Verbs of quadriliteral roots are relatively
few. Quadriliteral roots usually denote periodic sounds (e.g. jangle),
periodic movements (e.g. quake), are extracted from foreign loanwords, or
are altered from previous triliteral roots by adding a letter to them.
There is only one structure for verbs of
quadriliteral roots with no additional letters:
Basic Structure of Quadriliteral-Rooted Verbs
(Active
Voice)
fa"lal(a)
tr./intr.
فَعْلَلَ
*Note: this structure is written this way in
Arabic grammar, but the third and fourth letters of the root do not have
to be the same.
Examples:
Quadriliteral-Rooted Verbs
(He) muttered
tamtam(a)
تَمْتَمَ
hamham(a)
هَمْهَمَ
waswas(a)
وَسْوَسَ
(He) stammered
ta'<ta'(a)
تَأْتَأَ
fa'<fa'(a)
فَأْفَأَ
(He) jangled
salsal(a)
صَلْصَلَ
(He) howled
walwal(a)
وَلْوَلَ
(He) quaked
(He) thundered
jaljal(a)
جَلَجَلَ
(He) made quake
zalzal(a)
زَلْزَلَ
(He) dressed (somebody)
from
Aramaic etymology
sarbal(a)
سَرْبَلَ
(He) embroidered
from Persian etymology
zakhraf(a)
زَخْرَفَ
(He) put a cap on (somebody)
from Latin
"calantica"
qalnas(a)
قَلْنَسَ
(He) rolled (something)
original
root:
درج
?
dahraj(a)
دَحْرَجَ
(He) scattered (something)
original
root:
بثر
?
ba"thar(a)
بَعْثَرَ
(He) choked
original
root:
حرج ?
hashraj(a)
حَشْرَجَ
(He) reassured
original
root:
أمن
?
tam'an(a)
طَمْأَنَ
Arabs used, and use, the structure
fa"lal(a)
to carve verbs from nouns that have more than
three consonants in them. We explained in this
page, at length, how the verb form II is used to derive verbs from
nouns with triliteral roots. There are other verb forms that can also be
derived from three-letter-rooted nouns. However, to derive verbs from
nouns with more than three letters to their roots, quadriliteral-rooted structure such as
fa"lal(a)
are used.
In modern times,
fa"lal(a)
has been used as well to derive verbs from three-letter-rooted nouns with
more than three letters. This is why we said that this structure is used
to derive verbs from nouns with more than three consonants, regardless of
the root.
Examples:
Form QI Verb
Noun
'amrak(a)
أَمْرَكَ
'amerikaa
أَميرِكَاْ
(he) made American
→ Americanized (tr.)
America (fem.)
sa"wad(a)
سَعْوَدَ
'as-su"oodiyya(tu)
السُّعُوْدِيَّةُ
(he) made Saudi
→ Saudized (tr.)
Saudi Arabia
(fem.)
bar"am(a)
بَرْعَمَ
bur"um(un)
بُرْعُمٌ
(he) budded
a bud (masc.)
talfan(a)
تَلْفَنَ
telifōn(un)
تلِيْفونٌ
(he) telephoned
a telephone (masc.)
There were many quadriliteral roots that Arab
grammarians recognized as altered from triliteral roots by the addition of
one letter to them. They worked out 8 standard patterns for the addition
of the fourth letter and called the patterns or the structures the
"annexed" quadriliteral-rooted structures without additional letters.
Here are the 8 structures:
Example
Structure
jalbab(a)
جَلْبَبَ
fa"lal(a)
فَعْلَلَ
(He) put a djellaba
on (somebody)
hawqal(a)
حَوْقَلَ
faw"al(a)
فَوْعَلَ
(He) became
impotent
rahwal(a)
رَهْوَلَ
fa"wal(a)
فَعْوَلَ
(He) hurried up
baytar(a)
بَيْطَرَ
fay"al(a)
فَيْعَلَ
(He) treated (an
animal)
sharyaf(a)
شَرْيَفَ
fa"yal(a)
فَعْيَلَ
(He) cut
sanbal(a)
سَنْبَلَ
fan"al(a)
فَنْعَلَ
(He, a plant) eared
qalnas(a)
قَلْنَسَ
fa"nal(a)
فَعْنَلَ
(He) put a cap on
(somebody)
salqaa
سَلْقَىْ
fa"laa
فَعْلَىْ
(He) laid down
Notes
Those are structures of four-letter-rooted
verbs without additional letters.
The purple letters are identified as
additional to the roots not to the structures.
In the first structure, the third and fourth
letter have to be identical. This is different from the general
structure mentioned above, albeit they are written the same way.
I don't think all the examples are correct
(the last one isn't),
but those are the ones I have.
The verb
قَلْنَسَ
was mentioned because classical Arab grammarians didn't know it was from
Latin etymology and thought it was altered from the root
ق ل س
, although the truth is the other way
around. I had to put it here because I don't have other examples.
Those structures are rare and knowing them
is of very little importance, if any.
An example on the conjugation of a simple
quadriliteral-rooted verb:
طَمْأَنَ
tam'an(a)
(he)
reassured
الْمَاْضِيْ
Perfective// ط م أ نRoot
(Form QI,
Active Voice)
S
I
N
G
U
L
A
R
(I)
reassured
tam'ant(u)
طَمْأَنْتُ
(You
masc.)
reassured
tam'ant(a)
طَمْأَنْتَ
(You fem.) reassured
tam'anti
طَمْأَنْتِ
(He) reassured
tam'an(a)
طَمْأَنَ
(She) reassured
tam'anat
طَمْأَنَتَ
D
U
A
L
(You) reassured
tam'antumaa
طَمْأَنْتُمَاْ
(They masc.)
reassured
tam'anaa
طَمْأَنَاْ
(They fem.)
reassured
tam'anataa
طَمْأَنَتَاْ
P
L
U
R
A
L
(We dual/plu.)
reassured
tam'annaa
طَمْأَنَّاْ
(You masc.)
reassured
tam'antum
طَمْأَنْتُمْ
(You fem.)
reassured
tam'antunn(a)
طَمْأَنْتُنَّ
(They masc.)
reassured
tam'anoo
طَمْأَنُوْا
(They fem.)
reassured
tam'ann(a)
طَمْأَنَّ
Quadriliteral
Roots with Additional Letters
With the additional letters, three
more structures of quadriliteral roots are obtained.
Structures of Perfective Verbs with Quadriliteral Roots
(Active Voice)
No additional letters
Form QI
fa"lal(a)
فَعْلَلَ
1 additional letter
Form QII
tafa"lal(a)
تَفَعْلَلَ
2 additional letters
Form QIII
'if"anlal(a)
اِفْعَنْلَلَ
Form QIV
'if"alall(a)
اِفْعَلَلَّ
Forms QIV is an irregular
doubled verb. The green short vowel in
certain conjugations of this verbs is displaced backward (original form
'if"allal(a)).
Examples on the
conjugation of the quadriliteral-rooted forms:
