Mashrabaمشربة

صلوIbn Fāris identifies two distinct roots under ṣ-l-w: fire/heat, and a genre of worship, … (root slw)

الصاد واللام والحرف المعتل أصلان أحدهما النار وما أشبهها من الحمى والآخر جنس من العبادة فأما الأول فقولهم صليت العود …

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

صلو
Patterns computed · our data

The words of ص ل و that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.

10 words3 verbs2 verbal nouns2 participles2 other nouns1 plural

  • صَلَواة—
  • صَلَّىthe slaves of such a one perform the divinely-appointed act of prayer means …
  • صَلَوَات—
  • مُصَلِّين—
  • مُصَلَّى—
The whole family5 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs3صَلَوَ · صَلَّى · أَصْلَتَ

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 (a; the imperfect from the Quranic Arabic Corpus)

  • صَلَوَForm ILane
  • صَلَّىthe slaves of such a one perform the divinely-appointed act of prayer means …LaneForm IIQurʾān ×12library ×83LaneIbn Fāris
  • أَصْلَتَForm IVLane
Verbal nouns2تَصْلِيَة · صَلاوة

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

  • تَصْلِيَةForm II · Lane: inf. n.Lane
  • صَلاوةForm II · Lane: inf. n.Lane
Participles2مُصَلِّين · مُصَلَّى

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

Other nouns2صَلَواة · مُصْلِيَة

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

  • صَلَواةnounQurʾān ×83
  • مُصْلِيَةnounLane
Plurals1صَلَوَات

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

  • صَلَوَاتsound plural of صَلَواةQurʾān ×5
Why this shape?What each of the 8 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.

مَفْعَلَةص ل ومَصْلَوَة

Not in our sources. A possible shape, not a word we can show: the Quran, the library and Lane do not have it for this root.

Place noun with -a. The place noun with the feminine -a. Sometimes it is only a variant of mafʿal; often it names the place where a thing is found in abundance (maʾsada, 'a place full of lions'). So maktab is the place of writing, and maktaba, where writings are gathered: a library, a bookshop. Our summary

But: maktaba is not in our classical dictionaries for k-t-b: Lane and al-Jawharī give maktab ('a school'), none gives maktaba. Its sense of 'library, bookshop' fits the pattern of abundance, but that is our reading of the pattern, not a classical entry. Many mafʿala words are single items of usage (maqbara 'cemetery'), which the grammarians call heard, not formed by rule.

The grammarians on this pattern (4)
  • ما يكون مفعلة لازمة لها الهاء والفتحة … وذلك إذا أردت أن تكثر الشيء بالمكان، وذلك قولك: أرض مسبعة، ومأسدة

    Chapter on what is mafʿala, with the -a and the a-vowel always: that is when you mean that a thing abounds in a place, as you say 'a land of many beasts of prey (masbaʿa), of many lions (maʾsada)'

    Sībawayh (d. c. 180/796), al-Kitāb, ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Hārūn, 3rd ed. (Cairo: al-Khānjī, 1988), 4:94 · OpenITI line 21027–21028 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • و نحو المظنة و المقبرة فتحا و ضما ليس بقياس

    and words like maẓinna and maqbara (with a or u) are not by rule

    Ibn al-Ḥājib (d. 646/1249), al-Shāfiya fī ʿilm al-taṣrīf, ed. Ḥasan Aḥmad al-ʿUthmān (Mecca: al-Maktaba al-Makkiyya, 1995), 1:30 · OpenITI line 223 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • “designate the place where the object signified by the noun from which they are formed, is found in large numbers or quantities” Wright, Grammar I, §247, p. 148 ↗ · on nouns of abundance, maf'ala · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain
  • “Nouns of time and place not unfrequently take the feminine form” Wright, Grammar I, §225, p. 128 ↗ · on maf'ala as a variant of maf'al · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain

This root has a weak or doubled letter, so real words change shape (qāla → qāʾil, not qāwil); the machine pours the letters in as they are, and matches attested words by their regular pattern.

About thisWhat “attested” means here; the sources

Attested means found in our data: the Quranic Arabic Corpus (lemmas, verb Forms, participles, verbal nouns, plurals), the library's words (automatic analysis), Lane's Lexicon (his headwords, the Forms he numbers, the verbal nouns and plurals he names) and Ibn Fāris's entry. Nothing is generated for this list. Meanings are Lane's first gloss in his entry, or else the analyser's gloss (“auto”). Vowelling follows the corpus, then Lane, then the analyser; verbs are given in the regular perfect. Lane's Lexicon thins out after qāf, and a few of his entries cover several roots at once: those roots show no Lane. The patterns, written with ف ع ل, are computed by us.

English: AI translation
  • al-Khalīl · 170The alif of al-ṣalāh (الصلاة) is [originally] a wāw, because its plural is al-ṣalawāt (الصلوات), and because its dual is ṣalawān (صلوان).

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

    The alif of al-ṣalāh (الصلاة) is [originally] a wāw, because its plural is al-ṣalawāt (الصلوات), and because its dual is ṣalawān (صلوان). Al-ṣalā (الصلا) is the middle of the back, for every quadruped and for humans. Every female, when she gives birth, her ṣalā parts/separates. He said: 'As if the ṣalā of Juhayza, when she rose up, were bubbles of water, one following another...' When a horse comes right on the heels of the preceding horse [in a race], it is said: 'it has ṣallā (صلى)' and 'it came muṣalliyan (مصليا),' because its head follows the ṣalā that is in front of it. Ṣalawāt al-yahūd (صلوات اليهود) are the synagogues of the Jews; the singular is ṣalāh (صلاة). The ṣalawāt of the Messenger for the Muslims are his supplication for them and his remembrance of them. The ṣalawāt of God upon His prophets and the righteous among His creatures are His good praise of them and His good mention of them; and it is said: His forgiveness of them. The ṣalāh of people over the deceased is supplication (duʿā'). The ṣalāh of the angels is asking forgiveness (istighfār). And in the hadith: 'Indeed Satan has maṣālin (مصالي) and traps (fukhūkh).' Al-miṣlāh (المصلاة) is that you set up a snare or the like so that something falls into it and is caught; you say ṣallaytu (صليت), meaning 'I set up the miṣlāh'; its plural is maṣālin (مصالي). Al-ṣalā (الصلا) is firewood. Al-ṣalā (الصلا) is [also] fire. Ṣallā al-kāfiru nāran (صلى الكافر نارا) — 'the unbeliever is roasted by fire' — fa-huwa yaṣlāhā (يصلاها), i.e., he suffers its heat and intensity. Ṣalaytu al-laḥma ṣalyan (صليت اللحم صليا): 'I roasted the meat.' When you throw it into the fire, you say: aṣlaytuhu (أصليته), uṣlīhi (أصليه), iṣlā' (إصلاء); and ṣallaytuhu (صليته), taṣliyah (تصلية). Al-ṣalā (الصلا) is a name for fuel/kindling when people warm themselves by it. Al-'Ajjāj said: 'And [stones] long scorched by the fire, thoroughly burnt...' Al-ṣāliyāt (الصاليات) are the tripod hearth-stones (athāfī), because they have been burnt by the fire (ṣalīna al-nār). 'So-and-so ṣaliya (صلي)' [suffered] from the evil of so-and-so, and from an evil man. 'So-and-so lā yaṣṭalī bi-nārihi (لا يصطلي بناره)' — 'no one warms himself at his fire,' meaning no one dares face his severity. 'Ṣallā ʿaṣāhu (صلى عصاه)' — when he turns his stick over the fire to straighten it. He said: 'So do not be hasty in your affair, but persevere in it — for he who has [merely] heated his stick is not like one who perseveres...' And in the hadith: 'If I wished, I would have called for ṣilā' (صلاء).' Al-ṣilā' (الصلاء) is roasted meat (shiwā'), because it is roasted (yuṣlā) by fire. Al-ṣilliyān (الصليان) is a plant on the pattern fiʿlān, also said fuʿliyān; it has a large spike-cluster like the head of a reed-stalk. When its awns come out, the camels seek it out; the Arabs call it 'the bread of the camels' (khubzat al-ibil). Whoever says fuʿliyān says 'arḍun muṣliyah' [a land rich in ṣilliyān]. [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الصلاة ألفها واو لان جماعتها الصلوات، ولأن التثنية صلوان. والصلا: وسط الظهر لكل ذي أربع وللناس. وكل أنثى اذا ولدت انفرج صلاها، قال: كأن صلا جهيزة حين قامت ... حباب الماء يتبع الحبابا «229» واذا أتى الفرس على أثر الفرس السابق قيل: قد صلى وجاء مصليا لأن رأسه يتلو الصلا الذي بين يديه. وصلوات اليهود: كنائسهم واحدها صلاة «230» . وصلوات الرسول للمسلمين: دعاؤه لهم وذكرهم. وصلوات الله على أنبيائه والصالحين من خلقه: حسن ثنائه عليهم وحسن ذكره لهم. وقيل: مغفرته لهم. وصلاة الناس على الميت: الدعاء. وصلاة الملائكة: الاستغفار. وفي الحديث: ان للشيطان مصالي وفخوخا والمصلاة أن تنصب شركا ونحوه ليقع فيه شيء فيصطاد، وتقول: صليت أي نصبت المصلاة وتجمع مصالي. والصلا: الحطب. والصلا: النار، وصلى الكافر نارا فهو يصلاها أي قاسى حرها وشدتها. وصليت اللحم صليا: شويته، واذا ألقيته في النار قلت: أصليته أصليه «231» إصلاء وصليته تصلية «232» . والصلا اسم للوقود اذا اصطلى به القوم، قال العجاج: وصاليات للصلا صلي «233» . والصاليات: الأثافي لأنهن قد صلين النار وصلي فلان بشر فلان وبرجل سوء. وفلان لا يصطلي بناره أي لا يتعرض لحده. وصلى عصاه اذا أدارها على النار يثقفها، قال: فلا تعجل بأمرك واستدمه ... فما صلى عصاك كمستديم «234» وفي الحديث «235» : لو شئت لدعوت بصلاء فالصلاء الشواء لأنه يصلى بالنار. والصليان: نبت على فعلان، ويقال: فعليان له سنمة عظيمة كأنها رأس القصبة، اذا خرجت أذنابها تجد بها الابل تسميها العرب خبزة الابل، فمن قال فعليان قال أأرض مصلاة.

  • Ibn Fāris · 395Ṣād, lām, and the weak letter (و) have two root meanings: one is fire and what resembles it, such as fever/heat;

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

    Ṣād, lām, and the weak letter (و) have two root meanings: one is fire and what resembles it, such as fever/heat; the other is a type of worship. As for the first, it is their saying ṣalaytu al-ʿūda bi-l-nār (صليت العود بالنار) — 'I burned the stick with fire.' Al-ṣaliyy (الصلي) is 'burning by fire.' Iṣṭalaytu bi-l-nār (اصطليت بالنار) means 'I warmed myself at the fire.' Al-ṣilā' (الصلاء) is that by which one warms oneself, and that with which fire is kindled and lit. And he said: 'She makes the wood, and aloeswood, and myrtle... fuel (ṣilā') for herself upon the brazier...' As for the second, it is al-ṣalāh (الصلاة), which is supplication (duʿā'). The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, said: 'If one of you is invited to a meal, let him accept; if he is not fasting, let him eat, and if he is fasting, let him ṣalli (فليصل)' — meaning let him pray for them with good and blessing. Al-Aʿshā said: 'My daughter says, as I made ready to depart: "O Lord, spare my father ailments and pain." Upon you be the like of what you have prayed (ṣallaytu) — so close your eyes in sleep, for every side has its resting-place.' And he said, describing wine: 'And the wind met it within its jar, and he prayed (ṣallā) over its jar and made the sign [of the cross]...' Al-ṣalāh (الصلاة) is that which the Law brought, consisting of bowing (rukūʿ), prostration (sujūd), and the rest of the prescribed limits of prayer. As for al-ṣalāh from God, Exalted is He, it is mercy (raḥmah). From this is the hadith: 'O Allah, send ṣalāh (صل) upon the family of Abū Awfā,' meaning by that mercy. Among what deviates from this chapter is a word occurring in the hadith: 'Indeed Satan has traps (fukhūkh) and maṣālin (مصالي).' He said: these are snares, the singular of which is miṣlāh (مصلاة).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الصاد واللام والحرف المعتل أصلان أحدهما النار وما أشبهها من الحمى والآخر جنس من العبادة فأما الأول فقولهم صليت العود بالنار والصلي صلى النار واصطليت بالنار والصلاء ما يصطلى به وما يذكى به النار ويوقد وقال : — تجعل العود واليلنجوج والرند … صلاء لها على الكانون … وأما الثاني فالصلاة وهي الدعاء وقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : ( إذا دعي أحدكم إلى طعام فليجب فإن كان مفطرا فليأكل وإن كان صائما فليصل ) أي فليدع لهم بالخير والبركة قال الأعشى : — تقول بنتي وقد قربت مرتحلا … يا رب جنب أبي الأوصاب والوجعا … عليك مثل الذي صليت فاغتمضي … نوما فإن لجنب المرء مضطجعا … وقال في صفة الخمر : — وقابلها الريح في دنها … وصلى على دنها وارتسم … والصلاة هي التي جاء بها الشرع من الركوع والسجود وسائر حدود الصلاة فأما الصلاة من الله تعالى فالرحمة ومن ذلك الحديث : ( اللهم صل على آل أبي أوفى ) يريد بذلك الرحمة ومما شذ عن الباب كلمة جاءت في الحديث : ( إن للشيطان فخوخا ومصالي ) قال هي الأشراك واحدتها مصلاة

  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

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

    صَلَوْتُهُ

    1. صَلَوْتُهُ, (K,) or صَلَوْتُ الظَّهْرَ, (M,) I struck, or beat, that part, [of him, or] of the back, which is called صَلًا: (M:) or I hit that part (M, K) with a thing, or with an arrow or some other thing: on the authority of Lh, who says that it is of the dial. of Hudheyl: and one says also صَلَيْتُهُ; which is extr. [with respect to derivation], unless it be an instance of interchangeableness [of و and ى]. (M.) صَلِيَتْ and صَلَتْ, said of a mare, or she-camel: see 4.

    صلّى

    2. صلّى, (S, M, K,) quasi-inf. n. صَلَاةٌ or صَلٰوة, for which one should not say تَصْلِيَةٌ, (S, K,) or the latter is allowable as agreeable with rule and as occurring in old poetry, (MF, TA,) He prayed, supplicated, or petitioned: (S, M, K:) and [particularly] he performed the divinely-appointed act [of prayer commonly] termed صَلَاة or صَلٰوة. (S.) Hence, in the Kur [ix. 104], (TA,) وَصَلِّ عَلَيْهِمْ And pray thou for them. (Msb, TA.) صَلَّى عَلَى فُلَانٍ means He prayed for such a one, and praised him. (TA.) And hence the verse of ElAashà cited in art. رسم, conj. 8. (S, Mgh, * TA.) It is said in a trad., مَنْ دُعِىَ إِلَى وَلِيمَةٍ فَلْيُجِبْ وَإِلَّا فَلْيُصَلِّ [i. e. Whoso is invited to a banquet, or a marriage-feast, let him comply, or, if not, let him pray for the inviter]. (M.) And the saying, in a verse of El-Aashà, عَلَيْكِ مِثْلَ الَّذِى صَلَّيْتِ means Keep thou to the like of thy prayer; i. e. he enjoined her to repeat the prayer for him: or, as some relate it, عَلَيْكِ مِثْلُ الَّذِى صَلَّيْتِ, meaning upon thee be the like of that for which thou hast prayed: (M:) these words he addressed to his daughter, on the occasion of her saying, “ O my Lord, ward off from my father diseases and pain. ” (Mgh.) The saying عَبِيدُ فُلَانٍ يُصَلُّونَ [The slaves of such a one perform the divinely-appointed act of prayer] means that they have attained to the age of virility. (Mgh.) صلّى عَلَيْهِ, said of an angel, means He prayed for, or begged, forgiveness, or pardon, for him: and thus the verb sometimes means when said of other than an angel; as in the trad. of Sowdeh, in which it is said, إِذَا مِتْنَا صَلَّى لَنَا عُثْمَانُ بْنُ مَظْعُونٍ [When we die, 'Othmán Ibn-Madh'oon will pray for forgiveness for us]; he having then died. (TA.) [And, said of a man, He blessed him, meaning he invoked God's blessing upon him; namely, the Prophet; or he said, اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَيْهِ (expl. by what here follows) accord. to the rendering of صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ, i. e. عَلَى النَّبِىِّ, by Bd and others in the Kur xxxiii. 56.] One says, صَلَّيْتُ عَلَى النَّبِىِّ [I blessed the Prophet; &c.]. (S.) And, said of God, He blessed him, meaning He conferred blessing upon him: and He had mercy on him: and He magnified him, or conferred honour upon him: hence the saying, اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى آلِ أَبِى أَوْفَى, meaning O God, bless the family of Aboo-Owfà: or have mercy on &c.: but in the saying [in the Kur xxxiii. 56], إِنَّ ٱللّٰهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِىِّ, the verb does not import two meanings; for it has there only one meaning, which is “ magnification ” [i. e. these words mean Verily God and his angels magnify the Prophet; or rather I would render them, bless the Prophet, as this rendering implies magnification and also a meaning of the quasi-inf. n. given in the M and K, which is “ eulogy, ” or “ commendation, ” bestowed by God upon his apostle, while it imports God's “ conferring of blessing ” and the angels' “ invoking thereof ”]: (Msb, TA:) [it is said that] اللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ means O God, magnify Mohammad in the present world by exalting his renown and manifesting his invitation [to ElIslám] and rendering permanent his law, and in the world to come by accepting his intercession for his people and multiplying his reward: and it is disputed whether or not this form of prayer may be used for any but the Prophet [Mohammad]: El-Khattábee says that it may not, though he himself used it for others. (TA.) [صَلَّى ٱللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ is a phrase commonly used by the Muslims after the mention of their prophet: see art. سلم. See also صَلَاةٌ below.] صلّى said of a horse, (S, K,) inf. n. تَصْلِيَةٌ, (TA,) He followed next after the foremost [in a race, at the goal]. (S, K.) Hence the saying [in a trad. of 'Alee], سَبَقَ رَسُولُ ٱللّٰهِ وَصَلَّى أَبُو بَكْرٍ وَثَلَّثَ عُمَرُ [expl. in art. سبق]. (Mgh.) And صلّى الحِمَارُ أُتُنَهُ, (Sgh, K,) inf. n. تَصْلِيَةٌ, (Sgh, TA,) The [wild] ass drove together his she-asses, and made them to take the way [that he would follow]. (Sgh, K, TA.)

    أَصْلَتْ

    4. أَصْلَتْ, (T, S, K, TA,) and صَلِيَتْ, (Fr, K, TA,) and صَلَتْ, (Zj, TA,) said of a mare, The parts on the right and left of her tail, (صَلَوَاهَا, S,) or the part on either side of her tail, (صَلَاهَا, K, [see صَلًا, below,]) became relaxed, she being near to bringing forth: (S, K:) or, said of a she-camel, her young one fell into the part of her called صَلًا, and she was near to bringing forth. (T, TA.)

    صَلًا

    صَلًا The middle of the back of a human being and of any quadruped: (M, K:) and, (K,) or as some say, (M,) [app. in a beast,] the part that slopes down from the hips, or haunches: or the space intervening between the جَاعِرَة [app. meaning the hinder projection of the haunch or rump of a beast] and the tail: (M, K:) or the part on the right and left of the tail; (S, M, K;) the two together being called [the] صَلَوَانِ, (S, K,) which is similarly expl. by Zj in relation to a she-camel; app. properly meaning the two parts bordering upon the tail-bone: (TA:) or the place in which is set the tail of the horse; dual as above: (Msb:) or the bone upon which are the two buttocks: (Mgh: [there thus expl. in relation to a man:]) or the bone in which is the place of setting of the tail-bone; thus expl. by IDrd: or the صَلَوَانِ are the two bones projecting from the two sides of the rump: or, accord. to some of the lexicologists, two veins (عِرْقَانِ) in the place of the رِدْف [i. e. in the rump]: (Ham p. 46:) the pl. is صَلَوَاتٌ, (M, K,) an instance of a pl. formed by the addition of ا and ت from a masc. sing., (M,) and أَصْلَآءٌ. (M, K.) [Hence,] one says, جِئْتُ فِى أَصْلَائِهِمْ, meaning I came at their rears. (TA.)

    صَلَاةٌ

    صَلَاةٌ, or صَلٰوة, [accord. to El-Hareeree, to be written with ا when prefixed to a pronoun, and also in the dual number, (see De Sacy's Anthol. Gram. Arabe, p. 67 of the Arabic text,) but this rule I have not found to be generally observed, even in the best MSS., nor have I in the similar case of حَيٰوةٌ, (to which it is also applied,) in the best copies of the Kur-án,] is said to be [originally صَلَوَةٌ,] of the measure فَعَلَةٌ, (Mgh, MF, TA,) or, accord. to some, [صَلْوَةٌ,] of the measure فَعْلَةٌ: (MF, TA:) it is a quasi-inf. n. of صَلَّى [q. v.]: (S, K:) and [used as a simple subst.] it signifies Prayer, supplication, or petition: (S, M, Msb, K:) this is said to be its primary signification: and مُصَلًّى is said to have the same meaning. (Msb, TA.) Then applied to signify A certain well-known mode, or manner, [of religious service,] because comprising prayer; (Msb;) [the divinelyappointed act of prayer;] one of the divinelyappointed صَلَوَات; (S;) a certain religious service in which are رُكُوع [or lowering of the head so that the palms of the hands reach the knees] and سُجُود [or prostration of oneself in a particular manner expl. voce سَجَدَ]: (M, * K:) and مُصَلًّى is said to have the same meaning. (TA.) [The performance of this act is fully described in my work on the Modern Egyptians.] It is said to be, in this sense, a proper term of the law, not indicated by the language of the Arabs [before El-Islám] except as importing prayer, which is its primary signification: what Esh-Shiháb says respecting it necessarily implies its being a proper term of the law known to the Arabs [before ElIslám]: in the Mz it is said to be one of the words of El-Islám: but all of these sayings require consideration. (MF, TA, [Much more, which I omit as being unprofitable, is added on this point in the TA, partly from the Msb; as well as several different opinions respecting the derivation of the word as used in this sense, which are fanciful or absurd.]) The saying of the Prophet, لَا صَلٰوةَ لِجَارِ المَسْجِدِ إِلَّا فِى المَسْجِدِ means There is no صلوة [or divinely-appointed act of prayer] that is excellent or complete [to the neighbour of the mosque unless in the mosque]. (M.) And his saying, to Usámeh, الصَّلٰوةُ أَمَامَكَ means The time of the صلوة [or divinely-appointed prayer], or the place thereof, [is before thee,] alluding to that of sunset. (Mgh.) And he used the term الصَّلٰوةُ as meaning سُورَةُ الصَّلٰوةِ, i. e. The فَاتِحَة [or Opening Chapter of the Kur-án, because it is a form of prayer, or] because the recital thereof is excellent, or satisfactory. (Mgh.) In the Kur xxii. 41, (I' Ab, S, M, Ksh, Bd,) [the pl.] صَلَوَاتٌ means Places of worship of the Jews: (I' Ab, S, M, Ksh, Bd, K:) said to be (Ksh, Bd) originally صَلُوتَا, a Hebrew word, (Ksh, Bd, K,) arabicized: (Ksh, Bd:) this is the common reading of the word, and the most valid: other readings are صُلُوَاتٌ and صُلَوَاتٌ and صِلَوَاتٌ; and beside these, some others which are perverted forms. (TA.) Also Prayer for forgiveness or pardon. (M, Mgh, K.) [And A blessing, as meaning an invocation of God's blessing upon any one. See 2.] And i. q. بَرَكَةٌ [as meaning A blessing, such as is bestowed by God]: (Msb:) and mercy (S, M, Mgh, Msb, K) of God (S, M) on his apostle: (M:) and magnification; and this is [said to be] specially denoted by its verb when the Prophet is the object: (Msb:) and God's eulogy, or commendation, bestowed upon his apostle. (M, K.) الصَّلَاةُ [from صَلًا] also means إِتْيَانُ المَرْأَةِ فِى دُبُرِهَا. (TA in art. صوم.)

    مُصْلِيَةٌ

    مُصْلِيَةٌ part. n. of أَصْلَتْ [q. v.] said of a she-camel [or of a mare]. (T, TA.)

    مُصَلًّى

    مُصَلًّى A place of الصَّلَاة [as meaning the performance of the divinely-appointed act of prayer]; (Mgh, Msb, K;) or of any prayer or supplication: (Mgh:) [and particularly] a place of the performance of the divinely-appointed prayer on the occasion of the [festival termed] عِيد: (MA:) [and also such a place at a burial-ground: the place for this purpose is particularly termed مُصَلَّى الأَمْوَاتِ: see De Sacy's Chrest. Arabe, sec. ed., i. 192.] And A carpet upon which one performs the divinely-appointed act of prayer. (MA.) See also صَلَاةٌ, former half, in two places.

    مُصَلٍّ

    مُصَلٍّ Any one praying [in any manner: and particularly performing the divinely-appointed act of prayer]. (TA.) And المُصَلَِّى signifies, as applied to a horse, The one that follows next after the foremost [at the goal] (S, M, Mgh, Msb) in a race: (Mgh, Msb:) because his head is next to the part called صَلًا, (Lh, S, M, Msb,) or next to the صَلَوَانِ, (Mgh,) of the foremost. (Lh, S, M, Mgh, Msb.)

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

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

ص ل و

الصاد واللام والحرف المعتل أصلان أحدهما النار وما أشبهها من الحمى والآخر جنس من العبادة

ṣ-l-w has two roots: one is fire and what resembles it, such as fever, and the other a kind of worship.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lane ↗al-Khalīl: used ↗Quran ×99

an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them

Do these six share one core meaning?

About thisal-Khalīl, Ibn Jinnī, Ibn Fāris; the counts across the dictionary

al-Khalīl (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn, as transmitted by al-Layth: a two-letter word “turns in two ways”, a three-letter word “in six ways” (masdūsa), four letters in 24, five in 120; “its used forms are written down and its unused ones dropped” (line 975 ↗). The dictionary is built on this: each chapter takes a set of letters and names which orders are used (mustaʿmal) and which unused (muhmal). The ring shows that verdict, from the chapter heading as edited (documented in the text; how much of the book is al-Khalīl's own is disputed).

A reported total. al-Suyūṭī transmits, from Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī, that al-Khalīl put the possible forms, used and unused, of two to five letters at 12,305,412 (al-Muzhir, line 1347 ↗). It is reported, not found in the ʿAyn. It equals exactly the arrangements of 2 to 5 different letters out of 28 (756 + 19,656 + 491,400 + 11,793,600); the breakdown printed beside it is corrupt, and al-Zubaydī's count, given next, differs (6,659,400).

Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, names the greater derivation (al-ishtiqāq al-akbar): bind a three-letter root and its six orders to one meaning, and bring stray members back “by the subtlety of the craft and interpretation” (line 7536 ↗). He says himself that it does not hold for every root (line 167 ↗; line 7603 ↗).

Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004) gives each root its own aṣl and treats a rearranged word as maqlūb, “turned round”, and so not a root of its own: “j-b-dh is not a root, because it is a single word, turned round” (Maqāyīs, line 6147 ↗). The ring sets his aṣl for each order side by side; whether they meet is the question.

Neighbours on the ring differ by one swap of two letters.

The critique. A source quoted by al-Suyūṭī calls the greater derivation Ibn Jinnī's innovation, “not relied on in the language” (al-Muzhir, line 6159 ↗).

The other axis. The root's letters also go into patterns that keep their order and change the frame: the patterns (awzān) and the verb Forms I–X.

Across Ibn Fāris's dictionary. Of the 2,300 possible sets of three different sound letters (no hamza, w or y), 1,021 have at least one order as an entry. How many of their six orders are entries:

Ibn Fāris, entries found (1,021 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6319
  2. 2 of 6218
  3. 3 of 6164
  4. 4 of 6155
  5. 5 of 6107
  6. 6 of 658
al-Khalīl, orders his headings call used (746 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6148
  2. 2 of 6108
  3. 3 of 6157
  4. 4 of 6179
  5. 5 of 6111
  6. 6 of 643

Of the orders al-Khalīl calls used, 2,097 are entries in Ibn Fāris and 267 are not; 17 that he calls unused are entries in Ibn Fāris.

Our computation from the OpenITI texts; heading detection can miss entries

Attested here means found in our digital texts (Ibn Fāris, Lisān al-ʿArab, Lane, the Quranic Arabic Corpus), with w and y kept apart and hamza spellings merged; it is our data, not a classical verdict. English beside the Arabic is AI translation. Sources and grades: docs/research/root-permutations.md.

How each letter is made, in brief, from Sībawayh's and Ibn Jinnī's own sentences (linked); their words are under Reference.

Sharing two of its three letters (computed; kinship of form, not of meaning)

16 more
How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ص

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 ↗

و

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

ص

Level of existence: التراب · earth

Divine Name: المميت · al-Mumīt, the Death-Giver

Lunar mansion: البلدة · al-Balda

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62111

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 8 line 2571 ↗

الثمانية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The eightfold [rank]: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2580

ل

Level of existence: السماء الثالثة · the third heaven

Divine Name: القاهر · the Subduer (al-Qāhir)

Lunar mansion: العوا · al-ʿAwwā

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64654

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 7 line 2576 ↗

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 2577

و

Level of existence: تعيين الرتب والمقامات والمنازل · the determination of ranks, stations and waystations

Divine Name: رفيع الدرجات · Rafīʿ al-Darajāt, Exalted in Degrees

Lunar mansion: الرشا · al-Rashāʾ

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62121

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

ص

فهي جميع غبار الأرض في الموقف بين يدي الله عز وجل.

It is all the dust of the earth at the Standing (on the Day of Judgement) before God, Mighty and Majestic.

فهي جميع نباتاتها.

It is all its (the earth's) plants.

فهي الأرضون السبع.

It is the seven earths.

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

ل

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.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نهاية له.

It is an indication of the thing that has no end.

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.

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

و

فهي الأشياء المشتبكة في الإنسان مثل العروق والأصابع وما أشبه ذلك.

It is the intertwined things in the human being, such as veins, fingers and the like.

فهي الأشياء المباينة لبني آدم مثل الأفلاك والجبال وما أشبه ذلك

It is things distinct from the children of Adam, such as the celestial spheres, mountains and the like.

فهي الأشياء المشتبكة المستقذرة أو المبغوضة كالأمعاء ونحوها.

It is intertwined things that are filthy or detested, such as the intestines and the like.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
Two-letter nucleus8 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterص 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 16589 ↗

  • صلمالصاد واللام والميم أصل واحد يدل على قطع واستئصالL16590
  • صلبالصاد واللام والباء أصلان أحدهما يدل على الشدة والقوة والآخر جنس من الودكQ 8 · L16613
  • صلتالصاد واللام والتاء أصل واحد يدل على بروز الشيء ووضوحهL16632
  • صلجالصاد واللام والجيم ليس بشيء لقلة ائتلاف الصاد مع الجيم وحكيت فيه كلمات لا أصل لها في قديم كلام العرب ومن ذلك الصولج وهي فيما زعموا الفضة الجيدةL16640
  • صلحالصاد واللام والحاء أصل واحد يدل على خلاف الفسادQ 180 · L16644
  • صلخالصاد واللام والخاء فيه كلمة واحدةL16648
  • صلعالصاد واللام والعين أصل صحيح يدل على ملاسةL16657
  • صلفالصاد واللام والفاء أصل صحيح يدل على شدة وكزازةL16670
In the sister scriptsHebrew צ ל וSyriac ܨ ܠ ܘ
Arabicص ل و
Hebrewצ ל ו
Syriacܨ ܠ ܘ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩮 𐩡 𐩥
Phoenician𐤑 𐤋 𐤅

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 explains al-ṣalāh's alif as historically wāw (shown by the plural ṣalawāt and dual ṣalawān), and treats ṣalā as the middle of the back/loin in quadrupeds and humans — a mare's ṣalā parting at foaling, and a racehorse that trails just behind the leader called muṣallī because its head follows the leader's ṣalā;well attested

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

    Al-Khalīl explains al-ṣalāh's alif as historically wāw (shown by the plural ṣalawāt and dual ṣalawān), and treats ṣalā as the middle of the back/loin in quadrupeds and humans — a mare's ṣalā parting at foaling, and a racehorse that trails just behind the leader called muṣallī because its head follows the leader's ṣalā; he also records ṣalawāt al-yahūd as 'the synagogues of the Jews,' and distinguishes God's ṣalawāt upon His prophets (His praise, mention, or forgiveness of them) from the ordinary human duʿāʾ-prayer for the dead. Ibn Fāris resolves the root into two separate aṣl: fire/heat — ṣaliya, iṣṭalā, ṣilāʾ, warming or being scorched by a flame — and a distinct sense, 'a genre of worship,' which is al-duʿāʾ, supplication, illustrated by the hadith instructing a fasting guest to 'yuṣalli' (invoke blessing) for his host, and by al-Aʿshā's verse pairing ṣalayta with dāʿiya (invocation). Lane, treating the physical sense, records ṣalawtuhu/ṣalaytu al-ẓahr as 'I struck the part of the back called ṣalā,' flagging ṣalaytu as an anomalous derivational form unless w/y are interchanging, and notes ṣaliyat said of a mare or she-camel coming into heat.

    Draws on: cayn · Ibn Fāris · Lane

    • al-ʿAyn, s.v. ṣ-l-w
    • Maqāyīs al-Lugha, s.v. ṣ-l-w
    • Lane's Lexicon, s.v. ṣ-l-w
  • Letters & soundIbn ʿArabī glosses ṣād as 'earth' and lām as 'the third heaven,' with al-Dabbāgh reading ṣād as the dust of the earth gathered at the eschatological Standing before God, and lām as the speaker's attainment of something great.speculative

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

    Ibn ʿArabī glosses ṣād as 'earth' and lām as 'the third heaven,' with al-Dabbāgh reading ṣād as the dust of the earth gathered at the eschatological Standing before God, and lām as the speaker's attainment of something great. Read symbolically, the movement of ṣalāh's own root letters traces the physical act itself: the worshipper's body moves between earth (ṣ, prostration) and an ascent toward the heavens (l, exaltation), with wāw — 'the determination of ranks, stations and waystations' for Ibn ʿArabī, 'intertwined connective things' for al-Dabbāgh — marking the graded stations of the prayer as it binds worshipper to God. This is offered strictly as an internal resonance of the letter-science tradition; mainstream linguistics gives no warrant for treating individual Arabic letters as bearers of fixed meaning.

    Draws on: akbari198 · dabbagh

  • Root structureThe ṣ-l nucleus groups ṣalm (cutting off, extirpation), ṣalb (hardness/strength, and a kind of grease), ṣalt (prominence, starkness), ṣalj (which Ibn Fāris himself dismisses as 'not a genuine combination, given the rarity of ṣ with j'), ṣalḥ (soundness, the opposite of corruption), ṣalkh (a single obscure word), ṣalʿ (baldness, smoothness), and ṣalf (harshness, coarseness) — no unified sense survives across these, and Ibn Fāris's own caution about ṣalj undercuts any strong bi-radical thesis.uncertain

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

    The ṣ-l nucleus groups ṣalm (cutting off, extirpation), ṣalb (hardness/strength, and a kind of grease), ṣalt (prominence, starkness), ṣalj (which Ibn Fāris himself dismisses as 'not a genuine combination, given the rarity of ṣ with j'), ṣalḥ (soundness, the opposite of corruption), ṣalkh (a single obscure word), ṣalʿ (baldness, smoothness), and ṣalf (harshness, coarseness) — no unified sense survives across these, and Ibn Fāris's own caution about ṣalj undercuts any strong bi-radical thesis. Among permutations, ṣawl denotes assault and domination ('qahr wa-ʿuluw'), lawṣ is to peer at something through a gap in a curtain or door, and waṣl — genuinely attested and Quranic — is 'to join one thing to another until it attaches,' opposite of hajr. A well-known Sufi (not classical-lexicographical) reading links ṣalāh's radicals to waṣl/ittiṣāl, prayer as connection to God; this is an association found among mystical exegetes, including within the Akbarian tradition, but it is a homiletical resonance rather than the derivation the lexicographers themselves give, and should be held as speculative.

    Draws on: ibnFaris_nucleus · ibnFaris_permutations

    • Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, chapters ṣ-l-m/ṣ-l-b/ṣ-l-t/ṣ-l-j/ṣ-l-ḥ/ṣ-l-kh/ṣ-l-ʿ/ṣ-l-f
  • Semitic kin & loanwordsAramaic/Syriac ṣlā, 'to bow, incline, pray,' and its noun ṣlōṯā, 'prayer,' are close and long-recognized cognates of Arabic ṣ-l-w in its liturgical sense, and Geʿez ṣallaya, 'to pray' (noun ṣalot), extends the same prayer-root across another Semitic branch.well attested

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

    Aramaic/Syriac ṣlā, 'to bow, incline, pray,' and its noun ṣlōṯā, 'prayer,' are close and long-recognized cognates of Arabic ṣ-l-w in its liturgical sense, and Geʿez ṣallaya, 'to pray' (noun ṣalot), extends the same prayer-root across another Semitic branch. Hebrew, by contrast, preserves the other Ibn Fāris aṣl rather than this one: צלה (ṣālāh), 'to roast,' matching the Arabic fire/heat sense (ṣaliya, iṣṭalā), not the prayer sense — so the two aṣl Ibn Fāris separates within one Arabic root correspond to two different lexical fields already split apart in the wider Semitic family. Jeffery's Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān argues that Arabic ṣalāh, as a specifically ritual/liturgical term, is best explained as adopted from Aramaic ṣlōṯā via the Jewish and Christian communities of pre-Islamic Arabia, a route corroborated by al-Khalīl's own note that ṣalawāt al-yahūd denotes 'synagogues.' This is a genuine case for likely borrowing rather than independent parallel development.

    Draws on: comparative · jeffery

    • Jeffery, Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān, s.v. ṣalāt
    • Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, s.v. ṣlā/ṣlōṯā
    • Leslau, Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez, s.v. ṣallaya
    • Brown-Driver-Briggs, s.v. צלה
  • Quranic exegesisAt Q2:3, al-Ṭabarī reads yuqīmūna al-ṣalāh as performing the prayer with its due conditions, times, and rights, not merely uttering it;well attested

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    At Q2:3, al-Ṭabarī reads yuqīmūna al-ṣalāh as performing the prayer with its due conditions, times, and rights, not merely uttering it; al-Zamakhsharī takes iqāma to imply constancy and completeness (dawām and itmām) rather than any lexical contrast with 'sitting.' Q2:43 pairs iqāmat al-ṣalāh with ītāʾ al-zakāh as the twin practical pillars of the believing community. At Q3:39, Zechariah is described qāʾiman yuṣallī fī al-miḥrāb; the exegetes read this as ordinary standing prayer/supplication performed in the sanctuary niche, a usage some earlier commentators tie to the older duʿāʾ sense Ibn Fāris records. Q4:102's ṣalāt al-khawf (the prayer of fear) draws extensive legal-exegetical treatment from al-Ṭabarī and al-Rāzī on how ritual prayer is adapted under threat of attack. At Q70:22, al-muṣallīn (those who pray) is read by al-Zamakhsharī and al-Rāghib as marking a class of believers characterized by constancy in prayer, picked up in the following verses' 'those who are constant [dāʾimūn] in their prayer.'

    Draws on: tabari · zamakhshari · razi · raghib

  • Akbarian readingNo formal Iṣṭilāḥ definition of this root is supplied among Ibn ʿArabī's own terminological entries here.uncertain

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    No formal Iṣṭilāḥ definition of this root is supplied among Ibn ʿArabī's own terminological entries here. The root does surface in the introductory lines of Faṣṣ Ādam in the conventional benediction ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam, 'God's blessing and peace be upon him,' immediately after Ibn ʿArabī states that the book's content was determined (ḥaddahu) for him by the Prophet. Read against al-Khalīl's gloss that God's ṣalawāt upon His prophets is 'His excellent praise and mention of them,' the formula's placement quietly frames the entire Fuṣūṣ as itself received through a chain of prophetic blessing rather than composed by independent authorial effort — though this is inference from context, not an explicit Akbarian definition of the term.

    Draws on: fassAdam

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