An Investigation into the Nūn al-Wiqāyati in Classical Arabic

Ali Faraj

doi:10.13135/1825-263X/2871

Ali Faraj

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/2871

Keywords: Classical Arabic, Nūn al-Wiqāyati, Medieval Arabic grammarians

Abstract

The article aims to explain the denomination of the nūn al-wiqāyati (“the nūn of protection”) and its real function in classical Arabic, focusing on linguistics and the theories of the Arab grammarians. Explanations of its function fall broadly into two camps. One sees its function as a wiqāyati (“protection”) element, while the other considers it as a personal suffix, i.e. 1^st p. sg. –nī as an object. At the same time this paper argues for the two personal endings for the 1^st p. sg -ī and –nī in order to reach an acceptable morphological analysis. After reviewing the opinions of the classical and modern Arab grammarians about the nūn al-wiqāyati as an Arabic term, its original function becomes clear.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Ali Faraj

Ali Faraj is a scholar of Semitic Languages and studies Arabic manuscripts, in particular incantation materials written in Arabic, Aramaic, Mandaic and Syriac held at the National Museum of Iraq. He is Professor of Arabic at Bicocca University in Milan and is Adjunct Professor at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana of Milan.

References

al-’Azharī, Abī-Muḥammad ʻAbdallāh b.Yūsuf b.Hišām al-’Anṣārī. 2000 (circa 1970). Šarḥ at-Taṣrīḥ ‘alā ’t-Tauḍīḥ, edited by Muḥammad Bāsil ‘Iūn al-Sūd. Bayrūt: Dār al-Kutūb al-‘Ilmiyya.

al-Ḫalīl, ‘Ayn: al-Ḫalīl b. Aḥmad b. ‘Amr b. Tamīm al-Farāhīdī l-Azdī l-Yaḥmadī l-Baṣrī Abū ‘Abd al-Raḥmān. Kitāb al-‘ayn. Eds. Mahdī al-Maḫzūmī and Ibrāhīm al-Sāmarrāʾī. Baġdād: Dār al-Rašīd 8. Vols., 1980-1985.

al-Mālikī, Abū Muḥammad Badr al-Dīn Ḥasan b. Qāsim b. ‘Abd Allāh al-Murādī al-Miṣrī (749/1348), edited by Sulaimān, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ‘Alī. 2008. Tawḍīḥ al-maqāṣid wa-al-masālik bi-šarḥ alfiyyat b. Malīk masālik. vol. 2. al-Qāhira: Dār al-Fikr al-‘arabī.

al-Ušmūnī, abū l-Ḥasan Nūr al-Dīn ʿalī b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā. 1998 (1419). Šarḥ al-Ušmūnī ʿalā ʾalfiyyat Ibn Mālik. Edited by Ḥasan Ḥamd and imīl Badīʿ Yaʿqūb. Bayrūt: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿilmiyya, 4 vols.

Barth, Jacob. 1913. Die Pronominalbildung in den semitischen Sprachen. Leipzig: Hinrichs.

Bravmann, M. M. 1977. Studies in Semitic Philology (“Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 6”). Leiden: Brill.

Brockelmann Carl.1906. Semitische Sprachwissenschaft. Leipzig: Göschen.

Dieterici, Friedrich. 1852. Ibn ‘Aḳîl’s Commentar zur Alfijja des Ibn Mâlik. Berlin: Ferdinand Dümmlers Verlags-Buchhandlung.

Fischer, Wolfdietrich. 1972. Grammatik des klassischen Arabisch. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Ǧabur, Muḥammad. 1998. Al-ḍamā̕ ir fī al-luġa al-‘arabiyya. al-Qāhira: Mu̕assasat dār al-ma‘ārif.

Ḥaddād, Ḥannā. 1998. “Al-Ḫalīl b. Aḥmad wa-al-kitāb”, Mağallat al-lisān al-‘arabī 46/1.

Ibn ‘Aṣfūr Al-Išbīlī, Šarḥ al-Ğumal, ‘Alī b.ʿAbd al-Muʾmin b. ‘Aṣfūr al-Išbīlī, 1998, Šarḥ Ğumal al-Zağğāğī. Presentation by Fawwāz al-Ša‘ār. Bayrūt: Dār al-kutub al-‘ilmyya.

Ibn Qutayba, Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdallah b. Muslim al-Dīnawarī. 1986. Talqīn al-muta‘allim min l-naḥw. Edited by Muḥammad Salāmat Allāh Muḥammad Hidāyat Allāh. al-Qāhira: Ğāmi‘at ’Um al-Qurā.

Ibn Ya‘īš, 2001. Šarḥu l-mufaṣṣal li-l Zamaḫšarī, edited by Emīl Badī‘ Ya‘qūb, Bayrūt: Dār al-kutub al-‘ilmīyya.

Kušk, Aḥmad. 2010. Al-naḥw wa al- siyāq al- ṣawtī. al-Qāhira: Dār ġarīb.

Nöldeke, Theodor. 1895. “Ueber einen arabischen Dialekt”. Wiener Zeitschtift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 9: 1-25.

O’Leary, De Lacy. 1923. Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner.

Retsö, Jan. 1988. “Pronominal Suffixes with -n(n)- in Arabic Dialects and other Semitic Languages”,

Zeitschrift für arabische Linguistik 18: 77-94.

Sadan, Arik. 2012. The Subjunctive Mood in Arabic Grammatical Thought, Leiden: Brill.

Sībawaīhi, Kitāb =’Abū Bišr ‘Amr b. ʿUṯmān b. Qanbar Sībawaīhi (d. 180/793), al-Kitāb. Ed. by ‘Abd al-Salām Muḥamma Hārūn, 1988, 5 vols. al-Qāhira: Maktabat al-Ḫānğī.

Wilmsen, David. 2011. “Dialects of the Dative Shift: A re-examination of Sībawayhi’s dispute with the naḥwiyyūn over ditransitive verbs with two object pronouns,” in Bilal Orfali (ed.), In the Shadow of Arabic: The centrality of language to Arabic culture. Leiden: Brill: 299-321.

Wright, William. 1981. A grammar of the Arabic Language. 3rd edn. Beirut: Librairie du Liban. vol: I, 101.