A Common Error

While my posts on the pronunciation of Arabic letters have always taken the perspective of descriptive linguistics, I am, for a moment, going to take a step back, focus on Classical Arabic, and take a prescriptive approach.

There is no such word as 3a'ilah (عائلة) meaning, "family". I can hear your protests already, and I offer you this challenge: find the word for me in any classical Arabic dictionary. You won't. Period. Yes, there are related words, like 3iyal (dependents), and 3a'il (عائل) meaning, "a poor man." This latter word is used in Surat Al-Duha, ayah 8: (و وجدك عائلا فأغنى) "And He found you poor and gave you wealth." The feminine form of 3a'il is certainly 3a'ilah, so there is nothing objectional to using this word when meaning, "a poor woman." However, to use it to mean, "family" is wrong.

So where did this usage come from?

The word is, in fact, 3aqilah (عاقلة), but the pronunciation of qaf as a glottal stop in the cities of the Levant and Egypt dominated until that simply became the accepted pronunciation, even among people who do not pronounce the qaf in this way. Furthermore, the original meaning of 3aqilah is not your generic, "family". Rather, they are your father's descendants, his father's descendants, etc.; i.e. they are your patrilineal relatives who are responsible for paying indemnity (Ar. diya) on your behalf in the case that you accidentally kill someone. This word is derived from another word for indemnity in Arabic: 3aql (i.e. tying), so named because it was paid in camels which were tied up. As for the word 3aql meaning, "mind", it is related to, "tying" in the sense of bringing order to one's affairs and keeping them under control.