أَىْ
1.
a vocative particle, (S, M, Mughnee, K,) addressed to the near, (S, K,) not to the distant: (S:) or to the near, or the distant, or the intermediate; according to different authorities. (Mughnee.) You say, أَىْ زَيْدُ أَقْبِلْ [O Zeyd, advance: or, if it may be used in addressing one who is distant, ho there, soho, or holla: and if used in addressing one who is between near and distant, ho, or what ho]: (S:) and أَىْ رَبِّ [O my Lord]; occurring in a tradition: and sometimes it is pronounced
اىْ. (Mughnee.)
2.
Also an explicative particle. (S, M, Mughnee, K.) You say, أَىْ كَذَا in the sense of يُرِيدُ كَذَا [He means such a thing, or يَعْنِى كَذَا, which has the same signification; or أُرِيدُ, or أَعْنِى, I mean; or the like; for all of which, we may say, meaning; or that is]; (S;) as in عِنْدِى عَسْجِدٌ أَىْ ذَهَبٌ [I have
عَسْجَد, that is, (I have) ذَهَبَ, or gold]. (Mughnee.) What follows it is an adjunct explicative of what precedes it, or a substitute. (Mughnee.) AA says that he asked Mbr respecting what follows it, and he answered that it may be a substitute for what precedes, and may be a word independent of what precedes it, and may be a noun in the accusative case: and that he asked Th, and he answered that it may be an explicative, or a word independent of what precedes it, or a noun governed in the accusative case by a verb suppressed: you say, جَاءَنِى أَخُوكَ أَىْ زَيْدٌ [Thy brother came to me; that is, Zeyd]; and you may say, أَىْ زَيْدًا [I mean Zeyd]: and رَأَيْتُ أَخَاكَ أَىْ زَيْدًا [I saw thy brother; I mean, or that is, Zeyd]; and you may say, أَىْ زَيْدٌ [that is, Zeyd]: and مَرَرْتُ
بِأَخِيكَ أَىْ زَيْدٍ [I passed by thy brother; that is, by Zeyd]; and you may say, أَىْ زَيدًا [I mean, Zeyd]; and أَىْ زَيْدٌ [that is, Zeyd]. (T, TA.) When it occurs after تَقُولُ, in a case like the following, [i. e., when a verb following it explains a verb preceding it,] one says, تَقُولُ اِسْتَكْتَمْتُهُ الحَدِيثَ
أَىْ سَأَلْتُهُ كِتْمَانَهُ [Thou sayest,
استكتمته الحديث, meaning
سألته كتمانه
I asked of him the concealment of it, namely, the discourse, or story; and so when تَقُولُ is understood, as is often, or generally, the case in lexicons]; with damm to the ت: but if you put إِذَا in the place of أَىْ, you say, إِذَا سَأَلْتَهُ, with fet-h, because أَذا is an adverbial noun relating to تَقُولُ. (Mughnee.)
3.
See also أَىٌّ, near the beginning of the paragraph, in three places.