منذ

Root entry · 3 derived lemmas

The root 'منذ' primarily concerns temporal prepositions and adverbs indicating a starting point in time. It explores variations in form and grammatical function, particularly the use of 'منذ' and 'مذ' and their relationship to 'إذ'. The discussion delves into their role as particles of meaning, their grammatical behavior (raising and lowering), and etymological theories.

Derived headwords

مِنْذُparticle

1.
since (temporal)both
A temporal particle or preposition indicating a point in time from which an event or state has occurred or continued. It functions similarly to 'since' in English.
2.
since (origin)classical
Theoretically derived from 'من إذ' (from when), indicating a temporal origin or starting point.

لم أره منذ يومين — I have not seen him for two days

لم أره منذ يوم — I have not seen him since the day

لم أره منذ اليوم — I have not seen him since today

مَذْparticle

1.
since (temporal)both
A temporal particle or preposition, often considered a shortened form of 'منذ', used to indicate a starting point in time. It can function similarly to 'since'.
2.
since (origin)classical
A variant form, possibly derived from 'منذ' by dropping the 'ن', also indicating a temporal origin.

ما رأيته مذ عام الأول — I have not seen him since last year

لم أره مذ يومان — I have not seen him for two days

لم أره مذ اليوم — I have not seen him since today

إِذْparticle

1.
when (temporal)classical
A particle used to indicate a past temporal circumstance or event, often translated as 'when' or 'since'. It is etymologically linked to the origin of 'منذ' and 'مذ'.

منذ كان معناه [من إذ] كان ذلك — Since it meant [from when] that was.

Parallel reading

قال الليث: منذ النون والذال فيها أصليان، وقيل: إن بناء منذ مأخوذ من قولك [من إذ] وكذلك معناها من الزمان إذا قلت منذ كان معناه [من إذ] كان ذلك.

Al-Layth said: The 'nun' and 'dhal' in 'منذ' are original, and it is said that the structure of 'منذ' is taken from your saying [min idh], and likewise its meaning from time when you say 'منذ كان' it means [min idh] that was.

ومنذ ومذ: من حروف المعاني.

And 'منذ' and 'مذ' are among the particles of meaning.

يقال ما رأيته مذ عام الأول، وقال العوام: مذ عام أول، وقال أبو هلال: مذ عاما أول، وقال الآخر: مذ عام أول ومذ عام الأول، وقال نجاد: مذ عام أول، وقال غيره: لم أره مذ يومان ولم أره منذ يومين، يرفع بمذ ويخفض بمنذ، وقد ذكرناه في مذذ.

It is said, 'I have not seen him since last year,' and the common people say, 'مذ عام أول,' and Abu Hilal said, 'مذ عاما أول,' and another said, 'مذ عام أول' and 'مذ عام الأول,' and Najad said, 'مذ عام أول,' and others said, 'I have not seen him for two days' and 'I have not seen him for two days.' 'مذ' raises and 'منذ' lowers, and we have mentioned it in 'مذذ'.

منذ تحديد غاية زمانية، النون فيها أصلية، رفعت على توهم الغاية؛ قيل: وأصلها [من إذ] وقد تحذف النون في لغة، ولما كثرت في الكلام طرحت همزتها وجعلت كلمة واحدة، ومذ محذوفة منها تحديد غاية زمانية أيضا.

'منذ' is the specification of a temporal limit; the 'nun' in it is original, raised on the assumption of the limit; it is said its origin is [min idh], and the 'nun' may be omitted in a dialect. When it became frequent in speech, its hamza was dropped and it was made one word, and 'مذ' is also a shortened form of it specifying a temporal limit.

وقولهم: ما رأيته مذ اليوم، حركوها لالتقاء الساكنين ولم يكسروها لكنهم ضموها لأن أصلها الضم في منذ؛ قال ابن جني: لكنه الأصل الأقرب، ألا ترى أن أول حال هذه الذال أن تكون ساكنة؟ وإنما ضمت لالتقاء الساكنين إتباعا لضمة الميم، فهذا على الحقيقة هو الأصل الأول؛ قال: فأما ضم ذال منذ فإنما هو في الرتبة بعد سكونها الأول المقدر، ويدلك على أن حركتها إنما هي لالتقاء الساكنين، أنه لما زال التقاؤهما سكنت الذال، فضم الذال إذا في قولهم مذ اليوم ومذ الليلة، إنما هو رد إلى الأصل الأقرب الذي هو منذ دون الأصل، إلا بعد الذي هو سكون الذال في منذ قبل أن تحرك فيما بعد؛ وقد اختلفت العرب في مذ ومنذ: فبعضهم يخفض بمذ ما مضى وما لم يمض، وبعضهم يرفع بمنذ ما مضى وما لم يمض.

And their saying: 'I have not seen him 'مذ اليوم',' they moved it due to the meeting of two silent letters, and they did not make it kasra but rather damma because its origin is damma in 'منذ'. Ibn Jinni said: But it is the closest origin. Do you not see that the first state of this 'dhal' is to be silent? It was only damma'd due to the meeting of two silent letters, following the damma of the 'mim'. So this, in reality, is the first origin. He said: As for the damma of the 'dhal' in 'منذ', it is in rank after its first presumed silence. And what indicates to you that its movement is due to the meeting of two silent letters is that when their meeting ceased, the 'dhal' became silent. So the damma of the 'dhal' in their saying 'مذ اليوم' and 'مذ الليلة' is a return to the closest origin, which is 'منذ', not the ultimate origin, which is the silence of the 'dhal' in 'منذ' before it was moved later. The Arabs differed in 'مذ' and 'منذ': some lower with 'مذ' what has passed and what has not passed, and some raise with 'منذ' what has passed and what has not passed.

والكلام أن يخفض بمذ ما لم يمض ويرفع ما مضى، ويخفض بمنذ ما لم يمض وما مضى، وهو المجتمع عليه، وقد أجمعت العرب على ضم الذال من منذ إذا كان بعدها متحرك أو ساكن كقولك لم أره منذ يوم ومنذ اليوم، وعلى إسكان مذ إذا كان بعدها متحرك، وتحريكها بالضم والكسر إذا كانت بعدها ألف وصل، ومثله الأزهري فقال: كقولك لم أره مذ يومان ولم أره مذ اليوم.

And the speech is that 'مذ' lowers what has not passed and raises what has passed, and 'منذ' lowers what has not passed and what has passed, and this is what is agreed upon. The Arabs have agreed to damma the 'dhal' of 'منذ' if it is followed by a moved or silent letter, like your saying 'I have not seen him 'منذ يوم' and 'منذ اليوم',' and to make 'مذ' silent if it is followed by a moved letter, and to move it with damma and kasra if it is followed by an 'alif al-wasl'. Al-Azhari said similarly: Like your saying 'I have not seen him 'مذ يومان' and 'I have not seen him 'مذ اليوم'.

وسئل بعض العرب: لم خفضوا بمنذ ورفعوا بمذ فقال: لأن منذ كانت في الأصل من إذ كان كذا وكذا، وكثر استعمالها في الكلام فحذفت الهمزة وضمت الميم، وخفضوا بها على علة الأصل، قال: وأما مذ فإنهم لما حذفوا منها النون ذهبت الآلة الخافضة وضموا الميم منها ليكون أمتن لها، ورفعوا بها ما مضى مع سكون الذال ليفرقوا بها بين ما مضى وبين ما لم يمض؛

And some of the Arabs were asked: Why do they lower with 'منذ' and raise with 'مذ'? He said: Because 'منذ' was originally from 'إذ' when such and such happened, and its use became frequent in speech, so the hamza was dropped and the 'mim' was damma'd, and they lowered with it based on the original reason. He said: As for 'مذ', when they dropped the 'nun' from it, the lowering instrument was gone, so they damma'd the 'mim' to make it stronger, and they raised with it what has passed with the silence of the 'dhal' to differentiate between what has passed and what has not passed.

منذ مبني على الضم، ومذ مبني على السكون، وكل واحد منهما يصلح أن يكون حرف جر فتجر ما بعدهما وتجريهما مجرى في، ولا تدخلهما حينئذ إلا على زمان أنت فيه، فتقول: ما رأيته منذ الليلة، ويصلح أن يكونا اسمين فترفع ما بعدهما على التاريخ أو على التوقيت، وتقول في التاريخ: ما رأيته مذ يوم الجمعة، وتقول في التوقيت: ما رأيته مذ سنة أي أمد ذلك سنة، ولا يقع هاهنا إلا نكرة، فلا تقول مذ سنة كذا، وإنما تقول مذ سنة.

'منذ' is built on damma, and 'مذ' is built on sukun. Each of them can function as a preposition, making what follows it genitive and treating them like 'min'. You would only use them then for a time you are in, so you say: 'I have not seen him since tonight.' They can also function as nouns, raising what follows them for dating or timing. For dating, you say: 'I have not seen him since Friday.' For timing, you say: 'I have not seen him for a year,' meaning the duration was a year. It only occurs here as indefinite, so you do not say 'مذ سنة كذا' but rather 'مذ سنة'.

منذ للزمان نظيره من للمكان، وناس يقولون إن منذ في الأصل كلمتان [من إذ] جعلتا واحدة، قال: وهذا القول لا دليل على صحته.

'منذ' is for time, its equivalent 'من' is for place. And some people say that 'منذ' is originally two words [min idh] made into one. He said: And this saying has no proof of its correctness.

قال اللحياني: وبنو عبيد من غني يحركون الذال من منذ عند المتحرك والساكن، ويرفعون ما بعدها فيقولون: مذ اليوم، وبعضهم يكسر عند الساكن فيقول مذ اليوم.

Al-Lihyani said: And the Banu Ubayd from Ghani move the 'dhal' of 'منذ' when followed by a moved or silent letter, and they raise what follows it, saying: 'مذ اليوم,' and some of them use kasra when followed by a silent letter, saying 'مذ اليوم'.

قال: وليس بالوجه. قال بعض النحويين: ووجه جواز هذا عندي على ضعفه أنه شبه ذال مذ بدال قد ولام هل فكسرها حين احتاج إلى ذلك كما كسر لام هل ودال قد.

He said: And this is not the preferred way. Some grammarians said: The reason for this being permissible, despite its weakness, is that they likened the 'dhal' of 'مذ' to the 'dal' of 'قد' and the 'lam' of 'هل', so they made it kasra when they needed to, just as they made the 'lam' of 'هل' and the 'dal' of 'قد' kasra.

وحكي عن بني سليم: ما رأيته منذ ست، بكسر الميم ورفع ما بعده.

And it is narrated from Banu Sulaym: 'I have not seen him 'منذ ست',' with a kasra on the 'mim' and raising what follows it.

وحكي عن عكل: مذ يومان، بطرح النون وكسر الميم وضم الذال.

And it is narrated from Uqayl: 'مذ يومان,' with dropping the 'nun', kasra on the 'mim', and damma on the 'dhal'.

وقال بنو ضبة: والرباب يخفضون بمذ كل شيء.

And Banu Dhubbah and Al-Rabab said: They lower everything with 'مذ'.

أما مذ فيكون ابتداء غاية الأيام والأحيان كما كانت من فيما ذكرت لك ولا تدخل واحدة منهما على صاحبتها، وذلك قولك: ما لقيته مذ يوم الجمعة إلى اليوم، ومذ غدوة إلى الساعة، وما لقيته مذ اليوم إلى ساعتك هذه، فجعلت اليوم أول غايتك وأجريت في بابها كما جرت من حيث قلت: من مكان كذا إلى مكان كذا؛ وتقول: ما رأيته مذ يومين فجعلته غاية كما قلت: أخذته من ذلك المكان فجعلته غاية ولم ترد منتهى؛

As for 'مذ', it marks the beginning of the limit of days and times, just as 'من' does for place, as I mentioned to you. Neither of them enters upon its counterpart. This is your saying: 'I did not meet him 'مذ يوم الجمعة' until today,' and 'مذ غدوة' until the hour,' and 'I did not meet him 'مذ اليوم' until this hour of yours.' So you made 'today' the beginning of your limit and treated it in its category as 'من' is treated when you say: 'from such and such a place to such and such a place.' And you say: 'I have not seen him 'مذ يومين',' making it a limit, just as you said: 'I took it from that place,' making it a limit without intending the end.

قد تحذف النون من الأسماء عينا في قولهم مذ وأصله منذ، ولو صغرت مذ اسم رجل لقلت منيذ، فرددت النون المحذوفة ليصح لك وزن فعيل.

The 'nun' may be dropped from the root in their saying 'مذ', and its origin is 'منذ'. If you were to make 'مذ' the diminutive of a man's name, you would say 'منيذ', thus returning the dropped 'nun' so that the pattern 'fay'il' is correct for you.

وفي مذ ومنذ لغات شاذة تكلم بها الخطيئة من أحياء العرب فلا يعبأ بها، وإن جمهور العرب على ما بين في صدر الترجمة.

And in 'مذ' and 'منذ' there are irregular dialects spoken by Al-Khati'ah from the tribes of the Arabs, which are not to be heeded, while the majority of the Arabs follow what has been explained at the beginning of the entry.

هما حرفان مبنيان من حرفين من من ومن ذو التي بمعنى الذي في لغة طيء، فإذا خفض بهما أجريتا مجرى من، وإذا رفع بهما ما بعدهما بإضمار كان في الصلة، كأنه قال من الذي هو يومان، قال وغلبوا الخفض في منذ لظهور النون.

They are two particles built from two particles: 'من' and 'ذو' which means 'alladhi' in the dialect of Tayyi'. So if you lower with them, they are treated like 'min'. And if you raise what follows them by implying a pronoun in the relative clause, it is as if you said 'min alladhi huwa yawman'. He said: And they favored lowering with 'منذ' due to the prominence of the 'nun'.