Four Arabic Phrases Meaning “Unable to Speak”

الاِنجِذاب

root: ج-ذ-ب / form VII verbal noun / definition: gravitation (towards, إلى)

Since late 2019, I’ve been writing two posts a week on this blog—one of which is always an addition to the Wehr Wednesdays series.

Every Wednesday, or just before it, I pick a random word or phrase from my list of “cool vocab” or go to a random root in the dictionary, knowing I’ll find some sort of linguistic gem.

And whilst my vocabulary picks for the series are random, I do notice that I gravitate towards certain ideas…

One such idea is being unable to speak. I’m undecided as to whether this is reflective or ironic, but anyway.

As far as I remember, we’ve encountered four phrases related to the inability to speak. Let’s take a look at this group of synonyms:

اِستَعْصى عَلَيهِ اللَّفْظ

the words died in his mouth, he couldn’t bring himself to speak

We’re starting with this phrase from Wehr Wednesdays #59, which I wrote back in late 2020.

اِستَعصى / يَستَعصي is a form X verb from the defective root ع-ص-ي.

This root is generally related to the idea of disobedience and defiance. And the form X verb carries meanings like: to resist, to rebel, to defy, to elude, and to refuse to work.

As لَفظ is defined as “word” or “expression”, this phrase conjures the image of words rebelling against someone and rendering them silent.

A bit like words going on strike.

But Wehr’s translation—“the words died in his mouth”—is probably the more poetic choice, I’d say.

اِستَغْلَقَ عَلَيهِ الكَلام

he was unable to speak, he was struck dumb, he was speechless

The following year, I published Wehr Wednesdays #100 which featured the above phrase.

It’s pretty similar in structure to the first one on the list.

اِستَغلَقَ / يَستَغلِقُ is another form X verb—but this time, it’s from the root غ-ل-ق.

The root غ-ل-ق is related to notions of closing and obscurity. Its form X verb means “to be difficult” and “to be ambiguous or incomprehensible”.

Here, we’re seeing the idea that—as opposed to staging a rebellion—words simply become too difficult for someone, or the person is in such a state that words themselves lose meaning.

تَعَقَّدَ لِسانُهُ

to express o.s. with difficulty, speak laboringly; to be unable to speak, be tongue-tied

Before I knew it, three years had passed since that last phrase, and I was writing Wehr Wednesdays #264.

تَعَقَّدَ / يَتَعَقَّدُ is a form V verb from the root ع-ق-د (related to knotting and complexity), and is defined as “to be knotted or complicated” and “to congeal or thicken”.

Taking the first definition of the verb, تعقّد لسانه literally translates as “his tongue was knotted”. Hence, “he was tongue-tied”.

The idea of congealing adds an interesting dimension. I picture a tongue, weighed down in the mouth, unable to move to produce words properly.

Maybe, based on the verb definition of “to thicken”, some might imagine an enlarged tongue… Each to their own.

أُرتِجَ عَلَيهِ

words failed him, he was speechless, he didn’t know what to say, he was at a loss

It was only a matter of months later (i.e. last week) that I wrote about the phrase أُرتِجَ عليه in Wehr Wednesdays #275.

أُرتِجَ / يُرتَجُ is a form IV passive verb from the root ر-ت-ج.

There are two form I verbs under this root:

رَتَجَ / يَرتُجُ: “to lock (a door)”
and رَتِجَ / يَرتَجُ: “to be tongue-tied or speechless” and “to falter”

(Note the vowel differences between these two form I verbs; the former vowelling pattern denotes an action, and the latter denotes a transitory state. Find out more in Form I Verb Vowelling Patterns!)

Based on these form I definitions, the active form IV verb أَرتَجَ / يُرتِجُ على (which doesn’t appear in the Hans Wehr) would mean “to cause something to be locked” or “to make someone speechless”.

The passive form IV verb, then, means “to be made speechless”.

With the added ambiguity of the passive voice, we’re left to wonder: What rendered this person speechless? And what caused them to be locked up, unable to express themselves?

As with all the other synonyms posts, this list is a great reminder that when we talk about “synonymous” terms in Arabic, we don’t mean “the same”.

Each word has its own connotations and intricacies to be explored. What group of synonyms do you think we should explore next? Let me know.

!مع السلامة