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Tawahhum: an ambiguous concept in early Arabic grammar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

R. Baalbaki
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Extract

In a recent article, I argued that the study of early Arabic grammar of the second and third centuries A.H. should be based on the sources of that era, and not on the work of the later grammarians, as these often do not report the real stand of a particular grammarian on a particular issue, and more often misunderstand certain early grammatical concepts, or use their own terminology rather than the older one to elucidate them. The problem becomes more acute when we find that many modern scholars can still only see early Arabic grammar through the eyes of the later grammarians, beginning with the fourth-century figures and probably ending with Suyṭ. Learning about early grammar from later sources is inescapable, given the scarcity of existing second- and third-century sources, but this is nevertheless permissible only if we do not impose the method, and especially the terminology, of the later authors on early grammar.

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Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , June 1982 , pp. 233 - 244
Copyright
Copyright School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1982

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References

1 Arab grammatical controversies and the extant sources of the second and third centuries A.H., in al-Qḍ, W., ed. Studia Arabica et Islamica: Festschrift for Iḥsn 'Abbs (Beirut, 1980), 126Google Scholar

2 al-jann, Tathqf al-lisn wa-talgḥ, ed. 'A. Maṭar (Cairo, 1966, 123, 299, but especially p. 191, where the whole bb is explained by resorting to tawahhumGoogle Scholar

3 Laṥn al-'awamm, ed. R., 'Abd al-Tawwb (Cairo, 1964), 19Google Scholar

4 Durrat al-ghawwṣ, (ed.) Ibrahim, M. A. (Cairo, 1975), 4, 140Google Scholar

5 Ibid., 16, 51, 93, 129, 252

6 Ibid., 48, 934, 116, 157

7 Ibid., 93

8 Ibid., 48

9 Ibid., 51

10 Ibid., 48

11 Ibid., 93

12 Ibid., 116

13 Ibid., 212

14 For other occurrences of the term awhm, see Ibid., 36, 56, 81, 92, 100, 109, 198, 202, 224, 229, 267, 269, 270, 280

15 Ibid., 17374, 21213. 230, 246, 252, 256

16 Ibid., 231

17 Ibid., 100, 278

18 Ibid., 253

19 See below, 243 f

20 Kitb, I, 19294 (reference will be made here to the Blq edition)

21 Ibid., I, 32425; cfMubarred, , Kitb al-muqtaḍab, ed. 'Uḍayma, M. Ἁ. (Cairo, 196369; hereafter Muqtaḍab), IV, 22426;Google ScholarAstarbdh, , Sharḥ kfiyat ibn al-Ḥjib (Istanbul, A.H. 1310), I, 136 ffGoogle Scholar; andYaἹsh, Ibn, Sharḥ al-Mufaṣṣal (Cairo, n.d.), I, 128Google Scholar

22 sharḥ al-Mufaṣṣal, loc. cit

23 Lexique-index du Kitb de sibawayhi (Paris, 1976), WHM

24 see my notes on taqdir in Some aspects of harmony and hierarchy in Sbawayhi's grammatical analysis, ZAL, 2, 1979, 7 ff

25 Kitb, I, 17781

26 Ibid., I, 83, 154, 290. 418, 429, 452; II, 278

27 Ibid., I, 452

28 Ibid., I, 237; cf. II, 21314. See also Muqtaḍab, II, 219; Sharḥ ibn ἉAql, ed. Ἁbd al-Hamd, M. M., (2nd. ed., Cairo, n.d.), II, 460Google Scholar; and Hishm, Ibn, Awḍaḥ al-maslik il Alfiyyat ibn Mlik, ed. al-Ḥamd, M. M. ḉAbd, (5th ed., Beirut, 1979), IV, 31314Google Scholar

29 Kitb, II, 194; cf. Muqtaḍab, II, 213

30 Ibid., II, 362, and Mtiqtaḍab, II, 98. See also Mzin, al-Taṣrif (with Ibn Jinn's al-Munṣif), ed. I. Muṣṭafa, and . Amn (Cairo, 195460), I, 276 if.; and Jinni, Ibn, al-Khaṣ'iṣ, ed. Najjr, M. A. (Cairo, 195256), I, 99, 124, 394Google Scholar

31 Ibid., I, 192

32 al-Munṣif, I, 276 ff.; cf. al-Khaṣ'iṣ, I, 99, and Suyṭ, al-Iqtirḥ fi'ilm uṣl al-naḥw, ed. A. M. Qsim (Cairo, 1976), 59 (p. 25 in Hyderabad's edition)

33 Instead ud;uh from a final weak verb, da'; see Kitb, II, 278

34 It should be stressed here again that id'ih itself, according to our interpretation, is accepted by Sibawayhi just as halk is

35 Or Ṣirma al-Anṣr, as in Kitb itself, I, 154; cf. Shantamari's Taḥṣl 'ayn al-dhahab in Kitab's margin, I, 154. The line has been also attributed to Rawḥa al-Anṣr see Baghdd, , Khiznat al-adab wa-lubb lubb lisn al-'arab (Blq, 1299), III, 666Google Scholar

36 Kitb, I, 429

37 See, for example, I, 154, where he uses t h e line to interpret the permissibility of a rather unusual line by RἹ by restoring an elided kna; see also I, 418, where he interprets, through this line, the use of the subjunctive after f' (due to t h e an muḍmara) be resorting to the concept of niyya (intention), where the an is intended by t h e speaker as the bi preceding sbiq in the line

38 I, 290. It should be noted here also that the infrequency of such usage is, most probably, the main criterion for its unacceptability

39 It may be added that if the line by Zuhayr were considered ghalaṭ by Sbawayhi, a number of other lines associated with it in the Kitb and other sources must also be considered as such, while there is not the slightest indication of this. These include Farazdaq's line (or al-Akhwaṣ al-Riyḥ's):

mash'imu lays muṣliḥna 'ashratanwa-l n'ibin ili bi-baynin ghurbuh (Ibid., I, 83, 154, 418), and Farazdaq's line:

wa-m zurtu Salm an takna ḥabbatanilayya wa-l daynin bi-h an ṭlibuh (Ibid., I, 418). See also al-Khaṣa'iṣ, II, 35354; Ibn al-Anbr, al-Inṣf fi mas'il al-khilf bayn al-naḥwiyyn al-Baṣriyyn wa-l-Kfiyyn, ed. M. M. bd al-Ḥamd, (3rd ed., Cairo, 1955), 193, 395; Ibn Hiahm, Mughn l-labb 'an hutvb al-a'rib, ed. M. M. bd al-Ḥamd (Cairo, n.d.), 478, 526; and Suyṭi, Sharḥ shawhid al-Mughn (Cairo, 1966), 871,885

40 Kitb, II, 367; cf. al-Khaṣ'iṣ, III, 277

41 al-Munṣif, I, 308

42 See also Kitb, I, 217, where ghalaṭ is reported as used by Khalil

43 Ibid., I, 290

44 Ibid., II, 127

45 Ibid., II, 426

46 Ibid., II, 146

47 Ibid., I, 225

48 Ibid., I, 75, 216, 218, 374, 446

49 Ibid., I, 32324; II, 58, 132; cf. I, 256, 266

50 Ibid., II, 95

51 Ibid., I, 461

52 Ibid., II, 96

53 See, for example, I, 216, 387, 392, 434, and especially 453; II, 24, 110, 156

54 Ma'n l-Qur'n, ed. A. Y. Najt (vol. I), M. . Najjr (vol. 2), A. I. Shalab and . N. Nṣif (vol. 3), (cairo, 195572; hereafter Ma'n), I, 33031; cf. I, 347; II, 159, 168; III, 41, 78, 109, 282. For other sources dealing with this point see p. 21 of my article cited in n. 1

55 Ma'n, II, 143

56 16:7

57 This seems to be an exclusively Kfan usage. Furthermore, fi'l can mean, in their terminology, active participle (Ma'n, III, 57), and even adjective (Ibid., II, 434)

58 Ibid., II, 97. Another example of this sense of tawahhum occurs on the same page, but concerning the verse 16: 8

59 18: 78. Note here his Kfan usage of naṣb instead of fatḥ

60 Ibid., II, 156

61 40:71

62 Ibid., III, 11

63 Ibid., I, 38990

64 See above, pp. 239

65 Ibid., I, 37374

66 See especially II, 756

67 Ibid., III, 21718

68 See especially I, 25253, where this is clearly formulated. For an equally clear formulation, seeMubarrad, , al-Kitb al-kmil, ed. Wright, W. (Leipzig, 186492), 163. 451Google Scholar

69 Ma'ni, II, 93

70 See above, pp. 23940

71 Ibid., II, 38586

72 37: 54

73 3: 75

74 4: 115

75 7: 111

76 Ibid., I, 223; cf. II, 75

77 It should be noted that the terms glunlaṭ and khaṭa' do not occur in the Ma'n sufficiently enough to enable us to determine their exact functions, and then to compare these with our results from the study of Sbawayhi (see above, pp. 23940); see, for ghalaṭ, Ma'n, I, 320, 459; II, 285, 386; and for khaṭa', see I, 223, II, 256, III, 218

78 See above, pp. 239 and 241

79 See above, pp. 238 and 242

80 See pp. 24 ff. of my article cited in n. 1 above

81 By later authors I mean those of the fourth century and after. It is unfortunate that Mubarrad (d. 285), who is the earliest major grammarian after Sbawayhi and Farr', does not use tawahhum in the technical sense used by his predecessors; see Muqtaḍab, II, 94; III, 289; IV, 293, where the term is used in a general, non-technical sense. As for ghalat and khaṭa', it can be shown that Mubarrad uses them interchangeably, contrary to Sbawayhi's usage. In Mugtaḍab I, 270, and IV, 191, we find the two terms used side by side and with the same meaning. Elsewhere, we find ghalat used either in the same sense as in Sbawayhi; i.e. to describe attested usage (Ibid., I, 123; II, 249), or in the sense Sbawayhi uses khaṭa'; i.e., to describe unattested forms which are posed by the grammarians (Ibid., II, 230), or the grammarians' explanations of attested usage (Ibid., II, 235; III, 71, 252). On the other hand, he usually uses khaṭa' in the same sense used by Sbawayhi; i.e., for description of unattested forms (Ibid., m, 249, 272, 279; iv, 267), and also for description of the grammarians' viewpoints (Ibid., I, 33; II, 131; III, 24, 225, 283; IV, 275); but he sometimes uses khaṭa' where Sbawayhi would, use ghalaṭ; i.e. to describe attested usage (Ibid., II, 171, 175). It could also be noted that Mubarrad, like Sbawayhi, uses ghalaṭ with the meaning of permutative of error, and usually with nisyn and istidrk; cf. I, 28, II, 63; III, 289, 305, IV, 297, 400

82 See above, pp. 236 and 238

83 al-Khaṣ'is, II, 353, 424

84 Mughn l-labb, 96, 460, 476, 478

85 Khiznat al-adab, III, 66566

86 Ibid., III, 666

87 See above, n. 39

88 Ibid., II, 140

89 p. 221

90 al-Inṣf, 191

91 Kitb, I, 290; cf. above, p. 238

92 Ibid., loc. cit.

93 Mughn l-labb, 478

94 Sharḥ al-Ushmn 'al Alfiyyat Ibn Mlik al-musamm Manhaj as-slik il Alfiyyat Ibn Mlik, ed. al-Ḥamd, M. M. bd (Cairo, 1955), 302Google Scholar

95 See, for example, bd al-Qdir al-Maghribi's articles on tawahhum al-aṣla and tawahhum al-ziyda in MajaUat majma' al-lugha al-'arabiyya, VII, 25760, 36174; IX, 615, which have, unfortunately, met with little enthusiasm from his colleagues

96 SeeḌayf, , al-Madris al-naḥwiyya (Cairo, 1968), 82Google Scholar where tawahhum is not distinguished from ghalaṭ. See also 'Udayma's note in Muqtaḍab I, 123. Similarly, Dimashqiyya, al-Munḍalaqt al-ta'sisiyya wa-l-fanniyya il l-naḥw al-'arab (Beirut, 1978), 155, uses wahm in the same sense as khaḍa'