Mashrabaمشربة

ضللPer Ibn Fāris, the root has one meaning: a thing's being lost and going off where it does … (root dll)

الضاد واللام أصل صحيح يدل على معنى واحد وهو ضياع الشيء وذهابه في غير حقه

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

ضلل
Patterns computed · our data

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

24 words6 verbs5 verbal nouns1 participle2 intensives and elatives10 other nouns

  • أَضَلَّhe, or it, made him, or caused him, to err, stray, or go astray
  • ضَلَّhe deviated from the right way or course
  • ضَلَالerror
  • ضَلَالَة—
  • تَضْلِيل—
The whole family5 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6ضَلَّ · أَضَلَّ · ضَلَّلَ

The root as an action: the bare Form I, and the Forms made by adding letters before, inside or after the root.grammar →

  • ضَلَّhe deviated from the right way or courseLaneForm IQurʾān ×53LaneIbn Fāris
  • أَضَلَّhe, or it, made him, or caused him, to err, stray, or go astrayLaneForm IVQurʾān ×64LaneIbn Fāris
  • ضَلَّلَhe, or it, made, or caused, him to pursue a course that led to error, or …LaneForm IIlibrary ×1Lane
  • تَضَلَّلَit went awayLaneForm VLaneIbn Fāris
Verbal nouns5ضَلَال · ضَلَالَة · تَضْلِيل

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

Participles1مُضَلَّل

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

Intensives, qualities and the elative2ضِلِّيل · ضَلُول

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

  • ضِلِّيلman who errs, strays, goes astray, or deviates from the right way or …Lanequality (faʿīl)LaneIbn Fāris
  • ضَلُولintensive (faʿūl)Lane
Other nouns10تُضُلِّل · أُضْلُولَة · ضَلَضِل

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

  • تُضُلِّلnounLaneIbn Fāris
  • أُضْلُولَةnounLane
  • ضَلَضِلrugged land or groundLanenounLane
  • ضَلَضِلَةnounLane
Why this shape?What each of the 12 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.

مَفْعَلَةض ل لمَضْلَلَة

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 · 170Ḍalla yaḍillu (ضل يضل) means he was lost.

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

    Ḍalla yaḍillu (ضل يضل) means he was lost. One says ḍalla yaḍillu and yaḍullu (ضل يضل ويضل) — [two dialects]. Whoever says yaḍillu says in the imperative iḍlil (اضلل); whoever says yaḍullu says in the imperative uḍlul (اضلل). You say ḍaliltu makānī (ضللت مكاني) when you did not find your way to it. And ḍalla (ضل) means he deviated from the right course. Aḍalla ba'īrahu (أضل بعيره) means his camel escaped and went away. It is said: from ḍaliltu (ضللت) comes aḍillu (أضل), and from ḍaliltu (ضللت) comes aḍallu (أضل). Al-ḍalāl and al-ḍalālah (الضلال والضلالة) are both verbal nouns (maṣdar), and every such noun of this kind may have the tā' marbūṭah added or omitted in poetry, but in [ordinary] speech one is restricted to what the dialects have transmitted. A man is muḍallal (مضلل), meaning he is not granted success toward good, a man of misguidance and idle vanities. So-and-so is ṣāḥib aḍālīl (صاحب أضاليل) 'a man of delusions,' the singular being uḍlūlah (أضلولة); he said: "He has persisted long in the delusions (aḍālīl) of passion..." Al-ḍalḍalah (الضلضلة) is every stone [of a size] that a man can lift, or more than that, [smooth], found in the beds of valleys. There is no word resembling it in the chapter of doubled (reduplicated) roots. Al-ḍalīl (الضليل), on the pattern of sikkīr (سكير, intensive), is one who does not desist from error; Ru'bah said: "I said to a visitor whom Maryamah did not reach: a persistent wanderer (ḍalīl) in the passions of youth, he regrets it." Mā' ḍalal (ماء ضلل) is water that lies beneath a rock, which the sun does not reach. Al-ḍāllah (الضالة) among camels is what remains lost, its owner unknown, whether male or female the term applies equally; its plural is ḍawāll (ضوال). Al-taḍlāl (التضلال) is a verbal noun like al-taḍlīl (التضليل), and al-ḍall (الضل) is likewise [a verbal noun].

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    ضل يضل اذا ضاع، يقال: ضل يضل ويضل «13» . ومن قال: يضل، قال في الأمر اضلل، ومن قال: يضل، قال في الأمر: اضلل. وتقول: ضللت مكاني إذا لم تهتد له: وضل اذا جار عن القصد. وأضل بعيره إذا أفلت فذهب. ويقال من ضللت: أضل، ومن ضللت أضل، والضلال والضلالة مصدران، وكل شيء نحوه من المصادر يجوز إدخال الهاء فيها وإخراجها في الشعر، وأما في الكلام فيقتصر به على ما جاءت به اللغات. ورجل مضلل أي لا يوفق لخير، صاحب غوايات وبطالات. وفلان صاحب أضاليل، الواحدة أضلولة، قال: قد تمادى في أضاليل الهوى «14» والضلضلة: كل حجر [قدر «15» ما] يقله الرجل، أو فوق ذلك (أملس) «16» يكون في بطون الأودية. وليس في باب المضاعف كلمة تشبهها. والضليل على بناء سكير: الذي لا يقلع عن الضلالة، قال رؤبة: قلت لزير لم تصله مريمه ... ضليل أهواء الصبا يندمه «17» وماء ضلل: يكون تحت الصخرة لا تصيبه الشمس. والضالة من الابل: ما يبقى بمضيعة لا يعرف ربها، الذكر والأنثى فيه سواء، ويجمع ضوال. والتضلال مصدر كالتضليل، والضل مثله.

  • al-Jawharī · 393Ḍalla al-shay' (ضل الشئ) yaḍillu ḍalālan (يضل ضلالا) means it was lost and perished.

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

    Ḍalla al-shay' (ضل الشئ) yaḍillu ḍalālan (يضل ضلالا) means it was lost and perished. The noun is al-ḍill (الضل), with ḍammah. From this comes their saying huwa ḍill ibn ḍill (هو ضل بن ضل) 'he is son of a nobody,' said of one who is unknown and whose father is unknown. Likewise huwa al-ḍalāl ibn al-talāl (هو الضلال بن التلال). Al-ḍāllah (الضالة) is a stray animal, whether male or female. Arḍ muḍillah (أرض مضلة), with fatḥ, is land in which the way gets lost; likewise arḍ muḍillah with fatḥ of the mīm and kasr of the ḍād. Fulān yalūmunī ḍillatan (فلان يلومني ضلة) means he blames me without being guided to the right course in his blame. A man is ḍalīl or muḍallal (ضليل ومضلل), meaning greatly lost, one who pursues error frequently. Imru' al-Qays used to be called al-malik al-ḍalīl (الملك الضليل) 'the erring king.' Al-ḍalḍal and al-ḍalḍalah (الضلضل والضلضلة) mean rugged/rocky ground, according to al-Aṣma'ī, as if it were a contracted form of al-ḍalāḍil (الضلاضل). Al-ḍalḍalah (الضلضلة), with ḍammah on the ḍād, fatḥah on the lām, and kasrah on the second ḍād, is a stone of a size that a man can lift; there is no other word like it among doubled roots. Al-Aṣma'ī cited: "...and after when we were upon the ḍalḍalah (rocky ground)..." Al-ḍalāl and al-ḍalālah (الضلال والضلالة) are the opposite of right guidance. One says ḍaliltu aḍillu (ضللت أضل). God Most High said: "Say: if I go astray (ḍalaltu), I only go astray to the detriment of my own soul" [Qur'an]. This is the dialect of Najd, and it is the correct/eloquent one. The people of al-'Āliyah say ḍaliltu, with kasrah, aḍillu. One is ḍāll tāll (ضال تال), and the [abstract] nouns are al-ḍalālah wa-al-talālah (الضلالة والتلالة). Aḍallahu (أضله) means he lost it/caused it to perish. One says aḍalla al-mayyit (أضل الميت) 'the dead man was buried.' Al-Nābighah said: "And those who buried him (muḍallūhu) returned with a clear eye, while resolve and generosity were left behind at al-Jawlān." Ibn al-Sikkīt: aḍlaltu ba'īrī (أضللت بعيري) 'I lost my camel' when it went away from you; and ḍaliltu al-masjid wa-al-dār (ضللت المسجد والدار) when you do not know their location. Likewise for anything fixed that one cannot find one's way to. In the ḥadīth about the man who said 'la'allī aḍillu Allāh (لعلي أضل الله)' — he meant 'I have lost track of Him' [i.e., He is hidden from me] — from His saying Most High: "When we have gone astray/vanished (ḍalalnā) in the earth" meaning: we have become hidden and disappeared. Aḍallahu Allāh fa-ḍalla (أضله الله فضل) 'God caused him to go astray, so he went astray.' You say: innaka tahdī al-ḍāll wa-lā tahdī al-mutaḍāll (إنك تهدي الضال ولا تهدي المتضال) 'you can guide the one who has strayed but you cannot guide the one who deliberately persists in straying.' Taḍlīl al-rajul (تضليل الرجل) is to attribute error to him. His saying Most High: "Indeed the guilty are in ḍalāl (ضلال) and su'ur (سعر)" [Qur'an], meaning: in destruction. Al-Kisā'ī: waqa'a fī wādī taḍallul (وقع في وادي تضلل) means '[he fell] into falsehood,' like taḥayyub (تخيب) and tahalluk (تهلك), all of which are diptotes (lā yanṣarif). One says of falsehood: ḍill bi-taḍlāl (ضل بتضلال). 'Amr ibn Sha's al-Asadī said: "I remembered Layla — but there was no time for remembering — while the ribs bent [with grief], falsehood upon falsehood (ḍill bi-taḍlāl)." And the saying of Abū Dhu'ayb: 'His heart saw her, so he sought his own bewilderment (fa-istaḍalla ḍalālahu)' — meaning he sought from it that it become lost, so it did become lost, just as one says 'his madness went mad' [an intensifying idiom]. Muḍallal (مضلل), with fatḥah on the lām, is the name of a man from Banū...[entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    ضل الشئ يضل ضلالا، أي ضاع وهلك. والاسم الضل بالضم. ومنه قولهم: هو ضل بن ضل (2) ، إذا كان لا يعرف ولا يعرف أبوه. وكذلك: هو الضلال بن التلال (3) . والضالة: ما ضل من البهيمة للذكر والانثى. وأرض مضلة بالقتح: يضل فيها الطريق. وكذلك أرض مضلة، بفتح الميم وكسر الضاد. وفلان يلومني ضلة، إذا لم يوفق للرشاد في عذله. ورجل ضليل ومضلل، أي ضال جدا، وهو الكثير التتبع للضلال. وكان يقال لامرئ القيس: الملك الضليل. والضلضل والضلضلة: الارض الغليظة، عن الاصمعي، كأنه قصر الضلاضل. والضلضلة بضم الضاد وفتح اللام وكسر الضاد الثانية: حجر قدر ما يقله الرجل. وليس في الكلام المضاعف غيره. وأنشد الاصمعي (1) : وبعد إذ نحن على الضلضله (2) * والضلال والضلالة: ضد الرشاد. وقد ضللت أضل. قال تعالى: " قل إن ضللت فإنما أضل على نفسي) . فهذه لغة نجد، وهى الفصيحة. وأهل العالية يقولون: ضللت بالكسر أضل. وهو ضال تال، وهى الضلالة والتلالة. وأضله، أي أضاعه وأهلكه. يقال أضل الميت، إذا دفن. وقال النابغة وآب مضلوه بعين جلية وغودر بالجولان حزم ونائل ابن السكيت: أضللت بعيري، إذا ذهب منك! وضللت المسجد والدار، إذا لم تعرف موضعهما. وكذلك كل شئ مقيم لا يهتدى له. وفي الحديث عن الرجل الذي قال: " لعلي أضل الله (1) "، يريد أضل عنه، أي أخفى عليه وأغيب. من قوله تعالى: (أئذا ضللنا في الأرض) أي خفينا وغبنا. وأضله الله فضل. تقول: إنك تهدي الضال ولا تهدي المتضال. وتضليل الرجل: أن تنسبه إلى الضلال. وقوله تعالى: (إن المجرمين في ضلال وسعر) ، أي في هلاك. الكسائي: وقع في وادي تضلل، معناه الباطل، مثل تخيب وتهلك، كله لا ينصرف. ويقال للباطل: ضل بتضلال. قال عمرو ابن شأس الأسدي: تذكرت ليلى لات حين اد كارها وقد حنى الاضلاع ضل بتضلال وقول أبى ذؤيب: رآها الفؤاد فاستضل ضلاله (1) * يعنى: طلب منه أن يضل فضل، كما يقال جن جنونه. ومضلل بفتح اللام: اسم رجل من بنى أسد. وقال (2) : فقبلي (3) مات الخالدان كلاهما عميد بنى جحون وابن المضلل

  • Ibn Fāris · 395The ḍād and lām form a sound root indicating a single meaning: the loss of a thing and its going away improperly.

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

    The ḍād and lām form a sound root indicating a single meaning: the loss of a thing and its going away improperly. One says ḍalla yaḍillu and yaḍullu (ضل يضل ويضل) — two dialectal forms. Anyone who deviates from the right course is ḍāll (ضال). Ḍalāl (الضلال) and ḍalālah (الضلالة) have the same meaning. A man is ḍalīl (ضليل) or muḍallal (مضلل) if he is a person of error and falsehood. Among the things indicating that the origin of ḍalāl is what we have mentioned is their saying aḍalla al-mayyit (أضل الميت) 'the dead man was buried,' as if he were something that had been lost. They also say ḍalla al-laban fī al-mā' (ضل اللبن في الماء) 'the milk was lost in the water,' then they say istuhlika (استهلك) 'it was consumed.' Regarding aḍalla al-mayyit he said: "And those who buried him (muḍallūhu) returned with a clear eye, while resolve and generosity were left behind at al-Jawlān." Ibn al-Sikkīt said: one says aḍlaltu ba'īrī (أضللت بعيري) 'I lost my camel' when it went away from you, and ḍaliltu al-masjid wa-al-dār (ضللت المسجد والدار) 'I lost my way to the mosque and the house' when you could not find your way to them. Likewise for anything stationary that one cannot find one's way to. One says arḍ muḍillah and muḍallah (أرض مضلة ومضلة) 'a land that misleads,' and they say waqa'ū fī wādī taḍallul (وقعوا في وادي تضلل) 'they fell into the valley of error' when they fell into perplexity/misguidance.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الضاد واللام أصل صحيح يدل على معنى واحد وهو ضياع الشيء وذهابه في غير حقه يقال ضل يضل ويضل لغتان وكل جائر عن القصد ضال والضلال والضلالة بمعنى ورجل ضليل ومضلل إذا كان صاحب ضلال وباطل ومما يدل على أن أصل الضلال ما ذكرناه قولهم أضل الميت إذا دفن وذاك كأنه شيء قد ضاع ويقولون ضل اللبن في الماء ثم يقولون استهلك وقال في أضل الميت : — وآب مضلوه بعين جلية … وغودر بالجولان حزم ونائل … قال ابن السكيت يقال أضللت بعيري إذا ذهب منك وضللت المسجد والدار إذا لم تهتد لهما وكذلك كل شيء مقيم لا يهتدى له ويقال أرض مضلة ومضلة ووقعوا في وادي تضلل إذا وقعوا في مضلة

  • al-Rāghib · 502...grief, and a punishment for their having led [others] astray, as He indicated by His saying: 'that they may bear their own burdens in full on the Day of Resurrection, and some of the burdens of those whom they lead as

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

    ...grief, and a punishment for their having led [others] astray, as He indicated by His saying: 'that they may bear their own burdens in full on the Day of Resurrection, and some of the burdens of those whom they lead astray without knowledge' [Qur'an, al-Naḥl 16:25], and His saying: 'for each a double [punishment], but you do not know' [Qur'an, al-A'rāf 7:38] — meaning: for each of them a double of what [punishment] you have, or it is said: meaning for each of them and of you a double of what the other sees, for the punishment is both outward and inward, and each perceives from the other only the outward, not the inward, so he supposes that there is no inward punishment for him.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الهم، وعذابا بإضلالهم كما أشار إليه بقوله: ليحملوا أوزارهم كاملة يوم القيامة ومن أوزار الذين يضلونهم [النحل/ 25] ، وقوله: لكل ضعف ولكن لا تعلمون [الأعراف/ 38] ، أي: لكل منهم ضعف ما لكم من العذاب، وقيل: أي: لكل منهم ومنكم ضعف ما يرى الآخر، فإن من العذاب ظاهرا وباطنا، وكل يدرك من الآخر الظاهر دون الباطن فيقدر أن ليس له العذاب الباطن.

  • Lisān · 711Al-ḍalāl and al-ḍalālah (الضلال والضلالة) are the opposite of guidance and right direction.

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

    Al-ḍalāl and al-ḍalālah (الضلال والضلالة) are the opposite of guidance and right direction. Ḍaliltu aḍillu (ضللت أضل) — this is the eloquent dialect; and ḍaliltu aḍillu ḍalālan wa-ḍalālatan (ضللت تضل ضلالا وضلالة). Kurā' said: Banū Tamīm say ḍaliltu aḍillu and ḍaliltu aḍillu [i.e., both forms]. Al-Liḥyānī said: the people of the Ḥijāz say ḍaliltu aḍillu, and the people of Najd say ḍaliltu aḍillu; he said both readings occur in the recitation of His saying, Mighty and Exalted: "Say: if I go astray, I only go astray to the detriment of my own soul." The people of al-'Āliyah say ḍaliltu, with kasrah, aḍillu; one is ḍāll tāll (ضال تال), and the nouns are al-ḍalālah wa-al-talālah (الضلالة والتلالة). Al-Jawharī said: the dialect of Najd is the eloquent one. Ibn Sīdah said: Yaḥyā ibn Wathāb used to recite every occurrence in the Qur'an as ḍaliltu and ḍalilnā, with kasrah on the lām; and 'a man is ḍāll (ضال).' He said: as for the reading of those who recite wa-lā al-ḍā'llīn (ولا الضألين) with hamzah on the alif, this is because [the reciter] disliked the meeting of two sākins — the alif and the lām — so he gave the alif a vowel due to their meeting, and it thus turned into a hamzah, because the alif is a weak letter of wide articulation-point that cannot bear a vowel; so when they were compelled to vowel it, they converted it to the nearest letter to it, which is the hamzah. He said: comparable to this is what Abū Zayd related of their saying sha'bah and ma'dah [for shābah and mādah]; and they cited as evidence: "O wonder! Indeed I have seen a wonder: a donkey of Qibbān driving a she-rabbit, leading her by the nose-rein (za'amahā for zāmahā), that she might go forth." meaning zāmahā. Abū al-'Abbās related from Abū 'Uthmān, from Abū Zayd, who said: I heard 'Amr ibn 'Ubayd recite: 'and on that Day none will be asked about his sin, neither man nor jān (jā'n جأن),' with hamzah in jān — and I thought he had erred, until I heard the Arabs say sha'bah and ma'dah. Abū al-'Abbās said: I said to Abū 'Uthmān, do you consider this [to be] by analogy (qiyās)? He said: No, nor do I accept it. Ḍalūl (ضلول) is like ḍāll (ضال); he said: "Umāmah has indeed claimed that I have no sons, and that I am a lost man (ḍalūl)." Aḍallahu (أضله) means he made him go astray. His saying Most High: "If you are eager for their guidance, indeed God does not guide whom He leads astray (yuḍillu)" — and it is also read "is not guided, whom He leads astray." Al-Zajjāj said: this is like His saying: "Whomever God leads astray, there is no guide for him." Abū Manṣūr said: al-iḍlāl (الإضلال) in the speech of the Arabs is the opposite of guidance and right direction. One says: aḍlaltu fulānan (أضللت فلانا) 'I made so-and-so go astray,' meaning you directed him toward straying from the path; and this is what Labīd meant: "Whomever He guides to the paths of good, he is guided, at ease in his state; and whomever He wills, He leads astray." Labīd said this in his pre-Islamic period, and it agreed with the words of the noble revelation: "He leads astray whom He wills, and guides whom He wills." Abū Manṣūr said: the original sense in the speech of the Arabs has another aspect: one says aḍlaltu al-shay' (أضللت الشيء) 'I lost the thing' when you concealed it, and aḍlaltu al-mayyit (أضللت الميت) 'I buried the dead man.' In the ḥadīth: "There will come upon you a people such that if you disobey them, you will go astray (ḍalaltum)" — meaning by disobeying them, rebellion and the splitting of the unity of the Muslims. Sometimes aḍallahum (أضلهم) occurs in other than this sense, carrying the meaning of being led into error and entering it... [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الضلال والضلالة: ضد الهدى والرشاد، ضللت تضل هذه اللغة الفصيحة، وضللت تضل ضلالا وضلالة؛ وقال كراع: وبنو تميم يقولون ضللت أضل وضللت أضل؛ وقال اللحياني: أهل الحجاز يقولون ضللت أضل، وأهل نجد يقولون ضللت أضل، قال وقد قرئ بهما جميعا قوله عز وجل: قل إن ضللت فإنما أضل على نفسي ؛ وأهل العالية يقولون ضللت، بالكسر، أضل، وهو ضال تال، وهي الضلالة والتلالة؛ وقال الجوهري: لغة نجد هي الفصيحة. قال ابن سيده: وكان يحيى بن وثاب يقرأ كل شيء في القرآن ضللت وضللنا، بكسر اللام، ورجل ضال. قال: وأما قراءة من قرأ ولا الضألين ، بهمز الألف، فإنه كره التقاء الساكنين الألف واللام فحرك الألف لالتقائهما فانقلبت همزة، لأن الألف حرف ضعيف واسع المخرج لا يتحمل الحركة، فإذا اضطروا إلى تحريكه قلبوه إلى أقرب الحروف إليه وهو الهمزة؛ قال: وعلى ذلك ما حكاه أبو زيد من قولهم شأبة ومأدة؛ وأنشدوا: يا عجبا لقد رأيت عجبا: ... حمار قبان يسوق أرنبا، خاطمها زأمها أن تذهبا يريد زامها. وحكى أبو العباس عن أبي عثمان عن أبي زيد قال: سمعت عمرو بن عبيد يقرأ: فيومئذ لا يسأل عن ذنبه إنس ولا جأن ، بهمز جان، فظننته قد لحن حتى سمعت العرب تقول شأبة ومأدة؛ قال أبو العباس: فقلت لأبي عثمان أتقيس ذلك؟ قال: لا ولا أقبله. وضلول: كضال؛ قال: لقد زعمت أمامة أن مالي ... بني، وأنني رجل ضلول وأضله: جعله ضالا. وقوله تعالى: إن تحرص على هداهم فإن الله لا يهدي من يضل ، وقرئت: لا يهدى من يضل ؛ قال الزجاج: هو كما قال تعالى: من يضلل الله فلا هادي له . قال أبو منصور: والإضلال في كلام العرب ضد الهداية والإرشاد. يقال: أضللت فلانا إذا وجهته للضلال عن الطريق؛ وإياه أراد لبيد: من هداه سبل الخير اهتدى ... ناعم البال، ومن شاء أضل قال لبيد: هذا في جاهليته فوافق قوله التنزيل العزيز: يضل من يشاء ويهدي من يشاء* ؛ قال أبو منصور: والأصل في كلام العرب وجه آخر يقال: أضللت الشيء إذا غيبته، وأضللت الميت دفنته. وفي الحديث: سيكون عليكم أمة إن عصيتموهم ضللتم ، يريد بمعصيتهم الخروج عليهم وشق عصا المسلمين؛ وقد يقع أضلهم في غير هذا الموضع على الحمل على الضلال والدخول فيه. وقوله في التنزيل العزيز: رب إنهن أضللن كثيرا من الناس ؛ أي ضلوا بسببها لأن الأصنام لا تفعل شيئا ولا تعقل، وهذا كما تقول: قد أفتنتني هذه الدار أي افتتنت بسببها وأحببتها؛ وقول أبي ذؤيب: رآها الفؤاد فاستضل ضلاله، ... نيافا من البيض الكرام العطابل قال السكري: طلب منه أن يضل فضل كما يقال جن جنونه، ونيافا أي طويلة، وهو مصدر ناف نيافا وإن لم يستعمل، والمستعمل أناف؛ وقال ابن جني: نيافا مفعول ثان لرآها لأن الرؤية هاهنا رؤية القلب لقوله رآها الفؤاد. ويقال: ضل ضلاله، كما يقال جن جنونه؛ قال أمية: لولا وثاق الله ضل ضلالنا، ... ولسرنا أنا نتل فنوأد وقال أوس بن حجر: إذا ناقة شدت برحل ونمرق، ... إلى حكم بعدي، فضل ضلالها وضللت المسجد والدار إذا لم تعرف موضعهما، وضللت الدار والمسجد والطريق وكل شيء مقيم ثابت لا تهتدي له، وضل هو عني ضلالا وضلالة؛ قال ابن بري: قال أبو عمرو بن العلاء إذا لم تعرف المكان قلت ضللته، وإذا سقط من يدك شيء قلت أضللته؛ قال: يعني أن المكان لا يضل وإنما أنت تضل عنه، وإذا سقطت الدراهم عنك فقد ضلت عنك، تقول للشيء الزائل عن موضعه: قد أضللته، وللشيء الثابت في موضعه إلا أنك لم تهتد إليه: ضللته؛ قال الفرزدق: ولقد ضللت أباك يدعو دارما، ... كضلال ملتمس طريق وبار وفي الحديث: ضالة المؤمن ؛ قال ابن الأثير: وهي الضائعة من كل ما يقتنى من الحيوان وغيره. الجوهري: الضالة ما ضل من البهائم للذكر والأنثى، يقال: ضل الشيء إذا ضاع، وضل عن الطريق إذا جار، قال: وهي في الأصل فاعلة ثم اتسع فيها فصارت من الصفات الغالبة، وتقع على الذكر والأنثى والاثنين والجمع، وتجمع على ضوال؛ قال: والمراد بها في هذا الحديث الضالة من الإبل والبقر مما يحمي نفسه ويقدر على الإبعاد في طلب المرعى والماء بخلاف الغنم؛ والضالة من الإبل: التي بمضيعة لا يعرف لها رب، الذكر والأنثى في ذلك سواء. وسئل النبي، صلى الله عليه وسلم، عن ضوال الإبل فقال: ضالة المؤمن حرق النار ، وخرج جواب رسول الله، صلى الله عليه وسلم، على سؤال السائل لأنه سأله عن ضوال الإبل فنهاه عن أخذها وحذره النار إن تعرض لها، ثم قال، عليه السلام: ما لك ولها، معها حذاؤها وسقاؤها ترد الماء وتأكل الشجر ؛ أراد أنها بعيدة المذهب في الأرض طويلة الظمإ، ترد الماء وترعى دون راع يحفظها فلا تعرض لها ودعها حتى يأتيها ربها، قال: وقد تطلق الضالة على المعاني، ومنه الكلمة الحكيمة: ضالة المؤمن، وفي رواية: ضالة كل حكيم أي لا يزال يتطلبها كما يتطلب الرجل ضالته. وضل الشيء: خفي وغاب. وفي الحديث: ذروني في الريح لعلي أضل الله ، يريد أضل عنه أي أفوته ويخفى عليه مكاني، وقيل: لعلي أغ …

  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

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

    ضَلَلْتُ

    1. ضَلَلْتُ, (S, Mgh, * O, Msb, * K,) third pers. ضَلَّ, (Mgh, Msb,) aor. ضَلِلَ , (S, Mgh, O, Msb, K,) inf. n. ضَلَالٌ and ضَلَالَةٌ; (S, * O, * Msb;) and ضَلِلْتُ, (S, Mgh, * O, Msb, * K,) third pers. as above; (Mgh;) the former of the dial. of Nejd, and the more chaste; the latter of the dial. of the people of El-'Áliyeh, (S, Msb, TA,) and of El- Hijáz, and Kr has mentioned ضِلِلْتُ for ضَلِلْتُ as heard from the tribe of Temeem; (TA;) I erred, strayed, or went astray; (Mgh, Msb;) deviated from the right way or course, or from that which was right; missed, or lost, the right way; or lost my way; ضَلَالٌ and ضَلَالَةٌ signifying the contr. of رَشَادٌ, (S, O, TA,) and هُدًى. (K, TA.) [See ضَلَالٌ below.] Hence, in the Kur [xxxiv. 49], قُلْ إِنْ ضَلَلْتُ فِإِنَّمَا أَضِلُّ عَلَى نَفْسِى [Say thou, If I err, I shall err only against myself, i. e., to my own hurt]. (O, Msb. [See also x. 108 and xvii. 16 of the Kur.]) One says also, ضَلَّ ضَلَالُهُ [app. His error became error indeed; a phrase similar to جَدَّ جِدُّهُ, q. v.: or his erring passed away; see 4, latter part]. (TA.) And ضَلَّ عَنِ القَصْدِ He deviated from the right way or course. (TA.) And the verb is trans. as well as intrans.: you say, ضَلَّ الطَّرِيقَ, and ضَلَّ عَنْهُ, aor. ضَلِلَ and ضَلَلَ , (Mgh, Msb,) inf. ns. as above, meaning He erred, strayed, or went astray, from the road, or way; (Msb;) he did not find the way to the road: (Mgh, Msb:) and of anything stationary, if you miss the place thereof, you say ضَلَلْتُهُ and ضَلِلْتُهُ: (Az, Msb:) or you say, ضَلِلْتُ الطَّرِيقَ, (K,) or ضَلِلْتُ المَسْجِدَ, and الدَّارَ, (ISk, S, O,) [I missed, or lost, the right way to the road, or the mosque, and the house,] when you know not the place thereof: (ISk, S, O:) and in like manner, anything stationary, to which one does not find the way: (ISk, S, O, K:) and AA says the like: but that one says of a thing that falls from his hand, and a thing that quits its place, أَضْلَلْتُهُ, (IB, TA,) which means I lost it, and knew not its place; meaning, for instance, a horse, or she-camel, or the like: (Az, Msb:) [thus] one says, أَضْلَلْتُ بِعِيرِى [I lost my camel, and knew not his place,] (AA, ISk, S, IB, O) when his shank has been tied up to his arm and one does not find the way to him, and when he has been left loose and has gone away whither one knows not: (AA, IB, TA:) but Yoo differs from others respecting this case; for, accord. to him, one says, اضلّ فُلَانٌ بَعِيرَهُ and also ضَلَّهُ, in the same sense; (O, TA;) and the like is said in the K: (TA:) and it is also said in the Bári' that when you seek an animal and miss its place and find not the way to it, it is regarded as in the category of stationary things, and therefore you say ضَلِلْتُهُ. (Msb.) ضَلَّ signifies also He was, or became, confounded, or perplexed, and unable to see his right course. (Ibn-Es-Seed, TA.) Also, aor. ضَلِلَ (S, O, K) and ضَلَلَ , (K,) the pret. being like زَلَّ and مَلَّ, (TA,) inf. n. ضَلَال, It (a thing, S, O, TA) became lost; [as though it went astray;] it perished, came to nought, or passed away. (S, O, K, TA.) Thus in the phrase ضَلَّ عَنِّى كَذَا Such a thing became lost from me. (Mgh.) One says to him from whom pieces of money have dropped, قَدْ ضَلَّتْ عَنْكَ [They have become lost from thee]. (TA.) And to him who has done a deed from which no profit has resulted, you say, قَد ضَلَّ سَعْيُكَ (tropical:) [Thy labour has been lost]: the like occurs in the Kur xviii. 104, meaning ضَاعَ. (TA, in two places.) And (tropical:) He (a man, TA) died, and became dust and bones. (K, TA.) In this sense the verb is used in the Kur xxxii. 9: but some there read, in the place of ضَلَلْنَا, صَلِلْنَا [q. v.], with ص: (TA:) or the verb in that instance has the meaning here next following. (S.) And (assumed tropical:) He, or it, (a man, S, TA, or a camel, Msb, and a thing, TA,) was, or became, unperceived or imperceptible, unapparent, latent, hidden or concealed, or absent, (S, Msb, K, TA.) Hence the phrase, ضَلَّ المَآءُ فِى اللَّبَنِ (tropical:) [The water became unperceived, or concealed, in the milk]. (TA.) One says of a road to which he has not been able to find the way, ضَلَّ عَنِّى [It has become hidden from me]. (K, TA.) And hence also the saying of a man, as is related in a trad., (S, O, TA,) after his having charged his sons by saying to them, “ When I die, burn ye me; and when I shall have become ashes, pound me; then scatter me in the water: ” (O, TA:) لَعَلِّى أَضِلُّ ٱللّٰه (S, O, TA) i. e. (assumed tropical:) May-be, I shall be unperceived by God, or concealed from Him: (S:) or may-be, I shall be hidden, or absent, from God's punishment: (O, TA:) or, as El-'Otbee says, may-be, I shall escape God, and my place will be hidden from Him. (TA.) And ضَلَّ said of one forgetting means (assumed tropical:) His memory became absent from him. (O, Msb, TA.) أَنْ تَضِلَّ إِحْدَاهُمَا, or إِنْ تَضِلَّ, in the Kur [ii. 282], accord. to different readers, (TA,) in which instance أَنْ and إِنْ are syn., (Mughnee, [see أَنْ, in p. 106, cols. 1 and 2,]) means If one of them twain [referring to women] be absent from her memory: or if the memory of one of them twain be absent from her: [or if one of them twain err in her memory:] or, accord. to Zj, the meaning of the verb in this case is that which next follows. (TA.) ضَلِلْتُ الشَّىْءَ also signifies (assumed tropical:) I forgot the thing: whence one says of a woman, ضَلَّتْ أَيَّامَ حَيْضِهَا (assumed tropical:) [She forgot the days of her menstruation]; and so أَضَلَّتْهَا: (Mgh:) or ضَلَّ فُلَانًا (assumed tropical:) He was made, or caused, to forget such a one. (K. [In the CK, اُنْسِيْهِ is erroneously put for أُنْسِيَهُ.]) It is said that لَا يَضِلُّ رَبِّى, in the Kur xx. 54, means (assumed tropical:) My Lord will not be unmindful: or nothing will escape Him. (TA.) And one says, ضَلَّنِى فُلَانٌ, (Msb, K,) or ضَلَّنِى فُلَانٌ فَلَمْ أَقْدَرْ عَلَيْهِ, (O,) meaning Such a one went away from me, (O, Msb, K,) and I was unable to compass him [or to find him]: so in the Bári'. (Msb.) ضُلَّ, as a verb of wonder: see ضُلٌّ.

    ضلَلهُ

    2. ضلَلهُ, (S, MA, O, K,) inf. n. تَضْلِيلٌ and تَضْلَالٌ, (K,) He, or it, made, or caused, him to pursue a course that led to error, or deviation from the right way: (K: [see also 4:]) he, or it, led him astray; seduced him: (MA:) [or] he attributed, or imputed, to him error, or deviation from the right way. (S, MA, O.) ضُلِّلَ سَعْيُهُمْ, a phrase used by a poet, means Error, or deviation from the right way, was attributed to their labour; because they did not reach their goal. (Ham p. 771.) [Hence,] one says, ضَلِّلْ مَالَكَ Send forth, or set free, thy cattle to pasture, or to pasture where they please, by themselves. (O.) See also the next paragraph.

    اضلّهُ

    4. اضلّهُ, inf. n. إِضْلَالٌ, He, or it, made him, or caused him, to err, stray, or go astray; to deviate from the right way or course, or from that which was right; to miss, or lose, the right way; or to lose his way. (Az, TA.) [See also 2, first sentence.] الإِضْلَالُ is of two sorts: one of these is the consequence of erring, or straying; either as in the case in which one says أَضْلَلْتُ البَعِيرَ (expl. above, see 1, former half); or the decreeing that one shall err, or stray, &c., because he has done so already, and this is sometimes the case when the إِضْلَال of a man is attributed to God: the other sort is the embellishing [or commending] to a man that which is false, or wrong, or vain, in order that he may err, or stray, &c.: and God's إِضْلَال of a man is of two sorts; one of which has been expl. above; the other is God's so constituting man that when he observes [and pursues] a certain course, or way, [of acting or the like], whether it be such as is commended or such as is discommended, he habituates himself to it, and esteems it pleasant, and keeps to it, and finds it difficult to turn from it, wherefore it is said that custom is a second nature. (Er-Rághib, TA.) Also He, or it, made, or caused, him, or it, to perish, or become lost; syn. أَهْلَكَهُ, (S, TA,) and أَضَاعَهُ, (El-Fárábee, S, O, Msb,) or ضَيَّعَهُ; (TA;) [اضاعهُ and ضيّعهُ signifying the same; and so اضلّهُ and ضللّٰهُ; whence,] أَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ كَيْدَهُمْ فِى تَضْلِيلٍ, in the Kur cv. 2, means [Did He not make their plot to be such as ended] in a causing to perish, or become lost, (فِى تَضْيِيعٍ,) and in annulment? (Ksh, Bd.) أَضَلَّ أَعْمَالَهُمْ, in the Kur [xlvii. 1 and 9, which may be rendered (assumed tropical:) He will cause their works to be lost, or to be of no effect], means, accord. to Aboo-Is-hák, He will not recompense them for their good works; the phrase being similar to the saying قَدْ ضَلَّ سَعْيُكَ [expl. above]. (TA.) And أَضَلَّ ٱللّٰهُ ضَلَالَكَ (assumed tropical:) [May God make thine erring to be no more, or to come to an end,] is expl. by ISk as meaning may thine erring pass away from thee, so that thou shalt not err; and he adds that the saying مَلَّ مَلَالُكَ means ذَهَبَ عَنْكَ حَتَّى لَا تَمَلَّ. (TA.) Also (tropical:) He buried, and hid, or concealed, him, or it. (K, TA.) You say, أُضِلَّ المَيِّتُ (tropical:) The dead was buried. (S, O.) The phrase أَضَلَّتْ بِهِ أُمُّهُ, meaning (tropical:) His mother buried him, in a verse cited by IAar, is extr., or anomalous. (TA.) And He found him to be erring, straying, going astray; deviating from the right way or course, or from that which was right; missing, or losing, the right way; losing his way; not rightly directed, or not finding the way to the truth: like as one says أَحْمَدَهُ, and أَبْخَلَهُ. (TA.) And you say, أَضَلَّنِى كَذَا, meaning (assumed tropical:) Such a thing was, or became, beyond my power, or compass. (IAar, Msb, TA.) See also 1, near the end.

    تظلّل

    5. تظلّل It went away: so in the saying, تضلّل المَآءُ مِنْ تَحْتِ الحَجَرِ [The water went away from beneath the stone]. (O, TA.)

    تضالّ

    6. تضالّ He feigned himself to be erring, straying, going astray; deviating from the right way or course, or from that which was right; missing, or losing, the right way; or losing his way. (O, TA.)

    استضلّ ضَلَالُهُ

    10. استضلّ ضَلَالُهُ His erring demanded that he should err [the more], so that he did err [the more: like as erring is said to be a cause of one's being made to err: see 4: and see also ضَلَّ ضَلَالُهُ, near the beginning of the art.]: so in the saying of Aboo-Dhu-eyb, [The heart beheld her, and his erring demanded that he should err &c.]. (Skr, S, TA.)

    ضَلٌّ

    ضَلٌّ: see ضَلَالٌ.

    ضُلٌّ

    ضُلٌّ: see ضَلَالٌ. [Also, app. as meaning A lost state; a state of perishing, coming to nought, or passing away;] a subst. from ضَلَّ signifying ضَاعَ and هَلَكَ. (S, TA.) And hence [its usage, in the manner of a proper name, in] the saying, هُوَ ضُلُّ بْنُ ضُلٍّ, (S,) which means, (S, O, K,) as also هُوَ ضِلُّ بْنُ ضِلٍّ, (Ibn-'Abbád, O, K,) He is the unknown, the son of the unknown; (S, Z, O, K;) and in like manner, بْنُ التَّلَالِ الضَّلَالُ; (S, O;) and قُلُّ بْنُ قُلٍّ: (TA:) or he is one in whom is no good: (K:) or he is one who persists in error. (M, K.) [Hence also, perhaps, it is said that] يَا ضُلَّ مَا تَجْرِى بِهِ العَصَا [in the CK ضَلَّ] means يَا فَقْدَهُ and يَا تَلَفَهُ [i. e., app., O the loss, or O the coming to nought, of that by reason of which the mare El-'Asà is running!]: (K, TA:) a prov.; said by Kaseer Ibn-Saad to Jedheemeh El-Abrash, when he went with him to Ez-Zebbà; for when they were within her province, he repented, and Kaseer said to him, “ Mount this my horse, and escape upon him, for his dust will not be cloven [by the pursuer, ” i. e. he will not be overtaken]: (TA: [but the mare is thus made a male:]) or it was said by 'Amr Ibn-'Adee, when he saw El-'Asà, the mare of Jedheemeh, with Kaseer upon her: قَوْمُ is suppressed after يا; and ضُلَّ is of the forms [of verbs] denoting wonder, originally ضَلُلَ, with damm, like حُبَّ in the phrase حُبَّ بِفُلَانٍ, originally حَبُبَ; and the meaning of the prov. is, O people, what a case of perdition is that by reason of which El-'Asà is running! i. e., the death of Jedheemeh. (Meyd.) ضُلٌّ بِتَضْلَالٍ [in CK ضَلٌّ] means A vain, or futile, thing: (S, O, K:) [or a vain, misleading thing; تَضْلَالٌ being an inf. n. of ضَلَّلَ:] 'Amr Ibn-Shás El-Asadee says, [I remembered Leylà when it was not a time for remembering her, the ribs having become bent by the bending of the back with age: it was a vain, misleading thing]. (S, O.) ضُلُّ أَضْلَالٍ: see ضِلَّةٌ.

    هُوَ ضِلُّ بْنُ ضِلٍّ

    هُوَ ضِلُّ بْنُ ضِلٍّ: see ضُلٌّ. ضِلُّ أَضْلَالٍ: see ضِلَّةٌ.

    ضَلَّةٌ

    ضَلَّةٌ Confusion, or perplexity, and inability to see the right course: (K:) [or error: for] one says, فَعَلَ ذٰلِكَ ضَلَّةً He did that in error (فِى ضَلَالَةٍ): and ذَهَبَ ضَلَّةً He went away not knowing whither he went: (TA:) and فُلَانٌ يَلُومُنِى ضَلَّةً Such a one blames me wrongly: (S, O:) [or, behind my back, or in my absence: for] ضَلَّةٌ signifies also speech respecting a person behind his back, or in his absence; relating to good and to evil. (M, K, TA.) [Freytag explains it as signifying also One in whom is no good, on the authority of Meyd.]

    ضُلَّةٌ

    ضُلَّةٌ Skill in guiding, or directing aright, in journeying. (Fr, K, * TA.)

    ضِلَّةٌ

    ضِلَّةٌ: see ضَلَالٌ. [Hence,] هُوَ ٱبْنُهُ لِضِلَّةٍ (tropical:) He is his son unlawfully begotten, or not trueborn. (AZ, A, K, TA.) ذَهَبَ دَمُهُ ضِلَّةً (tropical:) His blood went unrevenged, or without retaliation. (K, TA.) And هُوَ تِبْعُ ضِلَّةٍ, (Th, O, K, TA,) with kesr to the ت and to the ض, (TA,) [in the CK, erroneously, تَبَعُ,] and تِبْعٌ ضِلَّةٌ, (K, TA,) thus related by IAar, (TA,) but the former only accord. to Th, (TA in art. تبع,) (assumed tropical:) He is a follower of women: (TA in that art.:) or he is one in whom is no good, and with whom is no good: (IAar, Th, TA:) or he is a very cunning man (دَاهِيَةٌ), one in whom is no good; (IAar, O, K, TA;) and so تِبْعُ صِلَّةٍ, (O, L, TA,) as some relate it; (L, TA;) and in like manner, أَضْلَالٍ ضِلُّ, (Lh, O, K, TA,) and أَضْلَالٍ ضُلُّ, (K, TA,) and صِلُّ أَصْلَالٍ, [q. v.,] which is with kesr only, (K, TA,) a phrase similar to ضِرُّ أَضْرَارٍ. (TA in art. ضر.)

    Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Technical definitions2 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt

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

ض ل ل

الضاد واللام أصل صحيح يدل على معنى واحد وهو ضياع الشيء وذهابه في غير حقه

ḍ-l-l: a sound root indicating a single meaning, which is the loss of a thing and its going away not in its rightful direction.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Quran ×191

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.

  • ضḍādside of the tongue, by the molars · voiced, continuant, velarisedSīb. · I. Jinnī
  • لlāmedge of the tongue · voiced, in betweenI. Jinnī
  • لlāmedge of the tongue · voiced, in betweenI. Jinnī

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

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

How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ض

ومن بين أول حافة اللسان وما يليها من الأضراس مخرج الضاد

From between the first part of the tongue's edge and the molars next to it is the place of the ḍād. Sībawayh, line 26554 ↗

ومن أول حافة اللسان وما يليها من الأضراس مخرج الضاد

From the first part of the tongue's edge and the molars next to it is the place of the ḍād. Ibn Jinnī, line 975 ↗

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 ↗

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 ↗

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

ض

Level of existence: السماء الثانية · the second heaven

Divine Name: العليم · the All-Knowing (al-ʿAlīm)

Lunar mansion: الصرفة · al-Ṣarfa

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64627

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

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
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ض

عبارة عن الصحة وعدم البلاء.

It expresses health and the absence of affliction.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نور فيه أو لا ظلام فيه.

It is an indication of the thing in which there is no light, or no darkness.

فهي عبارة عن الخضوع.

It expresses submissiveness/humility.

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

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
Two-letter nucleus0 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterض 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 17456 ↗

    In the sister scriptsHebrew צ ל לSyriac ܥ ܠ ܠ
    Arabicض ل ل
    Hebrewצ ל ל
    Syriacܥ ܠ ܠ
    Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩳 𐩡 𐩡
    Phoenician𐤑 𐤋 𐤋

    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 glosses ḍalla as ḍāʿa, 'to be lost'.well attested

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

      Al-Khalīl glosses ḍalla as ḍāʿa, 'to be lost'. From there he extends it to failing to find one's way to a place (ḍalaltu makānī), to swerving from the aim (jāra ʿan al-qaṣd), and to a camel breaking loose (aḍalla baʿīrahu). He also records muḍallal for a man 'not granted success', given to follies. Al-Jawharī adds 'lost and perished', the phrase ḍull ibn ḍull for a man of unknown lineage, the ḍālla or stray beast, land where the road is lost, and Imruʾ al-Qays's epithet al-malik al-ḍillīl. Ibn Fāris reduces all of this to one meaning, loss and going astray. His proofs are physical: aḍalla al-mayyit, 'he buried the dead', and ḍalla al-laban fī al-māʾ, 'the milk was lost in the water'. Ibn Manẓūr defines ḍalāl as the opposite of hudā and rashād and records the dialects: ḍalaltu is Najdī, and al-Jawharī calls it the most chaste, while ḍaliltu is Ḥijāzī and ʿĀliya. Lane gives 'erred, strayed, went astray'. Al-Rāghib's excerpt turns to moral consequence: misleaders carry both their own burdens and those of the people they mislead (Q 16:25).

      Draws on: al-ʿAyn · Ṣiḥāḥ · Maqāyīs · Mufradāt · Lisān · Lane

      • al-Khalīl, Kitāb al-ʿAyn, s.v. ḍ-l
      • Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha, s.v. ḍ-l
      • Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, s.v. ḍalla
    • Letters & soundThe data gives no heaven assignment from Ibn ʿArabī for either ḍād or lām.speculative

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

      The data gives no heaven assignment from Ibn ʿArabī for either ḍād or lām. Al-Dabbāgh reads ḍād as 'health and the absence of affliction' and lām as 'attaining something great'. Applied to a root of loss, these meanings sit in tension with it, and they are better noted than forced. The Arabic grammarians describe ḍād as a lateral emphatic peculiar to Arabic. A sound-symbolist might hear the drawn-out lateral, together with the doubled lām, as a sliding away, but that is an impression. Mainstream linguistics treats all such readings as suggestive at most.

      Draws on: al-Dabbāgh · Sībawayh/Ibn Jinnī phonetics

      • al-Dabbāgh, in Ibn al-Mubārak, al-Ibrīz
    • Root structureḌ-l-l is a doubled (muḍāʿaf) root.plausible

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

      Ḍ-l-l is a doubled (muḍāʿaf) root. Its nucleus is simply ḍ-l, and no sibling roots are supplied. The permutations l-ḍ-l and l-l-ḍ are unattested, so Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation has nothing to work with. The root's internal structure appears in Ibn Fāris's own evidence instead. The sense runs from the stray animal and the man who misses the road to the buried dead and milk dissolved in water, where the thing is not moving at all but has become untraceable. Ibn al-Sikkīt, cited by Ibn Fāris, makes the same point: one is said to 'lose' (ḍalla) a mosque or a house that stays in place but cannot be found.

      Draws on: doubled root · permutations · Maqāyīs evidence

      • Wiktionary: Arabic root ض ل ل (link not verified)
    • Semitic kin & loanwordsArabic ḍ continues Proto-Semitic *ṣ́, which appears as ṣ in Hebrew and as ʿ or q in Aramaic.plausible

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

      Arabic ḍ continues Proto-Semitic *ṣ́, which appears as ṣ in Hebrew and as ʿ or q in Aramaic. Any cognate would therefore look quite different on the surface. No confident cognate of ḍ-l-l in the sense 'to be lost, go astray' is offered here. The word is native Arabic, and there is no basis for treating it as a loanword.

      Draws on: Proto-Semitic *ṣ́ · no secure cognate

    • Quranic exegesisAt Q 1:7, al-Ṭabarī relies on the ḥadīth of ʿAdī b.plausible

      How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

      At Q 1:7, al-Ṭabarī relies on the ḥadīth of ʿAdī b. Ḥātim to identify al-ḍāllīn with the Christians and 'those with whom He is angry' with the Jews. On Q 2:26 ('He leads astray many by it'), al-Zamakhsharī, a Muʿtazilī, reads divine iḍlāl as God's leaving the wilful to themselves (khidhlān) and not as God creating their error. Al-Rāzī answers him at length from the Ashʿarī position. At Q 2:282, an taḍilla iḥdāhumā is generally glossed as a witness forgetting, which is close to the lexical sense of losing track. Q 32:10, 'when we are lost (ḍalalnā) in the earth', uses exactly Ibn Fāris's sense of the buried dead and the milk lost in water.

      Draws on: al-Ṭabarī · al-Zamakhsharī · al-Rāzī · al-Rāghib

    • Philosophy & kalāmIn kalām, hidāya and iḍlāl are a standard pair within the debate over human acts and divine justice.plausible

      The word as a technical term in falsafa and theology.

      In kalām, hidāya and iḍlāl are a standard pair within the debate over human acts and divine justice. The Muʿtazila, for example ʿAbd al-Jabbār, deny that God creates misguidance in anyone. They read the Quranic iḍlāl as naming, judging, or abandoning (khidhlān) those who have already strayed. The Ashʿarīs, al-Rāzī among them, hold that God creates both guidance and error, and that the human being 'acquires' (kasb) them.

      Draws on: kalām · hidāya/iḍlāl · khalq al-afʿāl

    • Akbarian readingThe root does not occur in Faṣṣ Ādam, and the Iṣṭilāḥ gives no definition of it.plausible

      The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

      The root does not occur in Faṣṣ Ādam, and the Iṣṭilāḥ gives no definition of it. In the Noah chapter of the Fuṣūṣ, Ibn ʿArabī takes Q 71:24 ('increase the wrongdoers only in ḍalāl') and reads ḍalāl as ḥayra, bewilderment. The bewildered one moves in a circle around the Pole and is never far from it. The one on a 'long road' moves in a line, with a beginning and an end and a distance to cross. The reading reverses the lexical sense, loss off one's proper course, into a mode of nearness, and should be held beside Ibn Fāris's plain definition.

      Draws on: Fuṣūṣ, Faṣṣ Nūḥ · no Faṣṣ Ādam occurrence · no Iṣṭilāḥ entry

      • Q 71:24 ↗
      • Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, Faṣṣ Nūḥī
    Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out