al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, The opposite end of the ishtiraak phenomenon in which a single word has many shades of meaning, is that of al-taraaduf الترادف – synonyms – where many words share the same meaning. There has been much debate among the linguists over whether there actually are complete synonyms in Arabic, or whether …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, There are endless gems to be extracted from the depth, breadth and precision of Arabic vocabulary, and among the many books which put some such gems on display is the classic Fiqh al-Lughah wa Sirr al-‘Arabiyyah by Abu Mansur al-Tha’aalibi. His book is divided into two sections, the first of which …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, One of the most beautiful things about the Arabic language is the richness of its vocabulary and its rhetorical devices. Although the vocabulary is only rich in culturally-specific areas, it does indeed excel in them. Ibn Khalawayh said that the Arabs have five hundred names for the lion, and two hundred …
al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh There is a phenomenon in Arabic known as al-naht النحت. It is when two words are merged to make one word that refers to them both. Such words are often found in books of fiqh, and this is where I first came across the most common ones, some examples of which …
al-Salāmu 'alaykum wa rahmatullāh One of the words for a 'tap' in Arabic is a hanafiyyah. If it makes you think of the Hanafī madh`hab, there is a quirky story that explains why. When taps were invented, the scholars held that wudū' (ablution) must only be performed using still water, and that running water coming …
