[1]
لَيْسَ a word denoting negation: (S, A, K:)
it is a verb in the pret. tense, (S, A, K,
Mughnee,) having no other tense, (Sb, S, M,
Msb, Mughnee,) nor a part. n. nor an inf. n.;
(Sb, M, Msb; *) of the measure
فَعِلَ; (Mughnee;)
originally
لَيِسَ, from which it is contracted by
the suppression of a vowel, (Sb, * S, M, * K,
Mughnee, *) being found difficult of pronunciation, (S,) [i. e.,] to render it easy to pronounce,
(K,) like
عَلْمَ for
عَلِمَ, (Sb, M,) the
ى not
being changed into
ا (Sb, S, M) because it is
imperfectly inflected, being used in the pret. form
for the present, (S,) [i. e.,] because it has no
future, nor part. n., nor inf. n., nor derivation,
wherefore, not being perfectly inflected like its
coordinates, it is made like that which is not a
verb, as
لَيْتَ: (Sb, M:) what shows it to be
a verb, (S, Mughnee,) not a particle occupying
the place of
مَا, as Ibn-Es-Sarráj and some
others after him have asserted, (Mughnee,)
though not perfectly inflected like [other] verbs,
(S,) is their saying
لَسْتَ and
لَسْتُمَا (S, Mughnee)
and
لَسْتُمْ (S) and
لَيْسَا and
لَيْسُوا and
لَيْسَتْ
[&c.], (Mughnee,) like as they say
ضَرَبْتَ
and
ضَرَبْتُمَا and
ضَرَبْتُمْ [&c.]: (S:) we have
not determined its measure to be
فَعَلَ, because
this is not contracted; nor
فَعُلَ, because there
is no verb of this measure with
ى for its medial
radical letter, except
هَيُؤَ; but
لُسْتَ has been
heard; so, accord. to this form, it may be
like
هَيُؤَ: (Mughnee:) the Benoo-Dabbeh say
لُسْتُ and
لُسْنَا in the sense of
لَسْتُ and
لَسْنَا;
and some of them say
لِسْتُ: (TA, art.
لوس:)
but Sb says, that the Arabs did not say
لِسْتَ,
like as they said
خِفْتَ, because
ليس is not
perfectly inflected like [other] verbs. (M.)
[There is also another opinion respecting its
origin, which will be mentioned in the course
of this article.] It [is generally a particular
(not a universal) negative, and] denotes the
negation of a thing at the present time; (M,
Mughnee;) [i. e.] it denotes [thus] the negation
of its predicate: (Msb:) and has the same
government as the verb
كَانَ and its coordinates; (S;) governing the subject in the nom.,
and the predicate in the accus.: (S, Mughnee:)
as when you say,
لَيْسَ زَيْدٌ قَائِمًا [
Zeyd is not
a person standing]: (Msb:) and by means of
the context, it denotes the negation of a thing
at a time not the present; as in the saying of
El-Aashà [respecting Mohammad],
لَهُ نَافِلَاتٌ مَا يُغِبُّ نَوَالُهَا
وَلَيْسَ عَطَآءُ اليَوْمِ مَانِعَهُ غَدَا
[
He has bounties the bestowing of which is not
on alternate days; and the giving of to-day
will not be a preventer of it to-morrow]; and
[sometimes when it is followed by a verb, as]
in the saying,
لَيْسَ خَلَقَ ٱللّٰهُ مِثْلَهُ [
God has
not created the like of him, or
it.] (Mughnee.)
But it differs from its coordinates in that the
prep.
بِ may be prefixed to its predicate: as
in the saying,
لَيْسَ زَيْدٌ بِمُنْطَلِقٍ [
Zeyd is not
going away]; the
ب being a means of the verb's
being trans., and also corroborative of the negation: and one may optionally not introduce it,
because one may do without the corroborative,
and because some verbs are trans. sometimes by
means of a prep. and sometimes without a prep.,
as
اِشْتَقْتُكَ and
اِشْتَقْتُ إِلَيْكَ. (S.) It also differs
from its coordinates in that its predicate may not
be put before it: for you may say
مُحْسِنًا كَانَ
زَيْدٌ, but not
مُحْسِنًا لَيْسَ زَيْدٌ: (S:) or some
allow this latter; but others disallow it. (Ibn-
'Akeel on the Alfeeyeh, section on
كان and its
coordinates.) It is also used as an exceptive
particle, (S, M, Mughnee,) in the place of
إِلَّا;
(S, Mughnee;) in which case [also] its subject
[which is understood] is in the nom. case, and
its predicate in the accus.: (S:) you say,
جَآءَنِى
القَوْمُ لَيْسَ زَيْدًا [
The company of men came to me,
except Zeyd]; as though you said,
لَيْسَ الجَائِى
زَيْدًا. (S, M: but in the latter, instead of
جاءنى, we find
أَتَى; and instead of
الجائى, we
find
الآتِى.) You may also say,
جَآءَنِى القَوْمُ
لَيْسَكَ [
The company of men came to me, excepting thee]; but the separate pronoun,
إِيَّاكَ, is
here better. (S.) When the predicate after it
is connected with
إِلَّا, as in the ex. here next
following, Benoo-Temeem make it in the nom.
case: thus they say,
لَيْسَ الطِّيبُ إِلَّا المِسْكُ [
It is
not perfume, except musk; meaning, nothing is
perfume except musk]: which has been resolved
is several ways; some holding
الطيب to be the
subject of
ليس: but its being peculiar to the dial.
of Temeem refutes the explanations here referred
to: some, again, hold
ليس to be here used as a
particle; and so in the saying
لَيْسَ خَلَقَ ٱللّٰهُ مِثْلَهُ,
mentioned above. (Mughnee.) Sometimes it is
used in the sense of
لَا التَّبْرِئَةِ [the
لا which denies
in a general manner to the uttermost, i. e., universally, or totally]; as is said in the K, except
that in all the copies thereof we find
وَإِنَّمَا put by
mistake for
وَرُبَّمَا: (TA:) [so in the saying in the
Kur, ii. 194,
لَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌ, which is the same
as
لَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ in verse 235 of the same
chapter, meaning,
There shall be no crime, or
sin,
chargeable upon you]. Sometimes, also, it is
used as a connective particle, (Mughnee,) in the
sense of
لا so used: (TA:) as in the saying [of
a poet],
أَيْنَ المَفَرُّ وَالإِلٰهُ الغَالِبُ
وَالأَشْرَمُ المَغْلُوبُ لَيْسَ الغَالِبُ
[
Where is the place of flight when God is the
pursuer, and El-Ashram (meaning Abrahah)
is
the overcome, not the overcomer?]: which has
been resolved by supposing
الغالب to be the
subject of
ليس, and the predicate to be suppressed; the latter being said by Ibn-Málik to be
an annexed pronoun referring to El-Ashram; so
that the meaning is
لَيْسَهُ الغَالِبُ [
the overcomer is
not he]. (Mughnee.) It is said (M, K) by
Fr, (M,) and also by Kh, (TA,) that the original of
لَيْسَ is
لَا أَيْسَ; (M, K [in the latter of
which I read
أَوْ أَصْلُهُ, as in several copies of the
K, or rather
أَوْ أَصْلُهَا, as corrected in the TA,
instead of
أَوْ مَعْنَاهُ, the reading in the CK];)
and this, says Fr, is shown by the saying,
جِئْ
بِهِ مِنْ أَيْسَ وَلَيْسَ, i. e., [
Bring thou him, or
it,]
from where he, or
it, is, and is not: (M:) or
اِيتِنِى مِنْ حَيْثُ أَيْسَ وَلَيْسَ i. e., [
Come thou to
me, or probably, the right reading is
اِيتِنِى بِهِ bring
thou to me him, or
it, (as I find in a copy of the
K, in which
به has been added in red ink, and in
the A I find
إِيتِ بِهِ,)]
from where he, or
it, is, and
he, or
it, is not: (K:) or the meaning is,
مِنع حَيْثُ
لَا وُجْدَ [
from where there is no finding; or
no
being found, or
no existence; or
no power, or
ability]: (K, * TA:) or
أَيْسَ means
مَوْجُودٌ
[
found, or
existing], and
لَا أَيْسَ [means]
لَا
مَوْجُودٌ [
not found, or
not existing], and is contracted [into
لَيْسَ]: (K:) [but the last rendering
of
ايس and
لا ايس seems to be taken from an explanation, not literal, of another saying;
مَا يَعْرِفُ
أَيْسَ مِنْ لَيْسَ he knows not a thing existing from
a thing not existing.] Aboo-'Alee relates, that
Sb said,
جِئْ بِهِ مِنْ حَيْثُ وَلَيْسَا [
Bring thou him,
or
it, from where he, or
it, is and is not]; meaning,
وَلَيْسَ, the fet-hah of the
س being made full
in sound, on account of the pause. (M.) In
the saying of a certain poet,
قَدْ رُسَّتِ الحَاجَاتُ عِنْدَ قَيْسِ
إِذْ لَا يَزَالُ مُولَعًا بِلَيْسِ
[
Wants have been forgotten as old things (so
رُسَّت is explained in the M, as used here, in art.
رس,)
with Keys, since he ceases not to be addicted
to the use of
the word leysa], it is made by him
a noun, and declined. (M.)