Mashrabaمشربة

عطوa single sound root denoting taking and handing over, and the root does not go beyond … (root tw)

العين والطاء والحرف المعتل أصل واحد صحيح يدل على أخذ ومناولة لا يخرج الباب عنهما فالعطو التناول باليد قال امرؤ القيس : …

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

عطو
Patterns computed · our data

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

18 words7 verbs2 verbal nouns1 participle1 place or instrument2 intensives and elatives3 other nouns1 plural1 relative or abstract

  • أَعْطَىthe act of giving, presenting, or offering
  • عَطَاء—
  • تَعاطَىthe act of taking a thing that is given, presented, or offered, or that is as …
  • عَطَا—
  • يُعَطِّينِيَhe serves me, does service for me, or ministers to me
The whole family8 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs7عَطَا · أَعْطَى · تَعاطَى

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

  • عَطَاForm IQurʾān ×1Lane
  • أَعْطَىthe act of giving, presenting, or offeringLaneForm IVQurʾān ×8library ×54Lane
  • تَعاطَىthe act of taking a thing that is given, presented, or offered, or that is as …LaneForm VIlibrary ×2LaneIbn Fāris
  • يُعَطِّينِيَhe serves me, does service for me, or ministers to meLaneForm IILane
Verbal nouns2عَطْو · عِطَاء

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

Participles1مَعَاطِىُّ

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

  • مَعَاطِىُّactive, Form IIILane
Place, time and instrument1مِعْطَاء

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

  • مِعْطَاءman, and a woman, who gives much, or oftenLanenoun of instrumentLane
Intensives, qualities and the elative2أَعْطَى · عَطْوَى

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

  • أَعْطَىelative or colour adjective (afʿal)Lane
  • عَطْوَىbow that is easy and yieldingLaneintensive (faʿūl)Lane
Other nouns3عَطَاء · عَطُوّ · عَطَاءَة

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

Plurals1مَعَاطِىُّ

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

  • مَعَاطِىُّbroken plural of عَطَاءLane
Relative and abstract1عَطَوِيّ

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

  • عَطَوِيّrelative adjective (-iyy)Lane
Why this shape?What each of the 16 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.

مَفْعَلَةع ط ومَعْطَوَة

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 · 170Al-ʿaṭāʾ (العطاء) is the name for what is given.

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

    Al-ʿaṭāʾ (العطاء) is the name for what is given. If you name a thing given, of gold or silver, as al-ʿaṭāʾ, you say aʿṭiya (أعطية, 'gifts'), and aʿṭiyāt (أعطيات) is the plural of the plural. Al-ʿaṭw (العطو) is 'reaching for something with the hand.' Imruʾ al-Qays said: "She reaches out with soft fingers, not coarse, as though they were the streaks of a gazelle('s leg), or tooth-sticks of isḥil wood." And al-ẓaby al-ʿāṭī (الظبي العاطي, 'the reaching gazelle') is one that raises its (fore)legs up to a tree to take from the leaves. It was said: "It rubs/scratches with its horns the berries of an arāk tree, and reaches with its hooves when the branch grows too tall for it."

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    العطاء: اسم لما يعطى، وإذا سميت الشيء بالعطاء من الذهب والفضة قلت: أعطية، وأعطيات: جمع الجمع. والعطو: التناول باليد. قال امرؤ القيس «1» : وتعطو برخص غير شثن كأنه ... أساريع ظبي أو مساويك إسحل والظبي العاطي: الرافع يديه إلى الشجرة ليتناول من الورق. قال «2» : تحك بقرنيها برير أراكة ... وتعطو بظلفيها إذا الغصن طالها

  • Ibn Fāris · 395The letters ʿayn, ṭāʾ, and the weak letter (wāw) form one sound root indicating 'taking' and 'handing over';

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

    The letters ʿayn, ṭāʾ, and the weak letter (wāw) form one sound root indicating 'taking' and 'handing over'; the entry does not go beyond these two meanings. Thus al-ʿaṭw (العطو) is 'reaching for something with the hand.' Imruʾ al-Qays said: "She reaches out with soft fingers, not coarse, as though they were the streaks of a gazelle('s leg), or tooth-sticks of isḥil wood" —describing the woman as using a tooth-stick (siwāk). And 'the gazelle reaches' (يعطو) means it raises its (fore)legs, stretching up toward a tree to take the leaves. And it was said: "It threads through the berries of an arāk tree with its horns, and reaches with its hooves when the branch grows too tall for it." Al-Khalīl said: from this is derived al-iʿṭāʾ (الإعطاء, 'giving') and al-muʿāṭāh (المعاطاة, 'passing/handing over'), which means al-munāwala (المناولة, 'handing something over'). One says 'ʿāṭā al-ṣabī ahlahu' (عاطى الصبي أهله) when a boy works for his family and hands them what they want. Al-ʿaṭāʾ (العطاء) is the name for what is given; it is also called al-ʿaṭiyya (العطية), plural ʿaṭāyā (عطايا); and the plural of al-ʿaṭāʾ is aʿṭiya (أعطية). It was said: "She passes it to him at times, when it is given generously, spittle like the taste of honeyed ginger." They say that al-taʿāṭī (التعاطي) is 'taking what one has no right to'; one says 'fulān yataʿāṭā ẓulm fulān' (فلان يتعاطى ظلم فلان), meaning so-and-so undertakes to wrong so-and-so. In the Book of God Almighty: "فتعاطى فعقر" ("Then he took it upon himself, and hamstrung [her]") [Qurʾān, al-Qamar 54:29]. And among the proverbs of the Arabs: 'ʿāṭin bi-ghayri anwāṭ' (عاط بغير أنواط, 'one who reaches without any hooks'), meaning: he aspires to a matter while having no means with which to attain it, like one who tries to hang on to something with nothing to hang on to.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    العين والطاء والحرف المعتل أصل واحد صحيح يدل على أخذ ومناولة لا يخرج الباب عنهما فالعطو التناول باليد قال امرؤ القيس : — وتعطو برخص غير شثن كأنه … أساريع ظبي أو مساويك إسحل … يصف المرأة أنها تسوك والظبي يعطو وذلك إذا رفع يديه متطاولا إلى الشجرة ليتناول الورق وقال : — تخل بقرنيها برير أراكة … وتعطو بظلفيها إذا الغصن طالها … قال الخليل ومنه اشتق الإعطاء والمعاطاة المناولة ويقال عاطى الصبي أهله إذا عمل لهم وناول ما أرادوا والعطاء اسم لما يعطى وهي العطية والجمع عطايا وجمع العطاء أعطية قال : — تعاطيه أحيانا إذا جيد جودة … رضابا كطعم الزنجبيل المعسل … ويقولون إن التعاطي تناول ما ليس له بحق يقال فلان يتعاطى ظلم فلان وفي كتاب الله تعالى ﴿ فتعاطى فعقر ﴾ ومن أمثال العرب عاط بغير أنواط أي إنه يسمو إلى الأمر ولا آلة له عنده كالذي يتعلق ولا متعلق له

  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

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

    عَطَا

    1. عَطَا, [aor. يَعْطُو,] inf. n. عَطْوٌ: see 6, first quarter, in five places. [Hence] one says طَوِيلٌ لَا تَعْطُوهُ الأَيَادِى [High, so that the hands will not reach it]. (TA.) And عَطْوٌ signifies also The act of raising the head and the hands (K, TA) to take a thing. (TA.) See also an ex. in a verse cited voce أَنْ, p. 106, first col. [And see عَطْوٌ, and عَاطٍ.] تَعَاطَيْنَا فَعَطَوْتُهُ: see 6.

    هُوَ يُعَطِّينِى

    2. هُوَ يُعَطِّينِى, (S, K, TA,) with teshdeed, (S, TA,) thus in the M, as well as the S, erroneously written in [some of] the copies of the K يُعْطِينِى, (TA,) He serves me, does service for me, or ministers to me; as also يُعَاطِينِى. (S, K, TA.) You say, مَنْ يُعَطِّيكَ i. e. Who has the office of serving thee? (TA.) And عَطَّيْتُهُ I incited him, or made him, to hasten, or be quick. (Sgh, K.)

    عَاْطَوَ

    3: see 4, in two places: and see also 2. عَاطَى الصَّبِىُّ أَهْلَهُ means The boy wrought for his family, and gave them, or handed to them, what they desired. (ISd, Z, K, TA.) And المُعَاطَاةُ signifies A man's meeting, face to face, a man having with him a sword, and saying, “ Bring near thy sword, ” and he gives it, and thereupon each acts with the other awhile in a manner resembling the slaying with the edge of the sword (يَغُرُّهُ [see غَرَّ فُلَانٌ فُلَانًا]); they being in a marketplace or a mosque: the doing of which is forbidden. (TA.) عَاطَيْتُ الأَرْطَالَ means [I joined in mutually, or reciprocally, giving, or presenting, the pints of wine; i. e.] أَعْطَيْتُ النَّدَامَى وَأَعْطَوْنِى أَرْطَالَ الخَمْرِ [I gave, or presented to, the cup-companions, and they gave, or presented to, me, the pints of wine]. (Har p. 650.)

    إِعْطَآءٌ

    4. إِعْطَآءٌ, (K, MF, TA,) and مُعَاطَاةٌ (S, Msb, K) and عِطَآءٌ, (K,) The act of giving, presenting, or offering; or giving with the hand in the way of presenting or offering; syn. مُنَاوَلَةٌ (S, Msb, K, MF, TA) عَلَى جِهَةِ التَّقْرِيبِ; and إِعْطَآءٌ has been expl. as syn. with إِيتآءٌ; but several authors make a distinction between these two words, saying that the latter is sometimes obligatory and sometimes by way of favour, whereas the former is never but by way of sheer favour; as El-Fakhr Er-Rázee says; though most of the leading lexicologists know not this distinction. (MF, TA.) One says, أَعْطَاهُ الشَّىْءَ; and إِيَّاهُ عَاطَاهُ, inf. n. مُعَاطَاةٌ and عِطَآءٌ; He gave him, &c., the thing. (TA.) And اعطاهُ مَالًا [He gave him, &c., property]. (S.) And أَعْطَيْتُهُ دِرْهَمًا I gave him, &c., a dirhem. (Msb.) And as the signification of this verb does not depend upon the condition of taking, or receiving, but only upon giving, or delivering, one may say, أَعْطَيْتُهُ فَمَا أَخَذَ [I gave, or delivered, &c., to him, and he did not take, or receive]. (Msb.) [See also a verse cited in the first paragraph of art. رأم, in which this verb has a single objective complement with بِ redundantly prefixed to it.] اعطى, (S,) inf. n. as above, (K,) signifies also (tropical:) He was, or became, tractable, manageable, or submissive; (S, K, TA;) said of a camel: (S:) and اعطى بِيَدِهِ [lit. he gave his hand, said of a man,] signifies the same: accord. to Er-Rághib, اعطى, said of a camel, primarily signifies he gave his head, and did not resist. (TA.) [Hence,] one says to a tractable camel, when his haltering becomes loosed (lit. opened) from his muzzle, أَعْطِ [meaning Give thy head]; whereupon he bends his head towards his rider, and he renews his haltering. (TA.) مَا أَعْطَاهُ لِلْمَالِ [How large a giver is he of property!] is like the phrase مَا أَوْلَاهُ لِلْمَعْرُوفِ, and مَا أَكْرَمَهُ لِى; anomalous, because the verb of wonder is not formed from the measure أَفْعَلَ, and only what has been heard, of this kind, from the Arabs, is allowable. (S, TA.)

    تعطّى

    5. تعطّى: see 10. And see also 6, last quarter, in two places. Also He hastened, or made haste. (Sgh, K.)

    تَعَاطٍ

    6. تَعَاطٍ The act of taking [a thing that is given, presented, or offered, or that is as though it presented, or offered, itself], or taking with the hand; as also عَطْوٌ; syn. of both تَنَاوُلٌ. (K.) One says, تعاطاهُ He took it, or took it with his hand; syn. تَنَاوَلَهُ: (S:) and هُوَ يَتَعَاطَى كَذَا He takes, or takes with his hand, such a thing; [as, for instance, food, and beverage;] syn. يَتَنَاوَلُهُ: (TA:) and زَيْدٌ دِرْهَمًا عَطَا Zeyd took, or took with his hand, a dirhem; syn. تَنَاوَلَهُ: (Msb:) and الشَّىْءَ عَطَوْتُ I took the thing with the hand; syn. تَنَاوَلْتُهُ بِالْيَدِ: (S:) or الشَّىْءَ عَطَا, and إِلَيْهِ [i. e. إِلَى الشَّىْءِ], inf. n. عَطْوٌ, He took the thing, or took it with his hand; syn. تَنَاوَلَهُ: and بِيَدِهِ إِلَى الإِنَآءِ عَطَا He took the vessel, or took it with his hand, (تَنَاوَلَهُ,) before its being put upon the ground. (TA.) And The taking with the hand (تَنَاوُل) what is not right, or just, or due. (K.) And The contending in taking. (K.) One says, تَعَاطَوُا الشَّىْءَ They took the thing, or took it with the hand, one from another, and contended together in doing it. (TA.) [And The contending in giving, presenting, or offering.] One says also, تَعَاطَيْنَا فَعَطَوْتُهُ, (S, K, TA,) aor. أَعْطُوهُ, (TA,) i. e. [We contended in giving, and it may also mean in taking, and] I overcame, or surpassed, him [therein]. (S, K, TA.) [And simply The giving, presenting, or offering, mutually, reciprocally, or by one to another. See an ex. voce شَبَرٌ. And hence, The reciting, one with another, or the vying, one with another, in reciting, verses, or poetry.] One says تَعَاطَوُا الرَّجَزَ بَيْنَهُمْ (TA and TK in art. رجز) (assumed tropical:) They recited, one with another, [or they vied, one with another, in reciting,] verses, or poetry, of the metre termed رَجَز; as also تَنَازَعُوهُ. (TK in that art.) And The standing upon the extremities of the toes, with raising the hands to a thing. (K.) And hence, (K, TA,) as some say, (TA,) فَتَعَاطَى فَعَقَرَ, (K, TA,) in the Kur [liv. 29]: (TA:) for this is said to mean And he stood upon the extremities of his toes, then raised his hands, and smote her: (S, TA:) or this means and he took the sword, (Ksh, Bd, Jel,) or the she-camel, (Ksh,) and slew her: (Ksh, Bd, Jel:) or and he emboldened himself &c.: (Ksh, Bd:) [for] تَعَاطٍ signifies also The being bold, daring, or courageous, so as to attempt, or venture upon, a thing without consideration or hesitation: (TA:) or, as also تَعَطٍّ, the venturing upon, or embarking in, or doing, (K, TA,) a thing, or an affair, (K,) or a bad, or foul, thing or affair: (TA:) or the former is used in relation to that which is noble, or honourable; and ↓the latter, in relation to that which is bad, or foul. (K, TA.) And one says, فُلَانٌ يَتَعَاطَى كَذَا (S, Msb) i. e. Such a one enters into such a thing: (S:) or ventures boldly, daringly, or courageously, upon such a thing, and does it. (Msb.). [And Such a one takes, or applies himself, to such a thing; as wine, or the drinking thereof; and gaming: you say, تعاطى الخَمْرَ; and المَيْسِرَ: see Ksh and Bd and Jel in ii. 216.] And تَعَاطَى قَوْلَ الشِّعْرِ He affected to be a poet but was not. (TA in arr. شعر.) And تَعَاطَى البَلَاغَةَ وَلَيْسَ مِنْ أَهْلِهَا [He affected, or attempted, eloquence, not being of those endowed therewith]. (TA in art. بلغ.)

    استعطى

    10. استعطى He asked for a gift; as also تعطّى. (S, K.) And استعطى النَّاسَ بِكَفِّهِ and فِى كَفِّهِ He sought, demanded, or asked, [a gift] of men or of the people [with his hand and in his hand]. (M, TA.)

    عَطًا

    عَطًا: see عَطَآءٌ.

    عَطْوٌ

    عَطْوٌ and عُطْوٌ and عِطْوٌ, applied to a gazelle, (K, TA,) and to a kid, accord. to Kr, who mentions only the first, as though an inf. n. used as an epithet, (ISd, TA,) Stretching itself up towards the trees, to take therefrom; as also عَطُوٌّ. (K.) [See also عَاطٍ.]

    قَوْسٌ عَطْوَى

    قَوْسٌ عَطْوَى (assumed tropical:) A bow that is easy (S, K) and yielding. (S.) [See also مُعْطٍ.]

    أَلْقَى فُلَانٌ عَطَوِيًّا

    أَلْقَى فُلَانٌ عَطَوِيًّا Such a one voided thin ordure [as an 'Atawee, meaning] much in quantity: originating from the fact that a man of the Benoo- 'Ateeyeh voided thin excrement on his being flogged. (Z, TA.) العَطَوِيَّةُ is the appellation of A sect of the خَوَارِج, so called in relation to. 'Ateeyeh Ibn-El-Aswad El-Yemámee El-Hanafee. (TA.)

    عَطَآءٌ

    عَطَآءٌ and عَطًا A gift, as meaning an act of giving [in an absolute sense, or] of such as is liberal, bountiful, munificent, or generous: (K:) [as signifying the act of giving,] عَطَآءٌ is a subst. [i. e. a quasi-inf. n.] from أَعْطَى; (S, Msb;) and is originally عَطَاوٌ: and when they affixed to it ة, to denote unity, some said عَطَآءَةٌ, and some said عَطَاوَةٌ: and in forming the dual, they said عَطَاآنِ and عَطَاوَانِ: (S, TA:) it is used as a quasi-inf. n. in the saying, [Shall I show ingratitude after the repelling of death from me and after thy giving as a bloodwit for me the hundred camels pasturing at large amid abundant herbage?], المائة being governed in the accus. case by عطائك: (I'Ak p. 211:) the dim. of عَطَآءٌ is عُطَىٌّ. (S, TA. [See مُحَيِّىٌ, in art. حى.]) Also [i. e. عَطَآءٌ and عَطًا] A gift as meaning a thing that is given; (K;) or so عَطَآءٌ; (Mgh;) and (Mgh, K) so عَطِيَّةٌ: (S, Mgh, Msb, K:) or, as some say, عَطَآءٌ is a coll. n.; and when the sing. is meant, one says عَطِيَّةٌ: (TA:) the pl. of عَطَآءٌ is أَعْطِيَةٌ [a pl. of pauc.] and أَعْطِيَاتٌ (Mgh, K) which latter is a pl. pl.: (K:) and the pl. of عَطِيَّةٌ is عَطَايَا: (S, Mgh, Msb:) and عَطَآءٌ has also for a pl. مَعَاطِىُّ, anonymously. (TA.) عَطَآءٌ also signifies [A soldier's stipend, or pay; or his allowance; and so عَطِيَّةٌ:] what is given out to the soldier from the government-treasury once a year, or twice; and رِزْقٌ, what is given out to him every month: or the former, every year, or month; and the latter, day by day: or the former, and عَطِيَّةٌ, what is assigned to those who fight: and رِزْقٌ and عَطِيَّةٌ, what is assigned to the poor Muslims when they are not fighting. (Mgh. [See also رِزْقٌ.])

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

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

ع ط و

العين والطاء والحرف المعتل أصل واحد صحيح يدل على أخذ ومناولة لا يخرج الباب عنهما فالعطو التناول باليد

ʿ-ṭ-w is one sound root indicating taking and handing over; the chapter does not go beyond these two. Al-ʿaṭw is reaching for something with the hand.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lane ↗al-Khalīl: used ↗Quran ×14

an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them

Do these six share one core meaning?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ع

ومن أوسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء

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

ومن وسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء

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

ط

ومما بين طرف اللسان وأصول الثنايا مخرج الطاء، والدال، والتاء

From between the tip of the tongue and the roots of the front teeth is the place of the ṭāʾ, the dāl and the tāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26559 ↗

ومما بين طرف اللسان وأصول الثنايا، مخرج الطاء والدال والتاء

From between the tip of the tongue and the roots of the front teeth is the place of the ṭāʾ, the dāl and the tāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 982 ↗

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

ع

Level of existence: الطبيعة · Nature

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

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

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 63825

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

ط

Level of existence: السماء السادسة · the sixth heaven

Divine Name: المحصي · the Enumerator (al-Muḥṣī)

Lunar mansion: الزبانا · al-Zubānā

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64680

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

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

ع

فهي اسم لقدوم أو رحيل.

It is a name for arrival or departure.

فهي اسم للساكن في الذات التي تقوم به.

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

فهي اسم لخبث الذات.

It is a name for the foulness of the self.

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

ط

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي جنسه طاهر وصاف إلى النهاية، وهو في ذاته أيضا طاهر صاف إلى النهاية.

It is an indication of the thing whose genus is pure and clear to the utmost, and which is also, in itself, pure and clear to the utmost.

فهي إشارة إلى الخبيث إلى النهاية عكس الأول.

It is an indication of what is foul to the utmost, the reverse of the first.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي من طبعه السكون أو أمر بالسكون.

It is an indication of the thing whose nature is stillness, or which has been commanded to be still.

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 nucleus4 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterع ط

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 23252 ↗

  • عطفالعين والطاء والفاء أصل واحد صحيح يدل على انثناء وعياجQ 1 · L23253
  • عطلالعين والطاء واللام أصل صحيح واحد يدل على خلو وفراغ تقول عطلت الدار ودار معطلة ومتى تركت الإبل بلا راع فقد عطلت وكذلك البئر إذا لم تورد ولم يستق منهاQ 2 · L23262
  • عطبالعين والطاء والباء كلمتان لا تتقاربان في المعنىL23298
  • عطدالعين والطاء والدال ذكرت فيه كلمة والقياس لا يسوغها لكنهم يقولون العطود السير السريع الشاق وينشدون : — إليك أشكو عنقا عطودا …L23300
In the sister scriptsHebrew ע ט וSyriac ܥ ܛ ܘ
Arabicع ط و
Hebrewע ט ו
Syriacܥ ܛ ܘ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩲 𐩷 𐩥
Phoenician𐤏 𐤈 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 defines ʿaṭāʾ as the name for what is given, with plural aʿṭiya and aʿṭiyāt, and ʿaṭw as taking with the hand.well attested

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

    Al-Khalīl defines ʿaṭāʾ as the name for what is given, with plural aʿṭiya and aʿṭiyāt, and ʿaṭw as taking with the hand. He cites Imruʾ al-Qays on a woman who 'reaches (taʿṭū) with soft fingers', and the gazelle (al-ẓabī al-ʿāṭī) that raises its forelegs to reach leaves. Ibn Fāris frames the root as taking and handing over, and reports from al-Khalīl that iʿṭāʾ (giving) is derived from ʿaṭw, so the causative 'make someone reach' becomes 'give'. He also records muʿāṭāt as passing things to one another, and taʿāṭī in the sense of taking what one has no right to. Lane adds ʿaṭw as raising the head and hands to take something, and the phrase 'so high that hands cannot reach it (lā taʿṭūhu al-ayādī)'. The excerpts supplied do not include al-Jawharī, al-Rāghib or Ibn Manẓūr on this root.

    Draws on: al-Khalīl, al-ʿAyn · Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs · Lane

  • Letters & soundIn the Ibn ʿArabī data, ṭāʾ corresponds to the Sixth Heaven, and no correspondence is given for ʿayn or wāw.speculative

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

    In the Ibn ʿArabī data, ṭāʾ corresponds to the Sixth Heaven, and no correspondence is given for ʿayn or wāw. Al-Dabbāgh reads ʿayn as arrival or departure, ṭāʾ as a thing pure and clear to the utmost, and wāw as the intertwined parts of the human being, such as veins and fingers. The mention of fingers happens to match the lexicographers' image of reaching with the hand, and ʿayn's 'arrival or departure' matches the two-way movement of taking and handing over. Such matches are coincidences of reading, and mainstream linguistics treats sound-symbolism of this kind as suggestive at most.

    Draws on: Ibn ʿArabī letter–heaven correspondence · al-Dabbāgh

    • al-Dabbāgh, al-Ibrīz (letter meanings)
  • Root structureThe ʿ-ṭ siblings in Ibn Fāris include ʿ-ṭ-f (bending, turning back) and ʿ-ṭ-l (emptiness, being left idle), and neither shows an obvious shared sense with reaching and handing over.speculative

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

    The ʿ-ṭ siblings in Ibn Fāris include ʿ-ṭ-f (bending, turning back) and ʿ-ṭ-l (emptiness, being left idle), and neither shows an obvious shared sense with reaching and handing over. The permutation ṭ-w-ʿ (129 Quranic occurrences) denotes compliance and yielding. Placed beside ʿaṭw, it suggests a pairing of handing something over with handing oneself over. This is the kind of correspondence Ibn Jinnī sought in greater derivation, but it is only a juxtaposition. ʿ-w-ṭ is attested but has no gloss in the data.

    Draws on: Ibn Fāris nucleus ʿ-ṭ · permutation ṭ-w-ʿ

    • Ibn Jinnī, al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, bāb al-ishtiqāq al-akbar (link not verified)
  • Semitic kin & loanwordsNo confident cognate for ʿ-ṭ-w 'reach, hand over' can be given in Hebrew, Aramaic/Syriac, Akkadian, Geʿez or South Arabian.uncertain

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

    No confident cognate for ʿ-ṭ-w 'reach, hand over' can be given in Hebrew, Aramaic/Syriac, Akkadian, Geʿez or South Arabian. Hebrew ʿ-ṭ-h means 'wrap, cover', and the semantic gap is too wide to justify linking the two. The word is native Arabic, and nothing suggests borrowing.

    Draws on: no confident cognate

  • Quranic exegesisAt Q 11:108, ʿaṭāʾan ghayra majdhūdh is glossed as a gift that is never cut off.plausible

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    At Q 11:108, ʿaṭāʾan ghayra majdhūdh is glossed as a gift that is never cut off. The exegetes use this phrase to settle the preceding exception 'except as your Lord wills', taking it as confirming that the bliss of Paradise is perpetual. At Q 17:20, God's ʿaṭāʾ is extended to both those who seek this world and those who seek the next, and 'not withheld' is read as referring to worldly provision given to believer and unbeliever alike. At Q 54:29 (fa-taʿāṭā fa-ʿaqar), the man of Thamūd 'took it in hand' or 'ventured' and hamstrung the she-camel, and commentators note the sense of daring to take what is forbidden. At Q 9:29, yuʿṭū al-jizya ʿan yadin prompts discussion of whether ʿan yadin means payment by one's own hand, from ability, or in submission.

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

  • Akbarian readingIn Faṣṣ Ādam, the verb yuʿṭī is used in the sense of 'yields, determines'.plausible

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    In Faṣṣ Ādam, the verb yuʿṭī is used in the sense of 'yields, determines'. In the mirror image, the locus looked into gives the self a form that would not appear without that locus. The angels did not attend to what the constitution (nashʾa) of the vicegerent gives. Their own constitution gives what they said about Adam, so their words about him describe their own state with the Real. Giving here names the way a receptacle determines what appears in it. This connects with Ibn ʿArabī's wider use of Q 20:50, 'He gave each thing its creation', and his principle that knowledge follows the object known.

    Draws on: Fuṣūṣ, Faṣṣ Ādam · no Iṣṭilāḥ entry

    • Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, Faṣṣ Ādam
    • Q 20:50 ↗
Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out