Qur’anic Root J DH AYN

1. Forms and semantic cores

J DH AYN is a sound triliteral Arabic root. Lexical sources record forms including jidhʿ (جِذْع), judhūʿ (جُذُوع), ajdhāʿ (أَجْذَاع), jadhaʿ (جَذَع), jadhaʿah (جَذَعَة), jidhʿān (جِذْعَان), ajdhaʿa (أَجْذَعَ), ijdhāʿ (إِجْذَاع), tajādhaʿa (تَجَاذَعَ), and majdhūʿ (مَجْذُوع).

These forms occur in several semantic branches.

Jidhʿ denotes a tree trunk, especially that of a date palm. Its plurals include judhūʿ and ajdhāʿ.

In animal terminology, jadhaʿ names a stage of growth and youth. Its feminine is jadhaʿah, and ajdhaʿa describes an animal reaching that stage.

In another use, the verb jadhaʿa is recorded for rubbing and pressing. Some usages also concern withholding or depriving someone of something.

The Qur’an contains only two nominal forms from this root: singular jidhʿ and plural judhūʿ. The singular occurs in Maryam 19:23 and Maryam 19:25, and the plural in Ṭā Hā 20:71.

Quranic Arabic Corpus: three nominal occurrences of jidhʿ and judhūʿ

Morphologically, judhūʿ is the plural of jidhʿ. Their difference is one of number, rather than two separate meanings.

Three principles in Ibn Fāris’s account

In Maqāyīs al-Lughah, Ibn Fāris distinguishes three principles within this family.

The first concerns freshness and youth in age. In this branch, jadhaʿ is an animal that has reached a particular stage of growth.

The second is jidhʿ al-shajarah (جِذْع الشجرة), the trunk of a tree.

The third is the expression jadhaʿtu al-shayʾa (جَذَعْتُ الشَّيْءَ), meaning that one rubbed or pressed something.

This division matters because Ibn Fāris does not derive all these usages from a single meaning.

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs: three distinct principles

The shared consonants of the words for a trunk and a young animal do not establish that jidhʿ originally meant a tree’s youth. Nor does rubbing or pressing become a necessary component of the meaning of a palm trunk.

In Qur’anic usage, the clear semantic core is the main trunk of a date palm. Other branches broaden our knowledge of the lexical family without changing its Qur’anic meaning. Brief root meaning: The main trunk of a tree, especially a date palm.

2. The tree trunk: the physical meaning of jidhʿ

Lexical sources explain jidhʿ al-nakhlah (جِذْع النخلة) as the stem or trunk of the date palm.

The palm differs structurally from many branching trees. Its main elongated trunk supports a crown of leaves and date bunches at the top.

In Arabic, jidhʿ names this main part.

Sāq (سَاق) can also denote a plant’s stem or trunk, but its semantic range is broader, including the lower leg and other supporting parts.

In descriptions of palms, jidhʿ denotes a recognizable, specific trunk.

Must a jidhʿ be a severed trunk?

After introducing jidhʿ and its plural, Al-Rāghib explains jadhaʿtuhu (جَذَعْتُهُ) through qaṭaʿtuhu qaṭʿa al-jidhʿ (قَطَعْتُهُ قَطْعَ الْجِذْعِ): cutting it in the manner of cutting a trunk. This statement should not silently be converted into a definition of the noun jidhʿ itself.

The witness establishes an attested cutting use within the lexical family. It does not by itself prove that every trunk called jidhʿ has already been cut.

Al-Rāghib, Al-Mufradāt: the trunk noun and cutting verb

The name of a tree part must be distinguished from the act of cutting it. An association with cutting in certain constructions does not establish that every jidhʿ is necessarily severed from its roots or tree.

A living, standing tree also has a trunk, which can be called jidhʿ.

Conversely, a trunk separated from its branches or original location may still be called jidhʿ.

Tāj al-ʿArūs records both a view restricting jidhʿ to a dry or cut trunk and a view not restricting it to those conditions. The restriction is therefore not uniform across the sources, and the noun alone cannot conclusively determine the condition of the palm in Maryam’s story.

Tāj al-ʿArūs: two views on dry or cut trunks

This distinction matters in Maryam’s story. The Qur’an says jidhʿ al-nakhlah, but that designation alone does not prove that the palm was dry, leafless, or already cut.

Inferring an already severed trunk solely from the cutting use of jadhaʿa likewise fails to distinguish the verb of cutting from the noun for a trunk.

Jidhʿ in construction and wooden implements

Al-Zamakhsharī’s Asās al-Balāghah also records jidhʿ for a wooden roof beam.

This use relates to the trunk’s elongated shape and supporting capacity. A severed trunk can serve as a beam or post in construction.

Here, the name of a natural tree part extends to timber retaining a comparable shape or structural function.

Al-Zamakhsharī, Asās: roof beams and lexical uses

This does not mean that Qur’anic jidhʿ directly names a building beam.

In Maryam and Ṭā Hā, the additions al-nakhlah and al-nakhl explicitly identify the tree as a palm.

The primary meaning in these verses is consequently a palm trunk, rather than any wooden column, roof beam, or manufactured support.

3. Jadhaʿ: a stage of animal youth and growth

Another branch of the root was important in Arab livestock husbandry.

Jadhaʿ describes an animal that has passed an earlier stage of growth but has not yet entered the next age category.

The word has been used of camels, sheep, goats, cattle, and horses.

The precise age associated with it is not the same for all these animals.

Jadhaʿ in camels

According to Al-Azharī, a camel is called jadhaʿ after completing four years and entering its fifth year.

This age specification belongs to the Arabic naming system for the stages of a camel’s growth.

Names such as ḥiqq (حِقّ), jadhaʿ, and thaniyy (ثَنِيّ) can distinguish different stages.

Jadhaʿ here is therefore more specific than simply a baby camel or small camel. The animal has reached a recognized stage of development.

Jadhaʿ in sheep and goats

Early sources differ over the age at which sheep and goats are called jadhaʿ.

Some accounts place goats in this category after completing one year and entering the second.

Lower ages are also reported for sheep, particularly lambs. Ibn al-Aʿrābī and Al-Azharī explain that development, feeding, and the animal’s condition can influence recognition of this stage.

Assigning a single numerical age to jadhaʿ across all animals is therefore inconsistent with the lexical evidence.

Jadhaʿ and thaniyy

In animal age terminology, thaniyy is a stage after jadhaʿ.

The distinction relates to physical development and, in some animals, changes in the teeth. Al-Ṣiḥāḥ nevertheless explicitly identifies jadhaʿ itself as a period of development, rather than the name of a tooth that grows or falls out then. A dental criterion for the next stage should therefore not become the definition of jadhaʿ itself.

Al-Azharī and Al-Ṣiḥāḥ: animal ages; jadhaʿ is not a tooth name

In this branch, jadhaʿ is thus more than a general adjective meaning youthful: in livestock husbandry it could designate a specific stage.

Later legal discussions also employ these categories when considering animal age.

Their presence in dictionaries does not mean that Qur’anic jidhʿ states a particular rule about animal age or sacrificial requirements. None of the root’s Qur’anic occurrences concerns livestock age.

Animal ages help explain the language’s historical range, but they should not be added to the meaning of the palm trunk in Maryam or Ṭā Hā.

Human youth and the newness of an undertaking

Arabic also uses jadhaʿ figuratively of a young person.

For example, fulānun fī hādhā al-amri jadhaʿun (فُلَانٌ فِي هَذَا الْأَمْرِ جَذَعٌ) describes someone newly involved in an undertaking.

Youth here is not limited to the person’s physical age. The point can be being a beginner or newcomer to a subject.

Aʿadtu al-amra jadhaʿan (أَعَدْتُ الْأَمْرَ جَذَعًا) is also recorded for resuming or renewing an undertaking.

Similarly, aʿadnāhā jadhaʿatan (أَعَدْنَاهَا جَذَعَةً) describes renewing a war that had subsided.

These uses show that the age branch can also convey freshness, a new beginning, or renewed strength.

This branch nevertheless differs from the noun jidhʿ meaning a tree trunk.

4. Pressure, rubbing, and other early usages

Ibn Fāris explains the root’s third principle through jadhaʿtu al-shayʾa: rubbing or pressing something.

Dictionaries also explain jadhaʿa through ʿafasa (عَفَسَ) and dalaka (دَلَكَ).

This use concerns pressure or rubbing applied to a body or object.

Lisān al-ʿArab transmits the following lines attributed to Al-ʿAjjāj in this lexical setting:

«كَأَنَّهُ مِنْ طُولِ جَذْعِ الْعَفْسِ
وَرَمَلَانِ الْخِمْسِ بَعْدَ الْخِمْسِ
يُنْحَتُ مِنْ أَقْطَارِهِ بِفَأْسِ»

ka-annahu min ṭūli jadhʿi al-ʿafsi / wa-ramalāni al-khimsi baʿda al-khimsi / yunḥatu min aqṭārihi bi-faʾsi

An illustrative rendering of the rajaz is: “Through prolonged pressure and wear, and running through successive watering intervals, it is as though its sides were being hewn away with an axe.” Khims names a camel watering interval. Ibn Fāris cites the witness under rubbing; Al-Ṣiḥāḥ and Tāj also cite it when discussing withholding an animal’s fodder. Its setting should therefore not be reduced to surface friction: the central image is an animal worn down by pressure and exertion.

Maqāyīs, Al-Ṣiḥāḥ, and Tāj: Al-ʿAjjāj, rubbing, and withheld fodder

Al-ʿAjjāj is an Islamic-era poet. The witness is useful for early Arabic usage, but it does not independently establish pre-Qur’anic usage.

Some recorded uses of jadhaʿa also concern holding back or withholding. Majdhūʿ, for instance, is reported of an animal deprived of grazing or food.

Jadhaʿa al-rajulu ʿiyālahu (جَذَعَ الرَّجُلُ عِيَالَهُ) also describes someone withholding benefit or provision from his dependants.

These usages illustrate the semantic field of pressure and withholding.

Some lexical accounts also mention a similar form with dāl. Comparable spellings must therefore not all be assigned to J DH AYN without checking the consonants and variant transmissions.

Lisān and Tāj: dhāl and dāl variants in withholding

A poetic witness for jadhaʿ and renewal

Maqāyīs al-Lughah quotes the following verse by Al-Akhṭal:

«يَا بِشْرُ لَوْ لَمْ أَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ بِمَنْزِلَةٍ
أَلْقَى عَلَيَّ يَدَيْهِ الْأَزْلَمُ الْجَذَعُ»

yā Bishru law lam akun minkum bi-manzilatin / alqā ʿalayya yadayhi al-azlamu al-jadhaʿu

That is: “Bishr, had I not held such a position among you, relentless, ever-renewed Time would have laid its hands upon me and destroyed me.”

In this verse, al-azlam al-jadhaʿ (الْأَزْلَمُ الْجَذَعُ) refers to Time.

Jadhaʿ is associated here with youth and freshness: Time continually persists, as though ever new, its strength undiminished like an animal that has not entered old age.

Al-Akhṭal is an Umayyad-era poet, so the verse cannot be assigned to the pre-Islamic period. It witnesses the figurative continuation of jadhaʿ in classical Arabic.

Maqāyīs: Al-Akhṭal’s witness and the expression for Time

A further poetic witness uses jidhʿ for a palm trunk. It bears on the syntax of the verse in Ṭā Hā and is discussed with that verse below.

5. The palm trunk in Maryam’s story

Maryam, verse 23

فَأَجَاءَهَا الْمَخَاضُ إِلَىٰ جِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ قَالَتْ يَا لَيْتَنِي مِتُّ قَبْلَ هَٰذَا وَكُنتُ نَسْيًا مَّنسِيًّا

fa-ajāʾahā al-makhāḍu ilā jidhʿi al-nakhlati qālat yā laytanī mittu qabla hādhā wa-kuntu nasyan mansiyyan

“The pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm. She said, “If only I had died before this and been something forgotten, entirely out of mind!””

Here, jidhʿ al-nakhlah names the trunk beside which Maryam arrives during childbirth pains. Describing its location in the narrative does not classify jidhʿ as a regularly derived Arabic noun of place.

Fa-ajāʾahā al-makhāḍ (فَأَجَاءَهَا الْمَخَاضُ) describes the pains driving her there.

Ilā (إِلَىٰ) marks the direction of arrival, and jidhʿ al-nakhlah identifies the destination.

Jidhʿ here means the palm’s main trunk.

Does the verse say that Maryam leaned against the trunk?

Someone in severe pain or physical weakness might lean against a tree trunk or grasp it.

That is a plausible action, but Maryam 19:23 says only that childbirth pains drove Maryam toward the palm trunk.

The expression itself does not say that she leaned on it, embraced it, or used it to support her body.

This distinction preserves the boundary between translation and interpretation.

Jidhʿ names the trunk, and ilā marks the direction of arrival. This verse does not describe Maryam’s precise posture beside it.

Was the palm dry?

Some transmitted exegetical accounts describe the palm trunk Maryam reached as dry or leafless.

Al-Ṭabarī: reports about the palm distinguished from the noun itself

The verse itself, however, does not describe the palm as dry, cut, fallen, or unfruitful.

Maryam 19:25 mentions fresh dates falling. Any assessment of the palm’s condition should therefore consider Maryam 19:23 and Maryam 19:25 together.

Even reading both verses does not establish from the noun jidhʿ itself that the tree had previously died and was then revived.

Those details require independent evidence.

The word’s clear meaning remains a palm trunk.

Maryam, verse 25

وَهُزِّي إِلَيْكِ بِجِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ تُسَاقِطْ عَلَيْكِ رُطَبًا جَنِيًّا

wa-huzzī ilayki bi-jidhʿi al-nakhlati tusāqiṭ ʿalayki ruṭaban janiyyan

“Shake the palm trunk toward you; it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon you.”

Bi-jidhʿ al-nakhlah (بِجِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ) appears again, this time with the imperative huzzī (هُزِّي).

Hazza (هَزَّ), from H Z Z, concerns shaking or setting in motion.

Study of H Z Z (Not yet published)

Here, Maryam is told to shake the palm trunk.

The bi- in bi-jidhʿ connects the action with the thing being shaken. Ilayki (إِلَيْكِ) gives the direction of movement toward Maryam.

Tusāqiṭ ʿalayki ruṭaban janiyyan (تُسَاقِطْ عَلَيْكِ رُطَبًا جَنِيًّا) describes the expected result: fresh, ripe dates falling upon her.

The construction distinguishes three things: the palm trunk, the act of shaking, and the falling dates.

The meaning of one should not be transferred to another.

Does the palm trunk itself produce fruit?

Dates grow in bunches in the palm’s upper crown, rather than on the trunk’s surface.

When ordinary speech describes shaking a tree and fruit falling, it need not imply that the fruit grew directly from the wood of its trunk.

In this verse too, the trunk is the part Maryam is commanded to shake.

The dates are the result that falls from the palm.

Jidhʿ therefore does not become a term for the fruit-bearing site. It is the trunk, whereas fruit comes from the palm’s fruit-bearing parts.

FAO: date-palm structure, trunk, and crown

Was shaking the palm an ordinary or miraculous act?

An adult palm’s trunk is generally firm and sturdy. Moving it enough to dislodge dates depends on the palm’s size, the fruit’s condition, and the force applied.

In the narrative, Maryam has just experienced childbirth pains. This circumstance has led some commentators to see special divine aid in the command to shake the palm.

That interpretation can be considered within the story as a whole. The root J DH AYN itself does not signify the occurrence of a miracle.

The verse describes a command to shake and dates falling. It does not specify the precise physical effect, tree size, or required force.

Conversely, the absence of physical detail does not justify removing the command or falling dates from their direct meaning.

The two verses describe an actual scene of Maryam’s childbirth, a palm, and the provision of food. The manner of the event calls for separate discussion.

6. Judhūʿ al-nakhl in Pharaoh’s threat

Ṭā Hā, verse 71

قَالَ آمَنتُمْ لَهُ قَبْلَ أَنْ آذَنَ لَكُمْ إِنَّهُ لَكَبِيرُكُمُ الَّذِي عَلَّمَكُمُ السِّحْرَ فَلَأُقَطِّعَنَّ أَيْدِيَكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُم مِّنْ خِلَافٍ وَلَأُصَلِّبَنَّكُمْ فِي جُذُوعِ النَّخْلِ وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ أَيُّنَا أَشَدُّ عَذَابًا وَأَبْقَىٰ

qāla āmantum lahu qabla an ādhana lakum innahu la-kabīrukumu alladhī ʿallamakumu al-siḥra fa-la-uqaṭṭiʿanna aydiyakum wa-arjulakum min khilāfin wa-la-uṣallibannakum fī judhūʿi al-nakhli wa-la-taʿlamunna ayyunā ashaddu ʿadhāban wa-abqā

“He said, “You believed him before I gave you permission? He must be your chief who taught you magic. I will cut off your hands and feet on opposite sides and crucify you on palm trunks. You will know which of us is more severe and lasting in punishment.””

These are Pharaoh’s words after the magicians believe in the Lord of Hārūn and Mūsā.

They declare their faith in Ṭā Hā 20:70. In Ṭā Hā 20:71, Pharaoh treats their action as taken without his permission and answers with threats of cutting off hands and feet and crucifying them.

Judhūʿ al-nakhl (جُذُوعِ النَّخْلِ) is plural: palm trunks.

Unlike Maryam’s story, which mentions a single trunk, this scene refers to several.

The distinction follows from the plural form, rather than a change in the root’s meaning.

Fī judhūʿ al-nakhl: in the trunks or on them?

The preposition fī (فِي) is a significant syntactic feature here.

Ordinarily, fī can express location within a place. Here it accompanies uṣallibannakum (أُصَلِّبَنَّكُمْ), describing crucifixion or fastening someone for punishment.

In Maʿānī al-Qurʾān wa-Iʿrābuhu, Al-Zajjāj explains fī judhūʿ al-nakhl as close in intended meaning to ʿalā judhūʿ al-nakhl: on palm trunks.

He also explains fī in terms of the person’s close attachment along the trunk’s length and being encompassed by it in that position.

Al-Zajjāj, Maʿānī al-Qurʾān: fī judhūʿ al-nakhl

“On palm trunks” is therefore natural and defensible in context.

Fī does not establish that Pharaoh intended literally to insert people’s bodies into the wood of the palms.

Nor must the difference between fī and ʿalā be treated as meaningless. Fī can emphasize close attachment to the trunk or being encompassed in that situation.

This concerns the construction’s interpretation. Judhūʿ itself still means trunks.

A poetic witness for fī jidhʿi nakhlatin

Al-Zajjāj quotes a verse when explaining this construction:

«وَهُمْ صَلَبُوا الْعَبْدِيَّ فِي جِذْعِ نَخْلَةٍ
فَلَا عَطَسَتْ شَيْبَانُ إِلَّا بِأَجْدَعَا»

wa-hum ṣalabū al-ʿabdiyya fī jidhʿi nakhlatin / fa-lā ʿaṭasat Shaybānu illā bi-ajdaʿā

That is: “They crucified the man of ʿAbd al-Qays on a palm trunk; may no man of Shaybān sneeze except with a severed nose.”

The phrase fī jidhʿi nakhlatin (فِي جِذْعِ نَخْلَةٍ) has the same construction as the expression in Ṭā Hā.

The poet describes crucifying someone on a palm trunk. The witness thus records the combination of ṣalb with fī jidhʿ in Arabic usage.

Lisān al-ʿArab, under ʿABD, attributes the verse to Suwayd ibn Abī Kāhil. Al-Zajjāj quotes it as linguistic evidence. A source’s attribution must be distinguished from independently establishing when this particular verse was composed.

Lisān al-ʿArab under ʿABD: attribution to Suwayd ibn Abī Kāhil

Suwayd is generally classified among the poets who lived across the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. The evidence reviewed here does not independently establish the date of this verse, so it is not presented as certainly pre-Qur’anic.

Its value lies in documenting the construction in Arabic poetic tradition, rather than dating a particular historical practice of crucifixion on palms.

Does the verse report that the punishment was carried out?

Pharaoh is making a threat in this verse.

Fa-la-uqaṭṭiʿanna (فَلَأُقَطِّعَنَّ) and wa-la-uṣallibannakum (وَلَأُصَلِّبَنَّكُمْ) emphatically express the speaker’s intention and threat.

The sentence alone does not establish that the punishment was carried out.

In Al-Shuʿarāʾ 26:49, Pharaoh likewise threatens the magicians with cutting off hands and feet and crucifixion, but that verse does not mention palm trunks.

Ṭā Hā 20:71 thus provides additional information about the place or object specified in the threat.

Its actual execution nevertheless requires independent evidence.

Judhūʿ itself also does not specify how the victims would be fastened, the implements used, or the precise method of torture.

Does jidhʿ here mean a cross?

Some later historical usages associate jidhʿ with a beam or piece of wood used for crucifixion.

In Ṭā Hā 20:71, however, the Qur’an explicitly says judhūʿ al-nakhl.

Al-nakhl identifies the objects as palm trunks.

Uṣallibannakum describes the act of crucifixion; judhūʿ names the objects to be used in the threat.

“Palm trunks” is therefore preferable for the noun, leaving the act of crucifixion to the verb from Ṣ L B.

Here, jidhʿ names the natural palm trunk rather than a torture apparatus of a specified technical design.

7. Related roots and distinctions

J DH AYN (jidhʿ) and S W Q (sāq)

Study of S W Q (Not yet published)

Sāq in Arabic denotes an elongated supporting part. In plant terminology it can mean a stem or trunk.

Qur’anic jidhʿ names the palm’s main trunk.

The meanings overlap: lexicographers explain jidhʿ al-nakhlah through sāq al-nakhlah.

Sāq nevertheless has a broader range, including the lower leg of a human or animal and certain plant parts.

Semantic proximity does not make their roots identical or every use interchangeable.

J DH AYN (jidhʿ) and A Ṣ L (aṣl)

Study of A Ṣ L

Aṣl (أَصْل) concerns the root or foundation of something.

In Ibrāhīm 14:24, aṣluhā thābitun (أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ) describes a tree whose root and foundation are firm.

Jidhʿ, however, is the main trunk, rather than necessarily the underground root.

A tree’s trunk and root are connected but differ in position and function.

Jidhʿ al-nakhlah in Maryam should therefore not be translated as the palm’s root.

J DH AYN (jidhʿ) and J DH L (jidhl)

Jidhl (جِذْل) is also recorded for the remaining trunk or base of a tree.

It belongs to J DH L and in some uses concerns a stump or tree base.

By contrast, jidhʿ in its familiar use can denote the main elongated trunk.

A jidhʿ is consequently not necessarily a short stump remaining after a tree has been cut.

This matters in Maryam’s story: jidhʿ does not establish that she faced only a short stump without a crown.

Lexical sources: jidhl and the tree base

J DH AYN (jidhʿ) and J DH DH (jadhdh)

Study of J DH DH

J DH DH concerns cutting, breaking, and severing a connection.

In Al-Anbiyāʾ 21:58, judhādhan (جُذَاذًا) refers to the broken fragments of the idols.

Qur’anic J DH AYN instead concerns the palm trunk.

Although a cutting verb is recorded within the jidhʿ family, this does not make the two roots identical.

Judhādh and judhūʿ are distinct in both form and meaning.

J DH AYN (jidhʿ) and J DH M (jadhm)

J DH M concerns cutting and separation. In some usages jidhm (جِذْم), also denotes the origin or base of something.

There are semantic connections here with usages concerning trunks and tree bases.

These connections do not justify replacing J DH AYN with J DH M or transferring all the meanings of one root to the other.

Qur’anic judhūʿ al-nakhl denotes palm trunks and should not be reduced to severed roots or remaining bases.

Lexical sources: J DH M, cutting, and base

J DH AYN (jidhʿ) and J D AYN (jadʿ)

J D AYN, with dāl, is a separate root concerning cutting or mutilating bodily parts, especially the nose and ears.

Qur’anic J DH AYN, with dhāl, denotes the palm trunk.

Their similar spelling and some proximity in cutting usages do not make them the same root.

The meaning of cutting off a nose or ear should therefore not be transferred to Qur’anic jidhʿ or judhūʿ.

Lexical sources: J D AYN with dāl and bodily mutilation

8. Translation proposals for Forqan

“Palm trunk” is clear and accurate in all three Qur’anic occurrences, with number adjusted as required.

In Maryam 19:23, jidhʿ al-nakhlah means the trunk of the palm toward which Maryam is driven during childbirth pains.

The installed Forqan translation reads:

“The pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm. She said, “If only I had died before this and been something forgotten, entirely out of mind!””

In Maryam 19:25, the same noun occurs with bi-.

The installed Forqan translation reads:

“Shake the palm trunk toward you; it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon you.”

In Ṭā Hā 20:71, judhūʿ al-nakhl is plural.

An appropriate rendering within the sentence is:

“and crucify you on palm trunks.”

This rendering preserves the plural judhūʿ and naturally expresses the use of fī with the crucifixion verb.

A brief root explanation can read:

“J DH AYN: in Qur’anic usage, the main trunk of a tree, especially a date palm; early Arabic also records uses concerning a stage of animal youth and pressure or rubbing.”

The singular form in Maryam can be explained separately:

“Jidhʿ: the palm trunk, the tree’s main elongated part, beside which Maryam arrived and which she was commanded to shake.”

The plural form in Ṭā Hā can be explained separately:

“Judhūʿ: palm trunks; here, the trunks on which Pharaoh threatens to crucify the believing magicians.”

A short word box should give the meaning needed to understand the verse. Livestock age categories, husbandry terminology, and pressure or rubbing belong in the full root study.

Conclusion

J DH AYN has three major semantic branches in Arabic: the tree trunk, a stage of animal youth, and rubbing or pressure. Lexical sources record all three, but their precise historical relationship is not established.

In the tree branch, jidhʿ is the main trunk, particularly that of a palm. The word alone does not determine whether the tree was living, dry, cut, or standing.

In the animal branch, jadhaʿ names a stage of growth that varies with the animal. Figurative uses for a person or a renewed undertaking are also attested.

Only the palm-trunk branch occurs in the Qur’an.

In Maryam 19:23 and Maryam 19:25, the trunk belongs to the scene of Maryam’s childbirth and provision of food. In Ṭā Hā 20:71, the plural occurs in Pharaoh’s threat to torture and crucify the believing magicians.

The direct, defensible meaning of J DH AYN in the Qur’an is the main trunk of a date palm. Youth, freshness, pressure, and rubbing are other uses within the Arabic family; none replaces the meaning of jidhʿ or judhūʿ in these three verses.

The contrast between the stories does not arise from the trunk itself, but from the actions and conduct accompanying it. In one scene, the trunk is shaken and dates fall; in the other, an oppressive ruler makes it a means of threatening people who have believed against his wishes.

The two uses show that a physical word can appear in sharply different human and moral situations while retaining its lexical meaning.