# ليس
## Arabic
### Etymology 1

Uncertain. Traditionally taken to be a contracted pronunciation of either an earlier form لَيِسَ (layisa), whose ultimate origin is in turn unknown or unexplored, or of لَا (lā, “not”) + an existential أَيْس (ʔays) that has a proposed etymology in Proto-Semitic *ys < *yt. This existential would be a native cognate to Hebrew יֵשׁ (yēš) and Akkadian 𒌇 (/⁠išu⁠/, “to have or own; to be”, also used copulatively), although Al-Jallad (2018) expresses doubt that it is anything more than a back-formation from the negative, in other words implying that لَا (lā, “not”) + *أَيْس (*ʔays, existential) is just a folk etymology from which أَيْس (ʔays) was created artificially. Al-Jallad proceeds to attest a form of لَيْسَ (laysa) in a Safaitic inscription dated between the first century BC and the fourth century AD, whose form, he says, invalidates the possibility of an origin in a verb لَيِسَ (layisa); he thereby argues that لَيْسَ (laysa) may either be a loan from Neo-Assyrian 𒆷𒀸𒋗 (la-aš-šu /⁠laššu⁠/, “there is not”) or from Taymanitic 𐪁𐪚𐪏 (lys$^3$ /⁠lāʾis, lāyis⁠/, “not existing or being”).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /laj.sa/

#### Verb

لَيْسَ • (laysa)
* (copulative, defective) not to be
** 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 7:61:قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ لَيْسَ بِي ضَلَالَةٌ وَلَٰكِنِّي رَسُولٌ مِن رَبِّ ٱلْعَالَمِينَqāla yā qawmi laysa bī ḍalālatun wa-lākinnī rasūlun min rabbi l-ʕālamīnaHe said, “O my people, there is not error in me, but I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds.”
* (invariably masculine singular) except
    Synonym: لَا يَكُونُ (lā yakūnu)
    جَاءَ النَّاسُ لَيْسَ زُهَيْرًاjāʔa n-nāsu laysa zuhayranPeople came, except for Zuhayr

##### Usage notes

This is a defective verb. It has only perfect indicative forms with a present-tense meaning. If there is a subject complement, it comes up in the accusative or (with بِـ (bi-)) the genitive. When a subject complement coming with بِـ (bi-) is definite, it means the actor doesn't belong to its type
    لَسْتُ عَالِمًا ― lastu ʕāliman ― I am not learned
    لَسْتُ بِعَالِمٍ ― lastu bi-ʕālimin ― I am not learned
    لَسْتُ بِٱلْعَالِمِ ― lastu bi-l-ʕālimi ― I am not much of a learned person
    لَيْسَ ٱلرَّجُلُ جَمِيلًا ― laysa r-rajulu jamīlan ― That man is not handsome.

##### See also

* كَانَ (kāna)

#### Particle

لَيْسَ • (laysa)
* Used to negate verbs
** 10th century, Al-Mutanabbi :وَلَيْسَ يَصِحُّ فِي الْأَفْهَامِ شَيْءٌ إِذَا ٱحْتَاجَ النَّهَارُ إِلَى دَلِيلِwa-laysa yaṣiḥḥu fī l-ʔafhāmi šayʔun ʔiḏā ḥtāja n-nahāru ʔilā dalīli

#### Conjunction

لَيْسَ • (laysa)
* (rare, disputed) not (refers to a preceding context)
** أَيْنَ الْمَفَرُّ وَالْإِلَهُ الطَّالِبُ وَالْأَشْرَمُ الْمَغْلُوبُ لَيْسَ ٱلْغَالِبُʔayna l-mafarru wa-l-ʔilahu ṭ-ṭālibu wa-l-ʔašramu l-maḡlūbu laysa l-ḡālibu(please add an English translation of this quotation)

### Etymology 2
#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /la.ji.sa/

#### Verb

لَيِسَ • (layisa) I (non-past يَلْيَسُ (yalyasu), verbal noun لَيَس (layas))
* to be valiant, to be brave, to be courageous

##### Conjugation
### Etymology 3
#### Noun

لَيَس • (layas) m
* verbal noun of لَيِسَ (layisa) (form I)

##### Declension
### Etymology 4
#### Adjective

لِيس • (līs) m pl
* masculine plural of أَلْيَس (ʔalyas)

### References

* ↑ Lane, Edward William (1863) “ليس”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate, pages 1625-1627
* ↑ David Wilmsen (2016), page 330, Another Croft cycle in Arabic: The laysa negative existential cycle. Advance online publication.
* ↑ Ahmad Al-Jallad (2018), The earliest attestation of laysa and the implications for its etymology. Advance online publication.