1. Introduction

The term nisba refers to an adjective which is derived from a noun. The nisba is sometimes called ʾiḍāfa (Sībawayhi, Kitāb III, 335). It is first aimed at creating adjectives related to countries, tribes, cities, and persons (Ibn ʿAqīl, Šarḥ II, 471) and thus plays an important role in personal names (see Sec. 5).

There are many ways in Arabic to form the nisba: (i) insertion…