جن

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See also: خن

Arabic

Root
ج ن ن (j-n-n)

Etymology 1

Compare Hebrew גָּנַן (gānán, to defend, to cover).

Verb

جَنَّ (janna) I, non-past يَجُنُّ‎ (yajunnu)

  1. (transitive) to cover, to hide, to conceal, to veil
  2. (transitive) to envelop, to enshroud, to cloak, to screen
  3. (transitive) to descend, to fall, to become night
    • 11 Century CE, Wallada bint al-Mustakfi, ترقب إذا جن الظلام زيارتي
      تَرَقَّبْ إِذَا جَنَّ الظَّلَامُ زِيَارَتِي / فَإِنِّي رَأَيْتُ اللَّيْلَ أَكْتَمَ لِلسِّرِّ
      taraqqab ʔiḏā janna ẓ-ẓalāmu ziyāratī / fa-ʔinnī raʔaytu l-layla ʔaktama li-s-sirri
      Await, when darkness falls, my visit. For I found the night to be a better keeper of secrets.
Conjugation
Related terms

Etymology 2

Formally from the root ج ن ن (j-n-n), though most likely a back-formation from جِنِّي (jinnī), derived from Classical Syriac ܓܢܝ (gnē, spirit, genie), or its emphatic form Aramaic גניא (ginnāyā) or Classical Syriac ܓܢܝܐ (genyā), also meaning "a tutelary deity" or "Astaroth idols". Compare Latin genius.

Noun

جِنّ (jinnm (collective, singulative جَانّ m or f (jānn) or جِنِّيّ m (jinniyy) or جِنِّيَّة f (jinniyya), plural جِنّ (jinn) or جِنَّة (jinna) or جِنَّان (jinnān) or جَوَان (jawān))

  1. (collective) spiritual or otherwise unseen, undetectable, masked, or morphed beings that may be benevolent or helpful (agathodaemons, eudaemons), neutral, or malevolent (cacodemons); jinn, genies, genii, demons.
    Synonyms: جِنَّة (jinna), جَوَان (jawān), جِنَّان (jinnān)
  2. (collective) any mythical beings in general (such as fairies, satyrs, nymphs, elves, goblins, and sprites)
  3. (informal, in the singular) a genie, a jann, one of the jinn(s).
Usage notes

In Arabian and Islamic mythology and demonology, the genies (alternatively referred to in English using the transliteration jinn), are conceptualized as a race that lives on earth alongside humans and beasts. Genies, like humans, are not deemed wholly evil or good, but they are said to possess powers that screen them from humankind, such as shapeshifting, which allows them to take up the form of animals (usually snakes and serpents) or even humans. Evil, godless, malicious, or otherwise harmful genies may influence the world indirectly (often through the works of human agents, such as sorcerers and witches) or directly (through the actions of the genies themselves). For example, Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, one of the companions of Muhammad, is said to have been supposedly assassinated by a genie who shot him with an arrow while he was urinating alone in the desert, and the second Caliph ʽUmar ibn al-Ḵaṭṭāb, as reported by Al-Munāwi in his Fayḍ al-Qadīr ("The Flow of the Ablest"), struck dead a غُول (ḡūl) (a kind of جِنّ (jinn)) with his sword, describing the creature as being "with a form like a human but with legs like those of a donkey". The جِنّ (jinn) are therefore not to be confused with the race of otherworldly creatures trapped in oil lamps as popularized in English, which, in Arabic, would be only a subtype of جِنّ (jinn), like the قُطْرُب (quṭrub, lycanthrope) and the سِعْلَاء (siʕlāʔ, succubus) and the chiefly Egyptian نَدَّاهَة (a kind of murderous enchanting river-nymphs or succubi). For more information, see the Wikipedia article on Jinn.

The word is also sometimes indiscriminately used when translating the non-Arabic names of other mythological beings (especially fairies and elves). This, however, often creates much confusion, and so various Arabicized forms of the original denominations may be used to avoid this.

Declension
Descendants
  • Swahili: jini
  • Kazakh: жын (jyn)
See also

Etymology 3

Denominal verb from جِنّ (jinn, jinn; spirit, demon), leveled to the root ج ن ن (j-n-n).

Verb

جُنَّ (junna) I, non-past يُجَنُّ‎ (yujannu)

  1. (passive voice) to be possessed
    1. (passive voice) to seem or act as if possessed, to be insane, to be crazy, to be mad, to be deranged
    2. (passive voice) to be obsessed; to be infatuated
Conjugation
Related terms

Etymology 4

Noun

جَنّ (jannm

  1. verbal noun of جُنَّ (junna) (form I)
  2. verbal noun of جَنَّ (janna) (form I)
Declension

Baluchi

Etymology

From Proto-Iranian *ǰánHh, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ǰánHs, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn.

Noun

جن (jan)

  1. woman

Persian

Etymology 1

From Arabic جِنّ (jinn).

Pronunciation

Readings
Classical reading? jinn
Dari reading? jinn
Iranian reading? jenn
Tajik reading? jinn

Noun

Dari جن
Iranian Persian
Tajik ҷин, ҷинн

جن (jenn) (plural جن‌ها (jenn-hâ))

  1. jinn, genie, demon, ghost
Related terms

Etymology 2

From or cognate with Avestan 𐬫𐬀𐬊𐬥𐬀 (yaona, way), from Proto-Iranian *Háy (cognate with Pashto يون (yūn, movement; walking; going), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Háy, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey-.

Pronunciation

Readings
Classical reading? jan
Dari reading? jan
Iranian reading? jan
Tajik reading? jan

Noun

جن (jan) (plural جن‌ها (jan-hâ))

  1. side
  2. way
    Synonyms: راه (râh), سو ()
    • c. 1000, Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi, The Book of Kings :
      پرندوش از این جن سواری گذشت
      که لرزید ازو سر به سر بوم و دشت
      parandôš az ên jan savârê guzašt
      ka larzîd azô sar-ba-sar bûm u dašt

Punjabi

Etymology

Inherited from Sanskrit जन (jana, race; people), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ȷ́ánHas, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os.

Noun

جن (janm (Gurmukhi spelling ਜਨ)

  1. people, populace; nation
  2. race, stock
  3. person, individual

Declension

Declension of جن
dir. sg. جَن (jan)
dir. pl. جَن (jan)
singular plural
direct جَن (jan) جَن (jan)
oblique جَن (jan) جَناں (janāṉ)
vocative جَنا (janā) جَنو (jano)
ablative جَنوں (janoṉ)
locative جَنے (jane) جَنِیں (janīṉ)
instrumental جَنے (jane) جَنِیں (janīṉ)

References

  • جن”, in Punjabi-English Dictionary, Patiala: Punjabi University, 2024
  • Iqbal, Salah ud-Din (2002) “جن”, in vaḍḍī panjābī lughat‎ (in Punjabi), Lahore: ʻAzīz Pablisharz
  • Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “jána”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 281

Urdu

Pronunciation

Noun

جن (jin, jinnm (formal plural جنات, Hindi spelling जिन्न)

  1. jinn
  2. demon

See also