اى

أَىْ ذ a vocative particle, (S, M, Mughnee, K,) addressed to the near, (S, K,) not to the distant: (S:) or to the near, or the distant, or the intermediate; accord. to different authorities. (Mughnee.) You say, أَىْ زَيْدُ أَقْبِلْ [ O Zeyd, advance: or, if it may be used in addressing one who is distant, ho there, soho, or holla: and if used in addressing one who is between near and distant, ho, or what ho ]: (S:) and أَىْ رَبِّ [ O my Lord ]; occurring in a trad.: and sometimes it is pronounced ↓ اآىْ. (Mughnee.) -A2- Also an explicative particle. (S, M, Mughnee, K.) You say, أَىْ كَذَا in the sense of يُرِيدُ كَذَا [ He means such a thing, or يَعْنِى كَذَا, which has the same signification; or أُرِيدُ, or أَعْنِى, I mean; or the like; for all of which, we may say, meaning; or that is ]; (S;) as in عِنْدِى عَسْجِدٌ أَىْ ذَهَبٌ [ I have عَسْجَد, that is, (I have) ذَهَبَ, or gold ]. (Mughnee.) What follows it is an adjunct explicative of what precedes it, or a substitute. (Mughnee.) AA says that he asked Mbr respecting what follows it, and he answered that it may be a substitute for what precedes, and may be a word independent of what precedes it, and may be a noun in the accus. case: and that he asked Th, and he answered that it may be an explicative, or a word independent of what precedes it, or a noun governed in the accus. case by a verb suppressed: you say, جَاآءَنِى أَخُوكَ أَىْ زَيْدٌ [ Thy brother came to me; that is, Zeyd ]; and you may say, أَىْ زَيْدًا [ I mean Zeyd ]: and رَأَيْتُ أَخَاكَ أَىْ زَيْدًا [ I saw thy brother; I mean, or that is, Zeyd ]; and you may say, أَىْ زَيْدٌ [ that is, Zeyd ]: and مَرَرْتُ بِأَخِيكَ أَىْ زَيْدٍ [ I passed by thy brother; that is, by Zeyd ]; and you may say, أَىْ زَيدًا [ I mean, Zeyd ]; and أَىْ زَيْدٌ [ that is, Zeyd ]. (T, TA.) When it occurs after تَقُولُ, in a case like the following, [i. e., when a verb following it explains a verb preceding it,] one says, تَقُولُ اِسْتَكْتَمْتُهُ الحَدِيثَ أَىْ سَأَلْتُهُ كِتْمَانَهُ [ Thou sayest, استكتمته الحديث, meaning سألته كتمانه I asked of him the concealment of it, namely, the discourse, or story; and so when تَقُولُ is understood, as is often, or generally, the case in lexicons]; with damm to the ت: but if you put اـِذَا in the place of أَىْ, you say, اـِذَا سَأَلْتَهُ, with fet-h, because أَذا is an adverbial noun relating to تَقُولُ. (Mughnee.) -A3- See also أَىٌّ, near the beginning of the paragraph, in three places.