أَمَةٌ
, originally اموة, [but whether أَمَوَةٌ or أَمْوَةٌ is disputed, as will be seen in what follows,] A female slave;a woman whose condition is that of slavery;contr. ofحُرَّةٌ: [in relation to God, best rendered a handmaid:] dual أَمَتَانِ: pl. آمٍ, like قِاضٍ, a pl. of pauc. [respecting which see what follows after the other pls.], and إِمَآءٌ [the most common form] and إِمْوَانٌ and أُمْوَانٌ and أَمْوَانٌ [the last, or last but one, accord. to different copies of the M, on the authority of Lh,] and أَمَوَاتٌ, for which one may say أَمَاتٌ. Accord. to Sb and Mbr it is originally أَمَوَةٌ, because it has for a pl. آمٍ, which is [originally أَأْمُوٌ,] of the measure أَفْعُلٌ, like آكُمٌ, pl. of أَكَمَةٌ, and like أَيْنُقٌ, [pl. of نَاقةٌ, which is originally نَوَقةٌ,] for a sing. of the measure فَعْلَةٌ has not a pl. of this form; and Mbr says that there is no noun of two letters but a letter has been dropped from it, which it indicates by its pl. or dual, or by a verb if it is derived therefrom: or it is originally فَعْلَةٌ: AHeyth says that they suppressed its final radical letter, and, forming a pl. from it after the manner of نَخْلَةٌ and نَخْلٌ, instead of saying أَمٌ, which they disliked as being of only two letters, they transposed the suppressed و, changing it into ا, and placing it between the ا and م. (T: [in which this opinion, though it does not account for the termination of the pl. آمٍ, is said to be preferable.]) One says, جَآءَ تْنِىً أَمَةُ اللّٰهِ [The handmaid of God came to me]: and in the dual, جَآءَ تْنِى أمَتَا اللّٰهِ: and in the pl., جَآءَ نِى إِمَآءُ اللّٰهِ and إِمْوَانُ اللّٰهِ and أَمَوَاتُ اللّٰهِ; and one may also say, أَمَاتُ اللّٰه. [ISd says,] وَمَاهُ اللّٰهُ مِنْ كُلِّأَمَةٍ بحَجَرٍ is mentioned by IAar as said in imprecating evil on a man; but I think it is من كلّأَمْتِ [May God cast a stone at him from every elevated place, or the like].
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