Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

شَأَنْتُ شَأْنَهُ i. q. قَصَدْتُ قَصْدَهُ [meaning I pursued his (another's) way, or course, doing as he did]; (Ṣ, L, Ḳ:* in the Ḳ, شَأَنَ شَأْنَهُ and قَصَدَ قَصْدَهُ;) and in like manner one says,اشتأن↓ شَأْنَهُ. (Ḳ.)

And اِشْأَنْ شَأْنَكَ Do thou what thou dost well. (Ṣ, L, Ḳ.*) And Keep thou to thy affair. (IAạr, L.)

And مَا شَأَنَ شَأْنَهُ He did not know, or had not knowledge of, him, or his affair or case or state: (Lḥ, IAạr, L, Ḳ:) [from a passage in the L, imperfectly written, it seems, accord. to Lḥ, to be said of one who does what another likes or dislikes, app. without regard to his liking it or disliking it, agreeably with what here follows:] or (Ḳ) this means, (Ṣ, Ḳ,) or means also, (L,) he did not care for, mind, heed, or regard, him. (Ṣ, L, Ḳ. [In the Ṣ and L, the verb in the sense thus expl. is in the first pers.: and in one place in the L it is expl. by أَرَادَ, which often has this meaning.]) One says also, لَأَشْأَننَّ شَأْنَهُمْ, meaning I will assuredly know, or try, prove, or test, (لَأَخْبُرَنَّ,) their affair or case or state: (L:) or this means I will assuredly corrupt, or pervert, or mar, their affair or case or state: (Ṣ, L, Ḳ:*) and لَأَشْأَنَنَّ خَبَرَهُ, (L,) or خَبَرَهُمْ, (Ḳ,) means I will assuredly know, or try, prove, or test, [his, or their, state, or] him, or them. (L, Ḳ. [In the CK and in my MṢ. copy of the Ḳ, لَاُخْبِرَنَّهُمْ, is erroneously put for لَأَخْبُرَنَّهُمْ.])

شَأَنَ بَعْدَكَ means صَارَ لَهُ شَأْنٌ [i. e., app., He became a person to whom importance attached (accord. to the general meaning of لَهُ شَأْنٌ) after thou knewest, or sawest, or mettest, him; بَعْدَكَ being for بَعْدَ عَهْدِكَ بِهِ, agreeably with common usage]. (Ḳ.)

[اشأن شَأْنَهُمْ is mentioned by Golius as meaning “Corrupit ac pervertit rem eorum,” as on the authority of the Ṣ, (the right reading in which has been given above,) and on that of the KL, in my copy of which I find nothing of the sort.]

شَأْنٌ A thing, an affair, or a business; syn. أَمْرٌ; (Ṣ, L, Ḳ;) and خَطْبٌ [in the same sense, or in that next following]: (L, Ḳ:) a great thing or affair: (Ḥar p. 274:) state, condition, case, quality, or manner of being; syn. حَالٌ: (Ṣ, L:) [also property, or nature: and importance attaching to a person or thing:] pl. شُؤُونٌ and شِئَانٌ, (L, Ḳ,) the latter mentioned by IJ on the authority of AAF, and شُونٌ occurs in poetry for the former of these, or as another pl. originally شُؤْنٌ, of the measure فُعْلٌ. (L.) It is said in the Ḳur [lv. 29], كُلَّ يَمٍ هُوَ فِى شَأْن Ḳ [Every day He is employing Himself in an affair of some kind]: expl. as meaning that, of his business (مِنْ شَأْنِهِ [which may also be rendered “of his property”]) it is to render mighty one who is brought low, and to bring low one who is mighty, and to enrich one who is poor, and to impoverish one who is rich; and no affair occupies him so as to divert him from an affair (لَا يَشْعَلُهُ شَأْنٌ عَنْ شَأْنٍ). (L.) [And one says, مَا شَأْنُكَ What is thy affair? or what is thy case? And شَأْنَكَ, for اِشْأَنْ شَأْنَكَ i. e. Pursue thy way or course, or thy affair; or do what thou dost well; or keep to thy affair: or the like: and to this is often added, وَمَا تُرِيدُ i. e. and what thou wilt, or wishest, or desirest. And مِنْ شَأْنِهِ أَنْ يَفْعَلَ كَذَا It is of his business, or of his property, or nature, to do, or that he should do, such a thing. And رَجُلٌ سَهْلُ الشَّأْنِ (a phrase occurring in the Ṣ and Ḳ in art. هش) A man of easy nature. And لَهُ شَأْنٌ, sometimes meaning There is for him, or he has, a great thing or affair to perform or transact: but more commonly, great importance attaches to him, or to it: see 1, last sentence. And a grandee, or a prince, is said to be عَظِيمُ الشَّأْنِ i. e. Of great importance or rank or dignity.]

Also [A suture of the skull; i. e.] the place of junction of the قَبَائِل [or principal bones, namely, the frontal, occipital, and two parietal, bones,] of the head: (Ḳ:) sing. of شُؤُونٌ, (Mgh,) which signifies the places of junction, (Aṣ, Ṣ, Mgh, L,) and of meeting, (Ṣ, L,) of the قَبَائِل (Aṣ, Ṣ, Mgh, L) of the head; (Ṣ, L;) between every two of which قبائل is a شَأْن: (Aṣ, L:) [it is fancifully said that] from them come the tears: (Aṣ, Ṣ, L:) the pl. is also expl. as meaning the سَلَاسِل [i. e. sutures as being likened to the سلاسل (or lines) of writing] that unite the قبائل: by Lth, as the نَمَانِم [likewise meaning sutures resembling lines of writing] of the skull; between the قبائل: by AḤát, as the شُعَب [meaning serrated edges] that unite the قبائل of the head. (L.)

And The channel by which the tears flow, or run, to the eye:pl. [of pauc.] أَشْؤُنٌ and [of mult.] شُؤُونٌ: (L, Ḳ:) [perhaps thus called because supposed to come from the sutures of the skull: but they may have been supposed to come thence because tears are called مَآءُ الشُّؤُونِ (as in a verse cited voce رَسَمَ); for this phrase may have been misunderstood as signifying “the water of the sutures of the skull,” whereas it seems to be properly rendered “the water of the channels of the tears:”] it is said that the شُؤُون connect the قبائل of the head [expl. above] to the eye: Lth says that they are the ducts (عُرُوق) of the tears from [the interior of] the head to the eye: and Th, that they are certain ducts (عروق) above the قبائل, which become strong by degrees as the man advances in age: (L: [but it seems that Th has confounded explanations of شؤون in two different senses:]) accord. to ISk, (Ṣ,) or AA and others, (L,) the شَأْنَانِ are two ducts (عِرْقَانِ) descending from [the upper part of] the head to the eyebrows and then to the eyes. (Ṣ, L.)

[The pl. شُؤُونٌ is also expl. as though meaning Tears themselves, in a phrase mentioned voce ذَئِرٌ (q. v.), on the authority of the Ḳ.]

And شُؤُونٌ الخَمْرِ means † The effluvia of wine that creep (مَا دَبَّ مِنَ الخَمْرِ) in the veins of the body. (L.)

شَأْنٌ also signifies A vein of earth in a mountain, (L, Ḳ,) i. e. a cleft therein, (L,) in which palm-trees are planted; (L, Ḳ;) or in which trees of the kind called نَبْع grow; or that produces plants, or herbage: (L:) pl. شُؤُونٌ: (L, Ḳ:) which is said by ISd to mean lines, or streaks, in a mountain: or, as some say, cracks, or clefts: and to these cracks, or clefts, the poet Keys Ibn-Kuráạ likens [imaginary] clefts in the liver, occasioned by love. (L.)

إِنَّهُ لَمِشْأَنُ شَأْنٍ أَنْ نُفْسِدَكَ is a saying mentioned by Lḥ, expl. [only] by the words اى ان نعمل فى فسادك [i. e. أَنْ نَعْمَلَ فِى فَسَادِكَ, app. meaning Verily he is busying himself in the doing of a thing in order that we may labour in causing thee to be in a bad, or corrupt, state]. (L.)