[1]
عَسَى is [said by some to be] one of the verbs
of appropinquation, implying eager desire, or
hope, and fear, and not perfectly inflected, for it
is applied in the form of the preterite to that
which occurs in the present: one says
عَسَى زَيْدٌ
أَنْ يَخْرُجَ [meaning, accord. to what has been said
above,
Zeyd is near to going forth, though generally otherwise expl., as will be shown in what
follows], and
عَسَتْ فُلَانَةُ أَنْ تَخْرُجَ [
Such a woman
is near to going forth];
زَيْدٌ being the agent of
عَسَى, and
أَنْ يَخْرُجَ being its objective complement and meaning
الخُرُوجَ: and one says also,
عَسَيْتُ أَنْ أَفْعَلَ ذَاكَ [as meaning, accord. to what
here precedes,
I am near to doing that], and
عَسِيتُ, with kesr, agreeably with readings [in the
Kur xlvii. 24],
فَهَلْ عَسِيتُمْ and
عَسَيْتُمْ, with kesr
and fet-h; and one says to a woman,
عَسَيْتِ أَنْ
تَفْعَلِى ذَاكَ; and [to women,]
عَسَيْتُنَّ; but one
does not use the form
يَفْعَلُ thereof, nor the form
فَاعِلٌ; (S;) both of which [however] are memtioned [as used] by the author of the “ Insáf: ”
(I 'Ak p. 88:) [or, accord. to Fei,]
عَسَى is a preterite verb, [used in the sense of the present,]
aplastic, not perfectly inflected, of the verbs of
appropinquation, implying hope, and eager desire,
and sometimes opinion, and certainty; and it is
incomplete [i. e. non-attributive], and complete
[i. e. attributive]: the incomplete has for its predicate an aor. mansoob by means of
أَنْ, as in the
saying,
عَسَى زَيْدٌ أَنْ يَقُومَ, meaning
قَارَبَ زَيْدٌ
القِيَامَ [
Zeyd is near to standing], the predicate
being an objective complement or having the
meaning of an objective complement: or, as some
say, the meaning is
لَعَلَّ زَيْدًا أَنْ يَقُومَ, i. e. [virtually, but not literally,]
I eagerly desire, or
I
hope, that Zeyd may be performing the act of
standing: [but see
عَلَّ and
لَعَلَّ in art.
عل, as
well as what follows in this paragraph after the
explanation of the next ex.:] the complete is such
as occurs in the saying,
عَسَى أَنْ يَقُومَ زَيْدٌ [meaning, accord. to what is said above,
Zeyd's standing is near to being a fact]; the agent being
literally a phrase composed of a subject and an
attribute because
أَنْ is here what is termed
مَصْدَرِيَّة [so that
أَنْ يَقُومَ زَيْدٌ is equivalent to
قِيَامُ
زَيْدٍ]: (Msb:) ―
2-b2- [in the MA and PS and TK
&c.,
عَسَى is expl. as meaning
It may be that;
and this, or simply
may-be, or
may-hap, or
perhaps, I regard as the preferable rendering; as
being virtually the meaning in all cases: for
عَسَى زَيْدٌ أَنْ يَقُومَ, in which it is used as an incomplete verb, however it may be rendered, virtually means
It may be that Zeyd is, or
will be,
standing; or
may-be Zeyd &c.: and
عَسَى أَنْ
يَقُومَ زَيْدٌ, in which it is used as a complete verb,
virtually means the same, though more properly
rendered
Zeyd's standing may be a fact: its
usages are various, and have occasioned much
dispute respecting its grammatical character and
its meaning or meanings; as will be shown by
what here follows:] ―
2-b3- it is [said to be] a verb
unrestrictedly, or a particle unrestrictedly: (K:)
[but this statement seems to have originated from
a mistranscription: IHsh says,] it is a verb unrestrictedly: not a particle unrestrictedly, contrary to the opinion of Ibn-Ks-Sarráj and Th;
nor when it has an affixed pronoun, as in
عَسَاكَ,
contrary to an opinion of Sb, ascribed to him by
Seer: (Mughnee:) it denotes hope in the case of
that which is liked, and fear in the case of that
which is disliked; as in the saying in the Kur
[ii. 213],
وَعَسَى أَنْ تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكُمْ وَعَسَى
أَنْ تُحِبُّوا شَيْئًا وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَكُمْ [
But it may be that ye
dislike a thing when it is good for you, and it may
be that ye like a thing when it is evil for you]:
(Mughnee, K: *) ―
2-b4- it is used in various ways;
one of which is the saying,
عَسَى زَيْدٌ أَنْ يَقُومَ
[mentioned above], respecting the analysis of
which there are different opinions: that of the
generality is, that it is like
كَانَ زَيْدٌ يَقُومُ [inasmuch as
عسى is here an incomplete verb]; but
this is deemed dubious, because the predicate
[
أَنْ يَقُومَ] is rendered by an inf. n., and the subject [
زَيْدٌ] is a substance; to which several replies
have been made; one being that a prefixed noun
is meant to be understood, either before the subject, so that the meaning is,
عَسَى أَمْرُ زَيْدٍ القِيَامُ
[
It may be that the case of Zeyd is, or
will be,
the performing of the act of standing], or before
the predicate, so that the meaning is
عَسَى زَيْدٌ
صَاحِبُ القِيَامِ [
It may be that Zeyd is, or
will be,
the performer of the act of standing]; and another
reply is, that it is of the class of
زَيْدٌ عَدْلٌ and
صَوْمٌ [meaning
عَادِلٌ and
صَائِمٌ, for
أَنْ يَقُومَ is
equivalent to an inf. n., and an inf. n. may be
used in the sense of an act. part. n.]; and another
is, that
أَنْ is here redundant, which reply is [
said
to be] nought, because
ان has rendered the aormansoob, and because it seldom falls out [from
the phrase, though it should be remarked that
لَعَلَّ, which is said in the Mughnee to be like
عَسَى in meaning, is generally followed by a
simple aor. and sometimes by
أَنْ and an aor.]:
another opinion respecting the analysis of the
phrase is, that
عَسَى is a trans. verb, like
قَارَبَ in
meaning and in government, [agreeably with the
explanations mentioned above from the S and
Msb,] or intrans. like
قَرُبَ مِنْ with the preposition suppressed; and this is the opinion of Sb and
Mbr: the opinion of the generality is, that it is
an incomplete verb [like
كَانَ in the phrase
كَانَ
زَيْدٌ يَقُومُ, mentioned above], and that
أَنْ and
the verb following it compose a substitute of implication supplying what is wanting in the two preceding portions of the sentence: ―
2-b5- the second
way of using it is, the making it to have
أَنْ and
the verb following this for its object, [as in
عَسَى أَنْ يَقُومَ زَيْدٌ, mentioned above], so that it
is a complete verb: ―
2-b6- the third and fourth and
fifth are when it is followed by a simple aor.
[being in this case likened to
كَادَ, (S, K, * TA.)]
or an aor. with
س prefixed, or a single noun; as
in
عَسَى زَيْدٌ يَقُومُ [
It may be that Zeyd stands, or
will stand] and
عَسَى زَيْدٌ سَيَقُومُ [
It may be that
Zeyd will stand] and
عَسَى زَيْدٌ قَائِمٌ [
It may be
that Zeyd is standing]; the first whereof is one
of which there are few exs., such as the saying,
عَسَى الكَرْبُ الَّذِى أَمْسَيْتَ فِيهِ
يَكُونُ وَرَآءَهُ فَرَجٌ قَرِيبُ
[
It may be that the state of anxiety in which thou
hast become (or, as some relate it,
أَمْسَيْتُ i. e.
I
hare become,) is such that
after it will be a near
removal thereof]; and the third is one of which
there are fewer exs., [and which is said in the S
to be not allowable,] such as the saying,
أَكْثَرْتَ فِى العَذْلِ مُلِحًّا دَائِمَا
لَا تُكْثِرَنْ إِنِّى عَسِيتُ صَائِمَا
[or, as some relate it,
عَسَيْتُ, which is more common, i. e.
Thou hast been profuse in censuring,
persisting constantly: be not thou profuse: verily
it may be that I am, or
shall be, abstaining];
and as to the prov.,
عَسَى الغُوَيْرُ أَبْؤُسًا [expl. in
art.
بأس, and of which it is said in the K that the
verb therein is used in the manner of
كَانَ, and
in the S that the phrase is extr., that
ابؤسا is
there put in the place of the predicate, and that
there sometimes occurs in provs. what does not
occur elsewhere], the right opinion is that
يَكُونُ
is suppressed before
ابؤسا; and [in the latter of
the two verses cited above]
أَكُونُ is suppressed
before
صائما; because thus the primary usage is
preserved, and because what is hoped is the person's being an abstainer, not the abstainer him-
self; and as to the second of the three modes of
using
عَسَى last mentioned above, with
س prefixed to the aor., it is very extr.: ―
2-b7- the sixth
way of using it is the saying
عَسَانِى and
عَسَاكَ
and
عَسَاهُ, which is rare: in this case, accord. to
Sb, it is used in the manner of
لَعَلَّ, as governing
the subject in the accus. case, and the predicate
in the nom.; the predicate being sometimes expressed, in the nom. case, as in the saying,
فَقُلْتُ عَسَاهَا نَارُ كَأْسٍ وَعَلَّهَا
تَشَكَّى فَآتِى نَحْوَهَا فَأَعُودُهَا
[
And I said, May-be it is the fire of Ka-s, (for I
suppose that
كأس is here a proper name, that of
a woman, daughter of El-Kelhabeh El-'Oranee,)
and perhaps she has a complaint, (
تَشَكَّى being
for
تَبَشَكَّى,)
so I will come towards her, and visit
her]: ―
2-b8- the seventh way is the saying,
عَسَى زَيْدٌ
قَائِمٌ, mentioned by Th; which is to be explained
on the ground that
عسى is here an incomplete
verb, and that its subject is the
ضَمِيرُ الشَّأْنِ [i. e.
إِنَّهُ is suppressed, the meaning being,
It may be
that the case is this,
Zeyd is standing], the nominal
proposition being the predicate. (Mughnee. [Several other statements in that work, respecting
عَسَى, I have omitted, as being refuted therein,
or as being of little or no importance.]) ―
2-b9- It
also denotes opinion, (Msb,) or doubt, (K, TA,)
and certainty: (Msb, K, TA:) the last is meant
in the saying of Ibn-Mukbil,
ظَنِّى بِهِمْ كَعَسَى وَهُمْ بِتَنُوفَةٍ
يَتَنَازَعُونَ جَوَائِزَ الأَمْثَالِ
[
My opinion of them is like an expression of certainty while they, in a desert, or
in a desert destitute of water or
of herbage and water, &c.,
are
contending in reciting current proverbs instead of
attending to the wants of themselves and their
camels]. (S, TA.) ―
2-b10- As uttered by God, it is
expressive of an event of necessary occurrence,
(S, K,) in the whole of the Kur-án, except the
saying, [in lxvi. 5,]
عَسَى رَبُّهُ إِنْ طّلَّقَكُنَّ أَنْ يُبْدِلَهُ
أَزْوَاجًا خَيْرًا مِنْكُنَّ [
It may be that his Lord, if
he divorce you, will give him in exchange wives
better than you]. (S.) ―
2-b11-
هَلْ عَسَيْتُمْ with what
follows it, in the Kur [ii. 247], means [virtually]
Are ye near to fleeing? (K:) some read thus;
and some,
عَسِيتُمْ. (TA.) ＝
1-A2-
عَسِىَ النَّبَاتُ [erroneously written in the CK
عَسَى]: see the first
sentence in art.
عسو.