Unlocking Arabic #3: عَرُوسٌ – Does it mean ‘bride’ or ‘bride groom’ or both?

In the series “Unlocking Arabic”, I would like to address and discuss the finer points of Arabic grammar and word formation in a loose sequence – and do so quite concisely and precisely in small bites.

Let us first examine the word طوال. What vowels could you put on the first letter ط?

Wedding (عُرْسٌ) – masculine or feminine?

The word عُرْسٌ today is translated as wedding; wedding feast. In ancient times, and still in conservative societies, the feast is held on the occasion of a bride being led to her husband.

Let’s check an example to illustrate the discussion. We want to translate the following sentence: This is a beautiful wedding.

What’s important here: Do we need the masculine or feminine form of the adjective? Both are possible!

• Treated as masculine: هٰذا عُرْسٌ جَمِيلٌ
• Treated as feminine: هٰذِهِ عُرْسٌ جَمِيلَةٌ

Looking at the morphological skeleton, we would suggest that it is masculine (مُذَكِّرَةٌ). There is no indication of a feminine marker. However, dictionaries and classical works say that this word is both feminine and masculine (مُؤَنَّثَةٌ وَمُذَكِّرَةٌ)!

Sounds strange, so we can choose. But there is an issue here! You need to decide whether you treat it as masculine or feminine as soon as you want to form the plural (الْجَمْعٌ)!

• Masculine plural: أَعْرَاسُ
• Feminine plural: عُرْسَاتٌ

Good to know:

• Watch out: Now what about عِرْسٌ in classical Arabic, with the vowel “i”? Is it the same as above, عُرْسٌ, which means wedding? No! It can mean both, a man’s wife and a woman’s husband; spouse.
• Today, for the wedding party and wedding ceremony, often the word زِفافٌ is used.
• You should not use عُرْسٌ for marriage. The usual word for marriage, marital union is زَواج. For example: his first marriage (زَواجُهُ الْأَوَّل).

Bride and groom – Classical Arabic

Let’s start our investigation with the following two sentences:

Which of the two sentences is correct? Surprisingly, both are correct!

Some people think that the word عَرُوسٌ describes only the woman (الزَّوْجَةُ) on the wedding night (لَيْلَةَ الْعُرْسِ), so to speak the bride, but when we look at the classical works, we learn that this word can refer to the wife (الزَّوْجَةُ) and the husband (الزَّوْجُ) on the wedding night.

Similar to the word عُرْسٌ discussed above, the plural forms differ when you consider the word عَرُوسٌ to be masculine or feminine. So you need to know whether you are talking about men or women.

• Masculine plural (grooms): عُرُسٌ
• Feminine plural (brides): عَرَائِسُ
• When talking about a bridal couple (= bride and groom), you use the dual form عَرُوسَانِ. If you want to add the information during their wedding feast, you say فِي إِعْرَاسِهِمَا.

Bride and bride groom – Colloquial Arabic

In the Arabic dialects, but also in Modern Standard Arabic, it is easier to distinguish between bride and groom. In Egyptian Arabic, for example, it works like this:

• Bride or bride-to-be: عَرُوسة – note that it can also mean doll; puppet
• Bride groom or future husband: عَرِيس – it can also mean eligible young man

You will encounter these words in Egypt all the time, also in famous sayings:

• You may know the epithet of the city Alexandria in Egypt: The Bride of the Mediterranean (عَروُس البَحْر الأَبْيَض). Usually written without the ة, which is perfectly fine as we explained above.
• Also, there is The bride of the Nile (عَرُوسة النّيل): a maiden said to have been thrown into the Nile in ancient times as a sacrifice at the height of the flood; later, a life-size doll or pillar of earth whose throwing into the Nile was one of the traditional ceremonies that accompanied the cutting of the dam that separated the Nile from the Cairo Canal.
• And there is the expression for mermaid: عَرُوسة البَحْر
• And water lily: عَرائِس النيلِ

In dialects or Modern Standard Arabic, you can still sometimes encounter a mixture, for example: bride and groom as الْعَرُوسُ وَالْعَرِيسُ or الْعَرُوسةُ وَالْعَرِيسُ.