Chapter 8

1. The Sabab,[FN#450] which consists of two letters and is either khafíf (light) or sakíl (heavy). A moved letter followed by a quiescent, i.e. a closed syllable, like the afore-mentioned taf, fun, mus, to which we may now add fá=fah, ’í=’iy, ’ú=’uw, form a Sabab khafíf, corresponding to the classical long quantity (-). Two moved letters in succession, like mute, ’ala, constitute a Sabab sakíl, for which the classical name would be Pyrrhic (U U). As in Latin and Greek, they are equal in weight and can frequently interchange, that is to say, the Sabab khafíf can be evolved into a sakíl by moving its second Harf, or the latter contracted into the former, by making its second letter quiescent.

2. The Watad, consisting of three letters, one of which is quiescent. If the quiescent follows the two moved ones, the Watad is called majmú’ (collected or joined), as fa’ú (=fa’uw), mafá (=mafah), ’ilun, and it corresponds to the classical Iambus (U - ). If, on the contrary, the quiescent intervenes or separates between the two moved letters, as in fá’i ( = fah’i), látu (=lahtu), taf’i, the Watad is called mafrúk (separated), and has its classical equivalent in the Trochee (- U)

3. The Fásilah,[FN#451] containing four letters, i.e. three moved ones followed by a quiescent, and which, in fact, is only a shorter name for a Sabab sakíl followed by a Sabab khafíf, as mute + fá, or ’ala + tun, both of the measure of the classical Anapaest (U U -)