Arabic vocabulary
How to say “name” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
الاسمُ المُجرَّدُ شرارةٌ بلا نار؛ أمّا الجملةُ المشروعة فنورٌ يسري
A mere name is a spark without fire; but a prescribed sentence is a light that spreads.
الِاسْمُ — the name. 'the name', fronted subject, nominative. al- makes it the bare name under discussion; the verbless sentence will give it a predicate.
From: Turning Daily Words into Worship →كَمَا كَانُوا يستعملون الْحَرْف فِي الِاسْم فَيَقُولُونَ هَذَا حرف غَرِيب أَي لفظ الِاسْم غَرِيب
Just as they used to use (letter) for the word, saying: This is a strange letter, meaning the word itself is strange.
الِاسْمِ — the word. Genitive after 'fi' — 'the noun, word'. They used 'letter' to mean a whole word.
From: The Declaration of Faith →كَمَا كَانُوا يستعملون الْحَرْف فِي الِاسْم فَيَقُولُونَ هَذَا حرف غَرِيب أَي لفظ الِاسْم غَرِيب
Just as they used to use (letter) for the word, saying: This is a strange letter, meaning the word itself is strange.
الِاسْمِ — word. Genitive owner of 'wording' — 'the noun, word'. The thing whose wording is called strange.
From: The Declaration of Faith →وَقسم سِيبَوَيْهٍ الْكَلَام إِلَى اسْم وَفعل وحرف جَاءَ لِمَعْنى لَيْسَ باسم وَلَا فعل،
And Sibawayh divided speech into noun, verb, and letter that comes for meaning, not as a noun or a verb.
اِسْمٍ — noun. 'a noun', genitive after 'ila', indefinite — the first class. In Arabic grammar 'ism' covers nouns AND adjectives, the naming words.
From: The Declaration of Faith →وَقسم سِيبَوَيْهٍ الْكَلَام إِلَى اسْم وَفعل وحرف جَاءَ لِمَعْنى لَيْسَ باسم وَلَا فعل،
And Sibawayh divided speech into noun, verb, and letter that comes for meaning, not as a noun or a verb.
بِاِسْمٍ — as a noun. 'a noun' with an extra 'bi' — after 'laysa', Arabic often adds this 'bi' to the predicate for emphasis: 'is not a noun [at all]'. The 'bi' here is a grammatical helper, not 'with'.
From: The Declaration of Faith →لَكِن خَاصَّة الثَّالِث أَنه حرف جَاءَ لِمَعْنى لَيْسَ باسم
But specifically the third, it is a letter that comes for meaning, not as a noun.
بِاِسْمٍ — as a noun. 'a noun' with the emphatic 'bi' that 'laysa' adds to its predicate — 'is not a noun'. The 'bi' is a grammatical reinforcer here, not 'with'.
From: The Declaration of Faith →وقيل وهو الصواب إنه اسم فاعل على بابه
And it is said, and this is correct, that it is an active participle in its original sense.
اِسْمُ — an active. A noun 'name', heading a possessive pairing with 'doer' after it to form the grammatical term 'noun of the doer', i.e. the active participle. It gives up its own article and takes definiteness from the owner; here it is the indefinite predicate 'an active participle'.
From: Creating Life from Nothing →فإن اسم الفاعل هو من قام به الفعل سواء فعله هو أو غيره
For an active participle is one by whom the action is carried out, whether he performed it himself or someone else did.
اسْمَ — name. A noun 'name', in the object-style ending because the emphatic opener requires its subject to take that ending, and heading a possessive pairing with 'the doer' after it. Together they form the grammatical term for the active participle, here the topic being defined.
From: Creating Life from Nothing →وَفِي إِضَافَتِهِ إِلَيْهِ بِاسْمِ الرِّسَالَةِ أَبْيَنُ دَلِيلٍ أَنَّهُ كَلَامُ الْمُرْسِلِ،
And in attributing it to him by the name of messenger is the clearest evidence that it is the speech of the Sender.
بِاسْمِ — by the name of. A preposition 'with/by' fused to a noun 'name', which opens an 'of' pairing with the next word: by the title of messengership. The preposition forces the genitive, and the noun then owns the following word.
From: Proofs of Scripture →OpenArabic teaches words like اسم through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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