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فَوْق

Root: فوق

Full Definition

فَوْق is the contr. of تَحْت; [primarily signifying The location that is above, or over;] and is an adv. n. of place; and a simple noun, indecl., [with dammeh for its termination, when the noun to which it should be prefixed is suppressed, and the meaning of this is intended to be understood, but not the word itself;] but when it is prefixed to another noun [which is either expressed or itself meant to be understood, and when the noun to which it should be prefixed is suppressed and neither this nor its meaning is meant to be understood,] it is declinable. (K. [For the words يَكُونُ ٱسْمًا وَظَرْفًا مَبْنِىٌّ, the reading of the K in the TA and CK, my MS. copy of the K has يكون ظرفا واسما مبنيّا.]) One says, زَيْدٌ فَوْقَ السَّطْحِ [Zeyd is above, or rather upon, the house-top]. And العِمَامَةُ فَوْقَ الرَّأْسِ [The turban is above, or upon, the head]. And طَفَا فَوْقَ المَآءِ It floated upon the water. (S &c. in art. طفو.) Ks has mentioned the saying, أَفَوْقَ تَنَامُ أَمْ أَسْفَلَ [Dost thou, or wilt thou, sleep in the part that is above of the house &c., or in the part that is below? i. e., in the upper part, or in the lower part?] with fet-h, as suppressing the noun to which فوق is [meant to be understood as] prefixed. Lth says that he who uses it as a صِفَة [by which he means an adv. n. of place] should use the accus. case, as when one says, عَبْدُ ٱللّٰهِ فَوْقَ زَيْدٍ ['Abd-Allah is above Zeyd]: but if you make it simply a noun, you use the nom. case, and say, فَوْقُهُ رَأْسُهُ [His superior part is his head]; for in this instance it is the head itself, and you make each to be governed in the nom. case by the other. In the saying in the Kur [xvi. 28], فَخَرَّ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلسَّقْفُ مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ [And the roof fell on them from above them], the utility of the phrase من فوقهم is hardly apparent, because عليهم sometimes serves in its stead: but IJ says that من فوقهم may here have a useful office; for عَلَى is sometimes used in relation to deeds [or events] that are difficult, and deemed onerous; [for instance,] you say, قَدْ سِرْنَا عَشْرًا وَبَقِيَتْ عَلَيْنَا لَيْلَتَانِ [We have journeyed ten nights and the journeys two nights have remained as though incumbent on us]; &c.; so that if it were said فخرّ عليهم السقف without the adding من فوقهم, it might be supposed to be like the saying عَلَيْهِمْ دَارُهُمْ قَدْ خَرِبَتْ [Their abode had become in a state of ruin as a punishment upon them]; but when He [referring to God] says من فوقهم, that meaning which was supposable ceases to be so; and the meaning becomes this, that it [the roof] fell when they were beneath it. إِذْ جَاؤُوكُمْ مِنْ فَوْقِكُمْ وَمِنْ أَسْفَلَ مِنْكُمْ [When they came to you from above you and from below you], in the Kur [xxxiii. 10], relates to Benoo- Kureydhah, who came to them from above them; and to Kureysh and Ghatafán, who came from the district of Mekkeh, from below them. وَٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّقُوا فَوْقَهُمْ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَامَةِ, in the Kur [ii. 208], means [But those who have been careful of their religious duties] shall be above them in station [on the day of resurrection]. And one says, [agreeably with what has been stated in the first sentence of this paragraph, أَخَذَهُ مِنْ فَوْقُ, and أَخَذَهُ مِنْ فَوْقٍ, [meaning He overcame him, or overpowered him, and in like manner أَتَاهُ من فوق, as expl. in the Ham p. 128. i. e. قَهَرَهُ namely, his adversary; and so a hawk, his pr? or quarry. (M and K in an expl. of أَدَلَّ عَلَيْه, in art. دل.) And [in a similar manner] فَوْق is metaphorically used as denoting excess, and excellence: thus one says, العَشَرَةُ فَوْقَ التِّسْعَةِ i. e. Ten is above nine; meaning ten exceeds nine: and هٰذَا فَوْقَ ذَاكَ i. e. [This is above, or superior to, that;] meaning this is more excellent than that; and hence, in the Kur iii. 24], بَعُوضَةً فَمَا فَوْقَهَا i. e. [A gnat and] what exceeds it in smallness, or in largeness; what is smaller than it, or what is larger than it, by the latter being meant the fly [mentioned in the Kur xxii. 72] and the spider [mentioned in xxix. 40], and the phrase as expl. in the former sense being like the reply to him who says “ Such a one is small ” ذٰلِكَ وَفَوْقَ i. e. And smaller than that: hence also, in the Kur iii. 12], فَإِنْ كُنَّ نِسَآءً فَوْقَ ٱثْنَتَيْنِ i. e. [And if they are women,] exceeding two.


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