This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
أَمَا ذ , used to denote an interrogation, is a compound of the interrogative hemzeh and the negative مَا: (M:) it is a mere interrogative [respecting a negative, like أَلَا]; as in the saying, أَمَا تَسْتَحْيِى مِنَ اللّٰهِ [Art not thou ashamed for thyself, or of thyself, with respect to God?]. (Lth, T.) ― -b2- [IHsh says, after explaining two other usages of أَمَا which we have yet to mention,] El-Málakee adds a third meaning of أَمَا, saying that it is a particle denoting عَرْضٌ [or the asking, or requiring, a thing in a gentle manner], like [أَلَا (q. v.) and] لَوْلَا; and is connected peculiarly with a verb; as in أَمَا تَقُومُ [Wherefore wilt not thou do stand?], and أَمَا تَفْعَلُ [Wherefore wilt not thou do such a thing?]; which may be explained by saying that the hemzeh is used as an interrogative to make one confess, or acknowledge, a thing, as it is in أَلَمْ and أَلَا, and that مَا is a negative. (Mughnee.) ― -b3- It is also an inceptive word, used in the manner of أَلَا: (M:) followed by أَلَا, it is syn. with أَلَا: (S:) [meaning Now: or now surely: or] both of these meaning verily, or truly; i. c. حَقًّا: and for this reason Sb allows one's saying, أَمَا إِنَّه مُنْطَلقٌ and أَمَا أَنَّهُ مُنْطَلقٌ [Verily, or truly, he is going away]; with kesr after the manner of أَلَا إِِنَّهُ, and with fet-h after the manner of حَقًّا أَنَّهُ: and هَمَا وَاللّٰهِ لَقَدْ كَانَ كَذَا is mentioned as meaning أَمَا وَ اللّٰهِ [&c., i. e. Verily, or truly, by God, such a thing did indeed happen]; the ه being a substitute for the hemzeh: (M:) so too حَمَى واللّٰه [or حَمَا واللّٰه]: (Sgh and K in art. حمى:) it denotes the truth of the words which follow it; as when you say, أَمَا إِِنَّ زَيْدًا عَاقِلٌ, meaning Truly, or properly speaking, not tropically, Zeyd is intelligent; and أَمَّا و اللّٰه قَد ضَرَبَ زَيْدٌ عَمْرًا [Truly, &c., by God, Zeyd beat, or struck, Amr]: (S in art. امو:) [in other words,] it corroborates an oath and a sentence; as in أَمَا وَ اللّٰه لَئِنْ سْهَرْتُ لَكَ لَيْلَةً لَأَ دَعَنَّكَ نَادِمًا [Verily, or now surely, by God, if I remain awake for thee a night, then will I indeed leave thee repenting]; and أَمَا لَو عَلِمْتُ مَكَانَكَ لَأَزْعَجْتُكَ مِنْهُ [Verily, or now surely, if I had known thy place of being, then had I unsettled thee, or removed thee, from it]; and أَمَا إِِنَّهُ لَرَجُلٌ كَرِيمٌ [Verily, or now surely, he is (emphatically) a generous man]: (T:) or it is an inceptive particle, used in the manner of أَلَا; [meaning now: or now surely:] (Mughnee:) or a particle used to give notice of what is about to be said: only put before a proposition [as in exs. mentioned above]: (TA:) and often occurring before an oath [as in exs. mentioned above]: and sometimes its hemzeh is changed into ه or ع, before the oath; each with the ا remaining; [written هَمَا or عَمَا;] and with the ا elided; [written هَمَ or عَمَ;] or with the ا elided, but without the substitution; [written أَمَ;] and when انَّ occurs after أَمَا, it is with kesr, as it is after أَلَا: and it also means حَقًّا [verily, or truly]: or أَحقًّا [verily? or truly?]: accord. to different opinions: and in this case, انَّ after it is with fet-h, as it is after حَقَّا: accord. to Ibn-Kharoof, this is a particle: but some say that it is a noun in the sense of حَقًّا: and others, that it consists of two words, namely, the interrogative hemzeh and مَا as a noun in the sense of شَىْءٌ; i. e. أَذالِكَ الشَّىْءُ حَقٌّ [is that thing ture?]; so that the meaning is أَحَقًّا: [if so, أَمَا أَنَّه مُنْطَلقٌ means Verily, or truly, is he going away?] and this, which is what Sb says, is the correct opinion: مَا is virtually in the accus. case, as an adverbial noun, like as حَقًّا is literally: and أَنَّ with its complement is an inchoative, of which the adverbial noun is the enunciative: but Mbr says that حَقًّا is the inf. n. of يَحِقُّ, which is suppressed, and that أنَّ with its complement is an agent. (Mughnee.)
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.
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.
