Sharh Ibn Aqil on Alfiyyat Ibn Malik — Volume 1 (شرح ابن عقيل على ألفية ابن مالك) — Page 15

Arabic text · النص

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

الْكَلَامُ وَمَا يَتَأَلَّفُ مِنْهُ.

Speech and what it is composed of.

وَإِنَّمَا قَالَ الْمُصَنِّفُ «كَلَامُنَا» لِيُعْلَمَ أَنَّ التَّعْرِيفَ إِنَّمَا هُوَ لِلْكَلَامِ فِي اصْطِلَاحِ النَّحْوِيِّينَ؛ لَا فِي اصْطِلَاحِ اللُّغَوِيِّينَ،

The author only said 'our speech' so that it is known that the definition is only for speech in the terminology of the grammarians, not in the terminology of the linguists.

وَهُوَ فِي اللُّغَةِ: اسْمٌ لِكُلِّ مَا يُتَكَلَّمُ بِهِ، مُفِيداً كَانَ أَوْ غَيْرَ مُفِيدٍ.

And it is in the language: a name for everything that is spoken, whether it is useful or not useful.

وَالْكَلِمُ: اسْمُ جِنْسٍ وَاحِدُهُ كَلِمَةٌ، وَهِيَ: إِمَّا اسْمٌ، وَإِمَّا فِعْلٌ، وَإِمَّا حَرْفٌ؛

And the 'Kalim' (collective words): is a generic noun whose singular is 'Kalima' (word), and it is either a noun, or a verb, or a particle.

لِأَنَّهَا إِنْ دَلَّتْ عَلَى مَعْنًى فِي نَفْسِهَا غَيْرِ مُقْتَرِنَةٍ بِزَمَانٍ فَهِيَ الِاسْمُ،

Because if it indicates a meaning in itself not associated with time, then it is the noun.

وَإِنِ اقْتَرَنَتْ بِزَمَانٍ فَهِيَ الْفِعْلُ،

And if it is associated with time, then it is the verb.

وَإِنْ لَمْ تَدُلَّ عَلَى مَعْنًى فِي نَفْسِهَا - بَلْ فِي غَيْرِهَا - فَهِيَ الْحَرْفُ.

And if it does not indicate a meaning in itself - but rather in other than it - then it is the particle.

وَالْكَلِمُ لِمَا تَرَكَّبَ مِنْ ثَلَاثِ كَلِمَاتٍ فَأَكْثَرَ، كَقَوْلِكَ: إِنْ قَامَ زَيْدٌ.

And the 'Kalim' is for what is composed of three words or more, like your saying: 'If Zayd stands'.

اسْمُ الْجِنْسِ عَلَى نَوْعَيْنِ: أَحَدُهُمَا يُقَالُ لَهُ اسْمُ جِنْسٍ جَمْعِيٌّ، وَالثَّانِي يُقَالُ لَهُ اسْمُ جِنْسٍ إِفْرَادِيٌّ،

The generic noun is of two types: one of them is called a collective generic noun, and the second is called an individual generic noun.

فَأَمَّا اسْمُ الْجِنْسِ الْجَمْعِيُّ فَهُوَ مَا يَدُلُّ عَلَى أَكْثَرَ مِنِ اثْنَيْنِ، وَيُفَرَّقُ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ وَاحِدِهِ بِالتَّاءِ،

As for the collective generic noun, it is what indicates more than two, and it is differentiated from its singular by the 'ta'.

وَالتَّاءُ غَالِباً تَكُونُ فِي الْمُفْرَدِ كَبَقَرَةٍ وَبَقَرٍ وَشَجَرَةٍ وَشَجَرٍ،

And the 'ta' is often in the singular, like 'baqara' (cow) and 'baqar' (cattle), and 'shajara' (tree) and 'shajar' (trees).

وَمِنْهُ كَلِمٌ وَكَلِمَةٌ، وَرُبَّمَا كَانَتْ زِيَادَةُ التَّاءِ فِي الدَّالِّ عَلَى الْجَمْعِ مِثْلَ كَمٍّ لِلْوَاحِدِ وَكَمْأَةٍ لِلْكَثِيرِ، وَهُوَ نَادِرٌ.

And from it is 'kalim' and 'kalima', and perhaps the addition of the 'ta' is in what indicates the plural, like 'kamm' for the singular and 'kam'a' for the many, and it is rare.

وَقَدْ يَكُونُ الْفَرْقُ بَيْنَ الْوَاحِدِ وَالْكَثِيرِ بِالْيَاءِ، كَزَنْجٍ وَزَنْجِيٍّ، وَرُومٍ وَرُومِيٍّ،

And the difference between the singular and the many may be by the 'ya', like 'Zanj' and 'Zanji', and 'Rum' and 'Rumi'.

فَأَمَّا اسْمُ الْجِنْسِ الْإِفْرَادِيُّ فَهُوَ مَا يَصْدُقُ عَلَى الْكَثِيرِ وَالْقَلِيلِ وَاللَّفْظُ وَاحِدٌ، كَمَاءٍ وَذَهَبٍ وَخَلٍّ وَزَيْتٍ.

As for the individual generic noun, it is what applies to the many and the few while the word is one, like 'ma' (water), 'dhahab' (gold), 'khall' (vinegar), and 'zayt' (oil).

فَإِنْ قُلْتَ: فَإِنِّي أَجِدُ كَثِيراً مِنْ جُمُوعِ التَّكْسِيرِ يُفَرَّقُ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَ مُفْرَدِهَا بِالتَّاءِ،

If you say: I find many broken plurals that are differentiated from their singular by the 'ta'.

كَمَا يُفَرَّقُ بَيْنَ اسْمِ الْجِنْسِ الْجَمْعِيِّ وَوَاحِدِهِ، نَحْوَ قُرًى وَوَاحِدَةٌ قَرْيَةٌ، وَمُدًى وَوَاحِدَةٌ مُدْيَةٌ،

Just as it is differentiated between the collective generic noun and its singular, like 'qura' and its singular 'qarya', and 'muda' and its singular 'mudya'.

فَمَاذَا أَفْرُقُ بَيْنَ اسْمِ الْجِنْسِ الْجَمْعِيِّ وَمَا كَانَ عَلَى هَذَا الْوَجْهِ مِنَ الْجُمُوعِ؟

So how do I differentiate between the collective generic noun and what was of this type of plurals?

فَالْجَوَابُ عَلَى ذَلِكَ أَنْ تَعْلَمَ أَنَّ بَيْنَ النَّوْعَيْنِ اخْتِلَافاً مِنْ وَجْهَيْنِ،

The answer to that is for you to know that there is a difference between the two types from two aspects.

الْوَجْهُ الْأَوَّلُ: أَنَّ الْجَمْعَ لَا بُدَّ أَنْ يَكُونَ عَلَى زِنَةٍ مُعَيَّنَةٍ مِنْ زِنَاتِ الْجُمُوعِ الْمَحْفُوظَةِ الْمَعْرُوفَةِ،

The first aspect: that the plural must be on a specific measure from the measures of the preserved, known plurals.

فَأَمَّا اسْمُ الْجِنْسِ الْجَمْعِيُّ فَلَا يَلْزَمُ فِيهِ ذَلِكَ،

As for the collective generic noun, that is not necessary in it.

أَفَلَا تَرَى أَنَّ بَقَراً وَشَجَراً وَثَمَراً لَا يُوَافِقُ زِنَةً مِنْ زِنَاتِ الْجَمْعِ!

Do you not see that 'baqar', 'shajar', and 'thamar' do not conform to any measure of the plural!

وَالْوَجْهُ الثَّانِي: أَنَّ الِاسْتِعْمَالَ الْعَرَبِيَّ جَرَى عَلَى أَنَّ الضَّمِيرَ وَمَا أَشْبَهَهُ يَرْجِعُ إِلَى اسْمِ الْجِنْسِ الْجَمْعِيِّ مُذَكَّراً

The second aspect: that the Arabic usage proceeded such that the pronoun and what resembles it returns to the collective generic noun as masculine.

كَقَوْلِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى: (إِنَّ الْبَقَرَ تَشَابَهَ عَلَيْنَا)

Like the saying of Allah the Exalted: 'Indeed, the cows look alike to us.'

وَقَوْلِهِ جَلَّ شَأْنُهُ: (إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ الْكَلِمُ الطَّيِّبُ)

And His saying, may His majesty be glorified: 'To Him ascends the good word.'

فَأَمَّا الْجَمْعُ فَإِنَّ الِاسْتِعْمَالَ الْعَرَبِيَّ جَرَى عَلَى أَنْ يَعُودَ الضَّمِيرُ إِلَيْهِ مُؤَنَّثاً،

As for the plural, the Arabic usage proceeded such that the pronoun returns to it as feminine.

كَمَا تَجِدُ فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى: (لَهُمْ غُرَفٌ مِنْ فَوْقِهَا غُرَفٌ مَبْنِيَّةٌ)

As you find in His saying the Exalted: 'For them are chambers, above them are chambers built.'

وَقَوْلِهِ سُبْحَانَهُ: (وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَنُبَوِّئَنَّهُمْ مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ غُرَفاً تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ)،

And His saying, glory be to Him: 'But they who believe and do righteous deeds - We will surely assign to them of Paradise [elevated] chambers beneath which rivers flow.'

وَكَقَوْلِ الشَّاعِرِ: فِي غُرَفِ الْجَنَّةِ الْعُلْيَا الَّتِي وَجَبَتْ لَهُمْ هُنَاكَ بِسَعْيٍ كَانَ مَشْكُورٍ.

And like the saying of the poet: In the chambers of the highest Paradise which were made obligatory for them there by an effort that was thanked.

Vocabulary · المفردات (24 verbs · 75 nouns)

• تَأَلَّفَ — to be composed
• قَالَ — to say
• عَلِمَ — to know
• تَكَلَّمَ — to speak
• دَلَّ — to indicate
• اقْتَرَنَ — to be associated
• رَكَّبَ — to compose
• قَامَ — to stand
• فَرَّقَ — to differentiate
• صَدَقَ — to be true
• وَجَدَ — to find
• تَعَلَّمَ — to know
• لَزِمَ — to be necessary
• وَافَقَ — to agree
• جَرَى — to be the practice
• أَشْبَهَ — to resemble
• رَجَعَ — to return
• تَشَابَهَ — to resemble each other
• صَعِدَ — to ascend
• عَادَ — to return
• آمَنَ — to believe
• عَمِلَ — to work
• بَوَّأَ — to settle
• وَجَبَ — to be obligatory
• كَلَامٌ — speech
• مُصَنِّفٌ — author
• تَعْرِيفٌ — definition
• اصْطِلَاحٌ — terminology
• نَحْوِيٌّ — grammarian
• لُغَوِيٌّ — linguist
• لُغَةٌ — language
• اسْمٌ — noun
• مُفِيدٌ — useful
• كَلِمٌ — collective noun for words
• جِنْسٌ — genus
• وَاحِدٌ — one
• كَلِمَةٌ — word
• فِعْلٌ — verb
• حَرْفٌ — particle
• مَعْنًى — meaning
• نَفْسٌ — self
• زَمَانٌ — time
• ثَلَاثٌ — three
• نَوْعٌ — type
• جَمْعِيٌّ — collective
• إِفْرَادِيٌّ — individual
• اثْنَانِ — two
• تَاءٌ — ta letter
• مُفْرَدٌ — singular
• بَقَرَةٌ — cow
• بَقَرٌ — cattle
• شَجَرَةٌ — tree
• شَجَرٌ — trees
• زِيَادَةٌ — addition
• دَالٌّ — indicator
• جَمْعٌ — plural
• كَمٌّ — quantity
• كَمْأَةٌ — truffle
• كَثِيرٌ — many
• نَادِرٌ — rare
• فَرْقٌ — difference
• يَاءٌ — ya letter
• زَنْجٌ — Zanj people
• زَنْجِيٌّ — Zanj individual
• رُومٌ — Romans
• رُومِيٌّ — Roman individual
• قَلِيلٌ — few
• لَفْظٌ — utterance
• مَاءٌ — water
• ذَهَبٌ — gold
• خَلٌّ — vinegar
• زَيْتٌ — oil
• تَكْسِيرٌ — broken plural
• قَرْيَةٌ — village
• مُدًى — extent
• مُدْيَةٌ — knife
• جَوَابٌ — answer
• اخْتِلَافٌ — disagreement
• وَجْهٌ — aspect
• أَوَّلٌ — first
• زِنَةٌ — measure
• مُعَيَّنٌ — specific
• مَحْفُوظٌ — preserved
• مَعْرُوفٌ — known
• ثَمَرٌ — fruit
• اسْتِعْمَالٌ — usage
• عَرَبِيٌّ — Arabic
• ضَمِيرٌ — pronoun
• مُذَكَّرٌ — masculine
• طَيِّبٌ — good
• مُؤَنَّثٌ — feminine
• غُرْفَةٌ — room
• مَبْنِيٌّ — built
• جَنَّةٌ — paradise
• نَهْرٌ — river
• شَاعِرٌ — poet
• عُلْيَا — highest
• سَعْيٌ — effort
• مَشْكُورٌ — thanked