Kitab al-Nayruz - Ibn Faris - ضمن Nawadir al-Makhtutat
- Author died
- 395 AH
- Editions
- Sharikat Maktabat wa-Maṭba‘at Muṣṭafá al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī wa-Awlāduh bi-Miṣr
Kitab al-Nayruz (The Book of Nowruz) is a concise linguistic treatise by the lexicographer and philologist Ibn Faris (d. 395 AH / 1004 CE), investigating the morphological weight and Arabization of the Persian term nayruz along with rare Arabic words sharing its pattern .
Background and Purpose
The treatise was written in response to a question posed to Ibn Faris regarding the common phrase yawm nayruz (Nowruz day), whether the word nayruz is of Arabic origin, and what its morphological measure (wazn) is .
Ibn Faris explains that the term is an Arabized Persian noun meaning "the new day" (originally nawruz), but that the form nayruz was favored in Arabic because it corresponds to the Arabic pattern fay'ul (فيعول) . Citing the grammarian al-Farra', he notes the linguistic principle that a Persian noun may be shaped into any form as long as it does not depart from established Arabic morphological structures . Observing that authentic Arabic nouns on the measure of fay'ul are few, Ibn Faris sets out to compile all such words that he could recall .
Content and Method
Rather than discussing the festival of Nowruz, its history, or its cultural customs, the work is strictly a lexicographical survey . Ibn Faris systematically lists vocabulary conforming to the fay'ul pattern, providing definitions and corroborating evidence from Arabic poetry, the Quran, and hadith transmissions :
- Proper nouns, place names, and calendar terms: Non-Arabic and Arabized items such as Aylul (the Syrian calendar month), Bayrut, Saymut, Aynun, Jayhun, Fayyum, and the proper name Fayruz .
- Arabic nouns and adjectives: Words including bayqur (cattle), hayzum (the chest, as well as the reported name of the archangel Gabriel's horse), khayshum (the nose), daybub (a slanderer spreading discord), dayjur (deep darkness), zaytun (olive, or a designated mount or mosque), dayqu' (severe hunger), sayhuk and sayhuj (violent wind), saykhud (a hard, smooth rock), qaydud (a long-bodied mare), qaydum (the forepart of something), ayshum (a plant), and haynum (an indistinct sound) .
- Geminated variants (fayyul): Forms with a doubled middle consonant, including the name Ayyub, sayyub (a direct arrow or torrential rain), fiyyul (weak of opinion), bayyut (water left overnight, or a premeditated opinion), sayyur (ultimate judgment), dayyur (inhabitant), ayyuq (the star Capella), the divine name al-Qayyum, and kayyul (the rearguard of an army) .
Ibn Faris frequently quotes earlier authorities such as Ibn Durayd and cites lines from early poets, including Dhu al-Rumma, Jarir, and al-Kumayt . He closes the work by noting that these were the words that came to his memory, inviting any reader who recalls additional examples to append them .
Transmission and Publication
The text survived in a rare manuscript from the collection of Ahmad Taymur Pasha, cataloged in the Taymuriyya Library under number 402 Lugha . It was published in the fifth collection (Volume 2) of the multi-treatise series Nawadir al-Makhtutat (Rare Manuscripts) .
Answer updated