Arabic Roots – Word Roots

 

Arabic Roots – Word Roots

 

In Indo-European languages such as English, the infinitive is usually the basic from of the verb of which the rest of the forms are derived.

 

For example, the infinitive “to talk” is the source of many derived words:

 

 

We see that the main stem of the infinitive stays preserved, while the inflection works by affixing other parts to the stem. At least it is so most of the time.

Unfortunately, in Semitic languages things are a little bit more complex than that.

In Arabic, the basic source of all the forms of a verb is called the “root” of the

verb جَذْرُ الفِعْلِ.

The root is not a real word, rather it is a sequence of three consonants that can be found in all the words that are related to it.

Most roots are composed of three letters, very few are of four or five letters.

The root can be easily obtained from the 3rd person masculine singular past form (the perfective) of the verb.

Look at these roots:

You see that the root is not a word; it is just a sequence of consonants. The consonants of the root are separated by different vowels in different words. They can also be separated by other extra consonants that do not belong to the root.

The root is used to make all the forms of a verb. It is used to make nouns as well.

Each root pertains to a certain meaning, e.g. K T B  ك ت ب  pertains to “writing.”

See the following example:

So basically all these words were created by taking the root  ك ت ب  and adding letters or vowels to it. This is how Semitic languages work.

Almost all Arabic words are structured on roots. Words in Arabic grammar belong to three categories:

• Noun الاِسْمُ: includes pronouns, adjectivesand most adverbs.

• Verb الْفِعْلُ: there are three main verbal structures in Arabic.

• Letter (particle) الْحَرْفُ : small words that do not have roots.

So small words without known roots were not even qualified enough to carry the title of a “word” in Arabic grammar. Many of these “letters” are prepositions and they do not undergo inflection.

The letters of the root are called the original letters of a word الأَحْرُفُ الأَصْلِيَّةُ.

 

The variable letters that appear between the root letters in different words are called the additional letters  الأَحْرُفُ الزائِدَةُ .

 

The letters that can serve as additional letters are ten:   أ ا ت س ل م ن هـ و ي

These letters are rounded up in the word:  سَأَلْتُمُوْنِيْهَاْ = “you asked me for/about it.”

There are standard patterns for adding additional letters to the root. These patterns are called ‘awzaan أَوْزَاْنٌ = “measures” or ‘abniya(t)  أَبْنِيَةٌ= “structures.”

For example:

 

So this structure ‘in*a*a*(a) has a specific sense that is different from the basic structure *a*a*(a).

Both structures are structures of active voice past (perfective) verbs. However, there is a difference between the two that is reminiscent of the Latin or French difference between faire and se faire. The ‘in*a*a*(a) structure is called a “reflexive” verb because it denotes a self-directed action. You can put so many root letters in place of the stars and you will get the same outcome.

Usually stars are not used but instead the root  ف ع ل = “do” is used for giving prototypes of different structures.

So these two structures will be standardized:

 

Etymology Note: Biliteral Roots

Arabic grammar recognizes three-letter, four-letter, and five-letter-roots, but not anything more or less than that. Five-letter-roots exist only in nouns but not verbs.

However, there are several Arabic nouns that have only two consonants in them, for example: