Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded. Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī
the art of word puzzles108 such as ṭājin and ṭāfiyah and yāsamīn109 and the verse that says:
I saw a marvel in your houses—
An old man and a maiden in the stomach of a bird!110
And another says:
Red of cheek, of a crimson
That all rouge to emulate must try;
Fangless, eyeless,
But with fang and eye.111
١٠،٢،١١
ويطلق لفظ نمنم على كلام الطفل الصغير إذا اشتهى الأكل فيقول نمنم أو بُفْ بضمّ الموحّدة وسكون الفاء لأنّه ينطق بألفاظ تخالف ألفاظ الكبير كما هو شاهد وأمّا لغته قبل نطقه فقيل أنّها بالسريانيّة وإذا اشتهى الماء يقول أُنْبُوهْ بضمّ الهمزة وسكون النون ورفع الموحّدة وجزم الهاء وإذا أدنى بيده لنجاسة يتناولها ينزجر بلفظ كُخّ بالكاف والخاء المعجمة وإذا دنا لأخذ شيء يؤذيه ينزجر أيضًا بلفظ أَحّ بالألف والحاء المهملة وإذا أخذ شيئًا أعجبه ولعب به يقال له أو يقول عليه دَحّ بالدال والحاء المهملتين ويقال له أو يقول على المأكول إذا فرغ منه بَحّ بالموحّدة والحاء المهملة وإذا أرادت أمّه تخويفه وسكوته عن الصياح تقول له اسكت لا ياكلك البِعْبِعْ بكسر الموحّدتين أو رفعهما وجزم العينين المهملتين (والبعبع) مشتقّ من البَعْبَعة وهو صوت الجمل وبين أَحّ ودَحّ وبَحّ الجناس المتغيّر الأوّل ويخاطب أمّه بلفظ ماما وأبوه بابا وأخوه الصغير واوا ونحو ذلك وتغزّل بعضهم في صغير ببيت من المواليا جمع فيه هذه الألفاظ فقال [بسيط]
| يا مَن سَلَبْ للحَشا والرُّوحِ واوا أحْ | غيري يواصِلُكَ وأنا مِن وصالكْ بحْ |
| البُفّ أُطْعِمك والنَمْنِم وقولةُ بحْ | بِعْبِعْ أنا كُخِّ يا نِنّا وغيري دَحْ |
وقال ابن سودون رحمه الله تعالى في معنى ذلك [هزج]
| لموت ٱمي أرى الاحزانَ تَحْنيني | فطالما لحستنى لحسَ تَحْنينِ |
| وطالما دلّعتني حالَ تربيتي | حتّى طلعتُ كما كانت تربّيني |
| أقولُ نَمْنَمْ تجي بالأكلِ تُطْعِمُني | أقولُ انْبُوهْ تجي بالماءِ تَسْقيني |
وقوله (تحنيني وتحنيني) فيه الجناس التامّ الأوّل من الانحناء والثاني من التحنّن والشفقة كما لا يخفى
The word namnam112 is used in the language of small children:113 when a child wants to eat, he says namnam, or buff (with u after the b and no vowel after the f), for children utter different words from those used by adults, as may be observed. As for the language children use before they start to talk, some say it is Syriac. When a child wants water, he says unbūh (with u at the beginning, no vowel after the n, ū after the b, and no vowel after the h). If he puts out his hand to something dirty to take it, he is scolded with the word kukhkh (with k and kh), and if he is on the point of taking something that might harm him, he is rebuked with the word aḥḥ (with alif and ḥ). If he takes something that pleases him and plays with it, they call it (or he calls it) daḥḥ (with d and ḥ) with no following vowels.114 They call (or he himself calls) food when he has had enough of it baḥḥ (with b and ḥ). If his mother wants to scare him or stop him from bawling, she says, “Quiet, or the biʿbiʿ (‘bogeyman’) will eat you!” (with i or u after the two bs and no vowel after the ʿs). Biʿbiʿ is derived from baʿbaʿah, which is the sound of the camel.115 Among aḥḥ and daḥḥ and baḥḥ there is mutational paronomasia of the first letter.116 The child addresses his mother as māmā, his father as bābā, his little brother as wāwā,117 and so on. A poet has gathered these expressions together in a verse from a mawāliyā in which he flirtatiously addresses a little boy:
You who stole my heart and soul, Ouch! It hurts!
You make friends with others, but when it’s me, your love’s “all gone!”?
I feed you din-dins and tidbits and you say “All gone!”
Am I a “Bogeyman”? Am I “Yuck,” little baby, while another’s “Yumyum”?118
And Ibn Sūdūn, may the Almighty have mercy on him, says, in similar vein:119
Because of my mother’s death I find sorrows wring me (taḥnīnī).
How often she suckled me tenderly (taḥnīnī),
And, as she brought me up, how often she indulged me,
So that I turned out just as she made me.
If I said namnam, she’d bring food and feed me.
If I said unbūh, she’d bring water to give me.
The words taḥnīnī (“wring me”)120 and taḥnīnī (“tenderly”) constitute “perfect paronomasia,”121 the first being from inḥināʾ (“bending”), the second from taḥannun (“tenderness”) and “having pity” (shafaqah), as is clear.
١١،٢،١١
ويقال عِذار مُنَمْنِم أي يشبه في نبته بدبيب النمنم أو نبات النمام وقد قلت في تشبيهه بدبيب النمنم [بسيط]
| دَبُّ العذار على خدّيه خُيِّلَ لي | بأنَّه نِمْنِمٌ يمشي على مَهَلِ |
One also speaks of ʿidhār munamnim (“creeping fuzz”) on a young man’s cheek, meaning that the down resembles the creeping