Introduction to Compound Words

From:

Lisaanul Arab under the letter haa ح

http://baheth.info/

وقال الليث: قلت للخليل: ما مثل هذا من الكلام أَن يجمع بين كلمتين فتصير منهما كلمة؟ قال: قول العرب عبد شمس وعبد قيس، عبد كلمة وشمس كلمة؛ فيقولون: تَعَبْشَمَ الرجل وتَعَبْقَسَ، ورجل عَبْشَمِيٌّ وعَبْقَسِيٌّ. وروي عن الفراء أَنه قال: لم نسمع بأَسماءِ بنيت من أَفعال إِلاَّ هذه الأَحرف: البسملة والسبحلة والهيللة والحوقلة؛ أَراد أَنه يقال: بسمل إِذا قال: بسم الله، وحوقل إِذا قال: لا حول ولا قوَّة إِلا بالله، وحمدل إِذا قال: الحمد لله،

وجَعْفَلَ جَعْفَلَةً من جُعِلْتُ فداءك، والحَيْعَلَةُ من حيّ على الصلاة. قال أَبو العباس: هذه الثلاثة أَحرف أَعني حَمْدَلَ وجَعْفَلَ وحَيْعَلَ عن غير الفراء؛ وقال ابن الأَنباري: فلان يُبَرْقِل علينا، ودَعْنا من التَّبَرْقُلِ، وهو أَن يقول ولا يفعل، ويَعِدَ ولا يُنْجز، أُخذ من البَرْقِ والقَوْل

Al-Laith said: I said to Al-Khaleel : ‘What is an example of this when two words are combined to make one word?’  He said: ‘The saying of the Arabs –

Abdu Shams عبد شمس

¹and Abd Qays  عبد قيس

Abd (servant) is one word and Shams (sun) is one word

So they say

   تَعَبْشَمَ الرجل The man worshiped the sun

And تَعَبْقَسَ

And the noun form of the verb is

عَبْشَمِيٌّ sun worshiper

And عَبْقَسِيٌّ

It is narrated from Al-Furaa that he said:  “We haven’t heard of (compound) words built from verbs except for the following

  البسملة والسبحلة² والهيللة³ والحوقلة^4″

What he meant was

 بَسْمَلَ⁵

which means to say Bismillah⁶

And حَوْقَلَ

⁷‘which is to say ‘laa hawla wa la quwwata illaa billah

And حَمْدَلَ

which is to say Alhamdulillah⁸

And the verb Ja’fala⁹ whose masdar is Ja’falah¹⁰ is from

جُعِلْتُ فِدَاءكَ  I was made ransom for you¹¹

And the masdar Hay’alah¹²  from

Which means to say: Come to the Prayer  حَيَّ عَلَى الصَّلَاة

Abul-Abbaas said: These three wordings – I mean

حَمْدَلَ وجَعْفَلَ وحَيْعَلَ

are from other than Al-Furaa

Lastly Lisaanul Arab says¹³ that Ibn al-Anbaaree mentioned the word

بَرْقَلَ يُبَرْقِلُ

which is to promise something and not fulfill that promise, or that a person says something but doesn’t do it

Al Qamoos al Muheet¹⁴ mentions that barqala means to lie.  Lisaan ul Arab¹⁵ also mentions this definition in one place.  In another place, Lisaanul Arab  mentions the following

منه قولهم: لا تُبَرْقِل علينا؛ والبَرْقَلة: كلام لا يَتْبَعه فعل،

مأْخوذ من البَرْق الذي لا مطر معه

From it is their saying: Don’t lie to us.  And Barqalah¹⁶ means: speech not followed by  actions. Taken from the lightning which has no rain with it¹⁷

1Qays is a family name

2From the verb سَبْحَلَ which is to say “God is perfect and free from all deficiencies and defects” – سُبْحَانُ اللهِ

3From the verb هَيْلَلَ which is to say “No one deserves to be worshiped except for God” –

لا إلهَ إلّا الله

4These are all masdars

5Whose masdar is بَسْمَلَة

6With the Name of God – بِسْمِ اللهِ

7There is neither might nor power except with God –  لا حَوْلَ ولا قُوَّةَ إلّا بِاللهِ  

8All the praise and thanks are only for God – الحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ

9جَعْفَلَ

10جَعْفَلَة

11In الصحاح في اللغة under  فدى it mentions:

ويقال: فَداهُ وفاداهُ إذا أعطى فداءه فأنقذه وفداه بنفسه.

And it is said: ‘he sacrificed for him’ when he gave himself as someone else’s ransom – so that he saved   him and sacrificed himself for him

12حَيْعَلَة which is the masdar for the verb حَىْعَلَ

13Summarily, not verbatim

14Http://baheth.info

15Http://baheth.info

16بَرْقَلَة The masdar for برقل

17برقل is formed from بَرْق – lightning, and قَوْل – speech