فَلَك
root: ف-ل-ك / noun / plural: أَفْلاك / definition: celestial orbit
July is waning and August, only four moonrises away, awaits expectantly.
And I, in four new moons, reach 29 (or 30, Turkish-ly speaking) and all this talk of moons is sending me into an orbital spin. Whatever that may mean.
And speaking of counting and meaning, did you know that there’s a one-letter Arabic particle that carries a whole system of definitions and connotations?
Arabic’s وَ—that small, always-connected particle—can take on many roles. Like:
the connective
وَ as a connective can mean and or then.
When it means then, it usually refers to a shorter time period than indicated by فَـ, for example. The وَ sort of means immediately after.
Example:
خَرَجْنا مِنَ البَيْتِ وَرَكِبْنا السيّارة
we left the house and/then got in the car
the prepositional
وَ can also take on a prepositional meaning, which can be translated as with.
However, unlike other prepositions, the following noun is not genitive (مجرور) but rather accusative (منصوب).
We might see this accusative appear as إيّا plus an object pronoun—like وَإيّاهُ (with him). Or we might see the following noun taking a fatha or fathatayn.
The Hans Wehr gives an example:
لا يَتَّفِقُ وَمبادِئَهُم
it is not in agreement with their principles
the circumstantial
The وَ can also introduce circumstantial clauses, thereby carrying meanings like: while, as, or when.
It might look something like this:
بَكى وَهُوَ ما زالَ في بِدايَةِ طَريقِهِ
he cried while he was still at the start of his journey
the oath particle
When we see وَ, it may also be acting as an oath particle: I swear by/to.
In this case, the following noun will always be genitive.
A ubiquitous example:
وَاللهِ
I swear to God
the emphatic quantifier
Here’s a literary one: وَ can also be used as an emphatic quantifier, translated as many a or how many/few.
It’ll be followed by a singular, genitive noun.
Again, the Hans Wehr gives us a sentence:
وَكَأْسٍ شَرِبْت
many a cup I have drunk / how many cups have I drunk!
One letter, many meanings.
Which other small particles carry more meanings than we might expect? Let me know.
!مع السلامة
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