From theNabataean Aramaic letter𐢑(l,“lamadh”), derived from thePhoenician letter𐤋(l,“lāmed”), from theEgyptian hieroglyph𓌅. See also Classical Syriacܠ(l,“lāmadh”), Hebrewל(l,“lamed”), Ancient GreekΛ(L), LatinL.
The twelfth letter in traditionalabjad order, which is used in place of numerals for list numbering (abjad numerals). It is preceded byك(k) and followed byم(m).
Whenلِـ(li-) is followed by the definite articleاَلْ(al-,“the”), the alif of the article is dropped from the spelling, resulting in the spellingلِلْ. However, if this would result in three lams in a row, because the first letter following the definite article is also lam, then the lam with sukun is also dropped, resulting in a spelling starting withلِلّـ, with only two lams; for example,لِلَّيْلَة(lil-layla,“for tonight”),لِلّٰهِ(li-llāhi,“to God”). The pronunciation is entirely regular in all of these cases.
It is often used in the formيَا لَهُ [مِنْ] ..., that is,يَا لَـ followed by an enclitic pronoun that does not refer to any previous noun. Rather the pronoun refers to what follows it, with an optionalمِنْ in the middle.[1]
Afterالـ(il-,“the”), producesللـ(li-l-), which also assimilates with following consonants (seeالـ).
When attached before pronouns in a verbal sentence, producesـلـ(-l-), attaching after the verb (or after the attached patient pronoun) and acting as part of it, lengthening the vowel it directly follows. Resulting/ll/ clusters often go unwritten (seeArabic diacritics § Shaddah on Wikipedia.Wikipedia).
جالي وقالّي ―gā-li wi-ʔal-li ―He cameto me and saidto me
عملتلك كيكة ―ʕamalti-lak kēka ―I made a cakefor you
FromArabicلِـ(li-,“to, for, toward”), with the base form possiblysuppleted byArabicإِلَى(ʔilā,“to, for, toward”). The suffixed forms continue Arabicلِـ(li-), however, notإِلَى(ʔilā).
This is surprising, as theإلـ(ʔil-) of suffixed forms likeإلَك(ʔilak,“to you”) superficially resembles Arabicإِلَى(ʔilā) as well. However, the preposition's ending in North Levantine Arabic does not match the-ay- of forms like Arabicإِلَيْكَ(ʔilayka,“to you”). In fact, the actual descendants of the suffixed forms ofإِلَى(ʔilā) lost their initial syllableإِ(ʔi-) entirely due to the general instability ofء(ʔ) in Arabic's history, and their North Levantine Arabic reflex isلَيْـ(lay-), as inليك(layk,“to you”). See Etymology 3 below for the survival of this variant in North Levantine Arabic.
North Levantine Arabicإلـ(ʔil-) instead comes fromArabicلِـ(li-) viaepenthesis, which may have been motivated by a phonetic constraint in early North Levantine Arabic against short monosyllables like*لَك(lak,“to you”). This is the same constraint that may have motivated the development of the initial syllable inإِجَا(ʔija,“to come”) and South Levantine Arabicإِشِي(ʔiši,“something”), which see.
Nevertheless, even if the suffixed formإلـ(ʔil-) reflects Arabicلِـ(li-,“to, for, towards”), thea vowel of the base formلَـ(la-) indicates that it alone may still be fromArabicإِلَى(ʔilā,“to, for, toward”). If not, then an alternative possibility is that it was generalized from the Arabic allomorphلَـ(la-), originally used only when attaching pronouns.
Personal suffixes are attached to the stemʔil-:إلي(ʔili,“to me”),إلك(ʔilak,“to you”), etc. Often, however, reduplicated forms from the stemlaʔil- are used, thusلإلي(laʔili,“to me”),لإلك(laʔilak,“to you”).
Immediately followed by a personal suffix.ل(-l-) almost-always avoids creating superheavy syllables before itself.
Superheavy syllablesCVVC are avoided by contracting the long vowel, such as when attaching to ahollow verb. In particular, longā, even when raised toē as in much of Lebanon, always contracts toa rather than toi — and North Levantine varieties have overwhelmingly merged shortu and shorti intoi, meaning thatū andī also both contract intoi.
شُوف(šūf,“look at, check out”,masculine imperative) ⇒شِفلِي(šifli,“look at [...] for me, check out for me”)
Some speakers extend this to the plural ending-īn of active participles.
قَايلِين(ʔāylīn,“have said”,pl) ⇒قَايلِينلي(ʔāylīnli) orقَايلِنلي(ʔāylinli,“have told me”,plural, literally“have said to me”).
The suffix avoids all other kinds of heavy syllables by attaching to the base as either-ill- or-all-. The-all- ending is used for geminate verbs in certain contexts (see below), and the-ill- ending everywhere else.
حَطّ(ḥaṭṭ,“he set down”,transitive) ⇒حَطَّلِّي(ḥaṭṭalli,“he set down for me”,transitive)
مشِيت(mšīt,“you walked”,masculine) ⇒مشِيتِلِّي(mšītilli,“you walked to me; you walked for me”)
كَتَبت(katabt,“you wrote”,masculine) ⇒كَتَبتِلِّي(katabtilli,“you wrote to me; you wrote for me”)
This gives rise to a marginal tense distinction for certain verbs.
ضَلّ(ḍall,“he stayed”,past),ضَلَّلِّي(ḍallalli,“he stayed for me”)
ضَلّ(ḍall,“stay!”,nonpast),ضَلِّلِّي(ḍallilli,“stay for me!”)
But this distinction is not universal. Speakers may also use forms like the following, always assimilating to the previous vowel:
In other cases, i.e. in environments where sticking-l- directly onto the end of the base would not create a final heavy syllable, it attaches as is.
كَتَبِت(katabit,“she wrote”) ⇒كَتَبَِتلِي(katabitli,“she wrote to me; she wrote for me”)
Unlike in Egyptian Arabic, the Levantine form of this suffix can only attach to the base word, not to any preceding suffixes. This means it bumps any object suffixes off into their own words.
حَطَّيْناها(ḥaṭṭaynāha,“we putit”) ⇒حَطَّيْنالِكياها(ḥaṭṭaynālikyāha,“we putit for you”)
This suffix isn't limited to appearing on verbs and active participles. It can also attach toelatives, passive participles of verbs, and even other parts of speech.
It only rarely appears on other parts of speech, and when it does, it's the result of an originally-unboundلَ(la,“to, for”) merging into a word it commonly appears with. That's the case withبَعدِلّـ(baʕdill-,“(of time) remaining for”), fromبَعْد(baʕd,“still; remaining”,adverb, literally“[there is] still [time]”) +لـ(l-,“for; belonging to”).
It's also uncommon for this suffix to attach to passive participles, which means that passive participles that have a final-syllableū may only productively be able to contract it into a shortu instead of fully merging it into a shorti. Two somewhat-common examples areمَسمُحلـ(masmuḥl-,“permitted for”) andمقَدَّرلـ(mʔaddarl-,“fated for, preordained for”).
It attaches to elatives to refer to the better or best of a set of choices, likeأَريَحَلِي(ʔaryaḥli,“more/most comfortable for me”). It's generally invalid to use it on an elative that describes a negative trait, like*أَوْسَخلَك(*ʔawsaḵlak,“dirtier/dirtiest for you”) or*أصعَبلَك(ʔaṣʕablak,“more/most difficult for you”), because it imparts a positive slant on the trait the elative describes. In contrast,عَلَى(ʕala,“in relation to”) can construe elatives no matter what they mean:أَهيَنعلَيك(ʔahyan ʕlēk,“easier for you”) is synonymous withأَهيَنلَك(ʔahyanlak,“easier for you”), but the only valid antonym isأَصعَب علَيك(ʔaṣʕab ʕlēk,“more/most difficult for you”, literally“more/most difficult in relation to you”) instead of*أصعَبلَك(ʔaṣʕablak,“more/most difficult for you”).
Its suffix-base form islay-, similarly toعَلَى(ʕala). This distinguishes it from the variant above when constructed with a personal suffix.
Some dialects prefer this form to the above one in all situations. In dialects that don't, speakers may still use it in the phrasesمِنُّو لَيه(minno lē,“in its entirety; altogether”, literally“from it to it”),قِدِر لَ(ʔidir la,“to be able to handle”, literally“to be able toward”),فِيه لَ(fī la,“can handle”, literally“can toward”), andإِجَا لَ(ʔija la,“tocome for”). Other verbs of motion may also be substituted forإِجَا(ʔija) in the last sense, in which case theل(la) retains the narrowed sense of “intent to apprehend or cause harm” suggested bycome for.
Arabic diacritics § Shaddah on Wikipedia.Wikipedia).