al-Bulgha fi al-Farq bayn al-Mudhakkar wa al-Muannath
- Author died
- 577 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Khānjī
al-Bulgha fi al-Farq bayn al-Mudhakkar wa al-Muannath (Sufficiency in Distinguishing Between the Masculine and the Feminine) is a concise grammatical treatise by the grammarian Abu al-Barakat al-Anbari (513–577 AH / 1119–1181 CE) on the rules and categories of grammatical gender in the Arabic language .
Purpose and Theoretical Framework
Ibn al-Anbari composed the work as a brief manual (mukhtasar) providing an accessible reference for distinguishing masculine and feminine words in Arabic . He establishes the foundational principle that the masculine (al-mudhakkar) is the primary default (asl), defined as any noun devoid of a feminine marker both explicitly and implicitly (lafzan wa-taqdiran) .
The author classifies both genders into two principal categories :
- Real gender (haqiqi): Nouns referring to biological males or females possessing sex organs, such as al-rajul (man) and al-jamal (male camel) for the masculine, or al-mar'a (woman) and al-naqa (she-camel) for the feminine .
- Unreal gender (ghayr haqiqi): Nouns lacking biological sex, such as al-jidar (wall) and al-'amal (work) for the masculine, or al-qidr (cooking pot) and al-nar (fire) for the feminine .
Unreal feminine nouns are subdivided into:
- Analogical (maqis): Words possessing overt morphological feminine markers, specifically the shortened alif (alif maqsura, e.g., hubla, bushra), the extended alif (alif mamduda, e.g., hamra', sahra'), or the suffixed ta' (e.g., dariba, dhahiba) .
- Non-analogical (ghayr maqis): Words inherently feminine by convention and meaning without an explicit marker in their form, such as al-sama' (the sky), al-ard (the earth), and al-shams (the sun) .
Lexical Survey and Evidentiary Method
The body of the book surveys specific categories of Arabic vocabulary, demonstrating their gender through Quranic citations, Hadith traditions, and classical Arabic poetry . Ibn al-Anbari discusses:
- Cosmic and natural elements: Words such as al-sama', al-ard, al-shams, al-nar, and al-rih (and specific names for winds and wines), noting grammatical nuances such as when a preceding verb may take masculine or feminine agreement with non-real feminine subjects .
- Anatomical terms: Bodily organs that are feminine, including paired limbs and parts such as al-yad (hand), al-rijl (foot), al-'ayn (eye), al-dhira' (arm), al-kaff (palm), al-isba' (finger), al-kabd (liver), and al-dili' (rib), as well as terms with variable usage like al-'unuq (neck), al-ibti (armpit), and al-qafa (back of the neck) .
- Fauna: Gender classifications of animal names, such as al-ibil (camels), al-ghanam (sheep), al-arnab (hare), al-dab' (hyena), al-'aqrab (scorpion), and words applicable to both males and females alike without distinction, such as al-ba'ir (camel), al-faras (horse), and al-dajaj (chicken) .
- Dual-gendered nouns: Nouns that Arab usage permits treating as either masculine or feminine, including al-sabil (path), al-an'am (cattle), al-silm (peace), al-sultan (authority/ruler), al-sakkin (knife), al-tariq (road), al-suq (market), and generic collective nouns whose singular is distinguished by ta' (such as nakhl, tamr, shajar, baqar) .
- Feminine-exclusive adjectives: Descriptive adjectives restricted to females that omit the feminine ta', such as ha'id (menstruating), hamil (pregnant), taliq (divorced), sabur (patient), and qatil (slain), explaining that they do not strictly mirror standard verbal patterns .
Diminutives and Cross-References
The treatise concludes with a dedicated section on the diminutive forms (tasghir) of feminine nouns :
- Triliteral feminine nouns without overt markers restore the feminine ta' in their diminutive forms (e.g., dar becomes duwayra, nar becomes nuwayra), with noted exceptions that deviate from analogy (such as qaws becoming quways, faras becoming furays, and harb becoming hurayb) because they semantically mirror masculine concepts .
- Nouns exceeding three letters generally do not receive the ta' suffix in the diminutive (e.g., 'anaq becomes*'unayyiq*, 'aqrab becomes 'uqayrib), except for a small group of locative adverbs (wara', amam, quddam) .
At the close of the book, Ibn al-Anbari notes that an exhaustive exposition of these morphological reasons is provided in his larger work, Asrar al-Arabiyya (Secrets of the Arabic Language) .
Editions
The work was edited by Ramadan Abd al-Tawwab and published by Matba'at Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyya in Cairo in 1970 .
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