() or (), is a

metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

used in classical

Arabic poetry Arabic poetry ( ''ash-shi‘r al-‘arabīyy'') is one of the earliest forms of Arabic literature. Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry contains the bulk of the oldest poetic material in Arabic, but Old Arabic inscriptions reveal the art of poetry existe ...

. The word literally means "extended" or "spread out" in Arabic. Along with the , , and , it is one of the four most common metres used in pre-Islamic and classical Arabic poetry.

Form of the metre

The metrical form of the is often as follows (where "–" is a long syllable, "u" is a short syllable, and "x" is , i.e., a syllable which can be either long or short): :, x – u – , x u – , – – u – , u u – , The mnemonic words () used by Arab prosodists to describe this metre are: ' (). The metre is usually used in couplets of eight feet each.

Example

An example is the by al-Mutanabbi (915–965): “The poet reproaches Sayf al-Dawla” (king of Aleppo), a poem of 38 couplets, from which come the following well-known verses: :, u – u – , u u – , – – u – , u u – , :, u – u – , – u – , – – u – , u u – , : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :If you see the lion’s fangs on display :do not imagine for a moment that the lion is smiling. :And a soul whose owner’s concern was my soul :I have overtaken on a steed whose back was inviolable; :His two hind legs in the galloping were one and his two forelegs were one, :and his action was whatever my hand and my foot desired. :And I have ridden with a blade between the two armies, :until I struck while the wave of death was crashing round me. :The horses and the night and the desert know me :and the sword and the spear and the paper and the pen.

Variations

Although in the poem of al-Mutanabbi quoted above, the last foot of each half-verse is always , u u – , , other poets use the metre in the following form, where "uu" represents a

biceps The biceps or biceps brachii (, "two-headed muscle of the arm") is a large muscle that lies on the front of the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow. Both heads of the muscle arise on the scapula and join to form a single muscle bel ...

element, i.e. one where the two short syllables can optionally be replaced by one long one. :, x – u – , x u – , – – u – , uu – , An example is the following drinking-song by Abu Nuwas which begins: : : : :, – – u – , – u – , – – u – , – – , :, u – u – , – u – , – – u – , – – , :"Censure me not, for censure but tempts me; :cure me rather with the cause of my ill—" The metre also exists in a trimeter form of which the half-verse is as follows: :, x – u – , – u – , x – u – , There is also a catalectic trimeter form: :, x – u – , – u – , x – – , Occasionally the first foot of each half-verse can be , – u u – , . Very rarely (in less than 1% of lines) the third foot can be , u – u – , .

In a musical context

The term is also used in a musical context; in the ''

Andalusi nubah Andalusī nūbah (نوبة أندلسيّة), also transliterated nūba, nūbā, or nouba (pl. nūbāt), or in its classical Arabic form, nawba, nawbah, or nōbah, is a music genre found in the North African Maghrib states of Morocco, Algeria, Tu ...

'', or classical suites, of

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, each , or suite, is divided into five main movements (called ; plural: ) each of which uses a different rhythm, as follows: # (, 6/4) # (, 8/4) # (, 8/4) # (, 4/4) # (, 3/4 or 6/8)

References

External links