Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon

مَرْءٌ

Root: مراء

Full Definition

مَرْءٌ and and A man, or human being; syn. إِنْسَانٌ: or a man as opposed to a child or a woman; syn. رَجُلٌ. You say مَرْءٌ in the nom., مَرْءًا in the acc., and مَرْءٍ in the gen., agreeably with analogy. And some say مُرْءٌ in the nom., مَرْءًا in the acc., and مِرْءٍ in the gen.; doubly declining the word. And is said to be of the dial. of Hudheyl. It is said that no pl. is formed from مرء; but مَرْؤُونَ occurs as its pl. in the following words of a trad.; أَحْسِنُوا أَمْلَاءَكُمْ أَيُّهَا المُرْؤُونَ [Amend your manners, O ye men!]; and in the saying of Ru-beh, أَيْنَ يُرِيدُ المرؤون [Whither do the men desire to go?]. It forms a dual; مَِرْآنِ: they say هُمَا مِرْآنِ صَالِحَانِ [They are two just men] in the dial. of Hudheyl. It also forms a dim., مُرَىْءٌ, fem. مُرَيْئَةٌ.
2 The fem. of مَرْءٌ is مَرْأَةٌ, A woman: [and a wife:] also written and pronounced مَرَةٌ.
3 مرء is also written with the conjunctive ا: you say ٱمْرَأٌ in the nom., ٱمْرَأً in the acc., and ٱمْرَأٍ in the gen.: also, ٱمْرُؤٌ in the nom., ٱمْرُؤًا in the acc., and ٱمْرُؤٍ in the gen.: also, ٱمْرُؤٌ in the nom., ٱمْرَأً in the acc., and ٱمْرِئٍ in the gen.; doubly declining the word. [The last three forms are the most common in classical works: but in ordinary parlance, in the present day, the word is generally pronounced with fet-h to the ر in each case. The final ء is also often written without the ا or و or ى.] Ks and Fr say, that the word is doubly declined, as to the ر and ء, because the final ء is often omitted. [When the disjunctive ا is substituted for the conjunctive, i. e., when the word is immediately preceded by a quiescence, its vowel is kesr: thus you say اِمْرَأٌ &c.; and thus also in the fem. The name of the famous poet اِمْرَُأُ القَيْسِ is commonly pronounced Imra-el- Keys and Imr-el-Keys.]
4 The fem. is ٱمْرَأَةٌ, A woman: [and a wife:] but with ال you say المَرْأَةُ: الاِمْرَأَةُ [which is authorized by the K] is also said to be established by usage; but most of the expositors of the Fs reject this; and those who allow it to be correct judge it of weak authority: IO mentions also ٱمْرَاةٌ, with soft ا after the ر.
5 ٱمْرَُءٌ is also used in a fem. sense; though this is extr.: ex. إِنَّهَا لَٱمْرَُءَ صِدْق [Verily she is an excellent woman: see صِدْقٌ]. And ٱمْرَأَةٌ is used, in a trad., as signifying a perfect woman: لَقَدْ تَزَوَّجْتَ ٱمْرَأَةً Indeed thou hast married a perfect woman: like as you say فُلَانٌ رَجُلٌ, meaning “ Such a one is a perfect man. ”
6 Also, اِمْرَأٌ or ٱمْرُؤٌ, or مَرْءٌ, signifies A wolf: or, as Z and others assert, it is tropical in this sense. Yoo says, that the poet means, by ٱمرؤ, in the following verse, a wolf: وَأَنْتَ ٱمْرُؤٌ تَعْدُو عَلَى كُلِّ غِرَّةٍ فَتُخْطِئُ فِيهَا مَرَّةً وَتُصِيبُ [And thou art a wolf that assaultest on every occasion of carelessness; and sometimes thou missest therein, and thou attainest thine object].
7 The rel. n. of ٱمْرَُءٌ is مَرَئِىٌّ or مُرَئِىٌّ and أَمَرِىٌّ. [For the last, Golius, from a copy of the S, gives اِمْرَئِىٌّ: and in one copy of the S, I find it written أَمْرَئِىٌّ: but I have not met with any confirmation of either of these two forms.] مَرَئِىٌّ seems to be formed from مَرْءٌ; but is extr.; the analogous form being مَرْئِىٌّ.


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