Grammar term · Sarf · morphology
الْأَصْل
al-asl
Underlying original form
Sarf · morphologyRoot structureadvanced term14,010+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The theoretical original: the shape a word had before i'lal or idgham reworked it — قَالَ traces to قَوَلَ.
Classical definition
الأَصْلُ الصُّورَةُ الأُولَى لِلْكَلِمَةِ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَلْحَقَهَا إِعْلَالٌ أَوْ إِبْدَالٌ أَوْ حَذْفٌ.
“The asl is the first form of the word before i'lal, substitution or merging affected it.”
(بتصرف من شذا العرف)
Key words in the Arabic
الصُّورَة الْأُولَىthe first, underlying form
قَبْلَ أَنْ يَلْحَقَهَاbefore there befell it
Understand it
Sarf explains surface forms by positing what they 'were': قَالَ was قَوَلَ before the waw flipped, يَعِدُ was يَوْعِدُ before the waw dropped, مَسَّ was مَسَسَ before the merge. The asl is a reconstruction — nobody says قَوَلَ — but it is the reconstruction that makes every irregularity regular: state the asl, name the process (qalb, hadhf, naql, idgham), and the mysterious form derives itself.
How to spot it
Recognition test
When a form looks short or strange, rebuild it: restore the root letters into the expected wazn — that rebuilt shape is the asl, and the difference between it and the surface form names the process that applied.
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