# أرسل الله علينا ريحا شرقية رخاء طيّبة زجّت الزورق أهنأَ تزجية



## dgwp

I'm wrestling with another sentence from The Travels of Ibn Jubayr (Wright and de Goeje 1907), page 327, specifically:

أرسل الله علينا ريـحا شرقية رخاء طيّبة زجّت الزورق أهنأَ تزجية

The problem I am having is understanding how the following two parts work:

ريـحا شرقية رخاء طيّبة  and  أهنأَ تزجية

In the first of these, I can see that the first two words would be the direct object (an easterly wind), and that the last word (طيّبة) could also modify this, but where on earth does رخاء fit in?

In the second of these, I can see that تزجية is a verbal noun emphasising the preceding verb, and appears to be the genitive in an idaafa. But I cannot work out the meaning or role of أهنأَ which looks to be a second object of the verb زجّت, although the position of the hamza suggests a verb...

Edit1: Just had a thought that maybe أهنأَ is a superlative of
هنيء ("the most pleasant")? Since the final hamza would be preceded by a short vowel (fatha), I think the hamsa should be carried by an alif, i.e. the elative of هَنِيءٌ is أَهْنَأُ

Edite2: OK, I think I've got the first part figured out too... it seems that ريـحا شرقية رخاء طيّبة translates as ‘a pleasant easterly wind like a light breeze’, and that  رُخَاءً  is an adverbial modification (see Qur’an 38:36) of  رِيـحًا شَرْقِيَّةً , which is then qualified further by the adjective  ﻁَﻴﱢﺒَﺔً  Would be interested to hear other thoughts on this though.


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## Ghabi

dgwp said:


> that رُخَاءً is an adverbial modification


I think it's appositional, "God granted us an east wind—a gentle breeze which drove the boat in a most wholesome manner".


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## dgwp

I'm not sure it can be, since رخاء is masculine, while طيّبة is feminine.


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## Ghabi

Aren't the winds feminine?


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## elroy

Ghabi said:


> Aren't the winds feminine?


 ريح is feminine, but that has no bearing on modifiers of رخاء.  I agree with dgwp that رخاء طيّبة seems ungrammatical. 


dgwp said:


> رُخَاءً is an adverbial modification (see Qur’an 38:36)


 In the Qur'anic verse (فسخّرنا له الريح تجري بأمره رخاءً حيث أصاب), رخاء modifies تجري, so it works.  In this sentence, I don't really see a word that رخاء could plausibly modify.


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## djara

elroy said:


> I don't really see a word that رخاء could plausibly modify.



والرُّخاء من الرياح: اللَّيَّنةُ السريعة التي لا تُزَعْزِعُ، كتاب العين
وريحٌ رُخاءٌ: لَيِّنة، لسان العرب


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## elroy

Ah, so it's a feminine adjective?  What is the masculine form?


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## djara

elroy said:


> Ah, so it's a feminine adjective? What is the masculine form?


Used exclusively for the wind, therefore always feminine.
Survives in Tunisian Arabic. Used for rain مطر رخ


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## elroy

Very interesting!  Thanks, djara.  Mystery solved.


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## dgwp

If this is the case, would he not have written
ريـحا رخاء شرقية طيّبة


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## elroy

No, why would you think so?


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## dgwp

I guess I thought perhaps the two words "came as a package" and separating them may cause confusion (as it did for us!) Presumably though the use of this adjective would have been very familiar amongst his readers.


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## elroy

I would have been just as confused if رخاء came first.   I was completely unfamiliar with this meaning and wouldn't have been able to guess it.


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## dgwp

I'm still a bit confused how a masculine noun can become a feminine adjective...


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## cherine

You mean رُخاء? I don't know if it's masculine, but as it is only used with the wind, I think it's safe to presume it's a feminine word. And even if it is masculine, the rule in Arabic is that an adjective that is only used with females can be kept in its masculine form, like طالق، حائض.
As for the word order, this being a series of adjectives, the order doesn't really matter.


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## djara

cherine said:


> You mean رُخاء?


The adjective رخاء used for a lenient wind is actually رُخاء (rukhaa'), not رُخاء (rakhaa') which is a noun expressing ease, comfort, wealth...


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## dgwp

According to various dictionaries, رُخاء (rukhaa') is a masculine noun, or at least there is no mention of it being feminine.


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## cherine

djara said:


> The adjective رخاء used for a lenient wind is actually رُخاء (rukhaa'), not رُخاء (rakhaa') which is a noun expressing ease, comfort, wealth...


Yes, Djara, I wasn't contesting the meaning, I was just checking that dgwp was talking about this word and not another one. 


dgwp said:


> According to various dictionaries, رُخاء (rukhaa') is a masculine noun, or at least there is no mention of it being feminine.


Well, there remains the fact I mentioned above: that an adjective only used with f. can/is kept in the masculine form. So you don't need to worry about the gender of this word.


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## Mahaodeh

cherine said:


> the rule in Arabic is that an adjective that is only used with females can be kept in its masculine form, like طالق، حائض.


I don't believe it's one of these, I believe it's one of the adjectives where the same form is used for both males and females similar to فعول (عروس وعجوز وكنود) and فعّالة (علّامة، رحالّة). 

I'm saying this because I know that حُسام, while commonly used as another name for sword, is actually an adjective to describe the blade as 'cutting'. Lisaan Al Arab says: وسف حسام: قاطع وكذلك مديّة حسام كما قالو مديّة هُذام وحُزاز. While he's not saying it directly, I believe that he's saying it indirectly.

On the other hand, this source claims that it can be feminine in certain cases as opposed to _always_ feminine (apparently there are some who claim it's always feminine).


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## Ghabi

Mahaodeh said:


> On the other hand, this source claims that it can be feminine in certain cases as opposed to _always_ feminine


Perhaps it's like عاصف, as both ريح عاصف and ريح عاصفة are used.


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