previous next
1 سَفِهَ ذ , (S, MA, Msb,) aor. سَفَهَ ; (Msb;) and سَفُهَ, [aor. سَفُهَ ;] (S, Msb;) inf. n. سَفَهٌ and سَفَاهَةٌ (S, MA, Msb, K *) and سَفَاهٌ, (S, MA, K, *) [all mentioned in the MA as of the former verb, and so in the TA when that verb is trans., but properly] the first is of the former verb, and the second is of the latter verb, (S, Msb,) and so is the third; (S;) He (a man, S) was, or became, such as is termed سَفِيه; (S, TA;) [i. e.] he was, or became, unwise, witless, or destitute of wisdom or understanding, or [rather] lightwitted. (MA.) ― -b2- The phrase سَفِهَ نَفْسَةُ, [of which an instance occurs in the Kur ii. 124, and] to which غَبِنَ رَأْيَهُ and بَطِرَ عَيْضْلَرRَهُ and أَلِمَ بَطْنَهُ and وَفِقَ أَمْرَهُ and رَضْلَرRِدَ أَمْرَهُ are similar, was originally سَفِهَتْ نَفْسُ زَيْدٍ [or rather سَفِهَتْ نَفْسُهُ i. e. Himself, or his mind, was, or became, lightwitted, &c.]; but when [the dependence of] the verb became transferred [from the نفس] to the man, what followed the verb was put in the accus. case by being its objective complement, for the phrase became identical in meaning with نَفْسَهُ ↓ سَفَّهَ [he made himself, or his mind, lightwitted, &c.]: so say the Basrees and Ks; and it is allowable with them to make this accus. to precede [the verb]; like as it is allowable to say, غُلَامَهُ ضَرَب زَيْدٌ: (S, TA:) accord. to the K, the verb thus used has three forms; (TA;) you say سَفِهَ نَفْسَهُ and رَأْيَهُ, (K, TA,) and حِلْمَهُ, (TA,) and سَفُهَ, and سَفَهَ, meaning حَمَلَهُ عَلَىالسَّفَهِ [which is virtually the same as سَفَّهَهُ i. e. he made himself, or his mind, lightwitted, or unwise, &c., and in like manner his judgment, or opinion, and he made his gravity, or forbearance, or the like, to become levity, or hastiness, &c.]: or he attributed سَفَه [i. e. lightwittedness, &c., to himself, or his mind, and to his judgment, or opinion]: or he destroyed it; (K, TA;) agreeably with the meaning assigned to سَفِهَ نَفْسَهُ by AO: (TA:) or this means he held himself in mean, or light, estimation; (MA, and Ksh and Bd in ii. 124;) and rendered himself low, base, or contemptible: (Bd ibid.:) but Lh says that سَفِهَ نَفْسَهُ, with kesr [to the ف], inf. n. سَفَهٌ and سَفَاهَةٌ and سَفَاهٌ, means حَمَلَهُ عَلَى السَّفَهِ [or حَمَلَهَا], and is the approved form, and that some say سَفُهَ, which is rare: and accord. to J and others, (TA,) when they say سفه نَفْسَهُ, and رَأْيَهُ, they do not say it otherwise than with kesr [to the ف], because فَعُلَ is not trans.: (S, TA:) so that the three forms of the verb mentioned in the K require consideration: (TA:) accord. to Fr, when [the dependence of] the verb in the phrase سَفِهَ نَفْسَهُ became transferred from the نفس to the possessor thereof, what followed the verb became an explicative, to indicate that the سَفَه [or lightwittedness, &c.,] was therein; and by rule it should be سَفِهَ زَيْدٌ نَفْسًا, for the explicative should not be otherwise than indeterminate; but it was left in its state of a prefixed noun, and put in the accus. case in the manner of an indeterminate noun as being likened thereto; [the meaning, therefore, accord. to him, is he was, or became, lightwitted, &c., as to his mind;] it is not allowable, however, in his opinion, to make this accus. to precede [the verb], because the explicative may not precede; and similar to this is the phrase ضِقْتُ بِهِ ذَرْعًا, and طِبْتُ بِهِ نَفْسًا, meaning ضَاقَ ذَرْعِىبِهِ and طَابَتْ نَفْسِى بِهِ: (S, TA:) but this saying [of Fr] is disallowed by the grammarians; for they say that explicatives are indeterminate, and that determinate nouns may not be used as indeterminate: some of the grammarians say that إِِلَّامَنْ سَفِهَ نَفْسَهُ in the Kur [ii. 124] means الّا من سَفِهَ فِىنَفْسِهِ [but he who is lightwitted, &c., in his mind], i. e., who becomes سَفِيه; [the prep.] فى being suppressed [and the noun therefore put in the accus. case agreeably with a general rule]: Zj holds that the approvable saying is, that it means إِِلَّا مَنْ جَهِلَ نَفْسَهُ, i. e., but he who is [ignorant or silly or foolish or] unreflecting in his mind: and in like manner, سَفِهَ رَأْيَهُ means جَهِلَهُ [i. e. he was ignorant, &c., in his judgment, or opinion]; and his judgment, or opinion, was unsound, without rectitude: and سَفِهَ نَفْسَهُ signifies also he lost himself, or his own soul. (TA.) سَفِهَ الحَقَّ is likewise expl. as meaning الحَقَّ ↓ سَفَّهَ [He made the truth, or right, to be foolishness, or the like]; and Yoo held the one to be a dial. var. of the other, and the measure of the former verb to denote intensiveness; and accord. to this explanation one may say, سَفِهْتُ زَيْدًا meaning زَيْدًا ↓ سَفَّهْتُ [I pronounced Zeyd lightwitted, &c.]: or the meaning is جَهِلَ الحَقَّ [he ignored the truth, or right], and he did not see it to be the truth, or right: (TA:) or he regarded the truth, or right, as foolishness, or ignorance. (S and TA in art. غمط.) See also 2. ― -b3- سَفِهَ عَلَيْهِ signifies جَهِلَ [i. e., when thus trans. by means of عَلَى, He feigned ignorance to him]; as also سَفُهَ, (K, TA,) and ↓ تسافه . (K.) ― -b4- And سَفِهْتُ نَصِيبِى [and it is implied in the K that one says سَفَهْتُ نصيبى also, but only the former is authorized by the TA,] I forgot my share, or portion. (Th, K, TA.) ― -b5- And سَفَهَ صَاحِبَهُ, aor. سَفُهَ , He overcame his companion in what is termed مُسَافَهَة [inf. n. of 3, q. v.]. (K.) You say, ↓ سَافَهَهُ فَسَفَهَهُ. (TA.) ― -b6- سَفِهَتِ الطَّعْنَةُ, (JK, K, TA,) inf. n. سَفَهٌ, (TA,) (tropical:) The spear-wound, or the like, emitted blood which came from it quickly (JK, K, TA) and dried up (وَجَفَّ [in the TK وِخف]): (K, TA:) so in the A. (TA.) ― -b7- سَفِهَ الضْلَرRَّرَابَ, (S, K,) inf. n. سَفَهٌ, (TA,) He drank much of the beverage, or wine, without having his thirst satisfied thereby. (S, K, TA.) See also 3. And سَفِهَ المَآءَ (tropical:) He drank the water immoderately. (TA.) ― -b8- And سَفِهْتُ and سَفَهْتُ signify ضْلَرRُغِلْتُ, (so in the CK,) in [some of] the copies of the K ضْلَرRَغَلْتُ, but the right reading is ضْلَرRُغِلْتُ [i. e. I was occupied, or busied, or diverted from a thing]: or, accord. to the copies of the K, تَضْلَرRَغَّلْتُ; but correctly, or ضْلَرRَغَلْتُ [i. e. I occupied, or busied, or diverted from a thing]. (TA.)
An Arabic-English Lexicon. London. Williams and Norgate. 1863.

The U.S. Department of Education, The Max Planck Society provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Dictionary Entry Lookup
Use this tool to search for dictionary entries in all lexica.
Search for in
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: