Vocabulary of Holy Quran
The Quran is extremely concise and is a masterpiece of condensation. It leaves a great deal to the intelligence of the reader, urges reflection and appeals constantly to the understanding. Once he is convinced how richly rewarding that quest can be, he will find a vast domain opening out before him for his profitable exploration. He will be taken by the hand, by Divine Grace and Mercy, and led into a universe of the spirit of unsuspected and exceeding charm and beauty.
The entire vocabulary of the Quran is derived from a little more than 1725 root words (most of them triliteral, that is, composed of three letters; some four; a couple five). Arabic, being a Semitic tongue, is highly derivative, that is, a few root words can produce thousands of variations, and often the variations range in meaning. For example, the root word janana produces a range of words and meanings that appear dozens of times in the Quran but that do not tarry very far from the original linguistic meaning of janana, which is to conceal or be hidden or exist beyond perception. From j-n-n the following nouns are generated: Janna (paradisal gardens or Heaven, and earthly gardens or sown fields); ajinna (singular janîn) (fetus or unborn child); jinn (those unseen creatures who have volition, the species from which Iblis or Satan hails); majnûn (insanity, one possessed); junna (covering, as when people make false oaths to "cover" their true designs); and a couple of other examples, like the verb jann, as when the night "covered."
Full article: http://www.quranwithdvd.com/VocabQuran.html
The entire vocabulary of the Quran is derived from a little more than 1725 root words (most of them triliteral, that is, composed of three letters; some four; a couple five). Arabic, being a Semitic tongue, is highly derivative, that is, a few root words can produce thousands of variations, and often the variations range in meaning. For example, the root word janana produces a range of words and meanings that appear dozens of times in the Quran but that do not tarry very far from the original linguistic meaning of janana, which is to conceal or be hidden or exist beyond perception. From j-n-n the following nouns are generated: Janna (paradisal gardens or Heaven, and earthly gardens or sown fields); ajinna (singular janîn) (fetus or unborn child); jinn (those unseen creatures who have volition, the species from which Iblis or Satan hails); majnûn (insanity, one possessed); junna (covering, as when people make false oaths to "cover" their true designs); and a couple of other examples, like the verb jann, as when the night "covered."
Full article: http://www.quranwithdvd.com/VocabQuran.html
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