Root · 25 in the Quran · 52 in 14 texts of the library
لسنa sound single root denoting a subtle, delicate length not sharply protruding, in a limb … (root lsn)
اللام والسين والنون أصل صحيح واحد يدل على طول لطيف غير بائن في عضو أو غيره
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering AI
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ل س ن that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
3 words1 other noun2 plurals
- لِسَانtongue
- أَلْسِنَتplural of tongue
- أَلْسِنَةplural of tongue
The whole family2 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Other nouns1لِسَان
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
- لِسَانtongueautonounQurʾān ×25library ×38Ibn Fāris
Plurals2أَلْسِنَت · أَلْسِنَة
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
- أَلْسِنَتplural of tonguefrom the singularbroken plural of لِسَانQurʾān ×9
- أَلْسِنَةplural of tonguefrom the singularbroken plural of لِسَانQurʾān ×1library ×4Ibn Fāris
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 2 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.
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 AI
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)' AI
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 AI
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
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.
The dictionaries
English: AI translation AIal-Khalīl · 170Al-lisān (اللسان): that with which one speaks;
al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Jawharī · 393Al-lisān (اللسان): the organ of speech;
al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowIbn Fāris · 395The letters lām, sīn, and nūn (ل س ن) form one sound root indicating a slight, subtle length, not overly conspicuous, in a limb or elsewhere.
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Rāghib · 502Al-lisān (اللسان): the organ [of speech] and its faculty.
al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowLisān · 711Al-lisān (اللسان): the organ of speech;
Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), Lisān al-ʿArab. The great compendium of the earlier dictionaries (entry shortened).
AI AI translation of the Arabic below
Technical definitions7 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt
اللسن
ما يقع به الافصاح الالهى لآذان العارفين.
Al-lasan (اللسن): that by which divine disclosure occurs to the ears of the gnostics (al-'ārifīn). AI
السنة
في اللغة: الطريقة، مرضية كانت أو غير مرضية، وفي الشريعة: هي الطريقة المسلوكة في الدين من غير افتراض وجوب، فالسنة: ما واظب النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم عليها، مع الترك أحيانا، فإن كانت المواظبة المذكورة على سبيل العبادة؛ فسنن الهدى، وإن كانت على سبيل العادة؛ فسنن الزوائد؛ فسنة الهدى ما يكون إقامتها تكميلا للدين، وهي التي تتعلق بتركها كراهة أو إساءة، وسنة الزوائد هي التي أخذها هدى -أي إقامتها حسنة- ولا يتعلق بتركها كراهة ولا إساءة كسير النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم في قيامه وقعوده ولباسه وأكله.
Al-sunna (السنة): in language, 'the way/path,' whether approved or not; and in the Sacred Law, it is the path followed in religion without the obligation of wujūb. Thus al-sunna is that which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, maintained continually, though sometimes abandoning it. If that continuance was in the manner of worship, it is sunan al-hudā (sunnahs of guidance); if in the manner of habit, it is sunan al-zawā'id (supplementary sunnahs). Sunnat al-hudā is that whose establishment completes the religion, and whose abandonment entails either disapproval or blameworthiness; sunnat al-zawā'id is that whose observance is taken as guidance — i.e., commendable to establish — but whose abandonment entails neither disapproval nor blameworthiness, such as the Prophet's, peace and blessings be upon him, manner in his standing, sitting, dress, and eating. AI
السنة
لغة: العادة، وشريعة: مشترك بين ما صدر عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم من قول، أو فعل، أو تقرير، وبين ما واظب النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم بلا وجوب، وهي نوعان: سنة هدى، ويقال لها: السنة المؤكدة، كالأذان والإقامة، والسنن، والرواتب، والمضمضة، والاستنشاق، على رأي، وحكمه كالواجب المطالبة في الدنيا؛ إلا أن تاركه يعاقب وتاركها لا يعاقب. وسنن الزوائد، كأذان المنفرد، والسواك، والأفعال المعهودة في الصلاة وفي خارجها، وتاركها غير معاقب.
Al-sunna: linguistically, 'custom' (al-'āda); and in the Sacred Law, a term shared between what issued from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, of speech, action, or tacit approval, and what he maintained continually without it being obligatory. It is of two types: sunnat al-hudā, also called al-sunna al-mu'akkada (the emphasized sunna), such as the adhān, the iqāma, the [regular] sunnahs, the rawātib, and rinsing the mouth and nose [in ablution] according to one opinion; its ruling is like that of the obligatory in being required in this world, except that whoever abandons the obligatory is punished while whoever abandons this is not. And sunan al-zawā'id, such as the adhān of one praying alone, the siwāk, and the customary acts within the prayer and outside it; whoever abandons them is not punished. AI
السنة الشمسية
خمسة وستون وثلثمائة يوم.
Al-sana al-shamsiyya (the solar year): three hundred and sixty-five days. AI
السنة القمرية
أربع وخمسون وثلثمائة يوم، وثلث يوم، فتكون السنة الشمسية زائدة على القمرية بأحد عشر يوما، وجزء من أحد وعشرين جزءا من اليوم.
Al-sana al-qamariyya (the lunar year): three hundred and fifty-four and a third days; thus the solar year exceeds the lunar year by eleven days and one part of twenty-one parts of a day. AI
اللسن
ما يقع به الإفصاح الإلهي لأذان العارفين عند خطابه تعالى لهم.
Al-lasan (اللسن): that by which divine disclosure occurs to the ears of the gnostics when He, Exalted, addresses them. AI
لسان الحق
هو الإنسان الكامل المتحقق بمظهرية الاسم المتكلم.
Lisān al-ḥaqq (the tongue of Truth): the Perfect Human (al-insān al-kāmil) who is realized in the manifestation of the Name 'the Speaker' (al-mutakallim). AI
The same letters, turned
The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.
ل س ن
اللام والسين والنون أصل صحيح واحد يدل على طول لطيف غير بائن في عضو أو غيره
L-s-n is one sound root indicating a subtle length, not clearly apparent, in a limb or elsewhere. AI
Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗Quran ×25
an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them
Do these six share one core meaning?
Reference
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:
- 1 of 6319
- 2 of 6218
- 3 of 6164
- 4 of 6155
- 5 of 6107
- 6 of 658
- 1 of 6148
- 2 of 6108
- 3 of 6157
- 4 of 6179
- 5 of 6111
- 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.
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.
Letters & sound
- لlāmedge of the tongue · voiced, in betweenI. Jinnī
- سsīntongue-tip, by the front teeth · voiceless, continuantSīb. · I. Jinnī
- نnūntip of the tongue · voiced, in betweenSīb. · I. 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)
Reference
How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
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 ↗
س
ومما بين طرف اللسان وفويق الثنايا مخرج الزاي، والسين، والصاد
From between the tip of the tongue and just above the front teeth is the place of the zāy, the sīn and the ṣād. Sībawayh, line 26560 ↗
ومما بين الثنايا وطرف اللسان، مخرج الصاد والزاي والسين
From between the front teeth and the tip of the tongue is the place of the ṣād, the zāy and the sīn. Ibn Jinnī, line 983 ↗
ن
ومن حافة اللسان من أدناها إلى منتهى طرف اللسان ما بينها وبين ما يليها من الحنك الأعلى وما فويق الثنايا مخرج النون
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 and what is just above the front teeth, is the place of the nūn. Sībawayh, lines 26555–26556 ↗
ومن طرف اللسان بينه وبين ما فويق الثنايا، مخرج النون
From the tip of the tongue, between it and what is just above the front teeth, is the place of the nūn. Ibn Jinnī, line 979 ↗
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 AI
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 64654Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 7 line 2576 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
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 2577س
Level of existence: ما ظهر في الماء · what appears in water
Divine Name: المحيي · al-Muḥyī, the Life-Giver
Lunar mansion: النعائم · al-Naʿāʾim
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62110Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
السين والشين فطبعهما الحرارة واليبوسة
Sīn and shīn: their nature is heat and dryness.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2581ن
Level of existence: السماء الرابعة · the fourth heaven
Divine Name: النور · the Light (al-Nūr)
Lunar mansion: السماك · al-Simāk
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64663Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 8 line 2571 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
الثمانية فحروفها حارة يابسة
The eightfold [rank]: its letters are hot and dry.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2580Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ل
With fatḥa ـَ
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.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نهاية له.
It is an indication of the thing that has no end.
With kasra ـِ
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.
س
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء المليح الذي من طبعه الرقة.
It is an indication of the comely thing whose nature is delicacy.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القبيح الخشن، أو إشارة إلى سواد حسا ومعنى.
It is an indication of the ugly, rough thing, or of blackness, sensible and figurative.
With kasra ـِ
وبالكسر إشارة إلى الشيء الطابع وتكون الإشارة منه.
With kasra it is an indication of the impressing/stamping thing, and the indication proceeds from it.
ن
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي الخير الساكن في الذات الشاعل فيها.
It is the good that dwells in the self, kindling [al-shāʿil, as written] within it.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الخير الكامل أو النور الساطع.
It is an indication of perfect good or radiant light.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى شيء يدركه المتكلم أو هو له.
It is an indication of something that the speaker perceives or that belongs to him.
Two-letter nucleus5 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterل س
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 28928 ↗
- لسماللام والسين والميم ليس بأصل يقولون في باب الإبدال ألسمت الرجل الحجة ألزمته إياها وألسمته الطريق ألزمته إياهL28933
- لسناللام والسين والنون أصل صحيح واحد يدل على طول لطيف غير بائن في عضو أو غيرهQ 25 · L28936
- لسباللام والسين والباء أصل يدل على إصابة شيء لشيء بحدةL28952
- لسداللام والسين والدال يقولون لسد العسل لعقهL28957
- لسقاللام والسين والقاف ليس أصلا وأصله الصادL28959
In the sister scriptsHebrew ל ס/ש נSyriac ܠ ܣ/ܫ ܢ
| Arabic | ل س ن |
| Hebrew | ל ס/ש נ |
| Syriac | ܠ ܣ/ܫ ܢ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩡 𐩯/𐩦 𐩬 |
| Phoenician | 𐤋 𐤎/𐤔 𐤍 |
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.
Lenses
AIClassical lexiconAl-Khalīl gives lisān as the organ of speech (gender-flexible), and lasana as 'to attack someone with the tongue,' citing Ṭarafa, alongside lisān as 'speech/language' via Q 14:4 ('no messenger except with the lisān of his people').well attested
The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.
Al-Khalīl gives lisān as the organ of speech (gender-flexible), and lasana as 'to attack someone with the tongue,' citing Ṭarafa, alongside lisān as 'speech/language' via Q 14:4 ('no messenger except with the lisān of his people'). Al-Jawharī confirms the organ sense, notes the feminine use when lisān means 'a saying/report' (citing the Bāhilī poet), records lasan (fluency) and lisān al-qawm (the people's spokesman) and lisān al-mīzān (balance-needle). Ibn Fāris fixes the root's kernel as 'a subtle length not sharply protruding, in a limb or elsewhere,' from which the organ, fluency (lasan), and dialect/language (lisn, citing a variant reading of Q14:4) all derive. Al-Rāghib distinguishes the organ from its faculty — 'loose the knot from my tongue' (20:27) concerns the power of articulation, not the physical member — and reads 'variance of your alsina' (30:22) as variance of languages and of the distinguishing vocal timbre (nagham) proper to each speaker, as each has a distinguishing form (ṣūra). Ibn Manẓūr consolidates: lisān as organ, as metonym for report/speech (feminine in that use), plural alsina or alsun.
Draws on: cayn · sihah · Ibn Fāris · mufradat · lisan
- al-Khalīl, Kitāb al-ʿAyn, لسن
- al-Jawharī, al-Ṣiḥāḥ, لسن
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, لسن
- al-Rāghib, al-Mufradāt, لسن
- Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, لسن
Letters & soundAl-Dabbāgh's table assigns س to 'the comely thing whose nature is delicacy' — a close echo of Ibn Fāris's own gloss of the root as 'a subtle length' (ṭūl laṭīf) — and ن to 'the good dwelling in the self, kindling within it,' apt for an inner meaning seeking outward articulation.speculative
What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.
Al-Dabbāgh's table assigns س to 'the comely thing whose nature is delicacy' — a close echo of Ibn Fāris's own gloss of the root as 'a subtle length' (ṭūl laṭīf) — and ن to 'the good dwelling in the self, kindling within it,' apt for an inner meaning seeking outward articulation. Ibn ʿArabī's letter-cosmology assigns ل to the third heaven and, per al-Dabbāgh, to 'the speaker's attainment of something great' — fitting for the organ of speech itself. These correspondences are evocative but rest on a symbolic system outside mainstream historical linguistics, which finds no causal link between individual root consonants and meaning; the reading should be held as speculative only.
Draws on: dabbagh_fatha · akbari198
- al-Dabbāgh, letter-meanings of the fatḥa series (as supplied)
Root structureIbn Fāris situates ل-س-ن among neighboring lām-sīn roots: لسب (a thing striking another sharply), لسد (to lick honey with the tongue), and the non-roots لسم and لسق (folded into ilzām and ṣ-l-q respectively by his ibdāl rules).plausible
The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).
Ibn Fāris situates ل-س-ن among neighboring lām-sīn roots: لسب (a thing striking another sharply), لسد (to lick honey with the tongue), and the non-roots لسم and لسق (folded into ilzām and ṣ-l-q respectively by his ibdāl rules). لسد's licking-motion sits suggestively close to the tongue-organ of لسن, though Ibn Fāris keeps them formally distinct. Among transpositions, the reversal نسل is independently attested and productive (pulling forth, offspring, the wolf's coursing gait) but treated by Ibn Fāris as a wholly separate root rather than a derivational sibling of لسن; سلن is marked attested with no gloss supplied, while لنس, سنل, نلس are unattested. Any deeper unity across these would belong to Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation, not to Ibn Fāris's own system.
Draws on: nucleusSiblings · Ibn Fāris · permutations
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, لسن and neighboring entries
Semitic kin & loanwordsThis is a solid, inherited Common Semitic root: Hebrew לָשׁוֹן (lāšôn), Jewish Aramaic/Syriac ܠܫܢܐ (leššānā), Akkadian lišānu, and Gəʿez lissān all mean 'tongue' and, by extension, 'language.' The Arabic word is not a loanword but a direct continuation of this shared inheritance, with the same organ→speech/language semantic extension occurring independently across the family (compare biblical Hebrew lāšôn for both the organ and 'language/people').well attested
Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.
This is a solid, inherited Common Semitic root: Hebrew לָשׁוֹן (lāšôn), Jewish Aramaic/Syriac ܠܫܢܐ (leššānā), Akkadian lišānu, and Gəʿez lissān all mean 'tongue' and, by extension, 'language.' The Arabic word is not a loanword but a direct continuation of this shared inheritance, with the same organ→speech/language semantic extension occurring independently across the family (compare biblical Hebrew lāšôn for both the organ and 'language/people').
Draws on: cognate
Quranic exegesisAt Q 14:4 and Q 26:195/16:103, lisān is read by al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī as 'language, tongue-of-speech,' i.e.well attested
How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.
At Q 14:4 and Q 26:195/16:103, lisān is read by al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī as 'language, tongue-of-speech,' i.e. the vernacular in which revelation or a messenger's teaching is delivered, so that the addressed community grasps it without excuse. At Q 3:78 and Q 4:46, 'yalwūna alsinatahum bi-l-kitāb' (they twist their tongues with the Book) is read by al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī as deliberate mispronunciation or misreading by some among the People of the Book, distorting revealed wording to mislead hearers — lisān here bridges organ and utterance. At Q 26:84 ('wa-jʿal lī lisāna ṣidqin fī l-ākhirīn'), exegetes read lisān idiomatically as 'a good report/fame,' i.e. being remembered well by later generations, not the physical organ.
Akbarian readingIbn ʿArabī's own definition: 'al-lisan is that by which the divine disclosure (ifṣāḥ ilāhī) occurs for the ears of the knowers' — the tongue as the vehicle of theophanic self-articulation, not merely a human organ.plausible
The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.
Ibn ʿArabī's own definition: 'al-lisan is that by which the divine disclosure (ifṣāḥ ilāhī) occurs for the ears of the knowers' — the tongue as the vehicle of theophanic self-articulation, not merely a human organ. In the Faṣṣ Ādam passage, divine reports come to us 'upon the tongues of the interpreters (ʿalā alsinat al-tarājim)' — human and prophetic forms function as the 'tongues' through which the Real describes Himself to Himself, since whatever is ascribed to us is ultimately ascribed to Him. Lisān thus becomes, in this technical usage, the locus of translation between the Unseen and the perceiving witness.
Draws on: ibnArabiDefinitions · inFassAdam
- Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, Faṣṣ Ādam
Reference