رُبَّ

is a word of which there are seventy dialect vars., all mentioned by Zekereeyà El-Ansáree in his great Expos. of the “ Munferijeh, ” but only eighteen of which are mentioned in the K, including some that are formed with the affix ت, some with the affix مَا, and some with both these affixes together; as follows: (TA:) رُبَّ (T, S, M, Msb, Mughnee, K, &c.) and رَبَّ (T, M, Mughnee, K) and رُبُّ, (Mughnee,) and ↓ رُبَ (T, S, M, Mughnee, K) and رَبَ (T, M, Mughnee, K) and رُبُ and رُبْ (Mughnee, K) and رَبْ; (Mughnee;) and ↓ رُبَّتَ (T, S, M, Msb, Mughnee, K) and رَبَّتَ (M, Mughnee, K) and رُبُّتَ and رُبَّتُ and رَبَّتُ and رُبُّتُ and رُبَّتِ and رَبَّتِ and رُبُّتِ and رَبُّت (TA) and رُبَّتْ and رَبَّتْ (Mughnee) and رُبُّتْ, (TA,) and ↓ رُبَتَ (T, Mughnee, K) and رَبَتَ (Mughnee, K) and رُبُتَ and رُبْتَ and رَبْتَ and رُبَتُ and رَبَتُ and رُبُتُ and رُبْتُ and رَبْتُ and رُبَتِ and رَبَتِ and رُبُتِ and رَبُتِ and رُبْتِ and رَبْتِ (TA) and رُبَتْ and رَبَتْ (Mughnee) and رُبُتْ; (TA;) and رُبَّمَا (T, S, M, K) and رَبَّمَا (M, K) and رُبُّمَا, (TA,) and ↓ رُبَمَا (T, K) and رَبَمَا (K) and رُبُمَا and رُبْمَا and رَبْمَا; (TA;) and ↓ رُبَّتَمَا (T, S, M, K) and رَبَّتَمَا (M, K) and رُبُّتَمَا and رُبَّتُمَا and رَبَّتُمَا and رُبُّتُمَا and رُبَّتْمَا and رَبَّتْمَا and رُبُّتْمَا, (TA,) and ↓ رُبَتَمَا and رَبَتَمَا (M, K) and رُبُتَمَا and رُبْتَمَا and رَبْتَمَا and رُبَتُمَا and رَبَتُمَا and رُبُتُمَا and رُبْتُمَا and رَبْتُمَا and رُبَتْمَا and رَبَتْمَا and رُبُتْمَا: (TA:) [of all these, the most common are رُبَّ and رُبَّمَا: and] ↓ رُبَّتَ is the most common of the forms that have the affix ت: (Mughnee and K on the letter ت:) and the forms with teshdeed are more common than the [corresponding] forms without teshdeed. (M.) It is a word, (M,) or particle, (T, S, Mughnee, K,) governing the gen. case: (S, M, Mughnee, K:) or a noun, (K, TA,) [i. e. an indecl. noun,] in the opinion of the Koofees and some others; but this opinion is rejected by Ibn-Málik in the Tesheel and its Expos., and by AHei, and by IHsh in the Mughnee. (TA.) Accord. to some, (K, TA,) it is used to denote a small number, (T, M, Msb, K, TA,) always, (TA,) or mostly: (Msb, TA:) [thus it may be rendered Few if we render the noun following it as a plural; and scarce any if we render the noun following as a singular or a plural:] it is the opposite of كَمْ when this latter is not used interrogatively: (T:) [and with مَا affixed, restricting it from government, it may be rendered Few times, or seldom:] or it is used to denote a large number; (K, TA;) i. e. always: so says IDrst: (TA:) [thus used, but such is not always the case, it may be rendered Many, whether we render the noun following it as a singular or as a plural: and with مَا affixed, Many times, many a time, oftentimes, ofttimes, often, or frequently:] or it is used to denote a small and a large number; (Mughnee, K;) often the latter, and seldom the former: (Mughnee:) or it is used in a case of boasting, or glorying, (K, TA,) exclusively of other cases, (TA,) to denote a large number: (K, TA:) or it does not denote by itself either a small number or a large number; but one or the other of these meanings is inferred from the context: (K:) [but sometimes neither of these meanings can be clearly inferred from the context: in these cases, it may be rendered Some: and with مَا affixed, Sometimes:] according to Er-Radee, its primary meaning is to denote a small number, but it has been so much used to denote a large number as to be in this latter sense as though it were proper, and in the former sense as though it were tropical, requiring context [to explain it]. (Marginal note in my copy of the Mughnee.) [Without the affix ما,] it governs an indeterminate noun (T, * S, Msb, Mughnee, K) only, (T, S, K,) and a pronoun. (S, M, Mughnee.) You say, رُبَّ يَوْمٍ بَكَّرْتُ فِيهِ [Few, or many, days have I gone forth early therein]: (T:) and رُبَّ رَجُلٍ قَايءِمٌ [Few, or many, men are standing]: (M:) and رُبَّ رَجُلٍ قَامَ [Few, or many, men stood]: (Msb:) and in like manner, رَجُلٍ ↓ رُبَّتَ; (Msb;) for the ت in this case is not a denotative of the feminine gender. (Msb.) The pronoun affixed to it is of the third pers., (S, M,) and is [generally] singular and masculine, (S, Mughnee,) though it may be followed by a feminine and by a dual and by a plural: (S:) notwithstanding its being determinate in the utmost degree, its use in this manner is allowable because it resembles an indeterminate noun in its being used without the previous mention of the noun to which it relates; and hence it requires a noun to explain it: (IJ, M:) it annuls the government of رُبَّ; (TA;) and the indeterminate noun that follows it is put in the accusative case as a specificative: (S, Mughnee:) thus you say, رُبَّهُ رَجُلًا قَدْ ضَرَبْتُ [Few, or many, men I have beaten]: (S, M: *) but according to the Koofees, you say رُبَّهُ رَجُلًا, (S,) and رُبَّهَا امْرَأَةً, (M,) and رُبَّهُمَا رَجُلَيْنش, and رُبَّهُمْ رِجَالًا, and رُبَّهُنَّ نِسَاءً: he who puts the pronoun in the singular [in all cases] holds it to be allusive to something unknown; and he who does not put it in the singular [when it is not followed by a singular noun] holds it to be used in reply to a question, as though it were said to a man, “ Hast thou not any young women? ” and he answered, رُبَّهُنَّ جَوَارٍ قَدْ مَلَكْتُ [Few, or many, young women have I possessed]: Ibn-Es-Sarráj says that the grammarians are as though they were of one consent in holding رُبَّ to be a replicative [apparently meaning in a case of this kind, with an affixed pronoun]: (S:) [but it is not always a replicative in a case of this kind; though perhaps it was originally:] AHeyth cites as an example

وَرُبَّهُ عَطِبًا أَنْقَذْتُ مِ العَطَبِ

[And many a perishing man have I saved from perdition]. (TA. [But the reading commonly found in grammars is مِنْ عَطَبِهْ from his state of perdition.]) The following is an example of the use of رُبَّ to denote a small number, [or rather to denote singleness,]

أَلَا رُبَّ مَوْلُودٍ وَلَيْسَ لَهُ أَبٌ

وَذِى وَلَدٍ لَمْ يَلْدِهِ أَبَوَانِ

[Now surely scarce an instance is there of anyone born not having a father, and of anyone having offspring whom two parents have not procreated]; meaning [our Lord] Jesus and Adam: (Mughnee: [but I have substituted يَلْدِهِ for يَلْدَهُ, the reading in my copy of that work: لَمْ يَلْدِهِ is for لَمْ يَلِدْهُ, for the sake of the metre; like as لِمْ أَجْدِ is for لَمْ أَجِدْ:]) and among the many exs. of its use to denote a large number, is the saying, in a tradition, يَا رُبَّ كاَسِيَةٍ فِى الدُّنْيَا عَارِيَةٌ يَوْمَ القِيٰمَةِ [O, many a female having clothing in the present state of existence will be naked on the day of resurrection!]; and the saying of an Arab of the desert, after the ending of Ramadán, يَا رُبَّ صَايءِمِهِ لَنْ يَعصُومَهُ وَيَا رُبَّ قَايءِمِهِ لَنْ يَقُومَهُ [O, many a keeper of its fast shall not keep its fast again! and O, many a passer of its nights in prayer, or per- former of its تَرَاوِيح, shall not pass its nights in prayer, or perform its تراويح, again!]. (Mughnee.) [But in this last example, and in others, it relates to few in comparison with others, though many abstractedly.]

مَا is affixed to رُبَّ &c. in order that a verb may follow it; (S, Mughnee;) and the verb that follows it is generally a preterite, (T, Mughnee,) as to the letter and the meaning: (Mughnee:) you say, رُبَّمَا جَاءَنِى فُلَانٌ [Seldom, or often, such a one came to me, or has come to me]: (T:) sometimes the verb is a future; (T, Mughnee;) but only when it expresses an event of which one is certain: (T:) so in the saying in the Qur'an, 15:2, رُبَّمَا يَوَدُّ الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا لَوْ كَانُوا مُسْلِمِينَ, (T, S, M, Mughnee), meaning Often [will those who have disbelieved wish that they had been Muslims]; (Mughnee, Jel;) or seldom, (Zj, T, M, Jel,) because terrors will bereave them of their reason so that they will but seldom recover reason to wish this; (Jel;) for God's threat is true, as though it had come to pass, and therefore the verb here is equivalent to a preterite [which is often used in the Qur'an and elsewhere in this manner]. (T.) مَا is also sometimes affixed when a noun follows, (T, Mughnee,) or a nominal proposition, and generally restricts رُبَّ &c. from governing: thus, Aboo-Duwád says,

رُبَّمَا الجَامِلُ المُوءَبَّلُ فِيهِمْ

وَعَنَا جِيجُ بَيْنَهُنَّ المِهَارُ

[Sometimes, or often, the numerous herd of camels is among them, and there are swift horses, among which are the colts]: another says, making رُبَّ, with مَا affixed, to govern,

رُبَّمَا ضَرْبَةٍ بِسَيْفٍ صَقِيلٍ

قَيْنِ بُصْرَى وَطَعْنَةٍ نَجْلَاءَ

[Many a stroke with a polished sword of the forging of Busrà, (the Bozrah of the Bible, a city famous for its sword-blades,) and many a wide spear-wound; or, perhaps, few strokes &c.]: (Mughnee: [but I have substituted قَيْنِ for بَيْنَ, which is the reading in my copy of the Mughnee, an evident mistranscription:]) and another, cited by IAar, says,

غَارَةٍ ↓ مَاوِىَّ يَا رُبَّتَمَا

شَعْوَاءَ كَاللَّذْعَةِ بِالْمِيسَمِ

[Máweeyeh, (مَاوِىَّ being an apocopated proper name of a woman, originally مَاوِيَّةُ,) O, many a raid spreading widely and dispersedly, like the burn with the branding-iron]. (T. [In the TT, as from the T, I find, here, بَلْ in the place of يا, which I find in a copy of the T, and which is the reading commonly known.])