COLCOMB: Colour Combination
| COLCONT: Colour Contrast | |
|---|---|
| Category | Linguistic Embellishments (‘ilm al-badī‘) |
| Subcategory | Contrasts & Inversions |
| Balaghascore.com | |
| Code | CA-9 |
| BalaghaBase.org | |
| Code | Q70 |
| OpenAlex | |
| ID | W4415372293 |
| Cite this page | |
| 🔗 DOI | 10.64393/balagha.Q70 |
| Download PDF | |
| Taxonomy | |
| ARDT | v0.1.0, v0.1.1 |
| Provenance | |
| Sources | 3 |
Definition
Colour Combination (al-tadbīj) is an Arabic rhetorical device in which the communicator brings together two or more colour terms within the same expression.[1][2][3]
Linguistic Operations
- The device requires the occurrence of two or more colour terms within the same expression.[3][2]
- The colour terms may stand in opposition to one another, a form explicitly characterised in terms of juxtaposition or opposition (al-taqābul) between colour expressions.[1][2]
- Opposition is not required in all accounts of the device. Nābulsī defines al-tadbīj more broadly as the mention of two or more colours and explicitly allows their use for description alone.[3]
Recognition
Colour Combination may be present when:
- Two or more explicit colour terms occur within the same expression.
- The colour terms may contrast with one another, but semantic opposition is not required.
Diagnostic Pragmatic Effects
- Erotic or amatory expression (tashbīb): Colour terms may be employed in the expression of amatory themes.[3]
- Praise (madḥ): Colour terms may be employed for panegyric or praise.[3]
- Description (waṣf): Colour terms may serve a descriptive purpose; Nābulsī explicitly notes that description alone may be intended.[3]
- Other poetic purposes: Nābulsī allows Colour Combination to serve other poetic purposes beyond those specifically enumerated.[3]
Applying the Recognition Framework
The information on this page can be used to evaluate whether this device is present in a candidate lexical item using the Specific Device Recognition part of the Universal Framework for Identifying Arabic Rhetorical Devices:
Types of Colour Combination
Contrasting Colour Combination
Two or more colour terms are combined in a relationship of opposition. Nāṣif et al. and ʿAkkāwī describe al-tadbīj in terms of opposition between colour expressions.[1][2]
- Source Example
تَرَدَّى ثِيَابَ الْمَوْتِ حُمْرًا فَمَا أَتَى
لَهَا اللَّيْلُ إِلَّا وَهْيَ مِنْ سُنْدُسٍ خُضْرُHe donned the garments of death, red; but night did not come upon them except when they were of green silk.
- Explanation
- The verse by Abū Tammām combines ḥumran (red) and khuḍr (green) in opposition, illustrating Contrasting Colour Combination.[1][2]
- Constructed Example
كَانَ قَلْبُهُ أَبْيَضَ كَالثَّلْجِ، فَعَادَ أَسْوَدَ كَالفَحْمِ.
His heart was once white as snow; it returned black as coal.
- Explanation
- The sentence contrasts abyaḍ (white) with aswad (black), combining two explicit colour terms in direct opposition and thereby illustrating Contrasting Colour Combination.
Non-contrasting Colour Combination
Two or more colour terms are combined without standing in a relationship of semantic opposition. Nābulsī defines the device as the mention of two or more colours and explicitly states that these may be used for description alone.[3]
- Source Example
خُضْرَةُ الصُّدْغِ وَالسَّوَادُ مِنَ الْعَيْنِ
بِبَيَاضِ الْمَشِيبِ قَدْ أَوْرَثَانِي
وَاحْمِرَارُ الدُّمُوعِ مُصْفَرُّ خَدِّي
كُلُّ ذَا مِنْ تَلَوُّنَاتِ الزَّمَانِThe verdant richness of his locks, the blackness of his eyes,
Have marked me with the whiteness of old age;
The redness of my tearful eyes has yellowed my cheeks —
And all because Fate has a way of changing color!- Explanation
- The verse by ʿIzz al-Dīn al-Mawṣilī combines five colour expressions: khuḍrat al-ṣudgh (the greenness of the temple-lock), al-sawād (blackness), bayāḍ al-mashīb (the whiteness of grey hair), iḥmirār al-dumūʿ (the redness of the tears), and muṣfarru khaddī (my yellowed cheek). The passage accumulates multiple colours within a single description rather than organising the colour terms as a set of semantic opposites, illustrating Non-contrasting Colour Combination.[3]
- Constructed Example
فِي الْحَدِيقَةِ اخْضَرَّ الْعُشْبُ، وَاحْمَرَّ الْوَرْدُ، وَاصْفَرَّ النَّرْجِسُ، وَابْيَضَّ الْيَاسَمِينُ، وَازْرَقَّ مَاءُ الْبِرْكَةِ.
In the garden, the grass was green, the roses red, the narcissus yellow, the jasmine white, and the water of the pond blue.
- Explanation
- The sentence combines five colour expressions — ikhḍarra (was green), iḥmarra (was red), iṣfarra (was yellow), ibyaḍḍa (was white), and izraqqa (was blue) — within a single description. The colours accumulate descriptively rather than forming pairs of semantic opposites, illustrating Non-Contrasting Colour Combination.
Different From
- Parallel Antithesis - Nāṣif et al. (2012) classify Colour Contrast as a subtype of Parallel Antithesis, the broader device of opposition between paired meanings; Colour Contrast is the specific case where the opposing terms are colour words.[1]
- ANTITH: Antithesis of two terms - ʿAkkāwī (1996) relates Colour Contrast - particularly in its al-mukhālif subtype — to al-ṭibāq, the opposition between two contrary terms.[2]
Notes
Technical
- Etymology: The term al-tadbīj derives from al-dībāj (al-dībāj), a Persian loanword for brocade silk, associated with ornamentation and variegated colouring.[2]
- Attribution: ʿAkkāwī (1996) attributes the identification of al-tadbīj as a distinct rhetorical device to Ibn Abī al-Iṣbaʿ al-Miṣrī.[2]
- Classificatory divergence: Nāṣif et al. (2012) classify al-tadbīj as a subtype of al-muqābala; ʿAkkāwī (1996) treats it as an independent device related to al-ṭibāq.[1][2]
- ʿAkkāwī (1996) records that Ibn Sinān recognised a second meaning of al-tadbīj, which he termed al-mukhālif (the contrasting), described as that which approximates al-taḍādd. Some scholars count this under al-muṭābiq.[2]
- Classificatory variation: Definitions of al-tadbīj vary in scope. Nāṣif et al. and one formulation recorded by ʿAkkāwī characterise the device through opposition between colour expressions, while the definition transmitted from Ibn Abī al-Iṣbaʿ and Nābulsī's account permit a broader combination of colour terms. Nābulsī explicitly states that the colours may be mentioned for description alone.[1][2][3]
- Nāṣif et al. (2012) classify al-tadbīj as a subtype of al-muqābala, the broader device of opposition between paired meanings; this corresponds to the Contrasting Colour Combination form distinguished on this page.[1]
- ʿAkkāwī (1996) relates the contrasting conception of al-tadbīj — particularly in connection with al-mukhālif — to al-ṭibāq, the opposition between contrary terms.[2]
References
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 107, ISBN 9786144162798.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Inʿām Fawwāl ʿAkkāwī, Al-Muʿjam al-Mufaṣṣal fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: Al-Badīʿ wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Maʿānī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 298-299.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Pierre Cachia, The Arch Rhetorician: Or The Schemer’s Skimmer: A Handbook of Late Arabic Badīʻ Drawn from ʻAbd al-Ghanī an-Nābulsī’s Nafaḥāt al-Azhār ʻala Nasamāt al-Asḥār, Studies in Arabic Language and Literature 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998), p. 46; §69, ISBN 9783447040327.
Page History
- 2026-08-16 - Renamed from COLCONT: Colour Contrast to COLCOMB: Colour Combination to more accurately reflect the wider scope of the rhetorical device.
- 2026-02-10 - Migration to Semantic Device Identifiers: Renamed from CB-2: Colour Contrast to COLCOMB: Colour Combination.
- 2025-11-20 - Page incorporated into the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy (v0.1.1).
- 2025-04-15 - Page created: Colour Contrast.
