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Al- (Arabic: ال۔, also transliterated as el- and in some cases il- and ul-) is a prefix in the Arabic language which functions as a definite article, comparable to the English word the. For example, 'the book' is الكتاب al-kitāb. Like the English word 'the', al- is not a permanent component of words it is attached to; it is only prefixed to a word to make the word definite — continuing the example, 'a book', or simply 'book', is كتاب kitāb, as Arabic does not have an indefinite article. Unlike English usage, Arabic grammar requires al- to be used with adjectives modifying the definite noun. For example, 'the big book' in English requires only one instance of 'the', but in Arabic the phrase is الكتاب الكبير al-kitāb al-kabīr, with two instances of al- (DEF-book-DEF-big, literally, 'the book, the big [one]'). Hebrew, another language in the Semitic family, has similar rules for the use of its definite article.
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Phonology
Arabic phonology heavily influences the way al- is pronounced. When the article is prefixed to words that start with dental, alveolar, and sibilant consonants, known as ḥuruf šamsiyya (حروف شمسية), or 'solar letters', the l of the article disappears as gemination of the consonant occurs. For example, the definite of šams "sun" is written الشّمس <ʾl-šms>, but is pronounced (and transliterated) as aš-šams.
There are fourteen sun letters; the remaining consonants, which do not geminate, are known as ḥurūf qamariyya (حروف قمرية), 'moon letters'. For example, in the transliteration of ʿIzzu d-Dīni l-Qassām (عزّ الدّين القسّام), the sun letter dal is geminated, while the moon letter qaf is not. In both cases, al- is written the same way, but where the following consonant is a sun letter it is marked with shadda to show that it is geminated in pronunciation and that the l should not be pronounced.
Although always written as alif-lām, the article's alif carries a hamzatu l-waṣl (همزة الوصل), meaning that the initial vowel is elided in sandhi (or, equivalently, the a is a prosthetic vowel only produced in hiatus). For example, following a damma, the phrase orthographically written البيت الكبير <ʾl-byt ʾl-kbyr>, with full harakat, <ʾal-baytu ʾal-kabīru>, is pronounced (and transliterated) in Classical Arabic as ʾal-baytu l-kabīru; that is, the second article appears simply as /l/.
Most notably, the theonym Allah is treated as if it contained (as it etymologically does, see also El (deity)) the article. Thus, the iḍāfa عبد الله "servant of God" is transliterated as ʿAbdu llahi (with the -u marking the nominative, and -i for the genitive), but the final case ending is omitted in hiatus, giving ʿAbdu llah. In the case of solar letters, the article phonemically is only present as a gemination: thus, عبد الرّحمن is ʿAbdu r-Raḥmān /ʕabdurːaħmaːn/.
Grammar
As stated, al- functions as a definite article, and its presence (or lack thereof) affects the grammar and semantics of an entire sentence. In its most basic use it makes a noun definite: al-kitab, "the book". If an adjective is added, the result is a noun phrase: al-kitab al-kabir, "the big book". However, if the adjective lacks the definite al-, then the result is a full sentence: al-kitab kabir, "the book is big". This compensates for the lack of the verb "to be" in the present tense. If neither the noun or the adjective has the definite article, the result is also a noun phrase, but indefinite: kitab kabir, "a big book".
In Nisbah
In a similar way, al- can be attached to nouns or adjectives within the name of a person. A major component of Arabic names is the nisba (نسبة), or place-of-origin identifier. Maṣr (مصر), for instance, is the Arabic word for Egypt. Adding the suffix -ī produces the nisba Maṣrī, 'Egyptian'. When al- is added, the nisba becomes definite: 'the Egyptian'. Definite nisbas are often found at the end of Arabic personal names, following kunyas and other elements, denoting geographical origin. For instance, on second reference ’Abū Muṣ‘ab az-Zarqāwī (أبومصعب الزّرقاوي) would be referred to as az-Zarqāwī, meaning 'the man from Zarqā’'.
In idafa
An important characteristic of Arabic sentences is the idafa (إضافة), a genitive construction which depends on the placement of al-. In this construction, only the last noun takes al-, although the other nouns remain semantically definite : kitab al-talib, "the student's book" ("the book of the student"). An adjective in this structure must come at the end: kitab al-talib al-kabir, "the student's big book" (this phrase can also be read as "the book of the big student"; in Classical Arabic these two meanings can be distinguished by the case endings of "student" and "big").
Semitic etymology
Some earlier Semiticists (e.g. Davidson, Weingreen) have hypothesised that the Arabic definite article al- (ال۔) and the Hebrew (and Old North Arabian) definite article ha- (ה־) have origins in a proto-Semitic definite article *hal- (هل۔/הל־; without an alif/alef, since the definite articles lack long vowels). Supporters of this theory sometimes cite the Arabic word 'this': hadhā (هذا), which, when combined with a definite phrase, is shortened in some accents of Levantine Arabic from hadhā al-bayt (this house) to hal-bayt (هذا البيت becomes هلبيت)verification needed. However, this could be an influence from other Northern Semetic languages on the Arabic dialect of Levantine Arabsoriginal research?.
Another view is that:
- l or al is in origin a demonstrative pronoun meaning "that".
- The Hebrew article ha- is derived from a separate demonstrative, found in Aramaic as hā (that) and represented in Arabic by the (optional) first syllable of (ha)dhā (this) and (ha)'ula'i (these). This could be supported that the second syllables of demonstratives (and others), namely dhā ذا and 'ula'i أولاء are used as demonstratives on their own (in various forms) without the hā.
- The form hal-bayt is simply a shortening of hā al bayt or hadhā al bayt and not evidence for an original form *hal underlying both Hebrew and Arabic articles.
A further question is whether the initial alif is a root consonant (thus linking al- with Arabic ula'i and Hebrew eleh (these) and Arabic awwal (first, former)) or simply a phonetic supplement to prevent a word beginning with two consonants (as in ibn). That, however, is mere speculation and the fact that it is written with hamzatu'l-waṣli and disappears in pronunciation following a vowel suggests the latter.
References
- Alosh, Mahdi (2000). Ahlan wa Sahlan: Functional Modern Standard Arabic for Beginners. New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Haywood, JA; HM Nahmad [1962] (2005). A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language, 2nd edition, Aldershot, Hampshire, UK: Lund Humphries. ISBN 0-85331-585-X.
- Weingreen, J [1939] (1952). "The Article", A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew. Oxford University Press, 23–24. “The definite article 'the' is said to have been originally הל (like the Arabic 'al'). When attached to a word it defined (e.g. הלמלך 'the king'), the vowelless ל was assimilated and the following letter was consequently doubled, with Dagheš Forte (p. 15) המלך.”
- Explanation of the Arabic prefix 'AL-'
See also
External links
