شَىْء

$aYo'N * [ A thing; anything; something; somewhat; ] a word of well-known meaning: (K:) [sometimes, in poetry, written and pronounced $aY~N : see an ex. in a verse cited voce Suw^aAbapN : see also the last sentence but one of this paragraph:] Al$~aYo'u properly signifies what may be known, and that whereof a thing may be predicated: (Mgh, KT:) accord. to Sb, it denotes existence, and is a name for anything that has been made to have being, whether an accident, or attribute, or a substance, and such that it may be known, and that a thing may be predicated thereof: (KT:) MF says that it is app. an inf. n. used in the sense of a pass. part. n., meaning what is willed, and meant, or intended, [in which sense ↓ ma$iyoy^apN (pl. ma$iyoA=tN ) is often used,] without restriction to its actuality or possibility of being, so that it applies to that which necessarily is, and that which may be, and that which cannot be; accord. to the opinion adopted by the author of the Ksh: [or, as an inf. n. in the sense of a pass. part. n., it may be expl., agreeably with what is said to be the proper meaning of the verb, as signifying what is caused to be or exist; accordingly,] Er-Rághib says that it denotes whatever is caused to be or exist, whether sensibly, as material substances, or ideally, as sayings; and Bd and others expressly assert that it signifies peculiarly what is caused to be or exist; but Sb says that it is the most general of general terms; and some of the scholastic theologians apply it to what is non-existent; such, however, are overcome in their argument by its not being found to have been thus used by the Arabs, and by such passages as kul~u $aYo'K haAlikN A_il~aA wajohahu [ Everything is subject to perish except Himself (Kur xxviii. last verse)] and waA_ino mino $aYo'K A_il~aA yusab~iHu biHamodihi [ And there is not anything but it glorifies Him with praising (Kur xvii. 46)], for what is nonexistent cannot be described as perishing nor imagined to glorify God: (TA:) the pl. is A^a$oyaA='u , (S, Msb, K, &c.,) imperfectly decl., (Msb, TA,) or rather this is a quasi-pl. n., (Sb, TA,) respecting the formation of which there is much difference of opinion [as will be shown hereafter], (Msb, TA,) and A^a$oyaAwaAtN , (S, K,) a pl. pl. [i. e. pl. of A^a$oyaA='N ], (MF, TA,) and A^a$aAwaAtN , [a contraction of that next preceding,] (K,) and A^a$aAwaY , (S, K,) with fet-h to the w , (MF, TA,) and it is also mentioned as with kesr, (TA,) [and is written in both of my copies of the S A^a$aAwaY , though if with kesr it should be either A^a$aAwK or A^a$aAwiY~u , but A^a$aAwaY only is meant by J, as is shown by what here follows,] originally A^a$aAyiY~u , with three Y s, not A^a$aAy^iY~u as J says, [or rather as the word is written in copies of the S, for J may have held it to be A^a$aAy^iY~u or A^a$aAyiYo'u , as he says that the ' was changed into Y thus occasioning the combination of three Y s, so that he held its secondary form to be A^a$aAyiY~u , as will presently be shown,] because the first Y is radical, not augmentative, (IB, K,) the medial Y of the three being suppressed, and the final one changed into A [though written Y ], and the initial one changed into w , (S,) and another form of pl. is A^a$aAyaA , (S, Msb, K,) with the Y preserved, not changed into w [as it is in A^a$aAwaY ], (TA,) [likewise] a pl. of A^a$oyaA='u , (Msb,) and A^a$ayaAyaA also is mentioned, (K,) as formed [from A^a$oyaA='u ] by the change of ' into Y and adding A , (TA,) and A^a$aAwihu , which is strange, (Lh, K,) as there is no h in A^a$ayaA='u , (Lh,) or in $aYo'N : (K:) with respect to the first of these forms, [the quasi-pl. n.] A^a$ayaA='u , the most probable opinion is that of Kh: (Msb, TA:) accord. to him, (S, Msb, K,) it is originally of the measure faEolaA='u , (S, K, *) in lieu of A^afoEaAlN , (K,) and therefore imperfectly decl., (S,) [i. e.] it is originally $ayoy^aA='u , (Msb,) and the two hemzehs combined in the latter portion being found difficult