Ten Arabic Place Nouns for “Refuge”

لُجوء

root: ل-ج-ء / form I verbal noun / definition: refuge

It’s the final week of the first semester, which means I’ll soon have five weeks to completely focus on my PhD without thinking about teaching.

At the end of the first semester last year, I wrote the post The مَـ of Place and Time, in which we saw how the patterns مَفعَل and مَفعَلة and مَفعِل were used to indicate place nouns, or nouns of time.

So I thought today we’d look at ten synonyms for the word “refuge” that follow these place noun patterns.

Let’s get into it:

مَلجَأ

root: ل-ج-ء

pattern: مَفعَل

Our first word on the list is derived from a hamzated root. This root is perhaps the one most associated with seeking refuge; from it, we get words like لاجِئ (refugee) and لُجوء (refuge, asylum).

مَأوى

root: ء-و-ي

pattern: مَفعَل

This root is not only hamzated, but also hollow and defective! The root is primarily associated with shelter.

مَوئِل

root: و-ء-ل

pattern: مَفعِل

Okay, so another hamzated root here, which is also assimilated. This noun occurs alone under its root in the Hans Wehr. It’s possibly related to the root ء-و-ل which carries meanings related to returning and family.

مَلاذ

root: ل-و-ذ

pattern: مَفعَل

Another hollow root here. And again, this root is all about seeking refuge or protection.

مَنجاة

root: ن-ج-و

pattern: مَفعَلة

This is another defective root. The core meaning of ن-ج-و is safety.

مَحيص

root: ح-ي-ص

pattern: مَفعَل

The hollow root ح-ي-ص is connected to escaping.

مَخلَص

root: خ-ل-ص

pattern: مَفعَل

This is the first sound root on the list so far! It’s related to freedom, purity, and salvation.

مَعاذ

root: ع-و-ذ

pattern: مَفعَل

We have another hollow root with ع-و-ذ, which denotes seeking protection and often has religious implications.

مَهجَر

root: ه-ج-ر

pattern: مَفعَل

We might recognise the sound root ه-ج-ر as it’s strongly linked to migration.

مَفزَع، مَفزَعة

root: ف-ز-ع

pattern: مَفعَل and مَفعَلة

We conclude our list with two words from the same sound root. (So I guess we actually have 11 terms on this list.) Interestingly, the core meaning of the root ف-ز-ع is fear and alarm. I guess a refuge is where you head to when you’re in a state of fear.

There we have it, ten (or 11) Arabic place nouns for “refuge”. As always, these synonym lists are not extensive and I’m sure there are many more synonymous terms—have you come across any?

!إلى اللقاء