بَلْ
Root: بل
Full Definition
بَلْ
is a particle of digression: or, accord. to Mbr, it denotes emendation, wherever it occurs, in the case of a negation or an affirmation: or it is a word of emendation, and denoting digression from that which precedes; as also بَنْ, in which the ن is a substitute for the ل, because بل is of frequent occurrence, and بن is rare; or, as IJ says, the latter may be an independent dial. var. When it is followed by a proposition, the meaning of the digression is either the cancelling of what precedes, as in وَقَالُوا ٱتَّخَذَ ٱلرَّحْمٰنُ وَلَدًا سُبْحَانَهُ بَلْ عِبَادٌ مُكْرَمُونَ [And they said, “ The Compassionate hath gotten offspring: ” extolled be his freedom from that which is derogatory from his glory! nay, or nay rather, or nay but, they are honoured servants ], or transition from one object of discourse to another, as in قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ تَزَكَّى وَ ذَكَرَ ٱسْمَ رَبِّهِ فَصَلَّى
بَلْ تُؤْثِرُونَ ٱلْحَيَاةَ ٱلدُّنْيَا [He hath attained felicity who hath purified himself, and celebrated the name of his Lord, and prayed: but ye prefer the present life ]: and in all such cases it is an inceptive particle; not a conjunctive. When it is followed by a single word, it is a conjunction, and requires that word to be in the same case as the word before it: and if preceded by a command or an affirmation, as in اِضْرَبْ زَيْدًا بَلْ عَمْرًا [Beat thou Zeyd: no, 'Amr], and قَامَ زَيْدٌ بَلْ عَمْرٌو [Zeyd stood: no, 'Amr], or جَآءَنِى أَخُوكَ بَلْ أَبُوكَ [Thy brother came to me: no, thy father], it makes what precedes it to be as though nothing were said respecting it, making the command or affirmation to relate to what follows it: [and similar to these cases is the case in which it is preceded by an interrogation: see أَمْ as syn. with this particle:] but when it is preceded by a negation or a prohibition, it is used to confirm the meaning of what precedes it and to assign the contrary of that meaning to what follows it, as in مَا قَامَ زَيْدٌ عَمْرٌو [Zeyd stood not, but 'Amr stood], or مَا
رَأَيْتُ زَيْدًا بَلْ عَمْرًا, [I saw not Zeyd, but I saw 'Amr], and لَا يَقُمْ زَيْدٌ بَلْ عَمْرٌو [Let not Zeyd stand, but let 'Amr stand]. Mbr and 'Abd-El-Wárith allow its being used to transfer the meaning of the negation and the prohibition to what follows it; so that, accord. to them, one may say, مَازَيْدٌ قَائِمًا بَلْ قَاعِدًا [as meaning Zeyd is not standing: no, is not sitting], and بَلْ قَاعِدٌ [but is sitting]; the meaning being different [in the two cases]. The Koofees disallow its being used as a conjunction after anything but a negation [so in the Mughnee, but in the K a prohibition,] or the like thereof; so that one should not say, ضَرَبْتُ زَيْدًا
بَلْ إِيَّاكَ [I beat Zeyd: no, thee]. Sometimes لَا is added before it, to corroborate the meaning of digression, after an affirmation, as in the saying,
2 Sometimes it is used to denote the passing from one subject to another without cancelling [what precedes it], and is syn. with وَ, as in the saying in the Kur [lxxxv. 20 and 21], وَٱللّٰهُ مِنْ, وَ رَائِهِمْ مُحِيطٌ بَلْ هُوَ قُرْآنٌ مَجِيدٌ [And God from behind them is encompassing: and it is a glorious Kur-án: or here it may mean إِنَّ, as in an ex. below]: and to this meaning it is made to accord in the saying, لَهُ عَلَىَّ دِينَارٌ بَلْ دِرْهَمٌ [I owe him a deenár and a dirhem].
3 In the fol-
4 Sometimes the Arabs use it in breaking off a saying and commencing another; and thus a man commences with it a citation, or recitation, of verse; in which case, it does not form any part of the first verse, but is a sign of the breaking off, or ending, of what precedes.
5 Sometimes it is put in the place of رُبَّ, as in the saying of the rájiz,
6 What is deficient in this word [supposing it to be originally of three letters] is unknown; and so in the cases of هَلْ and قَدْ: it may be a final و or ى or they may be originally بَلّ and هَلّ and قَدّ.
[Thy face is the full moon: no, but it would be the sun, were it not that eclipse and setting are appointed to happen to the sun]: and to corroborate what precedes it, after a negation, as inوَجْهُكَ البَدْرُ لَا بَلِ الشَّمْسُ لَوْ لَمْ يُقْضَ لِلشَّمْسِ كَسْفَةٌ وَ أُفُولُ
[And I did not abandon thee, or have not abandoned thee: no, but abandonment and distance, protracted, not to an appointed period, increased, or have increased, my heart-felt love].وَ مَا هَجَرْتُكَ لَا بَلْ زَادَنِى شَغَفًا هَجْرٌ وَ بَعْدٌ تَرَاخَى لَا إِلَى أَجَلِ
2 Sometimes it is used to denote the passing from one subject to another without cancelling [what precedes it], and is syn. with وَ, as in the saying in the Kur [lxxxv. 20 and 21], وَٱللّٰهُ مِنْ, وَ رَائِهِمْ مُحِيطٌ بَلْ هُوَ قُرْآنٌ مَجِيدٌ [And God from behind them is encompassing: and it is a glorious Kur-án: or here it may mean إِنَّ, as in an ex. below]: and to this meaning it is made to accord in the saying, لَهُ عَلَىَّ دِينَارٌ بَلْ دِرْهَمٌ [I owe him a deenár and a dirhem].
3 In the fol-
4 Sometimes the Arabs use it in breaking off a saying and commencing another; and thus a man commences with it a citation, or recitation, of verse; in which case, it does not form any part of the first verse, but is a sign of the breaking off, or ending, of what precedes.
5 Sometimes it is put in the place of رُبَّ, as in the saying of the rájiz,
[Many a far-extending desert have I traversed, after a far-extending desert].بَلْ مَهْمَهٍ قَطَعْتُ بَعْدَ مَهْمَهٍ
6 What is deficient in this word [supposing it to be originally of three letters] is unknown; and so in the cases of هَلْ and قَدْ: it may be a final و or ى or they may be originally بَلّ and هَلّ and قَدّ.
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