اِثْنَانِ
1.
a noun of number; (S, Msb;) applied to the dual number; (Msb;) meaning [Two;] the double of
وَاحِدٌ; (M, K;) with a conjunctive ا [when not immediately preceded by a quiescence, written اثْنَانِ]; (T, S, Msb;) but this is sometimes made disjunctive when connected with a preceding word by poetic license: (T, S:) of the masculine gender: (S:) feminine اِثْنَتَانِ, (T, S, Msb,) in which, also, the ا is conjunctive; (T, Msb;) and
ثِنْتَانِ; (T S, M, Msb, K;) the latter sometimes used, (T,) [much less frequently than the former, though the only feminine form mentioned in the M and K,] and of the dialect of Temeem; (Msb;) like as one says, هِىَ ابْنَةُ فُلَانٍ and هِىَ بِنْتُهُ: (T:) the ت in the dual is a substitute for the final radical, ى, (M, TA,) as it is in أَسْنَتُوا, the only other instance of this substitution except in words of the measure اِفْتَعَلَ: (Sb, M, TA:) in اِثْنَانِ, the final radical, ى is suppressed: (Msb:) it has no singular: (Lth, T:) if it were allowable to assign to it a singular, it would be اِثْنٌ [for the masculine] and اِثْنَةٌ [for the feminine], like اِبْنٌ and اِبْنَةٌ: (S:) according to some, (Msb,) it is originally ثِنْىٌ; (T, Msb, CK;) and hence the dual ثِنْتَانِ: (Msb:) or it is originally ثَنَىٌ, (M, Msb, and so in a copy of the K,) the conjunctive ا being then substituted for the ى whence the dual اثْنَانِ, like ابْنَانِ: (Msb:) this is shown by the form of its plural, which is أَثْنَاءٌ, (M, K,) like أَبْنَاءٌ [plural of ابْنٌ, which is originally بَنَىٌ or بَنَوٌ,] and اخَاءٌ [plural of أَخٌ, which is originally أَخَوٌ]. (M.) In the saying in the Qur'an, 16:53, لَا تَتَّخِذُوا إِٰلهَيْنِ
اثْنَيْنِ [Take not to yourselves two gods], the last word is added as a corroborative. (M.) The phrase ثِنْتَا حَنْظَلٍ occurs, by poetic license, for اِثْنَتَانِ مِنْ حَنْظَلٍ, meaning حَنْظَلَتَانِ [Two colo-
cynths]. (S.) You say also, القَدَحِ
شَرِبْتُ أَثْنَاءَ, and شَرِبْتُ اثْنَىْ هٰذَا القَدَحِ, meaning [I drank] twice as much as the bowl, and as this bowl: and in like manner, شَرِبْتُ اثْنَىْ مُدِّ البَصْرَةِ and اثْنَيْنِ
بِمُدِّ البَصْرَةِ [I drank twice the quantity of the
مُدّ
of El-Basrah]. (M.) And a poet says,
meaning [And she was not milked save] three vessels and two, [nor was she given her middaydrink save when her midday-resting was near.] (IAar, M.)وَلَا قُيِّلَتْ إِلَّا قَرِيبًا مَقَالُهَا
2.
Hence, (Msb,) يَوْمُ الاِثْنَيْنِ, (S, Msb,) or الاِثْنَانِ alone, (M, K,) One of the days of the week; [the second; namely, Monday;] because the first, with the Arabs, is الأَحَدُ; (M;) as also
الثِّنَى, like إِلَى; (K;) so in the copies of the K; [or,] according to some,
الثُّنِىُّ, [originally الثُّنُوىُ,] of the measure فُعُول, like ثُدِىٌّ [plural of ثَدْىٌ], is used in this sense; (TA;) or
اليَوْمُ الثُّنَىُّ, [so in the M, according to the TT,] mentioned by Sb, on the authority of certain of the Arabs: (M:) the plural is أَثْنَاءٌ and أَثَانِينُ, (M, K,) the latter mentioned on the authority of Th: but it has no dual: and those who say أَثْنَاءٌ form this plural from الاِثْنُ, although this has not been in use: (M:) or it has neither dual nor plural, (S, Msb,) being itself a dual; (S;) but if you would form a plural from it, you would regard it as itself a singular, and make its plural أَثَانِينُ: (S, Msb:) IB says that أَثَانِينُ has not been heard [from the Arabs], and is only mentioned by Fr, on the ground of analogy; that it is far-fetched in respect of analogy; and that the plural heard is أَثْنَاءٌ: Seer and others mention, as heard from the Arabs, إِنَّهُ لَيَصُومُ الأَثْنَاءَ [Verily he fasts on the Mondays]. (TA.) الثنين in يوم الثنين has no diminutive (Sb, S in article امس.) IJ says that the article ال in الثنين is not redundant, though the word is not an epithet: Abu-l-'Abbás says that the prefixing of the article in this case is allowable because the virtual meaning is اليَوْمُ الثَّانِى [the second day]. (M.) The saying اليَوْمُ الاِثْنَانِ means The name of to-day [is
الاثنان]; and is like the saying اليَوْمُ يَوْمَانِ [to-day is two days] and اليَوْمُ خَمْسَةَ عَشَرَ مِنَ الشَّهْرِ [to-day is fifteen of the month]. (Sb, M.) Sometimes, يَوْمُ اثْنَيْنِ, without the article ال, occurs in poetry. (M, K.) When a pronoun refers to الاثنان [as meaning Monday], this word may be treated in two ways, [as a singular and as a dual,] but the more chaste way is to treat it as a singular, as meaning the day: (Msb:) [thus,] Aboo-Ziyád used to say, مَضَى الاِثْنَانِ بِمَا فِيهِ [Monday passed with what occurred in it]; making it singular and masculine; and thus he did in the case of every day of the week, except that he made الجُمْعَة feminine: Abu-I-Jarráh used to say, مَضَى الاِثْنَانِ بِمَا فِيهِمَا, treating the word as a numeral; and thus he treated the third and fourth and fifth days, saying in each of these cases بِمَا فِيهِنَّ. (M.)
3.
[اِثْنَا عَشَرَ, feminine اِثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ; respectively, in a case of nasb and khafd, اِثْنَىْ عَشَرَ and اِثْنَتَىْ عَشْرَةَ; and with ا when not immediately preceded by a quiescence; mean Twelve: see عَشَرَةٌ.]