الدهر وحالاته. والزرع يكون على ورقة ثم ينشعب، أي: يصير ذا شعب وقد شعب. ويقال للمنبة: شعبته شعوب أي أماته الموت فمات. وقال بعضهم: شعوب اسم المنية لا ينصرف، ولا تدخل فيه ألف ولام، لا يقال: هذه الشعوب. وقال بعضهم: بل يكون نكرة. قال الفرزدق: يا ذئب إنك إن نجوت فبعد ما ... شر وقد نظرت إليك شعوب ويقال للميت: انشعب إذا مات، وتمثل يزيد بن معاوية ببيت سهم الغنوي: «1» حتى يصادف مالا أو يقال فتى ... لاقى الذي يشعب الفتيان فانشعبا والشعب: سمة لبني منقر كهيئة المحجن. وكأس شعوب هو الموت. والشعبة: صدع في الجبل تأوي إليه الطير «2» . والشعيب: السقاء البالي، ويقال: بل هي المزادة الضخمة. قال امرؤ القيس: «3» فسحت دموعي في الرداء كأنها ... (كلى) «4» من شعيب بين سح وتهتان [و] «5» شعبعب: موضع. وشعبان اسم شهر. وشعبان حي، نسبة عامر الشعبي إليهم وشعب: حي من همدان.

  • al-Jawharī · 393Al-shaʿb (الشعب): what has branched off among the tribes of the Arabs and non-Arabs, plural al-shuʿūb (الشعوب).

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

    Al-shaʿb (الشعب): what has branched off among the tribes of the Arabs and non-Arabs, plural al-shuʿūb (الشعوب). Al-shuʿūbiyya (الشعوبية) is a faction that does not favor the Arabs over the non-Arabs. As for what occurs in the ḥadīth: 'a man from al-shuʿūb (الشعوب) accepted Islam,' it means one of the non-Arabs. Al-shaʿb (الشعب): the great tribe, the ancestor of the [lesser] tribes attributed to it — i.e. it gathers and unites them. Abū ʿUbayd related from Ibn al-Kalbī, from his father: 'Al-shaʿb is greater than al-qabīla (the tribe), then al-faṣīla, then al-ʿimāra, then al-baṭn, then al-fakhdh.' Shaʿb al-raʾs (شعب الرأس) [of the skull]: its structure joining its parts together; and in the head there are four qabāʾil (sections). You say: 'humā shaʿbān (هما شعبان)' — i.e. they are two equals. Al-shaʿb (الشعب): the crack in a thing; its mending is also called al-shaʿb; its mender is al-shaʿʿāb (الشعاب), and the tool is al-mishʿab (المشعب). 'Shaʿabtu al-shayʾ (شعبت الشيء)': I separated it. 'Shaʿabtuhu': I joined/gathered it — it is among the opposites (al-aḍdād). You say: 'ittalama shaʿbuhum (التأم شعبهم)' when they gather after separation, and 'tafarraqa shaʿbuhum' when they separate after gathering. Al-Ṭirimmāḥ said: 'Scattered was the union (shaʿb) of the tribe after being joined together…' And in the ḥadīth: 'What is this legal opinion (fatyā) with which he shaʿaba the people?' — i.e. divided them. Shiʿb (شعب) is a mountain in Yemen, [the mountain of] Dhū Shaʿbayn (ذو شعبين), settled by Ḥassān ibn ʿAmr al-Ḥimyarī and his descendants, who were named after it. Those of them in Kūfa are called al-Shaʿbiyyūn (الشعبيون), among them ʿĀmir ibn Sharāḥīl al-Shaʿbī, counted among Hamdān; those in Syria are called al-Shaʿbāniyyūn (الشعبانيون); those in Yemen are called Āl Dhī Shaʿbayn; and those in Egypt and the Maghrib are called al-Ashʿūb (الاشعوب). Al-tashaʿʿub (التشعب): dispersal; al-inshiʿāb (الانشعاب) likewise. 'Ashʿaba al-rajul (أشعب الرجل)': the man died, or parted with a separation from which there is no return. The poet said: '…and they were people from among the shuʿūb, then they ashʿabū (perished)…' Abū ʿUbayd [said]: al-shaʿīb (الشعيب), al-mazāda, al-rāwiya, and al-saṭīḥa are all one and the same [waterskin]. 'Tays ashʿab (تيس أشعب)' — of wide-set shaʿb — when the space between its two horns is very great, plural shuʿb (شعب). Abū Dāwūd said: '…with contracted sinews of the hind legs, barking, from among the diverging-horned [gazelles]…' Al-shiʿb (الشعب) [with kasra]: the mountain pass/path, plural al-shiʿāb (الشعاب). In the proverb: 'shughilat shiʿābī jadwāya (شغلت شعابي جدواي)' — i.e. the abundance of my expenses occupied my giving away from other people. Al-shaʿb is also a brand-mark (wasm) used by Banū Minqar. Al-shaʿb is also the great tribe/nation. Al-mashʿab (المشعب): the road. And he said: 'I have naught but the family of Aḥmad as [my] shīʿa… and I have naught but the path (mashʿab) of truth as my path.' 'Inshaʿaba al-ṭarīq (انشعب الطريق)' and the branches of the tree — i.e. [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الشعب: ما تشعب من قبائل العرب والعجم، والجمع الشعوب. والشعوبية: فرقة لا تفضل العرب على العجم. وأما الذي في الحديث: أن رجلا من الشعوب أسلم، فإنه يعني من العجم. والشعب: القبيلة العظيمة، وهو أبو القبائل الذي ينسبون إليه، أي يجمعهم ويضمهم. وحكى أبو عبيد عن ابن الكلبي عن أبيه: الشعب أكبر من القبيلة، ثم الفصيلة، ثم العمارة، ثم البطن، ثم الفخذ. وشعب الرأس: شأنه الذى يضم قبائله. وفى الرأس أربع قبائل. وتقول: هما شعبان: أي مثلان. والشعب: الصدع في الشئ، وإصلاحه أيضا الشعب، ومصلحه الشعاب، والآلة مشعب. وشعبت الشئ: فرقته. وشعبته: جمعته، وهو من الأضداد. تقول: التأم شعبهم، إذا اجتمعوا بعد التفرق، وتفرق شعبهم، إذا تفرقوا بعد الاجتماع. قال الطرماح: شت شعب الحي بعد التئام (1) * وفي الحديث: " ما هذه الفتيا التي شعبت بها الناس "، أي فرقتهم. وشعب: جبل باليمن، وهو ذو شعبين، نزله حسان بن عمرو الحميرى وولده فنسبوا إليه، فمن كان منهم بالكوفة يقال لهم شعبيون، منهم عامر بن شراحيل الشعبى وعداده في همدان، ومن كان منهم بالشأم يقال لهم الشعبانيون، ومن كان منهم باليمن يقال لهم آل ذى شعبين، ومن كان منهم بمصر والمغرب يقال لهم الاشعوب. والتشعب: التفرق، والانشعاب مثله. وأشعب الرجل، إذا مات أو فارق فراقا لا يرجع. قال الشاعر (2) : * وكانوا أناسا من شعوب فأشعبوا (1) * أبو عبيد: الشعيب، والمزادة والراوية والسطيحة شئ واحد. وتيس أشعب بين الشعب، إذا كان ما بين قرنيه بعيدا جدا، والجمع شعب. وقال أبو داود: وقصرى شنج الانسا * ء نباح من الشعب (2) والشعب بالكسر: الطريق في الجبل، والجمع الشعاب. وفي المثل: " شغلت شعابي جدواي " أي شغلت كثرة المؤونة عطائي عن الناس. والشعب أيضا: سمة لبنى منقر. والشعب أيضا: الحي العظيم. والمشعب: الطريق. وقال (3) : ومالي إلا آل أحمد شيعة * ومالي إلا مشعب الحق مشعب وانشعب الطريق وأغصان الشجرة، أي تفرقت. والشعبة بالضم: واحدة الشعب، وهى الاغصان. وشعب الفرس أيضا: ما أشرف منه كالعنق والمنسج. قال الراجز (1) : أشم خنذيذ منيف شعبه (2) * والشعبة أيضا: المسيل الصغير. يقال: شعبة حافل، أي ممتلئة سيلا. والشعبة أيضا: الفرقة، تقول: شعبتهم المنية، أي فرقتهم. ومنه سميت المنية شعوب، لأنها تفرق. وهي معرفة لا تدخلها الألف واللام. والشعبة أيضا: الرؤبة، وهي قطعة يشعب بها الإناء. يقال قصعة مشعبة، أي شعبت في مواضع منها، شدد للكثرة. والشعبة: الطائفة من الشئ. وشعبان: اسم شهر، والجمع شعبانات. وأشعب: اسم رجل كان طماعا. وفى المثل " أطمع من أشعب ". وشعبى: موضع، بضم الشين وفتح العين. قال جرير يهجو العباس بن يزيد الكندى: أعبدا حل في شعبى غريبا * ألؤما (3) لا أبا لك واغترابا وشعبعب: موضع. قال الشاعر (4) : هل أجعلن يدى للخد مرفقة * على شعبعب بين الحوض والعطن وقولهم: شعب الأمير رسولا إلى موضع كذا، أي أرسله.

  • Ibn Fāris · 395Shīn, ʿayn, and bāʾ are two different roots: one indicates separation (al-iftirāq) and the other indicates gathering/union (al-ijtimāʿ).

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

    Shīn, ʿayn, and bāʾ are two different roots: one indicates separation (al-iftirāq) and the other indicates gathering/union (al-ijtimāʿ). Then the philologists differed about this: some said it belongs to the category of opposites (al-aḍdād), and al-Khalīl explicitly stated this. Others said this is not from the opposites, but rather these are [different] dialects. Al-Khalīl said: 'Among the wonders of speech, and what the breadth of the Arabic language encompasses, is that shaʿb (الشعب) can mean separation and can mean gathering.' Ibn Durayd said: 'Al-shaʿb (الشعب) is separation, and al-shaʿb (الشعب) is gathering, and this is not from the opposites — rather it is a dialectal variant among different peoples.' As for what we mentioned regarding separation: their saying for a crack/split in something is shaʿb (شعب). From this comes al-shaʿb (الشعب) — what has branched off among the tribes of the Arabs and non-Arabs, plural shuʿūb (شعوب). He (exalted be His praise) said: 'And We made you shuʿūban (شعوبا) and qabāʾil [tribes]' [Qur'an 49:13]. It is said: al-shaʿb (الشعب) is the great nation/tribe. They say mashʿab al-ḥaqq (مشعب الحق) is 'the path of truth.' Al-Kumayt said: 'I have naught but the family of Aḥmad as [my] shīʿa (party)… and I have naught but the path (mashʿab) of truth as my path.' It is said 'the roads inshaʿabat (انشعبت) with them' when they diverged, and 'the branches of the tree inshaʿabat.' As for shaʿb al-faras (شعب الفرس) [of a horse], it is said that it refers to the parts that rise upon it, such as the neck and the withers, and whatever is prominent on it. He said: 'A lofty, noble stallion, whose shaʿb (extremities) rise high…' It is said: 'a gazelle is ashʿab (أشعب)' when its two horns are separated, diverging widely. Abū Dāwūd said: '…and with contracted sinews of the hind legs, barking, from among the diverging-horned [gazelles] (al-shuʿb)…' Al-shaʿb (الشعب) is the opening between two mountains. Shuʿūb al-manīya (شعوب المنية) [Death] is so called because it shaʿaba — i.e. it disperses/scatters [people]. It is said: 'death shaʿabathum (شعبتهم) fa-inshaʿabū (فانشعبوا)' — i.e. it separated them and they scattered. Al-shaʿīb (الشعيب) is the worn-out waterskin, called so because it 'shaʿaba' the water within it — i.e. it does not hold it but lets it flow out. He said: 'What ails my eye, like the leaking waterskin (al-shaʿīb)…' Ibn Durayd said: Shaʿbān (شعبان) was named for their tashaʿʿub (تشعبهم) during it — meaning their dispersal in seeking water. And in the ḥadīth: 'What is this legal opinion (fatyā) that has shaʿabat (شعبت) the people?' — i.e. divided them. As for the other root [gathering]: their saying 'shaʿaba al-ṣadʿ (شعب الصدع)' means he mended the crack, and 'shaʿaba al-ʿuss (شعب العس)' and the like [means to mend]. The mending-tool is called al-mishʿab (المشعب). It is possible that shaʿb (الشعب) in the sense of 'tribes' was named for gathering and concord. They say: 'tafarraqa shaʿb Banī fulān (تفرق شعب بني فلان)' [the union of so-and-so's tribe broke up] — and this indicates gathering [i.e. shaʿb here denotes the unity that was broken]. Al-Ṭirimmāḥ said: 'Scattered was the union (shaʿb) of the tribe after being joined together…' From this root — though not derived from it — is Shaʿbʿab (شعبعب), a place-name. He said: 'Shall I make my hand a pillow for my cheek upon Shaʿbʿab, between the watering-place and the herds' resting-ground?' And Shaʿbī (شعبي) is also a place-name.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الشين والعين والباء أصلان مختلفان أحدهما يدل على الافتراق والآخر على الاجتماع ثم اختلف أهل اللغة في ذلك فقال قوم هو من باب الأضداد وقد نص الخليل على ذلك وقال آخرون ليس ذلك من الأضداد إنما هي لغات قال الخليل من عجائب الكلام ووسع العربية أن الشعب يكون تفرقا ويكون اجتماعا وقال ابن دريد الشعب الافتراق والشعب الاجتماع وليس ذلك من الأضداد وإنما هي لغة لقوم فالذي ذكرناه من الافتراق وقولهم للصدع في الشيء شعب ومنه الشعب ما تشعب من قبائل العرب والعجم والجمع شعوب قال جل ثناؤه ﴿ وجعلناكم شعوبا وقبائل ﴾ ويقال الشعب الحي العظيم قالوا ومشعب الحق طريقة قال الكميت — فما لي إلا آل أحمد شيعة … ومالي إلا مشعب الحق مشعب … ويقال انشعبت بهم الطرق إذا تفرقت وانشعبت أغصان الشجرة فأما شعب الفرس فيقال إنه أقطاره التي تعلو منه كالعنق والمنسج وما أشرف منه قال — أشم خنذيذ منيف شعبه … ويقال ظبي أشعب إذا تفرق قرناه فتباينا بينونة شديدة قال أبو داؤد — وقصى شنج الأنساء … نباح من الشعب … والشعب ما انفرج بين الجبلين وشعوب المنية لأنها تشعب أي تفرق ويقال شعبتهم المنية فانشعبوا أي فرقتهم فافترقوا والشعيب السقاء البالي وإنما سمى شعيبا لأنه يشعب الماء الذي فيه أي لا يحفظه بل يسيله قال — ما بال عيني كالشعيب العين … قال ابن دريد وسمى شعبان لتشعبهم فيه وهو تفرقهم في طلب المياه وفي الحديث ( ما هذه الفتيا التي شعبت الناس ) أي فرقتهم وأما الباب الآخر فقولهم شعب الصدع إذا لاءمه وشعب العس وما أشبهه ويقال للمثقب المشعب وقد يجوز أن يكون الشعب الذي في باب القبائل سمى للاجتماع والائتلاف ويقولون تفرق شعب بني فلان وهذا يدل على الاجتماع قال الطرماح — شت شعب الحي بعد التئام … ومن هذا الباب وإن لم يكن مشتقا شعبعب وهو موضع قال — هل أجعلن يدي للخد مرفقة … على شعبعب بين الحوض والعطن … وشعبي موضع أيضا

  • al-Rāghib · 502Al-shaʿb (الشعب): the tribe branched off from a single clan (ḥayy), plural shuʿūb (شعوب).

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

    Al-shaʿb (الشعب): the tribe branched off from a single clan (ḥayy), plural shuʿūb (شعوب). He (exalted) said: 'shuʿūban wa-qabāʾil' [Qur'an 49:13]. Al-shaʿb of a wadi: that part of it where one end is joined and another end is separated; so if you look at it from the side of divergence, in your mind you take it as one thing dividing [into two]; and if you look from the side of convergence, in your mind you take it as two things united. For that reason it is said 'shaʿabtu al-shayʾ (شعبت الشيء)' when you have gathered it, and 'shaʿabtuhu' when you have separated it. Shuʿayb (شعيب) is the diminutive of shaʿb, which is [either] the infinitive noun, or the noun itself, or the diminutive of shaʿb [in the sense of tribe]. Al-shaʿīb (الشعيب): the worn mazāda [waterskin] that has been mended and joined. And His saying: 'ilā ẓilli dhī thalāthi shuʿab' [to a shadow of three branches] [Qur'an 77:30] pertains to what follows this text [i.e., discussed elsewhere].

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الشعب: القبيلة المتشعبة من حي واحد، وجمعه: شعوب، قال تعالى: شعوبا وقبائل [الحجرات/ 13] ، والشعب من الوادي: ما اجتمع منه طرف وتفرق طرف، فإذا نظرت إليه من الجانب الذي تفرق أخذت في وهمك واحدا يتفرق، وإذا نظرت من جانب الاجتماع أخذت في وهمك اثنين اجتمعا، فلذلك قيل: شعبت الشيء: إذا جمعته، وشعبته إذا فرقته «4» ، وشعيب تصغير شعب الذي هو مصدر، أو الذي هو اسم، أو تصغير شعب، والشعيب «5» : المزادة الخلق التي قد أصلحت وجمعت. وقوله: إلى ظل ذي ثلاث شعب [المرسلات/ 30] ، يختص بما بعد هذا الكتاب.

  • Lisān · 711Al-shaʿb (الشعب): gathering, and separation, and mending, and corrupting — [it is] an opposite (ḍidd).

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

    Al-shaʿb (الشعب): gathering, and separation, and mending, and corrupting — [it is] an opposite (ḍidd). In the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿUmar: 'wa-shaʿb ṣaghīr min shaʿb kabīr (وشعب صغير من شعب كبير)' — meaning: a little repair amid much corruption. 'Shaʿabahu yashʿabuhu shaʿban (شعبه يشعبه شعبا)', 'fa-inshaʿaba (فانشعب)', and 'shaʿabahu fa-tashaʿʿaba (شعبه فتشعب)'. Abū ʿUbayd cited from ʿAlī ibn Ghadīr al-Ghanawī, regarding al-shaʿb in the sense of separation: 'And when you see a man scattering (yushaʿʿib) his affair, [as one] scatters the staff (shaʿb al-ʿaṣā), and persists in disobedience…' He said: it means he scatters/disperses his affair. Al-Aṣmaʿī said: 'shaʿaba al-rajulu amrahu (شعب الرجل أمره)' when he scattered and dispersed it. Ibn al-Sikkīt said, regarding al-shaʿb: it carries two meanings — it can be mending, and it can be dividing. 'Shaʿaba al-ṣadʿ fī al-ināʾ (شعب الصدع في الإناء)' is only its mending and joining, and the like. Al-shaʿb (الشعب): the crack which the mender (al-shaʿʿāb) mends; its mending is also called al-shaʿb. In the ḥadīth: 'ittakhadha makāna al-shaʿb silsila (اتخذ مكان الشعب سلسلة)' — i.e., in place of the crack and split that was in it. Al-shaʿʿāb (الشعاب): the mender, his craft al-shiʿāba (الشعابة). Al-mishʿab (المشعب): the awl used for mending. Al-shaʿīb (الشعيب): the mended mazāda [waterskin]; it is said: it is made from two hides; and it is said: from two matching hides, without any gusset (fiʾām) at their corners — al-fiʾām in waterskins being when the hide is folded and something added at its sides to widen it. Al-Rāʿī said, describing camels grazing in the pasture: 'If she does not return in the evening, a hastening [servant] brings to her a mended waterskin (shaʿīb) of hide, with two mouths, filled full…' He means a waterskin of two hides joined together. And it is said: it is widened with a third piece of leather set between the two hides; and it is said: it is [made] of two pieces, one joined (shuʿibat) to the other, i.e., attached; and it is said: it is sewn from two sides — all this deriving from the sense of joining. Al-shaʿīb is also: the worn-out waterskin, because it 'shaʿaba' (leaks), and the plural of all this is shuʿb (شعب). Al-shaʿīb, al-mazāda, al-rāwiya, and al-saṭīḥa are one and the same, so named because part of it was joined to another part. It is said: 'ashʿabahu fa-mā yanshaʿib (أشعبه فما ينشعب)' — i.e., it will not mend/join. The riding-saddle (al-raḥl) is also called shaʿīb; from this is the saying of al-Marrār, describing a she-camel: 'When she kneels, there kneels, from her right side, a shaʿīb (saddle), by which are her rest and her fatigue…' He means the saddle, because it is mashʿūb — part of it joined to part, i.e., bound together. You say: 'ittalama shaʿbuhum (التأم شعبهم)' when they gather after dispersal, and 'tafarraqa shaʿbuhum' when they disperse after gathering. Al-Azharī said: this is among the wonders of their speech. Al-Ṭirimmāḥ said: 'Scattered was the union (shaʿb) of the tribe after being joined together, and today the abode of dwelling grieved you…' meaning: the whole assembly was scattered. In the ḥadīth: 'What is this legal opinion (fatyā) with which he shaʿaba the people?' — i.e., divided them. The one addressed by this saying was Ibn ʿAbbās, regarding the permissibility of mutʿa [temporary marriage], and the one who addressed him thus was a man from Bal-Hujaym. Al-shaʿb: the crack and division in a thing, plural shuʿūb (شعوب). And al- [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الشعب: الجمع، والتفريق، والإصلاح، والإفساد: ضد. وفي حديث ابن عمر: وشعب صغير من شعب كبير أي صلاح قليل من فساد كثير. شعبه يشعبه شعبا، فانشعب، وشعبه فتشعب؛ وأنشد أبو عبيد لعلي بن غدير الغنوي في الشعب بمعنى التفريق: وإذا رأيت المرء يشعب أمره، ... شعب العصا، ويلج في العصيان قال: معناه يفرق أمره. قال الأصمعي: شعب الرجل أمره إذا شتته وفرقه. وقال ابن السكيت في الشعب: إنه يكون بمعنيين، يكون إصلاحا، ويكون تفريقا. وشعب الصدع في الإناء: إنما هو إصلاحه وملاءمته، ونحو ذلك. والشعب: الصدع الذي يشعبه الشعاب، وإصلاحه أيضا الشعب. وفي الحديث: اتخذ مكان الشعب سلسلة ؛ أي مكان الصدع والشق الذي فيه. والشعاب: الملئم، وحرفته الشعابة. والمشعب: المثقب المشعوب به. والشعيب: المزادة المشعوبة؛ وقيل: هي التي من أديمين؛ وقيل: من أدمين يقابلان، ليس فيهما فئام في زواياهما؛ والفئام في المزايد: أن يؤخذ الأديم فيثنى، ثم يزاد في جوانبها ما يوسعها؛ قال الراعي يصف إبلا ترعى في العزيب: إذا لم ترح، أدى إليها معجل، ... شعيب أديم، ذا فراغين مترعا يعني ذا أديمين قوبل بينهما؛ وقيل: التي تفأم بجلد ثالث بين الجلدين لتتسع؛ وقيل: هي التي من قطعتين، شعبت إحداهما إلى الأخرى أي ضمت، وقيل: هي المخروزة من وجهين؛ وكل ذلك من الجمع. والشعيب أيضا: السقاء البالي، لأنه يشعب، وجمع كل ذلك شعب. والشعيب، والمزادة، والراوية، والسطيحة: شيء واحد، سمي بذلك، لأنه ضم بعضه إلى بعض. ويقال: أشعبه فما ينشعب أي فما يلتئم. ويسمى الرحل شعيبا؛ ومنه قول المرار يصف ناقة: إذا هي خرت، خر، من عن يمينها، ... شعيب، به إجمامها ولغوبها «1» يعني الرحل، لأنه مشعوب بعضه إلى بعض أي مضموم. وتقول: التأم شعبهم إذا اجتمعوا بعد التفرق؛ وتفرق شعبهم إذا تفرقوا بعد الاجتماع؛ قال الأزهري: وهذا من عجائب كلامهم؛ قال الطرماح: شت شعب الحي بعد التئام، ... وشجاك، اليوم، ربع المقام أي شت الجميع. وفي الحديث: ما هذه الفتيا التي شعبت بها الناس؟ أي فرقتهم. والمخاطب بهذا القول ابن عباس، في تحليل المتعة، والمخاطب له بذلك رجل من بلهجيم. والشعب: الصدع والتفرق في الشيء، والجمع شعوب. والشعبة: الرؤبة، وهي قطعة يشعب بها الإناء. يقال: قصعة مشعبة أي شعبت في مواضع منها، شدد للكثرة. وفي حديث عائشة، رضي الله عنها، ووصفت أباها، رضي الله عنه: يرأب شعبها أي يجمع متفرق أمر الأمة وكلمتها؛ وقد يكون الشعب بمعنى الإصلاح، في غير هذا، وهو من الأضداد. والشعب: شعب الرأس، وهو شأنه الذي يضم قبائله، وفي الرأس أربع قبائل؛ وأنشد: فإن أودى معاوية بن صخر، ... فبشر شعب رأسك بانصداع وتقول: هما شعبان أي مثلان. وتشعبت أغصان الشجرة، وانشعبت: انتشرت وتفرقت. والشعبة من الشجر: ما تفرق من أغصانها؛ قال لبيد: تسلب الكانس، لم يؤر بها، ... شعبة الساق، إذا الظل عقل شعبة الساق: غصن من أغصانها. وشعب الغصن: أطرافه المتفرقة، وكله راجع إلى معنى الافتراق؛ وقيل: ما بين كل غصنين شعبة؛ والشعبة، بالضم: واحدة الشعب، وهي الأغصان. ويقال: هذه عصا في رأسها شعبتان؛ قال الأزهري: وسماعي من العرب: عصا في رأسها شعبان، بغير تاء. والشعب: الأصابع، والزرع يكون على ورقة، ثم يشعب. وشعب الزرع، وتشعب: صار ذا شعب أي فرق. والتشعب: التفرق. والانشعاب مثله. وانشعب الطريق: تفرق؛ وكذلك أغصان الشجرة. وانشعب النهر وتشعب: تفرقت منه أنهار. وانشعب به القول: أخذ به من معنى إلى معنى مفارق للأول؛ وقول ساعدة: هجرت غضوب، وحب من يتجنب، ... وعدت عواد، دون وليك، تشعب قيل: تشعب تصرف وتمنع؛ وقيل: لا تجيء على القصد. وشعب الجبال: رؤوسها؛ وقيل: ما تفرق من رؤوسها. الشعبة: دون الشعب، وقيل: أخية الشعب، وكلتاهما يصب من الجبل. والشعب: ما انفرج بين جبلين. والشعب: مسيل الماء في بطن من الأرض، له حرفان مشرفان، وعرضه بطحة رجل، إذا انبطح، وقد يكون بين سندي جبلين. والشعبة: صدع في الجبل، يأوي إليه الطير، وهو منه. والشعبة: المسيل في ارتفاع قرارة الرمل. والشعبة: المسيل الصغير؛ يقال: شعبة حافل أي ممتلئة سيلا. والشعبة: ما صغر عن التلعة؛ وقيل: ما عظم من سواقي الأودية؛ وقيل: الشعبة ما انشعب من التلعة والوادي، أي عدل عنه، وأخذ في طريق غير طريقه، فتلك الشعبة، والجمع شعب وشعاب. والشعبة: الفرقة والطائفة من الشيء. وفي يده شعبة خير، مثل بذلك. ويقال: اشعب لي شعبة من المال أي أعطني قطعة من مالك. وفي يدي شعبة من مال. وفي الحديث: الحياء شعبة من الإيمان أي طائفة منه وقطعة؛ وإنما جعله بعض الإيمان، لأن المستحي ينقطع لحيائه عن المعاصي، وإن لم تكن له تقية، فصار كالإيمان الذي يقطع بينها وبينه. وفي حديث ابن مسعود: الشباب شعبة من الجنون ، إنما جعله شعبة منه، لأن الجنون يزيل العقل، وكذلك الشباب قد يسرع إلى قلة العقل، لما فيه من كثرة الميل إلى الشهوات، والإقدام على المضار. …

  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

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

    شَعَبَ

    1. شَعَبَ, (S, Msb,) aor. شَعَبَ , (Msb,) inf. n. شَعْبٌ, (A, Msb, K,) He collected; brought, gathered, or drew, together; or united; (S, A, Msb, K;) a thing, (S,) any thing or things, and a people or party: (Msb:) and he separated; put apart, or asunder; divided; disunited; or dispersed or scattered; (S, A, Msb, K;) a thing, (S,) any thing or things, and a people or party: (Msb:) thus having two contr. significations: (S:) so expressly state A'Obeyd and Aboo-Ziyád: (TA:) but accord. to IDrd, it has not two contr. significations [in one and the same dial.]: he says that the two meanings are peculiar to the dials. of two peoples, (Msb, TA, *) each meaning belonging to the dial. of one people exclusively. (TA.) [Hence, as it seems to be indicated in the S and A, or from شَعْبٌ meaning “ a tribe, ” as it seems to be indicated in the Ham p. 538,] one says, تَفَرَّقَ شَعْبُهُمْ, (S,) or شَتَّ شَعْبُهُمْ, (A, Ham,) (tropical:) [Their union became dissolved, or broken up; or their tribe became separated;] meaning they became separated after being congregated: (S, Ham:) and اِلْتَأَمَ شَعْبُهُمْ (S, A, Ham) (tropical:) [Their separation became closed up, or their tribe drew together;] meaning they drew together after being separated. (S, Ham.) And شَعَبَتْهُمُ المَنِيَّةُ Death separated them: (S:) and شَعَبَتْهُ شَعُوبُ [Death separated him from his companions]; (TA;) said of a man when he has died. (O in art. عبل: in the K, in that art., اِشْتَعَبَتْهُ [perhaps a mistranscription].) And it is said in a trad., مَا هٰذِهِ الفُتْيَا ٱلَّتِى شَعَبْتَ بِهَا النَّاسَ i. e, [What is this judicial decision] with which thou hast divided the people? (S. [In the TA, on the authority of IAth, التى شَغَبَتْ فِى النَّاسِ, which means, “ which has excited evil among the people. ”]) One says also, شَعَبَ الرَّجُلُ أَمْرَهُ (assumed tropical:) The man broke up, discomposed, deranged, or disorganized, [or rendered unsound, impaired, or marred, (agreeably with another explanation of the verb in what follows,)] his state of affairs: (As, A'Obeyd, TA:) whence the saying of 'Alee Ibn-El-'Adheer El-Ghanawee, (assumed tropical:) [And when thou seest the man break up his state of affairs as with the breaking up of the staff, and persevere in disobedience, or rebellion]. (A'Obeyd, TA.) Also, aor, as above, (Msb,) and so the inf. n., (S, A, Msb, K,) He repaired a cracked thing [such as a wooden bowl or some other vessel, by closing up its crack or cracks, or by piecing it: see 2, which has a similar signification, but implying muchness]: (S, Msb:) and [in a general sense,] he repaired, mended, amended, adjusted, or put into a right, or proper, state: (A, K, TA:) and it signifies the contr. also [of the former meaning and] of this, in the same, or in another, dial.: (TA:) [i. e.] he cracked a thing [such as a wooden bowl &c.]: (A, Msb:) and he corrupted, rendered unsound, impaired, or marred. (A, K, TA.) شَعْبٌ صَغِيرٌ مِنْ شَعْبٍ كَبِيرٍ, occurring in a trad. of 'Omar, means A little repairing, of, or amid, much impairing. (TA.) [He gave a portion of property; as though he broke it off.] One says, اِشْعَبْ لِى شُعْبَةً مِنَ المَالِ Give thou to me a portion of the property. (TA.) He (the commander, or prince, S) sent a messenger (S, K) إِلَيْهِ [to him], (K,) or إِلَى مَوْضِعِ كَذَا [to such a place]. (S.) He turned, or sent, him, or it, away, or back: (K, TA:) aor. and inf.n. as above. (TA.) And شَعَبَ اللِّجَامُ الفَرَسَ The bridle turned away or back, or withheld, or restrained, the horse from the direction towards which he was going. (K.) He, or it, diverted a man by occupying him, busying him, or engaging his attention. (K, TA.) One says, مَا شَعَبَكَ عَنِّى [What diverted thee, or what has diverted thee, &c., from me?]. (TA.) It is also intrans.: see 4. [Thus it signifies He quitted his companions, desiring others.] One says, شَعَبَ إِلَيْهِمْ (K, TA) فِى عَدَدِ كَذَا (TA) He yearned towards them [with such a number of men], and quitted his companions. (K, TA.) And He, or it, appeared [distinct from others]: (K, TA:) whence the month [شَعْبَان, q. v.,] is [said to be] named. (TA.) Also, (K, TA,) aor. and inf. n. as above, (TA,) said of a camel, He cropped (اِهْتَضَمَ) the upper, or uppermost, parts of trees [or shrubs]. (K, TA.) شَعِبَ, aor. شَعَبَ , (K,) inf. n. شَعَبٌ, (S, * K, * TA,) He (a goat, S, TA, and a gazelle, TA) was wide, (K,) or very wide, (S,) between the horns, (S, K,) and between the shoulders. (K, * TA.) [See also شَعَبٌ, below.]

    شعّب

    2. شعّب [app. signifies He collected several things; or he collected much: and] he separated several things; or he separated much. (O.) Also He repaired a cracked wooden bowl [or some other vessel] in several places [by closing up its cracks, or by piecing it]: (S, O:) [and app., in a general sense, he repaired, mended, amended, adjusted, or put into a right, or proper, state, several things; or he repaired, &c., much: and it seems to signify also the contr. of these two meanings: i. e. he cracked several things; or he cracked in several places: and he corrupted, rendered unsound, impaired, or marred, several things; or he corrupted, &c., much.] It is also intrans.: see 4. Thus, said of seed-produce, It branched forth, or forked, after being in leaf, or blade; (TA;) like تشعّب. (K, * TA.) [Hence,] one says, إِنِّى أَرَى الشَّرَّ شَعَّبَ (assumed tropical:) [Verily I see the evil to have grown like seed-produce when it branches forth]; like as one says, قَصَّبَ, and نَبَّبَ. (TA in art. نب.)

    شاعبهُ

    3. شاعبهُ He became distant, or remote, from him; (K, TA;) namely, his companion. (TA.) [Hence,] شاعب الحَيَاةَ (assumed tropical:) [He quitted life]. (TA.) And شَاعَبَتْ نَفْسُهُ (K, TA) His soul [departed, or] quitted life; (TA;) meaning he died; (K, TA;) as also انشعب [i. e. انشعب هُوَ]. (K.) [See also what next follows.]

    اشعب

    4. اشعب He died: (S, K: [see also 3:]) or (so in the S and TA, but in the K “ and ”) he separated himself from another or others, never to return; (S, K;) as also شعّب or شَعَبَ, accord. to different copies of the K, the latter as in the L. (TA.) A poet says, (S,) namely, En-Nábighah El-Jaadee, (IB, TA.) (S, IB, TA,) or وَكَانُوا شُعُوبًا مِنْ أُنَاسٍ, accord. to different readings: [app. meaning, And they were men of divided races or tribes, or were divided races or tribes of men; so they perished; or separated, never to return:] IB says, after mentioning the former reading, i. e. they were of men who should perish; so they perished: having previously mentioned the latter reading, and added, i. e. they were of those whom شعوب should overtake. (TA. [IB's explanations seem at first sight to indicate that he read شَعُوبَ and شَعُوبًا; neither of which is admissible: each of his explanations app. relates to both readings; as though he understood the poet to mean, they were men separated from different tribes, to be overtaken by others; so they perished.])

    تشعّب

    5. تشعّب and انشعب are quasi-pass. verbs, the former of شَعَّبَ and the latter of شَعَبَ: (TA:) [the former, therefore, is most correctly to be regarded and used as intensive in its significations, or as relating to several things or persons: but it is said that] both signify alike: [app. It became collected; it became brought, gathered, or drawn, together; or it became united: and also] it became separated, put apart or asunder, divided, disunited, or dispersed or scattered: (S, K:) and it, or he, became distant, or remote. (K.) One says, تَشَعَّبُوا فِى طَلَبِ المِيَاهِ [They became separated, &c., or they separated themselves, &c., in search of the waters], and فِى الغَارَاتِ [in predatory excursions]. (TA.) And عَنِّى انشعب فُلَانٌ Such a one became distant, or remote, from me; or withdrew to a distance, or for away, from me. (TA.) And الطَّرِيقُ انشعب [and تشعّب] The road separated. (S, A, Msb.) And انشعب النَّهْرُ and تشعّب The river separated [or branched forth] into other rivers. (TA.) And انشعبت أَغْصَانُ الشَّجَرَةِ (S, Msb, TA) and تشعّبت (TA) The branches of the tree separated, divided, straggled, or spread out dispersedly; (S, TA;) or branched forth from the stem, and separated, divided, &c. (Msb.) See also 2. One says also, تشعّب أَمْرُ الرَّجُلِ (assumed tropical:) [The state of affairs of the man became broken up, discomposed, deranged, disorganized, or (agreeably with another explanation of the verb in what follows) rendered unsound, impaired, or marred]. (A.) Also ↓the latter verb, [or each,] It became closed up; [or repaired by having a crack or cracks closed up, or by being pieced;] said of a cracked thing: (TA:) and ↓both verbs, i. q. اِنْصَلَحَ [which means, in a general sense, it became rectified, repaired, mended, amended, adjusted, or put into a right, or proper, state; &c.; but I have not found this verb (انصلح) in its proper art. in any of the Lexicons]: (K, TA:) and ↓the latter signifies also it became cracked; (A;) [and in like manner the former, said of a number of things; or it became cracked in several places when said of a single thing: and hence ↓both signify, in a general sense, it became corrupted, rendered unsound, impaired, or marred; a meaning which may justly be assigned to the former verb in the phrase mentioned in the next preceding sentence.]

    إِنْشَعَبَ

    7: see 5, in nine places: and see also 3.

    إِشْتَعَبَ

    8: see 1, in the former half of the paragraph.

    شَعْبٌ

    شَعْبٌ inf. n. of شَعَبَ [q. v.]. (Msb.) [Used as a simple subst., it signifies Collection, or union: and also separation, division, or disunion; and] a state of separation or division or disunion; (K, TA;) as also شُعْبَةٌ: (S, TA:) pl. of the former شُعُوبٌ. (TA.) And [hence, perhaps, as implying both union and division,] Such as is divided [into sub-tribes], of the tribes of the Arabs and foreigners: (S: [in my copy of the Msb, ما انقسمت فيه قبائل العرب, as though it meant the tribes of the Arabs collectively, agreeably with another explanation to be mentioned below; but I think that there may be a mistranscription in this case:]) pl. شُعُوبٌ: (S, Msb:) or it signifies, as some say, (Msb,) or signifies also, (S,) a great tribe; syn. قَبِيلَةٌ عَظِيمَةٌ, (S, A, K,) or حَىٌّ عَظِيمٌ; (Msb;) the parent of the [tribes called] قَبَائِل, to which they refer their origin, and which comprises them: (S:) or, as some say, a great tribe (حَىٌّ عَظِيمٌ) forming a branch of a قَبِيلَة: or a قَبِيلَة itself: (TA:) A' Obeyd says, on the authority of Ibn-El-Kelbee, on the authority of his father, that the شَعْب is greater than the قَبِيلَة; next to which is the فَصِيلَة; then, the عَمَارَة; then, the بَطْن; then, the فَخِذ: (S, TA:) but IB says that the true order is that which Ez-Zubeyr Ibn-Bekkár has stated, and is as follows: (TA:) [i. e.] the genealogies of the Arabs consist of six degrees; (Msb;) first, the شَعْب; then, the قَبِيلَة; then, the عَمَارَة, (Msb, TA,) with fet-h and with kesr, to the ع; (Msb;) then, the بَطْن; then, the فَخِذ; and then, the فَصيلَة: thus, Khuzeymeh is a شعب; and Kináneh, a قبيلَة; and Kureysh, an عمارة; and Kuseí, a بطن; and Háshim, a فخذ; and El-'Abbás, a فصيلة: (Msb, TA:) and Aboo-Usámeh says that these classes are agreeable with the order obtaining in the structure of man; the شعب is the greatest of them, derived from the شَعْب [or suture] of the head; next is the قبيلة, from the قبيلة [which is a term applied to any one of the four principal bones] of the head; then, the عمارة, which is the breast; then, the بطن [or belly]; then, the فخذ [or thigh]; and then, the فصيلة, which is the shank: to these some add the عَشِتيرَة, which consists of few in comparison with what are before mentioned: (TA:) and some add after this the رَهْط: some also add the جِذْم before the شعب: (TA in art. بطن:) the pl. is as above. (TA.) It signifies also A nation, people, race, or family of mankind; syn. جِيلٌ; as expl. by IM and others: in the K, [and in a copy of the A,] erroneously, جَبَل [a mountain]: (TA:) but it is [strangely] said by Aboo-'Obeyd El-Bekree that accord. to all except Bundár, the word in this sense is شِعْبٌ, with kesr. (MF.) And the pl., شُعُوبٌ, is [said to be] especially applied to denote the foreigners (العَجَم): (TA:) [thus it is said that] the phrase, in a trad., إِنَّ رَجُلًا مِنَ الشُّعُوبِ أَسْلَمَ means [Verily a man] of the foreigners (العَجَم) [became a Muslim: but see الشُّعُوبِيَّةُ]. (S.) Also, [as implying separation,] Distance, or remoteness. (A, K.) So in the phrase شَعْبُ الدَّارِ [The distance, or remoteness, of the abode, or dwelling]. (TA.) And A crack (S, A, K, TA) in a thing, (S,) which the شَعَّاب repairs. (S, * TA.) And The place of junction [i. e. the suture] of the قَبَائِل [or principal bones] of the head; (K;) the شَأْن which conjoins the قبائل of the head: the قبائل in the head being [the frontal bone, the occipital bone, and the two parietal bones; in all,] four in number. (S.) [Hence, perhaps,] هُمَا شَعْبَانِ (assumed tropical:) They two are likes [or like each other]. (S.) See also شِعْبٌ. Also Distant, or remote; (K;) as in the phrase مَآءٌ شَعْبٌ [Distant, or remote, water]: pl. شُعُوبٌ. (TA.)

    شُعْبٌ

    شُعْبٌ: see the dual شُعْبَانِ voce شُعْبَةٌ.

    شِعْبٌ

    شِعْبٌ A road: (Msb:) or a road in a mountain: (S, A, O, L, Msb, K:) primarily a road in a mountain (Har p. 29) and in valleys: (Id. p. 72:) afterwards applied to any road: (Id. p. 29:) [see also مَشْعَبٌ:] pl. شِعَابٌ. (S, O, Msb.) And A water-course, or place in which water flows, in [a low, or depressed, tract, such as is called] a بَطْن of land, (ISh, A, O, K,) having two elevated borders, and in width equal to the stature of a man lying down, and sometimes between the two faces, or acclivities, of two mountains. (ISh, O.) Or it signifies, (K,) or signifies also, (A,) A ravine, or gap, [or pass,] between two mountains. (A, K.) Also [A reef of rocks in the sea: so in the present day: or] a زِرْبَة or زَرَبَة (accord. to different copies of the K in art. جهن [but neither of these two words do I find in their proper art. in any Lex.]) in the sea, such as is connected with the shore: if not connected with the shore, a bowshot distant, it is called جُهْنٌ. (K and TA in art. جهن.) And A brand, or mark made with a hot iron, (S, K,) upon camels, (K,) peculiar to the Benoo-Minkar, in form resembling the [hooked stick called] مِحْجَن: (S:) or a brand upon the thigh, lengthwise, [consisting of] two lines meeting at the top and separated at the bottom: (ISh, TA:) or a brand united [at the upper part and] at the lower part separated: (Aboo-' Alee in the “ Tedhkireh, ” TA: [but there is an omission here, so that the reverse may perhaps be meant:]) or a brand upon the neck, like the مِحْجَن: (Suh in the R, TA:) in a marginal note in the copy of the L, it is said that شعب signifying a brand is with kesr to the ش and with fet-h [i. e. شِعْبٌ and شَعْبٌ]. (TA.) See also شَعْبٌ. [And see the pl. شِعَابٌ below.]

    شَعَبٌ

    شَعَبٌ Width, or distance, (A, K,) or great width or distance, (S,) between the horns (S, A, K) of a goat (S, TA) and of a gazelle, (TA,) and between the shoulders, (A, K,) and between two branches. (A.) [See also 1, last signification.]

    شُعْبَةٌ

    شُعْبَةٌ: see شَعْبٌ, second sentence. Also The space, or interstice, between two horns: and between two branches: (K:) pl. شُعَبٌ and شِعَابٌ, (K, * TA,) in this and all the following senses. (TA.) And A cleft in a mountain, to which birds (الطَّيْرُ, for which المَطَرُ is erroneously substituted in [several of] the copies of the K, TA) resort: pl. as above. (K, TA.) Also A branch of a tree, (S, A, * Mgh, * Msb, TA,) growing out a part, or divaricating, therefrom: (Msb, * TA:) or the extremity of a branch: (K, TA: [said in the latter to be tropical in this latter sense; but why, I see not:]) pl. شُعَبٌ (S, Mgh, Msb, TA) and شِعَابٌ, as above. (TA.) And شُعَبُ الغُصْنِ The divaricating, or straggling, [branchlets, or] extremities [or shoots or stalks] of the branch. (TA.) And [hence] عَصًا فِى رَأْسِهَا شُعْبَتَانِ [A staff having at his head two forking portions or projections]; (A, TA;) and Az mentions, as heard by him from the Arabs, شُعْبَانِ, without ت, instead of شُعْبَتَانِ in this phrase. (L, TA.) And شُعْبَةٌ مِنْ رَيْحَانٍ [A sprig, spray, bunch, or branchlet, of sweet basil, or of sweet-smelling plants]: and شُعْبَةٌ مِنْ شَعَرٍ [and مِنْ صُوفٍ A lock, or flock, of hair and of wool]. (JK in art. طوق.) And أَنَا شُعْبَةٌ مِنْ دَوْحَتِكَ (tropical:) [I am a branch, or branchlet, of thy great tree]. (A, TA.) And مَسْأَلَةٌ كَثِيرَةُ الشُّعَبِ (assumed tropical:) [A question having many branches, or ramifications]. (Msb.) And [the pl.] شُعَبٌ [as meaning] (tropical:) The fingers: (K, TA:) one says, قَبَضَ عَلَيْهِ بِشُعَبِ يَدِهِ (tropical:) He laid hold upon it with his fingers. (A, TA.) And قَعَدَ بَيْنَ شُعْبَتَيْهَا (tropical:) He sat between her two legs: (A:) and بَيْنَ شُعَبِهَا الأَرْبَعِ (tropical:) [He sat (in the Mgh قَعَدَ, as implied in the A, and in the Msb جَلَسَ,)] between her arms and her legs; (A, Mgh, Msb, K;) or between her legs and the شُفْرَانِ [dual of شُفْرٌ, q. v.,] of her فَرْج; (A, Mgh, K;) occurring in a trad.; (Mgh, Msb;) an allusion to جِمَاع. (A, Mgh, Msb, K.) And شُعْبَتَا الرَّحْلِ (assumed tropical:) The شَرْخَانِ [or two upright pieces of wood] of the camel's saddle; its قَادِمَة and its آخِرَه. (Mgh.) And اِغْرِزِ اللَّحْمَ فِى شُعَبِ السَّفُّودِ (tropical:) [Infix thou the flesh-meat upon the prongs of the roastinginstrument]. (A, TA.) And شُعْبَةُ مِنْجَلٍ (assumed tropical:) [A tooth of a reaping-hook]. (K in art. سن.) And شُعْبَةٌ مِنْ شُعَبِ السِّينِ (assumed tropical:) [A tooth, or cusp, of the teeth, or cusps, of the س]; the شُعَب of the س being three. (S and L in art. س.) And شُعَبُ الفَرَسِ (tropical:) The outer parts, or regions, of the horse (أَقْطَارُهُ, A, or نَوَاحِيهِ, K); all of them: (K:) or the prominent parts (S, K) of them, (K,) or of him; (S, and so in some copies of the K;) as the neck, and the مِنْسَج [or withers, &c.], (S, TA,) and the crests of the hips, (TA,) or such as his head, and his حَارِك [or withers, &c.], and the crests of his hips. (A.) Also A small water-course, or channel in which water flows; as in the phrase شُعْبَةٌ حَافِلٌ a small water-course filled with a torrent: (S:) or a water-course in sand; (K;) or in the elevated part of a depressed tract into which sand has poured and remained. (TA.) And A small portion of a [water-course such as is called] تَلْعَة; or what is smaller than a تَلْعَة; accord. to different copies of the K; الشُّعْبَةُ being expl. as meaning مَا صَغُرَ مِنَ التَّلْعَةِ, and, in one copy, عَنِ التَّلْعَةِ. (TA.) And Such as is large, of the channels for irrigation of valleys: (K, TA:) or, as some say, a branch from a تَلْعَة, and from a valley, or torrent-bed, taking a different course therefrom: pl. as above. (TA.) And A portion, part, or piece, of a thing; or somewhat thereof: (S, Msb, K, TA:) pl. as above. (TA.) One says, اِشْعَبْ لِى شُعْبَةً مِنَ المَالِ Give thou to me a portion of the property. (TA.) And فِى يَدِهِ شُعْبَةُ خَيْرٍ (assumed tropical:) [In his hand is somewhat of good, or of wealth]. (TA.) And it is said in a trad., الحَيَآءُ شُعْبَةٌ مِنَ الإِيمَانِ (assumed tropical:) Modesty is a part of faith: and in another, الشَّبَابُ شُعْبَةٌ مِنَ الجُنُونِ (assumed tropical:) [Youth is a part of insanity]. (TA.) In explanation of the phrase, in the Kur [lxxvii. 30], إِلَى ظِلٍّ ذِى ثَلَاثِ شُعَبٍ [Unto a shade, or shadow, having three parts, or divisions], it is said that the fire [of Hell], on the day of resurrection, will divide into three parts; and whenever they shall attempt to go forth to a place, it will repel them: by ظِلّ being here meant that the fire will form a covering; for [literally] there will be no ظِلّ in this case. (Th, L.) And A piece such as is called رُؤبَة, with which a wooden bowl [or the like] is repaired. (S.) Accord. to Lth, (T, TA,) شُعَبُ الدَّهْرِ means (tropical:) The changes, or vicissitudes, of time or fortune; (T, A, TA;) and he cites the saying of Dhu-r-Rummeh, which he explains by saying, i. e. I thought that one thing, or state of things, would not be divided into many things, or states: [i. e. Nor did I think that the vicissitudes of fortune would divide one whole body of men into many parties:] but Az disapproves of this explanation, and says that شُعَب here means Intentions, designs, or purposes: he says that the poet describes tribes assembled together in the [season called] رَبِيع, who, when they desired to return to the watering-places, differed in their intentions, or designs; wherefore he says, Nor did I think that various intentions would divide [one whole body of men who before had] a consentient intention. (L, TA.) [See also the pl. شِعَابٌ below.]

    Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Technical definitions1 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt
  • المنشعبة

    الأبنية المتفرعة من أصل بإلحاق حرف أو تكريره كأكرم، وكرم.

    Al-munshaʿiba (المنشعبة): the structures/forms branched from a root by the addition of a letter or its doubling, such as akrama (أكرم) and karrama (كرم).

    al-Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt, line 4776 ↗

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

ش ع ب

الشين والعين والباء أصلان مختلفان أحدهما يدل على الافتراق والآخر على الاجتماع ثم اختلف أهل اللغة في ذلك فقال قوم هو من باب الأضداد وقد نص الخليل على ذلك وقال آخرون ليس ذلك من الأضداد إنما هي لغات

sh-ʿ-b has two different roots: one denotes separation and the other denotes gathering together. The linguists then differed about this: some said it belongs to the category of opposites, and al-Khalīl stated this explicitly; others said this is not from the opposites but rather these are [different] dialects.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗al-Khalīl: used ↗Quran ×2

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.

How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ش

ومن وسط اللسان بينه وبين وسط الحنك الأعلى مخرج الجيم والشين والياء

From the middle of the tongue, between it and the middle of the upper palate, is the place of the jīm, the shīn and the yāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26553 ↗

ومن وسط اللسان بينه وبين وسط الحنك الأعلى، مخرج الجيم والشين والياء

From the middle of the tongue, between it and the middle of the upper palate, is the place of the jīm, the shīn and the yāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 974 ↗

ع

ومن أوسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء

From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Sībawayh, lines 26548–26549 ↗

ومن وسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء

From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 970 ↗

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 ↗

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

ش

Level of existence: فلك الكواكب الثابتة والجنات · the sphere of the fixed stars and the Gardens

Divine Name: المقدر · al-Muqaddir, the Determiner

Lunar mansion: الجبهة · al-Jabha

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62087

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗

السين والشين فطبعهما الحرارة واليبوسة

Sīn and shīn: their nature is heat and dryness.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2581

ع

Level of existence: الطبيعة · Nature

Divine Name: الباطن · The Inward (al-Bāṭin)

Lunar mansion: الثريا · al-Thurayyā (the Pleiades)

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 63825

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗

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 62118

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

ش

فهي إشارة إلى الرحمة التي لا يعقبها عذاب، وتكون إشارة إلى من خرجت منه النقمة ودخلت عليه الرحمة وتظهر.

It is an indication of mercy that is not followed by punishment. It also indicates one from whom vengeance has departed and upon whom mercy has entered and becomes manifest.

فهي إشارة إلى عال في نفسه مع التعظيم.

It is an indication of something lofty in itself, with veneration.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي من طبعه الستر، وقد تكون الإشارة إلى ما هو مستور في القلب وما أشبه ذلك.

It is an indication of the thing whose nature is concealment; the indication may be to what is concealed in the heart and the like.

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

ع

فهي اسم لقدوم أو رحيل.

It is a name for arrival or departure.

فهي اسم للساكن في الذات التي تقوم به.

It is a name for that which dwells in the self and by which the self subsists.

فهي اسم لخبث الذات.

It is a name for the foulness of the self.

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

ب

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.

فهي إشارة معها قبض.

It is an indication accompanied by contraction (qabḍ).

فهي إشارة إلى ما دخل أو هو داخل على الذات.

It is an indication of what has entered, or is entering, upon the self.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
Two-letter nucleus4 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterش ع

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 15203 ↗

  • شعفالشين والعين والفاء يدل على أعالي الشيء ورأسه فالشعفة رأس الجبل والجمع شعفات وشعف وضرب فلان على شعفات راسه أي أعالى رأسه وشعفة القلب رأسه عند معلق النL15204
  • شعلالشين والعين واللام أصل صحيح يدل على انتشار وتفرق في الشيء الواحد من جوانبهQ 1 · L15208
  • شعبالشين والعين والباء أصلان مختلفان أحدهما يدل على الافتراق والآخر على الاجتماع ثم اختلف أهل اللغة في ذلك فقال قوم هو من باب الأضداد وقد نص الخليل على ذQ 2 · L15221
  • شعثالشين والعين والثاء أصل يدل على انتشار في الشيء يقولون لم الله شعثكم وجمع شعثكم أي ما تفرق من أمركم والشعث شعث رأس السواك والوتد ويسمون الوتد أشعث لذلL15249
In the sister scriptsHebrew ש ע בSyriac ܣ ܥ ܒ
Arabicش ع ب
Hebrewש ע ב
Syriacܣ ܥ ܒ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩦/𐩪 𐩲 𐩨
Phoenician𐤔 𐤏 𐤁

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 (al-ʿAyn) makes shaʿb the crack mended by the craft of shiʿāba, and shuʿba the sherd used to rejoin a broken vessel;well attested

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

    Al-Khalīl (al-ʿAyn) makes shaʿb the crack mended by the craft of shiʿāba, and shuʿba the sherd used to rejoin a broken vessel; the same root names what branches off from the tribes of Arabs and non-Arabs (shuʿūb), with shuʿūbī denoting one who belittles Arab merit — and it yields both shaʿabtu baynahum, 'I split them,' and shaʿabtu baynahum (lightly inflected), 'I reconciled them,' with iltāma shaʿbuhum, 'their breach closed again.' Al-Jawharī (al-Ṣiḥāḥ) confirms shuʿūb as tribal branches, names al-Shuʿūbiyya as the faction refusing to rank Arabs above non-Arabs, and transmits Ibn al-Kalbī's genealogical hierarchy — shaʿb larger than qabīla, then faṣīla, ʿimāra, baṭn, fakhdh — alongside shaʿb al-raʾs for the skull's sutures and the crack/mend sense (shaʿb, shiʿāb, mishʿab). Ibn Fāris (Maqāyīs) states there are two distinct original meanings, separation and joining, and reports the dispute over whether this is genuine aḍdād (al-Khalīl's view) or two homophonous dialect words (Ibn Duraid's view), citing Q49:13's shuʿūban wa-qabāʾil and al-Kumayt's mashʿab al-ḥaqq, 'the path of truth.' Al-Rāghib (Mufradāt) resolves the duality through the image of a wadi's fork — seen from the diverging end, one splitting into two; from the converging end, two becoming one — so that shaʿabtu al-shayʾ can mean both 'I gathered it' and 'I split it'; he glosses shuʿūb via Q49:13 and reads Shuʿayb as a diminutive of either the maṣdar (mending) or the noun (tribe), deferring fuller comment on the shuʿab of Q77:30. Ibn Manẓūr (Lisān) treats jamʿ/tafrīq and iṣlāḥ/ifsād as genuine opposites under one root, citing Ibn ʿUmar's hadith on 'a little mending from much corruption' and Ibn al-Sikkīt's explicit statement of the double sense; Lane confirms the two contrary significations as stated by Abū ʿUbayd and Abū Ziyād, while noting Ibn Duraid's dissent that these are separate words, not true opposites.

    Draws on: al-Khalil:cayn · al-Jawhari:sihah · Ibn Faris:maqayis · al-Raghib:mufradat · Ibn Manzur:lisan · Lane

  • Letters & soundShīn corresponds in the Akbarian scheme to the sphere of the fixed stars and the Gardens, and for al-Dabbāgh signals mercy unfollowed by punishment, one from whom vengeance has departed.speculative

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

    Shīn corresponds in the Akbarian scheme to the sphere of the fixed stars and the Gardens, and for al-Dabbāgh signals mercy unfollowed by punishment, one from whom vengeance has departed. ʿAyn corresponds to Nature (al-Ṭabīʿa) and, for al-Dabbāgh, names arrival or departure — an apt ambivalence for a root whose central dispute is precisely coming-together versus going-apart. Bāʾ corresponds to the jinn, and for al-Dabbāgh marks the extremity of either might or abasement. These are correspondences from a specific mystical letter-symbolism, not endorsed by mainstream historical linguistics as bearing on etymology.

    Draws on: Ibn Arabi:akbari198 · al-Dabbagh:fatha

  • Root structureNucleus siblings under shīn-ʿayn: shaʿf (a mountain's summit, the top of a thing), shaʿl (spreading/dispersing outward from a thing's sides), shaʿb (the disputed double sense of separation and joining), and shaʿth (dishevelment, scattering, as in the prayer for God to mend one's shaʿth).uncertain

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

    Nucleus siblings under shīn-ʿayn: shaʿf (a mountain's summit, the top of a thing), shaʿl (spreading/dispersing outward from a thing's sides), shaʿb (the disputed double sense of separation and joining), and shaʿth (dishevelment, scattering, as in the prayer for God to mend one's shaʿth). Among the permutations, shabaʿ ('satiation, fullness') and bashaʿ ('unpleasant taste') are attested but belong to unrelated meanings, as does ʿashab ('dryness, withering'); ʿabash and baʿash are unattested. Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation would juxtapose these six orderings of the same letters, but the divergence in sense — splitting/joining, satiety, dryness, bad taste — offers no obvious semantic thread beyond bare phonetic kinship.

    Draws on: Ibn Faris:nucleus · permutations · Ibn Jinni:khasais

    • Ibn Jinnī, al-Khaṣāʾiṣ (link not verified)
  • Semitic kin & loanwordsThe root has a solid cognate in Old South Arabian: Sabaic š²ʿb is well attested in the inscriptions meaning 'tribe, tribal confederation, people,' matching the Quranic use of shuʿūb closely.plausible

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

    The root has a solid cognate in Old South Arabian: Sabaic š²ʿb is well attested in the inscriptions meaning 'tribe, tribal confederation, people,' matching the Quranic use of shuʿūb closely. No confident cognate for the 'split/join' sense is identifiable in Hebrew, Aramaic/Syriac, or Akkadian on present evidence. Given the solid South Arabian parallel, the word looks like an inherited common-Semitic item rather than a loan into Arabic.

    Draws on: Sabaic epigraphy

  • Quranic exegesisFor Q49:13, wa-jaʿalnākum shuʿūban wa-qabāʾil, the exegetical tradition reads shuʿūb as the largest units of kinship, encompassing the qabāʾil beneath them, and takes the verse's move from tribal division to shared human origin as grounding its closing claim that taqwā, not lineage, is the true measure of honor before God.plausible

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    For Q49:13, wa-jaʿalnākum shuʿūban wa-qabāʾil, the exegetical tradition reads shuʿūb as the largest units of kinship, encompassing the qabāʾil beneath them, and takes the verse's move from tribal division to shared human origin as grounding its closing claim that taqwā, not lineage, is the true measure of honor before God. Al-Rāghib's philological account of shuʿūb as branches from one root stock is read as reinforcing this: division into distinguishable peoples serves mutual recognition (taʿāruf), not hierarchy. For Q77:30, inṭaliqū ilā ẓillin dhī thalāthi shuʿabin, exegetes read shuʿab as the three-forked columns of Hell's smoke — a 'shade' offering no true protection, an ironic image set against the real, cool shade promised the righteous elsewhere in the sura.

    Draws on: al-Tabari · al-Zamakhshari · al-Razi · al-Raghib:mufradat

  • Akbarian readingThe only trace of this root in the Faṣṣ Ādam material at hand is the chapter title Kalima Shuʿaybiyya, 'the Word of Shuʿayb' — the proper name Shuʿayb being, per al-Rāghib, a diminutive built on this same root (from either the maṣdar 'mending/joining' or the noun 'tribe') — heading one of the Fuṣūṣ chapters alongside ḥikma qalbiyya, 'heart-wisdom.' No independent Iṣṭilāḥ definition of shaʿb itself appears in the supplied Ibn ʿArabī terminology, so the connection is onomastic rather than doctrinal.uncertain

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    The only trace of this root in the Faṣṣ Ādam material at hand is the chapter title Kalima Shuʿaybiyya, 'the Word of Shuʿayb' — the proper name Shuʿayb being, per al-Rāghib, a diminutive built on this same root (from either the maṣdar 'mending/joining' or the noun 'tribe') — heading one of the Fuṣūṣ chapters alongside ḥikma qalbiyya, 'heart-wisdom.' No independent Iṣṭilāḥ definition of shaʿb itself appears in the supplied Ibn ʿArabī terminology, so the connection is onomastic rather than doctrinal.

    Draws on: Fass Adam chapter titles

Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out