Arabic definite article
The earliest evidence of the article, besides a 1st-century BC inscription in Qaryat al-Faw (formerly Qaryat Dhat Kahil, near Sulayyil, Saudi Arabia),[2][3][4] occurs in the 5th century BC, in the epithet of a goddess which Herodotus (Histories I: 131, III: 8) quotes in its preclassical Arabic form as Alilat (Ἀλιλάτ, i. e.,ʼal-ʼilat), which means "the goddess".
[8] According to David Testen, many northern and southwestern Semitic languages have particles that bear similarities to al-.
[10] Hebrew, then, dropped the final l to achieve ha- while Arabic softened the h- to a hamza, resulting in al-.
In fact, as early as the 6th century BC both han and al were being used simultaneously in different Arabic dialects, namely Northern and Central.
That indicates that the Hebrew ha- was the accurate retention of the original proto-Semitic source, as opposed to al-, which cannot conclusively be linked to the ancient cognate demonstrative pronoun hādhā/hazé.
According to Jacob Barth, who was lecturer in Hebrew at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary, al- comes directly from the Arabic negating particle, لا lā.
Barth also asserts that lā could have resulted in al- through a process of syncope so the alif in lā and the vowel over the lām were dropped, resulting in a sukūn (an Arabic diacritic) over the lām, and a volatile or elidable hamza was added to compensate for that.
[18] Despite the myriad of proofs for the argument, in most classical grammars and in modern Arabic, the opinion of Sibawayh is often taken as an axiomatic fact.
[22] In Arabic, this gemination occurs when the word to which al- is prefixed begins with one of the fourteen sun letters.
The Islamic prophet Muhammad is recorded to have uttered the following words in that dialect:[26] لَيْسَ مِن امْبِرِّ امْصِيامُ في امْسَفَرِ Laysa min am-birr-i am-ṣiyām-u fī am-safar-i In some Semitic languages like Hebrew, words that include the letter lāmed have Arabic cognates that replace it with a Mīm as opposed to Lām, the equivalent letter.
Regardless of whether the hamza in al- is volatile or not, it is read with a fatḥa when beginning speech with the definite article.
[31][32] An example of this is seen in the following couplet of poetry: Al- may be used to encompass all the individuals of a genus (Arabic: استغراق الجِنس).
[31] Some classical grammarians assert that this kull may be figurative, in which case al-, in this capacity, would be a form of exaggeration.
[33] The most well known use of al- in this meaning occurs twice in the Qur'anic verse 1:1, الحمد لله رب العالمين (all praise is due to Allah, lord of all the worlds).
However, it has been seen on verbs in poetry, as in the following couplets[42] by Dhu al-Kharq al-Tahawi (ذو الخرق الطهوي):
[43] This opinion is in harmony with the form of the general relative pronoun (alli, illi, al) in most Arabic dialects nowadays.
If this view is correct, this aberrant al- does not follow the sun and moon letters rule.
Al- may also be used to turn verbs in the imperfect, passive state into adjectives in a limited set of circumstances.
Examples: Al-yurā : the see-able; al-yu'kal : the edible; al-la-yurā : the un-see-able; al-la-silkī : the wire-less [device]; etc.
Ism, as defined in classical Arabic grammar, includes all parts of speech save particles and verbs: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc.
Exceptions to this include the prefixation of al- to the relative pronoun الذي (see #Extra) and to proper nouns (see #At the beginning of names).
An example is in the following couplet:[39] Furthermore, the grammatical school of Kufa allows al- on the first noun in a genitival construction if it is a number.
However, the Kufa camp of classical grammar, as well as many modern grammarians, allow al- to be prefixed to the object of vocation almost unconditionally.
[52] According to the classical grammarians Farrā and Kasā’ī, the overarching purpose of nunation is to differentiate between nouns and verbs.
For example, one may say مررت بالراكب خيله أمس marartu bi-r-rākibi ḵaylahu ʾamsi (I passed by the man who was riding his steed yesterday).
[59][60] Moreover, al- brings back the ي letter in an ism manqūṣ that is in the nominative or genitive case.
Portuguese, for example, acquired some 1,200 Arabic words between the 9th and 13th centuries, such as aldeia "village" (from الضيعة alḍaiʿa), alface "lettuce" (from الخس alxas), armazém "warehouse" (from المخزن almaxzan), and azeite "olive oil" (from الزيت azzait).
[61] Spanish has a similar inventory, such as alfombra "carpet" and algodón "cotton", including such Arabic–Latinate doublets as aceituna and oliva "olive", alacrán and escorpión "scorpion", alcancía and hucha "piggy bank", as well as azufre ~ zufre "sulfur".
These include alcove, alcohol, albatross, alfalfa, algebra, algorithm, alchemy, alkaline, alembic, elixir, artichoke, acequia, adobe, aniline, apricot, aubergine, azimuth, and the names of stars such as Algol.
In azure, from لازورد lāzūard, the initial l of the word was lost due to being mistaken as the Arabic article; it is retained in lazurite and in the compound lapis lazuli.
