Qasam and qasāma: a paradigmatic lexicalization of the grammatical pattern in Classical Arabic

What is it about?

This article deals with the formation and interpretation of the noun qasāma. According to Ibn Sīdah (d. 458/1066), “the qasāma is the group of people who swear or testify about something” (al-qasāma al-ǧamā‘a yuqsimūna ‘alā šay’ ’aw yašhadūna); according to Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), “[qasāma] was formed on the model of ġarāma and ḥamāla, because it applies to the inhabitants of the place where the person is killed” (wa-qad ǧā’at ‘alā binā’ al-ġarāma wa-l-ḥamāla li-’anna-hā talzamu ’ahl al-mawḍi‘ allaḏī yūǧadu fīhi al-qatīl). Consequently, this word is not the cross between a consonantal root, having a lexical meaning, and a pattern, having a grammatical meaning. It is rather that of two words: qasam (“oath”), represented by the root qsm, and either ǧamā‘a or ġarāma/ḥamāla represented by the pattern fa‘āla. In both cases, qasāma owes its form to the word with which it is semantically in the relation of hyponym to hyperonym, the meaning retained by Ibn Manẓūr being also metonymic: in the Ḥanafī rite, qasāma dispenses with retaliation (qiṣāṣ), but not with the blood price (diya) and therefore becomes synonymous with obligation to pay. Qasāma, that can be translated by “collective oath”, illustrates a phenomenon that we propose to call “the paradigmatic lexicalization of the grammatical pattern” and of which there are other examples.

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