Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon

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فُوهٌ

Root: فوه

Full Definition

فُوهٌ and فَاهٌ and and, accord. to the copies of the K, فُوهَةٌ, [or, as in the CK, فَوْهَة,] but correctly فُوَّهَةٌ , and فَمٌ, all signify the same [i. e. The mouth]: the pl. is أَفْوَاهٌ, pl. of فُوهٌ, and as such its case is plain; as pl. of فِيهٌ, it is like أَرْوَاحٌ as pl. of رِيحٌ; as pl of فَاهٌ, it is allowable as having و for its original medial radical; but as pl. of فُوَّهَةٌ, it is anomalous: and another pl. is أَفْمَامٌ, said by some to be pl. of فُمٌّ or فَمٌّ, with teshdeed, of which an ex. occurs in a verse cited in the first paragraph of art. فم; but some disallow this pl.; and accord. to some, it has no sing. agreeable with rule, for فَمٌ is originally فَوَهٌ, with the و movent by fet-h, or [فَوْهٌ, as in some copies of the S,] with the و quiescent, on the authority of IJ; the ه is elided, and the و becomes a movent final, therefore it must be changed into ا, because of the fet-hah preceding it, so the word becomes فا; but a noun may not be of two letters whereof one is [the ن of] the tenween, thus the passage is expressed in the M, but MF remarks that correctly we should say whereof one is the ا, and therefore a hard letter is substituted for it, one similar to it in kind, which is م, for they are both labials, and in the م is a sort of humming sound (هَوِىٌّ, in the CK هُوِىٌّ,) in the mouth, [or rather in the nose,] resembling [the sound of] the prolongation of the و: [several similar disquisitions, added in the TA, respecting the change from فوه to فم, I omit, regarding them as needless: what is said on this subject in the S, in art. فم, I have mentioned in that art.:] in the present art., J says that the م of فم is a substitute for the ه, not for the و, of فوه; but this is a mistake: the dual of فَمٌ is فَمَانِ and فَمَوَانِ and فَمَيَانِ, the second and third of which are anomalous: of the second, which occurs in a verse of ElFarezdak, [and respecting which see the first paragraph of art. فم,] Sb says that it is used by poetic license. In using it as a prefixed noun, in the phrase هٰذَا فُوهُهُ, they deemed the combination of the two هs difficult in respect of utterance; therefore they suppressed the [radical] ه thereof [in this case, and then in other, similar, cases], and said, هٰذَا فُوهُ, and فُو زَيْدٍ, and رَأَيْتُ فَا زَيْدٍ, and مَرَرْتُ بِفِى زَيْدٍ: and when prefixing it to [the pronoun denoting] thyself, thou sayest, هٰذَا فِىَّ; and this thou dost alike in using it in the nom. case and in the accus. and in the gen., because the و [of فُو] is changed into ى and is then incorporated [into the pronominal ى]: and sometimes, though rarely, they did the like in other cases, when not prefixing it; for instance, فَا occurs at the end of a verse of El-'Ajjáj, without an affix, in this case for فَاهَا.
2 In the saying كَلَّمْتُهُ فَاهُ إِلَى فِىَّ, meaning I spoke to him, his mouth being near to my mouth, فاه is in the accus. case as a denotative of state: or by reason of the derivative [مُكَلِّمًا] meant to be understood: or, as Sb says, it is an instance of one of the nouns that are put in the place of inf. ns., and it is not to be separated from what should follow it, so that you may not say كَلَّمْتُهُ فَاهَ [alone], for you tell of your nearness to the person, and that there is not any one between you and him: and if you will, you may use the nom. case, meaning وَهٰذِهِ حَالُهُ [this being his state], i. e. فُوهُ إِلَى فِىَّ [his mouth was near to my mouth], the clause [following كلّمته] occupying the place of a denotative of state.
3 The saying فَاهَا لِفِيكَ, which is a prov., means May God make the mouth of misfortune to cleave to thy mouth; [but lit. signifies, only, her, or its, mouth to thy mouth; and is [likewise] an instance of one of the nouns that are used in the manner of inf. ns. expressive of imprecation, by reason of a verb not mentioned: Sb says, فاها is without tenween, meaning فَا الدَّاهِيَةِ, as is shown by the saying, وَدَاهِيَةٍ مِنْ دَوَاهِى المَنُو نِ يَرْهَبُهَا النَّاسُ لَا فَا لَهَا [Many a misfortune is there, of the misfortunes of time, which men fear, that has no mouth, wherewith to bite]: A'Obeyd says that its primary meaning is, may God make the ground to be in thy mouth; that it is like the sayings بِفِيكَ الحَجَرُ and بِفِيكَ الأَثْلَبُ; and [hence] it means disappointment [cleave] to thee: a man of Belhujeym, cited by A'Obeyd, addressing a wolf that sought to get his she-camel, says, فَقُلْتُ لَهُ فَاهَا لِفِيكَ فَإِنَّهَا قَلُوصُ ٱمْرِئٍ قَارِيكَ مَا أَنْتَ حَاذِرُهُ [And I said to him, فاها لفيك, for she is the youthful she-camel of a man who will give thee as a guest's entertainment that which thou fearest]; (S, Meyd; but in the S, as IB has observed, فَإِنَّهُ is erroneously put for فَإِنَّهَا;) i. e. [who will entertain thee with] the shooting of arrows; [by قَارِيكَ] he means يَقْرِيكَ, from قِرَى الضَّيْفِ: it is also said that فَاهَا is metonymically used as meaning the dust of the earth, which is termed the mouth of the earth because it drinks the water; and it is as though the saying meant the dust be in thy mouth: Sh is related to have said, I heard IAar say لِفِيكَ, with tenween, meaning may God make thy mouth to cleave to the ground; [or rather, ground to thy mouth; lit., simply, a mouth to thy mouth;] and some say فَاهَا لِفِيكَ, without tenween, as an imprecation meaning may God break thy فَم [i. e. thy teeth, to which فَم is often metonymically applied, as is also فُوه].
4 One says also, سَقَى فُلَانٌ إِبِلَهُ عَلَى أَفْوَاهِهَا, meaning Such a one drew for his camels the water when they came to it, while they were drinking; not having stored it for them in the drinking-trough: and جَرَّ فُلَانٌ إِبِلَهُ عَلَى أَفْوَاهِهَا Such a one suffered his camels to pasture while going along [by his driving them gently: see art. جر]: so says As: and so accord. to the A and other lexicons; but the author of the K, by an omission, has assigned the latter explanation to the former phrase.
5 لَوْ وَجَدْتُ إِلَيْهِ فَا كَرِشٍ, meaning أَدْنَى طَرِيقٍ, has [with other, similar, phrases] been explained in art. كرش [q. v.].
6 فُو فَرَسٍ حَمِرٍ [Mouth of a horse that is suffering indigestion in consequence of his having eaten barley and so made it to stink] is an appellation applied to him who has stinking breath. (TA. [An ex. of it occurs in a verse of Imra-el-keys cited in the TA in art. حمر as in Ahlwardt's “ Divans of the Six Ancient Arabic Poets, ” p. 125; and differently in De Slane's “ Diwan d'Amro-'kaïs, ” p. 36 of the Arabic text.])
7 And فُو جُرَدٍ [Mouth of a large fieldrat] and فُو دَبًا [Mouth of a sort of small wingless locust, or perhaps correctly فُو دَبَاةٍ mouth of a small wingless locust,] are nicknames applied to a little man.
8 One says also, لَا فُضُّ فُوهُ, meaning May his teeth, or front teeth, not be broken. And سَقَطَ فُوهُ His teeth fell out. (TA in art. فض [q. v.])
9 And مَاتَ لِفِيهِ i. e. لِوَجْهِهِ [meaning He died upon his face; prone: like سَقَطَ لِوَجْهِهِ He fell upon his face: the ل in both being used in the sense of عَلَى; as it is in the phrase خَرُّوا لِأَذْقَانِهِمْ (expl. in art. خر), &c.]. , has misled Freytag in this case.]) And [in like manner, using لِ in the sense of على,] كبَّهُ ٱللّٰهُ لِفِيهِ, one of their forms of imprecation, meaning May God cause him to die: or prostrate him [upon his face; as also كَبَّهُ لِوَجْهِهِ].
10 [See also فُوَّهَةٌ as syn. with فُوهٌ; like which it has أَفْوَاهٌ for a pl.]

def.2 فُوهٌ also, having for its pl. أَفْوَاهٌ, and pl. pl. أَفَاوِيهُ, [which last is of very frequent occurrence,] signifies Perfume, or an odoriferous substance: or a thing, or substance, with which a perfume, or an odoriferous substance, is compounded or prepared (يُعَالَجُ); like as تَوَابِلُ signifies things, or substances, with which sorts of food are compounded or prepared: or the تَوَابِل [or seeds used in cooking] with which food is compounded or prepared (يُعَالَجُ) are also called أَفْوَاهُ الطِّيبِ: [the pl. and pl. pl. are now generally applied to spices, or aromatics:] or الأَفْوَاهُ, the pl. mentioned above, signifies [the seeds called] التَّوَابِلُ: and also what diffuse fragrance [I read نَوَافِحُ, as in my MS. copy of the K, pl. of نَافِحٌ, q. v., instead of نَوَافِجُ (with جِيم), the only reading that I find in other copies of the K, regarding the latter as indubitably a mistranscription,] of perfumes, or odoriferous substances: and the sorts, or species, of flowers; thus says AHn; and in one place he says that الافواح signifies what are prepared for perfume, of sweetsmelling flowers; and sometimes they are of herbs, or leguminous plants: and also sorts, or species, of a thing [app. of any kind]: and one says, هُوَ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِ الطيب, and أَفْوَاهِ البُقُولِ, meaning It is of the sorts, or species, and of the mixtures, or compounds, of perfume, and of herbs, or leguminous plants: but فُوهٌ is not applied to anything that is termed عَقَّارٌ. (AHeyth, TA in art. عقر.)
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