Arabic-L:LING:ahlan wasahlan etymology responses
Dilworth Parkinson
dilworth_parkinson at BYU.EDU
Thu May 17 15:00:13 UTC 2007
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1) Subject: ahlan wasahlan etymology response
2) Subject: ahlan wasahlan etymology response
3) Subject: ahlan wasahlan etymology response
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17) Subject: ahlan wasahlan etymology response
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1)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:<depintouk at yahoo.com>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
Dear Dil,
Indeed, etymology is dangerous ground, and even more so when it
comes to Arabic for etymological studies in this language are few and
not so trustworthy.
I do not know if among the explanations you have heard or read,
was the one i'm to post here, but the source is dependable:
According to Edward W. Lane, this is an abbreviated form of
"'atayta qayman ahlan wamawDi'an sahlan" i.e. "thou hast come to a
people who are like kinsfolk and to a place that is smotth and plain,
or not rugged".
Also, if I may express my humble opinion, the above definition
surely sounds plausible to me.
Source: Lane, Edward William. Arabic-English Lexicon (Frederick
Unger Publishing Co.: New York, 1955) vol. 1, part 4, p. 1453.
Regards,
Marco de Pinto
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2)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:Saleh Al- Osaimi <salehosaimi at yahoo.com>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
Hi
ahlan wasahlan:
ahlan: its interpretation: you come to like your family (ahl)
wa: and
sahlan: you come to an easy, wellcoming and not difficult place
(wasahlan)
hope this helps
Saleh Al-Osaimi
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3)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:"Muhammad Eissa" <eissa at comcast.net>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
Salaam Dil and All;
I grew up with the explanation that still echoes in my mind as
"حللت
أهلا ونزلت سهلا". The statement is further elaborated in
two dictionaries
"الغني" و "اللسان" and here is what they said verbatim.
First: from "al_ghani" which is a modern dictionary:
أهْلاً - [أ هـ ل]. 1."أهْلاً وَسَهْلاً" :
عِبَارَةٌ تُقَالُ
للِضُّيُوفِ وَالأصْدِقَاءِ عِنْدَ
اسْتقْبَالِهِمْ. والنَّصْبُ هُنَا
عَلَى
الْمَفْعُولِيَّةِ وَتقْدِيرُهَا :
"صَادَفْتَ أَهْلاً لاَ غُرَبَاءَ
وَوَطِئْتَ سَهْلاً لاَ وَعْراً".
2."أهْلاً بِكَ يَا صَدِيقُ" : مَرْحَباً
بِكَ.
Second from "Lisaan al-Al`Arab" the know classical one:
وأَهلاً وسهلاً بالنصب على
المفعوليَّة أي صادفت أهلا لا غُرباءَ
ووطئْت سهلا
لا خشنًا وهو ترحُّبٌ
Hope this helps and I would be eager to hear more if different.
Salaam
Muhammad S. Eissa, Ph. D.
President, EISSA & ASSOCIATES, Inc.
Arabic and Islamic Consulting & Education
2020 Orrington Ave., Evanston, IL 60201
Ph. (847) 869-4775
Fax. (847) 869-4773
E.MAIL: eissa at comcast.net
and
Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
University of Chicago
5828 South University Ave.
Chicago, IL 60637
Ph. +1-773- 834-0123
Fax: +1-773-708-2587
E. MAIL: meissa at uchicago.edu
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4)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:Sana Hilmi <shilmi at gmu.edu>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
Ahlan wa Sahlan is a short cut for "Halalta Ahlan wa Nazalta Sahlan"
in Arabic, حلـلـتَ أهــلا ونـزلــتَ
سـهـلا
It means "You came in Welcome, and You came down, descended with ease".
If you say (nazala) it means to come down, descend, and to stay in a
place as a hotel or someone's house. From that, we have the word
(Manzil) house.
hope that helps,
Sana
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5)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:mcredi at cloud9.net
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
ahlan wa-sahlan is a truncated phrase of ji'ta ahlan wa-waTi'ta
sahlan.
Medhat Credi
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6)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:baudouin joseph <legrandbosra at yahoo.fr>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
normally we say "atayta ahlan wa halalta sahlan"= you arrived at a
family and set up easy (with facility.)
I hope that is you want.
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7)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:Sadok Masliyah <sadok at sbcglobal.net>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
Hi!
The expression is supposed to have come from: "Qadimta ahalan
wawata'ta sahlan", Lit, 'you came to [your] relatives/family and
you steppedt on a plain [land], i.e. 'feel at ease as if you are
coming to your family and you are walking on a soft ground', hence
you are wolcome.
Sadok Masliyah
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8)
Date: 17 May 2007
From: "Ahmad Radi" <ahradi at squ.edu.om>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
Ahlan wa sahaln
"ahlan" is from (ahl) meaning family and "sahl" is from (sahal)
meaning plain. Historical speaking when Arabs used to travel for
trade and on their return their families used to wait for hem singing
certain songs saying halaltu" ahlan" wa nazaltu "sahlan" , the "an"
is a nunation. That meant you are staying among your family members
and you have came to the plain away from mountainous roads. The
phrase was shortened and developed to be used in welcoming people.
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9)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:zeinabib at aucegypt.edu
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
It is
حللت أهلا و نزلت سهلا
"you have come within your people and your stay will be nice(easy)"
A lot of figurative language.
All the best, Zeinab Ibrahim
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10)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:"Samar Moushabeck" <moushabeck at hotmail.com>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
Marhaba,
I have heard this phrase used before. However, I am not sure if I can
cite a specific source.
I think that it is an abbreviation of the sentence قدمتم
أهلاً
ووطئتم سهلاً
Kadimtum ahlan, wa wate'tum sahlan
Meaning "you arrived (pl.) a family, and you tread level grounds.
Best,
Samar Moushabeck
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11)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:<absiox at jmu.edu>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
Dear Dil
The phrase Ahlan wa Sahlan is short for Halalta Ahlan wa
Nazalta Sahlan. Which means be like family (ahl) and stay or
be easy on us (as in easy on the eyes)...
This is my version, a teacher of mine told us so 13 years
ago when I was in high school...and I remembered it as I am
very interested in the origin of words.
I hope this is helpful.
All the best.
wijdan Absi.
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12)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:"Dr. M Deeb" <muhammaddeeb at gmail.com>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
There is not much to say about the origin of /أهلا وسهلا /
other than it is a familiar expression of welcoming friends and
strangers alike. It is used both in Standard Arabic and regional
vernaculars. There are either jocular or more intimate structural
variations on this greeting such as / أهِلين وسهلِين /
(using the dual with an [إمالة]), or the mouthful emphatic
forms: /أهلا وسهلا ومرحبا / or / يا ميت
أهلا وسهلا/, or the beautiful Levantine: / يا هلا ،
يا هلا /, to which the response would be / يا هلا
بيك! / or / يا ميت هلا بيك! /. Ideally, the phrase
signifies Arab hospitality and friendliness, but it occasionally
slides into a hollow daily routine.
It is safe to suggest that the phrase is as old as Arabic itself. It
has been integral to Arabic poetic diction of all ages. I can now
hear distant echoes of Arabic poems using the phrase, but I cannot
recall the full text. Here is, however, a verse from 'Umar b. Abī-
Rab ī'ah that is very close to our subject:
/لم أرحِّّّّّّّّّّّّّّّّّب بأن
شحطًَّتِ، ولكنْ مرحبا إن رضيتِ
عنا وأهلا/
On a mundane note, students of Arabic grammar encounter this phrase
in the study of the direct object whose verb and subject are
mandatorily omitted. The accusative case of /أهلا وسهلا/ is
justified by implied omissions to the effect of:
/ أتيت قوما أهلا ، ونزلت موضعا سهلا /,
/ لقيت أهلا ، ووطئت مكانا سهلا /
All roughly mean that you have met a friendly people and arrived at a
soft, smooth and accessible place. Ibn ManZ ūr clarifies further the
Arab greeting with an interesting quotation from /al-MuHkam/:
/ أتيت أهلا ، لا غرباء ؛ فاستأنس ولا
تستوحش. /
Had it not been universal, the theme of feeling at home and among
friends may arguably be proper to Semitic culture. On this point,
contrast the gist of the Arabic greeting with the biblical verse: "I
have been an alien in a foreign land," Exodus 2: 22. (One of the
other versions is "I have been a stranger in a strange land.)
Thus, the Arabic phrase / أهلا وسهلا/ comes full circle to
parallel a combined sense of the English expressions: / hello;
welcome; don't be a stranger; make yourself at home. /
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* MD
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13)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:Farouk Mustafa <f-mustafa at uchicago.edu>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
nazaltum ahlan wa halaltum sahlan
Farouk
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14)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:nhedayet at yahoo.com
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
Hi Dill,
I am afraid I will be repeating what everyone knows of this phrase,
but I think this is the original phrase: nazalta ahlan wa Halalta
sahlan that is shortened to ahlan wa sahlan with the meaning that is
well known.
Cheers,
Nagwa Hedayet
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15)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:Mohammned Sawaie <ms at virginia.edu>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
dil,
the phrase comes from: qadimta ahlan wa waTi'ta sahlan.
ms
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16)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:Samira Farwaneh <farwaneh at email.arizona.edu>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
Hi Dil,
My recollection is that this is the shortened form of the coordinate
sentence HaDarta 'ahlan wanazalta sahlan; which explains the
accusative marker.
Best,
Samira
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17)
Date: 17 May 2007
From:taoufiq ben amor <tb46 at columbia.edu>
Subject:ahlan wasahlan etymology response
dear all,
according to the little i know, the full expression is "Qadmtum ahlan
wa nazaltum sahlan", which was shortened into "ahlan wa sahlan",
obviously with "ahl" meaning family, tribe, people and "sahl" meaning
a plain, easy, flat, and possibly fertile ground.
best,
taoufiq ben amor
columbia university
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End of Arabic-L: 17 May 2007
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