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Remarks. Arabic is a very rich language with numerous synonyms, so much so that it has been described by a wag as a language in which every word has its own meaning and exactly the opposite, and a third meaning of some kind of camel. Fortunately for the common needs of life, Arabic-speaking people are content with an ordinary vocabulary, and even the educated reserve the richness of their mother-tongue for special occasions. The appalling thirteen forms of the verb of grammarians dwindle in practice to the intransitive, transitive, and an impersonal form, with occasionally a passive form, and prepositions are considered sufficient without the inflection of the various cases. Again, the student has the building-up of a vocabulary made more easy for him, by fairly consistent changes which are made in the roots to express various ideas.

THE VERB. The root form is that of the 3rd person singular of the past tense of the verb.

From this is formed most regularly a word which means the place or time of performing the action indicated by the root form.

Thus, katab (he wrote) makes maktab (the place of writing, i.e., the office). Khazan (he treasured up) makes makhzan (the place of storing, hence our "magazine"). Sām (he fasted) makes māusim (the time of fasting, hence our word "monsoon"). Rakab (he rode) makes merkeb (a ship). Sharab (he drank) makes mashrab (the drinking- place), used in the form of mashrabīch, the lattice-work