plural feminine, whose final a coalesces with the initial a of the suffix into ā, the final a of the suffix of the first energetic is weakened to i by the strength of vowel utterance which a absorbs, and the n of the second energetic begins a syllable and takes i to sound it.1 There are quadriliteral verbs, which are formed either from the repetition of a syllable expressive of sound or movement, or from the addition or insertion of a letter, generally a liquid or sibilant, in a triliteral verb, or as denominatives from nouns of four letters, some of them foreign words, or as combinations of the most prominent syllables or letters in certain very common formulas. They also admit three derived forms, as (1.) gamtara, (2.) taqamtara, (3.) hiqmantara, (4.) hiqmatarra. The second of these agrees in signification with the fifth of the triliteral verb; the third is intransitive; and the fourth is intransitive, intensive or extensive.2 The four forms throughout their inflection follow respectively the second, fifth, seventh, and ninth forms of the triliteral verb.3 If the second and third radical of a triliteral verb be the same consonant, they tend to unite in a double consonant, instead of being repeated at the beginning of successive syllables. And if any of the radicals be h, w, or y, they are variously absorbed by the vowels. But the irregularities caused in these two ways are merely euphonic.4 56. The Syro-Arabian verb tends to catch a sense of the persons affected objectively by the doing or being, and consequently to take a personal suffix of the object. These suffixes are the same as the possessive suffixes of the noun, except that the first singular objective is -ni and the first singular possessive is -i, which seems to indicate that the thought of self coalesces with what belongs to self more than with what affects self, so that it is more strongly felt as an additional element with the latter than with the former. These suffixes, moreover, have no part in the vocalisation of the verb, and are therefore external to its unity, though there is a slight mingling sufficient to attach them as the mind passes to them. A verb may take two object suffixes provided they are different from each other, the first being the direct object and the second the indirect, and the first person preceding the second on account of its superior interest, and the second person the third for the same reason. And if the more remote person is the direct object, then it is suffixed, and the other is expressed separately. The personal object may also be thought separately owing to emphasis. And in this case, as in the former, it is expressed by the possessive suffix attached to hiyya (Ethiop. kiya), which seems to be a demonstrative element brought out by transition to the personal pronouns as objects and needed to give objective substance to them when used separately as objects on account of the subjectivity with which they are usually thought (see IV. 38, 84, 86, 116). 57. There is this essential distinction between the verb and the verbal substantive, that the being or doing is thought in the verb as 1 Wright, Syntax, pp. 58, 59, 241. 3 Ibid. p. 65. Ibid. p. 65-95. 2 Wright, pp. 43-45, 240. 5 Ibid. p. 103-105. an affection of the life of the subject (Def. 11), but in the substantive as the fixed nature of a substantive object of thought (Def. 4), so that the process of being or doing, which in the verb is like a part of the fleeting consciousness of a subject, acquires when abstracted in a substance of its own the fixity of that substance. Hence probably arises the tendency of the Arabic verbal noun to lengthen that one of the vowels of the verbal stem, whose significance is most strongly involved in the substantive idea. Thus the noun of the agent thinks the action issuing from its source, and lengthens the first vowel, which expresses the first part of the thought of the process; the noun of the action generally thinks the action in its middle course, and lengthens the second vowel. But if the noun express the whole process of the act of state it will be thought with more of the movement of the verb, and there will be no such prolongation, and if it express the effect, then the sense of process, and therefore the vocalisation, will be reduced. Moreover, the loss of movement in the noun as compared with the verb tends, it seems, to cause the being or doing to be thought as abiding in the subject, and consequently to make the vowels less open. The third vowel of the verbal stem is suppressed by the substance of the noun which is thought at the end. The verbal nouns of the simple verb have many different forms, but all these nouns cannot be formed from every verb. The majority of verbs admit of but one form, very few of more than two or three.1 The first five of the following forms are the most frequently used. The probable original significance of the various forms may be conjectured as follows: (1.) Faglun is the form of the abstract noun of action of transitive verbs, the reduced vocalisation probably indicating that it is thought rather in the object or effect than in the subjective process; -un is the nominal termination in the nominative case. (2.) Fugulun is the abstract noun of active intransitive verbs of the form fagala. The loss of subjective movement causes the action to be thought as dwelling more deeply in the subject, so that a in both syllables becomes u. (3.) Fagalun is the abstract noun of intransitive verbs of the form fajila. These are temporary states (52) thought in their whole process as they engage the subject; and with the second radical they take a like the imperfect of the verb to express the state as passing. (4.) Fagalatun and fujulatun are abstract nouns of verbs of the form fagula. These are permanent states or qualities of a subject (52); and being thought as nouns they take the feminine suffix to express them as subordinate appurtenances of the subject. Being thus connected with the subject they take a in their radical part, probably when thought in reference to the outer world, and u when thought as within the subject. Thus sahula, was smooth, makes sahalatun and suhulatun, smoothness, ease. (5.) Fijalun is the abstract noun of verbs of flight or refusal. The strength of the idea is the course of action in reference to an object, and the strength of this reference and the loss of subjective movement 1 Wright, p. 110. in the noun cause the verbal radical to be thought rather as pertaining to the subject than as issuing from it, so that the first vowel is changed from a to i. (6.) Fagilun is the abstract noun of verbs of change of place thought as an accidental condition (i) of the subject which has proceeded from (a) the subject. The same form is used for verbs of sound. (7.) Fugalun is the abstract noun of sickness or ailment; the course of a passing condition (a) in which the subject is passive (u). The same form is used for verbs of sound. (8.) Fagalānun is the form of nouns expressive of violent or continuous motion. The strong element is an, which probably expresses the doing with fixity in a substance. (9.) Figalatun is the form of nouns of office, trade, or handicraft. These are thought as subordinate appurtenances of the subject to whom the course of action belongs, and take the feminine suffix; and the course of action is thought rather as a potentiality belonging to the subject than an activity proceeding from him, so that the first a is changed to i. If a verb has several different significations without change of form, it has often different abstract nouns, one peculiar to each meaning. The nomina verbi are used both in an active and a passive sense, as qatlu hu, his killing, or his being killed.1 (10.) In the second form of the verb (52), the course of the action is so increased by its intensity or its extension, that in the abstract noun the thought of the action in its beginning is weakened; and the subjective movement of the verb being lost in the noun, the action, instead of being thought as issuing from the subject, is thought as pertaining to it like a neuter, so that the first vowel is i, and the form of the noun is fijgalun; or it is thought more (a) or less (i) as affecting the subject reflexively, so that the form of the noun is tafÿ'alun or tifÿālun. The course of the action of the second form of the verb may even be thought in the noun as a state affecting the subject reflexively with or without subordination to the subject as an appurtenance, so that the noun is tafğilatun or tafğilun; the feminine element attracting to itself the fixity of the substance, so that when it is taken the second vowel is not lengthened. The reflexive element takes up the vowel of the first radical, and then the second radical cannot be repeated, as two consonants cannot begin or end a syllable. (11.) In the third form of the verb, the effort or the reaching to the indirect object is more or less taken up by the course of the action when abstracted in a verbal noun, the first vowel being shortened in the former case and left long in the latter; and thought is thereby drawn from the beginning of the process, so that with the loss of subjective movement in the noun the sense of the process as issuing from the subject is lost, and the first a is reduced to i. Fig alun or figalun is therefore the form of the noun. Moreover, the doing or being may be thought in its whole process 1 Wright, pp. 110, 111. without taking into itself any fixity of the substance, but this being added in external elements. The subjective process of the verb becomes the attributive nature of the noun by prefixing the indefinite pronoun m with the subjective vowel u, and the substance takes the feminine element to make it a subordinate appurtenance of the subject. Mufaj alatun is then the form of the noun of the third form of the verb; and its meaning may be rudely expressed as what is the effort, &c., of the subject. (12.) In the abstract nouns of the other forms of the verb, the course of the action thought as the principal part of the idea, and therefore lengthening the vowel of the second radical, weakens the sense of outgo from the subject, so that with the loss of subjective movement in the noun the preceding vowels are changed from a to i. The noun of the sixth form, however, is tafagulun, and that of the fifth may be tafaj ĝulun,' in both which the course of the action, instead of being thought as the principal part of the substantive idea, which takes the fixity of the substance and gives length to the vowel of the second radical, is thought only with loss of subjective movement so as to change its vowel from a to u, without any weakening of the preceding vowels. (13.) The quadriliteral verbs form their abstract nouns like those forms of the triliteral verb with which respectively they agree in their inflection.1 The nouns formed from verbs which have amongst their radicals ḥ, w, or y, are subject to euphonic irregularities like the verbs themselves. (14.) Nouns which express the doing of an action once, if from the first form of the verb, are faglatun, if from the second form they are tafgilatun.2 The feminine suffix indicates the subordination of a particular instance to the abstract noun of action. The feminine form of a general noun denotes an individual of the genus.3 (15.) Figlatun expresses a comparative, and therefore light thought of a kind of action belonging to the subject. (16.) If the pronoun ma be substituted for ya in the imperfect third singular masculine, and the vowel of the second radical when it is u be changed to a, otherwise left unchanged, and the final u be changed to un, we shall have a nominal form which will mean what has the passing action or the accidental state; and it is used to express nouns of time and place. Thus from sariba, he drank, yaşrabu, he is drinking, masrabun, time or place of drinking.4 The noun of time and place sometimes has the feminine suffix because it is thought as a subordinate appurtenance of the action.5 But the idea of the action is then strengthened and the second radical generally has u, as in the imperfect of active verbs. The noun of place, mafi alatun or mafi alun, formed from the stem of a substantive, and generally with the feminine ending, denotes a place where the substantive object is found in large quantities.3 1 Wright, p. 112. 2 Ibid. p. 117. 3 Ibid. p. 133. 5 Ibid. p. 121. The nouns of time and place of the derived forms of the verb are identical in form with the nomen patientis or passive participle.' The strength of the verbal idea dominates the time or place, and makes it be thought as passive recipient. (17.) The noun of the instrument is mifi alun, mifi alun, or mifi alatun.2 The action belongs only proximately to the instrument, and therefore the first vowel is i The first form takes up into the course of action the fixity of the substance, the third expresses the instrument as a subordinate condition. The noun of the instrument formed on the stem of a substantive denotes what contains the substantive object.3 (18.) The noun of the agent is fajilun, in which the outgo from the subject as principal part of the idea has taken up the fixity of the substance, and lengthened the a of the first radical. The course of the action is lightly thought, so that with the loss of subjective movement in the noun, the vowel of the second radical becomes i. The nomen patientis is mafiulun, in which the verb is thought as fagula instead of fug'ila; that is, as if it were manifested by the subject (a), as a state dwelling in the subject (u), instead of being received by the subject (u) as a temporary state of the subject (i). The passive state is thought, not in its reception by the subject, but rather as belonging to the subject; it may be past or habitual, but in either case characterises the subject. The indwelling of it is the principal part of the idea, and takes up the fixity of the substance, so that u is lengthened; and the first vowel is taken up by the pronominal prefix m. The verbal stems of the derived forms of the verb are so strong that they maintain themselves in the nomen agentis and nomen patientis, and do not take up the fixity of the substance. These nouns are therefore the same as the third singular masculine of the imperfect active and passive respectively, m being substituted for y, and un for the final vowel; except that in the nomen agentis m takes u in all the forms because there is less subjective movement than in the verb, and the second radical for the same reason takes i instead of a in the fifth and sixth forms.5 (19.) The forms of some of the adjectives differ from those of the verbs which have corresponding meanings, in their vocalisation being less fully expressive of the process; as if the verbs were derived from the adjectives by taking the appropriate vowels. Some adjectives differ from the verb in the perfect merely by having the nominal termination un instead of the final vowel of the verb. Other adjectives are formed from the verbs by lengthening a vowel, generally that of the second radical, as if with sense of the fixity of the substance to which the adjective belongs, and sometimes changing the vowels so as to be less expressive of the subjectivity or of the subjective movement. Some adjectives take a suffix -ānu or -ānun, dropping at the same time the vowel of the second radical, perhaps to express their abiding in a 1 Wright, p. 122. 2 Ibid. p. 123. 3 Ibid. p. 134. |