Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

أَبَوْتُ, [third pers. أَبَا,] (T, Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) and أَبَيْتُ, [third pers. أَبَى,] (T, M, Ḳ,) the latter accord. to Yz, (T,) aor. آبُو, (TḲ,) inf. n. أُبُوَّةٌ, (Yz, T, Ṣ, Mṣb,) or this is a simple subst., (M,) I became a father. (T,* Ṣ,* M, Ḳ.)

أَبَوْتُهُ, (ISk, T, M, Ḳ,) aor. آبُوهُ, (IAạr, ISk, T,) inf. n. إِبَاوَةٌ, (M, Ḳ,) I was, (IAạr, ISk, T,) or became, (M, Ḳ,) a father to him. (IAạr, ISk, T, M, Ḳ.)

[Hence, I fed him, or nourished him; and reared him, or brought him up.] You say, فُلَانٌ يَأْبُو هٰذَا اليَتِيمَ, inf. n. إِبَاوَةٌ, Such a one feeds, or nourishes, this orphan, like as the father does his children. (Lth, T.) And مَالَهُ أَبٌ يَأْبُوهُ (ISk, T, Ṣ) He has not a father to feed him, or nourish him, and to rear him, or bring him up. (Ṣ.)

أَبَّيْتُهُ, inf. n. تَأْبِيَةٌ, I said to him بِأَبِى [meaning فُدِيَتِ بِأَبِى Mayest thou be ransomed with my father! or the like: see أَبٌ, below]. (Ḳ, TA. [In the CK, erroneously, يا اَبِى.])

تأبّاهُ He adopted him as a father; (M, Ḳ, TA;) as alsoاستأباهُ↓; (M in art. اب;) and so تأبّاهُ أَبًا, accord. to AʼObeyd: (TA:) [or,] accord. to AʼObeyd, you say, تَأَبَّيْتُ أَبًا I adopted a father: (T:) and you say also, اِسْتَأَبَّ أَبًا and اِسْتَأْبَبَ أَبًا he adopted a father. (TA.)

أَبٌ is originally أَبَوٌ, (Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ,) as is shown by the first of its dual forms and of its pl. forms mentioned below; (Ṣ, Mṣb;) and signifies A father [in the ordinary sense: and also as meaning † an ancestor]: (M:) as alsoأَبًا↓, a dial. var., (M, Ḳ,) the same in the nom. and accus. and gen. cases, like قَفًا: (M:) and أَبٌّ is a dial. var. of the same, [the second letter being doubled to compensate for the و suppressed, as is the case in أَخٌّ, (TA voce أَخٌ)] but is rare. (Mṣb.) Accord. to the dial. commonly obtaining, when you use it as a prefixed noun, you decline it with the letters و and ا and ى, saying, هٰذَاأَبُوهُ [This is his father], (Mṣb,) and أَبُوكَ [thy father]; (M;) and رَأَيْتُ أَبَاهُ [I saw his father]; and مَرَرْتُ بِأَبِيهِ [I passed by his father]: (Mṣb:) but accord. to one dial., you say, هٰذَا أَبَاهُ, (Mṣb:) and أَبَاكَ; (M;) and رَأَيْتُ أَبَاهُ; and مَرَرْتُ بِأَبَاهُ: (Mṣb:) and accord. to one dial., which is the rarest of all, it is defective in every case, like يَدٌ and دَمٌ; (Mṣb;) and [thus] you say, هٰذَا أَبُوكَ [&c.]. (M.) The dual is أَبَوَانِ, (Ṣ, M, Mṣb,) meaning [two fathers, and] father and mother; and some say أَبَانِ: (Ṣ, M:) you say, هُمَاأَبَوَاهُ, meaning They two are his father and mother; and in poetry you may say, هُمَا أَبَاهُ; and in like manner, رَأَيْتُ أَبَيْهِ [I saw his father and mother], (T,) and أَبَيْكَ [thy father and mother]; (Ṣ;) but the usual, or chaste, form is رَأَيْتُ أَبَوَيْهِ. (T.) The pl. is آبَآءٌ, (T, Ṣ, M, Mṣb, Ḳ,) the best form, (T,) and أَبُونَ, (T, Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) and أُبُوٌّ (M, Ḳ, [in the CK الاَبْوٌ is erroneously put for الأُبُوٌّ,]) and أُبُوَّةٌ, (Lḥ, T, Ṣ, M, Ḳ,*) like عُمُومَةٌ and خُؤُولَةٌ: (T, Ṣ:) you say, هٰؤُلَآءِ أَبُوكُمْ, meaning آبَاؤُكُمْ [These are your fathers]; (T;) and hence, in the Ḳur [ii. 127], accord. to one reading, وَإِلٰهَ أَبِيكَ إِبرٰهِيمَ وَإِسْمٰعِيلَ وَإِسْحٰقَ [And the God of thy fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac], meaning the pl. of أبٌ, i. e. أَبِينَكَ, of which the ن is suppressed because the noun is prefixed [to the pronoun]; (Ṣ;) and some of the Arabs say, أَبُوَّتُنَا أَكْرَمُ الآبَآءِ [Our fathers are the most generous of fathers]. (T.) The dim. isأُبَّىٌّ↓; originally أُبَيْوٌ, with the final radical letter restored. (Mṣb.)

مَا يَدْرِى لَهُ مِنْ أَبٍ, and مَا أَبٌ, mean- ing He knows not who is his father, and what is his father, are sayings mentioned by Lḥ on the authority of Ks. (M.)

لَا أَبَا لِكَ, (T, Ṣ, M, Ḳ, &c.,) [accord. to the dial. of him who says أَبًا instead of أَبٌ,] as also لَا أَبَ لَكَ, and لَا أَبَاكَ, (Ṣ, Ḳ,) [the last, accord. to J, because the ل (meaning the ل in لك in the preceding phrases) is as though it were redundant, but he seems not to have known the dial. var. أَبًا, and I rather think that لَا أَبَاكَ, is for لَا أَبْقَى ٱللّٰهُ أَبَاكَ, or the like,] and لَا أَبَكَ, (Mbr, Ṣgh, Ḳ,) and لَابَ لَكَ, (Ḳ,) which is for لَا أَبَ لَكَ, (M,) means Thou art, in my estimation, one deserving of its being said to him, Mayest thou have no father! it is used in the manner of a proverb, is of frequent occurrence in poetry, (M,) is said to him who has a father and to him who has not a father, and is an imprecation as to the meaning, of necessity, though enunciative as to the letter; (M, Ḳ;) and hence the saying of Jereer,

* يَا تَيْمُ تَيْمَ عَدِىٍّ لَا أَبَا لَكُمْ *

[O Teym, Teym of 'Ades, may ye have no father!]; which is the strongest evidence of its being a proverb, and not having a literal meaning; for all of [the tribe of] Teym could not have one father, but all of them were fit objects of imprecation and rough speech: (M:) it is an expression of praise: (Ṣ:) [i. e.] it is an imprecation against him to whom it is addressed, not, however, said with the desire of its having effect, but on an occasion of intense love, like لَا أُمَّ لَكَ, &c.: (Ḥar p. 165:) and sometimes in dispraise, like لَا أُمَّ لَكَ: and in wonder, like لِلّهِ دَرُّكَ: (TA:) or, as AHeyth says, on the authority of Aboo-Saʼeed Ed-Dareer, it expresses the utmost degree of reviling; [meaning Thou hast no known father;] and لَا أُمَّ لَكَ expresses reviling also, but means Thou hast no free, or ingenuous, mother: (Meyd in Ḥar p. 165: [see أُمَّ:]) sometimes it means Strive, or exert thyself, in thine affair; for he who has a father relies upon him in some circumstances of his case: (TA:) accord. to Kh, it means Thou hast none to stand thee in stead of thyself: (ISh, TA:) Fr says that it is a phrase used by the Arabs [parenthetically, i.e.,] to divide their speech: (TA:) [thus, for instance,] Zufar Ibn-El-Hárith says,

* أَرِينِى سِلَاحِى لَا أَبَا لَكَ إِنَّنِى *

* أَرَى الحَرْبَ لَا تَزْدَادُ إِلَّا تَمَادِيَا *

[Show thou me my weapons: (mayest thou have no father! or thou hast no father:, &c.:) verily I see the war, or battle, increases not save in perseverance]. (TA.) [Aboo-ʼAlee, as cited in the M, observes that the ا (meaning the final ا) in أَبَا, in the phrase لَا أَبَا لَكَ, indicates that it is a prefixed noun, and determinate; whereas the ل in لك together with the government exercised upon the noun by لا indicates that it is, on the contrary, indeterminate, and separate from what follows it: but it seems that he was unacquainted with the dial. var. أَبَّا; for لَا أَبَا لَكَ in the dial. of him who uses the form أَبَّا instead of أَبٌ is the same grammatically as لَا أَبَ لَكَ in the dial. of him who uses the form أَبٌ.] Suleymán Ibn-ʼAbd-El-Melik heard an Arab of the desert, in a year of drought, say, أَنْزِلْ عَلَيْنَا الغَيْثَ لَا أَبَا لَكَ, and Suleymán put the best construction upon it, [as though it meant, Send down upon us rain: Thou hast no father], and said, I testify that He hath no father nor female companion nor offspring. (TA.) They say also, in paying honour [to a person], لَا أَبَ لِشَانِئِكَ, and لَا أَبَ لِشَانِئِكَ, (TA,) i. e. May thy hater have no father! or, accord. to ISk, each is a metonymical expression for لَا أَبَا لَكَ. (Ṣ in art. شنأ, q. v.)

One also says, on the occasion of an occurrence that is approved and commended, by way of expressing wonder and praise, لَلِّهِ أَبُوكَ, meaning To God, purely, is attributable [the excellence of] thy father, seeing that he begat thee a generous son, and produced the like of thee! (TA;) [or to God be attributed (the excellence of) thy father!] it means that to God [alone] belongs the power to create the like of this man [to whom it relates], from whom has proceeded this wonderful action. (Ḥar p. 44.)

And هِىَ بِنْتُ أَبِيهَا, meaning She resembles her father in strength of mind, or spirit, and sharpness of disposition, and in hastening, or striving to be first, to do things: said of Hafsah, by ʼÁïsheh. (TA.)

بِأَبِى, (TA,) or بِأَبِى أَنْتَ, (T in art. بأ,) [said to a person,] means [فُدِيتَ بِأَبِى Mayest thou be ransomed with my father! (see the next sentence but one;) or] أَفْدِيكَ بِأَبِى [I will ransom thee with my father]; (T ubi suprà;) or أَنْتَ مَفْدِىٌّ بِأَبِى [Thou art, or shalt be, ransomed with my father]; or فَدَيُتُكَ بِأَبِى [I have in my heart ransomed thee, or I would ransom thee, with my father]; the ب being dependent upon a word suppressed, which, accord. to some, is a [pass. participial] noun, and accord. to others, a verb; and this word is suppressed because of the frequent usage of the phrase. (TA.) You say also, بِأَبِى أَنْتَ وَأُمِّى [With my father mayest thou be ransomed, and with my mother!]. (TA.) And بِأَبِى مَنْ وَدَدتُّهُ, i. e. فُدِىَ بِأَبِى مَنْ وَدَدتُّهُ [May he whom I love be ransomed with my father!], meaning may he [my father] be made a ransom for him [whom I love]! (El-Wáḥidee on the Deewán of El-Mutanebbee, in De Sacy's Chrest. Arabe, sec. ed. vol. iii. p. 35 of the Arabic text.) Sometimes they change the ى into ا: a poet says,

* وَقَدْ زَعَمُوا أَنِّى جَزِعْتُ عَلَيْهِمَا *

* وَهَلْ جَزَعٌ أَنْ قُلْتُ وَا بِأَبَا هُمَا *

[And they have asserted that I have become impatient on account of them two: but is it an evidence of impatience that I said, Alas, with my father may they two be ransomed?]; meaning وَا بِأَبِى هُمَا. (Ṣ.) And some of the Arabs used to say, وَا بِأَبَا أَنْتَ [Alas, with my father mayest thou be ransomed!]: this, says AM, being like يَا وَيْلَتَا for يَا وَيْلَتِى; as also يَا بَيْبَا, with the hemzeh changed into ى, originally يَا بِأَبَا, meaning يَابِأَبِى: and hence what is related, in a trad., of Umm- 'Ateeyeh; that she used not to mention the Prophet without saying, بِيَبَا [for بِأَبِ هُوَ]. (TA in art. بأ.) A woman said,

* يَا بِأَبِى أَنْتَ وَيَا فَوْقَ البِيَبْ *

[O thou to whom I would say, With my father mayest thou be ransomed! and O thou who art above him to whom I would address the saying, With my father mayest thou be ransomed!]; respecting which Fr observes that the two words [بِ and أَب] are made as one [by prefixing the article] because of their frequent occurrence; (Ṣ;) and Aboo-ʼAlee says that the ى in بِيَب is substituted for ء, not necessarily; but ISk quotes the words as commencing with يَا بِيَبَا, which is the right reading, in order that this expression may agree with البِئَبْ, which is derived from it: Et-Tebreezee, however, relates Abu-l-ʼAlà's reciting the words as ending with البِئَبْ; saying that this is compounded from the phrase بِأَبِى, and that therefore the ء is preserved. (TA.) [See also the first paragraph in art. بأ.]

You say also, يَا أَبَتِ [meaning O my father], (Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) as in يَا أَبَتِ افْعَلْ [O my father, do thou such a thing]; (Ṣ;) and يَا أَبَتَ; (Ṣ, M, Ḳ;) and يَاأَبَتُ; (Z in the Ksh xii. 4;) and يَا أَبَهْ (Ṣ, M, Ḳ) when you pause after it. (Ṣ, M.) The ة, [here written ت,] (Kh, M,) the sign of the fem. gender, (Ṣ, Z,) is substituted for the [pronominal] affix ى, (Kh, Ṣ, M, Z,) as in يَاأُمَّتِ; (Ṣ;) and is like the ة in عَمَةٌ and خَالَةٌ, as is shown by your saying, in pausing, يَا أَبَهٌ, like as you say, يَا خَالَةٌ: (Kh, M:) the annexing of the fem. ت to a masc. noun in this case is allowable, like as it is in حَمَامَةٌ ذَكَرٌ and شَاةٌ ذَكَرٌ and رَجُلٌ رَبْعَةٌ and غَلَامٌ يَفَعَةٌ: its being made a substitute for the affix ى is allowable because each of these is an augmentative added at the end of a noun: and the kesreh is the same that is in the phrase يَا أَبِى: (Z ubi suprà:) the ت does not fall from اب in the phrase يَا أَبَتِ when there is no pause after it, though it [sometimes] does from أُمّ in the like phrase in that case, because the former word, being of [only] two letters, is as though it were defective. (Ṣ.) يَا أَبَتَ is for يَا أَبَتَا, (Aboo-ʼOthmán El-Mázinee, Ṣ,* M, [the latter expression mentioned also in the Ḳ, but not as being the original of the former,]) the ا [and ه] being suppressed; (the same Aboo-ʼOthmán and M;) or for يَا أَبَتَا, the ا being suppressed, like as the ى is in يَا غُلَامِ; or it may be after the manner of يَاأَبِىَ. (Z ubi suprà.) يَا أَبَتُ is thus pronounced after the usual manner of a noun ending with the fem. ة, without regard to the fact that the ت is in the former a substitute for the suffix ى. (Z ubi suprà.) يَا أَبَهْ is said in a case of pause, except in the Ḳur-án, in which, in this case, you say, يَا أَبَهْ, following the written text; and some of the Arabs pronounce the fem. ة, in a case of pause, ت [in other instances], thus saying, يَا طَلْحَتُ. (Ṣ.) يَا أَبَاهُ is also said; (M, Ḳ;) though scarcely ever. (M.) A poet uses the expression يَا أَبَاتَ, for يَا أَبَتَاهْ: (Ṣ, M:) IB says that this is used only by poetic license, in a case of necessity in verse. (TA.)

أَبٌ is tropically applied to signify ‡ A grandfather, or any ancestor. (Mṣb.)

It is also applied to signify † A paternal uncle; as in the Ḳur ii. 127, quoted before. (M.)

[It is also (like أُمّ and اِبْن and بِنْت) prefixed to nouns of various significations. Most of the compounds thus formed will be found explained in the arts. to which belong the nouns that occupy the second place. The following are among the more common, and are therefore here mentioned, as exs. of different kinds.]

أَبُو المَرْأَةِ † The woman's husband: (Ibn-Ḥabeeb, M:) it is said in the TṢ that الأَبُ, in certain of the dials., signifies the husband: MF deems this meaning strange. (TA.) أَبُو المَثْوَى † The master of the dwelling, or of the place of abode: (TA:) and † the guest. (Ḳ in art. ثوى.) أَبُو الأَضْيَافِ † The very hospitable man. (TA.)

أَبُو الحَارِثِ † The lion. (TA.) أَبُو جَعْدَةَ † The wolf. (TA.) أَبُو الحُصَيْنِ † The fox. (TA.)

أَبُو جَابِر † Bread. (Ṣ and Ḳ in art. جبر.)

أَبُو مَالِكٍ † Extreme old age: (TA:) and † hunger. (MF in art. جبر.)

أَبَوِىٌّ Of, or relating or belonging to, a father; paternal. (Ṣ, TA.)

أَبَىٌّ dim, of أَبٌ, q. v. (Mṣb.)

أُبُوَّةٌ [in copies of the Ḳإِبْوَآء↓, and in the CKاَبْواء↓, both app. mistranscriptions for أُبُوَّة, which is well known,] Fathership; paternity; the relation of a father. (Ṣ,* M.) You say, بَيْنِى وَبَيْنَ فَلَانٍ أُبُوَةٌ [Between me and such a one is a tie of fathership]. (Ṣ.)