Arabic-L:LING:Al-3abd Allaah

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Fri 22 Aug 2008
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1) Subject:l-3abd Allaah
2) Subject:l-3abd Allaah

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1)
Date: 22 Aug 2008
From:Ola Moshref <omoshref at gmail.com>
Subject:Al-3abd Allaah

[Nahr al-Jadīd, Nahr al-Mubārak, Nahr al-Aisar] are lilke [shaari3 al- 
Hamra]. None of them seems to be adjectival. This is clear from the  
last example where shaari3 is masculine and Hamra is feminine. Proper  
nouns like al-Tawiil, al-Hakiim are common. Likewise, al-Jadiid, al- 
Mubaarak, al-Hamra in these structures can very well be nominal.

Perhaps the taa' marbuuTa of [ramla al-bayDa] is not pronounced in  
analogy to proper nouns like [Fatima/Amira al-Tawil], regardless of  
the functional difference in meaning.

As for al-3abd Allah and similar names, we may reason that 3abd Allah/ 
Alraaziq/.. etc. became so common that they are treated as if they  
were single nouns like Mustafa, Omar, etc. rather than a compound of  
two nouns. We say al-[Mustafa], al-[Omar/ayn] and likewise al-[3abd  
Allah].

In one of his poems, Nizar Qabbani coined "al-3aynaa-ha", "al-shafataa- 
ha":

تلك العيناها أصفى من ماء الخلجان
تلك الشفتاها أشهى من زهر الرمان

I thought it was nice, because it made "her eyes" so unique and  
unparalleled that we should say "the [her eyes]" like we say "the  
[sun]" and "the [moon]".

Ola
TA/ UIUC

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2)
Date: 22 Aug 2008
From:"Schub, Michael B." <Michael.Schub at trincoll.edu>
Subject:Al-3abd Allaah

Dear Peter,
     You are correct.
     The problem may be Semitic:  Biblical Hebrew  /ha-lashon  ha- 
ra`/  =  'evil talk; gossip.  In Mishnaic Hebrew
(about 100--700 CE [=AD])  becomes  /lashon  ha-ra`/.
      For many more such examples, please contact Prof. Shmuel  
Bolotsky, Dept. Jewish and NE Studies,
U. Mass., Amherst.
       Best wishes,
                                                                  m

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