Tom Abi Samra

This entry explores the different meanings of taḍmīn in the Arabic sciences, namely, in grammar (naḥw), prosody (ʿarūḍ), and eloquence (balāgha), especially in the science of poetic devices (ʿilm al-badīʿ). It suggests a tripartite schema for taḍmīn in these three sciences, all of which, nonetheless, relate to the lexical meaning of taḍmīn as “inclusion”: taḍmīn as implication, taḍmīn as enjambment, and taḍmīn as quotation, respectively. After outlining these three kinds of taḍmīn, it explores in some detail the aesthetic purchase of taḍmīn as quotation, as discussed by theorists and critics of poetry.