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مَنْجَنِيقٌ منجنيق (S, M, Msb, K) and مِنْجَنِيقٌ (Msb, K) and ↓ مَنْجَنُوقٌ (Lth, IAar, Msb, K) [A kind of balista;] an instrument [or engine of war] with which stones are cast (S, M, K, TA) at the enemy; made by binding [in some manner] very tall wooden poles, whereon is placed what is to be cast, which is then struck with a long pole, and so cast to a very distant place: [this imperfect description (the only one that I have found of this engine) seems to show that it was of a very simple and rude construction:] it is an ancient instrument, anterior to the invention [or use] of gunpowder and cannons by the Christians; and was used by Mohammad in the siege of Et-Táïf; but the first [of the Arabs] who used it in the time of paganism is said to have been Jedheemeh El-Abrash, of the Mulook et-Tawáïf: (TA:) pl. مَنْجَنِيقَاتٌ (S, Msb, K) and مَنْجَنُوقَاتٌ (Lth, TA) and مَجَانِيقُ (Sb, S, Msb, K) and مَجَانِقُ: (K:) dim. ↓ مُجَيْنِيقٌ : (Sb, S:) it is fem., (Lth, S, Msb, K, *) preferably, (Lth, TA,) and in most instances; (Msb;) and hence it is also called الأُنْثَى; (M in art. انث;) but sometimes it is masc.: (Msb, K:) and is arabicized, (S, Msb, K,) from the Persian (S, K) مَنْ چِى نِيكْ, i. e. “ How excellent am I! ” (S,) or مَنْ چِهْ نِيكْ, i. e. “ I, how excellent am I! ” (K;) [Golius asserts it to be from the Greek μάγγανον but this is the original of مَنْجَنُونٌ, which has a different meaning: its derivation, however, seems to have been unknown to the Arabs in general; for] some say that مَنْجَنِيقٌ is of the measure مَفْعَلِيلٌ, [so in copies of the S, but correctly مَنْفَعِيلٌ, as in the Msb and TA,] because of the phrase نُجْنَقُ مَرَّةً [see 1]: (S, Msb: *) or, (Msb,) accord. to Sb, (S,) it is of the measure فَنْعَلِيلٌ; (S, Msb;) because مَجَانِيقُ is its pl. and the dim. is مُجَينِيقٌ; and because, if the م were augmentative as well as the ن, there would be two augmentative letters at the beginning of the noun, and this may not be in substs. nor in epithets that are not conformable to augmented verbs; and if the ن were made an essential part of the word, the noun would be a quadriliteral-radical, and augmentative letters are not prefixed to words of this class except nouns conformable to their verbs, like مُدَحْرَجٌ: (S, TA:) but MF says that these disquisitions are unprofitable; for in his opinion, all the letters of the word are radical, since it is a foreign word. (TA.) مَنْجَنِيِقىٌّ [app. A maker of the kind of engine called منجنيق; being mentioned as a surname:] a rel. n. from منجنيق. (K.)
An Arabic-English Lexicon. London. Williams and Norgate. 1863.
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