مَفْصِلٌ

Full Definition

مَفْصِلٌ Any place of meeting [or juncture, as being a place of separation,] of two bones of the body and limbs or members; as also فَصْلٌ : a single one of the مَفَاصِل of the limbs or members: [a joint such as the elbow and knee and knuckle: and sometimes a joint as meaning a bone having an articulation at each end, or at one end, together with the flesh that is upon it:] in a trad. in which it is said that the mulct for any مَفْصِل of a human being is the third of the mulct for the [whole] finger, it means the مَفْصِل of any of the fingers or toes; i. e. the portion between any أَنْمَلَتَانِ [here meaning two knuckles; but this is a loose and an imperfect explanation; for to it should be added, and also the ungual portion, or portion in which is the nail; for the word is here applied to denote any of the phalanges with the flesh that is upon it: in the T &c., in art. نمل, one of the explanations of الأَنْمَلَةُ is “ the مَفْصِل in which is the nail ”].
2 And [hence] one says, يَأْتِيكَ بِالأَمْرِ مِنْ مَفْصِلِهِ [He will tell thee the thing, or affair, tracing it from the point on which it turns, or hinges; (like as one says, مِنْ فَصِّهِ, q. v.;) or], from its utmost point or particular, i. e., مُنْتَهَاهُ. [This saying may be originally a hemistich, thus: وَيَأْتِيكَ بِالأَمْرِ مِنْ مَفْصِلِهْ like the similar saying ending with فَصِّهِ.]
3 In the following saying of Aboo-Dhu-eyb, [the former half of which I give from art. طفل in the S, the latter half only being cited in the present art. in the S and M and O,] وَإِنَّ حَدِيثًا مِنْكِ لَوْ تَبْذُلِينَهُ جَنَى النَّحْلِ فِى أَلْبَانِ عُوذٍ مَطَافِلِ مَطَافِيلَ أَبْكَارٍ حَدِيثٍ نِتَاجُهَا تُشَابُ بِمَآءٍ مِثْلِ مَآءِ المَفَاصِلِ [And verily discourse from thee, if thou wouldst bestow it, would be gathered honey of bees in the milk of camels such as have recently brought forth, having young ones with them, such as have young ones with them [and] that have brought forth but once, whose bringing forth has been recent, such milk being mixed with water like the water of the مفاصل], المَفَاصِل (which is pl. of مَفْصِلٌ, S, O) signifies the place of separation ( ) of the mountain from the tract of sand, these two having between them crushed and small pebbles, so that the water thereof is clear, and glistens, (وَيَبْرُقُ, S, O,) or and is shallow; (وَيَرِقُّ;) the poet meaning to describe the clearness of the water because of its descending from the mountain and not passing by dust nor earth: or it signifies hard stones compactly disposed, or heaped up: (M, K: in the former, مُتَرَاصِفَة: in the latter, مُتَرَاكِمَة:) and it is said to signify what is between two mountains, consisting of sand and crushed pebbles, the water whereof is clear: or, accord. to AO, the water-courses of a valley: accord. to Abu-l-'Omeythil, the clefts in mountains, from which water flows; and only said of what are between two mountains: in the T, the مَفْصِل is said to be any place, in a mountain, upon which the sun does not rise: and it is said that مَآءُ المَفَاصِلِ means what flows from between the two joints (مِنْ بَيْنِ المَفْصِلَيْنِ) when one of them is cut from the other; like clear water; and the sing. is مَفْصِلٌ: AA says that the مفاصل in the verse are the مفاصل of the bones; and that it likens that water to the مآء of the flesh: and IAar says the like thereof.

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