Same Rule, Another Noun: عِزون

مَعْرَج

root: ع-ر-ج / noun of place / plural: مَعارِج / definition: place or route of ascent

Over a year ago, in Non-Human Nouns, Human Plurals, we explored some non-human nouns that—unexpectedly—take on sound, masculine plural forms (which are usually reserved for nouns referring to humans).

Think: سِنون and عالَمون and أولون. Or, with a different case: سِنين and عالَمين and أولين.

Another noun displaying this phenomenon is عِزون.

عزون is the plural form of عِزَة, a noun from the defective root ع-ز-و meaning “a group of people”.

We encounter its plural form in the Qur’an (70:37):

عَنِ ٱليَمِينِ وَعَنِ ٱلشِّمَالِ عِزِينَ

[…] from the right and from the left, in groups?

Here, it appears in accusative (نصب) case, hence the ـينَ ending as opposed to ـونَ.

The dictionary notes that the noun with its sound, masculine plural ending (عِزون)—perhaps more so than the other plural form of the noun, عِزًى—specifically refers to groups “in a state of dispersion“.

In that sense, even though عِزة is regarded as a non-human noun, its plural which appears with a human-associated suffix actually carries an intrinsically human element: the behaviour or attitudes or realities of the people within these groups, who are defined—through this plural suffix—as being “in a state of dispersion”.

Have you come across any other non-human nouns that form human plurals? And do they also embody a human element?

Oh, and if you’re interested in more linguistic insights and observations from Qur’anic verses, why not check out these posts: