The grammatical term for (Inna and its sisters) according to the grammarians

The grammatical term for (Inna and its sisters) according to the grammarians

An article entitled: The Grammatical Terminology of (Inna and its Sisters) for Grammarians

Prof. Farqad Mahdi Saleh

Al-Qaim College of Education/Arabic Language Department

 

      Grammar books mention that the term (The Sisters of An) has been called by several names. Sibawayh used it, but his use of it was not steady, as evidenced by the fact that he used another term in his expression of it, which is the term (the five letters, mentioning the letters (that, but, I wish, perhaps, as if), and he did not mention (that) of these last letters, perhaps counting them. With (in) one letter for the similarity of its drawing.

 

And to this, al-Mubarrad (d. 285 AH) followed him in making these letters five letters and that they are suspicious of verbs, when he said: (This is the chapter on the five letters suspicious of verbs, which are: that, that, but, as if, and perhaps, and I wish), and Ibn Al-Siraj agreed with that (d. 316 AH). When he said: (These five letters are included in the subject and the predicate), which is what Al-Zamakhshari (d. 538 AH) referred to by saying (and bears the five letters on it). 

Others said that they are indeed suspicious letters, and this is the view of Ibn Al-Hajeb (d. 686 AH), Al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH), and Al-Kurani (d. 1101 AH).

 

As for the second appellation, we see that Al-Zajazi (d. 337 AH) mentioned it and it is (the letters that make names and raise the news, which are, 'an', 'an,...'), and it is the one for which Ibn Al-Warraq (d. 382 AH) singled out a chapter that he named (Chapter of letters that erect names, epithets and news). Al-Zubaidi (397 AH) agreed with him with this name when he said: (The letters that make nouns and raise verbs are news), and to this Ibn Asfour (d.

 

As for the other term, which is (She and her sisters), we find that Sibawayh also used it and many scholars followed it, including Al-Zajjaj (d. 311 AH), Al-Ramani (d. 384 AH), Ibn Jinni (d. 392 AH), Ibn Yaish (d. 643 AH), Al-Khwarizmi (d. 617 AH), and Ibn Muati (d. Died 628 AH), Ibn Falah al-Nahwi (d. 680 AH), Ibn Al-Sayegh (d. 720 AH), Ibn Hisham (d. 761 AH), Al-Ashmouni (d. 900 AH), Al-Suyuti (d. 911 AH) and Ibn Al-Sabban (d. 1206 AH).

 

And among the grammarians who combined the two terms, if he combined between (that and her sisters) and (the letters that are already suspicious), and Ibn Rahma Al-Huwazi (d. 1075 AH) went to that if he said: (And among them is her sisters, which are actually called suspicious letters).

 

There is a third term that is almost unique to Al-Azhari (d. 905 AH), as he mentioned this in (the chapter of the eight letters, and he mentioned them: that, that, I wish, perhaps, as if, but, but, may, and no).

 

Through this, it becomes clear to us that the naming of these letters among the grammarians and in their different eras is limited to the designations (the five letters that make names and raise the news) once, and (characters that resemble verbs) again, and (the eight letters) the third time. 

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