A dictionary, Persian, Arabic and English : published under the patronage of the Honourable East-India Company / by Francis Johnson.
- Johnson, Francis, 1796?-1876.
- Date:
- 1852
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A dictionary, Persian, Arabic and English : published under the patronage of the Honourable East-India Company / by Francis Johnson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
16/1440 (page 2)
![occur in one word for emphasis; the one being placed before, and the other after, the final letter: as, shavada, May he become!—3, To de- note the agent: as, dcma, Knowing, learned ; b'ma, Seeing, or a seer; goija, Speaking, or a speaker ; \^Jlt shinava, Hearing, or a hearer ; \jj rava, Current.—4. For filling up mA- bd^, borrowed from the Arabians; as, when poetic metre requires it, (jU^A'a?ftaZ is written kamdla. In strict parlance, the final consonant of every Persian word is silent, that is, not fol- lowed by a vowel. When, therefore, it is re- quired to inflect such a consonant with a vowel, an \ alifmast be subjoined : as, dmiiyd, \J^^>\j rdycjaniyd, from daniy, rdygdyiiy.— 5. To form abstract nouns: as, c/a/ma. Length, fromj\ji5 dardz, Long; ls>-^j??'a/«/<a. Width, from ^\^ Jirdkh, Wide.—6. Pleonastic : as, lld^ ouftd (for gvft,) He spoke.—7. To form a kind of intensive superlative : as, \^^ hhwushd, Very happy, from ^ hhwush, Happy; L-J hasu, Very much, from ^Jui has, Much. \ allf is some- times sounded like u: as when Jarmdy, Command thou, is made to rhyme with 7-uy. \ alif may be changed to Jlii ddl or ye : as for ha an, ^jA> ha vi, they write i^\s> ha dan, i^.<^ ha din. For (^i^il akdish and jj^^^ ar- maglmn they say (^^^, yakdish, tj'-*<j>. yar- magJian. The initial \ alif of a verb, when pre- ceded by the particle l--> hi, the prohibitive ^ ma, or negative na, is changed io ^jye: as, ^j^\Ji\ afrdkhtan, To exalt; CL^\J'.^, biyafrdkhf, He exalted; J^;^^. hiyafrdz, Exalt thou ; j\jixe mi- yafrdz, Exalt not thou; C^\jLjs nayafrdkht. He exalted not. OF HAMZA. When \ alif is regarded as a consonant, it is called hamza, the orthographical sign of which f it ought, in strictness, always to bear ; although, at the beginning of a word, it seldom is written. In shape, hamza resembles the upper part of ^ ^yn; and, like that letter, is uttered by a com- pression of the muscles of the throat. Hamza, however, is neither so deep nor so strong a guttu- ral as ^layn. In representing a word which con- tains a hamza in the Roman character, the pecu- liar symbol of this letter will be retained, accord- ing to the mode followed with regard to ^^lyn. At the beginning of a word, hamza invariably assumes the form of \ alif; and inay take either of three vowels, a, i, or u: as,ju\ Mviir, A prince or coiamander; ^\^simdm, A chief or leader; \ suma7as. Princes. In that situation, how- ever, the sign hamza is seldom written, as it can- not there be mistaken for quiescent \ alif or alif of prolongation; the latter, as we have already ob- served, being never found but when preceded by a consonant marked with its own vowel fatlia. These words, then, will commonly appear written jii^, , ; and will be spelt accordingly in English, ainir, imam, umards, without the ortho- graphical sign hamza. In the middle of a word, hamza is changed to J wdw when inflected by &^ zamma, and to yd without the diacritical points when inflected^^by kasra: as, u-raiufa (originally <—j]j ), He was kind ; ^Xim saAma (originally j*^**>), He was sick. But when moved by fatka, it ge- nerally assumes the form of that letter which is homogeneous with the vowel of its own preposi- tive: as, (J w» samJa, He asked; The pots of a druggist; 8U** saMt, simt, or k^ji susa t, The horn of a bow. As a quiescent me- dial, it remains when preceded by fatha: as, (j**^ rdfS, Head : becomes . wdw if preceded by zam- ma: as, huss, Calamity, and yd with- out the diacritical points if preceded by hasra: b,s,J^> hisr, A well. At the end of a woi^, after fatha, it assumes the form of \ alif: as, SjS harasa. He read. After ij^kasra, it assumes the form of yd,: as, ^giti dafisa. He was warm ; and after e.^*o zamma, the form of, He was bold. J waw: as, Jj»- jarusa After a silent letter, it retains its own shape : as, -^c—**- hhahf, Concealment; ^y>- jitzs, A portion (though sometimes it is found with a j waw, as,jS> hads. Commencement): ^^tiJ^^ ihtiddj:, or with i^lj^ tanwin, ihtiddfiin, A beginning. In this situation it is commonly omitted by the Per- sians, who would write it \^\ ihtidd. In Arabic, hamza ^ may be substituted for a radical j wdw or ^^ yd : as, jjj^ kdj^il (for Jj^jj hdnjH), A speaker; hd^i^ (for hdyi^, A seller; ahad (for li^s-j wahad), One. Hamza, like alif, is one of the letters of increase (i_-j_j^ Siibj)^ hurufu 'z ziyddai); and is therefore used extensively in forming several of the augmented conjugations which branch out from the simple tri- literal or quadriliteral root. It is also employed in the formation of some of the irregular plurals : as, af^maf. Viands ; ^^^^^ ahvdn. Colours ; ( j,s-l ahrif, Letters; i sahdsif (originally I 5^\.£i^) Volumes :—also of adjectives descriptive of colour: as, ahmar, Red; ^ya\ aswad, Black; and of comparatives : as, t_-S^^ ashraf, More noble, &c. As a native of Arabia is able to articulate witli facility sounds which are wholly unfamiliar to a European ear; so, on the other hand, in tlie lan- guages of Europe are found combinations of let- ters, the correct pronunciation of which, to a native of the East, is a matter of difficulty. This is more especially the case, when, at the beginning of a word, two consonants occur without an inter- vening vowel, as in Fraud, Slow, Spear, &c. Ac- cordingly, when any foreign word of this kind is adopted into Arabic, it usually appears with one of the vowels a, i, u, prefixed to it. Thus the words Plato, Stabulum, Stater, become severally af dtiin, (Jv*lio^ istahl,Jh.to\ ustur. Nor is it in words only of foreign origin that \ alif is thus employed. In the structure of words in their own language the Arabians have recourse to tlie same expedient. In Arabic, the imperative is formed by dropping the initial letter wliich is the sign of the aorist: consequently, in a large propor- tion of simple triliteral verbs, the imperative would be found commencing with a silent consonant. For instance, tlie root \.^t^ hataha, He wrote, makes in the aorist uju^, yahtubu; and hence the im- perative would be \,^J^ htuh. To remedy the inconvenience of an initial double consonant, an I alif is prefixed, and the word is therefore uktub. Write thou. But as often as the impera- tive follows any word whose final is inflected with a vowel, then this \ alif, characteristic of the im- perative, and called indifferently (J,-*ojJ\ -^o \\ alifu'l wasl, Alif of union, 5^ hamzatu'l wasl, Hamza of union, ov dm^^ 'iy^ liamzat was- I'lya, Conjunctive hamza, though retained in writ- ing, loses its vowel in pronunciation, and the two words coalesce. This coalescence is indicated by the sign '° A*Oj wasla, Union: as in lL/j.'S^j wahtuh (and without wasla And write thou; which must be pronounced as if written O c ^ and not wa uhtuh. The conjunctive liamza is not confined to the imperative of the major part of triliteral verbs ; but is employed in the preterite, imperative, and verbal nouns of the increased conjugations of the forms ,J.*i31 in fa^la, ifta^la, if^lla, ^jsAjuu^ istaf^la, JUi^ if^lla, ^^^s\ if^iw^ila, and Jyti\ if^w- wala; and in the forms (Jli>«il if^nlala, i|ji*s^ if^lalla, derived from the quadriliteral ,Ji»3 fa^ala. The hamza of the article J\ al is also conjunctive : as, (J;;y^ji^ amlt^u 'I mufmimn (not antiru al mumiinin') Commander of the faith- ful ; and so is the initial \ alif of the following ten nouns substantive: ^1 ibn, jn-x^\ ihnam,, &JL>\ .... \L I...... ihnat, j^*^ \ ist, ^jjU^l tsnam, is7iatdni,\jo\ imras, 'i\jro\i7nraj:at, ayniun.— Except in the above-mentioned instances, every initial hamza is termed ^Aslai' kat^ya, Disjunctive. The fourth conjugation (Jjti^ af^la) is not in- cluded in the foregoing list: its hamza, tlierefore, being disjunctive, retains its vowel, and allows r\o coalition: it is necessary, therefore, to read wa falitaba (or indifferently 7va aktaba, never waktaha,) And lie made (liim) write. As forming a distinct word of itself, \ liamza is](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22651366_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
