Academic Arabic: Some Form II Verbal Nouns

ضَجَر

root: ض-ج-ر / noun / definition: restlessness

I’ve been feeling a little unsettled for the past week. I can’t seem to sit still and write, despite “sitting still and writing” equating to approximately half of my to-do list.

So, in an attempt to offset this restlessness, or—perhaps more accurately—appease it, I’ve decided to start a new series of posts: Academic Arabic.

In this series, I’ll be sharing some Arabic words and phrases (and maybe structures?) that I’ve come across in academic contexts. Lectures, conferences, readings, and so on.

For today’s post, I wanted to focus on a random selection of form II verbal nouns (مصادر) that I’ve come across in my academic readings.

Form II verbal nouns follow the pattern تَفْعيل, and they generally carry a causative meaning—i.e. to make something/someone do or be something. We’ll see how this applies.

Let’s get into it:

تَبْئير

meaning: to focalise

root: ب-ء-ر

related to: بُؤْرة (focus)

example:

يُحَلِّل هذا البَحث تَبئير وَعي الشَّخصيّة الرَئيسيّة في السَّرد

this research analyses the focalisation of the main character’s consciousness in the narrative

تَهْميش

meaning: to marginalise

root: ه-م-ش

related to: هامِش (margin)

example:

يُشَكِّل تَهميش الأَدَب الصَّغير مُشكِلة كَبيرة في مَجال الأَدَب المُقارن

the marginalisation of Minor Literature poses a great problem in the field of comparative literature

تَقْزيم

meaning: to dwarf, to diminish

root: ق-ز-م

related to: قَزَم (dwarf)

example:

حاوَلَ المُؤَرِّخون تَقزيم دَورِهِ في تَحَوُّلات العَصر

historians attempted to dwarf its role in the transformations of the era

تَبْويب

meaning: to separate into chapters, classify

root: ب-و-ب

related to: باب (chapter, category)

example:

يَهدُف هذا المَقال إلى تَبويب النَّماذِج وتَحليلها حَسَبَ النَّظَريّة السّالِفة الذِّكر

this article aims to classify and analyse the models according to the aforementioned theory

تَجْسيد

meaning: to embody

root: ج-س-د

related to: جَسَد (body)

example:

تُؤَدّي الرِّواية دَوراً في تَجسيد المَشاعِر السائِدة في مُجتَمَع ما

the novel plays a role in the embodiment of pervasive feelings in a given society

تَنْظير

meaning: to theorise

root: ن-ظ-ر

related to: نَظَريّة (theory)

example:

يَعَتَمِد البَحث على التَّنظير أوّلاً ثُمَّ التَّطبيق

the research relies firstly on theorising, and then on application

And I’d hate to finish off the list without including a quadriliteral form II verbal noun (on the pattern تَفَعْلُل):

تَمَوضُع

meaning: positionality, positioning oneself

root: م-و-ض-ع

related to: مَوضِع (position)

example:

تَمَوضُع الباحِث الأَكاديمي أَمام بَحثِهِ لَهُ أَهَميّة بالِغة في الدِّراسات الإثنوغرافيّة

it is of great importance in ethnographic studies that academic researchers position themselves in relation to their research

The derivation of this quadriliteral root is a little interesting. The noun مَوضِع comes from the triliteral root و-ض-ع, and it’s a noun of place on the pattern مَفعِل. The quadriliteral root is derived from the consonants of the noun مَوضِع, giving us م-و-ض-ع.

Deriving a quadriliteral root from a triliteral-root noun is not super rare. We’ve seen stranger things.

I hope this was useful! I’d love to hear your thoughts on this new series.

For more words and phrases you can use in academic writing, check out the Small but Useful Phrases series and the post Miscellaneous Advanced Phrases for Arabic Essays.

And if you’re finding the regular posts useful, consider supporting my work (where you can also access more content and downloadable resources!):