Word families
One root, connected meanings
One Root, Connected Meanings
One of the beauties of Arabic is that words derived from the same root often continue to carry a trace of one original meaning.
A beautiful example is the root:
ج ـ ن ـ ن
Ibn Fāris (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ) states in Maqāyīs al-Lughah:
الْجِيمُ وَالنُّونُ أَصْلٌ وَاحِدٌ، وَهُوَ السَّتْرُ وَالتَّسَتُّرُ.
“ The letters Jim and Nun have one fundamental meaning : covering and concealment .”
And Lisān al-ʿArab explains:
جَنَّ
means to cover or conceal something
Once we know this, we begin to see the same image appearing throughout an entire family of Arabic words:
Allāh سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى says:
فَلَمَّا جَنَّ عَلَيْهِ اللَّيْلُ رَأَىٰ كَوْكَبًا
“ When the night covered him, he saw a star .”
[Sūrat al-Anʿām: 76]
The darkness of the night covers and conceals what was visible.
الْجِنُّ — the jinn
They are called jinn because they are concealed from our sight. Lisān al-ʿArab says that they were named so because of their concealment from the eyes and because they are not seen.
الْجَنِينُ —
the embryo / fetus
The unborn child is called janīn because it is concealed inside its mother’s womb.
الْجَنَّةُ —Jannah
A garden is called jannah because its dense trees and foliage cover and shade what is beneath them. Both Ibn Fāris and Lisān al-ʿArab explicitly connect the word with this idea of covering.
الْجَنَانُ — the heart
Janān is one of the Arabic words for the heart. Lisān al-ʿArab explains that it is so called because the heart is concealed inside the chest.
الْمِجَنُّ — the shield
A shield is called mijann because it covers and protects its bearer.
And even:
الجُنُونُ — madness
Ibn Fāris explains that it returns to the same original idea of covering: madness is so called because it covers the intellect.
One of the beauties of Arabic is that words derived from the same root often continue to carry a trace of one original meaning.
A beautiful example is the root:
ج ـ ن ـ ن
Ibn Fāris (رَحِمَهُ اللهُ) states in Maqāyīs al-Lughah:
الْجِيمُ وَالنُّونُ أَصْلٌ وَاحِدٌ، وَهُوَ السَّتْرُ وَالتَّسَتُّرُ.
“ The letters Jim and Nun have one fundamental meaning : covering and concealment .”
And Lisān al-ʿArab explains:
جَنَّ
means to cover or conceal something
Once we know this, we begin to see the same image appearing throughout an entire family of Arabic words:
Allāh سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى says:
فَلَمَّا جَنَّ عَلَيْهِ اللَّيْلُ رَأَىٰ كَوْكَبًا
“ When the night covered him, he saw a star .”
[Sūrat al-Anʿām: 76]
The darkness of the night covers and conceals what was visible.
الْجِنُّ — the jinn
They are called jinn because they are concealed from our sight. Lisān al-ʿArab says that they were named so because of their concealment from the eyes and because they are not seen.
الْجَنِينُ —
the embryo / fetus
The unborn child is called janīn because it is concealed inside its mother’s womb.
الْجَنَّةُ —Jannah
A garden is called jannah because its dense trees and foliage cover and shade what is beneath them. Both Ibn Fāris and Lisān al-ʿArab explicitly connect the word with this idea of covering.
الْجَنَانُ — the heart
Janān is one of the Arabic words for the heart. Lisān al-ʿArab explains that it is so called because the heart is concealed inside the chest.
الْمِجَنُّ — the shield
A shield is called mijann because it covers and protects its bearer.
And even:
الجُنُونُ — madness
Ibn Fāris explains that it returns to the same original idea of covering: madness is so called because it covers the intellect.