The Genesis of Augmented Quintiliteral Forms in Arabic:An Etymological and Semantic Study Based on al-Zubaydi’s Taj al-`Arous

Abstract

The research originates from the observation that the quintiliteral root and its augmented form do not fit in terms of length and heaviness with the nature of Arabic, which tends towards conciseness and brevity and relies primarily on triliteral roots, with the addition of the letters of the (sa`altumoonyha) word, reduplications, or both.  Thus, the current research collects and analyzes examples of augmented quintiliteral forms found in the “Taj al-`rous” dictionary building on a previous study that examined the basic (unaugmented) quintiliteral root in a previous study. It reveals the following: First: Arabic does not deviate from its nature, which tends towards conciseness and does not resort to proliferation of root patterns. Instead, it follows its general approach of extending patterns through augmentation that conveys different semantic nuances. Accordingly, triliteral roots are usually the basis, then it is augmented by the two known methods in Arabic, namely the addition of the letters of (sa`altumoonyha,) reduplication, or both. Most examples follow this pattern. The changes that affected these words led to their classification as augmented quintiliteral forms. Some types of these changes are substitutions, insertions, metathesis, and deviations from known augmenting letters to similar ones. Their classifications as quintiliteral caused an overlap between lexicographical roots, resulting in the misplacement of material into incorrect categories. Second: The research attempts to prove that Arabicized and the blended structures were formed in the structures of augmented quintiliteral patterns to shorten compound structures. Thus, quintiliteral pattern was the most concise. The research also reveals two points: Firstly, the pattern "Fi`lalool" is not an original form, but rather a linguistic variation of “Fa`lalool". There are no examples exclusive with “Fa`lalool”. Secondly, the formation of augmented  quintiliteral forms from the blending  two parts follows a clear method.  The two elements converge at the third letter of the first and the first letter of the second, where one of them—usually the repeated or redundant letter—is omitted.