Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

by Edward William Lane (1801-1876)

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سلس سلسبل سلط


سَلْسَبِيلٌ

سَلْسَبِيلٌ, a quinqueliteral-radical word, (M,) Easy [as a beverage] in the utmost degree: (TA:) [applied as an epithet to milk, (لَبَن, so in a copy of the M, and so in the CK,) or signifying smooth, (لَيِّن, so in copies of the Ḳ,)] in which is no roughness: (M, Ḳ:) and sometimes applied as an epithet to water, (M, TA,) or beverage, meaning easy of entrance into the throat, or fauces. (TA.)

Root: سلسبل - Entry: سَلْسَبِيلٌ Signification: A2

And Wine: (Ḳ:) so accord. to some, as in the saying of ʼAbd-Allah Ibn-Rawáhah, in which it is [said to be] used as a syn. adjunct to the preceding word:

* إِنَّهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ فِى جِنَانٍ *
* يَشْرَبُونَ الرَّحِيقَ وَالسَّلْسَبِيلَا *

[as though meaning Verily they are with their Lord, in gardens, drinking wine and fermented juice of the grape: but the meaning may be, the choicest of wine, or the sweetest thereof,, &c., (see رَحِيقٌ,) and wine easy to swallow, or the like]. (TA.)

Root: سلسبل - Entry: سَلْسَبِيلٌ Signification: A3

And A certain fountain in Paradise [mentioned in art. سبل, q. v.]: (M, Ḳ:) Aboo-Bekr says that it may be a proper name of the fountain, and properly imperfectly decl. [i. e. without tenween] as being determinate and of the fem. gender, but made to be with tenween at the end of a verse in the Ḳur [lxxvi. 18] in order that it may be conformable with other endings of verses; or it may be an epithet applied to the fountain, and therefore perfectly decl.: (TA:) Sb mentions it as an ex. of an epithet: IAạr says that he had not heard it except in the Ḳur-án: (M, TA:) I’Ab says that سَلْسَبِيلًا [in the Ḳur] means that slips, or steals, (يَنْسَلُّ,) into the throats, or fauces: [as though the radical letters were only س and ل, which some assert to be the case:] accord. to Aboo-Jaạfar El-Bákir, it means soft in the part between the حَنْجَرَة [or head of the windpipe] and the حَلْق [or fauces]: the explanation as meaning [سَلْ سَبِيلًا i. e.] سَلْ رَبَّكَ سَبِيلًا إِلَى هٰذِهِ العَيْنِ [Ask of thy Lord a way of access to this fountain] is a mistake, not allowable. (TA.)

Root: سلسبل - Entry: سَلْسَبِيلٌ Signification: A4

The pl. is سَلَاسِبُ and سَلَاسِيبُ: and the pl. of [the fem.] سَلْسَبِيلَةٌ is سَلْسَبِيلَاتٌ. (TA.)

Root: سلسبل - Entry: سَلْسَبِيلٌ Signification: A5

[In the present day it is applied to An artificial fountain that throws up water.]


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