اى

أَىٌّ ذ is a noun, used in five different manners. (Mughnee.) One of its meanings is that of an interrogative, (T, S, M, Mughnee, K,) relating to intellectual beings and to non-intellectual things; [meaning Who? which? and what? ] (S, M, K;) and as such, it is a decl. noun: (S:) it is said in the K to be a particle; (MF;) and so in the M; (TA;) but this is wrong: (MF:) and it is added in the K that it is indecl.; (MF;) and it is said to be so in the M, accord. to Sb, in an instance to be explained below; (TA;) but this is only when it is a conjunct noun [like الَّذِى], or denotes the object of a vocative: (MF:) or, accord. to some, it is decl. as a conjunct noun also. (Mughnee.) You say, أَيُّهُمْ أَخُوكَ [ Who, or which, of them, is thy brother? ]. (S.) Another ex. is the saying [in the Kur vii. 184, and last verse of lxxvii.], فَبِأَىِّ حَدِيثٍ بَعْدَهُ يُؤْمِنُونَ [ And in what announcement, after it, will they believe? ]. (Mughnee.) Sometimes it is without teshdeed; as in the saying (of El-Farezdak, M), ↓ تَنَظَّرْتُ نَصْرًا وَالسِّمَاكَيْنِ أَيْهُمَا عَلَىَّ مِنَ الغَيْثِ ا@سْتَهَلَّتْ مَوَاطِرُهْ [ I looked for rain, or aid from the clouds, and the two Simáks (stars so called). Of which of them two did the rains pour vehemently upon me from the clouds? ]: (M, Mughnee, K: * [in the last of which, only the former hemistich is given, with نَسْرًا (meaning the star or asterism so called) instead of نَصْرًا:]) so by poetic licence: (M:) IJ says that for this reason the poet has elided the second ى, but should have restored the first ى to و, because it is originally و. (TA. [But this assertion, respecting the first ى, I regard as improbable.]) ↓ أَيْمَ, also, is a contraction of أَىُّ مَا, meaning أَىُّ شَىْءٍ: so in the saying, أَيْمَ هُوَ يَا فُلَانُ [ What thing is it, O such a one? ]: and أَيْمَ تَقُولُ [ What thing sayest thou? ]. (TA in art. ايم.) In like manner, also, ↓ أَيْشَ is used as a contraction of أَىُّ شَىْءٍ. (Ks, TA in art. جرم.) A poet speaks of his companions as being بِأَىَ وَأَيْنَمَا; making أَىّ the name of the quarter (جِهَة); so that, being determinate and of the feminine gender, it is imperfectly declinable. (M. [See أَينٌ; under which head two other readings are given; and where it is said that the verse in which this occurs is by Homeyd Ibn-Thowr.]) أَىّ is never without a noun or pronoun to which it is prefixed, except in a vocative expression and when it is made to conform with a word to which it refers, as in cases to be exemplified hereafter. (Mughnee.) Being so prefixed, it is determinate; but sometimes, [as in the latter of the cases just mentioned,] it is not so prefixed, yet has the meaning of a prefixed noun. (S.) When used as an interrogative, it is not governed, as to the letter, though it is as to the meaning, by the verb that precedes it, but by what follows it; as in the saying in the Kur [xviii. 11], لِنَعْلَمَ أَىُّ الحِزْبَيْنِ أَحْصَى [ That we might know which of the two parties was able to compute ]; and in the same [xxvi. last verse], وَسَيَعْلَمُ ا@لَّذَينَ ظَلَمُوا أَىَ مُنْقَلَبٍ يَنْقَلِبُونَ [ And they who have acted wrongly shall know with what a translating they shall be translated ]: (Fr, * Th, Mbr, T, S: *) when it is governed by the verb before it, it has not the interrogative meaning, as will be shown hereafter. (Fr, T.) In the saying of the poet, تَصِيحُ بِنَا حَنِيفَةُ اـذْ رَأَتْنَا وَأَىَّ الأَرْضِ تَذْهَبُ لِلصِّيَاحِ [ Haneefeh (the tribe so named) shout to us when they see us. And to what place of the earth, or land, will they go for the shouting? ], أَىّ is in the accus. case because the prep. اـِلَى is suppressed before it. (S.) When they separate it [from what follows it, not prefixing it to another noun], the Arabs say أَىٌ, and in the dual أَيَّانِ, and in the pl. أَيُّونَ; and they make it fem., saying أَيَّةٌ, and [in the dual] أَيَّتَانِ, and [in the pl.] أَيَّاتٌ: but when they prefix it to a noun, properly so called, not a pronoun, they make it sing. and masc., saying أَىُ الرَّجُلَيْنِ [ Who, or which, of the two men? ], and أَىُ المَرْأَتَيْنِ [ Who, or which, of the two women? ], and أَىُّ الّرِجَالِ [ Who, or which, of the men? ], and أَىُّ النِّسَاآءِ [ Who, or which, of the women? ]: and when they prefix it to a fem. pronoun, they make it masc. [as when they prefix it to a masc. pronoun] and fem., saying أَيُّهُمَا and أَيَّتُهُمَا [ Who, or which, of them two? ], meaning women; (Fr, T;) [the latter of which seems to be the more common; for ISd says,] sometimes they said أَيُّهُنَّ [ Who, or which, of them? referring to women], meaning أَيَّتُهُنَّ. (M.) It is said in the Kur [xxxi. last verse], وَمَا تَدْرِى نَفْسٌ بِأَىِّ أَرضٍ تَمُوتُ [ And a person knoweth not in what land he will die ]: (S:) but some read بِأَيَّةِ أَرْضٍ; and Sb compares this fem. form to كُلَّتُهُنَّ. (Bd.) When it is used as an interrogative relating to an indeterminate noun in a preceding phrase, أَىّ is made to conform with that indeterminate noun in case-ending and in gender and in number; and this is done [alike, accord. to some,] in the case of its connexion with a following word and in the case of a pause; so that, [in the case of a pause,] to him who says, جَاآءَنِى رَجُلٌ [A man came to me], you say, [accord. to the authorities alluded to above,] أَىٌّ [ Who? ]; and to him who says, رَأَيْتُ رَجُلًا [I saw a man], أَيَّا [ Whom? ]; and to him who says, مَرَرْتُ بِرَجلٍ [I passed by a man], أَىٍّ [ Whom? ]: and in like manner, [accord. to all authorities,] in the case of its connexion with a following word; as أَىُّ يَا فَتَى [ Who, O young man? ], and أَيَّا يَا فَتَى [ Whom, O young man? ], and أَىٍ يَا فَتَى [ Whom, O young man? ]: and in the case of the fem. you say, أَيَّةٌ and أَيَّةً and أَيَّةٍ [in the nom. and accus. and gen. respectively]; and in the dual, أَيَّانِ and أَيَّتَانِ in the nom. case [masc. and fem. respectively], and أَيَّيْنِ and أَيَّتَيْنِ in the accus. and gen. cases [masc. and fem. 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