# يحلبون الشاة



## Ali Smith

مرحبًا

I just came across this:

إنتقل يعقوب عليه السلام إلى مصر، وانتقل معه أولاده. انتقلوا إلى مصر؛ لأن يوسف بن يعقوب عليه السلام هو سيد مصر، يأمر، وينهى فيها. وكانوا في كنعان يرعون الغنم، ويحلبون الشاة، ويبيعون الصوف.

Why did the author prefix ال to شاة? Was there just one goat that they milked?

شكرًا جزيلاً


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## elroy

الشاة is used as a collective noun here.


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## Ali Smith

Oh, I see. But then why is there a ة at the end?
I know الشجر is a collective noun but الشجرة refers to just one tree. The same with السمك and السمكة.


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## Hemza

Ewe, not goat to my knowledge.


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## elroy

Ali Smith said:


> But then why is there a ة at the end?


 There's no such thing as الشا.


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## Ali Smith

I just checked Lane's Lexicon. It says that شاة can mean either "sheep" or "goat".
Why did the author put the definite article (ال) before شاة? It's not like we, the readers, know what sheep/goats he's talking about. He could have said:

إنتقل يعقوب عليه السلام إلى مصر، وانتقل معه أولاده. انتقلوا إلى مصر؛ لأن يوسف بن يعقوب عليه السلام هو سيد مصر، يأمر، وينهى فيها. وكانوا في كنعان يرعون غنمًا، ويحلبون شاة، ويبيعون الصوف.


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## elroy

It's a generic use of the definite article.


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## Abu Talha

Lane's entry is pretty informative. He says شاء is the collective noun but that شاة the singular can denote the genus:






I suppose this would be anomalous. For most collective nouns, the collective noun is used for اسم الجنس


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## Ali Smith

What is the difference between "collective noun" and "genus"? I thought both meant اسم الجنس.


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## <<Maryam>>

Ali Smith said:


> Why did the author prefix ال to شاة? Was there just one goat that they milked?



If ال was not used, than the meaning would be different.
يحلبون شاة means they milked a goat!
يحلبون الشاة mean they milked goat(s).
The usage of ال in here made it a description of their occupation.

The usage of the singular شاة instead of the plural شياه is permitted and correct. other examples of that:-

يركبون الخيل
They rode horses.
Even though خيل is singular, it doesn't mean they all rode one horse.

يحاربون بالسيف
They fought using sword(s).


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## elroy

<<Maryam>> said:


> يحلبون الشاة mean they milked the goat(s)


 “They milked goats” (no article) in this context.


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## <<Maryam>>

elroy said:


> “They milked goats” (no article) in this context.


Oh yes, thank you. I will edit it right now


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## Abu Talha

<<Maryam>> said:


> The usage of the singular شاة instead of the plural شياه is permitted and correct.


Yes but usually for non-collective nouns right?

For example الغنمة instead of الغنم in the original sentence would be unusual, would you agree?


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## elroy

Abu Talha said:


> For example الغنمة instead of الغنم in the original sentence would be unusual, would you agree?


 That would be wrong, yes.

It only works with a small number of nouns.


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## Abu Talha

Actually I see that غنمة isn’t even a word...

Excuse my reply above.


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## elroy

It is!


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## Abu Talha

Wehr does not mention the singular, like he does for other collective nouns:






And Lane explicitly mentions that it has no singular:




But anyway, the point I was trying to make is that for non-collective nouns, the singular is used for اسم الجنس as in the example Maryam provided:


<<Maryam>> said:


> يحاربون بالسيف
> They fought using sword(s).



But with collective nouns, the collective noun, not the singular is used. Perhaps بقر is a better example since بقرة is the singular:

They milk cows:
يحلبون البقر 
يحلبون البقرة 

So شاة would seem to be an exception because it is the singular of the collective noun شاء.


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## Mahaodeh

Ali Smith said:


> What is the difference between "collective noun" and "genus"? I thought both meant اسم الجنس.


Usually collective noun refers to اسم الجمع such as خيل وإبل وقوم while genus refers to اسم الجنس. I must point out though that many people use collective noun for both, I sometimes do that without noticing even though I never do that in Arabic.


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