Full Definition
مَعْزٌ
, and
مَعَزٌ , gen. ns., [or rather quasi-pl. ns., signifying Goats;] the kind of
غَنَم
opposed to
ضَأْنٌ; the kind of
عَنَم
that have hair; the ضأْن being those that have wool; as also
مِعْزًى , accord. to Sb, with tenween, when indeterminate, and perfectly decl., the ا [which is written ى] being a letter of quasicoördination, not a characteristic of the fem. gender, for the word is quasi-coördinate to دِرْهَمٌ, of the measure فِعْلَلٌ; for the ا of quasi-coördination follows the same rules as a letter belonging to the word itself, as is shown by their saying
مُعَيْزٍ and أُرَيْطٍ [originally مُعَيْزِىٌ and أُرَيْطِىٌ] as the dim. forms of مِعْزًى and أَرْطًى with tenween, the letter next after the ى of diminution being with kesr, like as they say دُرَيْهِمٌ; for if the ا were to denote the fem. gender they would not change it into ى [in مُعَيْزِىٌ, the original form of مُعَيْزٍ,] like as they do not change it in the dims. of حُبْلَى and أَخْرَى [which are حُبَيْلَى and أُخَيْزَى]: it is sometimes made fem., [by being written or pronounced مِعْزَاةٌ,] and sometimes it is made imperfectly decl. [and therefore without tenween]: Fr says, that it is [itself] fem., but that some make it masc. [and therefore with tenween]: but A 'Obeyd says, that most of the Arabs pronounce ذِفْرَى without tenween, while some of them pronounce it with tenween, whereas all of them pronounce مِعْزًى with tenween: IAar says, that it is perfectly decl. when likened to the measure مِفْعَلٌ, and imperfectly decl. when held to accord. with the measure فِعْلَى: accord. to Aboo-'Amr, Ibn-El-'Alà, it is from مَعَزٌ, [Verbal.Noun of مَعِزَ,] and in like manner ذِفْرَى is from ذَفَرٌ:
مَعِيزٌ also signifies the same as مَعْزٌ, or is pl. of مَعْزٌ, [or rather a quasi-pl. n.] like as عَبِيدٌ is of عَبْدٌ; and
أُمْعُوزٌ also is syn. with مَعْزٌ, and so are
مِعَازٌ and
مِعْزَآءٌ : [respecting أُمْعُوزٌ, see also below:] مَعْزٌ [as well as its syns. mentioned above, like all quasi-pl. ns., is sometimes masc., but generally] is fem.: a male is called
مَاعِزٌ , and so a female; or a female is called
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