Word of the Day, Issue #028

especially = لا سِيَّمَا

لا سِيَّمَا ( laa siyyamaa) means especially, and is comprised of three elements: (i) the لا which denies the whole genus, or the لا that denies absolutely, which is followed by an indefinite accusative but without the tanween, such as in لا إلهَ إِلاّ الله there is no god but God, (ii) the noun سِيّ , meaning here likeness or similarity, and (iii) the مَا , which has been understood variously to be either redundant, or a relative pronoun. In the former case, what follows the phrase لا سِيَّمَا would have to be in the genitive, as mudaaf ilayhi to the noun سِيّ , e.g. أُحِبُّهُمْ لا سِيَّمَا زَيْدٍ I love them (all), especially Zaid (literally, 'there is no likeness of Zaid') . In the latter case, we interpret the مَا to mean اّلَّذِي, in which case a detached pronoun is understood to follow, and the following noun is in the nominative as the predicate, e.g. أُحِبُّهُمْ لا سِيَّمَا زَيْدٌ I love them (all), especially Zaid (literally, 'there is no likeness of the one who is Zaid') .