In the previous post I’ve shown that language itself is a sign that is based on military aspects. In fact, language itself is so dependent on the gathering of distinct elements to give birth to words, sentences, and meaning, as an army is of the gathering of distinct individuals – and if soldiers congregate around a fixed standard, where do the elements of language congregate themselves?

I would like to start by telling you about the Greek word phalaggos, that means line of battle as well as the joints between the fingers and toes, nowadays known as phalanges. From this word, another derived: phalanx, that was used In ancient Greece in relation to a division composed by the total members of the infantry. This word was inherited by English language, meaning a tactical formation consisting of a block of heavily armed infantry standing shoulder to shoulder in fixed lines several ranks deep – a meaning that got its inspiration from the close position of the elements of the Greek phalanx infantry, whose first rows were formed by soldiers having their spears projecting out over the first rank of shields, making it impossible for the enemy to reach one of its members without being pierced first.

In the Qur’an, we find this row in 61:4, “Indeed, Allah loves those who fight in His cause in a row as though they are a structure joined firmly.”  - the word row being conveyed by صف (Sf), to set, placed, or stationed, a company of men, military force, in a rank, row, or line.
The word structure is a translation of بنى (bnia), a root that also denotes the act of constructing and bringing up, educate. In Latin, structura means a fitting together, adjustment; having had its origin in struo, to make by joining together; to build, fabricate, make, form, construct, and, with the idea of order predominating, to set in order, arrange. In other words, the stationing of troops in a row is equivalent to constructing.

I’m certain that you’re familiar with the need of arranging bricks in a row so as to build a wall. In Arabic, we find such a wall in root سور, that also means a sign or token as well as being used to denote the chapters of the Qur’an. The idea is that every single sign is arranged in such a manner as to render possible the construction of whole. To the building as a whole, as a group composed by orderly arranged elements in rows, be it bricks or soldiers, we’ll give the name book, كتب, (ktb), a root that also means the disposing the troops in order.

So, basically, the Qur’an is a building. Being a building, it’s composed of elements closely joined in rows. But, remember that in order to assure that these rows are made even, masons use a wooden instrument similar to a rule? This instrument is found amongst the meanings of ام, the root we’ve found in the second part of this article, also signifying origin and mother.

Before concluding this article, there’s just one last detail to which I have to call your attention: the fact that the Qur’an is conveyed by Arabic root قرا, which means to collect together – and which, in turn, means that even the title itself is a sign… because in Arabic, the title of a book is one of the meanings of عنو (‘nu), a root that also refers to everything that serves as an indication of other thing.

God willing, in my next article I’ll tell you the story of what happened when I noticed that ayat is a word composed by the first and last letters of Arabic alphabet, and decided to look at the word in my native language that’s as well formed through the addition of the first and last letters of Portuguese alphabet.

View the Original article

In the previous post, we’ve seen how  the identification of signs is dependent on the sense of vision.

I would now like to analyze an Arabic root whose presence in this article I hope will allow me to prove that in order to know signs a special kind of knowledge is needed, a type of  knowledge that seems to be associated with vision.

The root is سمو (smu), whose main meanings in the Qur’an are those of sky and names.
A name is a sign in the form of a language unit by which a person or thing is known.

The root سمو also means a form or figure seen from a distance, and the aspect of anything – so basically, just like the others we’ve seen so far, a name is also a sign with its own shape. But besides this similarity, a name has one characteristic that makes it distinct from the others: names are signs that can be used to allude to someone or something that is not present, which means that the recognizance of names is not dependent on vision.

To put it in other words, if names are like forms that we see then either we identify those forms or we don’t, that is, either we know them or we don’t. It is not a question of not seeing them, but of recognizing them. In Latin, this verb is recognosco, and literally means to know again. Being used to denote the act of recalling to mind, this meaning to know again as a recollection in the mind is dependent on the thing being previously known – and this is probably why سمو is synonym with علم (‘lm), a root whose main occurrence in the Qur’an is to denote knowledge, as I’ve pointed out in the first part of this article.

We should now recall that ayat denotes both the signs and the verses in the Qur’an. In my opinion, this pair should to be looked at from the very peculiar aspect it assumes in the Qur’an, where those signs lead a sort of double-live, as they are both apparent and not immediately perceptible… To say it in other words, the concept of ayat in the Qur’an tells us of  the existence of an apparent thing that is inseparable from a thing not equally apparent, and it is only because we are capable of seeing or recognizing the former that we are able to infer, or deduce, the presence of the other. This is also coherent with علم and سمو connection with signs, allowing me to conclude that getting to know the signs and the verses of the Qur’an is, in fact, dependent not only on the ability of seeing them but also of conceiving them.

In order for a better understanding of what conceiving means, I would like to call your attention to the Latin verb from which it derives: concipio, to take or lay hold of. From this general meaning, a figurative one emerged: to take or seize something by the sense of sight, which in turn was used as meaning to comprehend intellectually. I think that this verb is the one that more explicitly shows us that there’s an equivalence between seeing and understanding, an equivalence that originates in the general metaphor of the eye of the intellect, that is, a sort of sixth sense that is responsible for the perception of unapparent things.

The fact that they’re intrinsically connected is made explicit in Arabic root بصر, that denotes both the sense of vision with the eye and the vision of the intellect, as demonstrated, for instance, in 24:44, “God alternates the night and the day. Indeed in that is an indication for those of vision”.

The alternation of night and day is an apparent sign susceptible of being caught by the eyes, and, at the same time, an unapparent one that can only be grasped by the intellect – which means that this sign is a concept, that is, it is a name given to the conjunction of all the characteristic features or particulars of the alternation that can only be seen by the other type of vision. But if we wish to understand even better this type of knowledge, I suggest taking a look at 3:190 “Indeed, in […] the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding.“, where understanding is denoted by لب, a root that clearly associates it with the edible heart of nuts, almonds, etc. In other words, this is the type of knowledge or understanding that has its origin on the capability of being able to look at the inside, at the center of something that is hidden – a notion that is rendered clear in English language through the noun insight, literally, a sight or view into the interior.

Inspired by the sense of names in سمو, in the next post I will try to explain how these units of language congregate around its own standard…

View the Original article

In the previous post, I’ve shown you that signs are associated with physical forms. Furthermore, and in order to shed more light on the concept, I’ve added one other Arabic root, علم, that shows us several examples of what signs are, and to one of them I now wish to pay special attention: the standard or banner to which soldiers congregate.

In ancient Rome, the military standard was named signum (the source of our sign), a word whose general meaning was that of a a mark, token, sign, indication. In its particular use in military language, the signum was the distinctive sign of a division of an army, a meaning that gave birth to several expressions, such as the following of the standard to denote the marching in military order; the relinquishing the standard as a synonym of deserting, and the fixing the banner as likened to encamping. This last meaning was conveyed in Latin through the expression signa figere. Meaning to fix, fasten, attach, affix, the verb figo (the source of  adverb fixe, that is, fixedly) was used as an allusion to the fixing in the ground, hence to erect or set up.

The Arabic root نصب (nSb), means to put, set upright. It can be applied to stones set up as a sign or mark to show the way. Furthermore, when used with the standard of علم it means setting it up. One other interesting thing is that this root signifies origin, source, a place whence a thing grows.

The noun origin derives from origo, to rise, while the verb denoting that action, orior, was used applied to the heavenly bodies as meaning to become visible, appear.
Besides origin, نصب also means dust rising high. In order to understand its presence side by side with origin, I’ll first ask you to pay attention to 30:20 “And of His signs is that He created you from dust”, and 35:11 “And God created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop“.
Dust is the name given to fine dry particles of earth. The noun particle derives from Latin particula, a small part or little bit – a diminutive of pars, a part, piece, portion. This same word gave origin to: partibilis, divisible; particulatio (particularize), a dividing into small parts or pieces; and to partitio (partition), used by philosophers as meaning a logical division into parts or members.

The root نصب signifies a portion as well.

The Latin word for dust is pulvis, a source of derivation of to pulverize, that is, to reduce a substance to fine particles. Latin pulvis was also used in relation to soil, hence alluding properly to potter’s earth, a substance whose elasticity allows it to create artifacts of several shapes.

From all this, I think it is possible to conclude that origin is associated with that which comes to existence by means of the firm congregation of parts, of which the soldiers congregation to the banner, and the particles of earth gathered to form dust and potter’s earth seems to be a symbol.

In 83:6-7 we read “[Man] was created from a fluid, ejected, emerging from between the backbone and the ribs.” The noun ribs is conveyed by the same root denoting dust in 30:20 and 35:11 – that is, نصب.

In what backbone is concerned, it is conveyed by صلب (Slb), that not only refers to any portion of the spine (particularly the lumbar portion, or loins),  but also to a banner or standard.

The backbone is also known as spinal column. The spinal column is a vertical structure made up of bone and cartilaginous matter that supports the trunk and the head. It is composed of roughly 33 bones called vertebrae -  Latin word for joint. Each pair of vertebrae is connected by a joint that stabilizes it and allows it to move. The spine is home to the spinal cord, or spinal marrow, a column of nerve tracts that, along with the brain, form the central nervous system, to which is sent all the information apprehended by the senses  – which means that we should add the spine to the the list where we already have the standard and dust-potter’s earth as symbols of origin. But not only the spine… we should also add the mother, a meaning that we get from Arabic ام (‘m), also meaning that to which other things are collected together as well as source, origin, foundation or basis of a thing, its stay, support or cause of subsistence. This root does not mention the spine, however it sure denotes the ensign, or standard, which an army follows.

In the next post, I will be analyzing signs dependence on the sense of vision.

View the Original article