SEMGRP: Semantic Grouping
| SEMGRP: Semantic Grouping | |
|---|---|
| Category | Linguistic Embellishments (‘ilm al-badī‘) |
| Subcategory | Grouping & Distinguishing |
| Includes | marā‘āat al-naẓīr (al-tanāsub, al-i'tilāf, al-tawfīq) |
| Balaghascore.com | |
| Code | CB-1 |
| BalaghaBase.org | |
| Code | Q83 |
| OpenAlex.org | |
| ID | W4415388529 |
| Cite this page | |
| 🔗 DOI | 10.64393/balagha.Q83 |
| Download PDF | |
| Taxonomy | |
| ARDT | v0.1.0, v0.1.1 |
Definition
Semantic Grouping (murāʿāt al-naẓīr) is an Arabic rhetorical device where the communicator brings together a thing and what is congruous with it, not by way of opposition.[1][2][3]
It is also called al-tanāsub, al-iʾtilāf, al-tawfīq, al-ittifāq wa-al-iṭṭirād, and al-muʾākha.[2][3][4]
Mechanism
- The device consists in assembling two or more mutually congruous elements, provided they are not related by opposition.[1][2][3]
- The congruence may obtain between two items or among more than two.[5]
- According to Ibn Ḥijja al-Ḥamawī (as transmitted by ʿAkkāwī), the congruence may be word-to-meaning, word-to-word, or meaning-to-meaning.[2][3]
Recognition
- Are two or more elements brought together in one expression?
- Do they share suitability or congruence rather than opposition?
- If the relation is oppositional, the device is antithesis rather than observance of counterparts.
Diagnostic Rhetorical Effects
- Semantic coherence: Bringing together mutually suitable elements creates unity and internal consistency in the utterance.
- Reinforcement through associative clustering: The grouping of related elements strengthens the intended meaning by mutual semantic support.
- Imagistic enrichment: When the related elements belong to the same imagistic field, the expression becomes denser and more vivid.
- Completion and closure: In tashābuh al-aṭrāf, the ending completes and reinforces the opening by returning to a congruous meaning.
- Ease of reception: Grouping mutually fitting elements makes the meaning easier to follow and strengthens the conceptual unity of the passage.
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:
Special Instances
The sources identify two special instances of Semantic Grouping:
tashābuh al-aṭrāf
A passage concludes with something congruent in meaning with its opening.[5][3]
- Source Example
لَا تُدْرِكُهُ الْأَبْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الْأَبْصَارَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ
"Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives all vision; and He is the Subtle, the Acquainted."
- Explanation
- The ending returns to and completes the semantic frame of the opening through congruous divine attributes.[5][3]
- Constructed Example
من أحسنَ إلى الناسِ عادَ إليه الجميلُ، وكان محمودَ الذكرِ.
"Whoever does good to people will have goodness return to him, and his remembrance will be praised."
- Explanation
- The closing phrase returns to and suits the opening idea of beneficence, completing the semantic frame.
īhām al-tanāsub
A case where the apparent congruence rests on a secondary or non-intended sense of one of the elements rather than its primary meaning.[5][3]
- Source Example
الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ
Qur'an 55:5–6"The sun and the moon follow their courses; and the stars and the trees prostrate."
- Explanation
- al-najm here means plant or herb, not star. It is not congruous with the sun and moon in its intended sense, but its word-form creates an apparent congruence by evoking its secondary sense of celestial body.[5][3]
Examples
- Source Example
وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ
"And He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing."
- Explanation
- Two congruous divine attributes are brought together.[5]
- Source Example
أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ اشْتَرَوُا الضَّلَالَةَ بِالْهُدَىٰ فَمَا رَبِحَتْ تِجَارَتُهُمْ
"Those are the ones who purchased error for guidance, and their trade profited not."
Qur'an 2:16- Explanation
- The verse gathers mutually fitting commercial elements.[5]
- Source Example
(...emaciated camels) like curved bows, nay, like the arrows when whittled sharp, nay, like the bowstrings.
— Al-Buḥturī
- Explanation
- The successive similes are all drawn from the same semantic field (archery), showing the gathering of multiple congruous images within one domain.[4][3]
- Constructed Example
تفتّحتِ الأزهارُ، وغرّدتِ الطيورُ، وهبّتِ النسماتُ في صباحِ الربيع.
"The flowers blossomed, the birds sang, and the breezes blew on a spring morning."
- Explanation
- The elements belong to one mutually fitting semantic field (springtime and renewal), and are gathered without opposition.
Different From
- ANTITH: Antithesis: which joins opposites, whereas Semantic Grouping joins congruous elements.[1][2][3]
- SYNGRP: Syntactic Grouping where the lexical items are connected by a syntactic rather than semantic relationship.
See Also
References
- ↑ a b c Aḥmad al-Hāshimī, Jawāhir al-Balāgha fī al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ (Windsor: Hindāwī Foundation, 2019), 367, ISBN 9781527316386.
- ↑ a b c d e 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), 646.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Atīq, ʿIlm al-Badīʿ (Beirut: Dār al-Nahḍa al-ʿArabiyya lil-Ṭibāʿa wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ, 2002), 179-181.
- ↑ a b W. P. Heinrichs, ‘Rhetorical Figures’, in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, ed. Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey (London: Routledge, 1998), 658-659, ISBN 0415068088. DOI: 10.4324/9780203020425
- ↑ a b c d e f g Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 108, ISBN 9786144162798.
Page history
- 2026-02-10 - Migration to Semantic Device Identifiers: Renamed from CE-3: Semantic Grouping to SEMGRP: Semantic Grouping.
- 2025-11-20 - Page incorporated into the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy (v0.1.1).
- 2025-04-14 - Page created: Semantic Grouping.
