ل ح ن

Arabic

Etymology

Unknown. Also, the meaning of quickwittedness is much rarer than sound meanings and etymologically separate; it is not possible to derive it from the sense of an overtone or veiled hint only the intelligent would grasp because this is a transferred technical sense postdating it by centuries.

Root

ل ح ن • (l-ḥ-n)

1. related to rendering sounds by which something or someone is recognized
2. related to quickwittedness

Derived terms

Verbs

• Form I: لَحَنَ (laḥana, “to smatter”)
  • Verbal noun: لَحْن (laḥn)
  • Active participle: لَاحِن (lāḥin)
  • Passive participle: مَلْحُون (malḥūn)
• Form I: لَحِنَ (laḥina, “to have a good grasp”)
  • Verbal noun: لَحَن (laḥan)
  • Active participle: لَاحِن (lāḥin)
  • Passive participle: مَلْحُون (malḥūn)
• Form II: لَحَّنَ (laḥḥana, “to make music; to accuse of mispronouncing or employing barbarisms in speaking”)
  • Verbal noun: تَلْحِين (talḥīn)
  • Active participle: مُلَحِّن (mulaḥḥin)
  • Passive participle: مُلَحَّن (mulaḥḥan)
• Form III: لَاحَنَ (lāḥana, “to hint at or to”)
  • Verbal noun: مُلَاحَنَة (mulāḥana), لِحَان (liḥān)
  • Active participle: مُلَاحِن (mulāḥin)
  • Passive participle: مُلَاحَن (mulāḥan)
• Form IV: أَلْحَنَ (ʔalḥana, “to give someone to understand, to hint to; to give to, to provide with”)
  • Verbal noun: إِلْحَان (ʔilḥān)
  • Active participle: مُلْحِن (mulḥin)
  • Passive participle: مُلْحَن (mulḥan)
• Form VI: تَلَاحَنَ (talāḥana, “to employing barbarisms in speaking with each other”)
  • Verbal noun: تَلَاحُن (talāḥun)
  • Active participle: مُتَلَاحِن (mutalāḥin)
  • Passive participle: مُتَلَاحَن (mutalāḥan)

Nouns and adjectives

• لَحْن m (laḥn, “manner of speech; melody; overtone, hint; barbarism in language”)
• مَلَاحِن (malāḥin, “equivocations, using the same term in distinct meanings”, plurale tantum)
• لُحَنَة (luḥana, “somebody who mispronounces regularly or employs barbarisms”), also لَحَّان (laḥḥān) and even pro masculino لَحَّانَة (laḥḥāna)
• أَلْحَن (ʔalḥan, “speaking worse; singing better; quicker-witted”)
• لَحِن (laḥin, “quick-witted”)

References

• Freytag, Georg (1837) “ل ح ن”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[1] (in Latin), volume 4, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 94
• Ullmann, Manfred (1973–1983) Wörterbuch der klassischen arabischen Sprache. Band II (in German), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, pages 377–393
• Ullmann, Manfred (1979) Wa-ḫairu l-ḥadīṯi mā kāna laḥnan (Beiträge zur Lexikographie des Klassichen Arabisch Nr. 1; Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Heft 9)‎^[2] (in German), München: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Kommission bei der C.H. Beck’schen Verlagsbuchhandlung, →ISBN