Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon

أَبَالِيهِ

Root: بلو

Form: 3

Full Definition

أَبَالِيهِIII is from البلآء, [Verbal.Noun of بَلَاهُ,] so that it signifies [properly] I shall not, or I do not, care for him, mind him, heed him, or regard him, so as to share with him my trial and his trial: [and hence,] one says thus, or مَا أَبَالِيهِ, and لَا أَبَالِىبِهِ, or مَا أُبَالِى بِهِ, but the verb is more chastely made trans. without the preposition بِ, Verbal.Noun مُبَالَاةٌ and بِلَآءٌ (M, K, TA [in the CK, erroneously, بَلاء]) and بَالَةٌ said by some to be a quasi-Verbal.Noun and by others to be an Verbal.Noun, [in the T it is said to be a subst., from المُبَالَاةُ,] originally بَالِيَةٌ, like عَافِيَةٌ from عَافَاهُ, and بَالٌ, [which is more strange,] meaning [merely] I shall not, or I do not, care for, mind, heed, or regard, him, or it; I shall not be, or I am not, disquieted by him, or it: or, as some say, لَا أُبَالِيهِ is formed by transposition from لَا أُبَاوِلُهُ, from البَالُ, i. e. I will not, or I do not, cause him, or it, to move, or occur to, my mind; nor give, or pay, any attention to him, or it: or the proper [or literal] meaning is, I will not, or I do not, contend with him for superiority in goodness, or excellence, by reason of my little care, or regard, for him: or it was employed to denote the contending with another for superiority in glory, or excellence, as will be shown by the citation of a verse in the latter portion of this paragraph; and then, in consequence of frequency of usage, came to denote contempt, or mean estimation: or its original meaning is, I will not, or I do not, strive with him to be first; neglecting him, or leaving him to himself; from تَبَالَى القَوْمُ as explained below; see 6. It is said in a trad., لَا يُبَالِيهِمُ ٱللّٰهُ بَالَةً, or, accord. to one reading, لَا يُبَالِى بِهِمْ بَالَةً, meaning God will not hold them to be of any value or weight. And in another, هٰؤُلآءِ فِى الجَنَّةِ وَلَا أُبَالِى وَهٰؤُلَآءِ فِى النَّارِ وَلَا أُبَالِى, said to mean [These will be in Paradise, and] I shall not disapprove; [and these will be in the fire of Hell,] and I shall not disapprove. And one says, لَا أُبَالِى مَا صَنَعْتَ [I shall not, or I do not, care for what thou didst, or hast done]. And مَا أُبَالِى أَقُمْتَ أَمْ قَعَدْتَ [I care not whether thou stand or sit]: and مَا أُبَالِى بِقِيَامِكَ وَعَدَمِهِ [I care not for thy standing and thy not doing so]. (Mughnee in art. ا.) And مَا بَالَيْتُ بِهِ I did not care for, mind, or regard, him, or it. And بَالَى بِالشَّىْءِ [He cared for the thing; or] he was disquieted by the thing. The verb is sometimes thus used, in an affirmative manner; though some say that it is not; but it is not unless it occurs with a negative in the former part of the sentence or in the latter part thereof; as when one says, مَا بَالَى بِكَ صَدِيقُكَ وَلٰكِنْ بَالَى عَبْدُكَ [Thy friend cared not for thee, but thy slave cared]; and as in the saying of Zuheyr, لَقَدْ بَالَيْتُ مَظْعَنَ أُمِّ أَوْفَى وَلٰكِنْ أُمُّ أَوْفَى لَا تُبَالِى [Verily I cared for the departure of Umm-Owfà, but Umm-Owfà cares not]. One says also, لَمْ أُبَالِ and لَمْ أُبَلْ [I did not care, &c.]: in the latter the ا [of prolongation] is suppressed for the purpose of alleviating the utterance, like as ى is suppressed in the Verbal.Noun [or quasi-Verbal.Noun] بَالَةٌ, originally بَالِيَةٌ, and in لَا أَدْرِ: or the ا is suppressed in this case to avoid the concurrence of two quiescent letters; not for the purpose of alleviating the utterance; for this is done because the ل is made quiescent. And, accord. to Kh, some of the Arabs say, لَمْ أُبَلِهِ [I did not care for him, or it], or لَمْ أُبَلِ, [in the CK, erroneously, لم اَبْلِ,] with kesr to the ل; [for لم أُبَالِهِ, or لم أُبَالِ;] only suppressing the ا, as they do in عُلَبِطٌ [for عُلَابِطٌ].
2 IAar says that بَالَى, Verbal.Noun مُبَالَاةٌ, is like meaning He exerted himself in a description of a war, or battle, or of generous conduct; as when one says, أَبْلَى ذٰلِكَ اليَوْمَ بَلَآءً حَسَنًا [He exerted himself well, that day, in a description of war, &c.]: and he cites the following verse [to which reference has been made above]: وَأَنْتَ قَدْمَتَّ مِنَ الهُزَالِ [What hath happened to me that I see thee standing exerting thyself in a description of generous qualities, when thou hast become like one dead by reason of leanness?]: he says that he [the poet] heard him [whom he thus addresses] saying, “ We have eaten and we have drunk [with guests], and we have done [such and such things]; ” enumerating, or recounting, generous qualities or actions, and lying in doing so: in another place he says that تُبَالِى means looking to see which of them [or of thee and others] is best in بال [i. e. state, or condition], while thou art dying: he says, also, that بَالَاهُ, Verbal.Noun مُبَالَاةٌ, signifies he contended with him for superiority in glory, or excellence; and [it is said that] تبالى in the verse here cited means thus contending; syn. تُفَاخِرُ: and accord. to IAar, بَالَاهُ also signifies he contended with him in contradiction.


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