كونreporting the occurrence of a thing in past or present time; kāna al-shayʾ means it came … (root kwn)

Al-kawn (الكون): an event that occurs among people, and it is a maṣdar [verbal noun] from kāna yakūnu [as in their saying: 'we seek refuge with God from ḥawr (reversion) after al-kawn (الكون)', meaning: 'we seek refuge with God from reverting after having been,' and from diminishment after being]. Al-kaynūna (الكينونة) is better as the maṣdar of kāna. Al-kā'ina (الكائنة) also means: a thing that has occurred. Al-makān (المكان) [place] is derived from kāna yakūnu; when its use became frequent, the mīm came to seem as if it were a radical letter, so it was pluralized as amkina (أمكنة). One also says tamakkana (تمكن), just as one says from al-miskīn (المسكين): tamaskana (تمسكن). And [one says] 'fulān minnī makān hādhā (فلان مني مكان هذا)' - [meaning] 'he is to me the place (mawḍiʿ) of the turban,' and other such uses - beyond this the Arabs form it only on the pattern of mafʿal, not on any other maṣdar pattern. Al-kānūn (الكانون): if you derive it from al-kinn (الكن) [shelter], it is on the pattern fāʿūl; and if you make it faʿlūl on the model of qarabūs (قربوس), then the alif in it is original, being from wāw. It is the name given to a fire-hearth (mawqid al-nār). Kānūnān (كانونان) are the two months of winter, each one called kānūn in Byzantine/Roman [usage].

(Kāna/كان): If you make it express past time, it requires a predicate (khabar), because it indicates time only. You say: 'kāna Zaydun ʿāliman (كان زيد عالما)' [Zayd was learned]. If you make it express the occurrence and happening of a thing, it dispenses with a predicate, because it indicates both a meaning and a time. You say 'kāna al-amru (كان الأمر)' [the matter occurred], and 'I have known it mudhu kāna (مذ كان)', i.e., since it was created. The poet said: 'May my she-camel be a ransom for the Banū Dhuhl ibn Shaybān, when there comes (idhā kāna) a grey, starry day.' It may also occur as an augment (zā'ida) for emphasis, as in your saying 'Zaydun kāna munṭaliqan (زيد كان منطلقا)', meaning 'Zaydun munṭaliq' [Zayd is departing]. God Almighty said: 'wa-kāna Allāhu ghafūran raḥīman (وكان الله غفورا رحيما)' [And God is Forgiving, Merciful]. And the Hudhalī poet said: 'And I was (kuntu), whenever my neighbor called in distress, I would tuck up [my garment] until my waist-wrap reached mid-shin.' He is only reporting his [habitual] state, and by 'kuntu' he is not reporting something past from his action. You also say 'kāna kawnan wa-kaynūnatan (كان كونا وكينونة)'; they likened it to ḥaydūda (الحيدودة) and ṭayrūra (الطيرورة) from yā'-roots. From wāw-roots, only a few words have come on this pattern: kaynūna (كينونة), hayʿūʿa (هيعوعة), daymūma (ديمومة), and qaydūda (قيدودة). Its origin is kaynyūna with a doubled yā', so they dropped [one], just as they dropped from hayyin (هين) and mayyit (ميت); had it not been so, they would have said kawnūna (كونونة). Moreover, there is no faʿlūl pattern otherwise in the language. As for ḥaydūda (الحيدودة), its origin is faʿlūla with fatḥa on the ʿayn, which was then made sākin. As for their saying 'lam yak (لم يك)': its origin is yakūn (يكون); when 'lam' entered upon it and made it jussive, two sākins met, so the wāw was dropped, leaving 'lam yakun (لم يكن)'. When its use became frequent, they dropped the nūn for lightening, but when followed by a vowel they retain it, saying 'lam yakuni al-rajulu (لم يكن الرجل)'. Yūnus permitted dropping it even with the following vowel, and cited: 'If the needs [of people] are not (lam taku) within the resolve of a youth, then tying amulets will avail you nothing.' You also say 'jā'a wa-nī lā yakūnu Zaydan (جاء ونى لا يكون زيدا)', meaning exception (istithnā'), as though you said 'lā yakūnu al-ātī Zaydan (لا يكون الآتي زيدا)' [the one who came is not Zayd]. 'Kawwanahu fa-takawwana (كونه فتكون)': he caused it to occur, so it occurred. Al-kiyāna (الكيانة): suretyship (al-kafāla). 'Kuntu ʿalā fulānin akūnu kawnan (كنت على فلان أكون كونا)', i.e., I stood surety for him. And 'iktantu bihi iktiyānan (اكتنت به اكتيانا)' similarly. You also say 'kuntuka (كنتك)' and 'kuntu iyyāka (كنت إياك)', just as you say 'ẓanantuka Zaydan (ظننتك زيدا)' and 'ẓanantu Zaydan iyyāka (ظننت زيدا إياك)', putting the disjoined pronoun in place of the conjoined one in referring to the subject and predicate, since they are originally disjoined, being a mubtada' and khabar. Abū al-Aswad al-Du'alī said: 'Leave wine for the wayward to drink, for indeed I have seen its brother [raisins] sufficient in its place (li-makānihā). And if it is not it (illā yakunhā) or you are not it (aw takunhu), then indeed it is its brother - its mother nursed it with her milk' - meaning raisins (al-zabīb). Al-kawn (الكون): one of the akwān (أكوان). And it was heard a... [entry continues]

Kāf, wāw, and nūn is a root that indicates reporting the occurrence of something, either in past time or in present time. They say kāna (كان) the thing yakūnu (يكون), kawn (كونا), when it occurred and was present. God Almighty said: 'wa-in kāna dhū ʿusrah (وإن كان ذو عسرة)' [Quran 2:280], meaning 'was present and came.' And they say 'qad kāna al-shitā' (قد كان الشتاء)' [winter has come], meaning 'came and was present.' As for the past sense, our saying 'kāna Zaydun amīran (كان زيد أميرا)' [Zayd was a commander] means that this was in a bygone time. Some said that makān (مكان) [place] is derived from kāna yakūnu, and when its use became frequent, the mīm was imagined to be a radical letter, so they said tamakkana (تمكن), just as they said tamaskana (تمسكن) from al-miskīn (المسكين). In this chapter there is a word which may be from speech transmitted [only] to those who know it: they say 'kuntu ʿalā fulānin akūnu ʿalayhi (كنت على فلان أكون عليه)' when you have taken responsibility for him (kafaltu bihi), and also 'iktantu (اكتنت)' - iktiyānan (اكتيانا) - similarly. This is unusual/rare.

Al-kawn (الكون): occurrence (al-ḥadath). One says 'kāna kawnan (كان كونا)' and 'kaynūnatan (كينونة)' - on the authority of al-Liḥyānī and Kurāʿ. Al-kaynūna (الكينونة) is the better form as the maṣdar of kāna yakūnu. Al-Farrā' said: The Arabs, regarding yā'-roots resembling zightu (زغت) and sirtu (سرت), say 'ṭirtu ṭayrūratan (طرت طيرورة)' and 'ḥidtu ḥaydūdatan (حدت حيدودة)', in countless examples of this pattern. As for wāw-roots like qultu (قلت) and riḍtu (رضت), they do not say that; but it has come from them in four words: among them kaynūna (الكينونة) from kuntu (كنت), daymūma (الديمومة) from dumtu (دمت), hayʿūʿa (الهيعوعة) from al-huwāʿ (الهواع), and saydūda (السيدودة) from sudtu (سدت). It ought to have been kawnūna (كونونة), but since this pattern was rare in maṣdars from wāw-roots and common in maṣdars from yā'-roots, they assimilated it to the more frequent pattern, since wāw and yā' are close in articulation point. He said: al-Khalīl used to say that kaynūna (كينونة) is [pattern] fayʿūla, originally kaywanūna (كيونونة); a yā' and a wāw met in it, the first being sākin, and they were turned into a doubled yā', just as they said al-hayyin (الهين) from hintu (هنت); then they lightened it, saying kaynūna, just as they said hayyin [lightened as] layyin. Al-Farrā' said: he has taken a certain view, but the view I hold is the first one. As for the saying of al-Ḥasan ibn ʿIrfaṭa, a Jāhilī poet: 'The truth (al-ḥaqq) was not (lam yaku), except that it was stirred up by the traces of an abode now effaced at al-Sirar' - he meant 'lam yakun al-ḥaqq (لم يكن الحق)', dropping the nūn because of the meeting of two sākins. Now, the rule ought to have been that when the nūn falls in a position where it would be voweled, thus strengthened by the vowel, one should not drop it, because by having a vowel it has departed from resembling the weak letters (ḥurūf al-līn), since these are never anything but sākin. Dropping the nūn of yakun is more objectionable than dropping tanwīn or the nūn of the dual and plural, because the nūn of yakun is an original radical letter - the lām of the verb (third root letter) - whereas tanwīn and [dual/plural] nūn are augments; so dropping them is easier than dropping a lām al-fiʿl. Also, dropping the nūn from yakun is more objectionable than dropping the nūn in the saying 'ghayra alladhī qad yuqālu mulkadhdhib', because its origin is yakūnu (يكون), from which the wāw was already dropped due to the meeting of two sākins; if the nūn were also dropped for the same reason, that would be too severe on it, given the succession of two deletions, especially from one and the same direction. He said: you may also say that 'in (إن)' is a particle (ḥarf), and deletion in particles is weak except with doubling (tadʿīf), as in 'inna (إن)' and 'rubba (رب)'. He said: this is the view of Ibn Jinnī. He said: But I see something different, which is that he [the poet] brought al-ḥaqq after having already dropped the nūn from yakun, so it became yak (يك), like His saying, Mighty and Exalted: 'wa-lam yaku shay'an (ولم يك شيئا)' [and it was not a thing]. When he took it as yak, he brought al-ḥaqq after the deletion of the nūn had already been permitted - it being sākin, for lightening - so it remained deleted as it was, and he said 'lam yaku al-ḥaqq (لم يك الحق)'. Whereas if he had taken it as yakun with the deletion remaining, then brought al-ḥaqq afterward, it would have had to be voweled with kasra due to the meeting of two sākins, thereby strengthened by the vowel, and he would find no way to delete it except... [entry continues]