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Click to Expand/Collapse OptionEtymArab
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ḤṢN حصن 
ID … • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ḤṢN 
“root” 
▪ ḤṢN_1 ‘to be strong, inaccessible; fortress’ ↗¹ḥaṣuna, ↗ḥiṣn
▪ ḤṢN_2 ‘to be chaste (woman)’ ↗²ḥaṣuna, ʻunblemished reputation, integrity (woman; Isl. Law) ↗ʔiḥṣān
▪ ḤṢN_3 ‘horse, stallion’ ↗ḥiṣān
▪ ḤṢN_4 ‘fox’: ʔabū ’l‑ ↗ḥuṣayn

Other values, now obsolete, include (Hava1899):

ḤṢN_5 ʻ¹lock; ²piece of iron; ³basket’: miḥṣan (pl. maḥāṣinᵘ)
ḤṢN_6 ʻ¹freedom; ²marriage; ³mind’: ʔiḥṣān
ḤṢN_ ‘…’: ḥṣn

Semantic value spectrum in ClassAr (acc. to BAH2008): ‘fortress, palace, to be inaccessible, to be immune; to fortify, armament, lock; to be chaste, a married person; stallion, horse’ 
▪ ClassAr lexicographers regard [v1] ʻinaccessibility’ as the primary value from which all others that can be found in the root are derived. For them, [v2] the chastity of a woman is her *ʻinaccessibility’; [v3] a horse is called ḥiṣān»because he preserves his rider [TA] or because his back is like the ḥiṣn to its rider [Mgh, Mṣb]«; and also [v4] the fox’s name, ʔabū ’l-ḥuṣayn, is connected to ḥiṣn ‘fortress’ »because of his protecting himself from causes of harm by his acuteness [Ṣ, Ḳ]« (LANE ii 1865).
▪ [v1] and [v2]: Etymologically, however, one may have to keep at least two strings apart, as the idea of ‘fortification’ seems to be dependent on ḥiṣn ‘fortress’ which, accord. to Kogan2015, »almost certainly« is an Aramaism (from Syr ḥisn ‘fortress’, with sound shift Syr /s/ > Ar /ṣ/). In contrast, Leslau2006 and Belova2009 refute the Aram provenience and instead assume a SAr or modSAr origin of Ar ḥiṣn ‘fortress’. DRS, too, keeps two Sem roots apart: one (*√ḤS/ṢN) that gave Ar ¹ḥaṣuna ʻto be strong, fortified’, and another one (*√ḤṢN) that gave Ar ²ḥaṣuna ʻto be chaste’. In *√ḤS/ṢN, the authors consider the forms with /ṣ/ to be SSem variants of what in NWSem appears as /s/.1 Obviously due to this vacillation betw. /s/ and /ṣ/, Kogan remarks that also »[t]he well-known Ar root ↗√ḤSN ‘to be good, beautiful’ deserves attention as a potential cognate since the semantic shift ʻgood’ > ʻstrong’ (or vice versa) is not unconceivable« – Kogan2015: 383.
▪ As already mentioned sub [v1], the Ar lexicographical tradition tends to make also [v3] ‘horse, stallion’ and [v4] ‘fox’ dependent on ḥiṣn ‘fortress’. This may be true in the case of ‘fox’, though prob. not in the version quoted above; rather, ʔabū ’l- ḥuṣayn may originally have been *ʻthe one with the little fortress (i.e., the fox den)’ (ḥuṣayn interpreted as a dimin. of ḥiṣn, formed on the familiar FuʕayL pattern). As for ‘horse, stallion’, it may rather be *ʻthe strong one’ than *ʻ(a rider’s) fortress’.
[v5] : The value is kept apart from the others in DRS (as #ḤṢN-4), probably for systematic reasons. But is seems connected to [v1], as all sub-values can be seen as a specific kind of *ʻprotection’. The sub-values are further explained in Lane ii (1865): ʻlock (syn. qifl); the piece of iron that extends upwards upon the nose of the horse, having its base in the kiʕāmaẗ which is the iron thing that embraces, or clasps, the muzzle of the horse (Jac. Schultens, as cited in Freytag’s Lex., explains it as ʻferramentum quoddam in fræno equi et frænum ipsum’); a basket of the kind called zabīl’.
▪ The values assembled under [v6] all have developed from [v2] ʻchastity, integrity, unblemished reputation’. As explained in more detail in entry ↗ʔiḥṣān, a way of securing a woman’s good reputation used to be to marry her off, hence the equation of the caus. vb. IV, ʔaḥṣana, lit. ʻto let (a woman) keep an unblemished reputation’, with ʻ²marriage’. Given that respectable women often are identified with free women (↗ḥurr), the meaning ʻchastity, integrity, unblemished reputation’ not only came to mean ʻ²marriage’ but also ʻ¹freedom’. In a similar way (but unclear how exactly), the meaning ʻ¹freedom’ seems to have given rise to the notion of ʻ³mind’.
▪ … 
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DRS 9 (2010) #ḤṢN-1 Ar *ḥaṣuna ‘être chaste, vertueuse (femme)’, ḥāṣinaẗ ‘femme vertueuse’, ḥaṣān ‘femme vertueuse, épouse légitime’, ḥiṣn, ḥuṣn ‘vertu (d’une femme)’; Sab ḥṣn ‘prendre sous sa protection’, ʔḥṣn (pl.) ‘épouses’. -2 Ar ḥiṣān ‘étalon, cheval de race’, Ḥrs ḥəṣān, Jib hásún ‘cheval’. -3 YemAr ĭḥtiṣān ‘biens, possessions’. -4 Tña ḥad̮in ‘fer’, Ar ʔaḥṣinaẗ ‘fers, pointes de lances’; Soq ḥaṣəhan ‘fer, lame’.

DRS 9 (2010) #ḤS/ṢN-1 Hbr ḥosen ‘force’, EmpAram ḥsn ‘violence’, JP ḥᵃsen ‘être fort, véhément’, Ar ḥaṣuna ‘être fort, fortifié’; oAram ḥsn, JP ḥisnā ‘forteresse, force’, Syr ḥesnā, Ar ḥiṣn ‘forteresse’, SAr mḥṣn ‘ouvrage défensif, fortification’, Mhr Ḥrs ḥāṣən ‘grande maison’, Jib ḥeṣn, Soq ḥóṣon ‘château’; Gz ḥəṣn ‘forteresse, château’; Hbr ḥāsīn, Aram ḥassīnā, Ar ḥaṣīn ‘fort’. -2 ʔabū ’l-ḥiṣn, LevAr ʔabū ḥsēn, DaṯAr ḥuṣaynī, Soq ḥṣáyni ‘renard’.

▪ [v1] Belova, “South Semitic Languaes”, in EALL iv (2009), 300 ff: Ar ḥisn ~ huṣn < YemAr ḥisn ~ huṣn ‘protected place, fortress’, cf. Sab ḥṣn ‘to take under protection’, Jib oḥóṣun ‘to build, to fortify’, ḥeṣn ‘castle’, Soq ḥoṣon, Gz ḥǝṣn ‘fortress, castle’.
▪ … 
▪ [v1] : The origin of protAram *ḥsn ‘to be strong’, the hypothetical ancestor of oAram ḥsn ‘fortification, stronghold’ (> Syr ḥesnā ‘fortress’ > Ar ḥiṣn), is uncertain – Kogan2015: 383 #8.
▪ [v5] : It is not clear why DRS did not group Ar ʔaḥṣinaẗ ‘fers, pointes de lances’ together with ḥiṣn sub *√ḤS/ṢN, but separately under #ḤṢN-4.
▪ For the other values, see above, section CONC.
▪ … 
– 
– 
ḥaṣun‑ حَصُنَ , u (ḥaṣānaẗ
ID … • Sw – • BP … • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ḤṢN 
vb., I 
1 to be inaccessible, be well fortified; 2 to be chaste (woman) – WehrCowan1979. 
▪ Arabic lexicographical tradition regards both values as essentially one, interpreting [v2] ʻ(a woman’s) chastity, integrity’ as a special meaning developed from [v1] ʻinaccessibility, fortification’. Etymologically, however, one may have to keep the two apart as ¹ḥaṣuna ʻto be strong, fortified’ and ²ḥaṣuna ʻto be chaste’. See DISC below.
▪ … 
▪ … 
DRS 9 (2010) #ḤS/ṢN-1 Hbr ḥosen ‘force’, EmpAram ḥsn ‘violence’, JP ḥᵃsen ‘être fort, véhément’, Ar ḥaṣuna ‘être fort, fortifié’; oAram ḥsn, JP ḥisnā ‘forteresse, force’, Syr ḥesnā, Ar ḥiṣn ‘forteresse’, SAr mḥṣn ‘ouvrage défensif, fortification’, Mhr Ḥrs ḥāṣən ‘grande maison’, Jib ḥeṣn, Soq ḥóṣon ‘château’; Gz ḥəṣn ‘forteresse, château’; Hbr ḥāsīn, Aram ḥassīnā, Ar ḥaṣīn ‘fort’. -2 ʔabū ’l-ḥiṣn, LevAr ʔabū ḥsēn, DaṯAr ḥuṣaynī, Soq ḥṣáyni ‘renard’.
DRS 9 (2010) #ḤṢN-1 Ar *ḥaṣuna ‘être chaste, vertueuse (femme)’, ḥāṣinaẗ ‘femme vertueuse’, ḥaṣān ‘femme vertueuse, épouse légitime’, ḥiṣn, ḥuṣn ‘vertu (d’une femme)’; Sab ḥṣn ‘prendre sous sa protection’, ʔḥṣn (pl.) ‘épouses’. -2 Ar ḥiṣān ‘étalon, cheval de race’, Ḥrs ḥəṣān, Jib hásún ‘cheval’. -3 YemAr ĭḥtiṣān ‘biens, possessions’. -4 Tña ḥad̮in ‘fer’, Ar ʔaḥṣinaẗ ‘fers, pointes de lances’; Soq ḥaṣəhan ‘fer, lame’.
▪ …
 
▪ Arabic lexicographical tradition regards both values as essentially one, interpreting [v2] ʻ(a woman’s) chastity, integrity’ as a special meaning developed from [v1] ʻinaccessibility, fortification’. In contrast, Jeffery1938 (following Guidi and Fraenkel) viewed all verbs signifying ʻfortification’ etc. as denominative from ḥiṣn ʻfortress’, which he thought was a borrowing from Syr ḥesnā ʻfortress’ (with Syr s > Ar ). Supporting this view, also Kogan holds that Ar ḥiṣn ‘fortress’ »almost certainly« is an Aramaism. Moreover, Kogan remarks that »[t]he well-known Ar root √ḤSN ‘to be good, beautiful’ deserves attention as a potential cognate since the semantic shift ʻgood’ > ʻstrong’ (or vice versa) is not unconceivable« – Kogan2015: 383.
DRS, too, keeps two Sem roots apart: one (*√ḤS/ṢN) that gave Ar ¹ḥaṣuna ʻto be strong, fortified’, and another one (*√ḤṢN) that gave Ar ²ḥaṣuna ʻto be chaste’. In *√ḤS/ṢN, the authors consider the forms with /ṣ/ as SSem variants of what in NWSem appears as /s/.1
▪ For Syr ḥesnā ʻfortress’, Jeffery1938 suggested a relation to Ar ḫašuna ʻto be hard, rough’ (↗ḫašin), a relation, however, that Kogan refutes because »Ar š does not regularly correspond to s in oAram« – Kogan2015: 383 fn. 1099.
▪ Leslau2006 (CDG) considers a Syr origin of Ar ḥiṣn as »doubtful since ḥṣn also occurs in SAr.« Along the same line, Belova2009 derives the fuṣḥà term ḥiṣn~huṣn ‘fortress’ from the dialectal YemAr ḥiṣn~huṣn ‘protected place, fortress’, which she seems to regard as a borrowing from SAr or modSAr (see above, section COGN).
▪ ClassAr lexicographers derive also ↗ḥaṣuna ʻto be chaste’, ↗ḥiṣān ʻhorse’ and (ʔabū ’l‑) ↗ḥuṣayn ʻfox’ from the idea of ʻfortification, protection’; for details see individual entries and root entry ↗√ḤṢN.
▪ … 
– 
NB: Given that the etymology of several items belonging to √ḤṢN remains unclear so far and that the meaning of ḥaṣuna comprises both ‘fortification’ and ‘chastity’, the list below includes values that may be derived from, or akin to, any of the two.

ḥaṣṣana, vb. II, 1 to make inaccessible (s.th.); 2 to strengthen (s.th.); 3 to fortify, entrench (s.th.); 4 to immunize, make proof (ḍidda against): D-stem, caus., perh. denom. from ↗ḥiṣn.
ʔaḥṣana, vb. IV, 1 to make inaccessible (s.th.); 2 to fortify, entrench (s.th.); 3a to be chaste, pure (woman); b to remain chaste, be of unblemished reputation (woman): *Š-stem, caus., [v1] and [v2] perh. denom. from ↗ḥiṣn.
taḥaṣṣana, vb. V, 1 to strengthen one’s position, protect o.s.; 2 to be fortified; 3 to be secure, be protected: Dt-stem, perh. denom. from ↗ḥiṣn.

ḥaṣīn, adj., 1 inaccessible, strong, fortified, firm, secure(d), protected; 2 immune, proof, invulnerable (ḍidda against): quasi-PP I. | al-ḥiṣn al‑~, n., stronghold (fig.; e.g., of radicalism)
ḥaṣānaẗ, n.f., 1 strength, ruggedness, forbiddingness, impregnability, inaccessibility; 2 shelteredness, chastity (of a woman); 3 invulnerability, inviolability; 4 immunity (of deputies, diplomats; against illness): vn. I.
taḥṣīn, n., pl. ‑āt, n., 1 fortification, entrenchment; 2 strengthening, cementing, solidification; 3 immunization: vn. II.
ʔiḥṣān, n., blamelessness, unblemished reputation, integrity (Isl. Law): vn. IV; see also ↗s.v.
taḥaṣṣun, n., securing, safeguarding, protection, protectedness: vn. V.
muḥaṣṣan, adj., 1 fortified; 2 entrenched; 3 immune, proof (ḍidda against): PP II.
muḥṣanaẗ / muḥṣinaẗ, adj.f., 1 sheltered, well-protected, chaste; 2 of unblemished reputation (woman; Isl. Law): PP / PA IV; see also ↗ʔiḥṣān.

For other values of the root, cf. ↗ḥiṣān and ʔabū ’l- ↗ḥuṣayn, as well as, for the overall picture, root entry √ḤṢN. 
ḥiṣn حِصْن , pl. ḥuṣūn 
ID 215 • Sw – • BP – • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ḤṢN 
n. 
1a fortress, fort, castle, citadel, stronghold; b fortification, entrenchment; 2 protection – WehrCowan1979. 
▪ While ClassAr lexicographers tend to include ḥiṣn in the large group of “derivatives” from the root ↗ḤṢN with a basic meaning of *ʻto be inaccessible’, Jeffery1938 (following Guidi and Fraenkel) regarded it as a borrowing from Syr ḥesnā ʻfortress’ (with Syr s > Ar , due to partial assimilation after preceding emphatic , a folk etymology that made the borrowing “match” the Ar ḥaṣuna ‘to be inaccessible’). Supporting this view, Kogan2015, too, holds that Ar ḥiṣn ‘fortress’ »almost certainly« is an Aramaism.2 . Moreover, Kogan remarks that »[t]he well-known Ar root √ḤSN ‘to be good, beautiful’ deserves attention as a potential cognate since the semantic shift ʻgood’ > ʻstrong’ (or vice versa) is not unconceivable« – Kogan2015: 383.
▪ In DRS, the juxtaposition of the Ar and Aram words suggests that they are cognates, sharing a common etymon. The authors posit a Sem root *√ḤS/ṢN and explain: »En SSem, la racine comporte comme 2ème consonne radicale«.3
▪ In contrast, Leslau2006 (CDG) thinks that an »Aram.-Syr. origin of Ar ḥiṣn is doubtful since ḥṣn also occurs in SAr.« Along the same line, Belova2009 derives the fuṣḥà term ḥiṣn~huṣn ‘fortress’ from the dialectal YemAr ḥiṣn~huṣn ‘protected place, fortress’, which she seems to regard as a borrowing from SAr or modSAr (see below, section COGN).
▪ ClassAr lexicographers derive also ↗ḥaṣuna ʻto be chaste’, ↗ḥiṣān ʻhorse’ and (ʔabū ’l‑) ↗ḥuṣayn ʻfox’ from ḥiṣn (for details see individual entries).
▪ …
 
eC7 Q 59:2 wa-ẓannū ʔanna-hum māniʕatu-hum ḥuṣūnu-hum mina ’llāhi ‘and they thought their fortifications would protect them against God’.
▪ … 
DRS 9 (2010) #ḤS/ṢN-1 Hbr ḥosen ‘force’, EmpAram ḥsn ‘violence’, JP ḥᵃsen ‘être fort, véhément’, Ar ḥaṣuna ‘être fort, fortifié’; oAram ḥsn, JP ḥisnā ‘forteresse, force’, Syr ḥesnā, Ar ḥiṣn ‘forteresse’, SAr mḥṣn ‘ouvrage défensif, fortification’, Mhr Ḥrs ḥāṣən ‘grande maison’, Jib ḥeṣn, Soq ḥóṣon ‘château’; Gz ḥəṣn ‘forteresse, château’; Hbr ḥāsīn, Aram ḥassīnā, Ar ḥaṣīn ‘fort’. -2 ʔabū ’l-ḥiṣn, LevAr ʔabū ḥsēn, DaṯAr ḥuṣaynī, Soq ḥṣáyni ‘renard’.
▪ Belova2009: Ar ḥisn~huṣn ‘fortress’, YemAr ḥisn~huṣn ‘protected place, fortress’, (Leslau2006 CDG: SAr m-ḥṣn ‘defense work’) Sab ḥṣn ‘to take under protection’, Jib oḥóṣun ‘to build, fortify’, ḥeṣn ‘castle’, Soq ḥoṣon, Gz ḥǝṣn ‘fortress, castle’ (“South Semitic Languaes”, in EALL iv: 300 ff).
▪ … 
▪ Jeffery1938, 109-110: »It is only the pl. ḥuṣūn that is found in the Qurʔān, though the denom. vb. ḥaṣṣana occurs participially in v. 14 of the same Sūra. The passages are late and refer to the Jews of Naḍīr near Madina. – The vb. is clearly denom. though the philologers try to derive it from a more primitive ḥṣn ‘to be inaccessible’ (LA, xvi: 275), and Guidi, Della Sede, 579, had seen that ḥiṣn was borrowed from the Syr ḥesnā. Fraenkel, Fremdw, 235, 236, agrees with this on two grounds, firstly on the general ground that such things as fortresses are not likely to have been indigenous developments among the Arabs, and as a matter of fact all the place names compounded with ḥiṣn which Yāqūt collects in his Muʕǧam are in Syria; secondly on philological grounds, for ḥiṣn ‘fortress’ is not from a root ‘to be inaccessible’ but from one ‘to be strong’, which we find in Hbr ḥāsan, Aram ḥᵃsan, Syr ḥsn,2 of which the Ar equivalent is ḫašana3 ‘to be hard, rough’. In the Targums חיסנא is a ‘store’ or ‘warehouse’, but in the Syr ḥesnā is properly a ‘fortress’. The word is frequently used in the old poetry and must have been an early borrowing.«
▪ Leslau2006 (CDG) s.v. Gz ḥəṣn ‘fortress’: »Praetorius, ZDMG 61 (1907) 616 connects Gz ḥəṣn ‘fortress’ with Gz ḥanaṣa ‘build’. Brockelmann 1928:247 compares Syr ḥəsen ‘be strong’, ḥesnā ‘fortress’ with Ar ḥaṣuna ‘be strong’, ḥiṣn ‘fortress’. As for Ar ḥiṣn, Fraenkel 235 (following Guidi) considers it a loanword coming from Syr ḥesnā. He explains Ar ḥiṣn (with ) against Syr ḥesnā (with s) as a folk etymology due to Ar ḥaṣuna ‘be inaccessible’. The Aram.-Syr. origin of Ar ḥiṣn is doubtful since ḥṣn also occurs in SAr. See also Landberg1920: 424 ff.«
▪ Belova2009 : Ar ḥisn~huṣn < YemAr ḥisn~huṣn ‘protected place, fortress’ (“South Semitic Languaes”, in EALL iv: 300 ff).
▪ … 
– 
NB: Given that the etymology of several items belonging to √ḤṢN remains unclear so far, the list below contains only those values that seem to be directly related to ḥiṣn. For other values of the root, cf. ↗ḥaṣuna, ↗ḥiṣān, ʔabū ’l- ↗ḥuṣayn, and ↗ʔiḥṣān, as well as, for the overall picture, root entry √ḤṢN.

ḥiṣn ṭāʔir, n., Flying Fortress

ḥaṣuna, u (ḥaṣānaẗ), vb. I, 1 to be inaccessible, be well fortified: perh. denom.; 2 ↗²ḥaṣuna.
ḥaṣṣana, vb. II, 1 to make inaccessible (s.th.); 2 to strengthen (s.th.); 3 to fortify, entrench (s.th.); 4 to immunize, make proof (ḍidda against): D-stem, caus., prob. denom.
ʔaḥṣana, vb. IV, 1 to make inaccessible (s.th.); 2 to fortify, entrench (s.th.): prob. denom.; 3 ↗²ḥaṣuna.
taḥaṣṣana, vb. V, 1 to strengthen one’s position, protect o.s.; 2 to be fortified; 3 to be secure, be protected: Dt-stem, intr./pass./self-ref., prob. denom.

ḥaṣīn, adj., 1 inaccessible, strong, fortified, firm, secure(d), protected; 2 immune, proof, invulnerable (ḍidda against): quasi-PP I. | al-ḥiṣn al‑~, n., stronghold (fig.; e.g., of radicalism).
ḥaṣānaẗ, n.f., 1 strength, ruggedness, forbiddingness, impregnability, inaccessibility; 2 ↗²ḥaṣuna; 3 invulnerability, inviolability; 4 immunity (of deputies, diplomats; against illness): vn. I of ḥaṣuna, see above and ↗s.v.
taḥṣīn, n., pl. ‑āt, n., 1 fortification, entrenchment; 2 strengthening, cementing, solidification; 3 immunization: vn. II.
taḥaṣṣun, n., securing, safeguarding, protection, protectedness: vn. V.
muḥaṣṣan, adj., 1 fortified; 2 entrenched; 3 immune, proof (ḍidda against): PP II.
 
ḥiṣān حِصان , pl. ḥuṣun, ʔaḥṣinaẗ 
ID 214 • Sw – • BP 3307 • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ḤṢN 
n. 
1a horse; 1b stallion – WehrCowan1979. 
▪ Any connection to other items of √ḤṢN (‘fortress, to be inaccessible’; ‘chastity, unblemished reputation’; ‘fox’)? – Lane ii 1865 reports the Ar lexicographers’ explanation which links ḥiṣān to ↗ḥiṣn ‘fortress’: »the ḥiṣān is so called because he preserves his rider [TA] or because his back is like the ḥiṣn to its rider [Mgh, Mṣb]«. – Most probably, however, ḥiṣān is not from ḥiṣn, but both are from the same basic notion of ʻstrength’ (↗ḥaṣuna), so that the word for ‘horse’ originally meant *ʻthe strong one’. – In any case, ḥiṣān seems to be a secondary development, peculiar to Ar (and modSAr?), while the more widespread (though still not deeply rooted) word for ‘horse’ in Sem is (WSem) *paraš‑, see Ar ↗faras; for a word of possibly foreign (IE) origin, cf. (EgAr) ↗sīsī.
▪ … 
▪ … 
DRS 9 (2010) #ḤṢN-2 Ar ḥiṣān ‘étalon, cheval de race’, Ḥrs ḥəṣān, Jib hásún ‘cheval’.
▪ … 
▪ See above, section CONC.
▪ … 
– 
ḥiṣān al-baḥr, n., hippopotamus
ḥiṣān buḫārī, n., iron horse
quwwaẗ ḥiṣān, n.f., horse power

For other values of the root, cf. ↗ḥaṣuna, ↗ḥiṣn, ʔabū ’l- ↗ḥuṣayn, and ↗ʔiḥṣān, as well as, for the overall picture, root entry √ḤṢN. 
ʔabū ’l‑ḥuṣayn أبو الحُصَيْن 
ID … • Sw – • BP … • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ḤṢN 
n. 
fox – WehrCowan1979. 
▪ Any connection to other items of √ḤṢN (‘fortress, to be inaccessible’; ‘chastity’; ‘horse’)? – Lane ii 1865 reports the Ar lexicographers’ explanation which links ʔabū ’l-ḥuṣayn to ↗ḥiṣn ‘fortress’ »because of his [i.e., the fox’s] protecting himself from causes of harm by his acuteness [Ṣ, Ḳ]«. However, given the name’s composition of the possessivizer ʔabū… ‘father of…’ and the diminuitive FuʕayL form ḥuṣayn, it seems to be more natural to explain the term as *ʻthe one with the little fortress (sc., the fox den)’.
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DRS 9 (2010) #ḤS/ṢN-1 Hbr ḥosen ‘force’, EmpAram ḥsn ‘violence’, JP ḥᵃsen ‘être fort, véhément’, Ar ḥaṣuna ‘être fort, fortifié’; oAram ḥsn, JP ḥisnā ‘forteresse, force’, Syr ḥesnā, Ar ḥiṣn ‘forteresse’, SAr mḥṣn ‘ouvrage défensif, fortification’, Mhr Ḥrs ḥāṣən ‘grande maison’, Jib ḥeṣn, Soq ḥóṣon ‘château’; Gz ḥəṣn ‘forteresse, château’; Hbr ḥāsīn, Aram ḥassīnā, Ar ḥaṣīn ‘fort’. -2 ʔabū ’l-ḥiṣn, LevAr ʔabū ḥsēn, DaṯAr ḥuṣaynī, Soq ḥṣáyni ‘renard’.
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▪ See above, section CONC.
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– 
For other values of the root, cf. ↗ḥaṣuna, ↗ḥiṣn, ↗ḥiṣān, and ↗ʔiḥṣān, as well as, for the overall picture, root entry ↗√ḤṢN. 
ʔiḥṣān إِحْصان 
ID … • Sw – • BP … • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021
√ḤṢN 
n. 
blamelessness, unblemished reputation, integrity (Isl. Law) – WehrCowan1979. 
▪ Morphologically, ʔiḥṣān is the vn. of ʔaḥṣana, a caus. vb. IV that in MSA either refers to the chastity of a woman and hence her unblemished reputation (↗²ḥaṣuna) or the inaccessibility of a fortress (↗¹ḥaṣuna, ↗ḥiṣn), or to inaccessibility in general. ClassAr lexicography tends to derive all values in √ḤṢN from ḥiṣn ʻfortress’. In contrast, DRS 9 (2010) suggests to keep ²ḥaṣuna ʻto be chaste’ (#ḤṢN) apart from ¹ḥaṣuna ʻto be strong, fortified’ (#ḤS/ṢN, *ʻpower, violence, strength, force, fortification’). – For more details, cf. root entry ↗√ḤṢN as well as ↗ḥaṣuna and ↗ḥiṣn.
▪ For muḥṣan as a term in Islamic Law, see below, section DISC.
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ʔaḥṣana, vb. IV, caus., ʻto protect, defend’ (< *ʻto fortify, make inaccessible’), but also ʻto keep o.s. chaste (woman)’ (< *ʻto make o.s. inaccessible’), hence also ʻto be chaste, virtuous (woman)’, as well as ʻto give (a woman) in marriage; to marry (man or woman)’ (to protect o.’s own or s.o.’s chastity); cf. Q 21:91 and 66:12 (on Maryam bt. ʕImrān): allatī ʔaḥṣanat farǧahā ʻwho preserved her pudendum from that which is unlawful or indecorous / who abstained from what is unlawful or indecorous \ was continent, chaste’; cf. also Q 4:25 fa-ʔiḏā ʔuḥṣinna fa-ʔin ʔatayna bi-fāḥišatin fa-ʕalay-hinna niṣfu mā ʕalà ’l-muḥṣanāti mina ’l-ʕaḏābi ʻbut when they [sc., slave girls] enter wedlock, if they commit indecency, they shall be liable to half the punishment prescribed for free women’.
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DRS 9 (2010) #ḤṢN-1 Ar *ḥaṣuna ‘être chaste, vertueuse (femme)’, ḥāṣinaẗ ‘femme vertueuse’, ḥaṣān ‘femme vertueuse, épouse légitime’, ḥiṣn, ḥuṣn ‘vertu (d’une femme)’; Sab ḥṣn ‘prendre sous sa protection’, ʔḥṣn (pl.) ‘épouses’. -2 Ar ḥiṣān ‘étalon, cheval de race’, Ḥrs ḥəṣān, Jib hásún ‘cheval’. -3 YemAr ĭḥtiṣān ‘biens, possessions’. -4 Tña ḥad̮in ‘fer’, Ar ʔaḥṣinaẗ ‘fers, pointes de lances’; Soq ḥaṣəhan ‘fer, lame’.

DRS 9 (2010) #ḤS/ṢN-1 Hbr ḥosen ‘force’, EmpAram ḥsn ‘violence’, JP ḥᵃsen ‘être fort, véhément’, Ar ḥaṣuna ‘être fort, fortifié’; oAram ḥsn, JP ḥisnā ‘forteresse, force’, Syr ḥesnā, Ar ḥiṣn ‘forteresse’, SAr mḥṣn ‘ouvrage défensif, fortification’, Mhr Ḥrs ḥāṣən ‘grande maison’, Jib ḥeṣn, Soq ḥóṣon ‘château’; Gz ḥəṣn ‘forteresse, château’; Hbr ḥāsīn, Aram ḥassīnā, Ar ḥaṣīn ‘fort’. -2 ʔabū ’l-ḥiṣn, LevAr ʔabū ḥsēn, DaṯAr ḥuṣaynī, Soq ḥṣáyni ‘renard’.
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muḥṣan: »a term of Islamic law denoting a certain personal status. – The Ḳurʔān’s impersonal uses of the root ḥ-ṣ-n refer to warehousing, shelter, fortification and protection (xii: 48; xxi: 80; lix: 2, 14). Used personally of the Virgin Mary (xxi: 91; lxvi: 12), the verb refers to chastity. A cluster of participial derivatives (iv: 24-5; v: 5) relate to the intent underlying the Islamic marriage contract where muḥṣin / muḥṣanaẗ are perhaps best understood in terms of the provision of accommodation. The muḥṣanaẗ need not be Muslim (v: 5); if Muslim, she need not be free (iv: 24-5). Muḥṣanāt are thus marriageable women: free muslimāt or kitābiyyāt, or Muslim slave women. Muḥṣanāt / muḥṣinūn are contrasted with musāfiḥāt / musāfiḥūn, i.e. with such as engage in illicit sexual relations. The category muḥṣanāt may include slave women (iv: 24) yet be contrasted with slave women (iv: 25)« – J. Burton, art. “Muḥṣan”, in: EI² (online, as of 12Dec2020).
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ʔaḥṣana, vb. IV, 1 to make inaccessible (s.th.); 2ḥiṣn; 3a to be chaste, pure (woman); b to remain chaste, be of unblemished reputation (woman): [v1] caus., either from ↗²ḥaṣuna ‘to be chaste’ or from ↗ḥiṣn ‘fortress’; [v2] clearly from ḥiṣn; [v3] only personal use, cf. section HIST.

muḥṣanaẗ, var. muḥṣinaẗ, pl. ‑āt, adj.f., 1 sheltered, well-protected, chaste; 2 of unblemished reputation (woman; Isl. Law): PP (var. PA) IV; the variation betw. PP and PA owes itself to the perspective: the woman can be protected or actively protecing herself.

For other values of the root, cf. ↗ḥaṣuna, ↗ḥiṣn, ↗ḥiṣān, and ʔabū ’l- ↗ḥuṣayn, as well as, for the overall picture, root entry √ḤṢN. 
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