إيا

Arabic

Etymology

An innovation first attested in Old Arabic, derived from the root ء ي ء (ʔ-y-ʔ), originally a vocative word used to call to someone, to direct their attention; see also إِيَّاكَ (ʔiyyāka).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔij.jaː/

Particle

إِيَّا • (ʔiyyā)

1. particle attached to oblique pronoun forms when they are not attached to the verb or preposition governing them
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 1:5:

     إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

     ʔiyyāka naʕbudu wa-ʔiyyāka nastaʕīnu

     Thee do we worship; and unto Thee do we turn for aid.

Usage notes

Arabic personal pronouns are suffixes, not complete words in their own right, except in the subject form. Because of this, Arabic grammar does not allow them to stand independently in a sentence; they must be attached to a "carrier" word. Normally, object pronouns immediately follow the verb, preposition, or particle governing them, and thus in the overwhelming majority of the time, this governing verb, preposition, or particle is also the "carrier" of the pronoun suffix. However, these object pronouns may be separated from the governing word for any of a number of reasons, in which case إِيَّا (ʔiyyā) must be employed as a generic "carrier" word:

1. to delay the verb until after the object pronoun is introduced, usually to emphasize the pronoun (similarly to Chinese 把 (bă))
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 1:5:

     إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

     ʔiyyāka naʕbudu wa-ʔiyyāka nastaʕīnu

     Thee do we worship; and unto Thee do we turn for aid.

     Without إِيَّا (ʔiyyā), the pronouns would have to follow the verbs, and it would simply say نَعْبُدُكَ وَنَسْتَعِينُكَ (naʕbuduka wa-nastaʕīnuka, “We worship Thee and turn to Thee for aid”).

2. to introduce a second object pronoun, when the other object pronoun is already attached to the verb, preposition, or particle
   • 7th century CE, The Quran‎:

     وَمَا كَانَ ٱسْتِغْفَارُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ لِأَبِيهِ إِلَّا عَنْ مَوْعِدَةٍ وَعَدَهَا إِيَّاهُ

     wa-mā kāna stiḡfāru ʔibrāhīma li-ʔabīhi ʔillā ʕan mawʕidatin waʕadahā ʔiyyāhu

     And Abraham prayed for his father's forgiveness only because of a promise he had made to him.

     Arabic grammar requires that the object of a relative clause be restated with a redundant pronoun, so the sentence literally reads "about a promise he made it (to) him"; the indirect object ("him", i.e. Abraham's father) therefore requires إِيَّا (ʔiyyā) to carry it, as وَعَدَ (waʕada) is already carrying the relative pronoun referring back to the promise.

   • أَعْطِيتُهُ السَّيَّارَةَ

     ʔaʕṭītuhu s-sayyārata

     I gave him the car.

   • أَعْطِيتُهُ إِيَّاهَا

     ʔaʕṭītuhu ʔiyyāhā

     I gave him it.

3. to state the object of a verb, preposition, or particle that is elided or understood from context
   • 7th century CE, The Quran‎:

     أَمَرَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوٱ إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ

     ʔamara ʔallā taʕbudū ʔillā ʔiyyāhu

     He has ordained that you should worship nought but Him (literally, "He has ordained that you should not worship except Him").

     إِلَّا (ʔillā, “except, but”) functions as a conjunction, not a preposition; the implied sentence is أَمَرَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوٱ إِلَّا تَعْبُدُوهُ (ʔamara ʔallā taʕbudū ʔillā taʕbudūhu, “He has ordained that you should not worship except Him”), but the repeated verb تَعْبُدُوٱ (taʕbudū) is elided the second time. The remaining pronoun requires إِيَّا (ʔiyyā) since the verb to which it would have been attached is gone.

   • 7th century CE, The Quran‎:

     وَإِنَّا أَوْ إِيَّاكُمْ لَعَلَىٰ هُدًى أَوْ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ

     wa-ʔinnā ʔaw ʔiyyākum laʕalā hudan ʔaw fī ḍalālin mubīnin

     And, behold, either we or you are on the right path, or have clearly gone astray!

     Because أَوْ (ʔaw, “or”) is a conjunction, it cannot carry an object pronoun. إِيَّا (ʔiyyā) provides a carrier for the second pronoun, as an alternative to repeating إِنَّ (ʔinna, “indeed; behold”) (إِنَّا أَوْ إِنَّكُم (ʔinnā ʔaw ʔinnakum)).

Since إِيَّا (ʔiyyā) may not be used in the genitive, Arabic grammarians have traditionally thought of the inflections of إِيَّا (ʔiyyā) as free or unbound accusative pronouns, which, unlike their suffixal counterparts, may be moved around and may be placed before or after the verb.

1. أَكَلْتُهَا.

   ʔakaltuhā.

   I ate it.

2. أَكَلْتُ إِيَّاهَا.

   ʔakaltu ʔiyyāhā.

   I ate that.

3. إِيَّاهَا أَكَلْتُ.

   ʔiyyāhā ʔakaltu.

   That, I ate.

Inflection

References

• Lane, Edward William (1863) “ايا”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate, pages 135-136