عممa single root denoting tallness, abundance, and elevation. (root mm)

Al-aʿmām (الأعمام) and al-ʿumūmah (العمومة): the collective of ʿamm (عم) [paternal uncle] and ʿammah (عمة) [paternal aunt]; al-ʿammāt (العمات) is also a plural of ʿammah. A man muʿimm (معم): rich in paternal uncles, whence muʿimm makhwal (معم مخول); Imruʾ al-Qays said: "With a neck rich in paternal uncles among the tribe, rich in maternal uncles (bi-jīdin muʿimmin fī l-ʿashīrati makhwal)." Al-ʿimāmah (العمامة): well known, plural al-ʿamāʾim (العمائم). Iʿtamma al-rajul (اعتم الرجل): he is ḥasan al-ʿimmah wa-l-iʿtimām (حسن العمة والاعتمام). Dhū al-Rummah said: "They are saved when their wounds bleed, and the curly [-mouthed] ones are wrapped in foam." ʿAmmama al-rajul (عمم الرجل): if he became black — this is among the Arabs, while among the Persians one says tawwaja, because their crowns are turbans. Al-ʿAjjāj said: "And among them, when the turbaned one (al-muʿammam) was turbaned…" Istaʿamma al-rajul (استعم الرجل): if he took him as an ʿamm. Taʿammamtuhu (تعممته): I called him ʿamm. ʿAmmama (عمم): he blackened, and was thus clothed with the turban of blackening. Shāh muʿammah (شاة معمة): white-headed. Al-ʿamīm (العميم): the tall one among plants, and also among men, plural ʿumum (عمم). Jāriyah ʿamīmah (جارية عميمة) and ʿammah (عمة): tall. Al-ʿamm (العم): the tall/full ones among palm-trees, the complete ones. Istawā al-shābb wa-l-nabāt ʿalā ʿammihi wa-ʿamīmihi (استوى الشاب والنبات على عمه وعميمه): i.e. its fullness. ʿAmma al-shayʾ bi-l-nās yaʿummu ʿamman (عم الشيء بالناس يعم عما), so it is ʿāmm (عام), if it reaches all the places. Al-ʿamāʿim (العماعم): the groups, singular ʿamʿamah (عمعمة). ʿAmma (عم) means ʿan mā (عن ما) [about what], contracted and merged; but when spoken interrogatively, the alif is dropped from it, as in the saying of God, Exalted is He: "ʿAmma yatasāʾalūn" (عم يتساءلون) [about what do they ask one another?]. Al-ʿāmmah (العامة): the opposite of al-khāṣṣah. Al-ʿāmmah: timbers joined together at sea and then ridden [as a raft]. Al-ʿāmmah: a figure/shape when it appears to you [from a distance].

Al-ʿamm (العم): the father's brother, plural aʿmām (أعمام) and ʿumūmah (عمومة), like buʿūlah (بعولة). One says: 'mā kuntu ʿamman wa-laqad ʿamimtu ʿumūmah' (ما كنت عما ولقد عممت عمومة) [I was not an uncle, and now I have become one]. One says: 'baynī wa-bayna fulānin ʿumūmah' (بيني وبين فلان عمومة), just as one says ubuwwah and khuʾūlah. One says yā ibna ʿammī, yā bna ʿamm, yā bna ʿamma — three dialectal forms. The saying of Abū al-Najm: "O daughter of my uncle (yā bnata ʿammā), do not blame me and rest!" he meant ʿammāh, with the hāʾ of lament. 'ʿAmma yatasāʾalūn' (عم يتساءلون): its origin is ʿammā (عما), the alif being dropped in the interrogative. Al-ʿamm (العم): a group of people. Al-Muraqqish said: "And the enemy is between the two assemblies when… the evening comes and the group (al-ʿamm) calls to one another." Al-muʿimm al-makhwal (المعم المخول): abundant in paternal and maternal uncles, and generous among them; these may also be pronounced [differently]. You say humā ibnā ʿamm (هما ابنا عم), but do not say humā ibnā khāl (هما ابنا خال). You say humā ibnā khālah (هما ابنا خالة), but do not say humā ibnā ʿammah (هما ابنا عمة). Istaʿmamtuhu ʿamman (استعممته عما): I took him as an uncle. Taʿammamtuhu (تعممته): I called him ʿamm — from Abū Zayd. Al-ʿimāmah (العمامة): singular of al-ʿamāʾim. ʿAmamtuhu (عممته): I put the turban on him. ʿAmmama al-rajul (عمم الرجل): he became black, because turbans are the crowns of the Arabs, just as it is said tawwaja for the Persians. Iʿtamma bi-l-ʿimāmah (اعتم بالعمامة) and taʿammama bihā (تعمم بها) are synonymous. Fulān ḥasan al-ʿimmah (فلان حسن العمة): he is good at wearing the turban. Iʿtamma al-nabt (اعتم النبت): it reached full growth. One says of a young man, if he has grown tall: qad iʿtamma (قد اعتم). Shayʾ ʿamīm (شيء عميم): complete, plural ʿumum (عمم), like sarīr/surur and raghīf/rughuf. One says istawā fulān ʿalā ʿammihi (استوى فلان على عممه), meaning the completion of his body, youth, and wealth. In the ḥadīth of ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, when he mentioned Uḥayḥah ibn al-Jallāḥ and the saying of his maternal uncles about him: 'We were the people of his well (thammihi) and his stock (rammihi), until he reached his full maturity (istawā ʿalā ʿammihi)' — and it may be doubled for assonance. Nakhlah ʿamīmah (نخلة عميمة). Nakhīl ʿumum (نخيل عم), if tall. Imraʾah ʿamīmah (امرأة عميمة): complete in stature and form. Al-ʿamīm (العميم): the dried-up bahmā grass. Huwa min ʿamīmihim (هو من عميمهم), i.e. their pure stock. Jism ʿamam (جسم عمم): full/complete. He [a poet] said: "And if ʿIrār, though not clearly (visible)… indeed I love the dark one with the full shoulder (dhā al-mankib al-ʿamam)." Al-ʿāmmah (العامة): the opposite of al-khāṣṣah. ʿAmma al-shayʾ yaʿummu ʿumūman (عم الشيء يعم عموما): it encompassed the group. One says ʿammahum bi-l-ʿaṭiyyah (عمهم بالعطية). Al-ʿummiyyah (العمية), like al-ʿubbiyyah: pride. Al-ʿamāʿim (العماعم): scattered groups. Labīd said: "So that al-Sindarī not be my rival, and I make united peoples (ʿumūman) into scattered groups (ʿamāʿimā)," i.e. I make gathered peoples into separate factions. This is like the saying of Abū Qays ibn al-Aslat: "Then it became clear, and we have a purpose distinct from a gathering that is not united." ʿAmmama al-labanu (عمم اللبن): it foamed.

The ʿayn and mīm are one sound root indicating length, abundance, and height. Al-Khalīl said: al-ʿamīm (العميم) is tall/luxuriant vegetation; one says nakhlah ʿamīmah (نخلة عميمة), plural ʿumm (عم). They say: 'the plant stood up to its ʿamam (عممه)' i.e. to its fullness. One says jāriyah ʿamīmah (جارية عميمة), meaning tall, and jism ʿamam (جسم عمم) [a full body]. Ibn Shaʾs said: "And if ʿIrār, though not clearly (visible)… indeed I love the dark one with the full shoulder (dhā al-mankib al-ʿamam)." Ibn al-Aʿrābī said: a man is ʿamam (عمم) and a woman is ʿamam (عمم). One says ʿushb ʿamīm (عشب عميم) [luxuriant herbage], and it has iʿtamma (اعتم) [grown thick]. Al-Hudhalī said: "They pasture at Sāhirah, as though its thick growth (ʿamīmuhā) and its gathered growth were the darkness of a pitch-black night." Some said the tall palm-tree is called ʿammah (عمة), plural ʿumm (عم), citing Labīd's words: "Tall (palm trees) whose flint-soil and irrigation-channel benefit them, luxuriant (ʿumm nawāʿim), among which are vine-arbors." Abū ʿAmr said: al-ʿamīm of palm-trees is above al-jabbār [a stage of growth]. He said: "So the luxuriant ones (ʿamm) belong to your luxuriant ones, and the young (ṭifl) to your young," i.e. their small ones for your small ones and their large ones for your large ones. Abū Duwād said: "Swaying, supple, full-hipped… like a luxuriant stalk (ʿamīmah) of papyrus in shallow water." Al-ʿamīmah (العميمة) means the tall one; al-rafḍ (الرفض) is a small amount of water. From this root is al-ʿimāmah (العمامة) [the turban], well known, plural ʿimāmāt and ʿamāʾim. One says taʿammama bi-l-ʿimāmah (تعمم بالعمامة) and iʿtamma (اعتم); another put it on him: ʿammamanī ghayrī (عممني غيري); and one says ḥusn al-ʿimmah (حسن العمة), i.e. the manner of wearing the turban well. [A poet] said: "They are saved when their wounds bleed… and the curly-mouthed ones are wrapped in foam (iʿtamma bi-l-zabad)." One says ʿammama al-rajul (عمم الرجل), meaning he became black/dark [i.e. was made a chief], because the crowns of a people are their turbans, just as one says among the Persians tawwaja and among the Arabs ʿammama. Al-ʿAjjāj said: "And among them, when the turbaned one (al-muʿtamm) was turbaned…" i.e. he was blackened and clothed with the turban of blackening. One says shāh muʿammamah (شاة معممة) if it is black-headed. Abū ʿUbayd said: a faras muʿamm (فرس معمم) is one whose white blaze descends to its root and the surrounding area of the head, and a ghurrah muʿammamah (غرة معممة) is likewise. It is said that al-taʿmīm (التعميم) in piebald horses is when the whiteness is on the crown of the head but not on the neck; one says ablaq muʿammam (أبلق معمم). As for the 'group' meaning mentioned at the root of the chapter, al-Khalīl and others said: al-ʿamāʾim (العمائم) are groups, singular ʿamm (عم). Abū ʿAmr said: al-ʿamāyim (العمايم) with a yāʾ means groups; one says qawm ʿamāyim (قوم عمايم); he said, 'I do not know a singular for it.' Al-ʿAjjāj said: "The gatherings (al-ʿamāyim) of Ḥimyar poured forth for her…" Ibn al-Aʿrābī said: al-ʿamm (العم) is a group of people, and he cited: "The group (al-ʿamm) directs to him the need of one man, so we returned with needs, and he is not a man of wealth" — meaning the Black Stone. Another said: "And the enemy is between the two assemblies when… the evening comes and the group (al-ʿamm) calls out to one another." From this sense of gathering comes ʿammanā hādhā al-amr yaʿummunā ʿumūman (عمنا هذا الأمر يعمنا عموما), if it befalls the people all together. He said: al-ʿāmmah (العامة) is the opposite of al-khāṣṣah (الخاصة). From this root also is the saying inna fīhi la-ʿummiyyah (إن فيه لعمية), meaning pride, and if so, it belongs to the sense of height. As for al-Naḍr, he said one says fulān dhū ʿummiyyah (فلان ذو عمية), meaning he shares his aid among his companions generally, not specifically. [A poet] said: "So he defended her while his molars were green [with anger], as the man of general-support (akhū al-ʿummiyyah) and courage defends." Al-Aṣmaʿī said: it is from ʿamīmihim wa-ṣamīmihim (من عميمهم وصميمهم), meaning the pure/genuine one who is not of mixed origin. From this root, by way of comparison, is ʿammama al-labanu (عمم اللبن), meaning it foamed, and that only happens when it is pure, at the moment it is milked. Labīd said: "The camel-teams of thick milk are driven round to them repeatedly, and he fills the guests' bowls with pure, foaming (muʿammamā) milk." And of what has no [derivational] analogy except by forced etymology is ʿUmān (عمان), the name of a land. Abū… [entry continues]

…rān/61], 'come to a word' [Āl ʿImrān/64], 'come to what God has sent down' [al-Nisāʾ/61], 'that you not exceed/transgress against me' [al-Naml/31], 'come, I will recite' [al-Anʿām/151]. And taʿallā (تعلى): it ascended. One says ʿalaytuhu fa-taʿallā (عليته فتعلى), and ʿalā (على) is a preposition, and it is sometimes used in place of a noun, as in their saying: [entry continues]

Al-ʿamm (العم): the father's brother. Plural: aʿmām (أعمام), ʿumūm (عموم), and ʿumūmah (عمومة), like buʿūlah. Sībawayh said: they added the hāʾ to it to confirm the feminine [plural pattern], its analogues being al-fuḥūlah and al-buʿūlah. Ibn al-Aʿrābī related, for the smaller number: aʿumm (أعم) and aʿmumūn (أعممون), showing the doubling — a plural of the plural; the rule should have been aʿmūn (أعمون), but he related it thus; and he cited: "She goes forth in the evening with every noble steed… noble among the small-number uncles (aʿmamīn) and every maternal uncle." And the saying of Abū Dhuʾayb: "And I said: avoid the anger of a cousin (ibn ʿamm), and a demand for feeble effort — and it is the discarded thing." he meant ibn ʿammika, meaning by it ibn ʿammihi Khālid ibn Zuhayr, and made it indefinite because their story was already known; al-Akhfash related it as 'ibn ʿAmr,' saying: he means Ibn ʿUwaymir, of whom Khālid says: "Have you not saved her from Ibn ʿUwaymir, while you are the confidant of his soul and his secret-keeper?" The feminine is ʿammah (عمة), and the maṣdar is al-ʿumūmah. Mā kuntu ʿamman wa-laqad ʿamimtu ʿumūmah (ما كنت عما ولقد عممت عمومة). A man muʿimm (معم) and muʿimm: rich in paternal uncles. Istaʿamma al-rajul ʿamman (استعم الرجل عما): he took him as an uncle. Taʿammahu (تعممه): he called him ʿamm, similarly to takhawwala khālan (تخول خالا). The Arabs say: rajul muʿimm makhwal (رجل معم مخول) if he is rich in [both] paternal and maternal uncles, abundant in them. Imruʾ al-Qays said: "With a neck rich in paternal uncles among the tribe, rich in maternal uncles." Al-Layth said: one also says muʿimm makhwal in this form. Al-Azharī said: I have not heard it from anyone but al-Layth, but one says muʿimm mulimm (معم ملم) if he encompasses people with his kindness and favor, and yulimmuhum (يلمهم), i.e. he sets their affairs right and gathers them together. Taʿammamathu al-nisāʾ (تعممته النساء): the women called him ʿamm, just as one says taʾakhkhāhu, taʾabbāhu, tabannāhu; Ibn al-Aʿrābī cited: "What is it with the sister's daughter of the young rabbits — her home is with me, and she said to me one night: Become an uncle (taʿamm)!" meaning that when she saw the gray hair, she said: do not come to us as a suitor, but come to us as an uncle. Humā ibnā ʿamm (هما ابنا عم): al-ʿamm is kept singular and not dualized, because you mean that each of the two is attributed to this kinship, just as you say, in forming a kunyah, abawā Zayd, meaning that each of the two is attributed to this kunyah — this is the statement of Sībawayh. One says humā ibnā ʿamm, but not humā ibnā khāl; one says humā ibnā khālah, but not ibnā ʿammah; one says humā ibnā ʿamm laḥḥin (هما ابنا عم لح) and humā ibnā khālah laḥḥan (هما ابنا خالة لحا), but not humā ibnā ʿammah laḥḥan nor ibnā khāl laḥḥan, because they differ [in sex] — he said: because they are a man and a woman; and he cited: "For indeed you two are sons of a maternal aunt, so go together; and indeed I, apart from that lineage, am pure/distinct." Ibn Barrī said: one says ibnā ʿamm because each of the two says to his companion 'O son of my uncle,' and likewise ibnā khālah because each says to his companion 'O son of my maternal aunt,' but it is not correct to say humā ibnā khāl, because one of them would say to his companion 'O son of my maternal uncle' while the other would say to him 'O son of my… [entry continues]