ليس

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See also: لبس, لیس, and ليش

Arabic

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Etymology 1

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Uncertain. Traditionally taken to be a contracted pronunciation of either an earlier form لَيِسَ (layisa), whose ultimate origin is in turn unknown or unexplored, or of لَا (, not) + an existential أَيْس (ʔays)[1] that has a proposed etymology in Proto-Semitic *ys < *yṯ. This existential would be a native cognate to Hebrew יֵשׁ (yēš)[2] and Akkadian 𒌇 (/⁠išu⁠/, to have or own; to be, also used copulatively), although Al-Jallad (2018) expresses doubt that it is anything more than a back-formation from the negative, in other words implying that لَا (, not) + *أَيْس (*ʔays, existential) is just a folk etymology from which أَيْس (ʔays) was created artificially. Al-Jallad proceeds to attest a form of لَيْسَ (laysa) in a Safaitic inscription dated between the first century BC and the fourth century AD, whose form, he says, invalidates the possibility of an origin in a verb لَيِسَ (layisa); he thereby argues that لَيْسَ (laysa) may either be a loan from Neo-Assyrian 𒆷𒀸𒋗 (la-aš-šu /⁠laššu⁠/, there is not) or from Taymanitic 𐪁𐪚𐪏 (lys3 /⁠lāʾis, lāyis⁠/, not existing or being).[3]

Pronunciation

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Verb

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لَيْسَ (laysa)

  1. (copulative, defective) not to be
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 7:61:
      قَالَ يَٰقَوۡمِ لَيۡسَ بِي ضَلَٰلَةٞ وَلَٰكِنِّي رَسُولٞ مِّن رَّبِّ ٱلۡعَٰلَمِينَ
      He said, “O my people, there is not error in me, but I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds.”
  2. (invariably masculine singular) except
    Synonym: لَا يَكُونُ (lā yakūnu)
    جَاءَ النَّاسُ لَيْسَ زُهَيْرًا
    jāʔa n-nāsu laysa zuhayran
    People came, except for Zuhayr
Usage notes
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This is a defective verb. It has only perfect indicative forms with a present-tense meaning. If there is a subject complement, it comes up in the accusative or (with بِـ (bi-)) the genitive.

لَسْتُ عَالِمًاlastu ʕālimanI am not learned
لَسْتُ بِعَالِمٍlastu bi-ʕāliminI am not learned
لَيْسَ الرَّجُلُ جَمِيلًاlaysa r-rajulu jamīlanThat man is not handsome.
Conjugation
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See also
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Particle

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لَيْسَ (laysa)

  1. Used to negate verbs
    • 10th century, Al-Mutanabbi :
      وَلَيْسَ يَصِحُّ فِي الْأَفْهَامِ شَيْءٌ / إِذَا ٱحْتَاجَ النَّهَارُ إِلَى دَلِيلِ
      walaysa yaṣiḥḥu fī l-ʔafhāmi šayʔun / ʔiḏā ḥtāja n-nahāru ʔilā dalīli

Conjunction

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لَيْسَ (laysa)

  1. (rare, disputed) not (refers to a preceding context)
    • أَيْنَ الْمَفَرُّ وَالْإِلَهُ الطَّالِبُ
      وَالْأَشْرَمُ الْمَغْلُوبُ لَيْسَ الْغَالِبُ
      ʔayna l-mafarru wa-l-ʔilahu ṭ-ṭālibu
      wa-l-ʔašramu l-maḡlūbu laysa l-ḡālibu
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Etymology 2

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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لَيِسَ (layisa) I (non-past يَلْيَسُ (yalyasu), verbal noun لَيَس (layas))

  1. to be valiant, to be brave, to be courageous
Conjugation
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Etymology 3

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Noun

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لَيَس (layasm

  1. verbal noun of لَيِسَ (layisa) (form I)
Declension
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Etymology 4

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Adjective

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لِيس (līsm pl

  1. masculine plural of أَلْيَس (ʔalyas)

References

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  1. ^ Lane, Edward William (1863) “ليس”, in Arabic-English Lexicon[1], London: Williams & Norgate, pages 1625-1627
  2. ^ David Wilmsen (2016), page 330, Another Croft cycle in Arabic: The laysa negative existential cycle. Advance online publication.
  3. ^ Ahmad Al-Jallad (2018), The earliest attestation of laysa and the implications for its etymology. Advance online publication.