Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ While the notion of ‘clarity, purity’ and ‘eloquence’ (FṢḤ_1) probably goes back to that of ^†‘milk divested of the froth’ (FṢḤ_3) or the ^†‘breaking of the dawn light’ (FṢḤ_4), which with all likelihood are akin to each other (sharing the idea of clarity, brightness, and/or purity), the word for the Jewish ‘Passover’ and Christian ‘Easter’ (FṢḤ_2) seems to be the result of regressive assimilation (ṣ < s before ḥ) after borrowing from Hbr, either directly or via Syr peṣḥā, so that, etymologically, fiṣḥ should be arranged sub radice ↗FSḤ rather than √FṢḤ; due to its origin in Hbr pāsaḥ ‘to pass over, spring over’, it is, properly spoken, closer to Ar ↗fusḥaẗ ‘walk, promenade, stroll, ride, drive, outing, excursion’ than to the idea of purity (FṢḤ) with which it obviously became associated, given the homonymity of the roots after the change from s to ṣ.
▪ FṢḤ_4: ^†faṣḥ ‘breaking of the dawn light’ and the corresponding vb. I, ^†faṣaḥa, a (faṣḥ), ‘to appear in all its splendour (dawn)’, belong with all probability together with FṢḤ_3 *‘to be divested of the froth (milk)’, and, hence, FṢḤ_1 ‘to use clear language, be eloquent’. The Sem evidence suggests that this, rather than ‘purity’, is the primary value.

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▪ See above, section CONC. For details:
▪ FṢḤ_1 : see ↗faṣuḥa
▪ FṢḤ_2 : see ↗fiṣḥ and (with non-emphatic s) ↗fasaḥa, ↗FSḤ.

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faṣuḥ‑ فَصُحَ , u (faṣāḥaẗ)

ID … • Sw – • BP … • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021

√FṢḤ

vb., I

to be eloquent – WehrCowan1979.

▪ »The root FṢḤ is very ancient and is found in other Sem langs. […] In some Sem langs, FṢḤ is explicitly associated with something clear, or bright: in [Akk] Ass, piṣū signifies ‘pure; bright’; in Aram, paṣṣiḥ signifies ‘pure; radiant’. In C7 Ar the notion refers to s.th. pure, faultless, unaltered (faṣḥ). The vb. ʔafṣaḥa means ‘to become limpid [urine]; to be skimmed of its froth [milk]’; it refers to clearness, to the dazzling morning light (ʔafṣaḥa ’l-ṣubḥu), and to a horse or donkey whose whinnying or braying is clear (ʔafṣaḥa ’l-farasu wa’l-baʕāru). Linguistically, faṣuḥa wa-ʔafṣaḥa ’l-raǧulu refers to an enunciation both pure and clear. This seems to be the best match for classical texts, with the notion of ‘correctness’ added. It is also the meaning retained by Blachère (1952: I,119) when he translates the expression fuṣaḥāʔ al-ʕArab as ‘the Arabs with pure and correct speaking’. According to al-Suyūṭī (d. 911/1505), the linguistic usage is a metaphor derived from the concrete meaning of the word. In ClassAr, it implies at the same time correctness of language and its aesthetic quality« – art. »faṣāḥa« (Georgine Ayoub), in EALL.
▪ According to Ehret1989, the root is derived from a bi-consonantal *PṢ ‘to take out’ through extension in iterative *-ḥ.

▪ Hava1899 still lists some values of FṢḤ that seem to have become obsolete during C20. Particularly interesting is the differentiation between two G-stems, namely I ^†faṣaḥa, a (faṣḥ), ‘to appear in all its splendour (dawn)’, and II ^†faṣuḥa, u (faṣāḥaẗ), ‘to be pure, without froth (milk); to use good, clear language; to be eloquent’ (cf. also ^†faṣḥ and faṣīḥ, adj., ‘pure, without froth (milk); chaste in speech, eloquent’; ^†tafaṣṣaḥa, vb. V, ‘to speak clearly, eloquently’; ^†tafāṣaḥa fī kalāmi-hī, vb. VI, expr., ‘he made a show of eloquence’). All notions—that of purity of milk, clarity of language, and appearing brightly at dawn—converge in vb. IV, ʔafṣaḥa, which today is used mostly in the meaning ‘to express o.s. in flawless literary Arabic; to speak clearly, distinctly, intelligibly; to express, state clearly, declare outright, speak openly, frankly’, but in Hava1899 still also is listed with the meanings ‘to appear (dawn)’ and ‘to be pure, without froth (milk); to yield pure milk’.

▪ Zammit2002, CAD: Akk peṣû (paṣiu, paṣû) ‘white, pale, bleached; cleared, emptied (of vegetation, obstructions, etc., said of plots of land)’, peṣû (paṣû) ‘to become white, to pale’, Aram pᵉṣaḥ ‘to sparkle, be bright’, Syr pᵉṣaḥ ‘to rejoice’, (af.) ‘to make bright, serene, [Goschen-Gottstein1970:] glad, happy, (eṯp.) to be happy’, Ar ʔafṣaḥᵘ ‘more eloquent’ (ḫulūṣ fī šayʔ wa-naqāʔ min al-šawb).

▪ Denominative from ^†fiṣḥ ‘milk divested of the froth’ (Lane, following ClassAr authors)? The meaning referring to speech seems to be secondary, as ClassAr authors already suggested – Lane VI (1877). The Sem (Akk, Aram) evidence, however, would rather point to a primary meaning of ‘to be white, pale, clear, bright, dazzling’, the only direct reflex of which in MSA is the PA IV, mufṣiḥ, in the meaning ‘cloudless, sunny, bright (day)’.
▪ Ar ↗fiṣḥ ‘Easter; Passover’ does not seem to be etymologically related, neither to ^†faṣaḥa, a (faṣḥ), ‘to appear in all its splendour (dawn)’, nor to faṣuḥa, u (faṣāḥaẗ), ‘to be pure, without froth (milk); to use good, clear language; to be eloquent’. Any interpretation of fiṣḥ as *‘feast of purity’ is secondary, resulting from the merging of Aram PṢḤ / Ar FṢḤ (from Hbr PSḤ) with an earlier Aram PṢḤ / Ar FṢḤ (from Sem *PṢḤ), due to regressive assimilation after borrowing from Hbr.
▪ According to Ehret1989:177, the root is an extension in iterative *-ḥ from a biconsonantal *PṢ ‘to take out’, originally meaning ‘to break forth and shine in full splendor’. Other derivations from the same *PṢ : faṣṣ ‘to separate, detach, pull out from’ (↗faṣṣ), (iterative) ^†faṣfaṣ ‘to separate, disperse’, (durative) faṣd ‘to bleed’ (↗faṣada), (sunderative) ^†faṣʕ ‘to press the fresh date to make it come out of the shell, so take or scrape off the shell of an almond, put off the turban’, (finitive) faṣl ‘to cut off and separate one thing from another, detach, distinguish between’ (↗faṣala), (fortative) faṣm ‘to cut, break’ (↗faṣama), (inchoative > tr.) faṣy ‘to separate, loosen, dismiss, set free’ (↗tafaṣṣà).

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► faṣṣaḥa, vb. II, to bring (the language) into literary form, make (the language) correct Arabic, purify (the language): D-stem, caus., denom. from faṣīḥ, faṣāḥaẗ, etc.
► ʔafṣaḥa, vb. IV, 1 to express o.s. in flawless literary Arabic; 2 to speak clearly, distinctly, intelligibly; 3 to give expression (ʕan to), express, state clearly, declare outright, make plain, speak openly, frankly (ʕan about); 4 to orient, inform (li‑ s.o. ʕan about); 5 to become clear, plain, distinct: denom., from faṣīḥ, faṣāḥaẗ, etc. — 6 ↗fiṣḥ.
► tafaṣṣaḥa, vb. V, to affect eloquence, affect mastery of the language: tD-stem.
► tafāṣaḥa, vb. VI, = V.

► faṣīḥ pl. fuṣaḥāʔᵘ, fiṣāḥ, fuṣuḥ, adj., 1 pure, good Arabic (language), literary; 2 skillful in using the correct literary language; 3 clear, plain, distinct, intelligible (language, speech); 4 fluent, eloquent: quasi-PP, adj. formation.
► faṣāḥaẗ, n.f., 1 purity of the language; 2 fluency, eloquence: vn. I.
► ʔafṣaḥᵘ, f. fuṣḥà, adj., 1 of purer language; 2 more eloquent: elat. | (al-ʕarabiyyaẗ, al-luġaẗ) al-fuṣḥà, adj./n. f., classical Arabic.
► ʔifṣāḥ, n., 1 flawless literary Arabic style; 2 frank statement, open word (ʕan about), open declaration: vn. IV.
► mufṣiḥ, adj., 1 clear, plain, distinct, intelligible; 2 cloudless, sunny, bright (day): PA IV; [v2] shows the closest affinity to what may be the etymon proper, namely ^†faṣaḥa, a (faṣḥ), ‘to appear in all its splendour (dawn)’.

► fiṣḥ, faṣḥ n., pl. fuṣūḥ, 1 Easter (Chr.); 2 Pesach, Passover (Jud.): interpreted by some as belonging together with faṣuḥa; but this is probably wrong, cf. ↗fiṣḥ, incl. deriv. ʔafṣaḥa, vb. IV, 1 to celebrate Easter (Chr.); 2 to celebrate Passover (Jud.).

faṣīḥ فَصِيح , pl. fuṣaḥāʔᵘ , fiṣāḥ , fuṣuḥ

ID … • Sw – • BP … • APD … • © SG | 15Feb2021

√FṢḤ

adj.

1 pure, good Arabic (language), literary; 2 skillful in using the correct literary language; 3 clear, plain, distinct, intelligible (language, speech); 4 fluent, eloquent – WehrCowan1979.

▪ Morphologically a FaʕīL adj. denoting the intense presence of a quality in s.th., the word probably is ultimately from the now obsolete ^†fiṣḥ ‘milk divested of the froth’ or ^†faṣḥ ‘breaking of the dawn light’, see ↗faṣuḥa and, for the whole picture, ↗FṢḤ.

▪ …

↗faṣuḥa.

▪ Tu fasih: 1330 ʕĀşıḳ Paşa, Ġarīb-nāme : ten dili vü cān dili eytdi faṣīḥ – Nişanyan22Apr2015.

► faṣṣaḥa, vb. II, to bring (the language) into literary form, make (the language) correct Arabic, purify (the language): D-stem, caus., denom. from faṣīḥ or ↗faṣāḥaẗ.
► ʔafṣaḥa, vb. IV, 1 to express o.s. in flawless literary Arabic; 2 to speak clearly, distinctly, intelligibly; 3 to give expression (ʕan to), express, state clearly, declare outright, make plain, speak openly, frankly (ʕan about); 4 to orient, inform (li‑ s.o. ʕan about); 5 to become clear, plain, distinct: denom., from faṣīḥ or ↗faṣāḥaẗ. — 6 ↗fiṣḥ.
► ʔafṣaḥᵘ, f. fuṣḥà, adj., 1 of purer language; 2 more eloquent: elat. | (al-ʕarabiyyaẗ, al-luġaẗ) al-fuṣḥà, adj./n. f., classical Arabic.
► ʔifṣāḥ, n., 1 flawless literary Arabic style; 2 frank statement, open word (ʕan about), open declaration: vn. IV.
► mufṣiḥ, adj., 1 clear, plain, distinct, intelligible; 2 cloudless, sunny, bright (day): PA IV; [v2] shows the closest affinity to what may be the etymon proper, namely ^†faṣaḥa, a (faṣḥ), ‘to appear in all its splendour (dawn)’.

faṣāḥaẗ فَصاحَة

√FṢḤ

n.f.

1 purity of the language; 2 fluency, eloquence – WehrCowan1979.

Vn. of faṣuḥa ‘to be eloquent’, ultimately from the now obsolete ^†fiṣḥ ‘milk divested of the froth’ or ^†faṣḥ ‘breaking of the dawn light’, see ↗faṣuḥa and, for the whole picture, ↗FṢḤ.

▪ …

↗faṣuḥa.

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► faṣṣaḥa, vb. II, to bring (the language) into literary form, make (the language) correct Arabic, purify (the language): D-stem, caus., denom. from faṣāḥaẗ or ↗faṣīḥ.
► ʔafṣaḥa, vb. IV, 1 to express o.s. in flawless literary Arabic; 2 to speak clearly, distinctly, intelligibly; 3 to give expression (ʕan to), express, state clearly, declare outright, make plain, speak openly, frankly (ʕan about); 4 to orient, inform (li‑ s.o. ʕan about); 5 to become clear, plain, distinct: denom., from faṣāḥaẗ or ↗faṣīḥ. — 6 ↗fiṣḥ.
► tafaṣṣaḥa, vb. V, to affect eloquence, affect mastery of the language: tD-stem.
► tafāṣaḥa, vb. VI, = V.

► ʔifṣāḥ, n., 1 flawless literary Arabic style; 2 frank statement, open word (ʕan about), open declaration: vn. IV.
► mufṣiḥ, adj., 1 clear, plain, distinct, intelligible; 2 cloudless, sunny, bright (day): PA IV; [v2] shows the closest affinity to what may be the etymon proper, namely ^†faṣaḥa, a (faṣḥ), ‘to appear in all its splendour (dawn)’.

fuṣḥà فُصْحَى

√FṢḤ

adj., elat., f.

al-fuṣḥà, short for al-luġaẗ ʕarabiyyaẗ al-fuṣḥà or al-ʕarabiyyaẗ al-fuṣḥà or al-luġaẗ al-fuṣḥà : classical Arabic – WehrCowan1979.

▪ Morphologically, fuṣḥà is the f. of the m. adj. ʔafṣaḥᵘ ‘of purer/purest language; more/most eloquent’, elat. of ↗faṣīḥ ‘pure, good Arabic (language), literary; skillful in using the correct literary language; clear, plain, distinct, intelligible (language, speech); fluent, eloquent’, which, probably, ultimately goes back to a now obsolete ^†fiṣḥ ‘milk divested of the froth’. Used as a n., al-fuṣḥà is short for al-luġaẗ al-fuṣḥà, al-ʕarabiyyaẗ al-fuṣḥà, or al-luġaẗ al-ʕarabiyyaẗ al-fuṣḥà ‘classical Arabic’, lit. *‘the purest, most eloquent Arabic language’. (↗luġaẗ, ↗ʕarab).
▪ »It is quite startling to see how pervasive and still prevalent the exaltation and professing of fuṣḥà as the sole unifying force of an otherwise politically and economically divided Arab world is, and how allegiance to ‘perfect’ fuṣḥà (fuṣḥà salīmaẗ) continues to be constructed as allegiance to the unity of the Arab world, its glorious Golden Age and magnificent heritage, when allegiance to any alliance or unity in the rest of the world is based on economic interests and political ties.« – art. »Diglossia« (N.B. Omar), in EALL.
▪ »It is now generally agreed that the fuṣḥà and the dialects represent the end points of a variation continuum (Badawī 1973; Holes 1995; Versteegh 1997), but it is worth pointing out that, in the native linguistic-cum -intellectual tradition, little recognition is accorded to the taxonomies Western Arabists use to describe the diachronic variability of the language.« – art. »ʕArabiyyat« (unspecified author), in EALL.

▪ eC7 ʔafṣaḥᵘ (more/most able to express o.s., more/most eloquent) Q 28:34 wa-ʔaḫī Hārūnu huwa ʔafṣaḥu min-nī lisānan ‘and my brother Aaron is more eloquent than I in speech’

↗faṣuḥa.

See above, section CONC, and ↗faṣuḥa.

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fiṣḥ فِصْح , var. faṣḥ , pl. fuṣūḥ

√FṢḤ

1 Easter (Chr.); 2 Pesach, Passover (Jud.) – WehrCowan1979.

▪ One may be tempted to connect Ar fiṣḥ ‘Pessach, Passover; Easter’ with ↗faṣuḥa, u (faṣāḥaẗ), today mostly meaning ‘to use good, clear language; to be eloquent’, but earlier also ^†‘to be pure, without froth (milk)’, and interpret it fiṣḥ ‘Pesach, Easter’ as a *‘feast of purity’. This, however, is secondary and the result of a root merger that made both (Aram) PṢḤ and Ar FṢḤ into homonymous roots.

▪ …

▪ BDB1906, CAD: (? Akk pašāḫu ‘peace, tranquillity; to be at rest, become tranquil, act benevolently, relent, abate, settle’, puššuḫu ‘to calm, soothe, heal, relax, restore’, pašḫu ‘soothing’), Hbr pā̈saḥ ‘Passover’, pāsaḥ ‘to pass over, spring over’, Syr peṣḥā ‘Passover’.

▪ Listed separately in WehrCowan1979, but seen as belonging to the same theme of ‘purity’ as ↗faṣuḥa by Ayoub (EALL, “faṣīḥ”). Variant vowelling (fiṣḥ ~ faṣḥ) indicates that it is a loan.
▪ Either directly from Hbr pā̈saḥ ‘Passover’ or indirectly, via Syr peṣḥā, which seems more likely for phonological reasons. Compared to Hbr pā̈saḥ, both Syr and Ar show forms with regressive assimilation of *-s- to -ṣ- due to following emphatic -ḥ. A reading of the Jewish Pessach not being a festival of ‘passing over’ (FSḤ) but of ‘purity’ (FṢḤ) is probably secondary. The original relation with Ar ↗fasaḥa would then have been forgotten, or ignored, in order to connect the feast to faṣuḥa.¹
▪ Acc. to Lane,² an alternative name for the Passover, besides fiṣḥ, is al- ↗fāsiḫ .
▪ However, should Ar fiṣḥ reflect original terminology, then Pessach would be, originally, not a feast of passing over but one of (ritual?) purity. Given the fact that the sacrifice rituals point to a Nomadic tradition of spring sacrifices—as does also Passover’s Islamic counterpart, the ↗ʕumraẗ (also called ‘smaller ḥaǧǧ ’)—, a relation of Pessach to FṢḤ rather than to FSḤ should not be prematurely excluded.

1. Cf. al-Bustānī, Qaṭr al-muḥīṭ, 1869, who holds that fiṣḥ »is an Arabization of Hbr fisiḥ, meaning ‘crossing, pass over’, ‘transit,’ and ‘escape’.« 2. Lane VI (1877): 2404.)

▪ Not from Ar fiṣḥ, but from the same Hbr etymon are Engl Pesach ‘Passover’ and the old word for ‘Easter’, Pasch(e) (eC12), paschal ‘of or pertaining to Easter’, eC15, from oFr paschal (C12) and directly from lLat paschalis, from pascha ‘Passover, Easter’, from Grk pásχa ‘Passover’, from Aram pasḥā ‘pass over’, corresponding to Hbr pā̈saḥ, from pāsaḥ ‘to pass over’ – Huehnergard 2011, EtymOnline . — Cf. also Fr Pâques, It Pasqua, Span Pascua, Port Páscoa, Russ Pasxa, No påske, etc.

► ʔafṣaḥa, vb. IV, 1 to celebrate Easter (Chr.); 2 to celebrate Passover (Jud.): denom. — 3 For other values see section DERIV in entry ↗faṣuḥa.

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