Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon

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تَا

Root: تا

Full Definition

تَا fem. of ذَا; i. q. ذِهْ [This and that]; a noun of indication, denoting that which is female or feminine; like ذَا applied to that which is male or masculine; and you say also تِهْ, like ذِهْ: the dual is تَانِ: and the pl., أُولَآءِ. En-Nábighah [Edh-Dhubyánee] says, excusing himself to En-Noamán [Aboo-Káboos], whom he had satirized, هَا إِنَّ تَا عِذْرَةٌ إِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ نَفَعَتْ فَإِنَّ صَاحِبَهَا قَدْ تَاهَ فِى البَلَدِ [Now verily this is an excuse: if it profit not, then verily its author has lost his way in the desert, or in the waterless desert]: (T, S: but in the latter, لا is put in the place of لم:) تا here points to the قَصِيدَة [or ode]; and عذرة is a subst from اِعْتِذَارٌ; and تاه means تَحَيَّرَ; and البلد means المَفَازَة. The dim. of تَا is تَيَّا, which is anomalous, like ذَيَّا the dim. of ذَا, &c. (I'Ak p. 343. [Much has been written respecting the formation of this dim. to reduce it to something like rule, but I pass it over as, in my opinion, unprofitable and unsatisfactory; and only refer to what is said respecting the duals أُلَيَّا and أُلَيَّآءِ in art. الى. See an ex. voce مِرَّةٌ.]
2 هَا is prefixed to it [as an inceptive particle] to give notice of what is about to be said, so that one says هَاتَا [meaning This], as in هَاتَا فُلَانَةُ [This is such a woman]; and [in the dual] هَاتَانِ; and [in the pl.] هٰؤُلَآءِ: and the dim. is هَاتَيَّا.
3 When you use it in addressing another person, you add to it ك [as a particle of allocution], and say تَاكَ and تِيكَ and تِلْكَ and تَلْكَ, which is a bad dial. var., and تَالِكَ, which is the worst of these: [all meaning That:] the dual is تَانِكَ and تَانِّكَ, the latter with tesh-deed, and تَالِكَ [which, like تَانِّكَ, is dual of تِلْكَ or تَلْكَ, which are contractions of تَالِكَ; these two duals being for تَانِلِكَ, the original, but unused, form]: the pl. is أُولٰئِكَ [or أُولَآئِكَ] and أُولَاكَ and أُولَالِكَ [respecting all of which see أُلَى, in art. الى]: and the dim. is تَيَّاكَ and تَيَّالِكَ: (K: [in the TA, the latter is erroneously written تَيّانِكَ:]) the ك relates to the person or persons whom you address, masc. and fem. and dual and pl.: [but in addressing a female, you may say تَاكِ &c.; in addressing two persons, تَاكُمَا &c.; in addressing more than two males, تَاكُمْ &c.; and in addressing more than two females, تَاكُنَّ &c.:] what precedes the ك relates to the person [or thing] indicated, masc. and fem. and dual and pl.
4 هَا is also prefixed to تِيكَ and تَاكَ, so that one says, هَاتِيكَ هِنْدُ and هَاتَاكَ هِنْدُ [This, or that, is Hind]. Abu-n-Nejm says, جِئْنَا نُحَيِّيكَ وَنَسْتَجْدِيكَا فَٱفْعَلْ بِنَا هَاتَاكَ أَوْ هَاتِيكَا meaning [We have come saluting thee and seeking of thee a gift: then do thou to us] this or that: [give us] a salutation or a gift. The هَا that is used to give notice of what is about to be said is not prefixed to تلك because the ل is made a substitute for that ها: or, as IB says, they do not prefix that ها to ذٰلِكَ and تِلْكَ because the ل denotes the remoteness of that which is indicated and the ها denotes its nearness, so that the two are incompatible.

def.2 تَا and تآءٌ Names of the letter ت: see that letter, and see arts. توأ and تى.

def.3 تَا and تَأَا or تَآ for تَشَآء: see art. ا.
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