و wāw : و wāw the
twenty-sixth letter of the
Arabic and
thirtieth of the
Persian alphabet, corresponds to व in
Sanskrit. When used to
denote a num- ber,
according to the
Arabs, it
stands for six. In
ephemerides it
represents Friday and the sign
Libra. This
letter is
sometimes a
consonant; when it is one of the
labial letters, having the sound of the
English w or v. It is also one of the
حرف علت ḥurūf-i-iﻌllat, or weak
letters; when it may serve with the vowel
ẓamm or
fatʼḥa, conveyed by the
preceding consonant, to
denote the
different sounds of o, ū, and au. As the و is
homogenous with
ẓamm, if the
former is
quiescent and
immediately following the
latter, the sound of
ẓamm is only
prolonged by it, and the
result is a
simple long
vowel. This vowel may have the power of
either o or ū: when it has that of the
first, the و is
termed majʼhūl (unknown, concealed); either, because it does not occur in the
Arabic language, or
because the sound of
ẓamm is here
obscured by an ad-
mixture of that of
fatʼḥa: it is, also,
called واوفارسي and
واوعجمي. And when it has the power of ū, it is
termed maﻌrūf (known); from its
occurring in
Arabic and
exhibiting the full sound of
ẓamm. When the
quiescent و
follows a
letter having the vowel
fatʼḥa, the
diphthong au is
formed, and the و is then
called واوساکن ماقبل مفتوح. After the vowel kasr it never
occurs. In some cases و
though written, is not
pronounced. Thus (1) in the words دو Two, تو Thou, چو When,
&c. the
sounds are
simply those of
ẓamm without prolongation; as, in this line of
Niz̤āmī, چوتوگرکسي باشد آنہم توٴي chu to gar kase
bāshad, ān-ham tuʼī, where the first
syllable is
short. This is
called واوبيان ضمه wāw-i-bayān-i-ẓamma. (2) After خ which has