كتبa single sound root denoting the joining of one thing to another. (root ktb)

Al-katb (الكتب): sewing a thing with a thong. Al-kutba (الكتبة): the stitch that joins both sides together with the thong. And when a she-camel is made to foster [another's young], her nostrils are stitched (kutiba/كتب) with a thread so that she cannot smell the stuffed calf-skin (al-bū') and [thus form] affection (al-ra'm). Dhū al-Rumma said: '[A water-skin of Ghurfiyya leather whose seams were spoiled] — trickling, lost between its stitches (al-katb).' Al-katb: sewing with two thongs. He said: 'Do not trust a Fazārī with whom you have been alone — regarding your young she-camel, bind her (waktubhā) with thongs.' Al-kitāb and al-kitāba (الكتابة): the verbal noun of katabtu. Al-muktib (المكتب): the teacher. Al-kuttāb (الكتاب): the gathering-place of its [the teacher's] boys [the school]. Al-katība (الكتيبة) of horsemen: an organized/compact troop. Al-kutba: the registration (iktitāb) for a stipend or provision; iktataba fulān (اكتتب فلان) means he wrote his name in the register for the stipend. Al-kutba: your writing out (iktitāb) of a text which you write and copy.

Al-kitāb (الكتاب) is well known; the plural is kutub (كتب). One says katabtu (كتبت), [with verbal nouns] katban, kitāban, and kitāba. Al-kitāb [also means]: obligation, ruling, and decree. Al-Ja'dī said: 'O daughter of my uncle, the decree of God (kitāb Allāh) has driven me out from among you — and shall I prevent God from what He has done?' Ibn al-A'rābī said: al-kātib (الكاتب) among them means al-'ālim (the scholar). God Almighty said: 'Or do they have [knowledge of] the unseen, so they write (yaktubūn)?' (Qur'an 68:47). Al-katb (الكتب): joining/gathering; from it you say katabtu al-baghla (كتبت البغلة), when you join her two lips with a ring or thong — aktubu/aktibu, katban. And katabtu al-qirba (كتبت القربة), katban, when you sew it; it is then katīb (كتيب). Al-kutba (الكتبة), with damma: the stitch. Dhū al-Rumma said: 'A water-skin of Ghurfiyya leather whose seams were spoiled — trickling, lost between its stitches (al-katb).' Al-kitāb: the stitch (al-kutba). Al-kuttāb (الكتاب) also and al-maktab (المكتب) are the same [school]; the plural is al-katātīb (الكتاتيب). Al-kutāb also: a small round-headed arrow with which a boy learns archery — also spelled with thā' [al-kuthāb], though the form with tā' is preferred in this word. Al-katība (الكتيبة): the army; from it you say kattaba fulānun al-katā'ib taktīban (كتب فلان الكتائب تكتيبا), i.e., he arranged them troop by troop. Takattabat al-khayl (تكتبت الخيل): the horsemen assembled. Abū Zayd said: kattabtu al-nāqa taktīban (كتبت الناقة تكتيبا), when you hobble [the udder of] the she-camel. You say: aktibnī hādhihi al-qaṣīda (أكتبني هذه القصيدة), i.e., 'dictate it to me.' And aktabtu al-qirba (أكتبت القربة) also: I tied it with a cord; likewise katabtuhā katban; it is then muktab (مكتب) and katīb (كتيب). Iktatabtu al-kitāb (اكتتبت الكتاب): I wrote it — from this is His saying: 'He has written it (iktatabahā), so it is dictated to him' (Qur'an 25:5). You also say: iktataba al-rajul (اكتتب الرجل), when a man registers himself in the ruler's register. Al-muktib (المكتب): the one who teaches writing. Al-Ḥasan said: 'al-Ḥajjāj was a muktib at al-Ṭā'if,' meaning a teacher. Istaktabahu al-shay' (استكتبه الشيء): he asked him to write it for him. Al-mukātaba (المكاتبة) and al-takātub (التكاتب) have the same meaning. Al-mukātab (المكاتب): the slave who enters a mukātaba contract regarding himself for his price; if he earns and pays it, he is freed.

Kāf (ك), tā' (ت), and bā' (ب) form one sound root indicating the joining of one thing to another. From this comes kitāb (الكتاب) and kitāba (الكتابة); one says katabtu al-kitāb (كتبت الكتاب), aktubuhu (أكتبه), katban (كتبا). They also say katabtu al-baghla (كتبت البغلة) — 'I katabtu the mule' — meaning I joined the two lips of her womb with a ring. He [the poet] said: 'Do not trust a Fazārī with whom you have alighted, regarding your young she-camel — bind her (waktubhā/واكتبها) with thongs.' Al-kutba (الكتبة) is the stitch (khurza), so named because it joins together what is sewn; and al-katb (الكتب) is sewing/stitching. Dhū al-Rumma said: 'A water-skin of Ghurfiyya leather whose seams were spoiled — [water] trickling, lost between its stitches (al-katb/الكتب).' From this chapter also is al-kitāb meaning al-farḍ (obligation), as God Almighty said: 'Fasting has been prescribed (kutiba) for you' (Qur'an 2:183). Al-kitāb is also said for al-ḥukm (ruling): the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) said, 'I shall indeed judge between you two by the Book (kitāb) of God,' meaning by His ruling; and He Almighty said: '...reciting purified pages wherein are correct writings (kutub qayyima)' (Qur'an 98:2-3), i.e., correct rulings. Al-kitāb is also said for al-qadar (decree): al-Ja'dī said: 'O daughter of my uncle, the decree of God (kitāb Allāh) has driven me out from among you — and shall I prevent God from what He has done?' From this chapter too are katā'ib al-khayl (كتائب الخيل), squadrons of horsemen; one says takattabū (تكتبوا). He [the poet] said: 'With a thousand formed into troops (tuktab) or a squadron.' Ibn al-A'rābī said: al-kātib (الكاتب) among the Arabs means al-'ālim (the knower/scholar), citing His saying: 'Or do they have [knowledge of] the unseen, so they write (yaktubūn) [it]?' (Qur'an 68:47). Al-mukātab (المكاتب) is the slave with whom his master enters a mukātaba contract concerning himself. They said: its origin is from al-kitāb, meaning the stipulation that is written between them.

Al-katb (الكتب): joining one piece of leather to another by sewing. It is said: katabtu al-siqā' (كتبت السقاء) and katabtu al-baghla (كتبت البغلة): I joined her two lips with a ring. In common usage it means the joining of letters to one another by writing, and it may also be said of what is joined together by utterance. So the origin of al-kitāba (الكتابة) is arrangement by writing, but each [writing and speech] is metaphorically applied to the other; for this reason the speech of God — even though unwritten — is called kitāb, as in His saying: 'Alif Lām Mīm. That is the Book (al-kitāb)' (Qur'an 2:1-2), and His saying: 'He said: Indeed, I am the servant of God; He has given me the Scripture (al-kitāb)' (Qur'an 19:30). Al-kitāb is originally a verbal noun; then what is written in is called kitāb. Al-kitāb is originally a name for the page together with what is written on it. In His saying: 'The People of the Scripture ask you to bring down to them a book from the sky' (Qur'an 4:153), He means a page containing writing; hence He said: 'Even if We had sent down to you a written scripture on parchment...' (Qur'an 6:7). Affirmation, determination, obligation, prescription, and resolve are all expressed by 'writing' (kitāba); the reason is that a thing is [first] willed, then spoken, then written — so will is the beginning and writing is the culmination. Then what is willed, being the beginning, is expressed — when its confirmation is intended — by writing, which is the end. He said: 'God has decreed (kataba): I will surely overcome, I and My messengers' (Qur'an 58:21); He Almighty said: 'Say: Nothing will befall us except what God has decreed for us' (Qur'an 9:51); '...those for whom death has been decreed would surely have gone forth' (Qur'an 3:154); and He said: '...and those of [blood] relationship are more entitled to inheritance in the decree of God (kitāb Allāh)' (Qur'an 8:75), i.e., in His ruling. And His saying: 'We decreed for them therein that a life for a life...' (Qur'an 5:45), i.e., We obligated and prescribed. Likewise His saying: 'It is decreed for you, when death approaches one of you...' (Qur'an 2:180); 'Fasting has been decreed for you' (Qur'an 2:183); 'Why have You decreed fighting upon us?' (Qur'an 4:77); 'We did not decree it upon them' (Qur'an 57:27); 'Had God not decreed exile for them...' (Qur'an 59:3), i.e., had God not obligated their evacuation from their homes. Writing is also used to express an executed decree, or what has come to be in the status of the executed decree; accordingly is interpreted His saying: 'Yes, and Our messengers are with them recording (yaktubūn)' (Qur'an 43:80) — it was said this is like His saying: 'God erases what He wills and confirms [what He wills]' (Qur'an 13:39). And His saying: 'Those are the ones in whose hearts He has inscribed faith and whom He has supported with a spirit from Him' (Qur'an 58:22) is an indication that they are unlike those described in His saying: 'And do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance' (Qur'an 18:28) — because 'aghfalnā' [We made heedless] is from their saying 'aghfaltu al-kitāb,' meaning you left it devoid of writing and of diacritical marks. And His saying: 'fa-lā kaf... [entry continues]'

Al-kitāb (الكتاب) is well known; the plural is kutub (كتب). Kataba al-shay' yaktubuhu (كتب الشيء يكتبه), katban, kitāban, and kitāba; and katabahu (كتبه): he inscribed it. Abū al-Najm said: 'I came from Ziyād's place like one senile, / my two legs tracing a confused line, / writing (taktubān) on the road [the shape of] lām-alif.' He said: I saw in some copies 'tiktibān' with kasra on the tā', which is the dialect of Bahrā', who give the tā' a kasra, saying 'ti'lamūn' [for ta'lamūn], then make the kāf follow the kasra of the tā'. Al-kitāb also: a name/noun, according to al-Liḥyānī. Al-Azharī [said]: al-kitāb is a name for what is written, collected; al-kitāb is a verbal noun; and al-kitāba is [the term used] for one who has it as a craft, like goldsmithing and tailoring. Al-kutba (الكتبة): your writing out (iktitāb) of a text that you copy. It is said: iktataba fulānun fulānan (اكتتب فلان فلانا), i.e., he asked him to write him a letter concerning some need. Istaktabahu al-shay' (استكتبه الشيء): he asked him to write it for him. Ibn Sīda: iktatabahu (اكتتبه) is like katabahu. And it was said: katabahu means he [himself] wrote it; and iktatabahu means he had it dictated to him for writing, likewise istaktabahu. And iktatabahu: he wrote it; and iktatabtuhu: I wrote it. In the noble revelation: 'He has written it down (iktatabahā), so it is dictated to him morning and evening' (Qur'an 25:5), meaning he had it written for him. It is said: iktataba al-rajul (اكتتب الرجل), when a man registers himself in the ruler's register. In the ḥadīth: a man said to him, 'My wife has gone out on pilgrimage (ḥājjatan), and I have registered myself (iktatabtu) for such-and-such an expedition,' meaning I wrote my name among the raiders. And you say: aktibnī hādhihi al-qaṣīda (أكتبني هذه القصيدة), i.e., 'dictate it to me.' Al-kitāb: that in which something is written. In the ḥadīth: 'Whoever looks into his brother's letter (kitāb) without his permission is as if he looks into the Fire.' Ibn al-Athīr said: this is a comparison — just as one is wary of the Fire, let him be wary of this act. He said: it was also said its meaning is: as if he looks at what would render the Fire obligatory upon him. He said: it is also possible that he meant the punishment of eyesight, because the offense comes from it, just as hearing is punished when one listens to people who dislike being overheard. He said: this ḥadīth is taken to refer to a letter containing a secret and a trust which its owner dislikes having seen; and it was said it is general, applying to every letter. In the ḥadīth: 'Do not write anything from me except the Qur'an.' Ibn al-Athīr said: the way of reconciling this with his [other] permission to write down ḥadīth from him — for that permission is indeed established — is that the permission for writing abrogates the earlier prohibition, by the authenticated ḥadīth [of permission] and by the consensus of the community on its permissibility. And it was said: he only forbade writing the ḥadīth together with the Qur'an on a single page — but the first explanation is the [correct] view. Al-Aṣma'ī related from Abū 'Amr ibn al-'Alā' that he heard some of the Arabs say, speaking of a certain person: 'So-and-so is a laghūb (fool); his letter (kitābī) came to him and he disdained it.' I said to him: 'Do you say jā'athu kitābī [treating kitāb as feminine]?' He said: 'Yes — is it not a page (ṣaḥīfa)?' I said to him: 'What is al-laghūb?' He said: 'The fool.' [entry continues]